Undergraduate / 'everyone is not as fortunate as I am' - Personal essay for the FALL 2013 [3]

I am applying to US colleges for the fall 2013.This is my personal essay.I would be grateful if anyone would comment on its language and content.

Around 10 years ago I was stuck at a train station in India. This site was the very definition of chaos - a never ending build of screeches from retarding trains, a rush of sweaty people and an assortment of indiscernible sounds. All these stimuli sort of disappeared into the background as I witnessed something too painful to describe: a child about my age was sorting through a passenger's puke trying to find something to eat in it. I was horrified and agitatedly asked a local vendor, "Why does not anyone feed kids like him?" I expected him to express sympathy, but, to my dismay he gave the most indifferent response: "The best solution is to chase them away." Not knowing what to do, I gave half of my chocolate bar to the kid and went to find my parents...

7 years later, we were learning about French Revolution in 10th Grade history class. My teacher quoted the famous words uttered by Marie Antoinette in response to concerns over her starving peasant population: "Let them eat brioche." Those words and lack of humanity underlying them, instantly reminded me that incident from India. That class got me thinking about what real hunger meant. In my sheltered existence, I had known "hunger" as just an effect of a missed meal now and then, perhaps caused by fasting because of ancestors' spirits or other festivities. These people's hunger was so much more. I never wanted to feel what they must have felt all the time.

Then, 2 years ago in Kathmandu (Nepal), I saw a few street children sniffing some nondescript "drug" from plastic pouches. I struck up a conversation to figure out what they were doing - they said that they were taking the "drug" because it eased their hunger. Their misery moved me to buy them a piece of cucumber each from a nearby mobile vendor. The joy with which they attacked the cucumbers satisfied me. I felt as if I had been released from the piled up guilt that had weighed heavily on me for years. To cling to that feeling, I bought them more cucumber, which they ate greedily.

Those three incidents all belonged to the same reality: all of my experiences were mere discomforts compared to the hungry peasants in Antoinette's France, the kid rummaging through puke to find food, and the "drug" sniffing Nepalese street children.

These and many more accounts remind me every day that everyone is not as fortunate as I am as there are people living in appalling dearth. As I investigated the plight of the hungry over the past few years I realized that global hunger has become more severe each year, and affects billions of people around the world and in my country. It appears highly unfair and sometimes feels like a daunting task for social workers and organizations working to reduce poverty all around the world.

Still, the satisfaction I felt from feeding those street children lingers in my mind and gives me hope - it showed me that I can contribute in some way even though my efforts may sometimes seem like a drop in the ocean. I will keep working for such people because I know such drops will be accumulated to become something worthy in the future.

"...I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do." These words of Helen Keller give me hope that even if I may not be able to bring changes throughout the whole world, I will at least be able to change the world for a significant number of such people.

Undergraduate / 'Village life / Learner / Mathematics' - Bucknell University Supplement essay [3]

Comments on the content and language appreciated.Thank you.
The following questions are your opportunity to demonstrate, within the context of the Common Application, what makes you uncommon and uniquely you. In your responses, be bold and have some fun - really! Tell us about your talents and interests so that we can know the "you" behind the transcripts.What are the three most important things Bucknell's faculty and students should know about you?

1.
I spent 12 years of my life in a village where not even simplest of things such as a radio or a TV was available. I first saw an electric bulb when I was 12, snapped the first photo of mine when I was 13, and saw a computer when I was 14.I still remember the day when I jumped 6 ft high when I heard a small object singing a song. I led a primitive life for 12 long years and was suddenly taken to a place where everything was so "modern".

At 13, my father brought me a walkman. I was so amazed by and confused about how it sang a song that I unscrewed it to see if someone was trapped inside it. I was surprised to see how the letter I typed in keyboard came onto the computer screen. I found it difficult to handle all these devices. However, I tried my best to adopt myself in the new "modern" city. Each day I would see something new and my curiosity to learn would increase. I faced new challenges everyday but I faced them confidently. The first three years were the toughest times of my life. Now, after seven years, I know about all the modern technologies that exist.

This change in the environment I was raised has shaped me in a way I am today. Through this experience of drastic change in life, I have been able to excel my ability to adopt myself in difficult situations. Now, I love changes in my life though physical or social. I am curious to learn new things. I love things that are challenging. My thoughts, curiosity, abilities and personality are all outcomes of the change I have experienced in my life.

2.
I am a curious eclectic learner who if interested can spend whole night studying a chapter of psychology consciously condoning the physics exam the following day. All topics of study fascinate me. I love studying concepts of physics and reactions of chemistry. At the same time, I equally love learning policies of trade and concepts of opportunity costs. Every subject, be it physics, economics, Mathematics or Psychology, it attracts me equally.

I break every bound to learn about what I am interested in. This habit has always made me unique or so called strange among my classmates or society. I spend most of my leisure time studying the topics of economics, astronomy and psychology. Though these topics are of no use for my academic courses I still study them. Why? Simply because I love reading them. Sometimes I read thriller fiction by Dan Brown while the other times I read spiritual novels by Paulo Coelho. My religion is Hinduism. However I have read Bible, Quran and Tipitaka. With this learning habit, I have developed myself as an eclectic student. A student who can confidently talk about the concepts of economics with his economist uncle; a student who can describe the reasons behind the expansion of universe or the concepts of isomerism to his fellows; a student who can confidently enter into discussion on Jesus and Judas with his Christian mates

3.
Mathematics has been one of the most intriguing subject to me since I have started my education. I never took mathematics as a difficult subject. For me, it is a fun to solve mathematics problems. I just take them as a game and play them. When I was in class nine I taught myself Vedic Mathematics which totally improved my computing skills. I could perform a five digit multiplication faster than calculator. I rarely used calculators while solving mathematics problem.

In my high school, I decided to study two mathematics among which Further Mathematics is considered as one of the most rigorous subject in A-Levels. I continued enjoying the new concepts I learnt everyday. Whenever I would solve a new problem, my curiosity to learn pushed me to a new one. Considering my interest and skill in mathematics, I was selected to represent my country in 4th International Young Mathematicians' Convention where I bagged Silver medal for my country. Later, I was awarded with High Achievement Award by Cambridge International Examinations. Had Mathematics been just a subject to me, I wouldn't have learnt and enjoyed it with this ease. But Mathematics is not just a subject for me; it is my passion.

In future, I may not pursue my career in the field of mathematics. But mathematics cannot be apart from my life. I will continue to learn more concepts and develop new skills of Mathematics.