To those of you who excelled in HSC, I extend my congratulations.
I have a few small requests for the loved ones of those who have succeeded. Please be mindful that in the days ahead, whatever achievements come their way should never cast doubt on this accomplishment. Many cannot handle the burden of early success. Many young achievers fall into the belief that life ends here! Their age is young, their wisdom even younger. My beloved writer Sunil once said in an interview, “Self-satisfaction is equal to death.” These words are very dear to me. Getting a GPA of 5 is not trivial, but it’s not everything either. If they ever have to hear, “These days even chairs and tables get GPA 5. You couldn’t even get into a good place! You really don’t have anything in your head. You just got an A+ by following the system”—then you’ll feel the most pain of all. I received star marks in HSC. From Chittagong College in Science, we got star marks—perhaps 60-70 of us at most, or even fewer. Now golden A+ recipients far exceed that number. I couldn’t take the BUET exam because I scored low in Physics, Chemistry, and Math. The admission exam required an average of 72.66; I had 72.60. Later, I came second in CUET’s admission exam. Now I see that students with golden A+ can’t even make it to the waiting list. It truly pains me to see this. You parents are largely responsible for this. You must discipline them firmly, make them understand. You must say ‘no’ to many of their unreasonable demands. A boy or girl who has just passed HSC understands nothing about life, or most of what they think they understand is wrong. Have an open conversation with them. What do they actually know? How much do they truly understand? Their world is very colorful. But you know the world isn’t really like that. Those who don’t get good opportunities aren’t really given much attention by anyone. When people aren’t valued, most become weak. Some do recover later, of course. But that’s entirely uncertain! Your responsibility is to ensure they don’t step onto the wrong path. Find out who they associate with. Without seeing good students around, the desire to excel doesn’t arise. When it’s too late, scolding or feeling disappointed won’t help anymore. Don’t let them go astray—keep them under close watch. They haven’t grown up yet. In the world’s eyes, they’re still nothing! Stay by their side until they become something.
Dear younger friends, those who couldn’t succeed as much as you had hoped—let me tell you, there’s a significant apparent advantage to ending up on the list of the less successful at a young age. That is, the successful will consider you easy targets. This very comfort in the successful ones’ thinking gradually weakens them. Use this to your advantage. Don’t remain a nobody in this world. Whatever anyone says, this much is certain: for nobodies, this world reserves only nothing. We can never imagine where life takes us. Life is always stranger than fiction. Never measure yourself by grades. I myself was one of the lowest-grade students in my university batch. So what if your results weren’t good? Take this as a challenge. Show the world that you’re not a failure in any way. Use your strength properly. Our problem is that we think ourselves weak and ask for small things from life—and we get them too. Alas! We spend our lives content with just that! Wandering around social media, laughing and having fun makes people weak. Never do this. Now is the time for you to work incredibly hard. You’re just beginning to grow up. The world will no longer forgive you for mistakes. If you don’t take your mistake as a lesson for your life, you can be certain that a much bigger shock awaits you. Not everyone can pay the price for mistakes—most get lost. None of us came to this world to get lost. If we can’t achieve anything in life, the responsibility is entirely our own. At least everyone around you thinks so; they might not say anything, but they’ll consider you incompetent. Truly, it will be very, very painful then. I’ve seen many young people get lost, simply because they weren’t conscious after passing HSC. You’ll join their ranks too if you sit considering HSC results as everything. Try to get admission somewhere good. Your parents aren’t obligated to put you through private university. Your parents don’t work to pay for your foolishness. Have you ever imagined yourself in their position—how difficult life actually is? Did they give birth to you so they’d spend their entire lives paying for your incompetence? Work hard. You can’t imagine how upset you’ll feel when your friend gets into a better place than you. Prepare yourself—rest and relaxation can come later. Now is the time! We don’t know what will happen ten years from today. Never think of yourself as so small that it prevents you from even starting. Never think of yourself as so big that it prevents you from ever finishing.