User:Challengethelimits/sandbox

Personal Statement

I dare enough to proclaim myself an introvert during the very start of this personal statement, though it is not my intention to begin with a supposedly negative aspect of myself. Rather, it is with childish pride, self-acceptance and cheer. It seems to me a failure how we hold introversion as a complete disadvantage to character and alarmingly, to identity, whilst extraversion is optimal. I think everything has its extreme side of reference and a needed balance, and here, the two characteristics complement each other in ideal existence and not the contrary to what we are led to believe. I’m starting with this particular characteristic of mine, because it is pivotal to why I’m choosing copy editing as a profession.

My final years at school weren’t easy for me to take. I had the classic adolescent repulsion against the educational methods in my school partly due to my introversion and the system of teaching, and partly due to my growing interest in music and other varied areas that weren’t taught at schools here. I relied on independent study of the subjects, which I believe is good practice as universities and colleges depend upon independent study and motivation. I gave enough time for all my interests and developed my basic grounds in, so to say with awareness, life itself. My interests include: music (as a band, and also as a composer for imaginary games/movies), computer programming (game designing), creative writing, reading the works of known philosophers and researching about varied topics like art history, psychology and film studies. It finally caught up with my grades, which were not spectacular but satisfying. I can say, with modesty, that my experiences have made me able of critical thinking and self-reflection, which I consider to be an essential process in ‘keeping the balance’. I started working on music more; I read more and wrote more, and more importantly, gave importance to the concepts of thought, perception and existence.

After graduating from school, some students hit a phase of confusion over the path to take; numerous paths lay out in front and it is not always easy, not for me. I attended SRM University, Chennai, right after I graduated, where I took up Visual Communications (which is composed of photography, film studies and graphic design). It is known to be the second best university in my region for this particular course. I eventually quit the university in a few months for reasons including: The tutors weren’t present in the class for 80% of the semester and the tutors clearly lacked communication/educational skills (I don’t mean to sound arrogant here, but just give an honest report of my experience). I spent more time in the university library than in the classes. The library captivated me, beaming with potential knowledge and contrasting to the classes where meaningless chatter prevailed among the students. I scored satisfactory marks in the first semester, because the subjects involved were of interest to me. I quit the university during the second semester as I found it to be a waste of time and resource. This experience helped me understand what education should consist in, why it is beneficial to society (in the smaller scale), why it is necessary for the development of humanity (in the larger scale) and that it is not what it ought to be in some places. I spent the remaining part of the year honing my skills in music and writing. I had to go through the persistent trouble of choosing a particular interest that would be my main focus for many years to come and that’s when I found out about copy editing. I am currently pursuing a degree in psychology as a distance education program at/from the University of Madras.

My interests can be seen as having a common pattern. I enjoy creating, and understanding things that occur during the process of creation. The very act of an event or a subject existing is something that I am curious about. I give excessive importance to some, mainly the ones that can express human condition logically or abstractly. Curiosity, research and discovery drive the force of life, which otherwise can be looked at as having no apparent meaning. The exploration done with art that yields meaning of some sort is what attracts me to my interests. It is apparently why I enjoy making music and researching my vast interests. I do understand the practicality of having financial stability in the future, but I firmly believe that experience and personal growth should go along with that in good proportion. This could partly be the reason why I steer clear of/shun professional courses. The goal is to mature with strong intellectual capacity, a broad perspective and knowledge, and moral values to exist and be productive throughout the coming times and beyond. I believe I have chosen the right industry for my career. I acknowledge and appreciate the competitive nature of the job I’m choosing, and I feel that I’m motivated enough to keep up and be successful in the course. I expect myself to work in the field of music in the future, but I’m sure that I can enjoy other aspects of jobs that I might be securing when I finish my education, as long as I keep up the act of creating. I’m definite about doing my master’s degree too.

I’ll take a walk away from the seriousness of the tone in the rest of the statement now. I’m a tea person. I actively perform music around my city with my band. I’ve been playing the guitar for 3 years, the piano for over 6 months and I have just started out with the violin. I’m currently working on a game project with a partner, and I will be scoring soundtrack for it. I’m getting a good lead with my novella, which I hope to finish in the coming months. I really like the works of Haruki Murakami, Virginia Woolf and Franz Kafka. I’m currently reading Bertrand Russell’s ‘The problems of philosophy’. I like having dialectic arguments about religion, politics and value.

—DilipVenkateshwaran

kishoredilip@gmail.com