Life treats success and failure alike, but your attitude defines what you grasp
One can never know when life decides to challenge him. You think you’re comfortable but just then the bubble pops – ‘easy’ is a subjective word, right?
SCMC is that part of my life which challenges me continuously. It isn’t ‘easy’ for an all-time science student to not only cope with but also aim for palatable grades in Aesthetics, Political Science, Economics, History, Business Studies, Marketing and Sociology. You let no excuses of the previous study background come in your way because you chose this path and no one said that you could cross it while being in your comfort zone. However, you understand that theory is only 49% of it and this field requires 51% practical work (or so I concluded during my initial days here). Thus, amidst the struggle of grades, new courses, a new city, a new crowd, establishing an identity and maintaining your principles, you endeavour to grab opportunities for field work, co-curricular activities and new experiences to widen your horizon of knowledge, you want to calculate your steps, but not waste too much time in caution.
As Shiv Khera said in ‘You Can Win’, ‘time wasted is life wasted’.
The energy around the institute is addicting and makes you want to put your talent to the best possible use. Sometimes you’d succeed satisfactorily while at others, you’d fail miserably. Thus, the positive aspect of my journey during the first semester is that life treats success and failure alike, but your attitude defines what you grasp.
I learnt to not equate loses with failures but lessons learnt. Times when I missed opportunities such as Just a Minute, JAM in Madhyam or being the Master of Ceremony, MC in Vaividhya, my passion for public speaking didn’t deter but gradually doubt gave way. However, I was constantly reminded that I needed to improve and embrace the stage more than ever. I was reminded that here I would encounter a hundred other people, passionate about the same things as I, and so I had to traverse an extra mile to achieve the desired. Courses like Media Content Review challenged my academics while I still struggled with Economics. Another pillar of my life, writing, was going well but not as good as I expected it to. I was only publishing on my blog and could grab no chance to improve on a wider public platform. Maybe, it was too soon to expect anything but I know that I just wasn’t ready and had a lot of polishing to do before I could achieve even the least. Again, comfort zone was a forgotten concept and I had to keep my attitude towards these losses stable, for long term benefits.
I’d like to believe that in four months, I finally had traversed the hard road of perseverance to some distance, for not only was I given a chance at public speaking, but Symposia, by Symbiosis Centre for Management Studies, helped me discover my interest in spoken word poetry. At Panchgani, I finally co-hosted the cultural show of our batch. Having the opportunity to get published on Pune365, an online portal, gave me further hope. Additionally, I got an opportunity to work with my super seniors on a short film.
SCMC is an exquisite place to grow and understand yourself. You need to keep your ears and eyes open and focus. All these were minuscule victories, and of course, I still continue to struggle but I hope this is the beginning of my genesis, and that I have further to explore.
Article by: Yugika Mital (Batch of 2019)
Illustration by: Anwesha Basu (Batch of 2019)
