Mr.P's Challenge 29

149. Once you have completed your education, would you return to your hometown to begin your adult life? Why or why not? (William and Mary)

My plans for the future changes everyday! The only thing that hasn’t changed is my desire to study in the United Kingdom. That is the thing that I am most certain about, but then again it is one of my dreams, and I don’t know if it will come true. I don’t even know where I am going to study yet and even if I did I am not sure if I will come back to my hometown. This decision is too far off in the future and I don’t think I should be thinking about it as yet. There are a lot of things that will matter while making this decision. If I get a better job offer in the U.K, I am pretty sure I will want to stay there. Then again I don’t even know where I am going to be in two years, I might just be studying in my hometown, who knows. This question looks too far ahead in the future and no one can ever know what will happen next.

I do, however, want to contribute in some way to my hometown. I have learnt so much from my hometown that I feel like I am in debt. I have to repay somehow, and if that means coming back for a little while and sharing skills that I have acquired I am ready to come back. At this point the only thing that I am thinking about is getting into a decent college. I haven’t really thought about my further plans yet, and I don’t think anyone should think about it, as it ruins the entire excitement of it all. I want it to just play out, I might have the time of my life or I might just hate every second of it, who knows. I just don’t think I should worry about it now, when I am anyway going to worry about it in the future.

Mr.P's Challenge 28

143. First experiences can be defining. Cite a first experience that you have had and explain its impact on you. (University of Pennsylvania)

I was in Delhi during my school quarter break. Throughout the trip we were traveling by cars. At one point though, we didn’t have a car and we were running late for lunch at someone’s house. So we decided to take the metro. This was the first time I ever traveled in a metro. I was with my mom and my twin sister at the time. This experience was very strange and new to all three of us. We were standing in front of the ticket counter, looking completely lost, as if we just arrived from a different planet! I was really fascinated by the whole experience, but at the same time I was a little nervous about it. India is not one of the safest places to travel like that, or so I had thought. I soon realized that I was wrong. The impression that people have of the Delhi metros is wrong.

The people who generally travel through the metros are the working middle class. People at the metro station were extremely kind and helpful, and that is not something you see everyday in India. I was a little surprised by the way they treated us and helped us out. I have lived my entire life in India and that experience showed me another side of my country. This experience made me more proud of my country than I already am. I loved that metro experience, and when I told my friend about it, who has lived his entire life in Delhi, he responded by saying “I have never traveled through the metro.” I was a little shocked when I heard this, but then I realized it made sense. He never had the need to travel by the metro. I really wish that everyone has the experience of traveling by the metro just like I did, and they will all see the side of India, which I had discovered in my experience.

Mr.P's Challenge 27

50. Tell us about yourself. (University of California)

1. My name is Prakruti Golechha
2. I have a twin sister and an elder sister (you can only take a wild guess on the kind of atmosphere at home, and that too will probably be wrong!)
3. I hate tomatoes. Tomatoes are red and squishy. They are disgusting.
4. I am a little shorter than most of my classmates
5. I laugh at the lamest jokes you will ever hear
6. I day dream sometimes while staring at someone. This makes those people very awkward and it is hilarious to watch them get confused.
7. I have the funniest and the craziest friends you can imagine. Although we live in a small city in the middle of mountains, we somehow manage to have a lot of fun!
8. I love watching movies.
9. I am equivalent to a monster when someone tries to wake me up from my sleep.
10. Unlike my sister, I am not very athletic. Actually I am not athletic at all.
11. I do not like it when I get bad grades. Not because I am afraid of what my parents will say or even of the fear of not getting into college. I just don’t like it.
12. My favorite word is “cytokinesis”. I don’t really know why though.
13. I am extremely bad at oral presentations.
14. I am a dog person as opposed to a cat person.
15. I think I talk in my sleep. I am not sure though.
16. I love food, as long as there aren’t tomatoes in it, or pieces of it at least.
17. I am a bad exam taker.
18. I love my country India. Not because I live there, but because it is hilariously weird!
19. I love eating ice cream in the winters
20. I always wanted to know what it feels like to walk on stage with a million people in front of you.

Mr.P's Challenge 26

78. If you could travel through time and interview any historical figure, whom would you choose, what would you ask, and why? (Hood)

If I could travel through time and interview any historical figure, I would interview Thomas Hobbes. There are many reasons for this; however, the most important reason is that I am writing a research paper on his theories and ideas. I would love to question him about his book Leviathan. That book is extremely confusing, and the language is hard to follow. In his book Leviathan, he talks about how humans are constantly at war with each other. He says that war is the state of nature of human beings. I strongly disagree with this theory. The state of human nature changes according to the choices they make. For example, I have a choice to perfect every skill I can possibly think of, or I have a choice to do nothing at all. The state of nature of both these extremes is different. I would love to hear what his opinion on this statement is.

Thomas Hobbes seems like a really depressed person after reading his book. A few questions regarding his life and his childhood will help me clarify this. His idea of a commonwealth is now in practice in the current world. Maybe not to an extreme like he was suggesting, but it is still there. Coming from a commonwealth country,  I would want to tell him about this and ask him how he feels about his ideas actually being practiced in the future, or the present for us.

One other very confusing concept that he discusses in the book is, religion. Even after reading his ideas on god over and over again, I still don’t know whether he supports the fact that God is great, or he thinks that faith is God is a bad idea. I don’t really know what he trying to say. Everyone during that time period, were obsessed with religion, in a good way. He doesn’t seem like that, and I want to know why, therefore I would ask him why. Thomas Hobbes, was very useful to revolutions that followed after him, such as the French and the American Revolutions, therefore it would be an honor to meet him.

Mr.P's Challenge 25

46. If you had a day to spend as you wish, how would you use your time? (Carleton College)

If I had a day to spend as I wish, I would make sure 80 percent of that day involves sleeping. The other 20 percent would be eating and talking to friends. As an eleventh grader I do not feel like I am getting enough sleep. I am always sleepy in classes, and in the weekends I have too much work to even think about sleep.

My day would somewhat like this:

·        Wake up in the morning or rather extremely late morning.

·        Eat my breakfast or lunch, whatever you want to call it

·        Watch T.V

·        Sleep

·        Wake up again and eat dinner (really good dinner)

·        Then watch a late night movie, while eating bread with mango pickle.

·        Then sleep at night

This might seem like a really dull plan, but trust me, when you have a research paper and an exam due on the same day, along with other smaller projects on the way, this plan will seem like heaven on earth. Writing this itself is part of the smaller projects. Students my age are overloaded with work. If you are a teacher then you would probably respond to this by talking about how college is worse and that you are preparing us for the ‘real’ world. Firstly, I do not understand why your school life is excluded from the ‘real’ world. Every experience you have is a piece of the ‘real’ world. Secondly, let us find out if colleges are worse or not. Teachers use that excuse to dump work on students. Although teachers have good intentions for giving homework, I think they need to think about our health too.

Life is unfair, and I know everything I suggested in the paragraph above will be ignored anyway. Therefore If I had a day to spend as I wish I would definitely spend it as I described it in the beginning.

Mr.P's Challenge 24

8. What single adjective do you think would be most frequently used to describe you by those who know you best? Briefly explain. (Stanford)

“Short” would be the most frequent adjective used to describe me, by people who know me best. I was the shortest student in my class, until another new student came who was shorter that me. I couldn’t believe it. That new student made me feel proud of myself! She is short and sweet. All throughout my school life people have described me as a short girl. Some of the nick-names I had, or rather have, are “shorty”, “chotti bum”, “short s***”, “midget” and a more recent one being, “fun size.” I do not mind it when people call me names. All the people who call me names are close friends of mine. I know they are joking and even if they are not I really don’t mind it. I used to hate it when people made fun of my height, but now I laugh along. Now when people call be by my name it is a little weird. I am used to people making fun of me. I am also used to making fun of other people. I feel that if you cannot handle a joke about yourself then you shouldn’t make fun of anyone else. I realized that it doesn’t matter what people call or describe you as. The only thing that matters is what you think you are as a person. I know I am short, but that has nothing to do with how I am as a person. The people who know me best are well aware of that. I am not the kindest person you will meet, but I try to be patient with other people. I don’t think being short is a bad thing either. Short people have so many advantages, that people don’t know about. People, who know me best, like some of my very close friends and my parents don’t laugh at me they laugh with me.

Mr.P's Challenge 23

In the year 2020, humans will be equivalent to a machine. Think about it.  Being a student, one of my goals is to get to a good university. Everything is so competitive. We are constantly trying to improve our grade point average and our SAT scores. With the added pressure of college acceptance we hardly have anytime for ourselves. Adults go to work everyday trying to improve their business growth and profits. It is like clockwork. They get up eat something and then go to work and come back home and sleep. What is the difference between that and a car? All you have to do is substitute the food for gas.

When the world is so competitive everyone will want to be perfect and good. Parents have started genetically modifying their children, so that they have a better chance to survive in the world. When referring to survival, I do not mean literally, I mean so that they are smarter and more athletic. They give the children all the genes that will help them in the world to become successful.

A year ago, in India, there was a huge debate on how colleges in India accept students. The cut-off percentage of entrance exam was 99%. If you got anything lower than that, then you wouldn’t be accepted into that college. The demand of perfection is increasing everyday in this world. Scientists are constantly trying to invent more efficient devices for us to use. In 2020 humans will be equivalent to machines. We will be smarter and more efficient. Although I enjoy new and latest models of phones and computers, I do not like the fact that we are becoming machines.

I think that if we stopped making new inventions, people wouldn’t care so much about what they own and if it is ‘in’. It will be normal. New inventions and creations cause competition which then causes us to constantly improve. Improving is a good thing, until things get out of hand, like the cut-off of that college.

Mr. P's Challenge 22

57. Describe a personal habit that helps to define you as a person.

One of my personal habits is constantly eating whether I am hungry or not. When I am back at home during holidays, I eat. I eat a lot. I get up late in the morning and first eat a late breakfast. Then right after breakfast I eat an apple or any other fruit. I don’t eat it because I am hungry or because it is good for health, I eat it because it is right in front of me. Then after breakfast, I go upstairs and sit with Mom and Dad ( if he has not already left for work). When I am up there I drink tea along with something else. Sometimes I finish eating a whole biscuit packet all by myself, along with the tea. My mom leaves for work after my dad. I take a shower after she leaves. After my shower I plop myself on a couch and I watch the television. I eat random things while watching movies on the T.V. Then I go down for lunch. Some of the people in my family think that I don’t eat at all. At lunch I eat everything, usually, besides yogurt. I do not like yogurt that much. After an hour or so after lunch I drink tea again with something else to eat. Then my parents come back home. My dad makes something to eat and I help him finish everything. Then I keep eating more random things until dinner. So by now I am guessing that you get the point. I eat a lot. Food is everything to me. When I don’t eat as much I regularly do I get really cranky. I need food. It is good for me and the people around me. I do not think dieting does anything. Dieting is for lazy people. I think exercising is  better than dieting. Food is what we all work for. We all need food and I am glad that I am fortunate enough to eat as much as I want.

Mr.P's Challenge 21

179. Should students be required to take physical education courses? Why or why not?

Physical Education is not one of the most important classes at school, and everybody knows that. Some students feel that physical education is a complete waste of time, and therefore they constantly try to avoid it. I do not disagree with them, however, I think there is more to Physical Education than what we see.

Physical Education should be compulsory for various reasons. One being that it is a break from school. You don’t really need to sit and write an essay in Physical Education classes. It is a different type of class. Throughout the week all we do is sit on a chair and take notes. This is an opportunity to explore something different, and simultaneously get our exercise for the day done. Teenagers today have more fat in their body compared to teenagers before. This is because of all the fast food and the junk food that we have today. Physical Education helps you stay fit. This is something we forget to do otherwise. We eat a lot because we are always concentrating, which requires energy, which comes from food. Physical Education is good because it helps us get rid of some of the fat in our body.

While sitting and classes may be something we want to do, there are other students who dislike those classes. It is unfair if we say that Physical Education shouldn’t be required. Those students sit through math and English classes even though they dislike it. We cannot always get what we want and that is the way it should be, otherwise you will be known as the spoilt brat.

I always hated Physical Eucation classes. I am not a very sporty person. I am not good at any sport, but still whenever I entered that class I knew I could give my brain a rest, that it deserves. Pysical Education classes are almost always fun. They should be mandatory for everyone. Other classes are all similar, in the sense that the teachers teach the same way, but PE classes are different. Not taking one class that is not similar to the other classes is not going to hurt.

Mr.P's Challenge 20

My academic record does not accurately reflect my abilities. The grades I am getting in a few subjects are not what I deserve. Your grade depends a lot on the teacher who is teaching you. My academic record reflects the abilities of my teacher not me. If a bad teacher has a student in his class who is getting an A, that doesn’t mean that the student is good at that subject. It means that the teacher is a really easy grader. I had many easy graders like that before. My health education teacher was a really easy grader, and so were almost all my Hindi teachers so far. Similarly if a student, who has a really bad teacher, is getting a bad score then that also doesn’t accurately show his or her abilities. For example my Global Issues teacher is not a very good one right now. I am getting a pretty bad grade in that class, and I know that I can do very well in a class like Global Issues. I took that class because I really wanted to and I knew I would do well. My teacher hardly looks at current events in that class. I definitely do not deserve the grade I am getting in that class, and that grade does not reflect my abilities.

Sometimes the grade you get doesn’t say a lot about you. One of my friends is an exceptionally talented dancer. His grades are not very good though, but that doesn’t reflect his abilities in other things. We do really well in things we are interested in. I will fail AP Calculus if I ever take, or physics. I will do well in things I like doing. Grades cannot completely show the abilities of students, and they definitely do not show the abilities that I possess.

Mr. P's Challenge 19

If I could ban anything in the world, I would ban exams. I would ban any form or type of exam. Exams are the worst and most painful torture that we children go through. I think that the work that e do throughout the year is the only thing that actually matters. It is hard work that counts. Projects and other graded assignments during the school year actually show your knowledge, understanding and attitude better than exams. I am a very bad exam taker. I get really nervous, which makes me forget everything I learned, and therefore I fail. Exams ruin and destroy all the hard work you did throughout the year. One test cannot determine if you learnt anything that school year. It is very unfair. Exams should be just 5% of our grades, because it is not like we can pull up that grade ever again. There is only one grade that goes into that category, and this can be bad for bad test takers like me.

Even other exams should be banned. Especially the Standardized Aptitude Test. This test title has lost its meaning. The SAT is a pointless exam which is required if you are going to a college, especially in United States of America. Your SAT score doesn’t say anything about you as a person. Colleges don’t even know if you took the test or someone else took it for you. They just assume you took it. There so much cheating that comes from these tests. Colleges have actually caused all this. Why should everyone take this test? People give this test again and again, until they get a good score. What is the point of this? Colleges should look at other things in students. If we took the SAT then why should foreign students take the Toefl exam too? If we can take the SAT, I think we know how to speak and write in English. It doesn’t make sense. Exams are useless, and it doesn’t let students be creative. Everyone is doing the same thing. They are all conforming to society.

Mr.P's Challenge 18

185. If you were guaranteed a steadily improving standard of living (in terms of buying power, free time, quality of goods and services, etc.), would you be willing to give up your right to vote? Explain.

Even if I was guaranteed a steadily improving standard of living I still wouldn’t give up my right to vote. Humans can never be happy for long with what they have, they always need more. I am a human being too and therefore I am like that too. After a while I will get bored with what had been offered, and then I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. I wouldn’t have the right to vote. Giving up your right to vote is a foolish thing to do.

Having the right to vote is not necessarily only for your benefits. Maybe I want to vote for gay marriages. What I am trying to say is that maybe your vote is to improve society and not only your life in particular. The offer was to improve my standard of living, but what if I wanted to help someone else through my vote. By not having the right to vote, there is one less way to improve someone else’s life.

How can anyone trust a guarantee like this one? I would be very skeptic of it. This is too good of a guarantee to be true. What if some natural disaster takes place and everything I own is destroyed. If the government does little about it, then I wouldn’t want the same guy who was in power next year too. I would want to vote for someone else, but I wouldn’t be able to do that because I wouldn’t have the right to vote.

Having the right to vote is a big deal. All through out history people have been fighting for it. It was one of the causes for the French Revolution. Clearly it is a very important factor of our daily lives, and giving it up is not a smart choice, even if you are guaranteed a steadily improving standard of living in return.  

Mr.P's Challenge 17

173. If you had to describe yourself as an animal, what animal would you select and why?

Lions are the Kings of Jungles. People have very wrong impressions of this animal. When I watched “The Lion King” I was mesmerized. I thought Lions were very ferocious and territorial. When I went to Africa, my mind changed about lions. Lions are the laziest animals I have encountered so far.  They don’t even hunt; instead they make the lionesses hunt. They eat the kill first before the cubs or the lionesses. They hardly get up because their tummies are always full, and so they are sunbathing in the African savannas all the time. I didn’t see a single lion standing during the entire trip. These are the reasons why they are kings.  They make other people do their work. No king has ever cooked his own food. Lions just sit down and look at their kingdom, they don’t have an agenda to follow, and therefore they can do anything they want whenever they want. They are the royal family of the jungle.

I am very similar to them. I never do anything that I don’t feel like, instead I tell other people to do it for me. My entire family will agree with me on this. I am the laziest at home. I never do anything, either I tell my elder sister to do it for me or I bribe my twin sister. I am like a lion. As long as my stomach is full, I am in a good mood. I am not courageous like a lion though. I am very scared to do a lot of things, like rock climbing. But since lions hardly do anything, I do not understand when they get to be courageous. I think people say they are courageous because they are big. I am not big, however, I am very short, but very rebellious too. I am always fighting or arguing about something with either my parents or my sisters. I am usually calm but when my sisters annoy me I get really mad, and I become like a lioness while hunting! For the most part though, I am a lion.

Mr.P's Challenge 16

183. Do you think that you have the qualifications of a good parent? Discuss.

Being a parent is a very hard and frustrating job. I know I would hate it, and I know I absolutely do not have the qualifications of a good parent. Here are just a few reasons why:

1.   I am extremely impatient. If someone doesn’t listen to me or do what I say immediately I get frustrated and mad.

2.   I don’t usually care about other peoples’ problems, I pretend like I do but I usually go blank when they are talking, or I daydream.

3.   I am not a very good adviser. My advice is always bad or wrong. I don’t think about the consequences of the advise. For example, if a child is getting bullied I wouldn’t tell him to go talk to the school counselor, instead I would tell him to beat up the bully so badly that he doesn’t show up to school the next day.

4.   I cannot reassure people, I am too much of a pessimistic for that. I never say, “We will make it”, instead I would say “we are going to die!” This is not good when you have a child that looks up to you and is dependent on you.

5.   I am not good with children. I am only good with the ones who cant talk or walk yet, basically newborns.

6.   I am not very good at convincing. Convincing is required for every parent.

7.   I am very opinionated. Everything has to be my way.

8.   I am not a good role model for anything. There is nothing I can help someone else with. For example, one of my close friend always helps me out with math, I cant help anyone out with anything, because I am only average at everything.

9.   I am very forgetful. A good parent never forgets to show up at their child’s music recital or parent teacher meetings.

10. I am Prakruti Golechha. This is the biggest reason why I am not qualified to be  parent.

Mr.P's Challenge 15

82. Select two people who have been role models in your life and describe why. (College of Notre Dame of Maryland)

My mom and dad are the role models of my life. The funny part is that they are both very different from each other. My mom is more patient with us, she is more understanding. My dad is more complicated of the two. He is always trying to make our lives easier, and is extremely good at convincing people to do things. He made me and my elder sister take cooking classes. I remember when he first asked me to do this I was absolutely against it. Then he took me on this guilt trip so my sister and I agreed. After three days of cooking classes, we looked at each other completely dumb founded. We didn’t know why we were taking cooking classes anymore. It was really funny. I am a very stubborn person, but my parents somehow convince me to do things. My mom just gives me this smile; it is one of those looks that makes you feel guilty to say no. You just can’t say no to it. It is annoying almost when she does it because you know that you have to do what she wants. My parents have really good skill of persuading people and that is a skill I admire. I love the way they use the art of persuasion.

I always try to live up to the expectations of my parents, and trust me their expectations for me are extremely high. I am the most studious child out of the three so they expect more from me academically. My mom is impressed by my work more easily than my dad or at least that is what I think. Therefore, I am constantly trying to impress my dad. If my mom says my work is good I will be happy, but when my dad says it is good, I am thrilled. Both their opinions matter a lot to me, but because my dad is much harder to impress, what he says makes the difference.

My dad, however, is not very good during crisis. He panics very easily. My mom is much better in this area. She remains calm, thinks and then takes action. She is very good when it comes to dealing with complicated situations, and I know it is because she thinks positive. She is always positive, unlike me. She says I am pessimistic, but I think I am a realist. The really confusing part of this whole thing though is that, though I am a realist, I think out of the three I handle bad news the best. My twin sister is the worst at it. She is like my dad. My elder sister’s reaction depends on everyone else’s reaction.

Being the middle child I always think that my elder sister and my twin sister, who is 3 minutes younger than me, are favored. Everyone agrees that being the middle child is the worst, and I do not disagree with them at all, however, I know my parents are constantly trying to be fair. They always try to be equal, sometimes they don’t succeed, but I know they try hard. They have really taught me well, and have been my guide, even though I have not exactly been the best daughter. That is the kind of patients and tolerance I want to practice, along with their skill of persuasion, that is why they are my role models and I look up to them.

Mr.P's Challenge 14

133. French novelist Anatole France wrote: "An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't." What don't you know? (Brown)

In my European history class we recently studied a few European thinkers. One of them was Blaise Pascal. Pascal said that we can never know everything. There is way too much stuff in this world and way too much knowledge out there that no human being can ever know everything. He also said that no human being can know nothing either. We either know a lot or something, we are in the middle of two infinities; everything and nothing.

After reading this I started to wonder how much I know. I thought that graduating from school meant that you know a lot, but the truth is that you can never know a lot. I do not know a lot. I also have no idea what I don’t know. I don’t know what is going to happen ten years from now. I can make an educated guess, but I will never know for sure until that day arrives. I don’t want to know what is going to happen ten years from now, today, because then it ruins the excitement and mystery of it all.

I don’t know why the global population is increasing, even though many methods of controlling it have been introduced and applied to. I don’t know why cats can’t bark, and dogs can’t meow. I also don’t know why there are two “oo” in the word “blood.” The point is that it doesn’t matter what you don’t know, because you will eventually find out. It is not necessarily good to make a list of things you don’t know and then study them to find out. You can learn a lot by just listening to others, and observing them. You don’t have to read books or be in a class to learn. Like Mark twain said “Don’t let education get in the way of learning.”

I don’t know if I will ever get an A+ in math, and I don’t even want to know. There is no point sitting and thinking about something pointless like this anyway, you should go out and seize everyday of your life. Let your life be a mystery, and then everything will become easier and you will know more. The difference between how much you know and don’t know will be less if you do this. I don’t know if I am ever going to get into my dream college, but I am living my life to find out. The things that I care about but don’t know that yet, will be unveiled as life goes on. I know that I don’t know, but I don’t want to know what I don’t know because of the fact I don’t know.

Mr.P's Challenge 13

129. How did you get caught? (Or not caught, as the case may be. (U of Chicago)

I study at Woodstock School which is located in Mussoorie, India. My school is somewhere in the mountains. The view is breathtaking from the ramp, which leads to the high school building, especially at night.  When I was in middle school, which seems like yesterday as my friends and I have not changed a bit since then, I used to live in a round building called Alteridge.  It was here that all the 6^th 7^th and 8^th graders stayed.

In Alteridge we weren’t allowed to keep tuck with us in our rooms. The only time we got tuck was on the weekends. One weekend my friends and I decided to have a sleep over in my room. We wanted to stay up late and talk, so we decided to keep tuck with us in the room. We were allowed to take out two tuck items and one drink from the tuck cupboard, and there were six of us, so we had plenty of junk food for the night.

Everything was going nice and smooth. We were talking, eating and having fun. Until one of my friends cracked one of the funniest jokes I have ever heard. When we heard the joke, all of us burst into laughter. When I say burst I mean it literally, because one of my friends had soda in her mouth which came bursting out when she heard that joke. When six girls hear something funny, trust me, someone will hear. The worst part was that it was after lights out, so everyone else in the dorm was quiet, except us. So our dorm parent, Mrs. Watanabe, came into our room. We tried really hard to not laugh so loudly, but it obviously didn’t work. She caught us with the tuck red handed. When she came in we were still laughing. She didn’t seem mad because she already suspected us of having tuck with us in the room. We were caught and it was too late to do anything about it, or so we thought.

Mrs. Watanabe confiscated all our tuck. One of my friends was a dorm council member at the time. While she was laughing she quickly ran and gave Mrs. Watanabe a hug. She refused to let go until, Mrs. Watanabe said it was okay and forgave us. So the midnight party that we had planned was over after the tuck was gone, hence we all fell asleep. Now when my friends and I think about this humorous experience we always laugh about it. We haven’t changed at all according to me. We still do really stupid childish things. Now we are allowed to keep tuck with us in our rooms, however, I miss the times when we weren’t.

Mr.P's Challenge 12

130. Dog and Cat. Coffee and Tea. Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye. Everyone knows there are two types of people in the world. What are they? (U of Chicago)

Everyone is unique. There is always something different about everyone, even though that difference may not be big. However, you can always somehow classify them into two groups, tall and short. By tall I am not referring to the literal meaning. Tall people are the ones that don’t want to make a difference. Even though they witness bad things around them they chose to keep quiet and do nothing about it. The Short people, on the other hand, stand up for what they think is right. They try to make the change.

Neither group is bad though. Both have flaws. Sometimes tall people are a little scared and intimidated to speak up, and sometimes the short people, misunderstand things and overreact. I don’t exactly know which group I belong to. I always thought I belonged to the tall group, but my family and friends described me like the short group people. So I stopped thinking about it, because it doesn’t matter. Labeling everything is tempting, but believe it or not, at the end of the day we are all humans with one heart, one brain and body fat. We are all greedy and selfish, because those are the characteristics of human nature.

I think that sometimes not taking any action is better than taking any action at all. For example a kid gets bullied at school. Standing up for him is the right thing to do, but if you keep doing it the kid will be dependant on you. One day that kid will have no one fighting his battle for him. We should let the victims stand up for themselves, so that they get prepared for the biggest bully: reality. I never got bullied till date. Every time someone tried to bully me, they failed, because they ended up being the bullied. My mom once told me a story about my twin sister and I, when we were in 1^st or 2^nd grade. I beat up a boy who made my sister cry. I beat him up so bad, that my school called for a meeting with our parents. During the entire meeting I was yelling at the boy and my mom was laughing instead of stopping me! I had some minor punishment but I never regretted it. My parents never fought my battles, and I am very thankful for that.

Mr.P's Challenge 11

127. Describe a daily routine or tradition of yours that may seem ordinary to others but holds special meaning for you. Why is this practice significant to you? (Barnard)

My childhood was so much fun because my cousins and I grew up in the same city. We spent so much time together as children. In the weekends we used to go to each others’ houses for lunch and sleepovers. We used to play endless games, hide & seek being our favorite. Every year my grandparents, from my dad’s side, called us to their house for khichdi. This is an Indian dish, which is basically mushy rice with Indian spices. Although it is a very simple dish in India, it is my favorite dish. I eat it a lot when I am sick. I remember when I went through surgery to remove my tonsils, Khichdi was the only thing I ate for three days. This gathering at my grandparents’ house was a tradition in my family. It gave us children yet another excuse to meet and play random games. During the delicious meal, according to tradition women and children sat down on the floor to eat, while the men sat at the table. All the children and men eat first. The children all eat out of one big plate. After the children and men have eaten the women sit down and eat out of a big plate, just like the children.

This gathering every year is so significant to me because I get to meet my cousins who I hardly see otherwise. My cousins are all caught up with studies along with my sisters and me. My cousins and have became a little distant due to this, but we still see each other very often. It is not like we are meeting after several years or anything, therefore I don’t think that this gathering has special meaning to the others. Even though we eat simple food, I always liked that day. My entire family is together on this day, and the feeling of being with all of them is so good. I always look forward to this gathering, and I hope that this tradition continues.

Mr.P's Challenge 10

126. Are we alone? (Tufts)

We are not alone. Everywhere I look around I see people. There is no place left on earth where you can be truly alone. There are 7 billion people on this planet. How can one possibly be alone? I live in India, there is no way anyone can be alone here. There are people everywhere. They are in the malls, on the roads, in the park, in restaurants, in parking lots, in neighborhoods, and in houses. In a practical way we cannot possibly be alone.

The question “Are we alone?” is contradicting itself. How can “we” be “alone”? It is not possible. It is different if you feel alone though. Sometimes we feel left out and all by ourselves, and we feel alone. That is perfectly true. But even that doesn’t work because I am absolutely positive that someone else is going through the same emotion you are right now. You are not the only one feeling either, happy, surprised, shocked, humiliated, frightened, sad, guilty, frustrated, confused, or angry right now. Someone from the 7 billion people will be going through the same thing you are.

This question is a little depressing too. No one wants to be alone, and they can’t even if they wanted to. Humans are constantly trying to find some sort of security to their lives, and they realized that they always need someone to help them establish that security in their lives. Ever since history of mankind began, Humans have never been alone. We cannot survive if we are alone. We are like love birds. A love bird cannot survive without his or her partner. They die. It is the same with us; we cannot survive if we don’t have people to help us. Human therefore don’t want to be alone. I always need people to help me out. I can definitely not survive alone.

I once read a very interesting quote in a toilet at my dorm; “Smile, and we are with you, fart and you stand alone.” I laughed so loud when I read this that the other people using the other toilets started asking me if I was okay. Although this quote is funny, it can’t be true, because at that minute at least one other person out of the 7 billion must have farted too.

Mr.P's Challenge 9

90. Describe a humorous experience you have had.

It was a long day in school, so my friend and I decided to head back to dorms. We had to take the longer route because the gate for the shorter route was locked. Both of us were extremely tired, as we were working late after school on an English essay, so there wasn’t much conversation between us. I was listening to my iPod, when all of a sudden two cars stopped abruptly right in front of us. We were both a slightly scared, because five men got out of the car. These men were big, old and fat. We thought they were going to kidnap us so we stopped walking ahead, but at the same we were trying to be cool and normal. What happened next is hard to put in words. These men looked fierce for some reason. Old, fierce men are really scary, and the ones that got out of the car looked somewhat like Narrator in the movie Amadeas, except they weren’t that old. I would guess they were in their late 50’s or early 60’s. They took one look at us and then all five of them walked in a hurry towards the school building wall. That wall is the boundary to our school. Then all five of them started unzipping their pants. Now I realized what was happening.

 If you have never been to in India, just so you know, urinating on roads is really common for men. These five men stopped to car to take a piss. My friend and I are both Indians so we understood what was happening, but we were extremely awkward. We didn’t know if we should keep walking because they were right in front of us and at the same time we didn’t want them to see us waiting for them to finish. My friend looked at me and smiled. That smile was soon going to become a very loud and contagious laugh. So I immediately held her arm and started walking ahead. We didn’t look at them when we were passing them. We both were controlling our laughter, and when we they were out of sight, we let all our laughter out. We laughed till tears started coming out of our eyes. This is one of the reasons why I love India. Sure, urinating on roads is gross, but where else can something this funny happen. As odd as it may seem, that made my day! There can be no other place something like this can happen to you, other than India.

Mr.P's Challenge 8

42. What are the responsibilities of an educated person? (University of Puget Sound)

I have been attending school since kinder garden all the way through middle school, and now I am in high school, trying hard to keep my grades up in order to go to college for further studies. I am an educated person, and with this precious talent I plan to help the other unfortunate people who don’t have this privilege.

As a fairly educated person, I think that helping the uneducated become educated, is our duty. This duty affects the growth of countries, and thinking. If more people are educated, there will be more efficient brains that the world can use. Therefore we should help make other peoples brains more efficient. One way to do this is by teaching what is taught to you, the other more indirect way is by promoting and sponsoring it.

Another huge duty of an educated person is, to not misuse the education that they have received, in other words, to not cheat and become corrupt. Let us take a lawyer as an example; his duty is to be fair, and not misusing his education to becoming corrupt. That is not improving the global community. As educated people we should be role models for the others. We should be fair, caring, and understanding. If educated people are only selfish, greedy, unjust, mean, and ignorant, then there will be no progress in the global community. Instead there will be hatred building up between the uneducated against the educated. Then this will lead to a rebellion eventually, which then will lead to some sort of a social reform, which means that we will have to change anyway. So we might as well get it right now, instead of going through that whole chain and learning it the hard way. So as educated people we need to be smart and avoid all this, by being ignorant and greedy we are not being smart. So therefore as educated people we need to be smart.

Mr.P's Challenge 7

2. Imagine that you have the opportunity to travel back through time. At what point in history would you like to stop and why? (Swarthmore)

When Isaac Newton was born I would stop my journey into history. I would find him and drop him from a big apple tree. He has ruined the lives of young and healthy teenagers who are living in the present. Maybe he didn’t intend it, but by destroying him before he creates calculus, I will actually be doing him, and all the children living today, a favor by saving him from our curses. Right now he must be in heaven looking down on us depressed, because most of the things he sees and hears about him, is about how he ruined our happy childhood.

Do you know why life is so easy, blissful, and picture perfect before we come to high school? It is because the law of Gravity (I think that is what it is called, I am not sure though!) and Calculus is not part or our lives yet. As soon as we reach high school, we make the epic mistake of taking physics and calculus, and from then on, life changes for the worse.

Even though I don’t take Physics or Calculus, (thank God!) many of my friends do. My poor friends struggle so much in these classes because of his creation and discoveries. I feel so bad when I see them suffering like that, and because I am a good friend, I would destroy Newton before he gets the chance to discover, create or invent anything. It is not fun to see my friends study late night about his creations while I get my sleep. It hurts me to see them suffering like that. Actually it isn’t that dramatic, but I think my point is clear.

For all the scientists out there, Newton is like God. Sure they have reasons to believe so. However I do not think that creating a whole new type of math was necessary to figure out what the universe looked like and how the orbits and everything worked. Why would anyone spend any time creating a type of math? Weren’t there more fun things for people to do back then? If there wasn’t I would travel back in time and introduce soccer, basket ball, American football, or anything else to keep them busy, especially Newton.  Okay an apple fell from the tree. Why did he have to think about that so much? If I was with him then I would distract him somehow, so that he doesn’t wonder why the apple fell to the ground instead of going up. Fall down, fall up, who cares! Why did he have to think about that so much? I would prevent mental torture of teenage brains if I could travel back in time.

Mr.P's Challenge 6

21. If you had the gift of telepathy, the ability to read other peoples’ minds, would you use this gift or not? Explain.

If I could read other people’s minds, I swear, I would want to be the richest teenager alive in the world, instead of Justin Bieber. That was my first reaction to this question, and then my opinion changed after thinking about it. I love being acknowledged for something I achieved, most people do. But if I become rich and famous with the help of telepathy, then I didn’t really earn it. I will most probably try to burry this thought that it wasn’t me who achieved all this, way back in my head, away from my conscience. But, the day this thought is brought back to life, I am sure I won’t be able to handle all the guilt it will bring back with it.

Even though the gift of telepathy is so great, I do not think I would use it. Right now you may be thinking that I’m pretending to be a good girl, who never breaks rules, and is just trying to impress you to get into college. I wouldn’t blame you if you think so and you have all the reason to believe it too, however, if this is what you believe you are very wrong. I am no perfect straight A student and I enjoy the thrill of breaking rules once in a while. Although the rules I break are very minor, it still shows that I am not a perfect person.

Yes if I had the gift of telepathy I would be so tempted to cheat during tests and exams. Everyone fantasizes about this at least once in their lifetime. However I also know that most of them don’t feel fully satisfied even if they get a perfect score on the test or the exam. This is because they know it wasn’t their brain that was used, it was someone else’s. This feeling makes you feel small and useless. I would use telepathy for other reasons though. If I can prevent a bomb blast by reading someone’s mind, I would use the gift of telepathy. Like Machiavelli said, “the ends justify the means”(Ms.Seefeldt’s European History class notes on The Renaissance, 9 August 2011).

Reading other peoples minds is invading their privacy and that is something of great importance to me. Everyone has their deep dark secrets, and reading their mind is morally wrong. I would never want anyone to know my secrets. I have secrets that no soul in the world knows, except me, and I would like to keep it that way. I also don’t want to know something someone is keeping from me. I would prefer hearing what they have to say, when they are ready to tell me themselves. To me, reading other peoples’ minds without their consent is exploitation of human rights, and this action is equivalent to exploiting any other right that humans have, such as rights to property.

Besides the fact that reading and taking advantage of the gift of telepathy is morally wrong, you will have a miserable life, because you know the truth, and there is nothing you can do to hide from it. Therefore I would rather do it the right way, instead of taking a shortcut to happiness, because there is no such thing like that. As one of my close friends said, “Happiness comes from within you.”

Mr. P's Challenge 5

6. If you were to look back on your high school years, what advice would you give to someone beginning their high school career? (Simmons)

Many people say that high school either makes you or breaks you, I personally think that though this is true, there is more to this phase of your life than we think. That statement about high school either making or breaking you is intimidating. If you always base your actions fearing this statement, you basically wasted your one-time opportunity of living life like you didn’t care about anything.

            When I was in 8^th grade, we had the 9^th graders come to dorms and tell us about what life is like in high school, both in dorms and in school. The dorm life seemed like pure freedom; we could order on the weekends, keep our tuck in our rooms and lights out was an hour later. The academic part of high school seemed like a black spot on white paper. Then on of the 9^th graders said, “high school either makes you or breaks you.” After this the whole image of high school life being complete freedom, broke down and crashed in my head.

            I started taking homework and school really seriously in 9^th grade. I was doing this till I was half way through 10^th grade, and then I stopped and thought; this is insane, I am only fifteen. So I started to relax more about my grades, and I had fun doing all the other things that I wanted to. Yes high school is very important, but you should make sometime for yourself too. Just because everyone says that high school is a crucial step towards college and you should be serious about grades, I think that you should think about studies as a fun and challenging time instead of a crucial time to get into a college. You should always try to make your high school days fun for yourself, because if you don’t then the overwhelming work will wear you out and you will resent your high school life instead of enjoying it.

Mr P's challenge 4

124. What outrages you? (Wake Forest)

Things that outrage me

People who wake me up in the morning.

Not being able to yell at them because I asked them to wake me up!

Waking up really early to finish my homework.

Generally waking up because of something, or someone.

Getting a bad grade on something I worked hard for.

Being compared to other smart kids in my grade.

Deleting an essay by mistake, and then re-doing the whole thing again.

Being late to a class, because the previous class finished late, and then getting into trouble for it.

Students who smoke, or drink to look cool.

Students who dress up like they are about to go to a fashion show on a school day.

Students who are extremely talented, because they make me feel bad about myself.

Teachers who favor these students.

My twin sister scoring higher than me in any test.

My cousins growing up and getting married, leaving me all alone with my childish habits.

My mom always falling for my twin sister’s trap to go shopping.

My dad forcing me to eat an egg in the morning.

My disability to do something because of fear.

Truth that leaves me fighting it.

Trying to hold in my tears, and failing at it.

Writing an essay on “things that outrage me”, without sounding angry, pessimistic, or depressed.

Mr.P's Challenge 3

123. How do you feel about Wednesday? (U of Chicago)

             Monday seems like a long day, because the day before I get to be lazy, and as they say, getting used to luxury doesn’t take that long. However I still try to be optimistic. Tuesdays are much better because I start getting used to the routine. By the time Wednesday comes all the optimism that I had gathered in my mind is used up, or stolen by time consuming and difficult homework. On a Wednesday morning getting out of bed is almost impossible. My friends keep taking my blanket away from me so that I get up. I respond by wrapping my arms around my legs and curling up to keep myself warm. Then there is this long walk that I have to go on to reach school from dorms. That walk is like coffee for me, because I am almost always late, so I always have to run up the hill. Classes are boring because teachers have a lot to say, especially in the middle of the week. There is nothing more annoying than two class periods one after the other, in which we have to take notes the entire time. It seems like lunch is delayed by 5 hours on a Wednesday. I am so lost on Wednesdays that I usually struggle to remember which class I have next. The things that I do remember almost always has something to do with the television, or food.
     By the end of the day, however, my thoughts are refreshed and I feel more energetic than ever. This is the weirdest part of my Wednesdays. Wednesday, after school, I find myself going to teachers for help and keeping myself busy in some way or the other.  By the end of the day I go back to how I usually am. Yes Wednesdays are the worst day of the week for me, but, it is also a wake- up call for me to get serious about my studies. Being lost the entire day on a working day, makes me realize that I need to start working seriously, so I panic and start working hard, the way I should be.

Mr.P's Challenge 2

104. What is your favorite quotation and why? (Princeton)

Karl Marx very famously stated that "religion is the opiate of masses." My first impression to this quote was that Karl Marx is a communist and he hated the idea of religion. However this quote really got me thinking, and eventually it started making sense. It affected my everyday life and the way I viewed the world in many ways. The biggest reason why it is one of my favorite quotes is because you are left with this urge to prove it wrong, because you know it is true, after you read it and thought about it.

Everyone needs something or someone to lean on. Religion is one way to their mental stability and security. They need to depend and trust on someone, so they trust God. Similarly drug addicts get dependent on drugs. This constant need of drugs for drug addicts, and stability for everyone else, prevents them from progress. In the newspapers there is always some news about fights between different religions. In Afghanistan people were protesting against a pastor, in the US, who burned a Quran. These protests stopped their country from any further progress. Religion basically makes people blind to other important things, and people need it to continue with their daily lives. Hence it is the "opiate of masses."

Sometimes when something really bad happens or I just feel like there is literally no one who can save me from a situation, I find myself praying. When I go for a pooja, I feel strange comfort as I see my mom or anyone else, who I look up to, praying, it makes me feel like there is someone who is looking after us. So yes in a way religion is an opiate for me too, even though I don’t pray, I always need someone else who is a strong and a sure believer in God. Though I don’t admit it, I too sometimes just need someone who is stronger to bring that same stability in my life.

Mr.P's Challenge 1

107. What is your approach to life? Reveal your life philosophy.

"Live your life to the fullest." Every time I hear this phrase I wonder how one lives their life to the fullest? How do you know if you are living your life to the fullest? Some people think living your life to the fullest means climbing Mt. Everest, or going scuba diving, and some think it is participating in everything. Often people think doing something extreme or putting on a show shows that you are living your life to the fullest. However I think living your life to the fullest means being happy. In order to be happy you do what you like. I like watching movies and hanging out with my friends. I do not have to jump off a cliff to live my life to the fullest. I don’t have to participate in something I do not want to just so that I have the experience of it to live my life to the fullest. I am just fine sitting at home, eating pizza and watching a movie. There is nothing wrong with doing what you like. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone by doing something you don’t want to. I don’t really like playing sports but my twin sister loves it and she is good. This doesn’t mean even I have to play Basket Ball like her. You should do what you want to do, and you should not get influenced by others when it comes to this matter. As long as you are happy and are doing something you like, then yes you are living your life to the fullest. People always try to make you feel small if they see that you are not a very social. I think that is absurd. If you are a very social person it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are smart or have a good personality. You can be extremely shy and be a better person that someone who is extremely popular and social. Being quiet is actually a good skill, and it doesn’t mean that you are stupid. I think everyone should do what they want to and not change their personality for anyone, because then again how do we define what a ‘good’ personality is.