MY TRYSTS WITH LIFE (Speech)

Hi! My name is Gopal Sharma. I am 23 years of age. I am working here at Oceaneering as a Design Engineer. My father is a teacher, a strict teacher I should say. My mother is a home maker and world's best cook. My elder brother is an IT Engineer.

Today, I am going to talk about my trysts, i.e., some romantic moments, with life. Apart from being a Mechanical Engineer, I have great deal of interest in Creative Writing. I have a blog on which I write on highly irregular basis. The blog of mine has got nearly 3 lakh hits till date. Being a writer, what I look for in everyday of mine, is the content which I can put on my blog for my readers. For me, life is an assignment given to us by the almighty and we must always try to find the contents for it. At the end of the day, what will matter? Your content!

My way of finding the content for my assignment is very simple. I talk to people. I am going to use this opportunity which is presented to me today to narrate a few of the instances which have left everlasting impressions onto me.

First instance:

During my B.Tech., one day I was going back home after a long day in the college. Not to mention, I was a day scholar. I took an auto rickshaw. The auto was nearly occupied except one seat which was on the right to the driver in the front. As I was tired and wanted to reach home asap, I didn't hesitate taking that seat. On the way, I asked the auto driver a very tricky question. I asked him, 'What's the mileage of your auto?' I wasn't expecting a convincing answer. But, to my surprise, the auto driver did have an answer to that. He said, 'Sir, as my auto has a diesel engine, the mileage is good. It's around 50kmpl.' I was surprised more by the way he explained rather than what he explained.  Then I asked a second question, 'How much do you earn in a day? It must be a descent amount, huhh?' His response was a negative. He said, 'I don't earn much as I can't give my whole time to this. This in fact is my part time business.' I asked again, 'What else do you do?' He gave me a scare by saying, 'I am doing my B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from Kurukshetra University.' I don't remember his name, I don't remember his face, but, I will remember these words till the end of my life. 

Second Instance:

I studied in a Hindi Medium school till 5th standard. I had an excellent academics till that time. After 5th, my parents planned to admit me in an English Medium school. I was damn afraid. I always had that inferiority complex when it came to English schools. But, even after all my pleadings and promises of doing even better in the present school, I was admitted to the new school. I was a bit late in joining my 6th standard in the new school (1 & a half month almost). Then I had to cover the syllabus which was already covered and I was supposed to make a few friends from whom I had to borrow their 'fair copies' for copying. I did!

After then came the summer break. I was damn excited and a bit relieved too. I spent most of the 40-day break in making fair copies by copying from my friends'. But, I wasn't able to complete my Homework in time as most of my friends completed theirs at the last moment and I couldn't get the time to copy it! I couldn't do it myself either as the English Grammar was too hot for me to handle.

Well, the vacations got over. On the first day after vacation, in the morning assembly, our School Principal addressed us. She talked about different topics ranging from the significance of morning prayer and physical exercises to upcoming terminal exams and the significance of Homework. At the end of her speech, she asked, "Is there anyone who hasn't completed his homework?"

I thought that I'm gonna get in trouble if I don't raise my hand, as I thought that the teacher in the class will castigate me for not raising my hand in the morning assembly when the homework will be checked later in the morning. So, I raised my hand!

Principal asked me my name. I answered in my shivering voice. Then she asked me the reason for not completing the work. In my shivering voice, I made 'the second mistake of the morning' by saying, "No one gave me their Notebook to copy!"

The morning assemblies in typical Indian schools are noisy. Amidst the prattle, my excuse went unheard by the principal, but, my friends sitting around me got it! They chuckled and started murmuring. A few gazed at me too. I realized my mistake.

Principal asked again the reason for non-completion. It was the time to unleash Plan B! I started looking at the floor and behaved as if I'm the dumbest of the lot! As soon as the Principal shifted her attention from me, my friends pulled me down and I sat even when I wasn't told to do so. I got an important lesson that day: Plan B's are awesome!!!

Samuel Butler, an English author said, ‘Most people have never learned that one of the main aims in life is to enjoy it.’ Life is a journey and we must live it pretending that we will be writing an autobiography someday. Let's make everyday better than yesterday. So, when are you having your tryst with your life, huhh???