The days after class ten results were out.......

“There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.”

The most awaited period of my life till now was the declaration of class ten results. After about two months of anxiety and excitement, the results were declared. I had got 87%. It was average marks comparing to what I have seen in Manipal today. Most of the people, here have got more than 90% in their 10th standard. But, those days I felt as if I had conquered the world. My father was happy, and more importantly I was happy. I felt as if there was nothing more to do in life. I had got more than most of my friends. I had gone crazy. I was proud of myself. I mean, proud in the superlative degree. I felt as if people who got below 75%, not worth talking. People, who are offended by my last statement, are not supposed to, because today, even I am one of them. I don’t feel the same way any more.

But back then, it was different. I thought whatever I do now, my parents wouldn’t scold me. I thought I belonged to the elite class, which is so not true. The admissions for class 11 opened up in our school. I knew I would easily make it to the merit list. And I finally did. But just making it to the merit list doesn’t guarantee you an admission in the school. For that, you got to pay up the admission fees to the school authorities to confirm your admission. This very basic fact I never knew or may be overlooked, or ignored. I had got 87% and that was it. I had started my tuitions for class eleven. One day, on my way to the tuitions, I met one of the principal or father as we say in the convent schools. He asked me whether I had taken admissions in the school. I simply said that my name had appeared in the merit list, thus I got admissions. He explained to me the facts.

I went back home. The date for admissions had already passed. It was three days since the admissions got over. Now, I have 87%, with no admissions for further studies, and most of the schools had finished their admission procedure. I went to the principal the very next day along with my mother. The first reply I got was to leave, as the school authorities had finished their admissions. In simple words, there was no place for me in my school “St. Paul’s”, which was my second home for the last eight years.

In one of the other schools I had applied, I was not even considered for admissions. That was the time I came to know, that I was mediocre in academics, or may be just good. It was then I realized that I don’t belong to the elite class. I finally got admissions in St. Paul’s school, my school, after crying and begging in front of the principal. It took three days to convince the principal, after which he granted me admissions.

The thing I wanted to point out is, we crave for success, and one day when we finally get that, most of us don’t know how to handle it. We got to learn it from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, whom I truly admire. He is presently the Indian captain and the highest earner in the IPL. It will take me probably my lifetime to earn Six Crores. He is still so humble, his feet staying right on ground. As a proverb says, “success is a journey, not a destination.” You may be successful now, but who knows, what will happen tomorrow. So, always stay humble, polite and grateful like Dhoni……

“Try not to be a man of success, but rather to be a man of value.”

A walk back home........

MANIPAL

"Intelligence is the ability to articulate one's stupidity."

Last article, which I wrote was a bit motivational. But what, I am about to write, is about one of the very few weird and stupid thing I have done in my life. It happened when I was in class four. It suddenly struck to me one day that cycling is good for one’s health. I had observed that a lot of my friends were coming to school on a cycle. The point to note here is that I was around nine years in age then.

My house was about seven kilometer from my school. So by normal standards, I feel today that any parent would not have allowed. I had been going by bus till then. I told my mother to buy me one cycle. ‘Cycle’ was present in the last article as well. Looking back, I feel that my past wouldn’t have existed without a cycle. Even today, when I go back home, I ride my cycle. So coming back, when I presented my idea of going to school on a cycle, my mother just laughed. I felt insulted. This was the first time I had thought something of my own. My mother, I felt was making a mockery out of me. I asked” what’s there to laugh about? My friends go to school on a cycle, why can’t I?” The reply my mother gave me tempted me to do what I had done some twelve years back. She said “you don’t know the way back home. Even if I get you a cycle, it will take you ages to reach back home in a cycle”.

The reply which she gave me was enough to ignite my hidden desires. I wanted to prove to my mother a point. I thought that I was already a grown up. Let me admit here that I was scared of my father. I looked for an opportunity to make this desire come true. My father went out of station one day. I knew that this was my opportunity to prove my mother wrong. I went to school, by bus. I waited till the last period to end. Time passed by. The bell rang. I ran out of the school. My school bus was waiting outside the school. But who cared about the bus. The idea was to walk back home. I started my journey. After about ten minutes, my bus passed by. I waved my hand to my bus mates. And I continued my walk…..

After about forty minutes, my legs started feeling the heat. The legs of a nine year old boy had walked half the distance. The other half was still left. I somehow made sure that I was on the right path. Sweat started dripping down my face. It was about 4.35 pm in the afternoon. It was hot. I felt my pockets. It was empty. I stopped, searched my bag for five bucks to take an auto. I somewhere felt that my mother was right. I wanted to quit. But alas! I had no money. I somehow continued walking. After walking for another two kilometer, my legs started shaking. What else do you expect of a nine year old boy? I fell down. I felt as if I was about to die. I knew it would n't take me more that fifteen minutes to reach my home and say sorry to my mother. With little strength left, I continued. I fell numerous times on my way. At last my house was visible to my eyesight. I could see my mother standing on the veranda. She seemed so worried. I saw my tuition teacher climbing the stairs. She asked me” did I come an hour early?”I just laughed. It was 5.15pm on the watch. it took me around 75 minutes to walk all the distance. I told my mother that I had proved her wrong. She started crying. She felt during the last one hour that she had lost me.

I may have told that I had won, but the truth was that I had lost. I had put on a false smile and an ego. I really felt bad for my mother. It appeared to me now that I had been a very naughty child. The feelings, the anxiety and later the smile on my mother’s face said it all to me……

This, I feel was one of the few stupid incidents of my life. The extent I went to prove that I was right. But I achieved nothing out of it. I lacked common sense then. Even today, I some time feel that I have a shortage………

C Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.nse is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.

Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be don

What is life ?

 “There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.”

                          One incident in my life needs a special mention here. This incident I am about to write, has changed me and evolved me into a better person. My second sessionals were in about four days. I used to be crazy about a chocolate called Cadbury Nutties. I still remember the date, day and the time. It was around 7.00 pm on Thursday on 25^th of October, 2007. I had searched for Nutties, in like four nearby stores. Unfortunately I was sad as I couldn’t find. You can imagine how crazy I was that I borrowed a cycle, Hero Hawk from a friend of mine. I was on my way to a store about a kilometer from my hostel. I wasn’t finding very comfortable to ride that cycle, but I didn’t care. I was going to get Nutties.

Suddenly my cycle lost its balance. I fell down. People gathered around me. Poor me, I was more concerned to check if my specks were intact or not! People were telling me to go to a hospital. I got my specks and when I touched my face I saw blood coming out of my forehead in large volume. I kept my cycle in a store. I went to the hospital. After some time they said I needed stitches. I was scared. I felt some pain in my hand. I told them to also get me some pain killer for my right hand as it was under a bit of pain. They told that they needed to do get an X- ray done. They first did my stitches on my forehead. Then, they got my X- ray done. Till then, my friend saurav and srikant came to the hospital. Within five minutes of the X-ray, they told me that I had broken my hand. I had broken a cashew shaped bone called scaphoid bone. By then Rajiv and Saiganesh visited me in the hospital.

 The doctor told me it would take at least 10 weeks to heal and I needed to get my hand plastered. I was really shocked. I had just played counter- strike and was about to get myself a chocolate, but suddenly I have landed in a hospital with a broken hand. That’s life! The uncertainty factor is always there. It’s like at one moment you are the king and the very next moment you are seen asking for money. That’s life. Every moment is unexpected. Especially, when you are n’t expecting it.!I called my father.  There was no other option but to get my right hand plastered. That was the moment; when I thought I would really faint. I had my exams in four days! My right hand was broken which means that I wouldn’t be able to write my exams. I got my hands plastered, got my forehead stitched. My friends took me back to my room. I narrated this story for like twenty times to my friends who had come to see me. I got a lot of sympathy then.

But the real problem was still unsolved. What about my sessionals? I went to the director. He allowed swarup to write my exams. I would be dictating the answers and he would be writing. He is from a different branch. He wrote all the papers for the second sessionals. It was impossible for me to learn the diagrams. Being in mechanical we had to memorize a lot of diagrams. He stayed up till 2 am at night to memorize my diagrams. I would like to mention that it was very kind of him to have done so much for me. I sometimes feel that I have been blessed with some of very good friends. They have done so much for me. I take this opportunity to thank all my friends, for being there always for me, whenever I needed them.

Life has its ups and downs. You need to have the courage to face it from the front. There is always a way out. There will always be someone to help you. You need to seek help. There is no point in getting discouraged and crying. Make your way out. And be grateful. Grateful, to the numerous people who have helped you in your life.

 “Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy -- because we will always want to have something else or something more.”

My first year in college !

Manipal                                    27th October, 2008

 

Since this is my first blog, I wanted to write something about the experience of my last two years in college. This idea of writing a blog came to a friend of mine named rajiv, who encouraged me to write.I must agree that I hadn’t worked that hard to be studying here. It was just sheer destiny as I must say. I believe in destiny, which itself is a very controversial topic. I had never lived in hostel. So I had basically no idea as to how I must talk to people here. Suddenly I was here in Manipal, where around a thousand other people had come to make there dream come into reality. The reality of becoming a “bada aadmi”. There is no doubt that I am one of them. 

                        I arrived a couple of days early than I was expected to do. Just a day later there was a knock at the door. On opening, I found a guy coming in. six more people came in. I just woke up from sleep then. I generally don’t like people disturbing me when I am sleeping. He said he is swarup and was from Bhagalpur. Six other people who came in were shouting and laughing. Though I find it very common and fun nowadays, I found it very unusual then. I thought that if this is the way they shout then I would not be able to live like this. So I told them to shut up and let me sleep. Whenever I recollect what I said I feel I have had a drastic change in what I am now. This is one of the first memories when I came here in Manipal. Let me tell my readers that swarup is one of my close friends now.

                        One of the most dreadful days of the week as I felt that time was Monday. We had to deliver a speech on a topic on stage. I was very scared that time. My legs used to shake. Even if you tell me today, you won’t find much change in that respect. A very important thing about being in hostel is about living with a room mate. Your room mates some or the other way has a direct impact on you. At least it did to me. I was unnecessary tensed those times, on some of the stupid things which I laugh about now. I found out that the hype that the word “kota” created on my mind was immense. I used to think that time that if a person come from kota, he must be better in studies than me. Today I find this totally absurd. Looking back I must say that I should have changed my room then, but I didn’t. Somehow I managed. During this one year I was trying to get to know other people. So slowly that transition in me had already started. I was trying to socialize which I rarely did when I was at home. I wanted other people to like me. I managed to do that to some extend. My result was some what average.

                        One quality in me which I like about myself is my desire to improve. What I try to do here is that I mingle around with my friends, look around and if I feel a person has some or the good quality in him, I try to inculcate that in me too. Some may say that I am not being original, I am just copying someone, but I can’t help it. It is the one quality which I cherish the most about myself. If this quality wouldn’t have existed, you wouldn’t have been reading this blog. Somehow I came in the third semester. I had one of the coolest roommates, Srikant you could ever find around the globe. I was very chilled out the. I was happy. I used to play games for like two continuous days that two without sleep. But after two days I was completely exhausted. God had made up for my roommate thing I felt. For the first time in three semesters I was getting good marks. I should thank Rajiv for that respect. He had helped me a lot that time. I had not liked him when I first met him. He was too much into studies and his thick spectacle frame added to his nerd look. Though, I must add that he also has had a drastic transition, he is much cooler now. May be, college teaches us to be so.