"Celebrate Freedom" Contest - August 2009

Dear ILites,

This month being the Independence Day Month, what better topic could be there for the special contest of the month.

Announcing the "Topic of the Month" Contest for August 2009 .......

Celebrate Freedom Contest

Freedom is the last, best hope of earth - says Abraham Lincoln

As we enjoy Freedom, it helps us pursue our dreams, aspirations in life which makes it all the more valuable for us. This contest theme is "Freedom" and we invite entries / write ups about the "moment of freedom" that you cherish.
It could have been the teenz party that you had with your friends away from parents, the day you got your first salary that made you independent and to venture freely into this big World or your girls day outing away from the mediocre and routine domestic chores, the all girls trekking you had just letting yourself forget how the hubby and kids are doing, the list is endless.

In short the entry should be an experience of yours that made you discover the true liberated soul in you.

How to Participate in this Contest ?

• Draft a write up of your entry - "Celebrate Freedom"
• Post it here in this thread

Contest starts today - August 7th 2009

Contest ends on August 25th 2009

Points to note:

• Please note that the entry should be your personal experience with relevance to Freedom
• A special emphasis on how the experience made you cherish the Freedom that you enjoy.
• An ILite can post only 1 entry.
• Entries should be posted only in this thread for it to qualify for the contest.
• Best and interesting write up will be selected by the panel of Judges.
• Entries posted in this thread during the contest period - August 7th to August 25th will only be considered for the contest.

Happy Independence Day in advance. Let us cherish the Freedom by participating in this contest.

All the Best!!!

PS: Any questions about participation in the contest, do post it here in this thread and we will respond

Why hasn't anybody posted on this thread yet ??

I was 21 and working for a private sector bank. I had done my graduation and wanted to do MBA. A fulltime MBA was out of question as Mum was the only earning member. Papa had expired few years back and brother and sister were still studying. I did not want to leave the job, I was doing well there.

So I applied for part time MBA programs. And then I cleared one. A reputed institute in Delhi. The only hitch was it was 25kms from my office. I reside close to my office which would mean travelling another 30 kms in the night to be back home. I had classes 6pm to 9pm. This would mean it will be 10 by the time I reached home. Using a public transport at that time in night was out of question.My I mother would be hanging in the balcony till the time I reached home. Delhi is not that safe for lone girls travelling in the bus at a weird hour. Auto-rickshaw would be more dangerous.

But I wanted to this course and I had full support of my mother. My uncle stayed close to my college, so we decided that I would go to their house after the class. This was a three year course. It’s a long time.

My mother is a very optimistic person. She believes that one needs to try before giving up. So with her encouragement I joined the evening classes. I used to leave my office at 5pm in the evening, change 3 buses and reach my college by 630pm. And after the classes my friend used to drop me at my uncle’s house around 9:40pm. In the morning I use to leave my uncle’s place at 730am to be in office by 9 am.

My uncle and aunt gave me full support but all the travelling was killing me. Despite the fact that we were in the same city I could meet my mother and my siblings only on the weekends. I had no time to socialize or study. It was tiring me, the 14 and a half hours routine.

Then one day mum asked me to learn driving. I realized what was coming and I was excited.

I learned driving and then practiced on my uncle’s old car for few weeks. Me and mum approached a bank and got a loan sanctioned. And on my 21st birthday my mother gifted me my first car. She had made the down payment and I would take care of the EMI’s. Both of us were crying. It was the day I cannot forget when I drove back from college at 10pm in my new Maruti.

It was total freedom for me. Everything changed henceforth. It felt wonderful driving on Delhi roads. Rushing for my classes and in the night weaving my way through the trucks (in Delhi the heavy vehicles are allowed entry after 9 pm).

On weekends all of us (me, my mother, my sister and brother) used to go for long drives. Delhi looked different from my car’s window. Everything felt new and all the places within reach.

To this day, whenever I drive through those roads I can feel the thrill of being behind the wheels for the first time.

After I had completed my 12th standard, I had joined a college and enrolled into B.Sc Physics. I was very happy and felt proud to be going to college. Had heard many stories from cousins about how they enjoyed during college days etc and was hoping to experience something similar. Also Physics used to be my favourite subject as well. So I was all looking forward to my college life and hostel life. I was excited about the fact that I would be away from my parents and could have fun.

But this was all short lived. The college life was not exciting as I had imagined. The hostel life was even worse than a prison. The warden was very strict with everything. They kept drilling the fact that we are all girls and had to behave in certain ways and keep certain behaviours up etc etc. The only good thing I had enjoyed about the hostel life was that at 10pm sharp, the lights in every room had to go OFF ! which meant I could go to sleep . All the rest was very regimental. Even when parents came to visit their children, it was soooo difficult to go and see them. Sometimes even impossible. We used to have a hefty looking lady at the gates keeping an eye and would never let any of us walk beyond the hostel gate.

All these strict rules were getting on my nerves and I missed home on top of that to make things worse. One day, I had a message saying that my parents had come to the college to see me and also to speak to the Principal. I was not sure what the scenario was. Managed to sneak through the side and go see my parents. My dad showed me a piece of letter that had come in the mail addressed to me. It was an admission letter to an Engineering College in Madras !! My joy knew no bounds at that point. Not for getting admission in an Engg College, but for the fact that I would be out of that horrible hostel. I did not have to think twice and said YES without waiting for my parents to say anything.

So at the end of 4 months, I found myself on a train journey that took me to Madras - a city. I had never been and lived in a city till then. It was a complete new experience for me. The life I had embarked upon in Madras was full of freedom, but was a life changing experience for me. I learnt to be responsible, appreciated the value of money, realised what it is that my parents are going through to put me in a college/hostel, enjoyed my hostel and college life like any other person, had my share of all sorts of experiences. It was freedom with a life changing lesson that I will never forget.

Hello Jyotimehndi,

Thanks for kick starting this contest. Your moment of liberation was truly awe inspiring and through your words we could relate to the true sense of freedom that you experienced.

Hello Knot2Share,
Thanks for your entry that details your college days in an Engineering college in Madras.

Ladies go ahead and come up with great entries to win special handicraft gifts.

All the Best!

Originally Posted by knot2share

After I had completed my 12th standard, I had joined a college and enrolled into B.Sc Physics. I was very happy and felt proud to be going to college. Had heard many stories from cousins about how they enjoyed during college days etc and was hoping to experience something similar. Also Physics used to be my favourite subject as well. So I was all looking forward to my college life and hostel life. I was excited about the fact that I would be away from my parents and could have fun.

But this was all short lived. The college life was not exciting as I had imagined. The hostel life was even worse than a prison. The warden was very strict with everything. They kept drilling the fact that we are all girls and had to behave in certain ways and keep certain behaviours up etc etc. The only good thing I had enjoyed about the hostel life was that at 10pm sharp, the lights in every room had to go OFF ! which meant I could go to sleep . All the rest was very regimental. Even when parents came to visit their children, it was soooo difficult to go and see them. Sometimes even impossible. We used to have a hefty looking lady at the gates keeping an eye and would never let any of us walk beyond the hostel gate.

All these strict rules were getting on my nerves and I missed home on top of that to make things worse. One day, I had a message saying that my parents had come to the college to see me and also to speak to the Principal. I was not sure what the scenario was. Managed to sneak through the side and go see my parents. My dad showed me a piece of letter that had come in the mail addressed to me. It was an admission letter to an Engineering College in Madras !! My joy knew no bounds at that point. Not for getting admission in an Engg College, but for the fact that I would be out of that horrible hostel. I did not have to think twice and said YES without waiting for my parents to say anything.

So at the end of 4 months, I found myself on a train journey that took me to Madras - a city. I had never been and lived in a city till then. It was a complete new experience for me. The life I had embarked upon in Madras was full of freedom, but was a life changing experience for me. I learnt to be responsible, appreciated the value of money, realised what it is that my parents are going through to put me in a college/hostel, enjoyed my hostel and college life like any other person, had my share of all sorts of experiences. It was freedom with a life changing lesson that I will never forget.

Hi knot to share..
Beautiful write up.....really we could feel the happiness you enjoyed with freedom in your life in City college.....
Keep writting more Knot to share

Life seemed never to take a turn from the boring, monotonous routine during my school days. The hours in school, home, tuitions, studies …..same cycle everytime….
I was an ordinary student, hard working and dedicated towards my studies, but never keen about the extra curricular activities at school. There was a reason behind it-I suffered from inferiority complex.In the line between fat and thin, I began leaning towards the former. In dire situation were a pawn was needed to be poked fun at, I found myself becoming a highly potential target. It did have an adverse affect on me. I never used to participate in any event though I had the talent and potential in me. There were a couple of teachers who encouraged me, because they knew the hidden talent in me.They tried many times encouraging me but it did not work, or rather it never worked.

One day , my teacher , without my knowledge or consent registered my name in a debate competition at school. Later when she informed me about it, I felt butterflies in my stomach and was very tensed and I knew I had no way out of it. So , I decided that I would give it a try . I prepared well and was ready to debate . But when the time came, I failed miserably. As I stood before the mass audience in front of the microphone, my confidence drained away and all I could do was mutter something and walk away. I failed to rise to the situation. After ten minutes or so, my teacher came to me and said that the committee was ready to give me a chance again but I refused . Thus this mortifying incident did nothing but bring misery to me. Humiliation enveloped my entire being and I felt deep remorse in front of my loving teachers who always tried to help me.Then and there , I decided enough was enough. I needed to prove that I was not what I projected myself to be. I worked hard to change it, read lot of motivational articles, spent lot of time talking to myself in front of the mirror and lot of other things which if I describe here, will make this article to long to read. I participated in an extempore competition after couple of months and bagged second prize. My joy knew no bounds. My inferiority complex that held me in chains broke into pieces, the new found freedom of self esteem brought me happiness and confidence. Slowly things started getting better, I became the leader of my team in many competitions, participated in lot of events and became the overall winners in that academic year.

The freedom to choose hope over despair, confidence over doubts, happiness over melancholy helped me in improvising myself from that day onwards tremendously.
Success is a matter of choice and not of chance, so I chose to be free from all unwanted chaos in my mind and heart. The learning still continues till date.

Wow!! Shree and sheeba..

Thanx da Ani.

Friends this contest takes me back in past in the year 1996 when I had completed my 10th Secondary School. My father was in Kuwait working there. I was very shy kind of girl who would not even speak to her mother. I didn’t knew what is going around in the world. Was just interested in home to school and back. I had lots of dream but didn’t knew how to start my life. I needed a friend to guide me. I always felt that I am in prison and wants to fly high in the sky. I wanted to do something in my life. I didn’t wanted to be like my mother nor my elder sister. I wanted to change the mentality of my family of girl means has to get married and give birth and them raise children and take care of the house.
But friends I seriously didn’t knew what to do. My relatives my friends all were from same background and no one was there to show me the right path. Right from the start I wanted to become a doctor and no one supported me and made fun of me when I ever told them that.

My freedom started when Saddam Hussain war started and my dad had to leave Kuwait and fly back to India. At that time he didn’t had any job in India. There was critical problem with 3 daughters and grandparents at home. At that moment I expressed my thought of working. To my bright luck I got the job immediately in a computer institute as marketing executive. I being a shy girl didn’t knew what to do. But I decided to do it and my job was to go from one building to another and explain the people about the different courses conducted in our institute and convince them to learn computers.

Imagine a girl who doesn’t even talk to anyone how will she do this job! But I tried and 100 flats people banged the door on my face. I have cried in the night but next day again I would leave my house and go just in hope of getting one member to join the course and earn something. Finally I got one member who listened to me and did enroll his son for computers. That was the start of my freedom. From that day I have got so many people who got convinced and enrolled themselves for the course. Simultaneously I kept on learning computers and then I started earning. I was like a free bird who could fly high in the sky fulfilling all the dream of hers and her family. Today because of that situation which came in my life my personality has changed now I am no more a shy girl. I am an independent girl and I proofed to my family that females are not for just taking care of house.

My first job as marketing executive to me was freedom from the prison of old thought and fulfilling my dreams.