Oh How the Time Flies

Hi everyone!

I’m so sorry that I’ve gone nearly completely off the map and haven’t done a good job of keeping up with you, but hopefully that will eventually change. For the moment, life is a bit hectic and it doesn’t seem like I have time to do any of the things I really like doing. Oh well, I’ll stop my complaining and try to give my update.
            The month of July has been a very busy one for me. After I finished up my summer college class I thought things might slow down and get easier, but, apparently, I was wrong. During the early bit of the month I went up to Ohio around the Dayton area and visited my family up there for about ten days. And, let me tell you something; driving for 5.5 hours without a break makes for a very sore backside haha. (Actually it wasn’t too terrible – just tiresome) At the end of my trip to visit my family, I then drove up to Columbus (the capitol of Ohio) to meet my parents (they had driven behind me on the way up because they were going to a conference called OFA) and tour Ohio State University (OSU). OSU was absolutely amazing! I definitely want to go to college there now, but I still have to tour one other school. Here are some pictures I took while we were there though:

The first thing that I thought of when I saw this was World School :)

OSU's Mascot: Brutus the Buckeye

            *sidenote* Because I have decided that I want to become a translator, I have had to start looking into colleges with good scholarships for foreign languages. That has helped me to greatly narrow my choice of schools since very few universities offer certain foreign languages. So to make a long story short, due to the languages that I am interested in learning I can only pick from 2 colleges that are east of the Mississippi River. Those schools are OSU and Indiana University at Bloomington. If you would like to know more about what languages I’m interested in, etc, then just send me a message in facebook or to my email – either one will work.

Ok, enough with the sidenotes. Once I came back home from Ohio I started working on filling out scholarship information and studying for the ACT. For those of you who do not know what the ACT is, it is a test similar to that SAT that is usually used in the south which tests over more materials than the SAT. At the moment I have a 26, but I really need to raise my scores to be competitive for scholarships. Thankfully, I can easily be accepted to both colleges I’m applying for since I have a high GPA with my slightly-above-average score. Anyways, studying for the ACT is probably going to practically consume my soul until September – and maybe October too.

I’ve also finally been interviewed for a job! That happened last Thursday actually. Back in late May I went job hunting all over Middlesboro trying to find anywhere that was taking job applications. While I was in the mall I decided, just for the heck of it, to apply to a fine jewelry store called Brooke’s Jewelers. I never really expected to hear back from them, but after the manager read my school/extracurricular activities/hobbies section on my application she decided to call me in for the interview. The good news is that I “have the job” because the manager really liked me and was pleased that I already knew so much about the different metals, karats, stones, and how to market product to the customer, but they can’t hire anyone who isn't an adult because of a company policy. Can you say “problem”? haha To make a long story short, the manager said that she does want to hire me and will give me a call in January (since that’s when I’ll finally be old enough), and she also said that she would try to bend the rules around Christmas since they will really need help then and I’ll be really close to being of age by then. Another nice thing about the job is that, since it is part of a chain jewelry store, my manager will most likely be able to transfer me to another store near OSU or IUB if I decide to work while going to college. So, I’m really excited that my first job will probably be at a jewelry store. Who knew that my hobby of making jewelry would actually help get me a job? Here’s a photo that was taken back in 8^th grade with some jewelry I designed and won first place with at a state beta convention: 

There’s my update of the month for you. Hopefully reading it hasn’t been a complete waste of your time.    

My India by PARAMAHAMSA YOGANANDA

Not where the musk of happiness blows,
Not where darkness and fears never tread;
Not in the homes of perpetual smiles,
Nor in the heaven of a land of prosperity
Would I be born
If I must put on mortal garb once more.

Dread famine may prowl and tear my flesh,
Yet would I love to be again
In my Hindustan.
A million thieves of disease
May try to steal the body’s fleeting health;
And clouds of fate
May shower scalding drops of searing sorrow –
Yet would I there, in India,
Love to reappear!

Is this love of mine blind sentiment
That sees not the pathways of reason?
Ah, no! I love India,
For there I learned first to love God
and all things beautiful.
Some teach to seize the fickle dewdrop, life,
Sliding down the lotus leaf of time;
Stubborn hopes are built
Around the gilded, brittle body-bubble.
But India taught me to love

The soul of deathless beauty in the dewdrop
and the bubble –
Not their fragile frames.
Her sages taught me to find my Self,
Buried beneath the ash heaps
Of incarnations of ignorance.
Though many a land of power, plenty, and science
My soul, garbed sometimes as an Oriental,
Sometimes as an Occidental,
Travelled far and wide,
Seeking Itself;
At last, in India, to find Itself.

Though mortal fires raze all her homes
and golden paddy fields,
Yet to sleep on her ashes and dream immortality,
O India, I will be there!
The guns of science and matter
Have boomed on her shores
Yet she is unconquered.
Her soul is free evermore!
Her soldier saints are away,
To rout with realization’s ray
The bandits of hate, prejudice, and patriotic selfishness;
And to burn the walls of separation dark
Between children of the One, One Father.
The Western brothers by matter’s might
have conquered my land;

Blow, blow aloud, her conch shells all!
India now invades with love,
To conquer their souls.

Better than Heaven or Arcadia
I love Thee, O my India!
And thy love I shall give
To every brother nation that lives.
God made the earth;
Man made confining countries
And their fancy-frozen boundaries.
But with newfound boundless love
I behold the borderland of my India
Expanding into the world.
Hail, mother of religions, lotus, scenic beauty,
And sages!
Thy wide doors are open,
Welcoming God’s true sons through all ages.
Where Ganges, woods, Himalayan caves, and men dream God –
I am hallowed; my body touched that sod.

From “Songs of the Soul” by Paramahansa Yogananda, published by Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles, CA

THIS FRIENDS IS INDIA FOR YOU:B.AMRITH BHARGAV