A Pleasant Surprise from School

I am 22 years old currently and regret the fact that I do not have a driving license yet. Currently fed up with the poor state of public transport in Chennai, I decided to apply for my license and zoom away on the Activa at home whenever I wanted to. Day before yesterday, I had applied for the classes and brought the documents back to keep them in an important folder. It was a new folder with only my documents in it. I opened the folder to see this -

It was my yearbook from Omega! It brought a wide smile to my face and a flood of warm memories. I shoved the documents into the folder, took the yearbook out and tossed the folder back into the almirah. I was too excited to open and read everything in it.

12 A

I belonged to the "A" section of class 12. Most A sections have a reputation for being relatively studious compared to other sections. We are thankful to have not lived up to that name. I had especially contributed in mathematics where I failed most tests and exams until the boards (which I still do not know how I passed). From discussing answers and passing sheets in most exams, everyone taking a bite out of my lunch before 11 am itself, to watching films on the common shared drive in the computer lab, cooperation was at its peak - Grade A solid team.

A few glimpses from the yearbook

Although I am an industrial designer now, I am still clueless about what I'd be doing at 27 years of age and am equal parts excited about what's ahead! Well, 22 year old me still needs to be reminded to retain curiousity. The easiest part of growing up is the getting serious. Scaling up efforts and knowledge as we grow older gets taxing on our minds. Two things have certainly helped me are learning something new everyday and meditation.

Student Council

Taking up responsibilities and a leadership position was an underrated joy in school. Imagine being able to bunk boring academic classes to meet up and discuss exciting things! With the experience of leadership work that I had from APS, I could approach problem solving and discussions with my fellow council members in a less hectic manner. It helped me open up with my peers and helped me make new friends during the last year of my school.

While going through the yearbook I realized that taking leadership work was something I had enjoyed doing. I had voluntarily chosen not to do any leadership work two years into college and suffered the consequences. Being the complete opposite of a social butterfly, leadership work does help me meet interesting people and share experiences.

CWR

Connect With Respect (CWR) was one of the best things to have happened to Omega. I still cannot agree more with my feedback for CWR. The core of this programme was to approach all humans through the non-judgemental eye of love and it made tremendous impact to these teenagers getting out of their bubble.

Every Friday evening at school was spent sitting in a circle, meditating together and being transported to another world of positivity and love. Though I could not inculcate every learning in every situation of conflict in my life after it, I felt a massive shift in the situations where I had used them.

At the end of this programme, every attendee was gifted a book called "Non Violent Communication" from Liz Ma'am. Reading the book and remembering the warm smiles of Liz ma'am and Ushma ma'am helped me ground myself in a blissful state of understanding. I am immensely grateful to Omega and these wonderful people for inculcating the things that matter in me.

In my third year of college, dealing with uncertainity and a messy personal life had pointed towards habits that were not positively affecting me. I have been struggling for more than three years to understand the causes and put an end to the negativity. Despite being an overwhelmingly slow process, it is highly rewarding. A lot of the answers I have been seeking were the things that I had simply forgotten in the past. I just had to remind myself of a piece from before and pull myself up with it!

I understood that any kind of creative activity requires good psychological and spiritual health. Anxiousness, worrying about the future and regrets are extremely detrimental to my work and personal life.

So if you are an Omegite, I urge you to find your yearbook and reflect upon what has been mentioned. If you're not, its okay. Look into your past and there are answers certainly waiting for you. All you need is some meditiation and loads of patience with yourself!