Alankar's Blogs

  Are mentors always good? For so long, I probably would have answered ‘yes,’ as would many other people. But now, I’m starting to see that this is not necessarily the case. A mentor is just someone who guides you: it does not have to be positive guidance though. Luckily, the mentors I have had so far have been greatly beneficial not just to realize my own interests, but also to see possible career paths. However, mentors are not always so beneficial. In Purple Hibiscus , as of how far my group has read, it seems like the father is the mentor to his daughter as she is essentially being “guided” by his expectations. But these expectations create an artificial sense of what is right and wrong in his daughter. For instance, she understands that, according to her father, religion is important, but she does not truly grasp its implications in her own life. Simply put, she is just being conditioned to do what her father thinks is appropriate without any individual thinking, as individual...

Yes, the past year has been kind of hard, but honestly, it didn’t feel as brutal for me as it was for a lot of others. I’m not that into large gatherings or hanging out with others besides close friends, so staying at home didn’t really have much of an effect on that part of my life. And with a relatively easier school year (considering workload), I had a lot more time to do college applications. But now that I’ve finished those applications and am just waiting for decisions, more often than not, I find myself asking, “what should I do today?” It’s a pretty simple question, but one that I have a lot of difficulty answering. The only thing worse is at the end of the day when I ask myself, “what did I even do all day?” The best answer I have is basically just binging the most random YouTube videos from really bad drivers to how to build a nuclear reactor, but I probably should do better from now on. I’m off to college in just over half a year, and so, I will be beginning a new journey ...

Yesterday was a little chilly outside, but I was comfortable in my room. It was warm and peaceful. I was entirely undisturbed. There was no other presence in the vicinity. Suddenly, my utopia came crashing down. My door was abruptly opened with a voice shouting an order to me. My refusal meant nothing. My voice wasn’t even heard. I was entirely drowned out. I quickly grabbed earbuds and phone, and then all of a sudden, I was outside. The 10 second walk to the car was enough for the chilly weather to grab me and kill off my mojo. The ride slightly improved my mood as my earbuds provided me some isolation to get back in the zone, but then, THEY DIED! I had forgotten to charge them and now I was stuck going to a place I didn’t want to go to do a thing I didn’t want to do. My misery was growing larger by the mile as I just stared out the tinted window. There was no escape anymore. As we approached it, I prepared myself for the worst. Then, the 4 letter word gloomed over my innocent fac...

  I am ordinary. I spend all of my time doing what everyone else does: I wake up, I eat, I go to work, I read the news, I spend time with my kids, and I sleep. There is nothing out of the ordinary about my life, and I don’t see the reason to be out of the ordinary. I have everything I need, just as I’m told.   Last year I did go to India for a vacation. I bought a lot of stuff from the street market. I noticed people around me negotiating for a lower price. This made no sense to me. Whenever the vendor set a price, I always paid it in full amount. The vendors always had a large smile afterwards because I did the right thing by doing as I’m told. Politics exists. I don’t ever vote. But when someone gets elected, I support them. I also support my boss no matter what his decision is. He says I am a good listener. My wife says I am the perfect husband because I am a good listener: I never object to her. 'A happy wife is a happy life' is what I'm told.  This means I must h...

  Is it natural to be indifferent in the worst situations? Is it natural to just not care about your surroundings and just carry on with life? Both of these questions are relevant to Meursault as he consistently seems indifferent to the atmosphere around him. Whether it be Marie confessing her love for him and inquiring about marriage, or Raymond detailing his situation with his mistress, Meursault shows no signs of true care. At first glance, this would seem to be in complete opposition with human nature, as we are very perceptive and have immediate judgements – if not any visible reaction – to everything.   However, Meursault still remains conscious of his uniqueness; he accepts that he no longer analyzes himself, and – whether we openly admit it or not – with each person seeing themselves as the center of world, he could no longer analyze the rest of the world. Though it is unclear at this moment as to why he is incapable of such normal behavior, his whole narrativ...

‘When am I going to use this again in life?’ This is probably the most asked question amongst students, and in at least high school, you are often told to just remember the material for the test. In AP classes, this test is usually the AP test. But what if I’m not even taking the AP test? Then what am I supposed to do with what I learn? Some of my friends from 11 AP dropped to regular English in 12 th grade because they didn’t need more English credit and wanted an easier class. Makes sense. However, I stayed but didn’t even plan on taking the 12 AP test. When my friends asked why I stayed since I wasn’t taking the AP test, I had absolutely no answer. In any other year, I would say “GPA,” but I’ve already submitted my transcript to a lot of colleges. And even if I later have to send my senior year first semester grades, I can’t just assume I’ll end up with an A in English. I can’t grind English like I would in other classes as it is literally the most ungrindable subject. But as...

In Sophocles’s Antigone , Antigone wants to bury one of her brothers who was ordered not be buried by Creon. She is not afraid of death in the case that she is caught. It’s a pretty straightforward plot even though there are multiple themes that present themselves through Creon and Antigone’s conversations. But there is a larger idea in the story which is quite ironic when put into context – no, I did not talk about this in my essay, though I should have. Would you really risk everything just for a noble act? Probably not. An easy example of this came up in a Socratic Seminar from my last year’s English class. We were talking about Nazi Germany, and someone asked if we would help the Jews – or any other victims – if we were a German safely living in that area. Most of us said no, and Mrs. Valentino literally asked “what is wrong with all of you?” as she was astonished with our answer. I’m not trying to call her out or anything, but she really shouldn’t have been surprised. In hin...