Undergraduate / "Tennis infuses discipline in me" + "Photography" - Extra curricular activity [4]

Hey guys there are two of them tell me which one is better
thanks :)

When I try to judge the direction of the wind and toss the ball high up to serve, Nervousness breeds through me. I feel impatient. I gather myself back again and go back to doing what I enjoy the most-playing tennis, a sport I savor. I have played it for the last 11 years and hope to do so wherever I am.

Tennis infuses discipline in me in every manner, jerks out any malaise, instills a sense of timing and keeps me focused on achieving my goal. On the court, mistakes motivate me to work harder, focus better and I constantly strive to learn more. I am solely responsible for my actions, I am my own team and I desire to put in my best because I do not want to come out regretting any action. Lessons I carry back with my rackets. Tennis is my most significant extra-curricular activity.

Photography speaks many languages. Every image fragments into layers. Each layer tells a story. Some imagined and some heard. My camera creates and sees what the eyes cannot see or what the heart cannot feel. As I walk on the street to capture stories , to hear them, I feel a sense of freedom. I click, I erase and I believe again.

Photography instills within me the zeal to go forward and learn more. The camera speaks for me and I express myself better with it. The camera plays its role, it acts as a companion, teaches me and most importantly, makes me a walk a mile in someone's shoes. As it hangs on my neck inanimately, I wait patiently for it to come alive and to show me the multifarious shades of life.

Undergraduate / "Common good; poverty issue" - Bowdoin Supplement [4]

Poverty strikes, India cries and the cycle repeats itself!
For the last 2o years Indian economy has witnessed a high growth spurt. Kolkata seems to be at the crossroads while the Rickshaw pullers are at the crossheads. They are nothing but, economic refugees. Speeding lives, destructive markets and a state communist government overshadows the painstaking lives Rickshaw worker has to go through.

Rickshaw- a mode of transport for short distance travel has been an inexpensive medium for people. "Rs5 more sir, please", the arguments never seem to end, the clothing remains perpetually soaked in sweat, the stomach never full. Rickshaw workers in West Bengal are known for their relentless spirit , hard labour and never say die attitude. The Government's decision to ban Rickshaws has cast a pall of gloom on the affected.

This ban will render around 30,000 families homeless, tearing our socio-economic fabric and completely destroying the faith in the Government.
My Objective- To create an organization which harbours the need of rickshaw workers. To invite companies to advertise their products on the Rickshaw's, step up their living conditions and suggest new Economic policies to the Government to revoke this ban and take a step forward to making this venture into a productive one.

Incepting a new seed for economic development will pave way for global engagements and communal harmony. It will provide these tireless workers with a new sense of spirit and new hope to live for.

Undergraduate / "Undiscovered Equations" - An experience that had an impact. Common app. [4]

Hey guys I'd really appreciate some feedback.. i hope some one form essayforum can tell me how it actually is.. Pls read.. thanks alot :)

Undiscovered Equations

A fallacy. A story unheard. A site unexplored. I'd had it my entire life. "You're going to regret it", my friends laughed irrevocably. It pinched me when they jeered, they answered and I stared, they discussed and I wondered. I would barely scrape past with a B grade and for all others around me it was a foregone conclusion. I was part of the rat race to do well, to push past the wall of success. And yes, science was just that.

Scientifically I'm made up of mass, molecules, atoms and very complicated things which take the human brain ages and perhaps millennia to research about. Morally and spiritually I'm still being constructed and have a mountain to climb. I screamed, I howled and murdered all my values as I spoke agitatedly to my parents. I was oblivious to what they said. They egged me to pursue Science, the tougher and more challenging of the many tasks I could handle and of course - I blatantly refused. I'd never done well, never worked hard enough. It meant putting in six hours of work daily and hanging out with the so called 'nerds', a complete no to my image.

Pocket money was slashed. Outings were monitored and the next thing I saw myself doing was sitting in class 11B ducking Vectors flying around. I reluctantly opened my book and took a cursory glance at the page. Though I had to put in great effort, I moved a step closer and discovered a new insight into the subjects. Chemistry had been my biggest enemy and now that was the only subject I could take refuge in - a fact I never divulged to my mom. She'd been right. I enjoyed chemistry. 'Motion and Atomic Structure' ...which kid hasn't studied it in its elementary stages? I never understood it and took my first step towards doing so - Progress! The Physics assignments were daunting tasks and left me completely drained out. Eventually I had to work hard. I was scared! Who wanted to fail? Time management - Another victory for my father this time - Accomplishment!

As I began to gather back my momentum, interest and energy, my struggles were observed and I was handed over a letter by my father requesting the Headmaster to change my stream. An oasis in the desert! Since I was still confused I grabbed the offer and rushed to the Headmaster's office clutching on to the letter ... my freedom for the moment. But just a step back and I found myself doing again something I never expected from my self - a cluster of the shredded letter and a grim look. I had actually managed to do some scathing introspection and thought that all my life I have only escaped from hard work, taking the easy way out and for once I should listen to what my mind says. And thus, I established my relationship with Physics and Chemistry for another two years! And the love affair began!

There were more reasons to this story. Any relative that came along inevitably jumped to the question, "So, what have you taken?" And I proudly answered "Science" and as the conventional Indian Wisdom goes they thought that I'd go ahead do Engineering, Go abroad, work with a Multi-national company and earn a lot of money!

As dramatic as it may sound, studying Science gave me the sort of happiness I had never felt before, and as trivial as it may seem to others, it was a risk worth taking. These two formative years prepared me at the grass root level and made me realize that subjects like Economics, Finance and Psychology was where I wanted to be - a realization that will arm me to the hilt for all my future endeavors. It was the experience I got when I didn't get what I had wanted.

It took 16 years, A couple of bad grades, A war within the mind, a few parties which I didn't attend and one decision to help me discover my inherent capabilities, my core needs and most importantly my parents' worth. The climb was going to be difficult but the view was going to be worth it and I'm going to start my college life with just one word, Faith!