That One Year

“At the innermost core of all loneliness, there is a deep and a powerful yearning for union with one’s lost self.” – Brandon Francis

Year 2014. After the board exams were over in March, I had decided that I would drop the year to prepare for the one of the toughest entrance exams for the most prestigious and aspired institute of the country – the JEE for the IIT. To realise this dream, I went to Delhi, again one of the most happening places in the country.

However, even after months of preparation, I failed to achieve my goal; and whatever be the reasons for it I have no regrets. I will never say that I wasted my one year. And that is because, it would not be true if I said so; it is because that year gave me so much time – free time; lonely time; time to think. A little time for yourself is all you need to recollect and reset your life. A little time is what you need to know where you want to be and where you are heading in life. I got this little time in abundance and this is what that has made all the difference. Difference in me myself and the way I see the world around me.

As the opening quote says, this was the time that brought me so close to my inner self that I could feel my presence. I got to know myself in the truest sense. I discovered my likes, my dislikes; I figured out what I loved and what I hated – be it things or people. I became wiser than I ever was and I would not be wrong in saying that I rediscovered my philosophy of life, that is, my view of all that is happening around me every moment. And surprisingly enough for me, it was totally different from what all I thought of the world until now.


That one year, that time I spent with myself, has moulded me into a shape that better fits with my soul. Period.

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