I had secured 3rd rank in the University of Calcut for my BA exam. Consequently, I got a prestigious scholarship to pursue Masters in Economics from the best college in the University of Kerala at Trivandrum, where I joined, aiming to repeat my academic performance of BA. Trivandrum was the capital city and the University of Kerala attracted the best students from the entire state. It boasted of an enriching campus life with an environment conducive to the flowering of total personality, where hidden talents and true potential are unearthed. Coming from a town, and a self imposed world of academics and sports, I was overwhelmed by the life beyond classrooms.
ÃÂà ÃÂà ÃÂà ÃÂà ÃÂà ÃÂà ÃÂà ÃÂà ÃÂà ÃÂà ÃÂà ÃÂà ÃÂà ÃÂà ÃÂà ÃÂà I soon became engrossed in imbibing new ideas and experiences and in discovering myself. I realised that I have a way with people and experience immense joy in leading them and being involved with their concerns. I ran for the prestigious post of President of the StudentsâÃÂàUnion and was elected convincingly.
The social esteem attached to this accomplishment was much more than that of achieving an academic honour. As President, I had many critical responsibilities and in my passion for perfection, I ended up doing a lot more. It was here that I savoured the pleasure of community work and in this area I did things that were considered impossible, especially in spreading literacy. In fact, Kerala Sakshara Samiti, an organisation which I had helped form to spread literacy, later on spearheaded a powerful movement that culminated in Kerala being declared as the first functionally literate state of India; an effort for which it got the UNESCO award in 1991. All this, however left me with little time for performing brilliantly in academics. Predictably, I could not give my best during the MA exams and got median...