Cinderella...

I feel like Cinderella right now, not because I'm wearing a gorgeous gown, running, leaving one of my dainty slippers behind. I feel like Cinderella because I left my footprint behind in what I consider one of the most important days of my life.
A techie I am, like every third person you'll find floating around the malls in Bangalore, but I always believed that I stood out in a crowd of software engineers. Today I proved that to myself and I am so proud of that. Today, I learnt a very important lesson that, success to me does not always mean real success. It can take its various forms and feel just as good!
The day started with a very gruelling interview for the position of a team leader in my team. There were three candidates for the interview: one was my original team leader who hadn't lived upto the team's expectations, one was another team leader, whose team was being merged with ours, and of course, yours truly. This may seem like a regular ego-booster interview that I am writing about, but what stood out here was the fact that I was up against two team leaders with over eight years of experience each, with a measly four years of mine. But I always believed that it was the quality and not the quantity that mattered, and did everything in my means to prove my worth over my one and a half year tenure at this organization. But the problem always had been that only I believed the sanctity of my work until today. Today seemed like there was no tomorrow. My potential had been recognized, and my dream was about to come true.
The interview went extremely well, which wasn't a surprise, considering I had been practicing these lines on management all my life and I believed that I was born to deliver these. Yes, I had faith in my communication skills and they really stood me in good stead today.
Post the interview was the nervousness and excitement that lasted me the entire day till I found out that it wasn't me. It was the team leader of the other team who was selected. But the joy of being recommended and considered lingered on. It didn't matter what the outcome was. I had a new definition of success for myself. At that triumphant moment, every little political comment/argument at work with every individual seemed so insignificant. I felt like I was above all of that, floating on cloud number nine. I forgave so easily and just couldn't keep anything at heart. The power of dreams! And the joy of having missed it by a millimeter :)
Cinderella was who I felt like, when neither the two team leaders nor my team ever found out that I was the third candidate, who gave them such a run for their money; and I slipped away slowly, delicately, fading into insignificance, with the promise that I would be considered for the next role that came up.
Now, my heart is starting to sink as I begin to digest the fact that I didn't make it, but the glory of having missed it by a millimeter will always remain...