How can a competition at school change a life? Well, this is what happened to me:
“Never miss an opportunity; it won’t come again.” I had this firmly kept in mind as I raced up the stairs to the SPA room on the second floor of our school. Archery had been running late; we had been so engrossed in the activity that I had been practicing over time. And that was bad since I had a competition right when it ended.
Vibgyor Viva's Ad Mad World. Another competition in an enthusiastic extravaganza. But not just any competition. One that had acting, writing, and laughs mixed into one composite solution. I was really looking forward to it, since I love acting. If I hadn’t gone, I would “miss an opportunity” and that would change my life- but how I was still yet to find out.
My arrival at the room was overflowed with a gloomy faced torrent of shock, anger, and betrayal. One of my team mates was in the Basketball team, and his match was running late, so he wouldn’t be able to come. If that’s not enough, my other team mate left for a reason that only God knows. I was forced to sit in a corner, waiting for some team to let me join the group. One major obstacle was that each group could only have three people; and since most of them already did, I was lost, feeling very much groupless.
It was plainly my luck that one team was missing a person, and I filled in the gap. Although the other two people were girls from Vikhe Patil School, I was grateful to God that he had given me an opportunity to attempt to win the competition. The first round was identifying the slogan of certain companies. We were given a paper and a sheet and we were told to match the columns.
As I sat with those two girls, I reminded myself that not participating would be something they would expect me to do. Then I would seem unimportant and the group would fall in ruins. I decided that, since I like performing the unexpected, I should leap right in. The round was rather easy and we flowed through. The next round, however, proved to be quite a tough one. The teachers played about half of an advertisement, and we had to guess the name of the company. That was quite a stumper, but we managed to get most of them correct. The third round was my favourite.
I mentioned before that I love acting, and this was the part that actually involved it. A group had to make a jingle, or a song, to back up a product that they were representing. My team, Group Five, was given the topic “Vanishing Cream.” I thought of the idea for the skit while one girl created the poster and the other created the Jingle.
Within minutes, I had thought of a brilliant idea. It would be a silent play. Two girls were bullying me, and I would go home crying. At home, I would put on the Vanishing Cream and return to school the next morning, invisible. I would then play pranks on the girls until they started crying. Then I would say “Yes!” in front of everyone. What really saved the skit, though, was my short-notice humour.
Right when I finished the Jingle, I said:
“Dr. Vanish’s Vanishing Cream! Now for $15 only!” Then in a smaller and faster voice: “Conditions apply. Offer valid till February 26th only.” That caused the crowd to roar with laughter. Finally came the tallying of marks.
Tension vibrated in the air. Mothers looked hopefully at the judges. Children looked hopefully at their mothers. Teachers sat at the side, not really caring who won. And I stood there, staring at the scoreboard. Apparently, the top three teams were Team 1, Team 3, and Team 5.
Mostly, I was comparing our score with Team 1’s. Equal in the writing, equal in the acting—No!!!!!! They won by half a mark in the advertisement-guessing section! Although I came second only by half a mark, I felt rather disappointed, but all the same congratulated Team 1. I received my certificate for winning second place, and told my parents the story. My parents congratulated me enthusiastically saying, even with the presence of girls in my group, I had still participated.
One week later, or rather Tuesday the 25th of January, the same teacher who was anchoring Ad Mad World called me aside and told me that I had been chosen for an advertisement at Rainforest Productions. The head of the productions was one of the judges and she liked how I acted, apparently.
I was the first in my family to even go to an advertisement audition. My parents did not know how to react. They were so surprised; they had never even dreamed of someone in their family auditioning for an advertisement. I owe my parents’ delight to Ad Mad World alone. That day was one of the most exciting of my life.
Whether I passed or not, I cannot tell you, but I can tell you that the Ad Mad World Competition opened a whole new window of opportunity for me by letting me pioneer in a field which my family had never ventured before.
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