Monday 26 December 2016

Additional Essay



I’ve played an active role in the translation workshop conducted in the 11th standard and a key role in creating our team newsletters during my 8th standard. In addition to that I’ve contributed articles for our newsletter during 12th. I had one of my articles published in the Times of India Rajkot Plus. I update my blogs. I’ve earned a reputation of an expert author on ezinearticles.com. I am an admin of two groups on Facebook namely ‘Delving deep into the essence’ and ‘the profound papyrus project’.  The former deals with general awareness and a few short quotes that I’ve penned down while the latter talks of saving the stationery and in turn the environment. The agitation named ‘The profound papyrus project’ was a personal initiative started and ended in 9th. I made a group which gave presentations about this project in lower grades. We collaborated with school library to collect old books and to reuse and recycle them. The papyrus project taught me to deal and interact with many people. I am interact servant (community service).

I’m a computer nerd and I love to explore new daunting problems that pop all around me. Whether it’s an issue on my system or in my neighborhood, friends, and family and sometimes in the school, I wage a wanton war fraught with aggression until I defeat my foe – the ‘problem’. I’ve devoured comptia A+ 701-702 book back in 9th and have read in chunks from ‘Data Communications and Networking - Behrouz A. Forouzan’. Apart from the syllabus I’ve explored Java as much as I could and have tried to implement the newly acquired concepts and skills in the programs that I have built. I would pursue daunting external certifications like A+, Network+, Security+, CASP, OCA, OCP, CEH, LPT, CISO etc. along with my college courses, which obviously is a redoubting adventure!
Apart from computers I love being in the vicinity of nature. Since my childhood I’ve been visiting Gir and Abu. The real adventure lies in standing face to face with the king of jungle, exploring the thick canopies and wading your way through the violently gurgling waters which fortunately I have accomplished. I’ve also been to Piroturn and Betdwarka.

I’m teaching English to my sister (and also help her friend) who happens to live in a remote village named Limbdi. Every night over Facebook messenger (audio calls) we interact in English. We cover various lessons, reading, listening, and grammar. I’m using ICSE books and other grammar material that I’ve collected from various sources. She has no background in that pathetic village and I don’t want to leave her in that gloom where she is surely doomed! The whole and sole purpose of my life is to elevate her. It is a very interesting job as when your love materializes the effervescence thus felt is sublime! ‘Nothing’ is more important for me than her!

I like to explore a given topic on my own rather than having to follow a stringent course streamlined for me. The liberty to break your bones and then rise is a remarkable experience that makes you a hundred times stronger than what you would have been were you to follow a ready-made path. Independent research and quest that makes me think thrives me the most. 

Literary pursuits (reading, writing) give me a sense of gratification. Osho and swami Vivekananda have struck me the most. I’ve read swami vivekanad’s books. I’ve read books by Osho such as Dhammapad, from darkness to light, from sex to super consciousness, from misery to enlightenment and many more excerpts and Hindi lectures. It has been an integral part of my life.  It gives peace and joy. Neville Goddard and Abraham hicks have uplifted me in my momentous days. They have made me endure through the hardships that would have otherwise shattered me. Spirituality attracts me. I spend my free time in their pursuit!



Trinity College Optional Essay



We live in an urban-global age with over half of the planet's inhabitants living in cities. Trinity College is an urban liberal arts college deeply engaged with the local community and committed to making an impact across the world. How do you aspire to use your education to impact local and global communities?

Following the Great Famine and the Black Death of 1350 population has risen sharply. One billion was the population in 1804. It took 156 years to become triple its former value. Demographic values as of July 2015 (7.3 billion) states that the addition of ciphers has occurred at an unprecedentedly expeditious rate which is a global concern. The increasing population presses upon the natural resources. The increase in inflation and economic upheavals has burgeoned and engendered throttling competition among the members of this ‘same global family’. Such harbingers herald the dire need of loving, compassionate and competent people who can play the role of a philosopher’s stone – transforming the base metals into gold.

I am passionate computer geek. I’ve been in the wreath of love since a very tender age. In fact I decided to make my career in computer science when I was in my 6th grade, i.e. 12 years old. From that age to this day I’ve never for a fraction of a second wavered. No whims or caprices have ever moved my dogged decision to explore the unseen nadirs of computers. In a digital age where more than three-fourth of the population is being swayed by digital devices and the Internet it is instrumental that people like me come to the forefront to serve the world for all its benedictions bestowed upon me out of pure munificence. 

Nonetheless not even the vestiges of the Golden world can be found in this cauldron, our world! Dualities, the inscrutable and the inseparable, lie at the heart of this mortal world – a paradox unplumbed. From the silver dime (the obverse and the reverse) to the elitist spiritualism (Man and God), from the esoteric intricate binaries (zeros and ones) of the switching circuits to the De Brogli’s wave/particle duality, duality is the norm. Corin in ‘As you like it’ by Shakespeare, Act – 3 scene 1 line 26-27 states that “The great of cause of the night is lack of the sun”. The yin and yan have existed from time immemorial. But I’ve many times beheld keenly the skies kiss the bashful maiden earth at the horizon and have felt jealous. O that I understood this mystery! However suffice it to assert that it is wise to extrapolate the duality to the virtual world where one may run into gobs of vicious devils desperate to compromise their fellow mates’ security for their personal gains. 

My major at Trinity College would be computer science. I’m more biased towards Information Security and Ethical Hacking. The antiquated world chattered its teeth in the face of a glistening poniard but today the threats have grown much more subtle in nature. To slay a person with a single slash is better than to hack his or her computer! The avaricious fools (modern cow boys) out there, just ‘For a Few Dollars More’, hack the bank accounts, use their social engineering skills to set up a trap for the not so well-informed, assault an individual’s privacy, breach laws that foster harmony in the community or may be just out of a cynical outset plague the world to derive sadistic pleasure. The world is progressing towards ‘Artificial Intelligence’ where humans would be superseded by machines if left unchecked. Science fiction movies such as ‘The Matrix’ and ‘Surrogate’ are no more the figment of man’s imagination but will be embodied into the silicon chips at the earliest. 

The global community is in the need of people who will prevent the world from running into the hands of ‘machine minds’ and at the same time develop ‘machine hearts’ that shower the earth with boons unabated! The brevity of a bard makes his expression poignantly heart wrenching. To weave a maze of ornate clauses does not become me. The succinct three lines at the beginning of this paragraph have sought to maintain the ineffable ember burning at innermost recesses of my being.


Saint Olaf Best Fit



How are you and St. Olaf a good fit for each other? (100 words)

The verdant green 300-acre campus, student-to-faculty ratio of 12:1, elitist educators, financial aid packages, student organizations, a versatile fusion of cultural heritage, a host of co-curricular activities, internships and post-graduation job opportunities is what makes Saint Olaf the college of my dreams. My self-definition - an independent thinker, a pro-learner, an assiduous, meticulous, sincere, cooperative and down-to-earth inquisitive personality always on-the-go to help others - will certainly redefine the previously held notions of the very crescendo of success and humility in the global community, as would be expected by the community at Saint Olaf.