The NYPF Chronicles - Part 1

It was around February 2022, and Goa was preparing for the upcoming spring. I was at home-a place I wasn't supposed to be-but thanks to the legendary university I was blessed with, I was forced to stay out of active academics for twelve months. It was an apparent setback for a decent student like me, but underneath, I remained stable; I knew life had many more experiences to offer.

One day, as I was loitering around the house, I came across a text in our hostel WhatsApp group. It was about an online event; they needed an anchor. Given my utter lack of a schedule back then, I willingly volunteered. Lo and behold, I received a call within a few minutes asking me to be ready to anchor in half an hour; it was an NSS event. Here, I admit my sheer ignorance of the entity called NSS. I went through whatever information I could find online and prepared my part. The online meeting happened, and I gave a decent performance. I was happy. Furthermore, I was added to another WhatsApp group for the university's NSS unit. Thinking it was just another group I wouldn’t bother to check, life moved on.

One afternoon, if my memory serves me right, I received a message in that very WhatsApp group. By chance, I happened to open it, and by destiny, I mustered the strength to act upon it. It was related to a competition which, at the time, went by the name "National Youth Parliament Festival." I was supposed to send a two-minute clip, and the deadline was the next day.

I got to work, prepared the speech, shot it, and sent it at the last possible moment-literally the last moment. I cleared the preliminary round. Then it was time for the university level; things went well, and I cleared that too! Next was the district level. I prepared for it-in fact, I remember tweaking my speech and adding an entire one-minute portion moments before my turn, as I’d had no information about the time limit and realized the requirement was longer than what I had prepared. Things went well, and I cleared the district level along with other talented people.

The state level was draining; with more than fifty participants, the event lasted almost the entire day. Although the Bhopal district’s turn came early on, I remained interested enough to stay in the meeting. It was great listening to the youngsters of Madhya Pradesh, a state yet to truly realize the tremendous potential with which it has been blessed. After the session ended, there was no communication for about two days. In a way, I wasn’t expecting a favorable outcome, as it was just a way to pass the time and I never viewed it as a competition-but life had something bigger in store.