The 2 holiday months of June and July just might have been the longest awaited 2 months of my life. I used to look forward to these holidays because when they arrived it had meant that my IGCSE’s had finally come to an end. Perhaps my expectations of what i would have achieved after july were the only thing keeping me going through these 2 months. I made huge promises that seemed possible during my exams, however due to that, the 2 months i spent were nothing more than disappointment. i kept telling myself to push harder and to stick to my commitments, and i did, but at a cost… i wasn’t enjoying the holidays like i was meant to. Doing my research and staying fit would have kept me happy if i had done at any point in my life. But in the 2 months i spent doing these, it felt as if i was forcing myself. For the first time i wasn’t excited about proving physics wrong.
I flew into june like an arrow, clear about my destination. I wanted to build a telescope by the end of the month(honestly its much easier than it sounds) however once i got started the practicalities of the project started hitting me. Finding materials to constructing the entire model seemed impossible at my caliber. Now when i look back on that experience i don’t really regret it cause it thought me something new. It thought me the importance of planning something before beginning and to properly workout every step of how your gonna go about it before buying the materials. June was all about me completing my research plans and occasionally spending time with family. I loved what i was doing for the first week or so but then it felt as if i was not enjoying it anymore. Here is where the next phase of my holiday started
I took an interest in breakdancing and doing “cool moves” which i learned from youtube. I consistently practised and got over fears and now i am able to do those moves which i had never imagined my body could do. This phase lasted the entire 2 months and still does now. I am keen to learn all sorts of moves from flips to anything else.
After a month well spent in Rajasthan i came to bangalore in hopes that i would find all the materials for my telescope there. I did. I had finally reached a shop that provided the materials. However, who would have thought that the journey to that shop will probably change my view on what i was gonna do for the next 15 days in bangalore.
So i could have taken a taxi all the way to the shop but i decided to give the local transport a try. I reached the subway and was completely bamboozled. It was lovely. Nothing like what my neighbours had described it to me to prevent from traveling in it. It was clean, properly managed, and had the same system as the mrts in singapore. I was so excited to get on board and find my way to the correct platforms. I am not gonna lie. I did feel lost and clueless, but to me that was the thrill of adventure and exploration. The train seamlessly glided above the city and gave its passengers a scenic view of bangalore. everything from the greenery to the small colonies of huts and even to the unbearable traffic could be seen. It was absolutely breathtaking. I became so found of the local service that i had decided to travel everywhere in Bangalore in busses and trains.
I was given a completely new insight to the culture and the people of Bangalore. I started travelling in busses with google maps on one hand and my destination on the other. There were times when i got onto the wrong bus, got off few stops earlier and even missed stops. However the people were extremely helpful and were able to guide me and tell me which bus to take and where to get off. It was no way even close to what people had described the busses to be like. They said it would be filthy and “dangerous” to ride on them. Also its not like i travelled in luxurious busses. NO, I tried going in the busses that the general public took. I was disappointed that people never even gave it a try before jumping to conclusions. They probably didn’t want to travel alongside people of lower class. I was told to be cautious with my money in the bus cause apparently there are a lot of pinchers in there. I had once given some extra money to the ticket collector by accident and he returned me the extra money even though he knew that i hadn’t realised it. That evening i sat on that bus seat and thought to myself that it isn’t the poor people who steal to become rich, but its the rich who steal from the poor to become richer. It was an eye-opening moment for me. I had travelled around Bangalore for 10 days in the local transport and each day i experienced something new and saw something different. I had seen venders work day and night to earn whatever little money they can by selling vegetable to feed their families. I had seen small children return from local schools happier than ever without the aid of phones and technology. I had seen people helping and caring for each other when something wrong happened in their community. I had learnt so much from just walking the streets, looking at what was around me and becoming aware of my surroundings. Now that i look back on my holidays, my learning truly only began on the journey i took to buy the materials for my telescope, but never did i learn so much in my days locked in my room studying physics.