To many people, Hammad was a symbol of failure as he would always fail, never get the desired results, never secured a good position in his class at school or in tuition, etc.

However, he took it all lightly and told himself, ‘It’s okay, it is not the end and I’ll do better next time.’

When his friends asked him to take studies seriously, he answered them teasingly, “If I don’t fail, how would you guys know about those who fail and those who achieve success?”

Then he reminded his friends about the great personalities of the past who faced failure at sometime in their life but became successful professionals and scientists later on.

His friends would reply, “Dude, don’t think of yourself as Thomas Edison. That’s only an example to inspire failures like you, and you are, sorry to say, don’t even get inspired. Nothing affects you at all!” And the debate went on for hours resulting in nothing.

But one day, one of his friends, Ali, who was very close and sincere to Hammad, turned up at his house. They talked about various things but then Ali came to the reason for his visit. “Hammad, you dream of becoming a successful person in life, don’t you?”

“Yes!” replied Hammad.

“Don’t you think your actions, like not studying at all, will make it difficult for you to pass even a simple test? You have hardly secured only passing marks in Matriculation and now you are in college. How can you think you will achieve success in your future? Your father scolds you for not studying, but it doesn’t matter to you.

“It is because you simply don’t care! Let me point out one thing, you can’t make your dreams come true and you will end up doing odd jobs or working in a garage! Do you want this to happen to you?”

Hammad got up angrily and went back inside his house. He was fuming in anger as he didn’t expect this from Ali. He washed his face and looked at himself in the mirror, remembering Ali’s words, “You will end up doing odd jobs or working in a garage!” The words kept ringing in his head. Hammad felt completely broken, he did not know what to do and kept asking himself, ‘Why am I like this?’

That night he could not think of any other thing except his friend’s words.

The next morning came as a new dawn in Hammad’s life because he decided to review his mistakes. He went to college as usual, but took more interest in lectures, wrote down the important points and participated in the discussion. And when he came back home, he studied in his room. Hammad stopped using internet for fruitless activities and only surfed when he needed to research a study-related topic.

It was his first year in the college so when the examination time arrived, he felt confident — a feeling he never experienced before in his life because he had prepared earnestly and there was nothing to worry about. Consequently, he secured a first division for the first time in his life.

His parents were so happy and proud of him. Everyone congratulated him. Hammad felt immense happiness and recalled the words of his friend. He realised that although at first the words discouraged and hurt him, it also ended his careless attitude and encouraged him to take action.

The next day when he entered in the college, Ali saw him from a distance and called out his name loudly and they walked towards each other. Upon reaching near, Hammad said, “Thank you so much for the words that ended my carelessness!”

Ali replied “I just wanted you to leave what holds you from your bright future and I thought for a person like you, only discouragement will work!”

They laughed out loud and hugged each other.

Published in Dawn, Young World April 15th, 2017