Vivek- My way

Zindagi: Bollywood ishtyle

2014-04-20T00:26:00.001+05:30

I have 12 quotes for you, for 12 months of the wonderful year ahead of you!

“Babumoshai…..zindagi lambi nahi badi honi chahiye”

This quote always had a positive effect on me. Many of us strive to live the long lives, so much that we even forget we have a life! You have always filled fun in your cup of life up to the brim. That makes you lovely and lively. The way you live your life, you are definitely going to make it large.

“Jab matlab se pyar hota hai ... toh pyar se matlab nahi rehta”

In the present mean world, it is difficult even to find a love which sustains for a few years, leave alone the lifetime! In such a desert, you are an oasis of love. You are a kind of person who loves by heart. Best thing about you is that when you are committed, you are committed for life! Always keep loving!

“Joh darr gaya ... samjho marr gaya”

One of the characteristics of you, which I have observed is that you worry a lot! That worry is not out of helplessness, but due to the amount of dedication and passion you have towards the things you love! But worry a little bit less, live a little bit more!

“Agar tum galat raaste par chaloge ... toh ho sakta hai shuruvat mein tumhe bahut kamyabi mile, bahut khushiya mile ... magar anth mein tumhari haar hogi ... aur agar sahi raaste par chaloge ... toh bhale hi shuruvat mein tumhe kadam kadam par thokarein mile, musibaton ka samna karna pade, pareshani ho ... magar anth mein hamesha jeet hogi”

I know for sure that you never took a wrong step in the path of success and never will. You are such kind of a person. As said in the quote, I even saw you experiencing turmoil in the initial stages of your works. You asked me why these things happen to you. Just remember that these are the hurdles which when crossed will leave you nothing than a finish line to success.

“Life mein jab time kam rehta hai na ... double jeene ka, double”

We never have enough time for the things we love in this world. All we can do is one thing- love more. And then, still we fall short on time. Then, love a little bit more. Our life is all about love! And I know you are the kind of a person who will do that.

“Aadmi ko parakhna ho toh yeh dekho ki ... apne se neeche tarke ke logo se woh kaise bartav karta hai”

First of all, I don’t believe in highs and lows assigned to a person. No person is higher than the other or lower than the other. They just are having a different job than yours, that’s all! But still, with respect to the designations assigned by the society, I didn’t get a chance to observe you in such cases but I know what kind of a person you are and I can just advise you to behave with juniors with much humility and give them as much love as you can which I know you will.

“humari filmon ki tarah humari zindagi mein bhi end mein sab theek ho jaata hai.
Happys Endings. Aur agar, aur agar theek na ho to woh the end nahin hai dosto, picture abhi baaki hai.”

You are not even across the halfway in the first half of your cinema called life. Don’t worry about the troubles you are facing in your life. Do you know why typical commercial movies are always money grossers? Because art movies represent how we are living our lives which no one wants to see, but commercial movies reassure us that everything somehow magically falls into right place in the end. And it does, but only if you don’t let the screenplay of your life loose. It’s your life, hold it tight and then you will have the space to write your own ending.

“Aaj ... aaj ek hasi aur baant lo .. aaj ek dua aur maang lo
aaj ek ansoon aur pee lo ... aaj ek zindagi aur jee lo ... aaj ek sapna aur dekh lo ... aaj ... kya pata,
kal ho naa ho.”

There are two ways of living, one way is to live like you don’t know whether there’s a tomorrow in your life and another way is to gradually build up your life for a better future. I say when you work, do it on an assumption that you will have a long life and when you enjoy, do it like there is no tomorrow!

“Life is a race ... if you don't run fast ... you will be like a broken undaa”

No matter how much we idealize life, we have to agree that, we have entered the race and we will lose if we don’t run. Just, RUN!

“Pyar sooch samajh kar nahin kiya jaata ... bas ho jaata hai”

Love comes in many ways and packages. I just love the way you are and I don’t even remember since when we became so close. It was never intentional, it was never forced. Be loved, always!

“Jab log tumhare khilaaf bolne lage ... samajh lo tarakki kar rahe ho”

You have told me about these kind of situations you have faced. Just always remember, it is because your awesomeness is too much for them to take in. They are pure jealous of you. They are just like dogs running behind car, barking and you are in the right path towards success.

“Dilon mein tum apni

Betaabiyan leke chal rahe ho
Toh zinda ho tum
Nazar mein khwabon ki
Bijliyan leke chal rahe ho
Toh zinda ho tum
Hawa ke jhokon ke jaise
Aazad rehno sikho
Tum ek dariya ke jaise
Lehron mein behna sikho
Har ek lamhe se tum milo
Khole apni bhaayein
Har ek pal ek naya samha
Dekhen yeh nigahaein
Jo apni aankhon mein
Hairaniyan leke chal rahe ho
Toh zinda ho tum
Dilon mein tum apni
Betaabiyan leke chal rahe ho
Toh zinda ho tum”

When I first time I listened to this, I felt such emotions filling which, of which I can’t even explain in words. I love many movies, am inspired by some but influenced by a very few and this is one of such movies. As its title suggest, you live only once! And from what I know of you, I can just say one thing, you will live a life worth it! All the best for your future.

Wish you a very very happy birthday
Love you.

Tale of a Fairy

2013-12-05T11:30:00.000+05:30

Do fairy tales exist? I am pretty sure the answer is no. Nothing in our life is a fairy tale, especially the magical twists and sought out love in fairy tales are so unreal. But I know a tale, which is no fairy tale, but has a fairy in it. I am going to narrate it, just sit back and witness the magic of a fairy. It is the tale of an angel whom billions love and admire. An angel who started as the princess of dance, grown into the queen of the expressions and retired to settle down as the emperor of the hearts. Many mastered the art of Kathak before, but she reinvented it, mixed it with the unmatchable beauty of hers, added an extra fineness with her graceful expressions and ruled it. If the record of highest number of filmfare nominations and honour of Padmashree were one side of her glory, her kind heart and altruistic Philanthrophism are in the unseen side of her beauty. It becomes very difficult for a person to decide whether her dance is her biggest asset or her eyes. When she dances, everyone around her just seems to be halted for a moment to engross themselves in her dance and everything around her turns itself towards her so as not to miss the chance and there would be one wish crossing every person’s mind, to see her dance forever and ever. She has so much ease and flow in her steps that it seems as if music is being played on her steps, not the other way around. While in her early days, she grabbed everyone’s attention with the oozing sensuality in her dance, her later days showed the complete portrayal of her charm blended with the free flow, along with not losing her trademark sensuality. And of course, it’s just impossible to describe her eyes. Such elegance was never before seen and was never before captured on screen. Where it becomes very difficult for actresses to portray some expressions on their faces, in front of camera, she does it only with her eyes with ease. May it be the ruthless anger or delightful contentment, there was (is) no other actress who could beat her (at least beat her eyes). The way she smiles with her eyes makes one fall in love with her instantaneously. The only thing we can pardon for coming in the way of her eyes is her cascading hair. It just flows as if it longs to touch her. Coming to her smile, it’s eternal. It makes a guy’s heart skip a beat, literally. Best thing about her is that her eminence did not let her ignore the realities of the world. It’s easy for anyone to sacrifice their careers for their children when they are not in much demand. But she sacrificed it right when she was at the peak stage of her career with a timeless classic Devdas. She took leave from movies to take care of her children. To our pleasant surprise, she came back and that too with a bang in Aaja Nachle. I really don’t know how this film progressed, but it was just pleasing to see her dance, dance and dance. We may not see her much, unlike the golden 80’s and 90’s but no one can replace this sovereign of beauty and the crown’s always hers. This folks, is a short story of an angel who breathed life into the expressions. We all know who she is and if you don’t, it's none other than our beloved Madhuri Dixit.

50

2013-12-05T09:19:00.002+05:30

One:

It was around the time of my 19^th birthday that I started blogging and the incidents that have inspired me and lead me to take this step were quite interesting. Quite some time ago, I had written a story describing the mind-set of a person whose thoughts oscillate between the love of a girl and his parents’. I saved it somewhere in a pen drive and forgot about it. When a friend of mine, Laharish, borrowed it from me, he and another friend, Uday have read it and asked me from who wrote it. When I replied that I wrote it, they were surprised and encouraged me to continue writing as they found it to be very good. I started blogging with an article about the simultaneous event promotions of Ra.One and F1 in India. That was my first step in the blogging.

Four:

By this time, I got some dedicated readers and I lost half of them with this post. But till today, I don’t regret writing that article. It was about the dark side of Gandhi. Every person has shades of grey in them and I feel Gandhi has got some too, which are darker than known to a common man. That’s what I portrayed and I always stand on my words!

Six:

This one was special. This is an anniversary gift to my friend Sandhya on the occasion of the completion of one year of their love. It was special for me too, because after this post, I established my own style of narration and a special one.

Seven:

Only post in my blog which is a copy paste. But I never thought of removing it as it is the copy of the speech given by the gentleman of cricket Rahul Dravid and it’s always inspiring.

Ten:

My nine posts were good and readers liked them. But this one was something unique. It was straight from the heart. This post, “A Final Note” is a story encouraging the spread of the anti-suicide campaigns. Reason behind writing this story is the suicide of my batch mate. I was neither one of his best friends nor did I spend much time with him, but I just couldn’t sleep after hearing the tragic news. My heart was filled with grief and agony and I had to do something about it. I still don’t remember when I took the pen and when I completed the story. I posted it as a tribute to him and it got huge response. More than the response, it was the thought that maybe I could change the mind of at least one person made me happy. According to many readers, it is my best work till date. I don’t really know whether it is or not, but it changed my level of writing.

Fourteen:

This blog post marked the beginning of my beloved series named “College Diaries”. Each and every article of the series is based on the personal experiences and specially dedicated to MANIT students.

Nineteen:

I feel this article is the most underrated work of mine. It was not an easy one to write, I wrote it in two languages separately and yet it was not much appreciated. I learnt a valuable lesson that to maintain a blog, your hard work doesn’t matter. All that matters is the connection of the post with the readers. From that moment, every article I wrote was keeping readers in mind.

Twenty:

My one such post which I read every time I open my blog. It is the replica of my love and respect towards Nolan and his professionalism. Nolan is loved by all, but understood by only a few. That’s what I want to, through this post, to explain Nolan.

Twenty One:

Well, that’s a hat trick. Three back to back posts which I loved writing. This post started as an idea of describing the most beautiful girl I ever saw and ended up being the most emotional post of my blog. A friend of mine told me, “Man, I tried hard to control it, but at the end a tear drop managed to escape my eye which doesn’t happen regularly”. When I still read it today, I feel elated. This is my favourite post of my entire blog.

Twenty three:

It’s a tribute post to the heroes of 26.11 in my own style of narration and concepts. I am proud of it.

Twenty Nine:
This post was only about the incident happened with my friend, YRK. I didn’t expect readers to be happy with this post, but in contrast, I got many accolades.

Thirty Seven:

There are one or two posts in between which deserve a mention, but I am too excited to write about this. This is probably the post with best concept among my works. I always had this thought about the “Love at First Sight”. But when I put it into words, it turned out to be elegant and beautiful. I got a compliment from my junior that the article is so good that she pictured the placed I described in the article everytime she reads it. These kind of compliments fuel our thought process even more.

Forty:

Twilight! It was an easy one to write and the response to this story was tremendous.

Forty Two:

It was an unintentional article. My junior, Priyanshi asked me to write about some concept in psychology. I accepted the challenge and completed the article. But after sending it to her, I found out that I understood the concept entirely in a wrong way. But the outcome was great, though not the one we desired. Narration style was praised.

Forty Four:

This article elevated the readership of my blog to the next level. I got numerous compliments of which a common one was that I describe the female lead role in my writings with great elegance and I am very good at it. That’s a compliment I would always cherish.

Forty Five:

It was inspired from the trailer of the film “Ugly”. I tried a new style by mixing article writing and story writing into a single work. This was not welcomed by many and it discouraged me of my further attempts towards such a style. But at the end, it stood 7^th among 143 articles in a writing competition and gave me some relief.

Fifty:

Here we are, at the fiftieth step of my blogging career and I thank each and every reader who have been with me through thin and thick. Special thanks to YRK and Bhargava who have taught me the basics of writing in English and Avinash who was my critic at every stage and a very good adviser. Thanks to everyone who have encouraged me and supported me. A very special thanks to Ankita for suggesting me this topic which made me revisit my good old memories.

AMIGO

2013-11-27T17:47:00.000+05:30

“Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over.”

~Gloria Naylor

Chapter 1: The Genesis

It was the first time we hugged each other. We broke the record of the highest opening partnership of our gully. Was that worth hugging? Well, we were 9 and cricket was our world. Our friendship, started in that moment, was flowing towards an endless shore. Many records were broken and many hugs were taken after that. Exchange of lunch boxes, prank calling the teachers, teasing one another in the name of girls and many more childish activities converted to rooftop night outs, facebook joint stalking, bunking of classes to hang out at pubs. Actions changed, friendship never did. May it be the backing up of one another when caught cheating in an exam or consoling one another when Sachin got out on 4 in the finals of the World Cup ’03, we were always together.

Chapter 2: The Promise

It was the last day of our high school, a pause in the 8 years of our friendship. I got admission in an NIT and Arun opted for a local Engineering college. Something’s are going to be changed, but we made a promise that we would keep in touch and hang out in every semester break. One thing I was sure of was that I would never get a better friend than Arun and it won’t be much of a problem staying connected in this Internet era.

Little did we knew about the path awaiting us that would lead to the next part of our journey. We think some people are important and we make them a part of our lives. But in most of the cases end up being something else. There neither misunderstandings nor quarrels are the antagonists, contrary to what we think. It’s just that as we grow up, we also grow apart. We didn’t think of all these. We knew one thing: We made a promise and we are going to keep it!

Chapter 3: The Despise

AFTER 5 YEARS,

PLACE: FACEBOOK.

Arun: Hey 7.30 pm

üseen 7.31 pm

Arun: Hey, busy?                              8.30 pm
             Dude, I saw the “seen”
            notification, are you busy?

üseen 8.35 pm

Arya: Hey man. Sorry, I am a 8.36 pm
little busy. Gtg, bbye
.

Options > Turn off chat

“ Continues with his important work of looking at trolls in a random funny page.”

THE Liebster Award

2013-11-25T18:58:00.003+05:30

I really don't know the content style. Putting it in simple words, I will thank YRK for his valuable nomination. I don't know about the award and its rules. But whatever it is, it sounds fun, especially the 11 questions. A little of what I read it was and boom....

Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. It’s appreciation from fellow bloggers and your chance to introduce yourself to other awesome bloggers.

If you receive this award, you are expected to:
1. Post 11 facts about yourself
2. Answer the 11 questions the tagger has given you
3. Tag 11 more Bloggers (with no more than 200 followers; no tagging back) and make 11 questions for them
4. Tell the people you tagged that you did.

11 facts about myself:

1. I am a guy who hails from and is in love with the Hyderabad city.

2. I am one among the millions of normal guys who think they are normal, but are not.

3. I mostly write love, but am not acquainted with it.

4. I am the guy who don’t usually trust people. To gain my trust, you have to earn it.

5. I am the one who loves the god of English literature, Shakespeare, but hates his followers for my own reasons.

6. I study Mechanical. May be it’s an extra-curricular activity and my main activity is working in my management society- IBC.

8. I believe that “God” is a concept which is heavily manipulated and commercialized. Talk with me for hours straight and yet you can’t figure out whether I am an atheist or a theist.

9. Whenever people say to me that Indian music is shit and that I need to listen to English albums, I just feel pity for them.

10. I am a person who sees deep inside the other people’s personality. I have been unsuccessful in judging the people, a lot, in the past. But now, I am a pro.

11. People listen to anything you say when you’re a celebrity. That is one of the reasons why I want to be one.

Questions YRK has put to me:

1. Why blog when you can speak?

People will think that I am mad, if I talk to myself.

2. Is rhyme the essence of poetry?

Definitely. If it was not, then everything would have been prose!

3. Have you ever felt your heart pain, practically?

Practically?? Never. Figuratively?? Yes.

4. Why should I not start quizzing you?

Dude, you already did!

5. Why did I mark your name above?

I think you love me :P

6. If not for social networking, how far would you and I have been?

Further than we are at the moment.

7. Define an ideal parent.

One who’s like the dark knight, a silent guardian.

8. Coffee or wine?

May I choose milk??

9. After you have entered the college, did you ever run out of ink?

Yes, many a times.

10. What is an ideal birthday gift?

The Batarang. :D

11. If you were Robinson Crusoe, what would you have done?

Who?

11 Bloggers I recommend:

http://ecstasyofthoughts.blogspot.com/

http://myscrappedunderbelly.blogspot.in/

http://squintyperception.blogspot.in/

http://ibcmanit.blogspot.in/

http://rohitrockingalwayz.wordpress.com/

http://ankitabhargava20.blogspot.in/

http://ahirraoakshay02.blogspot.in/

http://the-brimming-brook.blogspot.in/

http://aayushkumarpandey.blogspot.in/

http://santosh4u.com/

http://captainsanjana.blogspot.in/

My questions:

For comparison questions, answer with reasons:

1.Movies or Books?

2. Rahul Dravid or Sachin Tendulkar?

3. Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings?

4. Christopher Nolan or Steven Speilberg?

5. Why did I mark your name above?

6. What am I to you a year back and what am I now?

7. What is “life” to you?

8. To you, who is god and what is a religion?

Answer on the scale of 1-10 (with explanations, if possible):

9. Your writing.

10. Your first crush.

11. Importance of love in life.

THE REUNION 2: FLOOD OF LOVE

2013-10-26T16:00:00.000+05:30

To read the first part, click here: THE REUNION: FLOW OF LOVE

“It’s an insane world, but in it there’s one sanity, the loyalty of old friends. We must believe in one another.”

~ Ben Hur

MY SWINGING FEELINGS:

People think moments are birds which just fly by and we can do nothing about them. But truth is that they just are like the kites. Yes, they fly. But how and where they fly to, is connected to a string and controlled by us. All that we have to do is fly them with craft. That was one moment which I felt was slipping from my hands. I fell in love with the lover of my best friend! And if that was not complicated enough, she was the reason for Arya to get drifted away from us. My thoughts kept oscillating between love, guilt and hatred!

IS THIS SCENE EVEN RELATED TO THE STORY??!! :

The dark steps creaked as she stepped down to the dining table. Everyone was busy already sharing their nostalgia as she pulled her chair. Being mechies, our first topic was about girls, besides the chai sutta moments at Mata Mandir. We were having dinner and started talking about the good old days and Prakash, after his third tequila shot, grunted, “Remember Asha, she was a bitch man! She just behaves friendly with any person who has a bike. Man, girls just didn’t have any morals back in our college days". Everyone were silent, the place seemed gloomy and then she spoke, for the first time. Her voice husky as a flute, she said, "it hurts…" lost in a world looking deep into the emptiness. Vivek erred at her. Gaining back the worldly existence, she said, “… to be misunderstood. A girl could not have been so worse. It must have been a misinterpretation. A girl has a beautiful heart, like a calm song. Gossips are disturbances, the noises you hear. Had you tried to listen to the song, it could have been a different table today. Misunderstanding hurts, but only after the words can't be taken back. Just think before you speak.”

The silence prolonged except for me, for I saw more than a good understanding girl, a keen mind in her. Her beauty was encroached by her dullness and her sweet heart by her calmness, but I noticed beyond. He knew her true affection, he could read how she would care. All said was a sentence, but I fell in love.

THE TURNING POINT:

The way she balanced motives with grace while speaking killed my two other emotions and all that’s left was love! I had decided to leave the reunion to avoid any further embarrassing confrontations. After the dinner, I went to Ananya and said, “Hey, I have to go. Where’s Arya? I’ll meet him once and take leave.”

She said, “Come on! Just one more day and this reunion would be complete! Why do you want to leave so early?” I just insisted on leaving and asked her to at least give his contact number so that I can contact him later.

She replied, “I didn’t want to get to this until you guys have done with your reunion. But as you’re insisting, I have to. I’m his cousin. All the avoiding he did to you guys, all the fake love stories he did weave and the changes he made you see in him were not real. He was suffering from Huntington’s disease which he came to know in the summer vacations after the second year. As soon as he was informed of his disease, he tried to get away from you as he didn’t want you guys to get distracted and drawn off, with the uncoordinated, pitiful and complicated part of his life. All the phone calls were about me helping him with his medic dates and suggestions. He asked me to arrange a reunion as soon as he passes away as he wants you to know that he loves them and he wants to be remembered.”

It meant that we misunderstood him all the while! The irritating times for us which we spent on phone, the confusing moments which we spent questioning about his mottos of choosing a wrong path, the never ending hours which we waited for him to return; were all something bigger than what’s seen. Everything was a part of the plan. Never in his life did he place anyone above us. He thought that a lonely death is worthy to endure to make our lives undisturbed. If dying with many people praying for your life is something eternal, then dying alone praying for other’s life is greater than divine!

ONE LAST TIME:

As the first rays of sun kissed the bleak winter land of Bhopal, we waited in distress for the hearse to arrive and it did. As the coffin was being taken out from it, a tear rolled down my cheek.

Life is beautiful

2013-10-08T23:47:00.000+05:30

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

“Love has no boundaries, but has certain rules. Sacrifice and acceptance being the most important among them.”

THIS IS ME:

At last, I am going to propose her today. It has been over two years since we met and she became an inseparable part of my life. I am just another fat idiot who sits in the back benches trying to ignore every word said by the lecturers. The only thing I know (knew) was to write and I stopped doing that too, when my writings were rejected by college magazine to publish their “jugaadu” writers’ articles. In short, I have nothing special in me. These thoughts are the ones which held me back from proposing her all these days. Today, I got placed in a reputed company. Of course, I was given a job designation which I was not even aware of its existence before 2 months. But I’m happy, as were the 90% of the students who got jobs which are nowhere near their dream jobs. I told my parents and they were proud of me. The next thing I decided is that I am going to propose to Maya!

5 YEARS LATER:

“Love is magic, figuratively and literally. If magic is nothing but a simple act covered up by illusions which make it look difficult to understand, then love is no different!” With these lines, I completed writing my third book at 5 am in the morning. Then I went on to make two cups of coffee and with that I woke up Maya. Her hair all messed up and mascara half faded, she was looking eternal in those shorts and Minion tees. As her brown eyes were still half closed, her two beautiful glossy lips were sipping the Coffee. After she drank the coffee, I kissed her and my son who’s speeling and got out from there. I now have Maya in my life and I became a writer. Wasn’t this all I asked for?

“Life is beautiful. Isn’t it?”

THE PROPOSAL:

As I went to her home, aunty said that she was upstairs, in her bedroom. I knocked and went inside to surprise her, only to find her bleeding from her head. We took her to the hospital and all the tests were done. Aunty came out furiously, slapped me and told me not to bring her daughter home again. I went in. She told me crying, that she is pregnant and the guy responsible for it refused to even talk her from the moment he came to know about it. She tried to shoot herself with the airsoft gun, but being the plastic bullets, they only penetrated till the border of her brain. Her condition was stable for the next 7 months but while giving birth to her child, her brain condition got serious and she went into the state of severe trauma. From then on, she can only perform the involuntary actions such as eating, drinking etc.

NOW:

I gave up my job and started writing again so that I can always be there to take care of her. I moved away to US as my parents found it humiliating that I’m raising her child as my own and making her a part of my family. I still wait for her to wake up. And I don’t even know if she accepts my proposal.

“Life isn’t beautiful in itself. It’s your way of acceptance and adjusting power that makes your life beautiful and meaningful.”

2013-10-08T23:11:00.003+05:30

Vantage Point

SASARAM POLICE STATION, BIHAR.

TIME: 10.00 am

“Sir, this week I can give you only 15%. Competition has grown so much that we no longer can demand the prices.”

“Don’t give me all these stupid excuses. You are after all a pimp. I can completely wipe you out from the records and then out of the society. I’ll reduce the percentage to 20% but I need three girls per week, instead of two”, said the inspector scratching his belly. Then he called out his constable, “Ramu, take the money and send this disgrace out of the station. And also call in the next case.”

“Namaste sir, I am Arun. My daughter went missing this morning. Please do something sir” said Arun, crying heavily.

“Don’t panic and just explain me clearly what happened.”

“Sir, at around 7 a.m, I was going to drop my daughter in her school and midway and we stopped at the Neelam market to buy groceries. I told her that I’ll be back in five minutes and not to move from her seat. I went away and when I returned, she was not in the car. There were some blood drops on the back seat where she was sitting. I trembled and searched everywhere around. Then I came straight here” said Arun, in a choking voice.

“Show me the exact place where you parked the car.”

NEELAM MARKET,

12.00 pm.
“Inspector observed the surroundings and said, “Ramu, bring that panipuri stall owner, beggar and security guard of that ATM. And don’t forget to order two samosas and a tea.”

Kidnapping is such a case where interrogation is a more powerful weapon than an investigation and inspector Sasaram is said to be the best interrogator available in the state.

BEGGAR,

Explaining the scene between 6.45 am and 7.15 am.

“Sir, my ‘business’ was on a poor run and I had to start as early as 6 am so as to feed my family. This week, my posting is at the Neelam market junction and I was on duty at that time. Some red car stopped and this sir got down from it. I limped towards him. He talked to someone sitting inside the car and then gave me a ten rupee note and walked towards the market. Then suddenly around ten trucks passed from beside the car. After sometime, he was back with some big cover in his hand and a man was beside him. Within seconds, he was running everywhere around. That’s all I know sir.”

PANIPURI STALL OWNER,

Explaining the scene between 6.45 am and 7.15 am.

“Sir, I couldn’t see clearly what happened as my stall was filled with customers who come for jogging in the nearby park and take a break at my stall daily. All I remember was that this sir (pointing out to Arun) bought a large pack of panipuris from me and asked me to help with his car door as it would be difficult for him to do so, holding the big cover of panipuris. When I opened the door, he kept the cover inside the car and all of a sudden, he started panicking. He asked me whether I have seen any 10 year old girl nearby. I said no and he started running around, asking everyone.”

ATM SECURITY GUARD,

Explaining the scene between 6.45 am and 7.15 am.

“This sir came to me and complained that ATM machine was not working and I showed him another booth and he went away. Then ten trucks were moving on the road and some people got down from the first running truck and moved around. Then they climbed back into the last truck and went away singing some songs loudly. There was a red car parked near the road and door opened slowly. After sometime Arun sir came to me trembling with fear and asked me “Have you seen anyone getting down from the car” and I said that someone opened the door 2 minutes ago and must have gotten down at that moment. We both then went searching everywhere and she was nowhere to be found.”

“Ramu, call all the check posts and ask them to check each and every truck carefully for the girl. Call Rani back and ask her to inform us if she gets any ten year old girl as the new prostitute. Spread the posters of the girl around the market and announce a reward for the person who brings back the girl. And also trace the beggar. They steal away the children to please their bosses for getting them a new beggar.”

They tried everything and even waited for the phone call of the kidnapper but did not get any! Three months later, the case was closed due to no clues or evidence.

AFTER 2 YEARS:

Police got a phone call from people complaining about the rotten smell from the Arun’s house. They haven’t seen him in days and suspected that he is dead. When police broke into the house, they found the body of a girl and in the post mortem, it was revealed that she was being constantly raped from more than two years and she died of the internal bleeding in her brain due to some injury. The inspector just collapsed onto the floor scolding himself for missing that one point. Two years back, when they went to the market, Arun showed him the parking spot. Talking or involving in some activity with beggar, guard and stall owner to gain their attention just enough, leaving a door unlocked so that it may get opened due to wind, planning the timing so as to overlap with the time where movement of trucks is at the peak in Bihar, showing the inspector a specific spot from where all these things form a closure and his view gets entrapped within the limits Arun had set; all these things were the part of a plan. They saw only what Arun had shown them and they searched only for what Arun had wanted them to do so. The girl was never in the car. A perfect plan for a psycho whose lust made him do unimaginable things, without raising a doubt. He imprisoned the girl inside his home so that she won’t tell anything to anybody. There was only one hint, that all the evidences were too clear to ignore and too opaque to be seen through. A hint which is hard to find or may be a hint which is too easy that it may be overlooked.

v Bihar case is just a sample. There are millions of unsolved cases in our country which need just a vantage to get solved. Thousands of girls are being molested by their own parents which should be brought into limelight and children should be given knowledge about their body and places which are private to them and should be encouraged to complain to others when touched there. Prostitution should either be legalized or be provided with a severe punishment, so that they become part of the society rather than an anti-society. If we go on discussing, we get thousands of solutions. But the problem is with the implementation. Hope it gets solved in the near future.

“You only see what you can see from your point of view. It doesn’t mean that whatever you see is the only truth about it. For example, we read the title of this story as “Point”. To see everything clearly, we need something else, something which provides a better view than this. The word to the left of the word “Point” is coloured white. Just highlight it and you’ll see the actual title. All you need is to select a perfect point and hit the perfect target and that point is called the “Vantage Point”.”

The Reunion: Flow Of Love

2013-08-18T23:25:00.001+05:30

“The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.”

20^th December, 2025

Bhopal.

I tried my best to invite the last person of our gang over the phone. But all I could get was, “Man, is it really necessary to be there in person? Can’t we all just hangout in Skype, like always?” Prakash said. No doubt he was a busy guy. Why wouldn’t he be busy! Battlefield7 was released the day before!

“Haven’t changed a bit, have you? Lazy ass, as always! But pack your bags because this time, Arya’s coming to the reunion.”

That last sentence was enough to persuade him to come to the college. Some people come into our life like a gentle breeze in the spring. Whatever the mood may be, their presence makes our day beautiful. But a very few enter our lives like a tornado, they shatter everything, show us the extreme nature of life and when they leave, we are left with the feeling, “Dude, That was one hell of an adventure.” Arya was that tornado in our lives.

27^th April, 2012,

MANIT, Bhopal.

It was the day when we saw Avengers and decided that our gang would be called as “The Mech Avengers” from then on. After a long quarrel and a match of arm wrestling, I got to be the Iron Man. Being a mechie gang, we had no Black Widow. Our first two years were a roller coaster ride with the impeccable teamwork. May it be the new copying techniques in the exam room or making a GT successful or breaking down every bit of the furniture in mess, we were perfect. But from the third year, it wasn’t the same. As we grew up, we also grew apart. Life happened!

Lets ride through the reunion; 31^st December, 2025:

I’ve reached the place of reunion. My AR-15 made sure that I did not forget to buy gifts for everyone and a gas mask too, as Bhopal is not among the “30 cities where you may breathe” list. I prefer to call my robot ‘Jarvis’, but that name was not allowed as millions of people applied for the same name!

Captain and Thor were already there (it seemed a little awkward to still call them with those names). They brought their families with them too. We met twice or thrice before this but this time it’s going to be special! Arya is going to join us! Though we were out of contact for more than 10 years, he never really was out of our hearts. We started discussing about our good old times.

Once again irritating you with a small memory; August, 2014:

Right from the starting of the third year, we started sensing that something was wrong with Arya. Summer vacations changed him completely. He used to skip our tequila nights, just to talk to some girl. But one good thing was that he became a confident person, unlike before. He moved away from our block into a more isolated one. We all hated the girl for snatching away our best friend from us. We wanted him back badly, but that didn’t happen for 10 years, at least.

Back to our reunion scene:

“Hey guys” greeted a woman, whom we’ve never met before. Her smile sent down a instant pulse down my heart and her bangs made her face resemble a modern angel. A small mole just below her lips, just intensified her flood of beauty. I felt that she may be the reason for which I was left alone in this huge world. She may complete my life. I felt lucky that I was the only single member there in the gang. Otherwise, I would’ve had to face a severe competition, by the end of which we would have disgusted the woman with our trials.

“Ananya” she introduced herself by extending her hand. “Arya must have told you about me” she continued.

That’s it! That was enough for us to recall who she was! No one cared to show the courtesy of shaking her hands then. She was the woman who was the reason for this 10 year long wait. There were many situations in my life where my heart contradicted with my mind but for the first time, half a part of my heart was contradicting with the other half. I didn’t know what to do.

I examined the surroundings. Only question was in everyone’s mind, “Where’s Arya?”

To be continued...

To read the second part, click here: THE REUNION 2: FLOOD OF LOVE

COLLEGE DIARIES 5: A JOURNEY

2013-06-13T20:06:00.001+05:30

“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it”

~John Steinbeck

February 20^th, 2012:

“We’re already two minutes par our planned start time and you guys are still not ready?!” exclaimed Mr. Perfect Avinash. There’s always one person in the gang who makes sure that we don’t miss out on the schedule and the timing for fun. In fact, the date for the outing, timings and everything was decided by him. Trip was postponed from Wednesday to Thursday because we didn’t want to miss the only non-veg dinner day in our pathetic mess. End of the mid-sems, start of the spring and a preplanned week of GT! What can be a better time for the trip than this! Some agreed for this reason, some agreed because they ran out of profile pictures for their FB accounts and need a good one and some agreed for the sole reason of racing their bikes away on the highway! So it’s going to be a nice, crazy and unforgettable bike trip for sure!

After half an hour:

The disfigured roads of Bhopal made sure that we did not enjoy the ride at all. Almost everyone in India is a huge fan of cricket and hence road contractors too, follow the method of preparing a cricket for the test matches. First two days, it is a paradise for the fast bowlers (bike riders) and from the third day, pitch starts showing up the cracks and becomes a hell. And yeah, even a slight drizzle may abandon the match (journey)! Being a pillion, if I was experiencing such a hell, imagine the position of the riders. After a tedious journey of 30 kms, our bikes were as excited as us, on seeing a beautiful, endless road diversion to Mahadevpani which was then about 5 kms from that point. As a routine, a race started out between our 5 bikes. I always enjoy being a pillion and our bike was going to be first in race for sure, ahead of others by quite a distance and that was predictable as Ravi was driving it! That was the moment I saw her, from over 300 meters, coming in the direction opposite to us. The beauty of the road blended with the endless greenery faded away and they were nothing more than the shades of grey when compared to her. May be she belonged to the “archi” group who picnicked in the morning and returning back to hostels. The way her hair flowed and the way her pink helmet and white chudidhaar blended into her angelic look just swept me off my feet (or may be swept me off the bike). Her lips folded as if she was upset and made small, cute dimples on her cheek and my heart skipped a beat! Isn’t it amazing how a boy can almost scan the girl and also describe her, just within the seconds! “To hell with the race man! Ravi, just slow down” I shouted and he wasn’t listening. Without thinking, I pressed the disc brake and that was it! Our bike skidded and straight away bashed into her scooty pep.

Date: Not sure,
Place: Hospital, where else!

As I opened my eyes slowly I saw her half awake, to the right of my bed and Ravi deep in sleep (or may be sedated) to the left of my bed! I turned to her and asked “How’s your scooty? Hope it didn’t get damaged much!” and she gave me a stern look, graver than the look Batman gives in the cartoons! I wouldn’t forget that day and the look, ever!

________________________________________________________________

For College Diaries 1, CLICK HERE

For College Diaries 2, CLICK HERE

For College Diaries 3, CLICK HERE

For College Diaries 4, CLICK HERE

'SECONDS' RELIVED

2013-05-13T18:27:00.002+05:30

Every action of ours has a consequence. And that consequence is based on what we did, how we did act, how we did think and what path did we choose for our journey. Destiny gives back everything it ever took from us and takes back everything it gave us. Amidst all this, there is one ultimate reality which cannot be altered however we might neglect it or whatever perception we possess on the world around us. Life of an individual undergoes evolution, by being churned in the vicious circle of all these facts. And my life was no different. The day I met with an accident, was the day that changed my perception towards the world forever and ever. As soon as my car did slide off the cliff, I lost my control on the brain, besides gravity. How much time was I left with? May be 15 seconds! And in those 15 seconds, I understood many things that my 15 year education did not teach me!

I recollected the lives of 4 persons who were an integral part of my life. 4 different ‘persons’with 4 different mentalities and I am going to introduce them to you all…

5 Year old me:

As earliest as I can remember. We were residing in one of the best colonies and childhood was a fun filled one. Gully cricket, I Spy and many more games used to carry forward our days besides the daily routine of acting out a stomach ache drama so as to escape the tedious activity of attending school. Everything was a cake walk for me.

17 Year old me:

Everything around me started making sense to me. On the alternative days, my mother and father used to sleep on the floor to make enough space for me on the bed. In a locality where people stand for ten hours in front of a shop for the ration, my parents made me feel like we were in a heaven! Sacrifices made by them and struggles taken by them were like a thick carpet spread over on the path of thorns. That was the moment when I decided that struggles would be my back pack from now on and I would never let them down. My vision was clear, I decided that I shall not leave any loose strings in achieving my dream of clearing the civils and I sacrificed my social life entirely from then on.

24 year old me:

Became the first person from my locality to clear the civils and the environment was festive all over the colony. The first thing I wanted to do is to improve (provide!) the basic facilities of my society. But my posting was done in a far away city and that came as the first disappointment to me. I had to bribe a huge amount of 1000k to re-shift my posting to my area. Our family was in huge debts then and I had to take the big risk. I know nothing is more to me than the colony I was brought up in, but not more than my parents’ comfort. They have suffered enough. As soon as my fix up my family problems I would be starting with the development of the colony.

35 year old me:

I became a successful person, responsible son and caring father. Got everything I wanted in my life. Of course drifted off my path a little by taking the bribes and approving the projects. It all started because of my cornered situation where I had to pay off all the debts and I wanted to do that soon. Started taking some low profile harmless bribes. And it continued as my desire to see my parents in a more and more comfortable position increased, until we had a duplex in one of the costliest areas of the state. And then came the responsibilities of being a husband and a father. Needed to secure their lives first and that became my primary goal. This continued as life gave me different challenges in different ages. Then one day, I did read a news on my ex-colony which I swore to develop. A kid died due to infected water, taking the tally of deaths to 13 that month. 13 deaths! That means a huge distress to 13 families! What was I doing! I ruined everything just by not holding on to my responsibility. I hardly slept that night and that’s the last thing I remember.

The colony, it’s problems, lives of it’s residents and their pleas- everything remained the same. What changed was my perception towards the life as I grew up. But does that soothe my conscience and can the reality be altered because of the change in my perception! Of course not. That’s what philosophy of life is about. And such a disappointing life is going to end within few seconds. Wait! It’s been some hours and those 15 seconds are yet to be finished and if the above mentioned thing is the last thing I remember, how the hell did I end up in sliding off a cliff! Then the car hit the ground and I opened my eyes. It’s been a ride of realisation for me. I started walking to my working room to settle the things once and for all, however hard that may be!
Vivek Reddy

EXAM DIARIES: COLLEGE DIARIES 4

2013-05-09T20:18:00.002+05:30

“I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me.”
          ~Woody Allen

“Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.”
        ~Mark Twain

“Try to fill the glass (each moment) of your life with all the drops of wine (endurance and perseverance) you have because you’ll be left with only two choices- Leave it or Live with it!”
          ~Me

   Well, if you are trying to connect the above quotes with this article, don’t!!! Those are just for the icing on the cake (though your heart will automatically find itself in those, when you feel the work.)

   Exams- The word which we (MANITians) hate the most, but give the utmost importance. Why not! After all, your status quo is decided by the pointers itself (apart from the number of kills you’ve made in Counter Strike). Exams are special, not only because of the obvious reasons, but also because we get a chance to see our campus which we forget to visit, after the Mid-sems! Innovating ideas to cheat in the exams and spending the nights awake to “clear” the exams is a routine! While ‘canteen Raju’ overflows with joy due to increase in customers at midnight, ‘Jyothi and Rang Mehel’ (theatres) dives into the ocean of sadness

The moment these exams come to an end, entire Bhopal gets enlightened with the buzz of MANITians. Creed of hostellers fill up the ‘Books n Books’ for selling the books for a whooping 70% return; not out of desperation, but out of excitement, feeling like a mini Ambani, “earning” money in a clever way :P. Spending all the money within a day in cinemas and restaurants and feeling bad about not realizing the value of money a day before, became a common practice! And what about the Day scholars?? Well, DB is their new home and planning for gaming and outings for the entire holidays in advance is their routine!

   Every journey begins with a single step; small, but elegant! But our (hostellers’) journey to home begins either with a lengthy queue at “Tatkal counter” or an irritating refresh button at “irctc”. Thus began mine, yet another journey back home with bidding the farewell to my love with a sweet kiss. I carried two suitcases with me, along with the feelings of nostalgia of hostel life, love towards my Maya and deep frustration about SRH losing their den at “Uppal” stadium.

At the window I sat, staring at the world, which is running at its own pace, swifter than the train and random than the brain! My thoughts began to wander off to the question of destiny- “Why am I doing this? Do I really want this degree of B.tech? Why face these exams, which offer no true education?” We are studying, but when will we get educated! Are we growing up or are we growing apart! If we are the final part of the evolution, why do other animals have the purest form of love, while ours is mixed with cunningness and betrayal! Even as I saw a blend of civilizations in a strip of journey, I couldn’t get these answers. Well, I found my answers at my last stop. Dunno about the other questions, but I found my destiny. A flood of happiness and love, sparkling in the eyes of our parents, that is our destination. As we get down the train and kiss them, the pride that lights up their eyes- that is our destiny!

Destiny is nothing but the destinations of ours, in the journey of life!

TWILIGHT

2013-05-06T20:09:00.000+05:30

“Our lives can't be measured by our final years, of this I am sure.”
― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

“In my old age, I was at last being permitted to make the discovery that lovemaking gets better and better with time, if it's with someone you care for.”
― Patricia Nell Warren

“In later life most good things happen very slowly; only bad things tend to happen fast.”
― Mark Edmundson

______________________________________________

“Arun calling…” as soon as my phone rang, displaying this message, breath filled my heart once again! It has been 8 long years since my son, Arun left to US, and 6 weeks since he called me. As I informed my wife about the call, she was excited like a small child and tried to snatch the phone away from me. But I didn’t let her. Why would I!! I wanted to hear his voice first!

“Dad” his voice was stern!

“Hello beta” as I spoke, my eyes filled with tears of happiness. Those tears formed a screen and on it was his face and nothing else. May be he is the only one whom I love so much in the world!

“Dad, actually I saw you and mom dancing in that TV show. It was so embarrassing when my friends me called and mentioned about it. In this age, why would you do such things, if not to embarrass me! ”

“But Arun….” Tears rolled down, taking away the sight of my son, but giving me a clear view of my wife, who was standing there, as excited as a small child. That was the moment when I made some important decisions of my life! “… I understand, but don’t say all these things to maa. She’s too delicate to handle that” I said with a choked voice and handed over the phone to her.

When do we actually get to live our lives? Childhood gets washed away, either finding the “x” in the algebra or remembering the date of birth of some random guy in history! Teenage is guarded heavily by the parents out of a fear that we may get mis leaded. As we enter the middle age, duties and responsibilities of children and family overshadows the million dollar dreams that we have worked for, in the young age! Finally, when we become free of all the duties, we aren’t still free of the shackles of the orthodox society, even in the twilight of our life!

Last month was a shocker! I had been facing the usual slaps of life, but that was the biggest! A med test result showed that I have lung cancer and as irony enjoys it’s dominance, I have never had a smoke in my life! That was the moment when I decided that I’ll live the rest of my life (may be a month or a two) to the fullest and no one would be stopping me this time! Well, that didn’t include having a booze or smoking a pot, but I just wanted to give away all the love I was left with, to her!

We fell in love in our first date and the only thing she wished for, is a dance. I was a kind of introvert and was too shy in dancing in a public place! First thing I wanted to do, before it’s too late, is to fulfil her first wish. But didn’t expect that it will lead to the embarrassment to my son! Who did it actually?? Living a dream turned into a mere shame! Is it the orthodox society? Or the orthodox minds? Whatever it is, I don’t care anymore. I am happy that her eyes smiled, for the first time. We always were with each other, for the entire “play” called life. My role was going to finish. All I was left with was a responsibility. One last responsibility to just make sure that the ‘role’ being played by my wife lives long and doesn’t face any difficulties on stage. And after that phone call, I did leave her in an old age home, told her the truth and left, while she laid crying in the arms of the nun. Not that I don’t want to trouble my two sons and a daughter with the burden of hers. It’s just that I don’t want the twilight of her life being crushed amidst the metro lives and plastic love of my children.

There laid the last meaningful moments of my life, at the counter of the Old Age home! I joined my bank account with theirs and just asked them one thing- to give my wife one rose and many smiles every day! That was the last journey of me in the blooming twilight of my life, before I entered the darkness, but with a pride!

~Some Pages in the diary of an old man

“RESUME” YOUR OPPORTUNITIES

2013-04-12T18:00:00.000+05:30

You may be the best, or at least better in the lot. But when it comes to the interviews, you need to depict yourself on the “resume”. On the smaller scale, just memorizing the interviews we took for selecting the executive team of IBC, biggest negative point I found in many, is the resume. When we (interviewers), discussed about the selection of executives later that day, there were some clashes in preferring one person to other, as there were five to six panels and everyone is not aware of the talent of each interviewee and that’s the point exactly where resume comes into action If this is the case on small scale, just think about your career opportunities! For this reason, I surfed the net to make this article a good and simplest source of information on writing a resume. I found “Forbes” website providing the best info and re-writing it-

Seven steps to a successful resume:

1. Know your objective:

Before starting with the resume, think about the type of organization for which you are applying, to work. Also consider the type of skills you want to use regularly. Once you've got that clear, note your experiences and accomplishments that best fit that objective. Don't include items that diverts your aim.

2. Start with the summary:

If you don’t have a job experience, or if the previous job experience does not show the kind of skills you are really good at, it’s better to start with the “Objective”. In the other cases, start with the “Experience”. Don’t just drag it long, three to four sentences would be ideal.

3. Accomplishments:

Focus on highlighting the accomplishments, rather than just going on describing your activities at your previous job. Don’t include small achievements too, as it may result in fading out the intensity of the bigger ones!

4. Length and Format:

One page? Two pages? Three pages? What’s an ideal length for the resume! Doesn’t matter. But if it is lengthy, make sure it's worthy. As for layout, make sure it's so clear that the interviewee can find and refer to any point he want to, in less than ten seconds. Keep paragraphs and bullet points short- about two to three sentences. Also, only highlight words that you want to get noticed. For example, if one of your achievement is winning the “Chimera”, it’s up to you on what to highlight; name of the competition, or the name of the renowned society “ISTE”.

5. Keywords:

This is especially true in this age of e-mailed resumes. Examine five to 10 job ads in your field and look for adjectives that are repeated when describing the successful candidate. Sprinkle those words throughout your resume.

6. Academics:

Mention it towards the top of the resume. It is an important and affective factor in any type of resume.

7. Stick to it:

When writing a resume, many people mention small things which are not important. That is not at all advisable. Even if you do that while applying for small organizations to boost up your resume as much as you can, just stick to them. Those small points could be used against you by putting you in tricky situations and making you to contradict your own points.

Besides these, don’t forget to mention your personal strengths (optional), personal detains and a declaration towards the end of the resume. In general, there would be thousands of applications and if they can’t quickly find any detail they are looking for, there is a good chance to put your resume aside without consideration.

Few websites which may help you with format of the resumes:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Resume

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/resumewriting/qt/writeresume.htm

Making A Difference

2013-03-25T21:56:00.000+05:30

"All I got in my life were a bunch of prolific and kind hearted friends whom I never used to
understand since I joined a esteemed college. College seemed like same routine life which I have
been acquainted with the past few years of my study life until one day when I was struck with
an opportunity in a blessing. All the years I have been surrounded by my mates who gave me the
impression that their smile was the reason that kept them happy. Their happiness resembled by the
way they have fought through millions of aspired minds who want to make it to the top colleges in
our country. Their victory showed the way they can smile through their happiness. For a reason I too
have become part of this happiness.

The days passed witnessing at spectacular marvels the world has come up with in the name of
Facebook, mobile revolution and the never ending liking for the internet which become a part of
our college which we called it “living life king size” . The day has arrived when the opportunity in a
blessing which I mentioned in the paragraph above has been set to motion. I have been just dragged
by my friends to attend the interviews for which a NGO in the name of MAD(Make A Difference) was
recruiting as a teaching volunteer . To attend an interview for the NGO for which I have absolutely
no idea was like a herculean task in the making. The interview started on a sound note with the
introduction of all the applicants who want to be part of such a coveted society which I found out
later! . Well even though its an organization which teaches the underprivileged kids the art of living
basically communication skills,The best part of MAD is its presentation and its briefing of the way its
going to effect the kids lives with its portrayal of unique blend of notions . It will blow you away the
moment you enter its domain with profound sense and obsolete morality. Any one wouldn’t aspire
to teach people but for a cause when you think you can make someone stand up for themselves.
But this was not the reason why was so adamant to join MAD, remember I was talking about the
victorious smile I have seen in my college mates . I wouldn’t speak about the people who are
successful because I have never experienced what its like to be successful in life. For me success is
defined by what I see . To see beyond what I see is something not expectable. So the only success I
have seen is having the victorious smile my mates and I have earned through the ladders of life. This
smile was what I wished I could see in those kids who resembled us when we have been the pearls
just of the shells.

After being part of the organization for two years I still think I did the mistake joining it. A mistake
I call it because in teaching those kids how to smile I have lost mine. A day wouldn’t pass until I
remember a kid comes up running to me always smiling and asks me whether he could have the
company of seeing a guide in me everyday. But for an ordinary student like me I can never see that
happening due to the numerous burdens I have to go through to be successful in life. But if I have
lost my smile to see a young kid jolt down his happiness is really an opportunity in a blessing isn’t it
fellows ? . Well I have seen part of my share to owe my life to the wonders of what human bonding
can do not to a privileged, self esteemed and motivated but to make a underprivileged, unmotivated
and socially unacceptable to see the limelight of what they couldn’t desire .

It’s a memoir because it has memories of a lifetime and it’s a journey because I was living on
the edge with the college life with the astonishing phase a person would go through or wish for .
Together they become a memoir within a journey.

If i was fortunate enough to experience the smile of hundreds of kids you can too. MAD has desperately tried to bridge the gap between a literate and illiterate . But this strive to achieve illiteracy should not go in vain it should be dealt with competence and desire that a volunteer possesses in MAD. There are always people like us who know the importance of the victorious smile but its a blessing to see that smile in a dillusioned face. As a person who expects right to equality and for the poor kids who don't know what does right to equality mean, Its a growing seed that can be nurtured not the tree that has fallen . Its never too late to do anything. Youth have the power to do anything. Future of India is in the hands of so called "Youngistan"! "

~BHARGAVA SAYALA

"High profile school, high profile college, new clothes for every occasion, family outing every weekend, new gadgets to play with and all other requirement s, all just in one say and more importantly parental love and guidance in every step of life, every major decision in life became easier with that. But, not with everyone. There are thousands of kids who are less fortunate than us, who are deprived of all these facilities, who don’t have parents and were left alone at the streets to struggle by themselves. Kids in the shelter homes don’t get to study in a high profile English medium schools. Also they have to leave their shelter homes by the age of 18 and again live by themselves. Thus, there is every possibility for these to not continue with their education.
I had always wanted to do something for these kids but never could because I always used to think, me being a student can’t do anything as I don’t earn or have any such resources to fulfill their desires. But then I heard of a Youth organization, MAKE A DIFFERENCE, MAD as it is popularly known as needed some volunteers for the city I currently dwell in and that would be Bhopal. And that is when I came to know you don’t need to be earning to help anyone, a pure heart and desire to help is all that is needed.

MAD as it is popularly known is a non-profit organization that empowers youth to become change leaders who make positive social impact and create self-sustaining communities. Make A Difference aims to eliminate the inequality in the society through education. MAD currently is in 23 cities of India and changing lives of more than 5500 kids. MAD runs different programs for the better future of the kids. English project, placement project and library project are the main projects running. Under English Project, MAD volunteers teach English to the kids of shelter homes. MAD has been using Cambridge university press material in its classrooms. The English project takes learners from starter to intermediate level using the Cambridge English for Schools series of textbooks. Placements activities provide kids with the knowledge of various career options. The basic aim is to place these underprivileged kids in the same footing as children from regular homes with regards to experiences and interaction with various walks of life.

Never excited was I than that day; 7th January 2012. Couple of books in my bag and a story which my Granny told me when I was a kid was all I had when I entered the premises of SOS children’s village, Bhopal. And it was then when I started my journey.It’s been more than a year with these kids. Now there’s a special bonding between me and these kids. Every Sunday I go there and be with kids, it has become an essential part of my life now. Generally people don’t like to be asked any questions but until one hears “bhaiyaa aap agle Sunday bhi aaogge na?”From those small kids which now I want to be asked every Sunday when I leave them. There is a different satisfaction to see smiles on their faces and what is more satisfying is the feeling that those smiles are because of you. Loosing on a Football match with the kids, not being able to find them in hide and seek, not being able to catch them when they make you run and after defeat at everything and still being happy than ever. And now I can say I have made a Difference."

~Subodh Kharel
http://www.isb.edu/idiya/

Unparalleled love

2013-02-13T01:20:00.001+05:30

It was raining in the
middle of nowhere! At the strike of spring, that’s the last thing we do expect! Nescafe stall was empty, and that’s another shocker! I ordered my favorite hot chocolate and as I was walking away, sipping onto it, someone accidentally dashed into me and had given my mom a good reason to scold me entire night, by spilling the chocolate all over my white shirt! She too strained her leg and had bent down to massage her ankle. Her face was hidden behind the gorgeous hair which was like a part of the beautiful night! The moment she adjusted her hair, was the moment when my heart skipped a beat! Oh my god, She is perfect! I was so lost in the lining of kohl on her eyes that I did not notice the rain, which started o pour down gently. She became tensed seeing the condition of my shirt. While a “sorry” escaped her lips, a tear was struggling to escape her beautiful eyes and to flow on her utmost perfect cheeks! I was stuck between two most dangerous things in the world: Mom’s favorite shirt and girl’s moist eyes. “That's okay!” I said, declaring her eyes the winner! That is the moment when I decided to keep her happy for the entire life and never let a tear spoil the beauty of her kohl linings!
Foolish, isn’t it?? Love at first sight, a bullshit!?? But what if there is more to it, just than infatuation? What if it’s not really the “first meeting” of ours? What if we have already met in the future?? Oh wait! Met in the future?? Is that supposed to a grammar mistake? Or is there something special attached to it?
Remember the concept of “Parallel Worlds”? One of the theory is that there exists infinite Universes in parallel, which are more or less the same, with incidents happening similarly in all the Universes alike, just with a difference of time span!
So according to that, may be we had been already married in the future Universe and that effect somehow formed a loop which sprouted love in our hearts? May be we already have had our first kiss, made our first love! May be we already have children whom we love as much as we love each other! May be we had already entered an early old stage together and are left with each other, with our children going away in the pursuit of luxurious life overseas! May be we already have had left our last breaths, in each other’s arms! May be all these memories are spread out in the universe, taking various forms, storming as the clouds and falling on us as a drop of rain or hugging us like a breeze of cold air! May be all these meetings have lead into a beautiful scene which encountered our lives into what’s called as “Love at first sight”! That day, in that eternal rain I discovered my first love.

THE SHADOW

2013-02-03T10:26:00.002+05:30

Suddenly, the entire area turned out bright! It seemed that a fairy had come to her aid. She fainted away. As she woke up, what she saw was all peace and hope. She observed that she opened her eyes to see the golden fish wagging its tail in the aquarium, as she does daily. As she went outside, she saw a huge amount of crowd gathered at her place, behind a group of media(you can say group of hyenas), who were asking questions that would definitely boost up their TRPs, but got a powerful silence in reply.

BEFORE ALL THIS SHIT:

Breaking the shackles of home driven rules and traditions, she entered into the care-free hostel life. Fun filled and freedom driven; as it was; turned her into a bird, letting her to fly freely, above the deep seas, below the blue skies, into the green woods and beneath the horizon! But there was a ‘web’, (un)intentionally webbed by a bunch of passion filled members, which are trapping hundreds of birds, who keep waiting for rescuers, in vain!

Facebook, as they call it, had changed the face of networking, along with relations, ethics and values. Westernization, as they feel it, has fast forwarded the lifestyle for sure, but at the same time, rewinded the life values. She became the slave of all these, in the pursuit of ‘freedom’. But all these are just the sub- causes. Retardation in the thoughts of male dominated society(as they say it) has been the root cause of a brutal crime called “Rape”, which has become the “night shadow” of the metropolis. But a point to be noted is that, if there is darkness, there would at least be a ray of light which splits it. What is that ray which saved her that night?

WHAT HAPPENED:

Amidst the huge rallies of Delhi, against the government, against the 16.12 rape case, night couldn’t reach those streets, filled with the fire of thousands of supporters. But shockingly, rape cases haven’t experienced a downfall. Instead, brutality in the cases increased! Torture and murder ratio of rape victims increased drastically.

She had attended the party, as a weekend routine. Her gang of friends is quite a mixed dish. Some of them were her hostel mates and most of them, BFFs whom she met over fb hangouts. They tried to play a prank on her by drugging the drinks and she was out of control soon. And her so responsible friends(“yaars” as she always called them), left her in a taxi, in unconscious state with another drunk friend and paid it to leave her in the hostel. What happened after that was a black out, until she opened her eyes to unsubsidable pain. A gang of people were trying to rape her and her drunk friend was lying dead beside her. As any other woman in that situation would do, she was trying to resist and shouting for help. And then, suddenly entire area turned bright……….

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED:

Why would a fairy come to her aid? Or may she hallucinated a mortal to a fairy, as for the situation. So, who was that fairy? Could it be our judiciary system? No way! Could it be the police? Not a chance! So, may be it was common man. Any common man who have the heart to help. But how could that be! Common man reacts to problems, only in rallies and revolutions, not at the time of the need. So, aren’t there any ‘fairies’ left, who come to the girls’ aid in real life? There is one! It’s called “one’s self” or one’s own SHADOW. Not the outer one which would be with you in the light, but the inner one which comes out in the times when your actual personality goes into the darkness.

What actually happened was that due to her extreme situation, her mind went into another level and experienced a shadow personality which enhanced her long forgotten combat skills. A normal girl, who wouldn’t hurt a fly ahd split up the throats of three members and cut off the genitals of her drunk friend’s who tried to take advantage of her in the first place which lead to all the consequences.

_________________________________________________________________

Legitimate violence can only be that which is used in self-defense.

~Ron Paul.

Self-defense is the nature’s oldest law.
~ John Dryden.

The proper course of action, when under attack, is usually to counter- attack.

~ Jeff Copper.

I don’t even call it violence when it is in self defense. I call it intelligence.
~Malcom X.

Frienship forever!

2013-01-27T22:44:00.001+05:30

Place: ???
Time: !!!

Dear Maya,

Its not rare, for two people, who haven’t even spoke to each other in their entire school life, to be flooded with the drops of friendship in their lives, especially in the times when social networking is enrooted deep into the lives of a person! But this was different. You have defined many moments, answered many questions and filled many voids in my life!

Can a boy and a girl be friends, true from their hearts, for their entire life? “We” are the answer to this. Relationships, break ups; love and hatred; Egos and misunderstandings; these have no place in our lives, thanks to the “friendship” which left no space for anything else.

Our first meeting(read chat)- I don’t remember, and may be neither do you! But neither will you get to remember the last one- because there would be no such thing as “last” in our friendship.

To describe our friendship- its lot easy. But when I placed my hands on the keyboard, about to type your description, it became more difficult! Poets and writers have used almost every single object to describe a woman, but just in the view of a love or a mother! What to compare a such an important person in my life with!! I just closed my eyes and all I could see was darkness. That’s it! You are nothing but the dark! That’s because how much ever may the light pierce through the darkness, spreading all over the body, some part of darkness always prevails, on one part or the other! May be I never wanted a friend like you to leave my life!

If priorities in a relation of life are measured by the amount of secrets shared and moments known, of one another, I just realised that a friend is the most important person in one’s life and you are definitely near the top of the heap!

Wishing you a Very very Happy Birthday!!

Yours lovingly,

Arya.

SIMPLY STYLISH: THALAIVAR

2012-12-12T20:55:00.003+05:30

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

~ Leonardo da Vinci

“There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.”
~Leo Tolstoy

“Cant compare myself to the great Rajini sir!”

~Shahrukh Khan.

Yet one may ask; take out the film industry from his life and who is he? Well, he has been everything, right from a bus conductor to a philanthropist, a guide, a billionaire, a brand and the unofficial “God” of South India. A question arises immediately. “Why Rajini?” Answer is “Self- Discipline”. No doubt his name was listed in the MTV’s “Top 10 simplest celebrities”. Generally, when you go to a film shooting, you can easily spot out the location of the lead actor, by seeing the facilities he use. But Rajini sir never does that. Sometimes you may even find him amongst the group of workers, chatting and cracking jokes with them!

“Mystery solved: The missing piece of apple’s logo is eaten by Rajinikanth!”
We crack hundreds of jokes like this and appreciate their sense of humour. But how many of us know that the name “Rajinikanth” is a huge brand, even in countries like Japan and Thailand. Well, that’s true! After the release of his 1995 movie “Muthu”, Rajini’s fan base in Japan raised like a wave of Tsunami. Gradually, he occupied no.1 place in Japan, pushing back none other than Leonardo De Caprio! His brand was injected to such an extent that it became a common thing that toys and chocolate wrappers had his name written over them.

Today, “Padma Bhushan” Rajini kanth is a superstar. But he still follow the rules of a simple and disciplined life which he did lead when he was a bus conductor in Bangalore Transport Service.

Some facts about the great:

During a visit to Japan in 2006, Mr. Manmohan Singh mentioned the success of the movie “Muthu” in Japan, justifying the positive relationship between the two nations.

“Sivaji: The Boss” was one of the biggest releases for an Indian film worldwide and entered the top 10 films list of UK, upon release!

“Robot” is still the highest grossing Indian movie, collecting over 375 crores and the most expensive Indian movie with a budget of 139 crores.

“Robot” movie was added to the case study syllabus of IIM-A in December 2010, along wih “Muthu”.

“IIM Calcutta” stated that Rajini is the only superstar in Indian film industry.

With a whooping 26 crores, Rajini became the second highest paid actor in Asia, next to Jackie Chan.

Named as ”most influential Indian of the year 2010” by Forbes.

List goes on and on….

All the best to Rajni sir for his next film “Kochadian” which include the team and technology worked for films “Avatar” and “Tintin”.

Life... Answer it!

2012-11-10T13:45:00.000+05:30

“Run! Run fast! What if you’re missing something out? What is we miss out what’s here because we are running? Do we have to fight for what we deserve? Or do we wait? For a span of time long enough to break us down. Should we expect or should we accept? Or just make things work on our own? What’s the algorithm?”

These are the questions which everyone’s hearts keep asking them! Or everyone keep asking their hearts! But only few get the answer. Rest of them are just pessimists, who hate the way life treated them. A teacher, author tries to explain this to us through depicting the way she lived her life. Her story, in her words-

‘Before I received “Presidential Medal Of Freedom” award in 1964, I suffered a series of strokes, back in 1961, when the gates of life have almost closed! My will power and desire to live are what saved me. “Desire of life”!! Many think of it as a negative quality, but that is what induces the spirit in us and helps us in fighting the worst enemy of us- Death!

This fact seems a bit irrelevant, but it is me who introduced the “akita” dog to whole of the America!

I have a total of 12 books published books and innumerous articles published under my name. When I wrote my first book, at the age of 11, world opposed me, making the charges of plagiarism on me! I was broke completely. How could they blame me! The only source of my writings was my heart. And they say my heart is a cheat! That was the first time I felt the voids in my life. But to fill the voids, I felt that avoiding them was the best way instead of fighting back. I did that and continued with my works which are still considered to be the finest amongst its category! That day I found out that “When the world starts criticizing you, it means that you have the ingredients with you, to reach the top of the world!

Admired by the Mark Twain, today, I stand as one of the world’s best speaker and author. By the way, my name is Helen Keller. When the world left me alone to rot, considering me nothing more than just blind and deaf, Anne Sullivan worked miracles on me to shape this rock into a beautiful statue! Every person’s life has one such teacher! Some are in the form of humans, some are in the form of experiences and some are in the form of thoughts, which are buried deep down your heart! When you meet them, you’ll get answers to all the above questions!”

“Should I live each moment? Don’t just live! Cherish them, learn from them. Be strong. Keep your head high! Move at your own pace. Everyone’s life, however trouble-studded it may be, is a unique design in itself. Just make sure that you try hard.

Life is a question mark, than a full stop. You don’t end it; it ends only once. But you answer it! Freely! Independently! And that’s how we grow”

_______________________________________

Quotes by Sanjana Wadhwa

Info from Wikipedia

FANTASY OF LOVE

2012-10-23T20:48:00.000+05:30

NARRATOR: NEHA

“It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and persevering courtship. Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations.”

~ Kahlil Gibran.

“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”

~Oprah Winfrey

NARRATOR: NEHA

PLACE: Waters beneath Disney Castle
TIME: Undefined.

We were in the boat, only two of us. It was the birthday of the princess. Everyone was leaving their lamps on the water to float (In tangled, they release them in the air. So it’s not a copy of that :P). Our boat was surrounded by them and I was standing at the edge, startled by the beauty of the scenery. It seemed as we were in a magical “Walt Disney” world. The only missing stroke in the beautiful painting of this, in the canvas of my life, is the prince. Prince who takes me to the paradise on his magical unicorn!

“Hey Neha” my prince’s voice came from behind. I turned around to experience the best moment of my life. He was on his knees, with an engagement ring in his hands, which was shining with love and care that over-shone the glittering of the diamond. “Will you be the light in my life, for I cannot bear this darkness of life without you anymore” he asked, putting the ring to my finger! A tear rolled down my cheek and formed a pearl on the ring and I know that this is a moment of assurance that I found my prince. He did hold my hand and the boat changed into an unicorn which flew to the moon. We kissed. Don’t know for how long, it seemed as a dream, until I fell from the bed and realized that it was indeed a dream!

PLACE: This real, insane world
TIME: Irrelevant

I started thinking about it. It was so special. It cleared my ambiguity that I was having all these days. Now, I’m clear that he’s the one! I accepted his request that was pending from two days. I was expecting him to propose, in fact, waiting for him to do so!

IIT B: It is a heaven for me, if heavens are supposed to be nothing more than the overflow of love! Love at first sight, sparks in his eyes, honey in his smile, impression of a greek hero- all these are bullshit! I haven’t experienced any of it. His sweet and caring nature has incepted him into my heart slowly and now my heart is asking for the company of his heart!

That dinner changed my life forever! Not a candle light one, no ring, no flowers.. Just a simple chat!

“Hey Neha, why don’t you get a boyfriend instead of roaming around freely :P”

“Oh! Is that so? So, its your job from now on to help me with that ;)”

“Of course! Anything for you. What all qualities do you need in your boyfriend?”

I explained him all the qualities and next day he called me saying that I need not search anymore, he’ll be my partner for life, if I think that I have all the qualities in him! And yeah, that was the end!!

This may be plain and boring compared to my dream. But this is so lovely, better than the dream, better than the Disney set, because I’m not sleeping now, I’m living it! His care for me is more divine than a unicorn and his love is unbounded, more vast than the fantasy world! I found my prince!

RAPED SOULS!

2012-10-14T11:04:00.001+05:30

“ Rape cases: Whenever I read them, I can feel the crazy, sick bastards taking this world to a new level of insanity! I don't even consider them as a human. But still, we have to fight. Because we can’t be just sitting here and read the news while those animals tear up our fellow women!

WTF is wrong with people here!! Past couple of months every day, every single newspaper there is a rape news !! People , today it is a news for all of us but tomorrow it can be a incident for any of us !! Dear Youth, we are the power of the nation .. i guess we can do something against it . (at least a rally or something just to warn people that youngsters here are not JUST READING NEWS !! )”

This is the post that is being forwarded in the fb and promoting awareness about the crimes that are going against women in our country, especially in Madhya Pradesh! I request you all to share this and make it viral until government takes actions to reduce these cases! If you are feeling that you are a star and sharing these posts is not up to your level, just think of this as another status which you people put up wishing Katrina kaif on her birthday or praising Sachin for his 100^th century! Well, this is something more than that! A small story that doesn’t tell you any morals, but just incepts them into you………..

“There was a senior of mine- a fun loving guy, witty, humorous and dominating. These are the characteristics that are sufficient for a person to be famous in college. And with that fame comes arrogance. Arrogance that gave him confident that he can make satires on anyone and everyone. When this status(first para) is posted by my friend, he commented on that by sharing some offensive links that made fun of my friend for sharing such statuses! Well, “it’s cool”, right? He too thought so. There started a fight amongst them and some others joined too in support of my friend. He backed off for then. As it happens in engineering colleges, he thought of beating my friend black and blue for opposing him. But when he was about to leave the house, his sister came running to him. She was trembling with fear and crying. When he asked about it, she said “Bhaiyya, three drunk fellows followed me for a certain distance and then started rounding me. I thought my life’s gonna end. But a junior of yours was passing by and started fighting with them. He ……. He saved me.” She broke down completely then. When he asked her why was she crying still, she just replied “It was one to three. And he got……………””
Here, that senior is not a specific person. Everyone have that type of behaviour in them. We try to be the centre of attraction and in that process, we hurt many ‘souls’.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SOME SICK INCIDENTS THAT OUR FELLOW WOMEN FACED:

1. 3 year old raped and killed in Odisha!!!

2.Sick haryana incident

3.mob incidents

These are just a few of the million cases! Where the hell is world going to? Final stop would be hell, for sure! But even the path they chose is nothing less than hell. In the last case, i.e. mob incident case, what state of mind were they in, chasing the police van to attack the girl?? We have to fight for it. For now, at least make this viral, so that we don't get to see our sisters amongst those victims! And those who don't want to take part in it, just don't make fun of all this!

FEAR IT!!!

2012-10-07T09:32:00.002+05:30

Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.
~ Jim Morrison

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

~ Nelson Mandela

How can you move faster than possible, fight longer than possible without the most powerful impulse of the spirit: the fear of death.

~ Dark Knight Rises

This article started taking its form when I heard an interesting incident that took place in a village of South India- “A huge snake entered a house in the village and within the minutes of noticing it, there was chaos all around. Threatened by the people, the snake bit four persons in self-defence. Two of them survived while two died before reaching hospital. Twist in the tale was that doctor confirmed that snake was non venomous!!” It was not the snake that did lead to the death of those two. They died out of fear. Even in many such cases, our body gets deteriorated at a much quicker pace than expected due to fear. Fear thrills, but kills!

Fear is more than just a mental state. It can seriously effect your mental state. It is proven in various cases that “In extreme cases it can cause tunnel vision, loss of colour perception (colour blindness), it can cause a distortion of both time and of depth perception.” You may lose your mind and finally may result in losing yourself.

I know it’s a bit boring to read the same cautionary type articles which are in bulk in the internet. And that is what this article is exactly “not” about. According to me, there is other side of fear. Its more than what’s analysed. Being one of the basic instincts of man, it surely has many advantages of its own. Sounds lame, but its true! There are many examples that have proven it.

If you’ve seen the film “127 hours”, you’ll understand this. Lead character in the movie accidentally gets his hand stuck in a boulder; in a deserted place and survived 127 hours in that position before he dismembered his hand and got out of that situation. He know quite before those 127 hours that no one’s gonna come for his rescue. But the decision was taken only at the moment when he faced the fear of death! Fear swallowed his pain and allowed him to perform such an act.

At the moment of fear, we not only become strong mentally, but also physically! “Dark Knight Rises” is an example for that which explains how fear of death can give a person an extra bit of strength in the “leap of faith”. This is not only philosophical, but scientific too. Heard about ‘flight and fight’ hormones?

There’s a term- “Human Body pushing limits.” Our muscles use not more than 1/3^rd of its total capacity in any situation. But at the time of fear, fight or flight hormones stimulate that and muscles become highly efficient. A simple and real time example is of yourself, chased by a ferocious dog. You run with such a speed that you wouldn’t have imagined, even in your wildest dreams. There are many incidents when people ran faster than Ussain Bolt, in those moments of panic!

Speaking of the mental state, your mind gets into the state of relaxation, which sometimes may lead to failure in simple situations too! A little bit of fear, a little bit of pressure created by the fear makes you like a positioned arrow, which is in its maximum state of pressure and ready to pierce the target! So, FEAR IT!

ONE LAST TIME.......

2012-09-28T19:45:00.000+05:30

“Breaking up is part of life, but we shouldn't let it control it.”
~Barbara Willington.

Love only lasts as long as you let it. It is a state of mind and a state of being. If you don't have it, break up.
~Jerry Towers

Moving on after a break up is a great way to get back on your feet and start feeling happy again.
~Thomas Shields

_____________________________________________________

NOW:

…..

“Its over Ravi, nothing’s left between us after all that had happened.”

“But Sharu, I was restricted, nothing was intentional! I love you and how can I prove it?”

“It’s not a science to prove, Ravi. It has to be felt and I’ve lost all my feelings on you.”

“Why the hell are you behaving like this? What have I done now?”

“It’s not about now. It’s about every single time! You don’t really care about me. You call only when you want to meet me. All you want is ‘me’ and not my heart. Am I looking like a pr****** to you? ”

“Yeah!” I replied in frustration and that was the end of the call!

Call duration: 57 minutes.

I regret what I said; then, now and forever. To be frank, I didn’t even know what and why I was saying all those things. All I interpreted was that I was a fool to let go of such a soul mate. It was me, who crossed the verbal limits and I, alone is to be blamed for that, of course besides the situation.

THE DAY BEFORE:

Thank god, it’s the last day of the marriage ceremony of my sister. Not that I didn’t value it. But I’m missing Sharu so much. Being a typical Indian family, I’m not allowed to talk with girls and especially after the mini war I had with my parents over my love connection with Sharu, it had been very difficult for all those wonderful conversations on phone. And with so many relatives around all the time, its hell of a risk to call her now. It may result in permanent restriction of phone calls by my parents. So, I was very happy that its ending today and I’m gonna go back to my home tomorrow and once again hear the sweet voice of my love.

I went to the terrace immediately after reaching home and called her without wasting a second!

“Hey”

“Sorry Ravi, this is not the first time that you’ve been ignoring me for days straight! This can’t go on like this. And why did you call now? You could’ve found some other stale excuse!”

“Sharu, please try to understand my situation. Think from my side too. I didn’t want to lose you permanently just because of one phone call.”

“Oh, so now it’s “just ” a phone call. I thought it was something more than that!”

“Hey, I didn’t mean that.”

“It’s over Ravi, nothing’s left between us after all that had happened”……………….

ONE MONTH LATER:

That’s enough! I can’t wait any more. In the past month, nothing much really happened in my life. Clock of my heart stopped right at the moment of our break up. Don’t know what I’ve been doing all these days. My life was in a pause mode. I can’t take this anymore. I know she will understand me. May be, she too is feeling the voids in her life. May be she is waiting for me to take the initiative. Killing every inch of my ego, I picked up the phone and dialled those 10 digits which are the most important ones of my life.

“Hi Ravi”. Oh god! How badly I wanted to heard my name, coming out from her lips! Tears just rolled down my eyes.

“Hey, I am sorry, for whatever that happened, whatever that I said. I didn’t mean any of that.” I said with a choking voice.

“You know what! Don’t worry. You still are my best friend.” Now where did that come from!!! ‘Friend’!

“Glad to know! Hope everything would be fine between us, like before.”

“Ravi, please. Let’s be matured. It’s not going to work anymore. Let’s not ruin the friendship too. And just for the info, I moved on. It’s better for you to do the same.”

There was an awkward silence for half a minute. Silence for her, break down for me!

“Hey, I know you. You won’t do that to me! I know you are saying all these just to avoid me. Please give me one more chance.”

“Why don’t you understand Ravi. I moved on. He’s my senior. Nice and caring person. He doesn’t ignore me and he truly loves me.”

“Good story Sharu. You know I’m not gonna believe that. I know you more than you do. You won’t do that. I know you want to come to my life.”

“Are you crazy? Wake up. I am in a relationship dude. If you don’t believe, ask anyone in my college. We even went to Pondicherry, and we did ‘everything’ a couple does”.

That’s all! My heart sank and my phone got banged on the floor. My eyes flooded and my life got hammered to a cross of despair. My feet trembled and my thoughts got hanged to the rope of nostalgia.

That was the last time I talked to her. That one last time had so high gravity in it that I couldn’t get back to the land of feelings from that well of infinite darkness. I had no one to blame, but myself.

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NEXT DAY:

I was talking to the only friend left in my life, Bindhu. She was consoling me. With lots of hesitation, she told me

“Ravi, you know what! Don’t blame yourself. It was all a trap. Sharu has been in a relationship with her senior from over a year. I thought of saying this to you before itself, but I didn’t want to ruin your relation. So, I stayed calm. She was just waiting for a chance to strike. That’s all. You were just a bait, sorry to say that!”

That was not needed for me! May be I was happy with portraying myself as the guilty. May be I can’t accept that my love was false. That fact made me a completely different person! Or may be Bindhu told all these just to console me. May be it was really my fault! Nothing was clear, except the fact that my life and view towards it was never going to be same!

A CAMERA'S TALE OF LOVE

2012-09-25T01:10:00.000+05:30

FIRST GUEST POST IN MY BLOG.

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“Love is something eternal; the aspect may change, but not the essence.”

~Vincent van Gogh

“I tried to keep both arts alive, but camera won. I found that a camera doesn’t express the soul, while a photograph can”

~Ansel Adams

“When you are younger, the camera is like a friend and you can go places and feel like you're with someone, like you have a companion.”

~Annie Leibovitz

It was not until I was batteried-in and switched on to open my lens that I came to know what the real world looks like. No, for me, unlike most of my fellow beings, they were not the colorful objects, moving bodies which grabbed my attention but that beautiful girl! It was the very first time I saw any human being and it was her! That very moment I knew she is to be my world forever… You humans have perhaps named this very phenomenon as “Love at first sight!” There she smiled and I couldn’t help but click, thanks to my ‘Smile Shutter’ mode which was on then. All surprised by this she went on to explore all my possible settings as her fingers caressed me. To be in her soft hands made me feel more secure and comfortable than being packed in that dark case!

Our first date was on her school trip to the amusement park. The rate at which she kept clicking was something I couldn’t have imagined of! I tell you, it was one tiring day but all worth it… Not only did I see a swarm of human beings but also got enveloped deep into their happening lives. To see their smiling faces, funny poses, scary expression while on a ride was a new experience and a treat indeed. But most of all I loved clicking her…mahn! She is so beautiful!

I could see my existence giving her a relief even in the boundaries of her room. Be it her pen, that notebook containing most unromantic of chemical equations, every corner of her room, the laptop, the balcony, plants in it, the narrow streets seen from it, the unending skies… she was falling for the beauty of these ordinaries and I, for her!

One fine night she told me how she wishes to go to places all around the world only to click endlessly. I was so overwhelmed, for now I knew she wants to be with me for a lifetime. She kissed me goodnight and went to sleep, with me sitting right by her side…. In the darkness I could not see her but feel her fragrance, her every serene breath… it was a sense of sheer contentment to know that I am one reason for all the happiness she gets by capturing pictures.

Our days were going great together exploring every little place of the town she lived in… through me she had captured her memories of school. Even when carrying me along to her school was only a venture full of risk, she took the chances. That was her last day in school and she clicked every special corner of it and all her dear friends… With memories of many such incidents life moved on and soon she began her new college life! It was there I realized how possessive she could get about me. She never gave me to somebody else’s hands only because of the fear that I might be mishandled! They were such little things which gave me all the little pleasures I needed from my life.

Gradually as she tasted freedom in the new city and explored the place, I could feel we both getting into a matured relationship. Now, it was not a matter of a bunch of random clicks out of which some turned out to be good. But now, together did we feel awestruck at the heights of hills, the depth of lakes, the azure sky, the vastness of the greenery around… at the whole amazing range of awesomeness nature provides to the human beings and their mates, like me! Apart from an almost spiritual experience with the nature, it was fascinating to frame some of very thoughtfully designed buildings. And then yet another part of her life made both of us have fun together: clicks during the bunks, at the canteen, on getting dressed up for a party, while the evening or a morning walk. She perhaps doubted if her own memory would be able to keep so many lively moments to its own record, so wished to preserve every moment through me.

Things were going cool between us, only till one day when I had to capture a few lines written by her:

"To capture the moment, the beauty of moment,
the ecstasy of moment, the rarity of moment;
you saved the moment as a still moment...
But here, now, at this moment you do realize
How unworthy it all is when you lose catch of the real moment..."

Had I been a human, I could have said that I was almost in tears reading this. But I was a camera… a camera of strong spirits and I did understand it was only natural for her, being a human, to face a moment when she would question if my existence in her life was reducing the significance of times spent with fellow human beings or at times, alone in the lap of introspection.

That feeling with a touch of melancholy was short lived as her behavior with me never changed but only became better. I must take this chance to thank our mutual and dear friend Facebook, who helped a great deal in strengthening our bond at a time when our relation, like any others, could have faced a downfall of emotions. It not only helped her glorify me but also find meaning to all the time spent with me. She now knew that clicking is not something she does just to pass time or simply as a hobby… rather it is something which helps her open pores of creativeness and induces her to come up with an amalgam of her life experiences and my clicks only to express her inner being to the world.

I had learnt a lot from her and loved her even more… But call it the unfair part of destiny that I was never made capable enough to express wholly what I felt for her. If some fine day I get a chance to tell it to her I would do ahead with this…

“I really don’t know why or how but I get pure happiness when I play the role of your picture-clicking device, and be with you or even think about you even when I am switched off… I could say you are my love of life, but girl you are what the whole of my life could ever be! I feel honored when it is me with whom you share your thoughts upon a click.

There is a secret I want to reveal today… every time I am in somebody else’s hands to click a picture solely of you, I skip a heartbeat. I stay awestruck, staring at you…you, a person of extreme beauty, so pure and mild… and it is perhaps this feeling which helps me click the best of your DPs. I just wish this goes on for our forever.

Love you much,

Your Cam <3 “

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AUTHOR: AYUSHI JANGALWA.

To read more from this author, go to
http://the-brimming-brook.blogspot.in/

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