Ha ha.. Not quite the summer of ’69.. But hey, it was one hell of a summer.
Here’s why.. Anyway, what did happen was I took
1)Taking a break: I had worked at Nineo for 2 years and in my 3rd 1st semester decided to convert my work into an industrial attachment. Now, simply put, I was a disaster in those 6 months. I am not quite sure what to blame it on – there was an obvious increase of expectations between being a student part timer and a full timer that I didn’t cope too well with, there was a lack of discipline in a lot of things I did that had never been tackled.. A whole set of things that needed fixing basically.
It was right at the end of the 5 month IA period that I had a chat with my mentors and felt that in this process of working all through, I had missed out on a few of the basic things a university student would go through. Most importantly, I had tried to jump my ‘teenage’ or rebellious phase where I could choose to do bugger all with my freedom and I felt it was best for everyone if I took a break – tried to spread my own wings and fly. This was also partly because I was part of a very caring ecosystem that went to any links to make things work out, and I felt it was time I tested out my own capabilities.. This was obviously a stage where I was gradually building more on the self confidence rather than the insecurity(slowly, at that) and I thought this was the best step. This inspiration about the teenage came from the ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ book which has become a personal bible of sorts (so important that I shall blog about it! :)). Every person grows up from dependence to independence to interdependence and jumping a stage never quite helped.
So, here I was – all set to take a break from work and try my hand at student life. It started with a 40 day break at home(I had never been home that long in 3 years as I was working..) and 2 big things that happened that summer were..
Learning: Sometimes, its just important to question deeper motives and look at things from a higher level. Taking a break was a tough decision, but one of the best I have made..
2)Agnee and Bowling: As mentioned, confidence comes in building blocks. For 3 years now, I had been completely work centred and it was time for something different. The first big thing that greatly helped was my Mom’s insight into my strengths (if you ever want to know what your strengths are, I’d recommend you call your mother!). One strength she picked was event management and before I knew it, I had a chance. My high school was trying to shirk off a rather nerdy image and organize an excellent cultural competition over 2 days. My mother was in-charge of the team and they had been working hard to make it a grand success. I landed home 4 days before this program and thanks to Mom, took complete charge. I daresay it had quite an impact because things turned out very well.. This was thanks to training at RealAcad. Most importantly, my Agnee kiddos turned out to be the biggest success story as I watched them ‘grow up’ and bloom over those few days. It was an amazing experience getting my feet wet and a lot of that experience helped greatly in my foray into events at NUS with Sparkz..
The second big thing happened thanks to a friend who forced me to go to Down Under – a Bowling alley which was selecting students for the Under 21 state championship. It was an opportunity for us to bowl an extra set for the usual Rupees 100 (or 3 dollars) and we did so. It turned out that we were placed in the top 32 and after much consideration, I decided to give the finals a shot. Now, I had always been a casual bowler but given I have a passion for sports in general, I was not too bad.
What I wasn’t prepared for was the day itself. A lot of things went right.. When you aren’t amazing at a sport, a lot depends on the ‘day’ and boy, did things go well. I choked in the start in the finals though and made a come back only to lose by a point. However, with a day’s average of 160 and a new title of ‘Runner up in a Tamil Nadu state championship’ was not bad at all..
These two events were huge building blocks and I still can’t help thanking the heavens for a great summer..
Learning: Unexpected events often come our way. What matters is to be open.. And just understand that unexpected events and action also result in unexpected results..
With bowling, I had a lovely time following the tournament as I had lots of free vouchers and spent some time learning the game. I realized that approaching anything with an ability to learn always reaps rewards.. Also, some things are not meant to be. I had a chance to take it professionally but the impracticality was too big to ignore. As a learning experience though, it is not something I will forget..
3)The beginning of Sparkz and ArtVibe: In my new found zest for student life, I had decided I wanted to do something memorably and actually make a dent.
ArtVibe happened thanks to a close friend who was involved. I noticed the club looked like it was going to die.. And felt it would be a great challenge – more so, because I am as non-artsy as they can get. So, that was a new venture and a good chance to build a team and try and learn delegation because I obviously would be able to contribute only to a certain level..
Sparkz happened thanks to my existing ExpressionHappens team. We’d decided to do an event.. And we thought Sparkz would be a great idea – to choose 10 top finalists from all over NUS with talents like singing, dancing and loads of other cool stuff on show. So, we began the long approval process for the event..
Learning: We must believe we ‘can’ make a dent. They say success and self confidence is a chicken and egg situation. With more self confidence comes success and the vice versa is also true. Having said that, it’s easier to start with the self confidence than sit and wait for success..
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13 days to go..
A Learning a Day 