Read the following passage carefully :
(1) I was a below average student. Both in school and college, rarely my teachers knew me by name. I don’t think I was a dunce; just that I didn’t have an academic bent of mind. Since failures were more a habit than an exception, a below performance never ***** me. Neither were my teachers proud of me nor did I make my parents feel proud of me.
(2) Of course, my parents being noble-hearted never gave up on me. They never put me down in the presence of others. In fact, to shield me, they always projected a positive image of me to the world.
(3) In 1984, while pursuing my graduation in Mathematics, I had ** in one of the subjects in my fourth semester. I already had three arrears. For the first time, hearing about my **, I saw tears in my father’ eyes. This was my first experience of seeing my father cry. I couldn’t handle his crying. To withdraw myself, I escaped to the terrace of my apartment. I suffered a **** like I have never known before. I was trembling. I never wanted my parents to cry again because of my failures. But, I was scared. “Was it too late to begin in life”, I doubted. I was already over 18, just about 50% marks in my four semesters, 4 arrears to clear and 3 regular papers to face in my fifth semester, no talent, no special abilities, never won a prize in my life, not a single certificate. I truly wanted to make it very big in life, if not for my sake, just to make up for all that I had put my parents through. My thoughts were haunting me, “Rajan, you don’t have any taste of success. You just don’t know what it is to succeed.” With tears flooding, I cried, “Can I still make it big in life or have I missed the bus ?”
(4) My neighbour, Vijayaraghavan, who learnt about the sobbing of my soul, casually said, “Rajan, the ** you press the spring the faster it will bounce back. So what if your life has been pressed by failures for 18 years. Decide to bounce back and bounce back big in life. Even *** will not stop you”, bounce back I did ! I bounced back big to clear all the 7 papers in first class and ever since I smile at my failures.
(5) After all what is resilience : To get up one more time than you have fallen. I do not remember of times life has pushed me down, but every time I have bounced back big, for, I can hear the message lingering from within me even louder, “The ** you press the spring the faster it will bounce back. Bounce back and bounce back big.”
(6) Ever since, I have given enough opportunities for my parents to cry................. cry they do, glad they have a son in me.
On the basis of your reading of the passage complete the following :
(a) The author was a below average student because he ...........
(b) His failures and poor performance made his teachers and parents ..............
(c) The author couldn’t bear ................
(d) At the age of 18, the author felt a deep sense of **** and wondered whether ...............
(e) After being inspired by his neighbour, he .........
(f) The message given by the author is .................
