Life is not flat: the canyon of darkness

A dim light beams on face as the other half of the smiling lips kiss the pure myst of darkness. Life is never short of good memories. Regardless of times your go through, you would have at least a handful of finest memories of past to reckon with. Unarguably, perhaps these finest moments of past are the best things to bring a smie on your face anytime.

Life is not flat for all. Everyone does not get the same amount of happiness and luck. Some get less and some more. All the motive of living life boils down to being content with self. Its analogous to an itch in hand which u want to scratch, but are abstained from doing so, in order to avoid inflicting further damages. Similarly, there are moments you wish to chose a short-cut in order to get relieved from current, but don't do so in order to avoid injuries during long run. Problems come and for some they get eclipsed, and for others they stay on like shadows.

Walk in any crowd, there are innumerous souls who combat their daily problems and still continue to live life. While you may be enjoying party at some corner of world, at other corner a BSF patrol man would be safe guarding our country against attacks. Few of us are lucky to get our dreams in subsequent stages of life and many of us are unlucky ones to be deprived of what we aspire of.

The debate between fairnes and unfairness is never ending, with both the faction(read:winners who generally administer for fairness and non-winners who take the other side) right on their stance.

A cup of coffee

Life can't be hectic unless your luck runs short. You start appreciating the 1 hour breaks and try to make up for your sleep deficit, develop fondness for mess food after missing canteen dinner/lunch, pat your back when you succesfully conquest(this is the greatest achievement) the breakfast and breathe a sigh of relief for every avoidance of mishap. In this context let me recollect an incident which occured few days back

"Lets go for a coffee treat" excalimed Bravo.
"But why? Who will go? Coffee? Where".

It was time when our group had wrapped up a task and we were about to leave, an enthusiatic team mate suggested the idea for coffee.
Thanks to our nature of questioning(and not answering) each and every aspect of the world. The flood of questions were anticipated. Some of the team mates even had left quietly by the time the questions were silenced.
"I am heading. Whoever wants to join may join in" echoed another team mate.
Brave one liners such as these although may sound classic, but invite wrath of others(particularly those who think that doing anything other than work is simply a waste of time). Still, the six of us managed to locate a empty table at canteen. As usual some(to be read as jokers) of the team mates were busy cracking jokes and some others were busy gauging jokers. A few were entangled in performing the post-tasks closure activities.
Some jokers displayed their sympathy for others, while few were busy completing up the post-task closure activity.  For some, the relationship with the incident ends after the culmination of incident, while for others there are still works to be done even after closure of activity.

A cheers to those set of serious people who sacrifice the small moments fun and enjoyment, and commit themselves in ensuring that everything goes on smoothly.

The night, Gadar movie was on!

The carpet of cold waves was an element of irony in the ambience of grave discussions. Things were certainly not going the way I wished. In fact, the descending luck and strings of bad results helped me define the term ‘worse’. Worse is a phenomenon which occurs when your satisficing efforts misses the target(i.e. getting the result). Coincidentally we are so habituated with mapping the efforts with results, that any failure is directly mapped to the efforts pumped in. But, this school of thought is justified. Do we have any examples where a success has not been mapped to efforts? The topic of efforts and results is a grey one till date, as none can quantify the exact relation between these two poisonous chalice. Yes, chalice when the result is success and poison when the effort is huge and result is negative.

Coming back to topic, while my friend echoed the feedback, a silky note of tune sprang of out guitar. Someone was playing guitar at the midst of night. Times never go your way, neither you can bring them back. The only best thing you can do is sleep and wake up in an anticipation of forgetting it.  I knew that things weren’t going my way and gazed at the lights, which were twinkling in the dense dark night. I learnt one thing that irrespective of whatever efforts we pump in, human beings can never be perfect. Additionally it is wise to culture your strengths rather than struggling in an over optimist anticipation of improving(by a huge margin) your weakness. The day you start ‘unsubscribing’ to the alerts in the world and trust self, you would be in a better position to make decision. Best, every decision would be yours and hence you do not need to convince self. But as mentioned before, we have been habituated to ‘follow’ or ‘subscribe’ to the alerts of the world. The alerts resemble the irritating alerts of any friends in social network who keeps on spamming huge volumes of rhetoric on the wall.

I can read the question “speak up, what’s the matter?” in the facial expression of my friend. Fortunately or not, my nature has helped me gain/lose opportunities in life. Additionally, commitment can never be judged on first day of the show and needs time to turn from a molten wax to a rock hard seal! While returning, I saw a person watching a movie on his mobile. Suddenly the music turned to be known. It was the background music of movie Gadar. The music aptly summed up the meet. Life is mostly sour, we have learnt to enjoy sourness.

Rest or work: balancing life

The day started with a melodramatic afternoon, when I climbed to canteen to feed my hungry stomach. Missing out lunch didn't favor me much as I soon realized how priceless was the missed event, when my stomach echoed "feed me! feed me!".

As I stepped into the lobby(sounds professional, doesn't it?), my eyes turned to the fixated LCD monitor where  a movie channel was switched on by the kind virtue of someone. Although i had to resort with bread-butter-jam and coffee, I did enjoy the melodramatic music that colored the canteen with a classic vibe. The movie 'fashion' was on and juxtaposed emotional scenes were on roll. I soon wrapped off the snack and went to computer center.

Its late night, thanks my madness and fetish for blogging and writing article which has kept me kicking. As i stepped to mess to check if my luck was on roll, I was fortunate to get cold drink.

"Bhaiya, at what time do you wake up" I inquired the mess retailer
"11 am. Sleeping 7 hours is a must for anyone" he replied.

I was quick to acknowledge him as I knew that each of us balances our life to have a healthy equation between work and rest. All said, let me rush to sleep to balance life:)

P.S : The above mentioned lines are purely fictious and do not resemble/coincide with any living organism

Little drops of hope never trickle down

My results in have already exceeded my expectations(i.e. shocked me) and put me in the backbenchers category.  Today, I will get an opportunity to confront the test.  Ironically I am least concerned about the exam in which I am expected to do well to hang on to the course(pump myself from bottom to atleast median position, in order to assure my promotion to next term). To be honest, I am shit scared. Assuring world that him/her self is not scared of situation has turned into a normal routine for all the existent organisms, after each individual learns of the fact that sharing the problem actually does not add any relief to the scenario. Worse, it can result in blunder. It’s a lifelong mantra to assure self that there is no way out except facing the consequences.

Let me divert from the topic and take off the burden. Everytime I hit to the food court at manipal and taste the delicious chicken tikka of Hangyo Saiba food outlet, my taste bud rejoice and cherish the spicy grilled chickens.

Coming back to the topic, I do agree now that silence is a proxy for worrisome point. Pick out any person who’s silent, it goes by default that the person is battling out a big hurdle. But unfortunately we humans have ourselves to entertain self. People say that there exist a healer who takes away the problem from you. Some see the healer in form of god and some in form of humans. Those who acknowledge the gravity of passing time believe that such healers cease to exist in world. All these are a hypothetical thought that is bubbled up to make one feel good. Yes, feel good. One can feel good by puffing a stack of cigarettes, drinking vodka, lending ears to music and performing many other activities. We term these activities as ‘distracters’ which engages us in an addictive task. Say for example you like a track and are addicted to it. What follows next are a juxtaposed frames of de-ja-vu moments where you keep on playing the same track again.

It would be bearish of me to say that even today I feel that my academic position is under jeopardy. I have slowly realized my interest in life and hope that I ultimately get in there. Waiting for an opportunity is considered ‘illogical’ in today’s world. Do we have solution for such aspirators who chose to deviate from their interest because they need to had patience and each ticking second asks money from them? I don’t think we can do anything now, but I want to do some thing for such individuals. May be provide such individuals(whose interest area might not fetch enough money) with finance. Can I? The answer would be obvious in a very short span of time.

Cover the wound

At a cliff, 10 miles above ground a group of solders take rest on a tiny ridge during their trekking operation on a mission.

Shepoy: Sir, I am scared of heights.

Captain: Don't look down. 

The famous scene from the movie 'lakshya' comes in my memories whenever I face a grave situation. It has been one of my take-aways from life that whenever one is in deepest trouble as the shepoy was, the best thing to do is turn on the attitude of captain. Although the approach didn't do either more or less to solve problems, it eased tensions. Add on to it the joy of surpassing a hurdle without talking to the world. It gives self an immense boost of confidence in cases of victories. Further, in case of failures, one learns how to live with them(failures). Everyday we encounter umpteen problems ranging from grave to gravest nature. The only thing that keeps one alive is faith in self. 

Gone are the days when I used to hold hands of my father in platform when the train used to arrive.  Now its me sitting alone on the macadam waiting for the train, killing the time by recalling reminiscent memories. A scene of mother/father caring his child gives me a pat of consolation that time has changed. But somehow the image still haunts and sooths me at the same time. Paradox feeling has became an integrated part of life for my generation, as we look forward to do multitasking and achieve lots during our youth. 

As time passes, we learnt to accept everything. But ultimately we are the lone fighters at heart. Nobody can snatch away our swords from us easily, as a battle fought lone with selfish motive is the most hassle battle.

The inspirator

Wednesday presented me with the gift of wisdom, as Dr. Harish Hande shared his thoughts on social enterpreneurship. Hande, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, essayed his take away during his journey from engineer to entrepreneur. Making a steady start, Dr. Hande took no time turn a group of students to passionate audience. Witnessing how an orator can turn into a cynosure was a treat for us.

Each and every line of Dr. Hande made sense, not only because he talked logical, but also because he himself was the epitome of how a problem should be solved. His perpetual talks made sure that none of audience had even a second to take eye off from the crux of discussion. Applause kept on pouring in at timely intervals, testifying the audience association with his speech.

"Solution is the best way to protest."

The line turned to be one of my favorites as Dr. Hande spoke on how to channelize emotions into strength, how to turn the negative trust into a strong chain of progress and highlighted key issues within our youth population that is causing the gap between the youth having potential of innovation and the rural india. He rightly mentioned that unless we go and spend time with them, we would not be able to solve their problem.

I suddenly realized how right was he. For instance, when watching movies such as  'swades' or 'chak de india' we turn from a dead rubber to a emotionally charged patriotic battery. But the avatar of patriotism ends as soon as the movie finishes. Does spending more time on a problem makes us more motivated and inclined to solve the problem? This question will loom in my mind forever. This thought of mine might be ceased tomorrow, but I would never forget this question. Can we make rural India a place to live? Yes, we can.

Just like after shifting into a house of mess we turn a house to a clean place to live, we can similarly turn a village to be of same parameters as that of living conditions in city, only when we transition to villages. Will forcing industries to open up in villages help us to solve the problem? Yes, it would, only if someone washes out the preconceived notions of our brain.

Sweetness and blessing..the olden gold days

The summer vacation was the childhood's joy. Especially for those children who fared bad in academics, summer vacation was a relief to ease their pain. And for those who were good in academics, summer vacation was a span to further their consistency.

During once such vacation, I came across an uncle(who appeared to be very old, say more than 70 years). One of my friend was introduced him to be first when I observed him giving blessings to anyone who bowed in front of him.

"Bow down your head in front of him to seek his blessings" whispered my friend as my brain made me rush to join the queue of people seeking his blessings(it was initial days of his stint in my locality). I soon seek the blessings and re-joined the queue to seek his blessings again. It appeared a fun to we set of children(at least me) to bow head in front of him and have him utter few words. Little did I know how painful might it be for him to utter each words.

He appeared calm, silent, tranquil and pure. I often associated his blessings with a sublime sweetness of gulab jamun. Few days back I recalled the incident and forgot it as soon as next second.

Today, when I tasted gulab-jamun in canteen, I came across the same sublime sweetness that I vouch for. It was inevitable to recall this memory then. Or shall I say, the memory soon flashed in mind.

Places have changes, outlook have changed and situation have changed. But we are basically the same at core when we look back to our childhood days. Money is the talk of the days and memory has became the priceless gift in the universe. Perhaps a de-ja-vu of such incident is worth more valuable than any other day of success. But, neither will the incident repeat nor will we get back those olden gold days of us. Whats left is a cart of replenished memories of past which we chase today, in an anticipation to make those memories relive.

talent, win or money : a tough choice

David Villa Sanchez & David Josue Jiminez Silva.

It was last season when a renounced club titled 'Valencia F.C' sold two of its best player. The reason? According to the club chairman the rationale behind the deal was to reduce the heavy debt that the club was drowned with. Ironically, both the superstars publicly pledged their loyalty to keep playing at the club and placed the authority to the club to sell or put a stay .

A season passed, both the players flourished in their respective players. The finishing of david villa and the dribbles and crosses of silva rewarded their current clubs with incentives(Manchester City, where Silva headed, qualified for UCL and won a cup, and Villa's team Barcelona stole the show in the Europe and Spain). Also, the third superstar(i.e Raul Albion) who followed to Real Madrid was sorely missed by Valencia, as the club was missing its most experience defense personnel, leading to leaking of goals.

Now, the third largest football club in Spain is again going through a de-ja-vu as it looks forward to sell its current prized asset, i.e Juan Manuel Mata.

Mata, a product of Real Madrid joined Valencia on March 2007, was an instant hit as he got an opportunity to make a mark during the midfield injury crisis of the team. Reports soon circulated last year that Barcelona was looking to snap up the youngster. In response to media rumors, the clubs issued a hands off warning, stating that the youngster was of prime importance of them.

Mata continued to be the club's sensation, helping Valencia to qualify for UEFA Champions League birth by firing the club to 3rd position. Impressive performance in Under-21 tournament for Spain by the youngster, juxtaposed his praise-worth reports in media.

Today, Mata is about to complete his move to Chelsea F.C. It is reported that the London club paid 30 million $ to snap the youngster. Ironically, the transferred occured after repeated denials of club's chairman.

Incidentally, most of the world's talent(at least europeans) have came out of youth academies of cash stripped clubs(such as portsmouth, west ham, etc). The clever fox(read scouts) snatch those growing talents and land them to the major clubs. Not so surprisingly, the event follows with loaning out the player to a small club. And by the time the player is off the loan period, he is a touted superstar in making. For those kids, whom the academic clubs do not allow to be gobbled, they are snapped up during their primes when big clubs pay heavy money for acquisition.

So, what is most important in the world now? Talent? Money? Win?

Money and win are mutually coupled to each other. In football leagues, clubs pump in money to win the tournament, which will further attract money. The entry of the word 'talent' happens when win is 'expected' after injecting the money.

Not only sports, but also rest of the fields(education, work, music, etc) find themselves battling this question, the clear answer to which might never be unveiled(or atleast let to me unveiled by the big cash players).

Exam-in-tension hall..

"The sound of a strike of pen beckon us of someone destroying an answer, the sound of strike of pencil indicates someone constructing an answer."

Interestingly, every strike of pencil causes a glitch of scare in the waves in the composure meter and every strike of pen ignites the wink of optimism in the cautioned motivation meter in mind.

A series of pen and pencil strikes thrilled me during exams. A quiet ambiance gives a proxy of people's mood. The poker faced expressions suddenly turn grave, the shining skins glued with powder suddenly get splashed by the mud of sweat(arising from tensions). What starts a regular 'lets kill the paper off in an instant' attitude, develops into a 'deeply immersed in paper' reaction within few moments.

Heads keep on bending downwards(sometimes i wonder if forehead touching the question paper has anything to do with getting the answers), the poor small brain is rattled,abused,threatned and scorched for any sort of information that can be the 'acceptable' reply to the question posed in the paper. And at last if one has ran out of options, the individual makes sure to at least pen down whatever he/she has learnt(ooops...pardon me, but the correct word is 'prepared') for the exam.

Surely exam moment is a joy to watch out for, provided that you are equipped perfectly to fare well in paper before analyzing the mood of the students.