Rahul Singh - Jamshedpur, Jharkhand

 

It was a little cold and little sunny day of November 2018 when a tall dark and shy boy who loved to live in his dreams day and night just because he thought that dreams are real reality and hiding lie is actually speaking truth didn’t knew that his life was going to take a huge turn.

Hi, my name is Rahul Singh. As already written I am a tall dark and shy boy from steel city of India Jamshedpur. I am a Multi-Media and Mass Communication Graduate hustling in life and still trying to figure out his dream job while working in a MNC. I first came to know about Let’s Make A Difference (LMAD) in 2015 when I was in standard 9. At first glance, I thought it is just like normal educational camp or some kind of fun school camp. I got excited and was ready to be a part of it. However, destiny had written something else in my life. I had an accident a day before the camp and I missed it. Yes, I missed a golden chance but at that time, I really did not realise at that time because it was just like another camp for me. Days passed on and my thought that telling partial truth or not speaking lie is actually speaking truth became strong. I did not even realise how it had started affecting my life and me. I had got used to it. Whenever I was in some kind of such situation where I thought I would be in a big trouble if I tell the truth, I kept telling partial truth and tried to hide the lie. It actually made me feel happy that I was not lying to anyone.

It was again November 2018 when I got the golden chance again. My friend told me about the Jamshedpur Youth Conference (JYC) who had participated in 2015. We contacted our teacher from our school and got the dates of the conference. I was exited again to enjoy but, what I did not knew was that I was goanna be having a huge change in my life and thoughts. The day began and everything was at its pace until the four values came. I knew about the values I thought at that time. However, just after a little bit of time when Viral Bhai spoke about Honesty I was blank. I was very blank. I started questioning me that did I really knew the meaning of honesty or I only knew its definition. A wave of thoughts started flowing in my mind. Every incident where I manipulated honesty were in front of my eyes. I was guilty. I felt like a cheater who cheated his parents, his teacher, his friends and family and most importantly cheated himself. I realised that all of these years when I spoke manipulated truth and felt proud of not being a liar, I was actually lying to myself. I started realising what all wrong things I did in shadow of fake truth. I felt embarrassed of myself. The four days of the conference were like a mirror to me helping me see my real face. At that, moment of time I realised honesty is not just a word. It is a way of living. I understood that being honest takes guts. I under stood honesty may give a little bit of pain but it will always give happiness in longer run whereas manipulated truth or dishonesty temporary happiness and pain for life. At the conference, people were sharing on the stage about their thoughts but I could not do it because I was ashamed. The conference was over but the cycle of thoughts, which started during the conference, ran through my mind for almost six months. It was May until I fully realise my mistake. It was my birthday when I finally confessed my mistake to my parents. I told them each any everything to them. My parents were confused and angry knowing all my lies. However, at the end of the day they praised me for my realisation. They were happy to know that after all those lies I was ready to be a better and honest person. I promised myself to be honest for rest of my life.

Time passed and it was time of 2019 Jamshedpur youth conference (JYC). Tis time I was really happy and excited to be in the conference. I also shared my thought on stage that year for the first time. I felt relieved. I also became a volunteer since then. I started all possible conferences since then of Let’s Make A Difference (LMAD) and I also got a chance of attending the National Youth Conference in 2022. Every year in every conference, I go since then I always find a fault in me. In addition, every time I try to think about it and try to fix it making me an even better person. Let’s Make A Difference (LMAD) has played a major part in my life since 2018. Every time it teaches me, something new that helps me shape myself in a better way with great tools like quite time. I will not lie that I practice it daily but yes whenever I get the opportunity, I make the most of it.

At the end, I will just say that I have not made me the best person but I can definitely say that I have made a change.