As the strong gushes after gushes of wind blew across my face with each passing lorry, I cursed the air resistance and imagined how I would have floated smoothly on the glistening highway if it weren't for this unthoughtful wind. Completely unmindful of the abnormally large drops falling all the way from up there, I wouldn't have imagined that if it weren't for this same air resistance, any one of these drops would have been enough to crack my skull into two.

Drenched to my underpants and shivering to my belly, I had just one thought in my mind - to reach the destination. But then was it the destination that mattered ?

I thought so.

And then I thought I was wrong, and I am enjoying the challenge as much as anything. Such a nice politically correct thing to feel. Challenge, eh ? So many people say this, right ? "Enjoying challenges" is a great thing to do, for it displays in no uncertain terms the fibre and strength of your character and personality.

So convenient, because life keeps on throwing challenges, and there possible can not be a dearth of challenges for you to claim that "I'm lovin it..." . But till what point does one cherish challenges, leave aside desire them ?

This question, and obviously the answer to it, is, to my mind, the key to use as an indicator of the "challengeworthiness", if you want to call it that, of any individual.

People respond to challenges in different ways. Some feel scared and some irritated. Some feel frustrated and others esctatic. Some look for an escape route, some diligently try to search for the best available route, and some others smile because they see the possibility of creating a couple of new routes. But interestingly, it is the difficulty level of a challenge which is seemingly the most important parameter in determining how a particular individual responds to a challenge. However, the parameter itself, in this case, is largely unmeasured or measured with a singular lack of objectivity. And so what is the basis of categorising a challenge, and then responding to it, becomes an open question.

Lets say one accepts a challenge gleefully, after somehow determining and evaluating the difficulty of overcoming it . Lets also assume that one is reasonably well equipped, in one's own estimation, to deal with the problems anticipated in overcoming the accepted challenge.

The more difficult part, however, remains.

Execution...

For it is during execution that men fail. It is in the process that after a point people give up. Most of the times the individual who gives up does so with seemingly rational reasons. At different points in the execution period, it does not seem to make sense to go on and continue. As a matter of fact you are likely to be labelled as a fool who cannot take decisions dynamically if you continue to do things in the same direction. And it is one's own guts and self-confidence only that can make one continue amongst all opposition. And this opposition may not just be from the outside world, but even from the people closest to you. But one has to stick it out . And yes, that is easier said than done. And that, to my mind, is at the heart of every challenge.