Breaking the Ice

School farewell and more

Hey there, It has been a while now, hasn’t it! I realise I have not posted anything here for a few months however it does not mean I had not been writing. I did a month-long internship with Female Cricket writing almost 1000 words every day about women’s cricket. Other times, I was engulfed with exams and then post-exams chilling where I took some time to unwind with friends. After all, It was my 12th-grade board! However, I feel like I need to give all my dear readers and well-wishers an important life update and share my thoughts.

I just am done with my schooling! It is surreal to me that my schooling has officially ended ( I still need to pass my exams to graduate but we have a slight hope it will all work out in the end). I said farewell to school but now I hope I “fair well” in my exams ( haha).

We had our 12th farewell before our boards which was a very memorable day. I got to see my friends and my batchmates (some for the first time in person).

I wore my mom’s saree which made this even more sentimental. Quite funnily, her friends remarked that I pull it off better than she does.

Fortunately, the online school did not create any barriers as we cheered loudly, danced and sang and enjoyed all the performances by our juniors. These are some weird times we live in but it makes me feel all the more grateful that I get to say a proper goodbye to school. I joined Gitanjali 10 years back in 2012 when I was 7 years old. I was a VERY small fish who had been shifted from a small pond to an ocean. The world looked very new to me. Needless to say, when I entered Gitanjali I was scared and nervous but today as I step out, I am way less scared and nervous. I am proud and happy for who I became.

I will write more in detail about my thoughts on finishing school but here I want to talk about a question I was asked during my farewell. 

I had been nominated to compete for the titles Mr and Miss Gitanjali. We had to do a ramp walk which was great fun to do. The audience cheered as we posed and walked the ramp showing off our unique styles. Second, we were asked an impromptu question relating to the theme of our farewell, FIRE AND ICE. I was asked-

How would you light the fire within you, especially when you are faced with icy situations?

This question was deep and introspective. As I tried my best to reply to this impromptu question, I said that the icy situations are the barriers that we have created within us as human beings and the fire within me is the warmth and love which would melt these barriers.

Later as I thought of this question again, I had a different way of looking at it. So for now, this newsletter is my stage and YOU are my audience.

The ice barriers can symbolise the obstacles we face in life. Ice has a special quality called latent heat which means that it absorbs a certain amount of heat before showing any change. Just like that, every problem doesn’t go away immediately, it requires our persistence. Some problems are like ice cubes which are easier to deal with while others are ice blocks. Ice blocks are harder to melt. The fire requires more oxygen to face these problems. This oxygen is provided by our trampoline. I wrote a whole article on the Gift of Trampoline, check it out here. Simply put, the trampoline consists of our parents, family, friends, financial stability, opportunities, etc and the Gift of Trampoline is having the privilege of all this. They help us overcome the bigger challenges in life by being the oxygen to our flame and making us shine brighter and bigger.

Finally, there are icebergs. They seem small on the surface but that is only 10% of the problem. The other 90% is not visible and is present below the surface. These icebergs represent the fundamental problems we face in our society like gender discrimination, misogyny, racial discrimination, communal disputes, etc. These icebergs cannot be melted by an alone fire but by many flames coming together and becoming one. This giant fire that we form when we join forces is the only way we can face these obstacles. We all need to bring out the fire in us in the form of passion or even just warmth and burn down these barriers. Otherwise, we will crash into this iceberg and end up with the same fate as The Titanic. So let’s help each other to face bigger obstacles. We are not in this alone.

I would like to end with a quote from Tuesdays with Morrie-

“Love each other or perish”