I gave the medical entrance exam of AFMC pune India (armed forces medical college). It had two rounds, one was the written examination and another was the physical fitness. After qualifying the written, i was elated that i ws closer to the goal. I would run 10 miles everyday so that i could qualify the physical tests. I was working very hard on my fitness. And finally the day came. They wud reject candidates with every passing rounds and without giving any explanations. I qualified all the fitness rounds and reached the interview and that was the final hurdle. As i was waiting in the lounge i heard someone called my name. I rushed and i saw it was one of the interviewers calling my name. He asked me to join him in the officers mess on a cup of tea. I was a little confused why out of all those candidates he wants to talk to me. Anyways i accompanied him. He started of enquiring me abt my education my family background etc. Then he asked me "did you read the afmc prospectus well end to end?" I confidently said yes. Then he again asked "did you read the eligibility criteria?" I said yes i do have all the educational qualificationa required. To which he said, "no did you read the fitness eligibility criteria?" We both paused here and npw i cud smell the concern. I said sir but i stutter rarely(those days i used to stutter very less). To which he said rarely or not its under the category of disability and army is very strict with their rules. I said but this exam is for medical doctors in army how my speech going to affect? To which he said, suppose you are jn a warzone treating soldiers and you have pass a message on a wireless to a fellow soldier and what if you stammer and your message is not clear. I took a long pause and asked him why do you have to tell me the reason for my rejection? You did not give any to other rejected candidates. To which he said, one of my son stutters, and i told you the reason out of compassion, and the purpose was not to point out your stutter and make you feel miserable but it was to make you feel that all your other fitness parameters were perfect. To which i thanked him, he went back. A few moments later i called up my frnd told him the entire story we made fun of each other and it was back to normal like whats next now.. 😀 That was 2003, and now i ended up as a software engg 🙂 You never know whats in store for you. Sometimes most obvious things are not meant for you and sometimes you end up being somerhing you nvr dreamed of. Till 2006 i didnt knw what an operating system was.. 😂 Little out of context here, i have seen a lot of folks here feeling miserable abt stutter as if they want to end their life. But what i feel is life can be miserable for "non stutterers" as well i hv seen many 🙂. Dont take life so seriously.