College Essay

Q. ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED DEFINE YOU AS A PERSON?

A. I am a dynamic figure, often scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations

on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up several inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook thirty-minute brownies in 20 minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I’m bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don’t perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer, I toured New Jersey with a travelling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic and all my bills are paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliffdiving competitions in Sri Lanka and spelling bees in the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

But I have not yet gone to college.

Some fun moments

“Hey Habi! Whats going oooooonnnnnn”

6 months into the MBA and 5 months to go. I just realized today how incredibly diverse people I interact with on a daily basis. The above is my southern friend Chris’ friendly drawl. Most people I have met so far have trouble pronouncing ‘Abhishek’, so ‘Aabi’ it is. As much as I love diversity, I hate being led on tours. While being hustled with a bunch of tourists by loud, overenthusiastic guides may remain the world’s preferred way of traveling, I enjoy entering alone into new sorroundings, letting the solitude foster a silent, expectation-free, trusting bond between the two of us. The university has a plethora of such hidden delights, which I keep discovering accidentally. Some memorable experiences –

• 1. Swimming in the O’Connell pool for the first time, which is a full Olympic sized indoor pool freely available to university students.
• 2. Dinner at Gator Dining, with a 24-dish salad spread, Italian, Mexican and Mediterranean counters for food, unlimited beverages and desserts, worth every penny.
• 3. Lake Wauberg, with facilities for rock climbing, kayaking, beach volleyball and more.
• 4. Drifitng into the political science building, with its congressional décor, dark burnished wood flooring and low overhanging lamps.
• 5. Downtown Gainesville, with tons of partygoers thronging the pubs and discos.
• 6. Playing the basketball intramurals, winning 3 games and partying afterwards.
• 7. Meeting and learning from a plethora of new people, Cameroonian, French, Chinese and of course, Floridan.
• 8. Football games at the swamp! 90,000 loud , cheering fans egging on the number one rated gators onto SEC dominance.

What is right?

What is right? As long as something does not hurt someone is it right? Which moral codes are valid, which are simply brainchilds of a fanatical mind? What i value most in a human being is his or her respect for himself and his/her honor for others....Beliefs and practices come in second. Some of the best people i have known, some of my closest friends drink like fish, party like crazy and a lot of wrong things. Yet they are people i can count on when times get rough. A lot of 'respectable' people are the kinds who spend their entire lives in the pursuit of fame, wealth and status. People who could appear sensitive but are so cold-blooded that it scares me. Who is right? How can one judge a person to be good or bad - is it because he/she does not smoke/drink/socialize? Is it because he/she is outgoing and daring? I have had plenty of friends of both kinds who are flawed but wonderfully caring people, and i have plenty of those who live like moths, chasing the flame that consumes them. I get confused at times.