Narrative Essay 4 - Grade 10 - ICSE (2020-21).

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ICSE 2020-21
GRADE 10

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ENGLISH LANGUAGE

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NARRATIVE ESSAY

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As a 20-year-old college student with cash to spare, going to India was a dream. I had

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been listening to tons of Indian classical music, meditating, and loved Indian food. I

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daydreamed of the day I could step foot in India and see if for myself. They say there are

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two reactions when coming to India: either you hate it, or think it is the best place the

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world has to offer. After being there five times, it is still my favorite place to visit. But for

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now, I will talk about the first time I visited this land.

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My father passed away when I was 18 years old, and I got some inheritance money (one

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year’s salary of my father’s work as a radiology manager in a hospital). With this money,
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I had enough money to travel to India and study music there at a music academy for
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Indian classical arts. I felt it was a way for me to go through the grieving process, and
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also a way to reach my dreams.

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I was to stay in India for 10 months. Six months at the music academy, and four months
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traveling. The plane ride there was the longest I had everbeen on. I remember it being about
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24 hours long. I felt as if I entered a new dimension of claustrophobia and anticipation. But
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mostly, I was too hyped to go to India to care about the negatives.

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I did not travel alone. I went with my brother and friend, but our connecting flights were
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different. This spelled trouble. My connecting flight from Moscow to India was delayed
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because of a blizzard. Figures, right? My brother and our friend got to India almost a day
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earlier than me. We did not have cell phones back then, so I had no way of reaching
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them. I would just have to wait until I got to academy to talk to them.
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So, when I arrived in Mumbai, I had a mix of feelings swirling through my body. I was
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excited to see the sun rise on the great land of India, but I also knew I was stranded in a
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country I did not know much about. I decided to book a hotel for the night, as it was late
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in the evening when I arrived. I figured I would pay a driver to take me to the music
academy, which was about three hours away from Mumbai.
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I arrived at the hotel in a taxi, and people were asking for tips for everything: opening the
door, bringing water to me, carrying my luggage, and I happily gave it out due to my
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exhilaration (even though Indian people do not usually give tips for these things). But
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when I saw my room, it was shabby, and the bathroom had centipedes and other insects
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lining the walls. I was shocked and little terrified. I was thinking about how I was going
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to sleep there without getting bombarded by these creatures. But anyways, my

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enthusiasm for seeing an Indian sunrise conquered this fear.

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Narrative Essay 4 - Grade 10 - ICSE (2020-21).pdf - Page 2

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I woke up early the next morning, and talked to the hotel staff about arranging a car to

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the music academy. The driver said that he knew where it was without hesitation. The

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academy was in a town called Vaitarna, and I took the driver’s word that he knew where

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he was going. Little did I know that in India, people almost never say “no” and simply say

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something even if they are not knowledgeable about a certain subject. So, instead of the

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driver taking me to the music academy, he took me hours in the wrong direction to an

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ashram of a spiritual teacher, or guru.

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But positivity can change one’s outlook, as I was not so concerned about getting lost. I

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was a little upset that I was taken to a strange guru, but at the same time happy to be in

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India. The people at the ashram seemed like decent people, and after a phone call from

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their office to the music academy, my brother and my friend were informed about where I

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was. They said they would come to pick me up with one of the academy’s drivers. In the

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meantime, I was playing chess with one of the locals there, drinking masala chai tea, and

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enjoying realizing the reality of what I envisioned. From that day, I learned more than

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ever that attitude can make a sour experience a joyful one.

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