Perfectionist ?? by Neha suryadevara

Perfectionist ?

Most people probably think that being a perfectionist is a great thing, but it is not all peaches and cream. In fact, it has often put me in tight, nail biting situations, kept me up late on Sunday nights and so much more. I guess it's as I'm generally a neat person, want to do my best and try to stay organized.

Firstly, Organization. Staying organized is an important thing in life and can help you in many tasks. For example, during exam time, I was putting together a handy study guide. Here every page contained mind maps, lists etc. and was what you could call neat. However, if the pages were shabbily and carelessly done then it would be hard to understand and in the long run hard to study from. This shows that sometimes perfection and attention to detail is necessary for staying organized.

Secondly, is me wanting to do my best. When I start something I want to finish it and don't want to do it half heartedly. Sometimes this can take time and a lot of patience is required but it is important to me and I don't mind spending time on it. I remember one time when I had to do a project on 'The Automobile Industry of the U.S.A.' For Geography. It took a very long time as I was trying to make it as best as I could and spent lots of time cutting straight edges. This shows that when you don't want to do something half done then you may just begin to get a little paranoid over it paying attention to every minor scratch.

Finally and probably most importantly is my general tendency to be neat. I've never liked rigid edges and even in kindergarten I tried to keep neat instead of getting my hands messy. This can be seen in my notebooks. If I made a mistake and have to cross it out, I have to grab a sharp pencil and ruler and do it the 'right' way.  That's how it's done, but to most people this wouldn't matter and they wouldn't even notice it. Well, for me, it would creep its way into my nerves and completely set me off.

In conclusion, I've realized that being a perfectionist has its pros and it's cons and it just depends on how you use it. I f you let it control you then you will face the consequences. I've also learnt that sometimes being imperfect and other imperfections are good for you. They bring color into life a and without them the world might just turn out to be like Jonas' community from 'The Giver.'

MY DOG CHANGED MY LIFE by Arundhati Chandrasekhar

MY DOG CHANGED MY LIFE

By Arundhati Chandrasekhar, 7C

 

Sometimes people say, “What’s the point of getting a dog? They cost so much money, but what do they give you in return?

Well, here I am to answer this question. There are many examples from my own life for this. Sometimes when I look back onto my life before I got my dog Juno, it was shockingly different from what it is now.

For one thing, I was a very indoorsy person. I never used to go outside. I had to be forced to do PE and swimming, and I mostly sat inside, reading my books. However after we got Juno, I began taking her for walks in the park and playing fetch and chase in the garden with her. I spent less time playing on my iPad and reading. I began taking 5-kilometre bike rides with my dad and Juno running along. I still did read and play video games, but overall, Juno had made my lifestyle much better.

Sometimes when I’m bored or lonely or sad, I turn to Juno for someone to play with or talk to. And no, I’m not mad! Dogs are great companions, and Juno is a constant source of entertainment, games and cuddles. You can tell dogs anything, and they can’t exactly break your confidence or judge you!

Dogs have been amazing companions to millions of people around the globe. They can make a huge difference in anyone’s life – but especially those who are blind, deaf or even depressed. Blind or deaf children are able to have lives similar to their peers due to their faithful guide dogs. Dogs are proven to help alleviate depression and sadness, and whenever I’m feeling blue, Juno can cheer me up simply by being in the same room!

Another way Juno changed me is by increasing my responsibility. You can’t slack off while caring for a dog – there are no “I’ll walk her later"s or “I’ll feed her later”s! Since I got Juno, I’ve been more responsible about everything, be it caring for Juno or submitting my homework on time.

So I hope my essay has convinced you that dogs are awesome. They can change your life so much, in so many different ways. That much I can tell you from my own personal experience. I’ve been altered so much since October 22^nd, 2011 – the day Juno came into our lives. From my viewpoint, dogs are the best road to perfection!

Why Me?? by Aishwarya Hirve

Why Me??

There is one thing about me that many people don't know- that I'm constantly getting into trouble. Not the kind of trouble where kids get grounded for two weeks or get detention. That way I barely get into trouble. In fact I've never even had detention before. The kind of trouble I'm talking about is when I make small, silly mistakes and end up regretting whatever I did. Some of the possible reasons why are that I sometimes I procrastinate too much, I'm unorganized and sometimes I just get unlucky.

 

I'm always procrastinating way too much, doing things at the eleventh hour and postponing every single thing that I'm supposed to do. This happened once when my teacher gave us three weeks to make a collage on different kinds of beaches and coastlines. I thought that I have more than enough time and that I don't need to start straight away. So I decided to start tomorrow. But the next day I decided I'd do it the day after, and the day after the same thing happened. This happened for the next few days.

Suddenly, one day before the deadline I jerked back into reality and realised that this major project was due TOMMOROW. I began to panic but then I realised that panicking  would get me nowhere. After a few seconds I calmed down and started cutting out the pictures. I stayed up half the night and my collage was actually really pretty, even though I realised that it would have been a hundred times better if  I started earlier.

The second reason is that I'm pretty unorganized, at least enough to lose something really important, and then there comes a time when I suddenly need that important thing, and even after turning my whole house upside down I can't find it. Like how my torch was EVERYWHERE in sight and then when there was a sudden blackout the other day (a few days after I lost complete track of my torch) and I had to survive the whole three-hour-long blackout with just a few candles and the little bit of light from my iPad's screen. And then in the next few days I found it again on my desk. I really wished I could have been more organized and I probably wouldn't have been in such a mess.

My third and final reason is probably just bad luck. Well, it's not the typical "bad luck" people would assume, in fact most of the time I think I'm the luckiest person ever. But sometimes my luck just seems to run out, like once, early in second grade, all of us were in class, waiting for the teacher to arrive. Two girls got up and went outside because apparently there was something funny going on in the class next door. A few more people got up to see. Soon the whole class was there except for me. I thought that if everybody was out there it wouldn't hurt to just take a peek and come back. For some reason all the kids darted back into class as soon as I got there and I just stood there wondering why, until I realised that the teacher had come back.

She saw that I was the only child outside, and yeah, like you guessed, the rest of the class had smug expressions on their faces when I was getting screamed at, and I thought, "Why me!?"

 While writing this I'm realising that that situation had absolutely nothing to do with luck. It's just that I'm always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Well, now you know exactly how I feel and the next time you say "Why me?" you should think again because you are DEFINITELY not the only one. Time and again I've tried so hard not to procrastinate or to be a tiny bit more organized or try to be in the right place at the right time, but I guess that trouble is my middle name and I can never get rid of it no matter what. I knows this sounds really cliché and cheesy but its true for everyone...

THE END!

 

Pressure Victimizes by Varun Bali

Pressure  Victimizes.......

To be a champion, you have to learn to handle stress and pressure. But if you've prepared mentally and physically, you don't have to worry.- Harvey Mackay.

 

I have to agree with this. When it comes to coping with pressure I am a victim. When pressure is onto me I always think I am going to lose. And half the time that happens because of the incorrect mindset!!

Firstly, when I am under pressure I usually tend to get distracted a lot and I don’t perform very well. My weakness is focus and I need to improve on it.  I try to focus to the best of my ability and it sometimes pay off tremendously. At other times it gets me into big, big trouble and that trouble proves fatal later. Like the time I went to Akash International school for a football tournament. I was looking at another school practising when suddenly my teammate Bharatha passed the ball back to me. Right behind him was a huge guy, taller than me. As I was about to kick the ball he dribbled me and scored. The very next moment I was sitting on the bench and getting yelled at by Jerry sir.  

Secondly, pressure can cause me to blank out! When I am in an exam or a match I sometimes get stuck at some point. And if I get stuck with a question God help me!!! Then I tend to misinterpret the question and write some random answer. Or waste a lot of time and realise that I will have to start all over again. I was writing my English literature Monthly test and there was a question - write a letter to the poet  Roger McGough. I did not read the question fully and I wrote a diary entry by mistake. By the time I had noticed it was too late. I had only 5 minutes left and I was not able to complete the answer!!!

 

Last but not the least, I set high standards for myself which create pressure. When you are playing a match you try to set a game plan for yourself.  The objectives can be different for different people and for the things they do. For example a goalkeeper would want to keep a clean sheet and he would not want to make any silly mistakes. Here I was, playing in the Bangalore Club U14 tennis tournament final against Dev Hingorani.  I had played against him before and he was really easy so I was sure I could easily win the match. I was shocked when we played the first set. Even though I won the first set he put up a good fight. My objective for the second set was to beat him 6-1. But he was leading 5-0!! I thought that I was going to lose the set. So I decided to not go down without a fight and Walla! I won!!!! I bounced back 5-5 and won it 7-5.

I also want to do things well and be appreciated for the outcome.  When I was in grade five, I was playing drums for the Theme Exhibition. I wanted to do a fantastic job. But I ended up making a few mistakes which were noticed by my fellow musicians but not by the audience. This still made me feel embarrassed.

Now you see how hard coping with pressure can be. But what if I was able to come up with a solution that would fix this... So I now set goals for myself. Each goal has a consequence.  If I broke any of these goals the consequence was a big one. For example if I was found looking around at someone while I was in the game and the coach saw me then I would get a ban from playing games on the ipad or computer for a week. In this way, if you set goals for yourself you can achieve anything. This routine has been working very well for me, the first few times I was unable to follow and the consequences were piling up. After that I had learnt my lesson and I tried my best to focus on what I was doing and not get distracted. 

In conclusion, I make goals for myself and attach consequences to the same. If I do not achieve the goal, I face the consequences. I am working on changing the feeling that I have let myself down even if others don’t think so. I have vowed to work regularly and at a comfortable pace in attaining my goals. And if I don’t, I know that I will give myself another opportunity.

Varun Bali