Thursday, October 28, 2010

Excerpts from UDAAN

छोटी-छोटी छितराई यादें
बिछी हुई हैं लम्हों की lawn पर.
नंगे पैर उनपर चलते-चलते
इतनी दूर चले आये
की अब भूल गए हैं –
जूते कहाँ उतारे थे.
एडी कोमल थी, जब आये थे.
थोड़ी सी नाज़ुक है अभी भी.
और नाज़ुक ही रहेगी
इन खट्टी-मीठी यादों की शरारत

जब तक इन्हें गुदगुदाती रहे.
सच, भूल गए है
की जूते कहाँ उतारे थे.
पर लगता है,
अब उनकी ज़रुरत नहीं.



Jo lehron se aage nazar dekh paati toh tum jaan lete main kya sochta hoon,
Wo aawaz tumko bhi jo bhed jaati toh tum jaan lete main kya sochta hoon.
Zid ka tumhare jo parda sarakta toh khidkiyon se aage bhi tum dekh paate,
Aankhon se aadaton ki jo palken hatate toh tum jaan lete main kya sochta hoon.

Meri tarah khud par hota zara bharosa toh kuchh door tum bhi saath-saath aate,
Rang meri aankhon ka baant-te zara sa toh kuchh door tum bhi saath-saath aate,
Nasha aasmaan ka jo choomta tumhe bhi, hasraten tumhari naya janm paatin,
Khud doosre janam mein meri udaan chhoone kuchh door tum bhi saath-saath aate.

Monday, July 19, 2010

RIGHT TO EDUCATION: MYTH OR REALITY

4th August 2009 marked a breathtaking leap of Republic of India into the realms of a new and a promising world assuring its future generations a bright future. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act entitles every child in the age group of 6-14 irrespective of his/her means and background, an equal opportunity to access to elementary education. This Act sees the dream coming true, not only of the members of Constituent Assembly but also of all the forerunners of Indian Freedom Movement who wished to see India as a strong and prosperous nation and a development gateway.
Some of the salient features of this historical act include the responsibility of the state to bear all expenses that might be incurred in the implementation of the Act. Also the Act directs that no school shall deny admission to any child in the age group laid down for any reason, and even the children from weaker and poorer sections of society shall be imparted equal education in the vicinity of their elite counterparts. Also the Act lays down provisions to improve quality of school education in India and also increase the teacher to student ratio. This is an ambitious idea indeed and requires an impartial and honest effort by every citizen of India. But undoubtedly, the legislation paves a way for a better tomorrow before India.
RTE comes with numerous hopes to curb social evils like child labour and even abortions by parents unable to afford the bringing up of the child. An uneducated underclass is a source of chaos and threat to the middle class notion of order. However now we can hope a faster recovery from this practical incumbency of underprivileged remaining the losers. This is an excellent platform for reaching the unreached. The target bunch of this act is surely not the elite class but the dwellers of poor villages, slums and wards of labour class, who can be often seen polishing shoes, washing car screens, picking up empty bottles from municipality garbage bins or brining you tea in cheap restaurants in mighty cities of India. Their shabby appearance and untended ways can be repulsive, but they have very well proved their strong will to excel, by setting exemplars of succeeding in nation’s toughest competitive examinations of IAS, IITs and MBBS colleges. The infamous institution- Super Thirty in Patna is a self evident example of the fact, that given a single chance, these underdogs are in no way lagging behind.
But framing the Law is just not enough. The big question mark that lies ahead is how to bring this myth to a reality? And the bitter fact about reality is that the children one finds lurking around on roads and crossings, selling magazines, pirated books, showing around juggleries or circus stunts, or maybe even begging are not there out of choice, but out of needs. They need money to buy food, for themselves or for their families more desperately than education. If one ever spares a minute to ask them if they would like to study, one would find a blunt answer, “No, What would they get from education”. These children hardly find any motivation to miss their daily earnings of few bucks to go to study, which hardly would have any fruitful prospects to them in coming years. Even parents are not ready to send their children to schools because of same reason.
The second potential threat to RTE is the pathology of infrastructure in India. With 40 million new candidates to schooling under RTE, our schools don’t appear prepared at all for the implementation. It seems that the Act needs a gestation period of much more than three months that have elapsed since its commencement. Though government has directed private schools to have 25% quota for admissions under RTE, this just doesn’t seem to be working out. There is an utter need for finer details and more workable guidelines to be laid down for properly channelizing efforts towards implementation of the act. The government aided school which can prove instrumental in growth of suburban elementary education are not adequately equipped with infrastructure and faculty. The Act indiscriminately forces itself upon the private schools to admit every child has certainly brought the furore from the latter. The elite schools are unwilling to dilute their ‘culture’ by taking in children from the weaker sections of society in the same class rooms as their other high class students whom they look upon as the leaders of tomorrow who would bring laurels to their scoreboards. Moreover this poses a financial overburden on schools who charge tens of thousands of rupees as annual fees. Other random reasons also always become cases of intense concern. The recent denial of admission by a Mumbai school to a girl witness of Mumbai terror attack needs a lot of deliberation on the stakes of both the school and the girl child. India being already being in a phase of rapid economic development in every phase, really needs to keep the infrastructure development with high priority to fully enact RTE.
It has been a common notion and experience, that various relief packages, funds, and development budgets passed by government are hardly seen actually reaching the hands of needy. RTE might not seem very analogical here to the colossal and high profile construction contracts, or welfare schemes but certainly is very prone to fall to corrupt ends, since as described earlier, the targeted receivers under this act shall be the poor, who have no power and have been suppressed since ever. So it is very important for the government to be an alert watchdog in the implementation of various schemes of infrastructure development, faculty recruitment and distribution of funds till the grass root level. It’s important to impart a decent education or no education otherwise.
It is said that the real foundation of a student is laid at an early age. The RTE act emphasises on elementary education for the children of age 6-14. But it doesn’t aim at the pre-elementary foundation of students below age of 6 which is very important for settling the socially weak but mentally brilliant children in the mainstream. Though this expansion can be thought of at some later stages, but this is absolutely important to turn the basic idea behind RTE a reality.
In spite of all the facts above, we cannot give up here. Just because the present form of RTE is not a very close to its goals doesn’t mean that we give up on millions of children. The initiatives and endeavour taken by the centre in hand is undoubtedly praiseworthy. And we all can contribute in it by helping children around us to have access to education. Quoting from a newspaper; “Even if a fraction of poor children is able to get into schools which offer quality education, just imagine the social revolution that will gradually unfold.” This is a dream which has already transformed into an idea. An idea whose time has to come, and soon it will be transformed into actions and results and reality.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Effects and side effects of the Government’s decision to decontrol the prices of fuel

Introduction:
Government of India has always been striving for the betterment of India and its people, and has been taking various steps to take India to the genre of developed countries via its Planning Commission, Five Year Plans and its Annual Budget Policies. Taking in view nation’s need to develop its infrastructure, industries and agriculture, Govt. of India had been subsidizing the prices of fuel, i.e. petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG, considering it an important entity for growth, and hence insulating it from the international fluctuations and high prices. This made fuel easily available at affordable rates to every Indian, from household use to agricultural demands of farmers and for transportation throughout the country.
However on the recommendations of Dr. Kirti Parikh Committee setup by Planning Commission, on June 25, 2010, Finance Ministry announced the slashing of subsidies on the prices of Petrol resulting in an increase of Rs. 3.7/l and also announced a price hike of Rs. 2/l on diesel and Rs. 35/cylinder for LPG. It is also speculated that the prices of diesel and LPG will also be decontrolled in near future.
This decision was taken with mixed opinions of likes and dislikes. We shall discuss in detail it various effects on people and various sectors of industry.

How did it used to work, and the inside glance:
The prices of crude petroleum are decided on the basis of international demand and supply charts and keep fluctuating. The prices have soared up to all time high of $146/barrel in recent pasts and currently are around $75/barrel for crude oil. This is equal to Rs 22/litre approximately. After refining costs and various taxes and levitation costs, the prices reach what they are in market. But Govt. of India puts a cap on the Base selling price for companies and also reduces various taxes to overall decrease the rates. This is done to provide a boost to various industries and agriculture. But as analyzed by Parikh committee, this led to high losses and under recoveries incurred by public sector companies summing up to more than Rs. 250 crore per day. Moreover under the shared subsidy arrangements, a large chunk of these losses were replenished from the coffers of Indian Government itself, thus causing an indirect loss of people via taxes.

Good news:
The first and foremost beneficiaries of this decision would be the National Oil refineries and Oil Trading companies, which will be able to recover their fiscal deficits due to rising gaps between international and domestic fuel prices. The decision will lead to decrease in the under-recoveries by almost Rs. 25000 crore per annum, which will boost the ability of oil firms for exploration of oil reserves in domestic fields and acquisition of international assets. Various private companies like Reliance, Essar and Shell will also be able to enter the market of Oil Trading hence increasing competition.
The decision will rein in the fiscal deficit of government by more than .6% of GDP, and the savings would be utilized in providing better facilities to people and various other development schemes. The fiscal deficit management will give a high stability to India economy in global markets.
Even the auto-industry hailed the decision of decontrolling prices. Increasing diesel prices will now discourage use of diesel cars, as the real reason behind subsidy was to facilitate transportation of various commodities and not personal and household usage. Even their will be a shift of freight movement from trucks to railways, which consume 4 times lesser fuel. It was studies that trucks and buses accounted for 49% of diesel consumption while only 12% was used for agriculture.
Another very important impact of this fuel price hike is an incentive to people to reduce their energy usage and switch to other non-conventional renewable resources of energy. This will be a major step in resolving the fuel crisis and would serve as a timely measure to adapt to the fast depleting fuel reserves on earth. This will serve as a wakeup call to all those who had taken the generosity of government and subsidies for granted. Using energy from wind, water and sun, and decreased number of small cars and increased use of public transport will solve a number of issues, like pollution, road traffic, energy crisis, and will also serve as a source of income to government and employment to people in public transport sector.
 
Criticism:
An immediate effect noted out of price hike announcement is the inflation. The finance ministry's chief economic adviser estimated that the deregulation would add 0.9 percent to inflation. At times when prices of even the most basic commodities for existence are at record high, this price hike has come as an unbearable burden to the middle class. Due to higher transportation costs, food price inflation has reached 12.83% and a cascade effect will cause increase in prices of other commodities as well. It is not hard to realise that practically everything being used by us in directly or related to diesel which accounts for 15% of the costs. With 40% Indian still below international poverty line, this untimely price hike will only lead to increasing ridge between the rich and the poor, given the upper strata of society will be meagrely affected by Rs 3.00 hike in its already very high expenditures.
Opposition has strongly opposed the fuel price hike calling the govt. claims as bogus that this decision was in taken keeping in account high pressures of International rates. It has recommended reducing the sales and custom taxes instead to make up for the PSUs losses, which were kept at 100% of the normal. It is highly unjust to make people pay for inefficiencies of PSUs, which can increase their profits in other petroleum products which are not controlled.
Moreover, it has been observed that the reduced government losses are hardly utilised in any development activity and the money is spent in the lavish budgets of ministers and high profile government officials.
Agriculture has recorded a negative growth and speculations are being made that fuel price hike might pose a danger to national food security. With increasingly erratic behaviour of rainfall and critical water situation, irrigation by using diesel pumps is all time saviour of Indian agriculture, which will be adversely effected by diesel’s increased prices.

Justifications and measures:
To some relief, government has already declared to reintroduce the price control if the international crude oil prices climb above $100/barrel. Concerned over inflation, government has already moved RBI to take sensible steps in its monetary policies to control inflation. Government has justified that petrol being an item of final consumption, hardly causes inflation and has promised to take adequate steps to check the rising prices.
Government shall also fix a minimum support price for major crops so that price hike does not affect farmers. To buffer the undesired effects, government should also try not to decontrol the prices of diesel and kerosene until out domestic market gets stable and inflation is controlled. It is agreeably necessary to match Indian fuel prices to the international ones but such steps taken slowly will give enough time to public to get comprehensive with the changes.
It should also strive to place an effective targeting system in the machinery to save BPL households from drowning under the burden of inflation, and should take steps to ensure that benefits of reduced deficits and increased income does reach the poor. The decision is a very remarkable one to take India at par with its major counterparts in International markets, but it should not be allowed to reap on the life of BPL and middle class people, who are not concerned with what happens in world of dollar, euro and rupee but just with their daily bread.
Government can also direct state governments to be vigilant that the subsidies are utilised only by those for whom they are meant, and should fine and tax the adversaries heavily. Encouragement should be provided to private sectors enthusiastic of introducing alternative technology to Oil, like Tata, Honda by extending best help possible for setting up such R&D laboratories and manufacturing plants, so that India can become capable of sustaining the inevitable energy crunch waiting for us in future.
 
Conclusion:
Critics shall always criticise any change brought forward, as this is what they are supposed to do. But they fail to recognise the far-ended vision behind this step, which had to be taken sooner later. One must appreciate Government for its politically bold step. On the other hand, it is our duty to instead work harder and grab numerous opportunities being provided by government and try to pull ourselves from the bondage of poverty, instead of just depending on subsidies and poverty schemes of government. Change is the law of nature and we must adopt a positive approach to change with the situation if we really wish to come out of this seemingly everlasting tag of a ‘developing nation’.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

A moment to stop, recollect, and move on...


“F*** POLTU”
This was the piece of welcoming text that greeted me as a fresher, when I first stepped up to the D Wing of my hostel on my first day in IIT Delhi. Painted boldly in dark color on the facing wall (my wing mates would know it better) of our wing were these two words, defiantly challenging us into the IIT life. “F***” I knew from a dictionary, was a slang. This made me feel even more embarrassed with my family along, who I feel were pretty well disillusioned of the premier institute’s hostel culture. The second word however hardly made any sense to me and I assumed this to be someone’s nick or character and prayed to be forgiven of any such gratitude. But hardly did I knew, that very soon that second word would become an intrinsic part of my life @ iitd.

Now I really can’t remember whether it was me who myself got into this POLTU stuff or someone got me into it. Though I strongly feel that my nature always had a strong affinity to the ‘game’ but I am still sceptical. As they say, the higher one rises in tree of hierarchy, better can one see its own branches. It is now I realise, that from day 1, the people I used to meet and interact with, highly catalysed my growth as a POLTU.

Now for those who are still clueless about what’s this POLTU, for them, POLTU is short term for IIT D Politics. And when we talk of politics, there have to be the parties, better known as alliance in POLTU lingo. A great person has well said- “When there are boundaries, one has to take a side”. Though many will not accept this, but this is truth and a fact that even those calling themselves “Anti-Poltu” cannot deny. What is more important is the level of commitment one shows, because to get something one has to commit himself to it and be ready to pay for it. There were always mixed sentiments about POLTU I was exposed to, before I actually understood it, becoming a part myself. I hear the phrases till date; ‘Poltu sucks’, ‘ it’s dirt’, ‘it estranges one from his friends’ etc. I won’t comment on national politics, but IIT politics has been nothing similar for me. I have got some of my best pals here. The bond is imperishable. In fact it was here I realised who can be a friend indeed, the one who shall stand by me beyond everything else. Apart from POLTU, the people I got to know would last forever in the list of close friends. I have always been fond of social networking. This was undoubtedly a path to facilitate it. Not only I have learnt to take decisions, but to work hard, to work passionately, to work for others, to control my emotions, to evade slumber, to achieve, to be optimist, and to look for good in everything and nothing. It has been here, that I learnt some really important lessons of life, which I somehow missed due to my pampered brought-up.

What I have summed up in all these years is that Politics is nothing but an ideology and actions to support it. It’s all about a perspective to look at things. Until and unless one can tell apart ambition from greed, power from responsibility, interest from opportunity and vengeance from revenge, politics shall always be a machinery for general good. Though I have myself like my other fellows, been often put to the hard tests in its course, I shall always cherish my experiences with poltu @ iitd throughout my life.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Fundae

This  interview answers to some general queries of aspirants for exchange program.
(www.cafeiitd.com)


Why should one choose to go on exchange program?
Exchange program serves as a medium of exchange of not only academic and cultural intellect, but also ideology, traditions and values. Meeting people of global persona helps one hone his/her personality and clarify one's vision for the world.
But before choosing to go for exchange, one should be clear about his future plans. The exchange program is not meant just for an international exposure to research and education system,  since a period of 4 months is just not enough for it, but it’s more precisely a cultural exchange.  It’s meant for people open to discussions, those who like to interact with people, those who enjoy living different cultures and those who love to travel. This is a wonderful platform for you to get an insight into a completely different university culture, share your ideas with others, understand differences between a developed and a developing country, widen the horizons of your thoughts and to represent India and its values. The responsibility you get while on exchange, to completely plan your stay yourself, and that too in a completely new environment will help you groom your personality, management and communication skills. This can also be a very good chance for you to learn new languages. If you’re not much interactive then the only thing you would end up enjoying would be high speed internet.

Do we miss on anything here like internships and all in 3rd year because of exchange?
Yes definitely, we miss out on the companies that recruit for internships during the 5th semester and most of the non-core companies like ITC, UBS, Barclays, Schlumberger etc. come for on campus selections in 5th semester. But many more come in second semester, and I think that this trade-off is worth it.
However, some companies might also take telephonic interviews, so one can apply for those even while on exchange.

As far as second year internships are concerned, the students going to France need to stay back in Delhi during summer vacations for French language classes at Alliance Française, which are compulsory and France happens to be the destination for most of the exchange students. But in case, you choose to go to Hong Kong, Sweden or Canada then you can go for a summer intern after your 4th semester.

How much value does it carry on your CV for final placements?

I feel Exchange program comes across as a very good achievement in your Resume as student exchange is an official process and the selection after a rigorous interview process counts a lot. International exposure and better interaction skills are always liked by the companies. More importantly, the off-line value addition that you incur, which may not be visible in general, is easily seen by the company recruiters in the interviews, if one has really done justice with his foreign stay.

Do you think the cap on CGPA for exchange eligibility is justified?

I think a minimum CGPA requirement is justified, since otherwise its not easy to manage the academics in foreign institution, given that the language in which courses are taken is also different and one might end up failing the courses.
However, contrary to what happened last year, short listing for interviews must be done on the basis of applications and not simply on the CGPA basis, once a minimum cut-off has been decided.

What's the one best thing about exchange?

Everything’s great about exchange and it translates to one of ‘THE’ best experience of life so far. You’re care-free; you’re in a new world and travelling like never before. I still miss my exchange days and the memories are as fresh as yesterday. A break from the hectic life of IIT, the awesome food and exploring new places make it all memorable. I’d say don’t go on exchange if you want to go there and stay in your room or mug up again. It’s for flying free and getting a change.

We have heard that students don't study when on exchange because grades don't matter their and hence some of the super bright IITians end up failing in a course of two??(Any Statistics)

I think that the administration has been thoughtful enough in auditing courses as students on a cultural exchange are not supposed to worry about academics. They’re encouraged to take open courses and humanities courses which help them know better about the culture of the host country.
And since, there’s a lot of language problem, people might not get very good marks but that’s not because of them being lazy or not studying.

Is it true that the level of studies there is very easy?

I think the work load is quite less as compared to that in IIT and examination procedure is relaxed with only 1 or 2 exams per subject. In spite of this, students remain quite involved throughout the semester. There’s a lot of focus on practical education over theoretical which makes it more of a fun.

How's the attitude of professors?

Professors are very helpful. They know exactly about the problems faced by us coming to a new academic and social culture and hence always lend a helping hand.

We have also heard that students usually get equivalence of about over 30 credits while in a usual semester they only can do max 26 credits, So How many credits does or can one person get in the semester spent for exchange?

I’m not sure since I haven’t got equivalence yet but Dean, UGS has said that we won’t get equivalence of more than 28 credits which happens to be IIT Delhi’s limit for allowed credits. The equivalent credits are calculated based on number of contact hours so taking a lot of courses with one or two lectures won’t help in getting a lot of credits.

How's the lifestyle over there and especially night life?

As far as France is concerned, the lifestyle is completely different from that of Indians. French are not as hard-workers, and enjoy life to best of their capacity. They have completely different food and clothing habits. Most of the markets close quite early as French like to spend time with their family. Students are quite open minded. Drinking is a custom, and French wine is world famous. There are frequent night parties, and people go crazy and dance nightlong, and still attend the early morning classes the next day. Population is much lesser, and cities are calmer. Most of the things around, like in shopping malls, streets etc are automatic, and it’s fun to see things happening all by themselves in the beginning.
France is a country where one can get a glimpse of millennium’s best art wherever you go; and needless to mention the natural beauty. Being home to some of the renowned pieces of art, it’s a dream destination.

Do you suffer any kind of racial bias or how's the treatment of people over there?

No, Not at all. The people are very friendly. People are always ready to help with a smile and in fact, keen to know about India - especially "Bollywood" and are fans of Indian actors and actresses. Most of them I talked to always said that they wanted to visit India, and were eager to know more about Indian culture. These universities have a diversified exchange program and we get to meet people from other countries on a similar program.
There are forums to represent your country, like we had International student's week in Toulouse. Even in my humanities course, my French team mates wanted to choose the some Indian topic for our final presentation, so that they get to know more about it.


How's the food specially keeping in mind the vegetarianism in India?

If you’re non-vegetarian, you get to eat one of the best delicacies in the world as European food is indeed tempting. If you’re a vegetarian and don’t know cooking then you might have a hard time because even a McD burger or sandwich has non-veg in it. However if you know cooking then you can get all the stuff in the various super markets and kitchens are readily available in the hostels to cook. I had some friends who were vegetarian and cooked their own food so I don’t think it’s really something impossible but may be a bit uneasy. In the beginning it can take time to adjust but one learns to get used to it soon, and that what it means to be on exchange.

We also see that there is tremendous potential for travelling to different countries when on exchange, is it true??

The biggest reward of going to Europe is that you get to travel as many countries as your budget allows. The students get a Titre de Longue sejour (equivalent to Schengen Visa) which allows you to travel freely across the whole of Europe. The network of trains throughout Europe is quite good, and if you buy a Eurail Pass, the travel becomes very easy and cheaper.

What was asked in the interview for the exchange program? What do you think made the cut for you? Any advice to the students applying for exchange


Interview for exchange is a very casual talk about you and your interests. Basically what the panel wishes to see in you, is that how diverse and versatile personality you are, whether you are fit enough to represent IIT and India. They will scrutinize how genuine you are. And they would see if you will be able to adapt yourself well in the new system.
Most of the time, the interview revolves around what you have written in your application form, about your interests and other activities apart from studies. There’s a lot of cross-questioning to make sure if you mean what you say. So it’s safer to be honest with your answers. You can write anything you have ever done worth mentioning in your life, be it music, sports, writing, reading, dance, singing etc., but make sure that if you say it’s your hobby, then you better be ready to answer some trivia related to that.
Having a general knowledge about the various countries that are covered under exchange is also helpful.
Your SOP (Statement of Purpose) is quite important and should be carefully written and structured well in a way to present clear thoughts about what you expect from exchange and why should you be selected. So take time to think before you fill your application form.
And finally, keep your cool and be yourself. It always works.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Not Made for It...

Not even a week left for Minor-I to begin, and that too after almost 6 months in my case, and loads of other important works to deal with, I am finding myself idle!! After having slept for almost 3 hours after a dismal lunch, I still found myself unable to feel like studying. With my proxy also squished, I had nothing better to do than trying to keep myself into the books. But then came the generic loud announcement of some other wing-mates, inviting for a game of TT. Last time I picked up a TT bat was only in my first semester, and then I had played terribly bad. Discouraged, I had given up, convinced that it was not my cup of tea and since I am used to playing badminton, I was hitting too hard (Badminton is the only sport I am quite good at :) ). But today's boredom took me unguarded, and I without giving another thought, followed others to the TT Room, at least I could be audience.

The first game between Rijul, Mittal, Tiwari and Dude was no where near a show. Everyone seemed to be hitting in darkness with Mittal occasionally hitting some nice shots. Tiwari and dude seemed pathetic. Then I felt that perhaps I had given up too early. The small ball, that hardly needed a flick to be sent across the net suddenly appeared to be manageable. I completely ignored my previous failures, whenever I had tried my hand at sports. Since childhood I had been exceptionally bad at one thing, it was sports. We used to play cricket in our colony playground, and I owned the (dis)pleasure of being taken last in a team, owing to my weak game. It used to be an achievement for me to score some thing like a four, or field even somewhere near the boundaries, leave apart a catch. In school, I always liked to play football, hockey or basketball, because in these games my individual performance was hardly noticed and I enjoyed running from one goal post to other. I used to be stronger in indoor games like chess, carrom and computer gaming, though my this belief was also shaken when I met champions in IIT.

Soon after school, I got lost in books, first preparing for JEE, and then in IIT trying hard to be called a nine pointer, something in which I was confident that I could prove myself worthy. It was after my first year in IIT, during summer vacations, when I again encountered by sports, this time Lawn Tennis. I always wanted to learn this game, thanks to my cousin who forced me to accompany him, and we joined a Tennis coaching club. After 45 days of real hard effort put in by me, I had finally learned to handle tennis and could play a decent game. My coach was also happy with my performance and told me that if I continue coaching, I could become a good player. But my vacations were limited and so were my days with Tennis. But one good day back in IIT, we decided to go for a game of Tennis. All were non-players and I was confident of doing better this time. But I don't know whether it was my incomplete knowledge in Tennis, or my friends' discouraging comments at some initial bad shots, that here was I giving again one of my worst performance in sports.

But today I forgot all those experiences, and started imagining myself playing with the harmless looking ball. And since the next game between Tiwari and dude was also nothing spectacular, I couldn't hold my emotions, and I stepped up to play a game with Rijul standing against me. First my serve.... Fault... Rijul serves... Sixer!!. Suddenly the same small ball appeared to have come to life, flying anywhere on its own. Sometimes hitting the roof, sometimes the floor, once this corner of the room,and then the other. I was hitting everywhere but on the table.....

History Repeats!! and I safely conclude. I am not made for sports!!