Anushri Saxena: What keeps me going: Being Together!

No matter how brave we think we are, there are days when we feel low about ourselves and our life in general. It is dangerous to lose faith from oneself…because once I have lost confidence from myself nothing can bring me back on track. That is when I desperately need a kick to reclaim myself. I recall an instance when I did something crazy with my friends before I was about to lose faith.

We go back five years back in time when I had just got over with my twelfth board exams – the ultimate career deciding exams of that time (although nowadays after the abolishment of tenth board exams, students I know of do not find their twelfth board that big a deal; strange kids). So my friends Nupur, Anshula and I, like every other person, were unnerved by the thought of our results and future prospects. Anshula, the brainiest of us was still clear about her goals. While I was still chilled out, Nupur was seriously tensed. However before all this, we had to bear the horror of seeing our board results. Will we make it, “pass ho jaayenge?” Yes, of course, but getting good grades – SKYROCKETING grades - was the question. Duh!

Nupur, me and Anshula.

After spending days in utter despair, we decided to meet up and do something absolutely crazy to relieve our poor souls. Our peers had been talking about an amusement park in Noida located very close to our place which was opened around a couple of years back. We were told that some badass rides existed there to make our hearts race. That sounded somewhat like what we desired. A kick. A badass kick. This was it!

The very next day the three of us found ourselves at the entrance of this amusement park located next this huge shopping mall. After purchasing entry tickets, we got paper bands on our wrists and excitedly set our foot inside. There were not may rides, as it was still new, some were not functional. However, those that did function were enough to make our jaws drop. We headed first to the strange ride located the farthest from us. We decided to begin from the end.

This ride looked innocent. We just had to sit in the slots making a part of this single row of seats. As I said this place was still new, on this weekday there were hardly any visitors apart from the three of us. So we had this ride run especially for us. We picked our seats, careful to remain close. As we took a deep breath as we fastened our seatbelts, we heard ourselves rising up in the air with after a take-off thud… we suddenly paused for 5 seconds and with a jolt we were upside down… yes, so this whole row jolted in 360 degrees after pauses… We were shouting on top of our voices but at least we were together and did not feel so scared… Following a car ride, we next went to this deadly ride, this time we could only sit in pairs, so we ended up sitting facing each other… this was like an octopus with its tentacles going up and down, going upside down, we were on tips of these tentacles… this one made me slightly sick…only if I had not insisted for a second go.

The one ride that really made us feel light hearted was Free Fall. Here we were dropped from a height as we comfortably sat on a seat together. From that height we saw the mall, the roads and everything around them… It was a great feeling that made us realize that we were not alone. We are a part of this universe and we are infinite. We cannot let anything bog us down. All we have to is to look up, believe in ourselves, face the challenge and find a way out. After an adventurous time, we ended our day by visiting the very peaceful Sacred Heart Cathedral near Connaught Place. We prayed for our exams, sat and introspected, absorbed the beauty around and returned home with a bunch of memories and happy thoughts. Today I can proudly say I have a set of close friends who help me keep going, and only their presence is enough to give me energy to get me back my lost determination and faith from myself.