A Lesson

I have no words to express. But to express has become a dire need for me. Have you felt this way ever before? A deep sinking feeling. Does it happen to you that you plan something for days and then at the finalized day, the entire plan crashes? Say for you birthday party? You plan the decoration, cake, everything to the most minute detail but nothing turns up the way you had wanted. Bad. No? That is the 'sinking feeling'. When expectations deceive. Hopes go low. And if you know it is your fault, blaming does not work.

I do not have  the case of a crashed birthday party. Nor do I take birthday plans so seriously. But some other plans seem highly important to me. Plans of life. No. Not Career plans. Careers can seem way too secondary when you realize that somewhere you have failed to do the job God had hired you to do. God will not fire you because he loves you. But your self will kill. A good Career may brighten your future. But to be a better human will definitely enlighten your life; your soul; your mind;everything.

I will not elucidate on what happened. Not because I should not but because I cannot.

'Somebody looks up to me to seek help but I do not realize the severity of his situation and avert helping him.' To paraphrase the episode, this line could be quite helpful. This is more or less what has happened.
For a minute, I can even forget that there is something called the 'Supreme Power'. But that is no reason why I should not feel guilty. Be it for the sake of God or any such powers, lending a hand to someone is a Human Duty. For me at least. Forget even that. Humanity is a far thought. Many times, I have needed somebody to guide me. To hold my hand and take me to the right direction. Why can I not be that hand to somebody?

It feels bad. But I can not get any idea on what to do next. 'It was a mistake' is just a euphemism for 'It really was my fault. I am guilty'. This is human nature. Justification. You see, when we succeed at helping someone, we are so highly proud.Why? 'I helped him dude, should not I be proud? I faced problems only to keep ABC out of a few.' The 'I' becomes so dominant.
But when we fail at same. we justify. 'I was not in a position to. I have my own priorities. How could I have helped yaar?God will do something.I can just think good for him' Now. God has the responsibilities.

This is the fight that usually goes on. I v/s God. Pride versus Justification. That is the moment when not our degrees but our virtues matter. When life teaches a lesson, it usually is a permanent one. One that we keep with ourselves throughout the different phases of seeing the world.

So, for me. It is the time to get working. I will not justify. I will work not just to make myself not feel guilty but also to bring a smile on somebody's face. Hope it will work.

Nostalgia+Current times= A philosophical narration!

My Facebook status messages and picture shares are usually overfilled with nostalgic accounts. For some reason, I always end up writing about my childhood and share stories with all the people in my friend list who might , in one way or the other, be related to those incidents.

A few days back, I shared  a picture, that displayed a funny summary of the 'general dialogues of teachers during classes in school'. To my surprise, many of contemporaries who were there with me in the 7th and 8th standards supported the picture with a thumbs up.(Well, that's the FB culture, if you hit a Like, your support to the contents of the link, is an abstract confirmation:)) Alright, I had mentioned which teacher I was reminded of by those 'dialogues'. But my friends confirmed that. A thread of comments, initiated by me and another childhood friend of mine, on the same link made sure that we laughed out loud! We started adding our 'remembered teacher's' other favorite quotes which used to make us laugh during her classes in school.

It feels so strange to realize that what once used to be our daily practical dose of laughter, has now shrunk to a narrow ambit of memories. And what is happening now will soon shrink and find spaces in nostalgia!

Its admission time in Delhi University. Anxious, Curious, Excited, Ambitious, Confused-are a few adjectives that can describe the students aspiring to get admitted in one of the most sought after universities in the country. Seeing the aspirants, I am reminded of my own days. That sounds as if I ran for admissions in 1927!
No.
 But indeed the changes in the admission procedures happen so fast in the University that every freshers' batch feels proud of being a part of the batch it belongs to since no one knows when the University may change the rules leaving no rooms for the future generations to follow the same rules! Every year is an Era of rules that might turn associated with the 'freshers' belonging to that year only. You are following certain rules this year and your younger sister or brother may not ever get to know such rules even existed! So, it is quite justified if I say,"hamaare zamaane mein Colleges ke separate forms bhi mila karte the" even though my 'zamaana' refers to 2010!

So, the would-be students of the university, remind me of my days. It used to be so much fun to fill the forms and to make temporary friends at the various admission centers just so that both I and my friend could help each other in filling the details!
At my college, The Admin Gazebo is THE PLACE! Guardians, their kids, friends, and dreams together constitute the population at the Gazebo these days.

Yes. Nostalgia does dominate. But it also strikes me that wherever may these kids go, their perception towards the curriculum and courses will change after getting admitted. Admission to Universities(or at least to the Delhi University) is just like what most Love marriages are like-You are at the peak of your energy till the last moment before it happens and then it may start going down when your expectations and the realities start meeting at crossroads. You realize that certain prejudices that had had an unabridged control over you mind till School hold no importance now.
At the same time, You realize that College is not about creating a line of divide. Its about erasing a few. Courses hold no importance if the person from a different course, who just turned wonderful friend of yours,can meet you regularly.
You realize that there are many things that you do apart from studying; That days of completing syllabus can be forgotten for sometime; that things that you may have otherwise avoided to do are not that bad after all (No, not smoking dude!) I mean bunking classes; joining societies that were before college, totally alien to your world of ECA.


Its the time of change for the kids. Change that will most probably accompany them throughout their life. And this reminds me of one Alumna who, at our First day at college, inspired us to gear up for a wonderful life ahead when she said that irrespective of what one achieves during School, College ensures that each person is trying to have fair share of the same cake. So, Confidence is a must!

Time does change...or you do!

What has happened to me? Sitting for so long and writing is an all time impossible  task for me( Except in the Examination Hall!) Now that I have started writing already, I must pen down my thoughts(type would be a better word...no?)

I was just wondering how many things have changed in the past. A previous post deals with the basic situation of not knowing anything about sponsors and then, all of a sudden, becoming aware of the technicalities of the process. Growing up feels amazing. At times, I get a mixed feeling about it.

Priorities change with the passage of time. There used to be a time when watching Scooby-doo used to be of prime importance. Then came the passion of writing with a pen. Discussing the previous day's episode of 'Shaka Laka Boom Boom' was , by rule, mandatory. Then again there was this amazing feeling of getting a 'question paper' and a separate answer sheet in examination. Time brought with itself those carefree moments when Slam Book seemed the most important book in the world. Reading it used to be the fun part.
And then maturity peeped in. Career was an unavoidable thought. Who cared if 'Shaka Laka Boom Boom' was even being telecast or not, next sunday's scholarship test at Naraina or Resonance or Akash had started to seem important. However, 'Roadies' and 'Splitsville' had by this time, taken the place of "SLBB;' and we still had fun in knowing 'who likes whom' Still, most of us were more focused on other important issues-beyond TV shows and slam books.

Lakhmir Singh and Manjit Kaur wrote Bibles-the refreshers! Every single student read that and felt that he/she knew the most in his/her class.  Gradually, 'Pradeep's' overtook(T.S.Grewal for the leaders of Commerce!) them. And we have always cursed Mr.Singh and Ms.Kaur for not writing the books for +2. Mr.R D Sharma, however, has always been one with a consistent existence. Every student used to follow the ritual of buying that 'Mathematics' Refresher at the beginning of the year but hardly used it at a time other than a night before examination when nothing would enter the mind and hence, mugging up the solved examples used to be the last option (50% of the question paper was set based on that book...All knew! And the rest 50% was NCERT..)

Ohh..I went too deep explaining that. But long story cut short, our focus had changed.
Now  that I look back, I see a series of changes in that 'changed focus' itself. Meeting friends, missing childhood, facing a bit more of politics have occupied the front scenario. They now seem more important. I have learned to value people around me Ha! Changes! I have slowly started to fall in love with newspapers. This blog in itself is a sign of improvement in me. A few years back, I hated writing even the basic Leave Application during examination for the very reason that it demanded something beyond what was given in the books( we had to write one ourselves). I found that boring. But something has surely exorcized that.

So, as I focus on a few more changes that have occurred, I believe I should make a sudden change to this post and stop writing. Other wise a new change in my blog will occur and people will most probably STOP visiting this URL.

PS- This post, written in such a manner, can definitely not arrive at any conclusion. Please suggest a few.

Well...

I was not going to write this post today. But had something to say to a few people.So...

I have a lot to share based  on my experience in the past one month.
Winter holidays were hardly a vacation for me and for a very good friend of mine. We used to have long conversations over the phone deciding how to arrange that one thing that was going to decide the fate of our society this year-SPONSORSHIP!!

I had always heard of TV shows saying "Dabur Amla presents...", "Himalya presents..." etc etc. I could never work out the logic behind Garnier Fructis presenting some Laughter Show. There was no relation between the two. I mean don't tell me you laugh when you apply Garnier fructis on your hair and hence, it becomes eligible to sponsor any show that can make you laugh. Moreover, the very idea of 'presenting' something was never clear to me. "What is presenting?..Aren't the Director and producer presenting the show.? Do they work part time for Fructis?...Why is that brand, then, saying so proudly that it is presenting the show....why?..how?" and the list of questions was long. I never bothered to seek the answers by the way. Who cared?
Those questions got generated by themselves and were forgotten very easily. But time is a great Teacher. It does teach you some great lessons.

Scene, January 2012: As the days for our fest neared, my heart beat caught a new pace-It was not normal. I could sense that. Our society had to have its events during our Annual cultural fest, Tarang, and we,me my friend and our team, were with nobody to sponsor. The situation was turning drastic with each day passing by. Initially, we focused on some very specific brands -"Arre yaar, it should be a publishing house...Let's try for Hindi Sahitya Academy...How about the new bookstore..?" But with time and some fatty Uncle of a very good brand teling us.."sochenge...", we had to broaden our horizon. And that was when I knew why even Garnier Fructis is a superb choice for a laughter show. My questions were now answered. Sponsors are God!

Anyway, our team was purely a reason for the success of the events. It came up with all the possible and good ideas. And believe me, whenever, whosoever does whatever- Support in every form is needed.
Just as I pondered over all the happenings in the past one month, I realized something very new. What would have happened had the events been cancelled? Nobody was going to punish us for that. It was just a matter of 3 events. Big deal! Who cares? Why did we trudge after people till the last moment?

The answer lay so vivid- The passion!
We were passionate about it. Cancellation could have brought a heart attack.We didn't care if nobody else was interested-WE were interested! There was no question of the events not taking place!"..Ssshhhhh....Things WILL fall into places."
This entire happening has brought me closer to some people. Earlier, we were just friends. Then good friends. And now, some good close friends. Their dedication to work, when almost everybody had lost hopes, stood as a major source of inspiration. And even among them, there is one special person, who I am sure, will read this once at least. Running after people, Listening to some very very harsh replies, missing classes, taking care of every minute detail and many off screen responsibilities- Only she could have done that. This place cannot ever be sufficient enough for my words and my words can never be sufficient enough to thank her. But I hope she knows what I mean.

This month has been a month of weight-loss for us. Running with that kind of passion could have never been possible. Many other things seemed Impossible. But sincere efforts make all that possible. Seems miracle has happened. The unavoidable pending work is being brought to completion.(Adjudicators, you know what I mean ;) ;)) Ask me to organize this next year, and I all that I have to say is .."well...Sochenge" .

PS- please don't blame me if the paragraphs seem incoherent. I wrote whatever occurred !

Gaurav ne apna SIM tod diya!

Please don't ask me who's Gaurav. I have no idea!

Hi people!
Today's Blog post is dedicated to that one chatter box I saw and heard (unwillingly) conversing on her phone today on my way to College, in Bus no.534 Anand Vihar to Mehrauli at near around 8.00 a.m. Why am I telling you such details? Dude, it's a warning!! Don't ever take that bus during that time...you might land up meeting her!!
Full Story Full: I was standing very calmly in my bus today.(A Seat= Cadbury Bournville  You have to earn it!!) I had to submit my History Project in the very first class plus it had to be a presentation, so I was really anxious about the way it would go.I mean, "how will I present?", "What will the teacher say?" ," Will she like it?"...etc etc. But welcome to reality! This one girl who for some reasons also took the same bus happened to be a major aid in letting me know why ACADEMICS IS A BAD THING TO THINK ABOUT WHILE MOVING  IN A DELHI BUS ON VALENTINE"S DAY!!

When she entered the Bus, she was conversing on her phone already. No issues! Even I chit-chat on the phone while in Bus. But wait! Who gave her the permission to ROAR AND ANNOUNCE HER THINGS?
From what she was' announcing' on her phone, I could gather that the person on the other side was her good friend. She started her conversation with Valentine's day !!  But in between that, there was something special.
In midst of her never-ending chat, she asked her friend if she knew 'Gaurav's' number? And then she continued," Arre wo kahaan ayega chhat pe?...ek baje to so kar uthata hai...uska number hai kya? Please de do Mere pass jo tha wo to lag nahi raha.Mai use aaj wish kar ke hi rahungi.. uss din bahut gussa kar raha tha keh raha tha ki main tujhse baat nahi karunga. to maine kaha ki theek hai tod de apne SIM abhi yahin par. AUR USNE APNA SIM TOD DIYA!"
Man-o-Man! I really want to meet this guy. I mean, he really did that?? How can you ruin your SIM card just because somebody else jokingly told you to do that? It is like tearing down movie tickets just because your friend thinks it is not a good movie.Dude, ITS YOUR SIM!!!

Seriously, I still don't know who this Gaurav is. But he surely is no different guy. That girl's chit-chat actually did ruin my plans of my presentation and I ended up thinking about that fool guy instead of my project. But one thing that I actually realized was the FACT that however inspirational messages may Shri Anna Hazare or other Indian Leaders convey about the 'awakening youth of Hindustan, ', a great section of that youth is still sleeping! This girl and her boyfriend(hopefully...he still is and the only thing that got broken is their SIM and not their relationship), can utilize their energies learning something new and innovative but all that they learn is something absolutely futile!

There is just no problem in being in a relationship. All those who entertain one must not prevent themselves from doing so. BUT!! in the flow of this please do not forget that this phase of your life is the most usable phase. In your childhood, there must have been a toy for which you had cried so hard that your Parents had to buy that for you. Barbie doll, G.I.Joe, Pokemon etc etc. What importance does it hold in your life NOW? You know the answer.
Years from now, this phase will seem comparable to the same childhood days and all this PUBLIC DISPLAY OF AFFECTION may appear like that toy.
All of us can move beyond this and do miracles. And believe me 'miracle' is not just about running on roads protesting, getting photographs clicked, uploading the same on facebook and waiting for people to comment.
You can create miracle every second! Grow up today. Make a someone smile( other than your Valentine). Stop overspending on your Munna-bhai kinda girlfriend who threatens to kill you if you don't take her out for a romantic dinner but still claims to love you. Instead, Spend it on an illiterate's education who is willing to learn. That would surely be a miracle.
And of course, you do have the right to entertain yourself, Do go ahead with your partner, live life. Be happy. But please ensure that all of this should not hinder your innovations.

SO, before this ends,Gaurav ji, I will gift you a new SIM card. Please talk to your girl. That would save a lot many lives! Your ever-ready-to-converse-gf will hopefully not defame you publicly now. And hopefully, I shall be able to focus on my project work better the next time!