The Crowning Lap

Turn the gas up full, let go of all restraints and press down the accelerator with all your might!... That's not only how racers win the final lap of a crucial race but also how one should gear up for the last leg of any challenge in life! Life has already become a race against the clock and we have been speeding like bats out of hell to get things done! Yup, that's what it feels like to be in the final or pre-final year of college, something which any of my colleagues will wholeheartedly concede to.

Whether it be the weekly seminars, the run-of-the-mill drudge of practicals, the in-depth probing required to successfully complete an under-graduate project (which is just a stepping stone before the unveiling of the much grander post-graduate project), the extensive preparation required to crack nation-wide exams like GATE, CAT and UPSC, or even world-wide exams like GRE and GMAT, or may be just getting a research paper published in an international journal, all these are just tiny spectacles compared to the much bigger picture of one's career. And it wouldn't be an exaggeration to state that this is the exact situation concerning me, along with most of my batch mates, right now!

My hands are so full that I have had to let go of certain minor opportunities due to no other reason than a sheer lack of time to encash them. Our eyes must always be set on the bigger and more important goals, which is the reason why my schedule has forced me to face the other way, when confronted with the opportunity of tutoring our juniors, an hour a week, for a decent monthly pay of three grands, in spite of being fully qualified for the job. After all, working intelligently is a must, as in these competitive modern times, people get paid much more for the brilliance between their ears rather than the brilliance between their hands!

But even amid all the conundrum, there are always some evenings meant for some good-natured banter. The fifteenth of August, which also happens to be our country's independence day, turned out to be such an evening for me. It was my best friend's birthday celebration, and we preferred the woofers in our hostel room over going some place else in the pouring rain. A delivery from Domino's Pizza and a few other joints, combined with an almost unlimited supply of coke, helped aid our cause contributing to the variety of snacks ordered. It was a large gathering consisting of friends from different faculties and even seniors. Every one had a great time, and we rounded it off with some good old fashioned gossip, with popular music playing in the background. All in all, it helped us relax and get ready for the crowning lap of our student lives!...

Nitish's Birthday Celebration