After a lot of partying and settling down came our first sessional tests followed by the teaching break. Teaching break was scheduled for the first year students, living in a hostel for the first time and to meet their parents for first time after college had started. For me it was even more exciting because my dad just told me to come to the mumbai airport. He never mentioned anything about the rest of the trip. I found out they were taking me to srilanka and maldives, when i peeked into the ticket while thesecurity guard was checking it.

One and a half months into college, made me a realize a lot of things. I knew iwasn't fit to be there, as all of the others had ahead startwith all the IITtraining and thevigorous Indian education system. Ihadn't studied half the things that were required asprerequisites. Everyone had a casualattitude towards studies, I played along. I knew Iwrong but I needed someone else to tell me that orintactsomething else. Thesessional tests hit me very hard, I realized I didn'tknow anything that was happening.Now before I move on how the trip made a difference in my life, there's a very importantthingthat you all have to know. Now I went out of the way to convince my father to allow me to study computer science and not study pharmaceuticals, which would have helped him with hisbusiness. The sole reason I had the confidence and believe in myself was my zeal to do something on my own. A sense of fear was evolving within me when I realised I couldn't coop up, I wasfrightened. Which is why the teaching break was so important for me, i neededsome sort of relaxation change.

So i met my parents after one and ahalf month, itwasn't anything new for me. I have been in a hostel since 7th grade, i only got to meet my parents every six months. I got used to it. I knew I looked like a changed personevery timeI went home. Sometimes theyappreciated it and sometimes theydidn't. This time it was different, i was coming back from college. Now college according to me is the place where one should find the pathways to their careers. This iswhere you get to prove yourself, but i was already feeling defeated. Ididn't speak much to them during theentire trip, I think it did upset them a bit.

So now when we came to Sri Lanka, when i saw theitinerary it said we were going to cover 3major regions in 3 days, most of them being buddhist religious sites. This may seem very dramatic and all but idon't care. We went to central Lanka andvisited the one of the oldest kingdoms, natural parks, blah blah. I was never really interested in religious places. Before we went to the natural park we visited the pinnawela elephant orphanage. Here they were taking care of elephants who needed care and shelter due to the naxals in the forest. The elephants were roaming around out in the open, theywouldn't harm because they were used to theenvironment.

After that we had this safari to through the Minneriya national park, two herds of elephants chased our jeep. The driver frightened. I never saw such contrast in my life. In the morning the elephants were helping humans and working hand in hand. Here the elephants almost toppled the jeep upside down. Somehow we go out. Ivisited this Tooth relic temple in Kandy. The tooth relic was believed to contain Gautam Buddha's tooth. The temple was so important to the country that the king who posses the tooth relic has control over the country. I was surprised to see how the palace of the kingwasn't even 1/100th of the size of the temple. The importance they gave toreligion was fantastic. One more fascinating thingoccuredto me in that temple. I saw a hispanic person dressed in a white kurta, sitting inside the temple. There were thousands of people fighting to see the relic as the gates open twice a day fro 15 mins each. This man found a nice seat right opposite to the temple's gate and satthere with his eyes closed. There was so much happening, so much noise. This man sat there meditating. I tried to stay calm for 2 mins after we came back to the hotel, Icouldn't do it. My first lesson there was Inner Peace, i had no control over what I was thinking. The more control you have over yourself the more control you have over the world. Then we travelled to Maldives from there, somehow it was raining in Maldives out of all places. I was worried it would ruin our trip. So after landing at Maldives we need to catch a ferry to the hotel. We got one for ourselves, The journey wasnt pleasant. The boat was shaking and we ran into to a storm the sea was rough, I have never been on a boat so much but I knew something was wrong, my mom was worried. But I was confident nothing was going to happen. We some how got to the hotel safely. Two near death experiences in one trip, thats too much to ask for. I was a little frightened myself. But the calm resort helped, next day I sat on the beach staring at the ocean, it was a beautiful site. It helped me calm get and myself my thoughts right. I had so much going on and we were exhausted because of sri lanka. After coming back to manipal, I was in a complete different state of mind. I was reading about Buddhism, meditation. I kept away from my friends; I had a lot of thinking to do. I didnt know what I had to work on , I didnt know where to start. Once you feel weak, you need a lot of courage to get back. I spent hours thinking. I lost a few friends in the process. But this was the time I needed for myself. It took me 15 days to be normal again. I was a completely different person, the trip was a life changing experience, I saw a very big contrast, and there are bigger fears than failure. And that failure should be stepping stones for success.