A report

This was a report I wrote in school last year. lot of my friends, rightly or wrongly said it was rather good.... So, enjoy!!!

To
The Principal
Loyola School.

The summer camp, which has been scheduled for the standard 12 has finally got an ideal site to be held on. A committee comprising of seven members of standard 12 visited the Rampur village, 15 km north of Trivandrum city. This scenic spot can be reached by bus and takes 30 to 45 minutes from the school.

The committee in charge of picking the site had decided that the spot should be scenic, picturesque, hold possibilities for recreation and above all, have friendly and welcoming natives. Rampur fit all these requirements. It is scenic and pleasing to the eyes. It also holds possibilities for trekking, rock climbing etc, which I am sure will be of utmost interest to my classmates. Even though a resident of the area said that seventeen people were killed last year while involving in these adventures, most of think he is joking. It had been agreed that the village should have connection with a main road leading to a town or city and the village headman informed us that there was an accessible main road leading to a town. The people of the village did not appear to be bothered by our presence and the village headman welcomed us all.

The camp is proposed to be held on a large expanse of undulating land,just outside the village. The whole place is quite beautiful, with three or four streams flowing by the site. There were supposed to be three more, but they had dried up by the time we arrived. There are small doughty hills on the outskirts of the site, which somehow reminds me of a bull terrier, and so promises plenty of good trekking and climbing. I just hope it doesnt turn back and snap at our heels. There are some steep slopes which shall be a challenge to the best of us and some rough rocks which can hurt if you dont do it right. The valleys are beautiful with a wide variety of plants with lot of biological diversity which would have made our E.E teacher shed tears of joy. There are plenty of plants which we havent seen elsewhere. One of the committee is a botany genius and told me the names of all those flora but I have forgotten all of them. The whole scene suggests the simple, wholesome and ideal lifestyle of the villagers.

We outlined our plans to the village headman, seeking his approval. One of his "advisers" was sceptic of our plans but even the headman thinks he is a joke, so we wont bother.

The village headman agreed to show us the main road and this he did by pointing to a brown dusty, crooked path (and I am understating it). We had not seen a single vehicle in this village and our taxi driver had not heard of the place and this put a bit of a dampener on the main road.It is untarred and the altitudes vary sharply with distance and was quite unfit for motor transport. One of us pointed out that the above arguments are reasons enough for it to be declared a main road. His argument was accepted without dissent.There is an old, almost dysfunctional post office along the main road. Nobody has received or sent any form of communication through the post office for well over a decade.It is still alive as it sells paan and allows its customers a lot of credit.

The local people are friendly, warm and receptive. Till now we have not received any concrete proofs of cannibalism in the region. Safety is another over-riding factor that works in our favour. Only a dacoit out of his mind would even think abut looting a place like this.

Finally, the village headman, impressed by our orderly conduct and fine disposition,consented to host us. We drafted an agreement which said as much in three languages, but found the headman illiterate. So we drafted another contract without arousing much suspicion and had the headman put his thumb impression on it. By that agreement, he has given all of the village ,a total area of 54 acres , to the school. You can now start building an indoor stadium there.

The whole village smacks of innocence and has clean fresh air which will make us healthy, hopefully wealthy and most improbably wise. We are looking forward earnestly to the summer camp.

Yours Sincerely,
Basil James.

On TCS IT Wiz

Everheard of jinxes? Of course you have. The great thing is to be a part of the jinx, a sufferer or at least a member of the group that suffers. It wasn't really a jinx, just a way for the outlet of dissappointment and frustration inside every Loyolite after every TCS IT Wiz.

It was almost incomprehensible. How could Jayachandran and Jian not win?They,that dynamic duo with brains enough for four, were constantly outwitted and relegated to second place (ugh!!).
How could Justin Thomas and Gautam Das fail? Once again second place seemed and was their fate. Why did Arun TP finish (you guessed right) second. All of them, the best quizzers in Trivandrum in their times, in case of the first two, the best (or one of the best) in India. They were beaten by lesser fancied opponents, opponents whom these enterprising Loyolites would have creamed elsewhere.

One can be forgiven for thinking that some jinx has been cast on our school. The school with a rather good quizzing history, has not since produced quizzers of the calibre of the above mentioned names. But still modest quizzers have managed to bring the school into the limelight - a journey capped by winning the TCS IT Wiz in 2008. Meet one of that pair which finally won- yeah, its me.

A long journey when I continously witnessed my seniors finish second, cheering wildly for every right answer they gave and leaving for home shaking my head. The journey almost reached its climax when we qualified to the finals in 2007,only to put up what may be the school's worst performance yet, a third place. But finally we reached the climax, and for the first time since the inception of the quiz, Loyola were crowned champions.

Its been a fantastic journey- from standard eight when we came, naive and got just four out of 20 in the prelims. That was the toughest prelims many faced and many quit after that. We had the sense to hang on and in the end we showed that perseverence pays. From four out of twenty to getting19 out of 20 in our final year has been a fantastic journey. We persevered and had a fair bit of luck.

Finally winning the quiz on tie breakers itself was a great symbolic moment- five years ago, when I had come for my first TCS quiz, Loyola were defeated in tie breakers. Despite many hiccups, despite being awed by the moment, despite history,despite many messups, despite missing lots of simple answers,despite an unconvincing perforance we managed to win. A win I sincerely believe that our school has a right to have. We have given our school something nobody else has. I am proud of it. I thank all my seniors who inspired me, all whose losses I was able to avenge.

Thank You Loyola for that one opportunity.

My Last Assembly speech!!!!

This was my last assembly speech in Loyola....its basically Chetan Bhagat's speech at Symbiosis, I just added a few lines here and there and made it somewhat relevant to school.................

Respected Father Principal, teachers, and my dear friends,good morning to all. Last week, one of my classmates, Abin, inspired us all to speak in the assembly.As a result, I am here. Hats off to him.

This day is about you. You, who have come to this school, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become something in your life. There are few periods in human life when one is truly happy. Though many of you may not agree with me now, school life is one of them. When you get ready for school, you feel a tingling in your stomach. What would be the day like, what would the teachers be like, who will win the football game at lunch break...... there is so much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if not all the time.


Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. The little kids in UKG have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from their teacher gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for birthday party – several months in advance – just for the day they will cut their own birthday cake.


When I see teenagers like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see older people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age, the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena Kapoor in the first half of Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is lost. So how to save the spark?


Imagine the spark to be a lamp’s flame. The first aspect is nurturing - to give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard against storms.


To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for you. It isn’t any external measure - a certain cost to company pay package, a particular car or house.


Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement. But it isn’t the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr. Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won’t be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday? They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel alive Just getting better from current levels feels good. If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your football will get better. You may also know that you cannot become a Pele or a Maradona yet. But you can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.


Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature’s design. Are you? Goals will help you do that. I must add, don’t just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.


There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.


You must have read some quotes - Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school, where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.


One last thing about nurturing the spark , I know many of you will disagree with me here,- don’t take life seriously. Don’t be serious, be sincere. Whether its your studies, your relationships or any of your goals. I get thousands of opinions on my way of living everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I live? Or rather, how will I live? Suppose one of our celebrities in society took up the newspaper one day and read all the news about him or her and then took it all seriously, then how will he or she live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It’s ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.


I’ve told you three things - reasonable goals, balance and not taking it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose.


Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don’t go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did this failure teach me? is the question you will need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades – how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you. But it’s life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember - if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that’s where you want to be.


Disappointment’ s cousin is Frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India. From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don’t know if you chose the right goal. Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it? Seek a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result. Even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life - friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously. There will be days when you walk back fromschool, brimming with disappoinment, your face long, and fling yourself into your bed. But remember, there will be days when you come home, your head held high and look into the mirror to see championship personified.


Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make it – not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in India, so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than you. In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty damm lucky by Indian standards. Let’s be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don’t. Don’t let unfairness kill your spark.


Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is Isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.


There you go. I’ve told you the four thunderstorms - disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

I hope that ten years later as well, your eyes will shine the same way as they do today. That you will Keep the Spark alive, not only through school, but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history. And there is something cool about saying - I come from the land of a billion sparks. And there is serious pride when I say, I hail from an institution of over 5000 ignited minds.

Thank You.