CGPA vs Water purifier

Results for AU-affiliated colleges were announced yesterday! My GPA was 8.8  for last semester and as of now, my CGPA is 8.5!

Kicked the gate for it to open, walked fast! My father entered the hall loudly talking to someone on the phone call showing his outrage. After disconnecting the call, he threw the phone on the sofa and screamed, ”Maha! Fetch me some water”

My mom came with the glass of water from the kitchen. “The water purifier was under repair for the past two weeks & still it is”, she screamed and kept the glass hardly on the teapoy that the fully filled glass became one-fourth empty.

I was doing my own business somewhere by the corner of the hall swinging in the jhoola & I promise...I really don’t know how my CGPA is related to that water purifier under repair. He yelled at me,” Ravi uncle’s daughter has got 9.2 CGPA and is now placed in TCS, while you had 8.8 once, then 8.6 & now 8.5 & all you do is swinging in the jhoola  & turning the channels. Neither you watch something nor let us watch” and stared at me as if the water purifier is gonna work efficiently if I get 9.2.

I slowly got up, switched off the TV & locked myself in the room.

Do you all know something? My father was the one who taught me to be competent, able-minded & noble-hearted. He used to tell me, “Being a good human being, but not competent isn’t enough. Being competent but not a good human being is not acceptable. The need is for a good human being who is also competent. You must be able-minded & noble-hearted.”

He was the one who raised a question in me, “When ‘this AND that’ is possible, why should I settle for ‘this OR that’?

He was the one who made me realise that there is no point in being a mere bookworm while all that I need in my life is the Holistic development. I still remember the words he spoke to me that night before my first day in college. He said like...

"A singer who also knows to communicate well is always a better singer than who knows only to sing. That’s Shankar Mahadevan’s edge- a great singer who is also a good communicator. A cricketer who is also good at relating with other people is certainly a better player. That’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s edge- a good cricketer who is also great in relationships.A student who knows four languages has an advantage over those who know only three languages.  That’s why Indian students always do well in America. Indian students have the edge of knowing more than one language. If you want to be able-minded, if you want to be competent, if you want to have an edge over the rest, you have no choicesleft than to develop yourself in multiple intelligence. Those who develop multiple intelligence are always spotted in a crowd. So, this year as you enter your college life, not only focus on your academic brilliance but also focus on developing yourself in multiple intelligence."

He told me like this & now changing his principles for that damn repaired water purifier. May be his anger on frustrated expectations he had on me or that caller whom he was showing his outrage or that one –fourth water spilt on the teapoy or me swinging in the jhoola or the inability to grab the remote from me, made him shout at me.

I know anger is a short-lived madness. But, I think it’s better for me not to come out of my room until the water purifier gets repaired!

With smiles...

Swathi !

(Investing myself completely in the art of living)

If nothing goes right, I sleep