Went to Tata Steel India Environment Meet 2023

I was one of the students from my school (Sri Krishna Public School) who were sent to the Tata Steel India Environment Meet, which was organized yesterday, on 2nd September 2023. 

I took part in the Essay Competition and was informed about it a couple of weeks ago. The essay topics would be related to environmental issues and Climate Change, which was mentioned in the invitation letter sent to my school.

I had practiced almost nothing in those two weeks and done most of my preparation a day before the event on Friday.

I have researched a lot about Climate Change, Global Warming, environmental and social issues related to Climate Change, Policies by Governments, and Ways to control Carbon emissions and capture Carbon from the atmosphere. 

I had prepared an outline for the essay which I was going to write the next, assuming it was a thousand words long. 

I was confident that after all this hard work, I would surely win a prize. I usually do not care for winning prizes while going to competitions and focusing on giving my best, but there was someone else who was also coming from my school, a rival you can say. Let's call this person X. So, X is usually not interested in competitions like these. I am sure X was invited by a classmate of mine who thought I could be teased if X was along. I guess, that brilliant classmate was right. 

When I came to know about X coming to the event too, on Friday, I started my preparations and put everything into it. I am not good at lots of things, but writing is one of which I am proud, or should I say I was proud. 

I was confident that I was going to get at least a bronze medal and then I could show X that I was good at something. 

The next day, as I hoped, I did not have a conversation with X even though we had been together for almost 8 hours. 

Essay Competition was scheduled from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM. I arrived at the Venue two hours earlier and remembered the quotes I would use in the essay. It was not five minutes to 10:30 and we were being taken to the classroom where we would write essays. 

We were given four topics and were told to write about 500 words on any one of the topics in 45 minutes. I had chosen "Electric Cars - Step Towards a Greener Future".

The previous night, when I was preparing for the essay, it came to my mind to read about Electric Vehicles, but I had forgotten it. Luckily, I had known about Electric Cars and could easily write a few hundred words about them.

Most of my introduction was about Climate Change and Carbon Emission, and I had included in the second and conclusion paragraph of the essay the topic, the Electric Cars. 

I can remember, in the conclusion, I had also mentioned that "Humans are capable of achieving infinite success" and we should not limit ourselves to Electric Vehicles only and should look forward to developing new technologies. 

It was almost 490 words and I ended my essay with the line "Earth is our home. Let us treat it like a home".

I also included 3 quotes in the essay from Greta Thunberg, Elon Musk, and an activist whose name I cannot remember. 

I had written this essay with utmost dedication and hoped that it could effectively present my ideas and views to the Judges. I guess, the contents of the essay were okay, but I doubt they might not have been able to understand my handwriting. 

I do not write that badly, but yes I agree sometimes it gets really bad when I am solving 20 Math problems an hour. 

I was completing my History homework before sitting to write this post. 

It is not as attractive when compared to others, but I guess, my handwriting is pretty much understandable.

When the results were announced, I was waiting for them to call my name. The name of the winner of Essay Writing is displayed on the screen. It was not me, but I wished the second would be mine. The second winner's name was displayed, again, it was not mine. I prayed the third time it would be mine, but to my surprise, there was no third prize for the Essay Writing. 

I never mind not winning the competition as like others, I too think, taking part is a big thing. But the reality is, it is just to console you, in reality, you have failed. 

I have never put this much dedication into something for a long time and when I had put in, I did not get awarded for it. It sounds so silly that I get sad for not winning a competition, but it is not just that and I do not seem to know how to put my feelings into writing. Perhaps, this was the reason I had lost. 

I am still wondering what else the two winners had included in their essays that I have missed. According to me, it was the best essay I could write at that moment: Introduction paragraph starting with defining Climate Change and explaining its impact that many fail to notice. The second paragraph contains a story about the manufacture and Electric Vehicles and how they are useful in reducing carbon ememissionsConclusion paragraph contains their achievements, but also informs that more advanced technologies should be developed and Earth should be kept clean like home as humans currently have not discovered another planet, nor do they have the capability to move to another if the conditions here become inhabitable. 

Well, it is a shame I was not able to achieve a simple target. But I am also glad that I got to meet so many people who surpassed me in the technique of writing. The day was not a waste as I got to hear from a lot of experienced experts about the pressing problem of Climate Change. 

It is not like that our school did not win a single prize. Disha, a friend I admire, won second prize in Extempore. 

I got to spend a day with my friends and also was able to make a few more. It was a nice day, just had I won that prize, I would be really happy. I was also quite surprised at two schools - Sacred Heart and Loyola taking all the prizes. 

X, nothing personal with you, just felt bad about your reply on that Friday rainy night I guess 19th August 2023 after the tuition around 7:15 P.M.