Moment of Truth

All the mess regarding the tug-of-war between DU and the UGG is making me pull my hair out. I mean it’s the day of releasing cut-offs and someone suddenly realizes that a debate on the FYUP is due. Great job playing with students emotions- as if the extreme agony of waiting in anticipation of the sky high cut-offs isn’t enough.

Real life is scary. We are being given hands on experience. Life skills? Check.

 All this worrying over my future got me in a rather philosophical mood and I started reflecting about when I first learnt that life was not a bed of roses. For most people it is a gradual process. Not for me. I can pin-point the exact instant in time when I realized this woeful truth of life.

It was the moment I decided to pick up Charles Dickens’ classic ‘Great Expectations’. It is a remarkable story about human relations and a study in human psychology.

And considering the kind of mood I was in because of the turmoil in the education system, I thought, what better thing than read the very book that taught me about turmoil in the first place.
 

To tell the truth, the first time I read the story as a kid, I did not fully comprehend it. But I loved the idea of a young boy rising above his misfortunes. I sympathized with Pip(the protagonist) when he was mistreated by Miss Havisham(one of the antagonists) and Estella(Pip’s cold hearted love interest) , I seethed in horror as Pip faced his ubiquitous problems and I was overjoyed to think that everything turned out well in the end. (It is a matter of perspective whether everything did indeed turn out well or not).

And while it might sometimes seem surreal for all of the world’s problems to seemingly befall one single person; the feeling of utter desperation that accompanies any problem is universally true. Ask us college hopefuls!

Reading the book helped calm my frayed nerves. I started to feel that whatever the issue, it is never too big. At present everything is too overwhelming- cutoffs, FYUP, the very idea of starting college- but two months down the line everything will be just fine. Trust me. And Charles Dickens.