In one of the training sessions held recently, the participants were allowed to ask questions to each other.

It is just a month since the college started, the students of the first semester are still quite new to each other.The class consists of an eclectic mix of individuals from different parts of India and even those from abroad.

When the task was announced with the mandatory rules for the activity, participants looked anxious. Some of them tried to go into hiding and were definitely not keen to stand up to ask a question.

Yes, there were doubts. What kind of questions do we ask? Can we ask the girls too? so on and so forth.

So,the first question to the student from Yemen was how did he find being here in India and he took the question sportively and answered that the culture in India and in Yemen was quite similar and he had no problem in getting adjusted to the place. The participants welcomed the answer with a round of applause.

Since the one who answered the question had to choose another to ask the question to before he could sit down, he came up with an interesting question, ‘Do you think people from other nationalities are welcomed positively in India or not?’. The girl who replied said that since India was multi-cultural in itself, people from different nationalities are welcomed here.

She then went on to ask an all important question to one of the boys about a ‘crush’ on any of the classmates. What I found very stimulating and bold was when a student from Nagaland was asked, if he faced any discrimination in Bangalore, especially in the university. The class was silent considering the intent and the impact of the question. The student who answered said that, yes, he faced a certain discrimination in Bangalore but not yet in the university. This was followed by a discussion on such instances and the idea of tolerance and intolerance in the society. After some discussion, the class reached a conclusion that if the student faced any sort of discrimination in the campus, the class would stand with him and ensure that it does not happen again.

That the class was discussing a topic like tolerance at a time when Rohingya refugees are being asked to return to their homeland was perhaps not lost on anyone.

Slowly the class was warming up to the idea of asking questions and facing them. Some one who was asked why he was very late to class every day, replied confidently, ‘I travel 57 kilometres  each day.’

Another person who the class thought was a geek was asked what his hobbies were? When he replied that it was hanging out with friends, the class did not still look convinced and suggested that he become a lecturer.

Young people need to be have time to discuss what is happening around them, beyond the text books, beyond the classrooms, way beyond their curriculum. Providing time to the youth to discuss and deliberate what happens around, what happens within and among them will probably be a good idea to let the steam out, build rapport, feel comfortable and make better relationships in life.

As a nation, we complain about the growing indifference towards socio-cultural situations and events among the youth forgetting the fact that we bring them up so secluded, so isolated from everything happening even in their immediate neighbourhood. How can we expect any one who has been told to focus only on his/her studies throughout to suddenly take cognizance of what is happening around?

If education was truly linked to real life then the repair of the roads, the throwing of the garbage, the collection and its disposal. the traffic, animal welfare, health, corruption and so many other so-called social issues could well be handled by our school and college-goers,don’t you think?

So Ahilya wore the short dress she always wanted to wear to college. It came up to her knees. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her face shone with confidence and a spirited sense of life.

She walked out to the bus stop to catch the college bus. She wore stockings because, you never know the local thugs, might just comment and spoil her day.

She headed to the college where she among the others who wore the best dress they had took to stage and rocked. Literally rocked the stage!

On her way home she heard someone mutter, “Look at her,so heavy and wearing a short dress!”. Ahilya did not pause to comment.

The day before, however, she was in knots. Her friends had told her that she will be the MC for the event and she did not have a suitable dress, you know a smart one.Ahilya ransacked her wardrobe and her eyes fell on this cute little black dress with sleeves and coming up to her knees.

“This is ideal,” she thought while slipping into it and finding to her delight that she fit in.

Some of Ahilya’s friends and seniors though had some nasty comments for her. Ahilya ignored them until she met a teacher who literally glared at her and asked her to go and change.Ahilya was shocked, there were others in short dress then what is the problem,she thought.

That she is fat ok. If there is sexism and racism, surely there is weightism, she said to herself.

She did not want to tell the gentlemen and the ladies who were busy criticizing her that her health conditions will never allow her to become slim or skinny or whatever and does she have to wait that long to wear her favourite dress, well, she is not going to do it.

So she wore it to the college and that was it. Some commended her, others mocked but you see, no one could dim the glow on her face.

That fat girl in a short dress is just another girl…

“How do I know it’s passion, when I see one?” asked the famed author Carmine Gallo to the equally famous Chef, Ferran Adria.

Ferran pointed at a wine glass and asked Carmine, “What comes to our mind when you see that?” A drink”, said, Carmine easily. “When I see a wine glass what comes to my mind is celebration, joy, fun and much more”, replied Ferran illustrating the true meaning of passion in the process.

Passion then is what you do out of love. It is that which sustains your soul and not just your monthly income.

Passion is what you can go on doing endlessly without having to look at time or crave for a break.

Maybe that’s why the greatest of artists are also so prolific. They seem to thrive on the quantity of work. When work is such pleasure, who would complain!

After Tom Sawyer of ‘The adventures of Tom Sawyer’ by Mark Twain sells the idea of white washing the fence as an activity of great value,Aunt Polly’s fence was white washed more than twice. Tom’s play mates literally vied with one another to help him, bartering their most precious possessions in return for ‘work’. Mark Twain remarks that ‘work consists of anything that a body is obliged to do and play consists of anything that a body is not obliged to do’. Passion makes work pleasurable like play.

The weight of expectations, a steady income,the society, misguided education often nips off a budding passion. Many of us spend a lifetime being unable to decide where exactly our passion lies.

I always loved reading and writing. Some later I realized that I also enjoy speaking, especially addressing large audiences. I found myself mostly on stage speaking and often training and encouraging my students to enjoy their time on stage whether it was for debate, elocution or simply anchoring for an event at school.

While my interest in writing lay dormant thanks to an unfulfilled ambition to become journalist, I kept writing off and on. It is only with time and much practice that I am able to put up my thoughts before you today.

Teaching is another passion I developed almost accidentally. I love teaching, being able to make even a small difference to someone’s life.When I look at myself today, I am glad that I have more or less interwoven my areas of interest into my life.

So, clearly my passion lies in each one of these areas of my interest.

To identify your area of passion,you should ask yourself, what gives you the purest joy?

Is it numbers,money matters, science or art? What makes you want to do something again and again?

What makes your heart sing, your smile brighter and your days happier. Go find it for yourself and do it.

It’s one life, live it the way you deem fit.

Live your passion! Live it big!