Stirring The Change Within

I belong to a school with service flowing through its veins. The first headmaster set forth his vision as follows- "The boys should leave The Doon School as members of an aristocracy, but it must be an aristocracy of service inspired by the ideas of unselfishness, not one of privilege, wealth or position." The foundation of Enactus echoed with the same principle, and the sentiment deep within me curdled over my time in school, motivating me to sit through the gruelling recruitment process of Enactus SRCC. It’s been a little over a semester since I joined college and Enactus SRCC. Of late, I have been having endearing dates with myself over hot chocolates. We talk a lot and if someone were to pen down our conversation in real time, we’d end up with a new novel every single time we sat down. Thank God for that though, I don’t intend on indulging in plagiarism lawsuits as I have a lot of deadlines to meet!

As young adults all of us are going through a lot of tumult - we desperately crave contentment, something to tell us that our actions amount to something, that we are doing what is right and that we aren’t as incompetent as we think we are. Here is where Enactus steps in. What I am going to be talking about is how the organisation has been a therapy in times of self-doubt and a distraction in times of distress and a teacher in fits of naivety. We evolve through the semesters. I see our seniors in the organisation as the next step of our transformation, future leaders being moulded in their nascent stages.

We are very prone to succumb into euphoria as well as into trances of train spotting where we are completely still, almost like a patient in a comatose state aware of everything, not acting. This is when we need to take a step back, look away from the Gogh-like landscape and introspect, anchor ourselves to one train. This train for me is Enactus. I know that momentary lapses of judgment instigated by my youth won’t affect me as bad now as I am flowing in a stream that will lead me to the ocean eventually.

Very often we are told that we have a lot of potential and are really capable. However, it is useless unless we streamline our efforts in sync towards something we are potentially good at. Recently I was exposed to such an opportunity and throughout this journey, I stumbled several times and almost gave in to the pressure, but I was surrounded by likeminded individuals and we motivated and carried each other forward in tough times. And before we knew it, we were on the stage, the final round, presenting our brainchild to a jury of experts. And we went on to eventually achieve what we had set out for. It was an overwhelming moment; I distinctly remember a tear drop which was instantaneously soaked into oblivion by my sleeve. All of this was possible only because of me being in the organisation.

One of the biggest problems with thinking so much is that you never truly do justice to a feeling, triumph and disaster alike. I was talking to a friend just twenty minutes after and she was surprised as to how quickly I had broken down this feat into a list of pros and cons. It felt good, but I was already evaluating everything that had come our way and what difference it would make to all three of us now.

I’ve been told that I am not interesting to talk to anymore because my entire conversation spirals into something ultimately related to Enactus SRCC. I agree that I am guilty of this.

Here's why, I have always believed that every human is born intelligent. We all possess a treasure trove of philosophies and thoughts that are ingenious. But what makes the difference is that how well someone turns these unintelligible assets into real processes that make a worthwhile difference. The heaviest pro is that Enactus has been a whetstone, sharpening my ability to bring about the potential that's inside of me, outside and make a difference in people's lives. To be honest, though, my biggest motivator for continuing in the organisation, for as long as I can is that I care about myself the most. Enactus is more about me than it is about anyone else.

Written by Arunabh Uttkarsh
Edited by Sudhrit Banerjee and Arshita Malhotra