Describe The World You Come From Essay

E1 – Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

Sardar Pritpal Singh, a genial six-foot tall gentleman has inspired me with many stories of Hirakud Dam’s construction. I beam with pride at the fact that he was one of the onsite draftsmen who had designed the longest dam in the world through the 1950s; one of the first engineers that independent India produced. His crowning glory; my favorite part of the story is his shaking hands with Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Indian Prime Minister on the dam’s commissioning. How often does one have such an iconic figure as one’s grandfather.

I am indeed lucky to be born in a family of self-made individuals, who leaving all their material belongings and friends, crossed the

Therefore, it was no surprise that in a largely entrepreneurly driven clan of Punjabis, my father and uncle, my mother’s brother, were the first to graduate from the premier engineering institutes of the IITs, although my father’s first choice was to pursue undergraduate studies in the US, which his family could not afford. My mother holds an Economics’ Master’s from one of the best colleges in India.

Academic success combined with personal growth are my mantras in life. Working assiduously, I maintained my place among the top ten percent scorers at school; have been the topper of my class in high school. Additionally, besides being the School Vice-Captain, I have been a part of many social causes at school and outside, a streak I have inherited from mother, whose belief system in the wellbeing of the community has shaped my outlook. Consequently, community service has been an important part of my