Life through the eyes of a unicyclist (Part 1 : The beginning :P )

About a year ago, when I moved to this beautiful city of Wollongong, I saw this guy riding through the university on a unicycle. I was like "WAT!" (*jaw dropping*) and I decided that I was going to get one for myself. Now my dad had given me $200 to buy a bicycle, and when I told him about the unicycle, he told me in his usual manner to do whatever I wanted to do(I don't think he understood completely when I said one wheel), but $200 was all I got (the unicycle costs $160) and that if I wanted a bicycle, I'd have to pay for that out of my pocket ( which I did just a week back)

Anyway as luck would have it, there was a unicycle convention in Wollongong, a week after I decided that a unicycle was what I wanted. Now you must be wondering - "What on earth is a Unicycle Convention ?!". Well, its exactly as it sounds - People with unicycles meet, and there are games, competitions (unicycle related,of course) and because its Australia, you have plenty of beer and barbecues. Sadly I didn't go for any of those, as I hadn't registered to be a part of the event, and um,yeah, I didn't know how to ride a unicycle. I just went in to see what kind of competitions unicyclists take part in, and you'll be surprised by what these guys do. The stuff they do is like a combination of what skateboarders and BMX bike riders do. I started talking to some guys about wanting to get into unicycling, and one of the guys got out his unicycle from the back of his van (he had 5 unicycles) and let me try it before I made my decision. Unicycling is quite tough the 1st few times you try riding, so I must have looked like an unbalanced top, but the guy assured me that I would be able to get the hang of it. I took his word and about 15 mins later proud owner of a lovely 24" unicycle.Got to meet some great guys there too- the oldest guy there was 75 and he showed me his unicycle which he'd built himself, and better yet, his unicycle had a set of gears which he'd designed himself. The youngest there was a little girl aged 6 and her riding wasn't half bad. Spent about 2 hrs just watching all these guys to gain some inspiration, and then decided to head back home to try out my new one-wheeler (as my sister calls it). Now in a city where there are only 5-6 other guys who ride unicycles, you get a lot of stares, honks, people waving, people cursing , kids staring at you and that started the moment I walked out of the convention. (more about peoples' reactions in my next post)
To make a long (and rather boring) story short, it took me about 3 weeks to learn the basics of unicycle riding, and I started using it for commuting over small distances. To clear one doubt people generally have- contrary to what you might think, unicyclists don't keep falling on their faces while learning. The unicycle falls a lot (takes quite a bashing actually),but the rider is always in a position to jump off without falling down him/herself .I know guys doing crazy stuff on their unicycles, including mountain unicycling (yeah, you heard that right). I'm one year into unicycling now, but I'm still a beginner compared to the other guys I know and just to give you an idea of stuff that people are doing,I've pasted a link to a youtube video (was too much of a pain to upload the video). Its an awesome sport, and I'm glad to be a part of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHMyrN1F_AA&playnext_from=TL&videos=d_kA76MudvQ&feature=rec-LGOUT-exp_fresh%2Bdiv-1r-2-HM

Of Interest,Scope,parents and the degree college aspirant.

Laaaadies aaand Gennnntlemen! It has come to be that time of year when we see students who have passed their 12th std entering that phase of life where they have to decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives.Colleges open their doors to students are worthy enough (whether intellectually or monetarily) and the students and their parents go into a frenzy.
Now, many of these students already know what field they want to pursue, so they go right ahead and do that, but for those who are not sure about what they want to do rely on scope to do that for them.What is this "scope" people talk about? Search me.I don't know.
I see so many students opting for courses only because they were forced to take it up be it due to pressure from parents, relatives or their next door 'aunties' or 'uncles'. Its sad because most of the time, the above mentioned people don't have a clue of what they're talking about. They talk as though they know the market,economy, and companies and give out the impression that they know the difference between good or bad.This may sound funny, but I actually had people telling me that mechanical engineering was a bad choice because it had no "scope" and that I wouldn't get a job and fail miserably. I found it weird,because back then I was confused, not about my choice to pursue mechanical engg., but what I would do after the course,because there were only like a thousand things I could do after getting my degree.
My humble request to parents, if you are reading this post, is for you to please allow your kids to pursue what they want(at least with respect to education), whatever it costs. Scope of a subject/course can only be determined by the capabilities of a student in that field and what best he/she makes of opportunities. So when a person does something he likes, he excels at it.It may take time to see results, but its well worth the wait.
There is never a wrong or right choice, we just need to do our best and believe in what we do.