MIT application essay

This is the original draft of the essay that I wrote for my MIT application. It has 1236 words, which are a lot considering the word limit was 500 words. It also is rather fragmented and long-drawn. So obviously there was a lot of editing, The result of which, I'll be posting a bit later. So here you go -

The topic was : "Describe the world you come from, for example your family, clubs, school, community, city, or town. How has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations ", WIth which this essay might not seem related, but i focused more on the "dreams and aspirations part"

“look for the best in everything”. This happens to be one of the oldest quotations known to me, and is almost universally agreed with.
I beg to differ.
Its not that I am a pessimist or anything – I am pleasantly aware of the multitude of beautiful things that my life has been so generously adorned with. I appreciate being born to absolutely fantastic parents, living in a beautiful house, in a cozy little town, in a country as great as India. I love my life, and am very happy to be the person I am.
Its just that the question is of my dreams, and these are largely based on what is wrong rather than what is right.
Allow me to explain –
Dreams based on the “good” and those based on the “bad” have fundamental differences. When you see something around you that feels good – e.g. that sleek new Lamborghini Gallardo or someone having a night out at Mt. Everest – You seek to achieve it for yourself. And that makes your dream of little value to the world in general. On the other hand, when you base your dreams on the things that appall you – e.g. the little kid picking rags from the trash pile or a pup being run over by a truck on the highway – you seek to correct the wrong being done, making the world a better place, while achieving happiness for yourself.
There is another factor too. The former means aspiring for something that someone else has achieved before you (that’s how you came to see it around in the first place…) while the latter means setting your sights on something that no one has either cared or dared to do before you. And that sure gives it a lot more oomph!! The reason behind why thorns catch my eyes sooner than roses is the fact that there is very little you can do about a rose. I mean, a rose is very beautiful and all, you can appreciate its beauty and revel in its fragrance, but there is nothing you can get down to work on. It’s beautiful on its own, Thank you very much.
But thorns are a different story altogether! You could just take the thorns off one rose and give it to a child to enjoy. Or you could even dabble in some genetic engineering and develop a thorn free variety. Now that would be some work done!!
Note that here we are not talking of the biological necessity of the thorns for protecting the rose against grazing animals. The thorn here is the one which pricked.
To me, not even the most soulful poetry written about the beauty of a rose can offset the pain of the child who, attracted by it, tried to hold it in his hand.

It’s not like I am the proponent of a new theory. In fact I am simply following the tradition that is being followed in my family since as long as I can figure. And in a BIG way at that.
My Family is huge. Comprising of my blood relations (my grandmother, my mom, my dad and my sister); my adopted relations (the 70 or so children that live with my grandmother); and some interspecific relations (The several dogs that call my mother ‘mom’)
My grandmother runs an underprivileged children’s home, and only has eyes for poor hungry and disabled children. As far as she is concerned, the well nourished and loved children might quite be the part of furniture. She has a simple reason – happy children don’t need her.
My mom is a dog lover and keeps a lookout for pooches in distress - who are then persuaded to adopt us as their family. To her, the thorough bred, show specimens residing in luxurious bungalows are outcastes and she wouldn’t even dream of bringing a well bred dog home. She has a simple reason too – healthy dogs don’t need her.
So you see, why I focus on what’s wrong rather than what’s right. What’s going well doesn’t need me, what’s not, does.
And sadly, around me I see plenty that’s not going well.

My dreams pick up where they leave off.
My grand ma is doing a great job in providing food shelter and clothing to children who’d otherwise be deprived of these. But then basic necessities are all that she can provide. She can give them a life, but one that is a far cry from what children like me enjoy. I dream of a life for these children, which allows them to compete with the rest of the world. I dream of an education for them that will be at par with the best in the world. I dream of the day when they’ll be writing their own college admission essays…
My mom would like to give every dog a place to call home. But sadly, our house can not accommodate more than one or two dogs (which it already does). So I share my mom’s dream of owning a huge chunk of land, where her pets can run around and feel at home… and an animal hospital which actually takes care of them, rather than just fix them up to make them work again.

And then some more…
I dream of being powerful enough to pick up every beggar I see on the streets and give him a respectable way of earning his living. I dream of being able to correct every wrong I see, there and then. I dream of straightening the roads to success – which for the Indian youth are nothing short of labyrinthine, riddled with potholes of reservation and vote bank politics – into smooth wide highways.
I know these aren’t dreams that can be realized on good intentions or muscle power alone. These can’t be brought alive by street campaigning or “spreading awareness” that many people indulge in nowadays. Most of these require money by the truck loads, and a bit of clout too. Celebrity status would be an added advantage.

People with this sort of ambitions are generally advised to go for politics or administration. But my own observation says that its easier to kick a government into action from outside, rather then get it moving via the proper protocol. Mr. Bill Gates, in a single visit, was able to push the Indian govt.’s AIDS program to a position where it’d have taken several years to get. Voices of millions of activists all over the country not withstanding.
So there is my target in sight. No activist, no politician, I aim to be a billionaire businessman, and a popular one at that, So that when I appeal to people, to give their girl child an equal chance, they sit up and listen. The road couldn’t be clearer. Get into a college that gives me a spring board into the arena (read MIT), and then fight it out with all I have…

Its not like luxuries of life don’t appeal to me at all. They most certainly do. But they are too small to seriously bother about. After all, when I’m able to provide employment to so many people, I sure will be able to spare some money, and buy myself that Gallardo!!