Your Are On The Inspiring Track

It was the time when I was 17 years old studying my intermediate in St. Ann’s Junior College for Girls, it was all new. A few months passed by as I got adjusted to the timings of my college and adapted to the daily routine. I thought it was going to be normal but somehow, my brother had been admitted into a residential school the same year. It was the first time that I had to miss him every day that gave me a feeling of loneliness, the reason for my silence in the new college. I tried to make friends with a few people who really liked me.

Two of them were very close, Roopa and Sushmitha. They were always affectionate to me which I liked the most. Roopa made me laugh all the time in the class cracking jokes and I enjoyed it, Sushmitha loved to enjoy all the time, she was very outgoing and open. She likes me so much and one fine day, we were playing games, she came to me and said she likes me for no reason; I was quite impressed by the way she expressed her feelings towards me. Sometimes while gossiping in the prayer hall we were caught by our English Lecturer who was very strict in punishing. I never got any punishment because I was a bright student in English, my favorite subject, I was fond of English since my childhood and read many of those Wren and Martin grammar books and I even completed doing Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis in my 10th Standard. My English Lecturer was Satyavati Mam, who taught us every lesson as if it were a real story and I was completely captivated by her teaching. I know teaching is an art and very few own it in their style.

There came a point where nobody was able to understand what was going in my mind. My father being a concerned parent thought I had some problem with my friends; however, it is definite that Mom is the one who can understand anything and figure out every issue, I just love her madly for this insight. She wanted me to focus on my studies and spare some time for my interests as well. She joined me in a dance class, and then I was also doing some pencil sketches whenever I had free time. This was my hobby where I can admire the beauty of nature; make some beautiful paintings and portraits when I was not able to sleep in the late nights. For this reason, I was often late to my college which gave me very bad feedback in my prospectus. Of course, it was common that the latecomers were taken to the principal’s office chamber and given warning of phone calls to parents, and then they sent us back to the respective classrooms.

I had the same excuse every day though nobody understood what exactly happened. I used to stay awake the whole night crying sometimes and thinking most of the time, writing some letters, reading some poetry or listening to music. This gave me sleepless nights and not being able to wake up in the morning due to severe Migraine headaches. I tried to study better but was able to score only the average marks of 80%. Then my mom told me to decide what I need to study further, asked me to proceed in that root, she convinced my father and they both joined me in a coaching institute called Abhyaas for getting trained to the Law entrance exams. There were three hours of Classes on weekends which I loved the most and I was counting every weekday eagerly waiting for the weekends to come. It was a very interesting, fun and a great time to learn many new things. There were different people around me and I really enjoyed being an active student in the class. Quantitative Aptitude, Logical Reasoning, Legal Aptitude, and of course my favorite English comprehension, grammar and vocabulary were the subjects emphasized.

I had a habit of writing diary since my childhood and I had to stop it in the middle because it was not maintained as a secret notes instead my Father used to read it and inquire frequently, I felt it must be causing additional worry or tension to my parents and I felt it was not needed at that point. Then there came a day where Sonal Jaiswal, my instructor or mentor at Abhyaas asked us to read some novels and write the summaries on our own which I felt as the most interesting thing to do. Here I got two really cool friends, Nishita and Kriti, they both were nice to me, sometimes I was disturbed thinking of my brother but they were always concerned about me.

I had a lovely time with them throughout my course. We were given a week’s time and asked to submit at least one review of a book. However, I found this as a wonderful challenge and spent most of my time in the college library. My friends were gossiping that I was wasting my time and behaving in an abnormal way, but then it really did not affect me because I was never bothered by what others think of me. I was enjoying my new hobby of reading and writing, sharing my knowledge and experience at Abhyaas with Roopa and Sushmitha in my leisure time. Even they were supporting me in all my talks. The next class at Abhyaas, I submitted the reviews of those three books that I borrowed and read from my library, My Mam was happy to see my work because half of them did not do the work, some actually forgot and others had lame excuses. A few had submitted the reviews in a short form which was like a small paragraph. She appreciated me for my work and gave another set of instructions to write some poems, stories on our own.

This again made me think of my diary which I never opened after my 10th standard, it’s been two years since I touched it, the diary also includes a few writings of mine on rare themes that I chose to write about life, love, hope, etc. I thought I could probably open it now but inside my mind, there was a hesitation, “what if your friends laughed at it? And what if Mam did not like my writings?” As I lay on the bed thinking of this, again there was a mild headache with slow pulsating sensation. All though I tried to sleep all night, it was very disturbing and making me physically restless and mentally unstable. The next day, I just woke up to the sound of a temple nearby and strongly affirmed my mind that I am not going to be late to college anymore. I did not have my breakfast and reached the college on time, my Principal saw me heading towards the queue for the prayer. She wore a puzzled look on her face murmuring something with my class teacher. I could figure it out that it was all about me.

There was a General Knowledge Quiz Competition held in our college, they selected five teams. Each team has five participants and there were five rounds. At first, I thought I could not do it as I had just started following the current news and doing some basic research in GK. Then my classmates shouted my name and my class leader wrote it on a piece of paper and straightaway submitted it to my class teacher. In each team, there were two seniors and three juniors. For one of the rounds which were to pick up a chit from the five chits, it was already revealed to us a day before itself that the questions are based on the story and life of five great personalities and we should come prepared about all the five of them, but the one (personality) will be decided on the spot when we pick a chit. The five personalities were Swami Vivekananda, Mother Teresa, Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Dr.Sarvepally Radhakrishnan, and Subash Chandra Bose.

In our team, we decided that each one of them will be collecting the information of one personality, I chose Swami Vivekananda and was browsing the net for more GK updates, I was so confused that I didn’t know what to read, what was important, the whole day I was so nervous and did not even had my dinner. My mom was completely upset about me and did not talk to me that day. It is very common between us if she did not like something, she stops talking and maintains silence, I am the one who always cracks a joke to make her laugh and then we talk, it goes on like that. I was busy preparing for the competition and had to stay awake the whole night, it was already 6 am in the morning and I was ready sitting in my study chair and turning the pages quickly as I glance at the notes, I remembered I need to study about the personality round quiz, so I started one by one, it was already 8 am, I had to start to my college. I did not read Dr. Sarvepally Radhakrishnan’s story but I was sure someone in the team might have read it.

As soon as I came to the college by bus, running and breathing heavily, I could not stop my anxiety and nervousness. And I went to the team and asked who studied Dr.Sarvepally Radhakrishnan then Ramya said she was sure she covered all the details. We settled in our places arranged in the ground facing the audiences and our lecturers. It was so exciting that the first round we had cleared all the questions as it was provided with options. The second round began, I was actually shocked to my spontaneity, and I was wondering to my response, continued with the same pace in the other two rounds as well answering swiftly. There were answers from me even before the question was done. And the final round came, where we had to pick a chit and one of the teammates picked up. To my surprise, it was Dr.Sarvepally Radhakrishnan. Then I saw Ramya, she looked confident, and then they began asking questions were from which university he completed his education and in which university he was teaching. It was so shocking that she did not even speak out a word, then I had to take the mic and made some random guess, I was confused and gave the opposite answers to both the questions. The quiz ended and we lost it for two marks because of those two questions in the final round. I was disappointed not because our team did not win but may be for the reason that I did not answer those two questions properly.

I went back to the class and everyone was whispering Janani D like a famous song “Kolaveri Di” which usually my Maths Lecturer Jessy calls me while taking attendance. She is from Kerala and her pronunciation is very different and I often imitate her in the class. A girl from the next class came to our room and called my name, she said my Class Teacher was calling me, she teaches Maths as well and I get to hear her special lecture in the form of idioms and phrases examples of me daily whenever I was late to the class, this time, I was not late but what could be the reason. I went to the staff room where all the lecturers were correcting some papers, talking and laughing out loud. Anuradha Mam was having her lunch, so I stood there not knowing what to do. She saw me and suddenly got up in the middle then she washed her hands and searched for something in her bag, I thought it was a napkin but to my surprise, it was a bar of chocolate she gave me and said God Bless You, the words sounded so affectionate to me. She tapped on my shoulder and gave a tight shake hand. She told me the way I was brilliant in answering the quiz was just amazing, and also added, ‘it was not the matter of winning but participation matters and it is more important’ which I remembered very well and liked it so much. That day is unforgettable in my life to finding true inspiration in me. I never hesitated from then onwards and had taken part in every competition held in my college. This gave me a lot of strength and boosted my confidence in a great way.

Though my father often said that I was “Jack of all, but Master of none”. I never took it to heart; instead I thought there was nothing great about being a master in one thing. I always loved multitasking for the reason that I used to get bored very easily; I could not even stick to one particular thing for a long time. I would say this was my asset to explore something in everything. I was almost among the top three in any competition that I took part in, the most remarkable one was getting a gold medal with class rank 1 in an International English Olympiad conducted by Silverzone. That was a memorable event where my Principal addressed at a gathering of orientation ceremony for the newcomers and announced the results.

She gave a brief description about me and I received the Medal from the chief guest which gave me a great feeling which is very close to my heart.

After that phase of my life, I was pursuing BA LLB at OU Campus, and here also I got some noteworthy achievements but in a broader way. My internship experiences, moot court competitions, content writing courses, other life management skills taught me great lessons. As this was my matured stage, recently, I had completed BA, LLB and got myself enrolled as an advocate. My dream is to become a good writer and my Ambition is to become a civil servant. I have clarity in both of them, Hopefully, one day I would be standing in front of my Father as an example that it is better to be a “Jack of All, and Master of None” than to be a “Jack of All, but Master of one”. This is the story from where my real inspiration has begun and I wrote a few lines for keeping it (inspiration) up.

There is a lot in you;

Extract it with your efforts,

And try to use it for your benefits.

Never interfere in others matter

As unknown is the later;

Things get sooner better…

But you are your own inspiration,

This is what you need to remember!        

This was my first piece of writing in my secret diary which I had to show it to Sonal Mam at Abhyaas and she really liked it, it was read in front of all the batch mates, to my surprise everyone in the class praised me saying that there is something special in me to inspire.