When my diary and pen embraced...

108

2016-03-12T18:23:00.000-08:00

'Dedicated to the person, who refilled my thoughts with ink'

How many times have you witnessed an accident? The sound of shattering glasses, screeching noise of metals, whimpers of agony, last minute struggle for life, a moment of stunned silence, and then comes the ambulance.

I live in an accident prone zone, and I used to see ambulance speeding past me atleast four to five times in a regular day. You can't miss to see the glimpses of panic stricken faces of people going along with the victim, sitting inside in disbelief, due to struggle between the heart and mind to accept the reality. A few hours before the accident they would have been totally different people. Friends who were about to fall in love, playing the you-say-it-first game, a couple who have fought with each other over a forgotten dinner date, playing I-wont-talk-with-you game, a dad celebrating his son's graduation, they could have been anything, but with full of hopes and dreams.

Usually the agony of the victim, prolongs until his last breath. But for others the pain might last forever. Pain of the unspoken words, unexpressed feelings, untold apologies, unreturned thank you, unproposed love, unresolved fights & broken dreams, will weigh their soul forever. Just the thought that your texts are never gonna get replied and calls are never gonna get picked, will crush the hard feelings and ego forever.

The sheer essence life is its unpredictability. But we have been used to run behind materialistic things like money, jobs, works, power and positions. At some point we get to run so fast, that we stop noticing people around us, and take them for granted.

So walk slowly. Smile at the next person coming in front of you.

Make that call...

It's never too late to forgive,

It's never too late to say that sorry,

It's never too late to say that thank you,

It's never too early to say that hi.

And...Never be too busy for anyone

A virgin's diary

2015-04-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: Wherever the word 'Sex' is mentioned, it indicates its verb form, and not the noun.

It all began as a casual talk with my father. Myself being 24 years old, talks drifted between career, getting settled and marriage. At a point of time, I was totally taken aback when my father said, I should get married to have kids who will be future citizens, and the fabrics of society.

The first question that popped up in my mind is 'Why can't I have kids without marriage?'. And it led to another question, 'Is marriage a license to have sex and kids??? '. And when I began to think in these lines, I remembered number of instances in movies of regional language, where the dialog pops up, 'Those things (Obviously sex) can wait till marriage'. The feeling to have a physical relationship (I meant sex!!! It 's not a vulgar word), is as much as a feeling of anger, happiness, pain, and any range of natural emotion. It is a natural feeling, as much as any other feeling.

Sex is also a form of expression, a physical version of love. Which is why the art of having sex is also called as 'Love making'. So if 'Freedom of expression' is a fundamental right of every citizen, so is the freedom to have sex, irrespective of the marital status.

I have personally seen many boys and girls, whose dignity has been ripped off, just because they had sex. They had been accused and handled worst than a murderer or cheat. And pre-marital sex is the biggest taboo in our society still. I mean what difference is the marriage gonna make? Are they gonna have longer time of fun, when compared to premarital sex? Or are the children born out of marriage is gonna have higher IQ?

To call a child which is not born out of marriage, as a 'illegal child' is downright stupidity. In the times of dynasties, the children which are not born out of marriage will pose a threat to the throne. That is the reason why they were called illegal. Following the same logic in modern times of our democracy is mere stupidity.

And taking on 'arranged marriage Vs Love marriage'. I like to keep it simple,

''Marriage should be born out of love, and Love is not a product of marriage. In that case its 'conditional love'. It's like. ' I love him/her just because am married to him/her, I won't give a damn otherwise' ''

P.S: Am a virgin.

STORY OF RELIGION

2015-03-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, a man started using walking stick, as he got his leg fractured. He found the walking stick very useful and he even started using it for other works too. He promoted the use of walking stick to his family, friends and neighbors, and suggested them to use walking sticks. Slowly, they too got interested in using walking sticks.

And as the time passed, it became a fashion to use walking sticks. It became an idea that people can't walk without walking sticks. Only very few people walked independently without walking sticks. But they were laughed and mocked at. These people tried to explain that, 'walking stick is not necessary, and people can walk without it' . This made them the enemies of society, and they got punishments for talking against walking stick. People who didn't used walking sticks were discriminated from rest of the society.

And till this day, there are people who still believe that they can't walk without walking stick, and people who are walking without it.

The other half

2014-08-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

There are people whom you love,

and there are people who loves you.

There are people whom you hate,

and there are people who hates you.

There are people whom you care for,

and there are people who cares for you.

There are people whom you need,

and there are people who needs you.

Most of the time, our life gets over with the first half of people.

When you are able to find the second half of people and embrace them,

the life will get complete and meaningful.

An unwritten love story

2014-08-21T18:39:00.000-07:00

I saw him in my street, two weeks back,

Playing with an old torn foot ball.

A 2 year old handsome male,

Tall enough for his age.

It was love at first sight,

I fell for his dark eyes and four legged walk.

My friends gossiped that he's too naughty.

Well, when he's mine, I will cut his tail.

I was waiting for a chance to talk to him,

and it happened one day, in a quite unromantic way.

He poo-pooped in front of my home while playing.

And I shouted at him pretending to be angry,

"Hey you! Why are you behaving like a dog? Wait I will complain to your parents"

He looked into my eyes, and said "Call me Jeeno", and went away.

That was the last time I saw him,

But I heard stories about him, from my friends.

Finally I decided to meet him on his birthday to apologize,

the day I would never forget in my life.

I was walking into his street, with a gift,

and there was lot of commotion, people running here and there.

And finally when the dust cleared, I couldn't believe what I saw,

the 'leg piece bone' I brought for him, fell down from my mouth.

They took Jeeno ,

in a Municipality dog van.

“மனிதர்உணர்ந்து கொள்ள இது மனித காதல் அல்ல”

(This is not a human love, for humans to understand)

The one without title

2014-08-19T07:03:00.000-07:00

You can't stop blushing, when you hear it's name,

Everything else moves down to second priority when it comes to it,

Your intelligence, ego and pride crumbles, when it's with you,

You can't stop thinking about it, every time you listen a song,

You can't cross a gift shop without thinking of it,

You can’t even think of a title for your writings,

You can find it in every line of every story or poem you read,

It has turned common men into writers, poets and artists,

Mankind has swore to steal the moon, and bend the rainbow,

for the sake of it.

I guess that's why God has placed sun, moon and all the planets so far way,

for the fear of mankind, and their,

first love.

From a 'Yet-to-be-broken' heart...

2014-03-02T07:20:00.004-08:00

I was amused and confused when my 13 year old cousin, advised me during a casual conversation about relationships, “Don’t believe girls anna, they will break your heart”. He is not the only one. The phrases like, “She left me for someone”, “She cheated me”, “and she ripped my heart apart” are more common, when broken relationships are the context of conversation. The very common advice given to any guy getting into a new relationship is, “Don’t get too involved, else you will suffer a lot to get back, if in case she dumps you”. And in any broken relationship, it is girls, who always bear the cross.

Why is it always girls who bear the blame? Are they so heartless and vicious? Or are we looking at only one side of the coin?

One logical answer I could think of is that, “Because it is a man’s world”.

Its men who tell the stories, who writes the history, who direct movies, who write lyrics. No man would like to project a negative image of him. It is no wonder, a 13 year old guy, giving such comments on girls-Effect of movies and stories told.

A guy meets gal, they fall in love, and after a certain point of time, the relationship goes through certain hardships and it breaks. The guy dumps his worries to his friend over a table of drinks, “I loved her to the core, but she left me. Don’t believe girls. Love sucks”. The guy anguishes over the friend’s sorrow, and he shares it with another guy and it snow balls and a smart fellow brings the real life story in film reels, and it reaches masses, “Don’t believe girls, love sucks”.

It should be understood that, “…She left me…” is just the tip of an ice berg. If the friend spared a couple of minutes to question, “Why she left him”, his answer, if true, might have revealed a different picture.

Girls in our society are bound by innumerous chains of society. Few girls, who are smart and bold enough to break the chain and fly free, are branded as “unorthodox and anti-social”. Few more who are happy and peaceful enough to be in shackles are the celebrated one in our society. The rest of the lots, who try to fly free without breaking the chains, suffer the most. They succumb to societal and parental pressure, at the cost of their actual desire and dreams. Unfortunately the third category of girls holds the majority of girl’s population.

This is just a simple perspective from an inexperienced guy. But I believe there are stories of girls, untold. Or are the voices unheard? Silence is golden, but not always.

13 things 2013 taught me

2014-01-03T01:43:00.001-08:00

Some people value time by the money they earned, some value time by the happiness they had, some value time by the people they had spent it with, some value time by the work they had did, and some people, they never value time. Me, I value time by the things I have learnt. The lessons learnt which will help me to live a better tomorrow.

At every phase of our life, we experience things. Good and bad. But only at a certain point in our life, we learn from our experiences. Am sharing here the 13 most valued things I learnt in the past year, just in a belief that, “Learning from others mistake is the most efficient form of learning”

1. Living and working out of your comfort zone makes you stronger.

2. People change. We all know it. But it is better to remember that YOU ALSO WILL CHANGE. After all, you too come under ‘people’ category.

3. Everything in this world is relative. Your best friend will be someone’s worst enemy. Don't expect everyone to have the same belief as you. Differences bring people closer.

4. If you know to say the’ right word’ in the’ right place’ at the ‘right time’, you can get anything you want. But remember that, silence always has its value.

5. Nobody in this world can be called ‘the richest’ or ‘the poorest’, for the richest person will be poor in some aspects and the poorest person will be rich in some aspects. And there’s always someone better and worse than you. Every person has a place and worth in this world.

6. Nobody in this world is truly independent. We all depend on somebody or something for one thing or other. The fabric of a society is “Dependency”.

7. Most noble characters of the society live, bottom most in ladder of the society.

8. Never ever judge a person based on face value and never ever believe a sweet word. Make it a thumb rule that both will be wrong.

9. Your parents are the only persons whom you can trust unconditionally.

10. Few kind words and a moment of appreciation can change someone’s life.

11. Living without preconceptions can make every day of your life interesting.

12. Letting things and people go is not easy. But it will make you lighter and fly higher.

13. Just because it fit you at one point doesn’t means you need to keep it forever. Whether it’s your favorite pants or your ex.

14. If you thought this list would have end with 13^th point, then you didn’t understood life yet, for life is full of surprises. The biggest and truest thing I learnt,

“BE READY FOR SURPRISES…ALWAYS”

Hyper-modern theory of Love

2013-09-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I accept that the title is absolutely stupid. Theorizing love. Yet this is what the entertainment industry doing for centuries. Theorizing loves in the form of stories, novels, movies and epics. But love depicted in movies is in a distorted way, giving a misinterpreted picture and idea, thus overshadowing the natural feelings and emotions of love. Arguments can be that, movies are reflections of real life, but it is also to be remembered that ideas reflected in movies are reflected on the society too. This has certainly affected the larger population of youth, which is reaffirmed by more number of teenage clients in counseling centers. So I felt a refreshing perspective is need of the hour. Though I may not be much experienced for this kind of write up, I believe, am as experienced as it takes. So here it is…

Love is togetherness, forever and more, till death and even after that in the havens of god.

But there must be spaces in that togetherness, and let the music dance in those little spaces.

Love one another, but let that love not be as strong and mighty as a mountain.

Let it rather be as elegant and serene as a calm mountain stream between the shores of hearts.

Fill each other with joy.

But let it not be the only source of happiness.

Stand together.

But let each of you to be alone, for strings of guitar are alone, but they melt in music when in harmony.

Love is not stealing away the heart, but to give it happily, yet not into each other’s keeping.

Love is not “I can’t live without you”,

But, “You gave me what it takes to go on without you”.

(Inspired from the works of Khalil Gibran)

Interesting personalities I have encountered: Part-4- Uncolored racism

2013-07-06T23:13:00.000-07:00

…With these thoughts reverberating in my mind, I heard a sound that created a stir in my stomach…

…I believe every passenger who commutes in suburban train would be aware of that sound. It’s a clapping sound mixed with clanging of glass bangles. This particular sound in train indicates the arrival of transgender. They come asking for money. And they will not get anything less than 5 Rs. Sometimes they make vulgar gestures, and behave in embarrassing manners also. I get severely uncomfortable and nervous, when they enter into the compartment I am travelling in.. Sometimes in the past, I have given away money just to get rid of them.

But that day, after encountering last two personalities, I was determined not to give them any money. If that visually challenged old man and the lady can make ends meet in their life, in an honorable way, why can’t these people make it? Also, they don’t even tell, “Please”. They ask money with authority.

By this time, she came near me. I grew nervous. I tried not to look at her in eyes. I was adjusting my sitting position many times, and grew uncomfortable. She clapped in front of my face. I shook my head vigorously looking down at the floor, still not looking at her. She gently patted on my cheeks and went away. After making sure she’s not around, I lifted my head up. I got calmed down slowly, and had a sense of relief of escaping from something.

I saw her standing near the door. I thought, why should they do like this? They are healthy, why can’t they do some work for earning? The frontal lobe of my cerebral cortex asked me a question in turn, “Will you or your parents would be interested in having a transgender as your housemaid or recommend them for any work?” The question gave me answer for all my questions.

We are responsible for what they are. They are victims of an ‘uncolored racism’. And we are the one to take the blame. We never treated them as a fellow human, but as untouchables. We never gave them a chance to live, to study, to work, to survive. Then how can we expect them to earn money, and live a decent life? I just tried to remember all the application forms, where I ticked ‘M’ in gender space, none had a space for transgender.

And it occurred to me that, there’s no wrong in them for taking money with authority. It is a penalty for whatever we did to them and still doing to them. We are liable to them for spoiling and still spoiling their lives. We are bound to give them money, until we give them a chance to live a honest and honorable life.

Honestly, amidst all this social hatred, mockery, invalidation and humility, thrown towards them, each and every transgender are indeed great personalities, as it should take Impeccable courage, determination and perseverance to live among creepy creatures like us humans.

P.S: A day before writing down this article, I met another transgender in her 40s, in market. But this time I didn't shy away, even as she came near me. Because now I understood that she too has feelings. Surprisingly she talked to me in excellent English, “What are you doing kid?” I answered looking at her eyes, “M. Des”. She questioned back, "Means?", I replied, "Master of Design". She looked at me and understood that, I am struggling to buy things, as the shop was crowded.

In a bold voice, she ordered the shopkeeper, “Ask what this kid wants, and give it to him”. Surprisingly I got immediate attention. She looked at me, like am a small kid and said with kindness, “Get what you want and go home soon”.

Next she talked in Tamil to my friend standing next to me, “Nee enna panra” (What are you doing). My friend replied “Am Telugu”. And immediately she started conversing fluently with him in Telugu. She spoke to them with a charm. I lived in a cosmopolitan environment for over a year, didn't learnt more than a bunch of words from other languages. I don't know how many more languages she knew, but the ease with which she spoke English, Tamil, and Telugu, made me to have a respect on her.

I felt ashamed for misunderstanding them all through my life.

END NOTE

The three different people, whom I came across in this train journey, gave me a new definition for greatness and survival. Bear Grylls surviving in a remote forest populated by animals and poisonous creatures, is not real survival. But these individuals surviving in an ordinary world populated by a species called Homo sapiens, is real survival.

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persist and endure inspite of obstacles ”- Christopher Reeve

Interesting personalities I have encountered: Part-3

2013-07-04T03:51:00.001-07:00

…He got down after two stops from the station he boarded, and got in the next compartment. I tried to keep looking at him until he went out of sight, but my view was blocked by a woman in her late 40s getting inside the train with a big baggage. As a decent citizen, I inquisitively looked into the bag. She caught me seeing it and walked slowly near me…

…And then she took a pack of pen from the bag, and started selling it. “5 pens 10 Rs…5 pens 10 Rs…” When she came near me, I hesitantly shook my head and looked the other side, out of the window. She moved on concentrating on her business. After she moved away a comfortable distance from me, I looked into her face. I saw a wave of tiredness, and the pride of honesty in her face.

And I thought, ‘Wait! What’s there for her to feel proud about? She’s living the most undesirable life of all’. She’s selling pens in suburban trains, fighting for her survival. I ran the thoughts again in my mind,’ most undesirable life of all’, and questioned myself, “What decides the quality of a life?”

Drowning in thoughts, trying to find out the answer for my question, I got back into reality by the fluttering sound of the newspaper, read by a person sitting next to me. ‘Indian’ly I slowly peeped into the paper. There was photo of some famous politician who was being taken to jail for running some big scam. After a few pages, there was news about a multi- millionaire, who went bankrupt due to his fraudulent activities in the past, and approaching the court next day. I thought what these guys would be doing that night. Can they sleep peacefully? Would they have slept peacefully in the past?

By the time, this lady came back after finishing her rounds in the compartment. Her face was still tiered, little down, but still it carried hope and pride. By now, I know she has all the reasons for being proud. An honest day labor and a good night sleep. While the politician and millionaire, who seem to live a quality life, will be spending sleepless night thinking about the next day, this lady will be spending her night, cooking and dining along with her children. She’s a better citizen than most of the citizens who cheats and fools around in decent clothes, who hides scams in their shirt sleeves and corruption in white collars.

She sat near the train door, for some rest until the next station comes. I went to her and bought two packets of pen. She saw me in little surprise. So did the people around me. But they didn’t understand the fact that, this money will actually feed or educate a needy child.

As she went off the compartment in the next stop, I got back with my thoughts. I was ashamed how bad my understanding of people was. I thanked the lady, and the old man for making me understand that, honesty, courage and humbleness, are the qualities that make people really great. Greater than the greatest personalities I have studied in books and magazines.

We walk looking up at the heaven, believing it will rain gold, unaware of the fact that we are walking on mountains of gold.

With these thoughts reverberating in my mind, I heard a sound that created a stir in my stomach…

To be continued...

Interesting personalities I have encountered: Part-2

2013-06-13T07:58:00.000-07:00

(Inspired by true events)

This is about a boring routine train journey from Tambaram-Chennai beach, which became so special that you are reading it now. I happened to see 4 different persons (whom most of us would have seen frequently in the electric train) in a different perspective, that they actually changed my understanding about people.

First person is an elderly man in his 60s, lean body clad in a shabby vest and dhoti, grayed and soiled hair, wrinkled face with big dark glasses, boarded the train. He had a walking stick with bell in his left hand, which made me understood that he is a visually handicapped person. He held a vessel in his right arm, with coins creating jingling sound in it.

I thought he is about to ask for alms. As he inched into the train, feeling the way through his stick, a clear toned, high pitched voice began to sing an old classical MGR song in Tamil. It was a motivational song. As I penetrated my eyes through the gaps I found amidst the crowd, searching for the source of sound, I was finally able to confirm that it was that old blind man’s voice.

Honestly his song soothed the noisy and clumsy air inside the train. It warmed the soul and refreshed the mood. The motivational song being sung by a visually handicapped nameless old man, made me feel better compared to reading Robin Sharma or Shiv Khera’s book.

He could have sat in front of a temple begging for alms, but what he does in train singing, I will not call it as begging. I will rather call it a one-man mobile concert on wheels. We are obliged to pay money for him in return to the change his song created in our soul and mood.

His survival means something; it tells stories to people high in senses but in low in confidence. I paid him for his song. He showed a gesture of blessing, even though he will never know who I am or how much I gave him. Just like a god in temple, who shows same gesture of blessing to all his disciples irrespective of the money they drop in hundiyal.

He got down after two stops from the station he boarded, and got in the next compartment. I tried to keep looking at him until he went out of sight, but my view was blocked by a woman in her late 40s getting inside the train with a big baggage. As a decent citizen, I inquisitively looked into the bag. She caught me seeing it and walked slowly near me…

To be continued on: 15/06/13

Interesting personalities I have encountered: Part-1

2013-05-08T07:18:00.000-07:00

Matha Pitha Guru Deivam…

Gone are those days, where teaching is considered as a highly responsible and divine profession, and these are the days were teaching is considered as yet another profession to earn money without much difficulty. It’s a common perception these days that teachers are those who can’t get into any other good profession. Unfortunately the perceptions are turning into reality slowly, with amateurish fresh graduated who couldn't land up in any job, flock towards teaching, as a temporary money making profession. They aren't aware of the fact that, in any other profession, if the professional makes a fault, it will affect only the concerned project or industry he’s working in, if a teacher makes an error, it will affect the entire society and generations to come.

Under these changing scenarios, I feel myself lucky to have studied under two different teachers, who still resist losing their value as teachers. They aren't the usual kind of teacher’s who teach from 9 A.M to 4 P.M. The last thing they care about as a teacher is, money. This is the first part of the two part article, about the teacher who demystified mathematics to me and the second part is about a farmer (also my teacher) who terrorized chess champions.

The first man, about whom this first part is about, is a maths teacher. A short lean man in his 60s, dressed mostly in his dhotis, with half bald head and rest of them with completely grayed hair, but his face emanating a youthful glow. A man who still rides his old BSA-SLR bicycle, as he’s not one of those teachers who teaches the hazards of pollution due to refrigerants in a completely air-conditioned room. We fondly call him as “Sukru sir”. He lives in a village which didn't and will not find its place in Indian map.

Sukru sir is basically a farmer whose expertise is in Fourier series and transformations. He works in his farm during early morning hours and teaches school and college maths during free hours. It is to be noted that this farmer is an expert in English grammar also. I am not a formal student of him, but he accepted to teach me higher secondary maths during my summer vacation stay at my grandma’s home. An interesting thing to note is that, my forefather and my father were also his former students, while he was teaching at school.

He never believed in conventional teaching methods. He mostly didn't teach in class rooms. He takes his class children out to mango groove to teach probability (out of X stones thrown, Y stones hit the mango, what is the probability of hitting the mango? is an example of his class question). Similarly river beds, playgrounds will also be turned into makeshift classrooms. He never worried about the completion of syllabus, for all his concern is about understanding of his students. He will be ready to teach the same concept any number of times, until the student got it perfect.

By this time there should be a question in your mind about his qualification. He’s not an untrained mathematician. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in mathematics during 60’s, and those days syllabus are considered much difficult compared to present B.Sc Maths, which explains his comfort with the present day maths. Later due to some unknown reasons to me, he didn't pursue his studies. I had always felt if he had studied further, things would have been much different.

I have earlier mentioned that, he stopped teaching at schools. It is due to an interesting incident that happened during his teaching session. Once he was teaching some long mathematical proof, which ends with an answer ‘4’. Throughout the class one mischievous guy was making pranks and trying to attract attention of his class mates. This got on to nerves of Sukru sir, who is basically short-tempered. And he called the boy out and asked, “What do you want?”

The guy replied, “Nothing Sir”

Sukru sir asked again calmly, “Them why were you disturbing the class throughout”

The guy replied with an innocent look, “I had a doubt”

Sukru sir asked in suspicion, “What doubt?”

The guy replied, “I didn't know how that ‘4’ came”

Sukru sir fell into his trap, and eagerly went near the board to explain and asked, “From which step you didn't understood”

The guy now cracked his prank on Sukru sir too, “No doubt in that problem, but how the number 4 came into existence”

The whole class fell into laughter, which made Sukru sir’s anger go out of control, he twisted the guy’s ear and pulled him near the board, and drew three lines forming number “4”, and said, “This is how this 4 came, now get lost without wasting the class time” and thrashed him out of the class room.

This guy turned out to be, son of some important big-shot from that village. So there was immense pressure on him to apologize to the student and take him back into his class. He plainly refused saying, “I will resign, instead of teaching one disobedient student”. And he didn't go to school after that.

He then set up his maths tuition class in his home. He usually taught for very low fee and free for students who couldn't afford to pay. He’s such an excellent teacher that almost all of his students topped their maths exams. I managed to score 97% in my higher secondary maths, which I owe to him. And that is the last time I did well in maths.

We have asked him lot of times to set up his maths institute in Chennai, so that he can earn well, due to the maths tuition craze for higher secondary Maths. He plainly refused each time, that his village students deserve him more, and that he’s not really interested in making money out of teaching.

Finally I like to quote one thing he said to me recently while talking.

“Humbleness is the greatest fee, a student can give to his teacher”

The story of a beautiful girl

2013-03-16T02:45:00.000-07:00

It was fresher’s party at college. A beautiful young girl, with carefully applied make up and mesmerizing looks entered the party hall. Her long hairs had the beauty of night sky and her smile had the warmth of sunshine.

It was not a surprise that, within minutes of her entry, everyone’s eyes were transfixed on her. Guys swarmed behind her to talk at least a word with her. Some guys invited her to dance, and some were asking for her contact number, many started to look out for her FB profile.

She got irritated by this situation. She refused to dance, lied to guys who asked for her contact number, that she has no mobile or FB accounts. She simply avoided the guys who tried to smile at her or talk to her. At last she got out of the party hall half way.

On the way back home, she thought, “Don’t these guys know any culture; is this the way to behave to a girl? Worst guys, Worst guys”

With these thoughts, one year passed for her and for everyone. Again she was invited for fresher’s party, as a senior.

Even after a year, she was as stunning as she was a year before. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that she was even prettier, with more carefully applied make up.

But the guys who got insulted by her last year, didn't care to notice her this time. So all through the party nobody disturbed her.

On the way back home, she thought, “Don’t these guys know any culture; is this the way to behave to a girl? Worst guys, Worst guys”

(Adapted from a story by Khalil Gibran)

We the people

2013-02-04T05:45:00.001-08:00

Why do we have friends, enemies? Why do we marry? Why do we earn money? Why do we celebrate festivals?

Once we were just an embryo created by our parents. Our mom took good care of us, without even seeing us, in the dark seclusion of her womb. A doctor brought us out from the safe confinement, into this brand new world. We survived many infections in our childhood, with the help of our mom and doctors. We were amazed at everything we saw, as everything was new to us. Every moment was a surprise. Once we started to talk, our father became our first teacher. We tirelessly asked about the things that amazed us.

"Pa, what is that?"

"That’s a car"

"Pa...That?"

"That's a bus"

"That..."

"That's another bus"

"That..."

"That's a big bus...enough for now"

"That..."

"It’s a cow..."

"That..."

"That's all..."

"..."

...and a million other questions.

When the horizon of curiosity extends, such that our parents find it difficult to answer our questions, we get into a place called school. Where they 'trade' a great deal of knowledge. We learn a lot from our teachers, friends and people around us, in the fifteen years that followed. Each one around us taught us a new thing about life, and we finally graduate teenage with the support of our teachers and friends.

Next part of our life came, where we used the experience and education to shape up our future. Every minute, we compare ourselves with that of the world, and advance in the direction of our dreams. We get married. We crave for social respect, power and popularity. In that quest, sometimes we even forget the people around us.

Next we get aged. We lose the spark in us. At this point of time, money seems less important. What matters the most is, "People". A famous Australian politician, Katherine pritchard, said once,

"Don't sacrifice your life to work and ideals. The most important thing in life is human relationships. I found that out too late"

If we ask a person who's age is in 20's, "which is the most important thing in life?" the most probable answer would be, "fun, education, happiness" or any other combination of vocabularies representing the previous three things. Similar question to a person in 40's would yield the most probable answer as "Wealth and power".

But if we ask an elderly person, the same question, the answer would be, "People or human relationships". They are mostly said by elderly people, after all their experiments and experiences with life. It’s the essence of their life. The sad thing is, most of us realize it "Too late".

We invented festivals, not to get glued to TV and rest, but the festivals are an excuse to get-together with our beloved ones, to feel the 'belongingness' of each other.

'Friend' is a relationship that doesn't need to be explained.

'Enemy' is a relationship, that's as important as a 'friend'. If we hadn't had any enemies, or anyone to compete with each other, we wouldn't have crossed even stone age.

Thus the answer to all the questions in the beginning is, “The People". From the moment we get into this world (And even before that) to the moment we rest in peace, every one of us are dependent on every other around us, to survive. And the name given to this dependency is, mother, father, wife, friends, enemies, relatives, teachers, doctors, and so on and so forth.

World as a whole is one single community. The human community. The people. It is the 'people' factor that directly or indirectly affects the way we are. A small fight between, some farmer and his wife in some corner of the world, has the capability to affect the world economy.

Imagine if you can live in a world, where you are the only human alive. Respect and be thankful for every last person on this earth, for making your life livable and feel proud as you too are doing the same.

Thank God! Am lazy

2013-01-08T07:53:00.001-08:00

(Inspired by true events...)

“You lazy idiot…When are you going to wash your clothes? They are looking like a garbage dump” asked ammu, my sister.

“Soon”, I answered in monosyllable, without taking my head out of FB.

“Soon?” came the reply.

“Ya, tomorrow evening for sure” And we both know, it won’t happen.

“if you keep dressing those shabby clothes, even the last girl in the earth won’t see you” Sarcasm from her.

“Ha..Einstein, Edison, and even Mark Zuckerberg were the worst dressed personalities in this world. Feel proud to be my sister”. History can come in handy, at crucial arguments if you know how to use it.

“I don’t know how they were, but I need my bro to be dressed neat and well”, she shattered my shield of history. She continued before I began, “My friends will be coming home tomorrow evening after my Thesis presentation. I will use your room”

I shook my head in affirmation, with my eyes still glued to the LCD monitor. I have never declined my sister’s requests. Perhaps, they were orders. Still she wandered around my room here and there, moving things from one place to another, For she’s so curious about the girl am chatting with in FB.

“Why don’t you yourself clean the room and wash my clothes, if you are so concerned” I asked in irritation, as she’s not moving out of my room.

“Ask your wife to do it, when you are married, she will kick you!!!” she replied plainly, as if a saint foresees my future and telling it out. And she continued in the same voice, “Atleast close that dirty window now, your table’s near it and anybody can pull out things through it easily, if they know a lazy fool is staying here” She’s always successful in sneaking sarcasm into her caring voice.

“ya..okay” I said without turning to her. I forced myself to show some attitude. She waited sometime, expecting me to move, and I expected the same from her. And I won. She walked to the door, stopped a second, turned again and said “Wash your clothes, you lazy goose”

Washing clothes, according to me is the most difficult assignment. If anyone asks me whether, “Will you wash your clothes or solve ‘the millennium prize puzzle’”, I will happily choose the latter one. I turned back to see whether Ammu had left or not, and I noticed that Ammu was right, anybody can pull things through the window, as our home was on the ground floor. I felt little bad for behaving harsh on her.

Ten steps between my couch and window seemed to be a light year distance. Finally I moved out of the couch to close the window, to avoid feeling sorry in the future. But I received a call which made me stick back to the couch, and the call turned out to be a service call.

“Hey idiot, get up”, my sister shook me up the next day morning. “It’s not late, but you are gonna drop me in my college today, so better hurry up”

She looked around my room and seemed satisfied to find my garbage dump missing. Our parents were out, so we had simple breakfast and started out. Before firing my bike engine, I checked the bag for main door keys, while she screamed from the gate,

“Got the keysss…..”

So I started and picked her to college. I noticed Ammu through rear view mirror. She looked apparently nervous. “Are you alright dear?” I asked in a soothing tone. “its usual the exam’o’phobia, I will be alright” she managed to sound funny.

“Can I attend your seminar? You will feel good right?”

“There’s no better way to threaten me. Don’t think you can bunk your classes using me. Go to your college, I can manage” She seemed to be calmed down, by the time we reached her college.

Some phenomenon in this world cannot be explained by science, but works perfectly right. One such phenomenon is “Intuition”. Before doing something important, we will have this dilemma, whether it will workout or not, and somewhere inside our heart or mind, there will be a feeling that this would work out, or no it is ‘impossible’. And most of us will have some strange feeling, prior to something good or bad about to happen.

And I had that feeling, but a bad one. Something intrigued me, and I looked at Ammu. She was completely normal, excavating her handbag. Girls’ handbag can hold a survival kit to Antarctica. So I turned my bike, towards my college. “Thiru…” I heard Ammu calling me, and I know it’s for her naughty dialog, “Wish me worst luck”. When I turned towards her, panic was apparent in her eyes.

“I forgot to take the pen drive from laptop after copying the presentation” the words came out calmly from her which is a storm indicator

“Ok be cool, don’t create a scene at middle of the road” even before I understood what I said, storm broke out as I guessed, “Create a scene? This is my life man” she screamed out.

“Don’t panic and mess up your day, we still have a lot of time since we started earlier. I will bring the pen drive before your presentation starts. Give me the key” I panicked now.

Bomb dropped on both of us this time.

“What the hell you mean, ‘get me the keys’, don’t you have the keys?”

“What the *****, Din't you screamed that you got the keys, from door, when I was checking for the keys” I lost my patience.

“Damn you man, I asked “Got the keyssss??????””

I stumbled without knowing, on whose side the mistake was, but it wasn't the time to judge.

“Break the lock” she said in a cold voice, as s in a Hollywood movie.

I don’t know whether to laugh, cry or get wild at her innocence. But chose a honest tone “Are you kidding me? Do you think it is a cardboard box? It will take much time”

I got geared up for further arguments. But she sat broken at her college bus stop and gave an ‘It’s-not-your-mistake’ look which made me feel that it’s gonna be one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

I got down from my bike, sat near her and caressed her head. I know how hard she worked for her PhD. “Am sorry”, I said, “But even a skilled thief cant open that lock”

She turned her head towards me. I saw a flash of excitement in her eyes. She laughed with tears welling up in her eyes.

“What?” I asked, as I was clearly confused.

“Why are you laughing Idiot?” I thought my fear of her being crazy someday became true

“My dear lazy brother” She asked in a eager voice, “Did you locked that window last night?”

It slowly occurred to me, what happened last night when she said, “Atleast close that dirty window now, your table’s near it and anybody can pull out things through it easily, if they know a lazy fool is staying here” and the call that came after that which made me forget about the window. Adrenaline suddenly rushed through me, when I realized that laptop, which has the pen drive, is also on that table. I usually leave keys also on the same table.

I joyously replied, “Why in the world, would I have locked that window” and ran towards my bike. Ammu’s voice stopped me, “Wait”. I looked puzzled at her.

She hugged me and said. “Thank god! My bro is lazy”, at the same time I was thinking, “Thank god! I am lazy”

TWO

2012-12-29T21:45:00.001-08:00

“What kind of person are you...Good or bad?” Ask this question yourself or anyone around you, the most probable answer would be, “Am sometimes good and sometimes bad, it depends on the situation” or would reply like, “Am good to good guys and bad to bad guys” But the persons who can be grouped as “good” alone or as “bad” alone, are those who had stood in the heart of people and history.

Bad means, being really good at being bad. Like the ‘Joker’ in ‘The Dark Knight movie’. Even in a class, the teacher will remember only the students who score 100 and the students who score 0, because both are special. Scoring zero is as hard as scoring 100. If you think am kidding, think back your own marks. You would have scored 10’s, 20’s… 90’s, 99, and even 100 sometimes. But how often have you scored ‘ZERO’? Honestly I haven’t scored zero. So next time, never mock at a person who scores zeroJ

Consider Gandhi and Hitler. Gandhi was very good. Hitler was very good at being very bad. World can never forget both of them, not really because of their deeds, but because they never hid their own self. One proclaimed, “Yes! I am good” through his actions, and another one proclaimed through his actions, “Yes! I am bad”. They were never afraid to reveal the world their own self. Not only them, but many similar personalities, both ‘good’ and ‘bad’, are there in history of our own country and the world. But only the good-bad persons are those who are welcomed everywhere, we call them shrewd and smart. And we find the other kind of persons very different from us, that we cannot accept them one among us. Famous fighter Bruce Lee’s words would conclude this well, “I don’t fear a person who has practiced 1000 different styles of kicks, but I fear a person who has practiced a single style of kick, 1000 times”

Every one of us has/had this quality of pure goodness or pure badness within us. But we hide this within us, to show mixed qualities, because of personal and social commitments. Every one of us is enslaved to every other’s thought. We fear what society will think about us if we behave differently, if we wear out of ordinary cloth, if I have an ordinary mobile, and a lot more “what will they think, if I’s…” We wear attractive clothes, not to our comfort but to attract others. Many marriages happen because of the same social pressure and status war. We hesitate to help someone injured in accident for the same reason. That’s the same reason why we confine ourselves into boundaries, communities, religion and god. That’s the same reason why we earn money too. Money can never give happiness and content to person. But we still go in length to earn it, not for us, but to earn respect from society. After all, humans are social animals.

The day we break our shackles of social commitments and pass through the stage where we stop caring what others think about our actions, that day we will be most happy and content even with money just enough to buy three square meals a day, without worrying about next day’s meal.

Beyond Infinity...

2012-12-07T05:12:00.000-08:00

Just imagine the following two scenarios…You wake up one fine day morning, and go out for a walk. A robotic bee fiercely flying past you at a speed little more than the speed of light, chasing a drone flight whizzing at a speed twice the speed of light. You return home tiered, baffled by the science defying encounter, and open the fridge to cool yourself with some fresh juice. When the super cool juice is going down through your food track, mom comes complaining to you that the fridge is not working for last one week.

Seems like a scene from some James Cameroon movie? It may be, because, a little physics will help you out to judge that above mentioned events are highly impossible, as they defy two fundamental laws/assumptions of physics that, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light and you cannot obtain work from a machine/system without supplying external power (Thermodynamics second law in simple language). In this article I did like to ask a small question. “Are the above mentioned events really impossible? Why should the laws of physics be always true? What if these laws are proved to be wrong in the near future and whatever we read in our physics texts ceases to be true anymore?”

I wish to group fundamental law into two types. First one can be the type of law that’s framed by careful observation of nature’s ways, like sun rises in the east, or the Newton’s gravitational law. The second kind of law is of our interest, which reflects the human inability. If we can’t define or explain, why something is happening some way, but not the other way round, we frame it as a law or call it as god or evil. Stephen Hawking’s words fit in here perfectly, “Ignorance of nature’s ways led people in ancient times to invent god to lord over it over every aspect of human life”. Some centuries later, these words will fit in to our generation too. Here I will present two cases were laws of physics are defied by nature.

We all know plants and trees very well, as they are everywhere and are part of our daily life. I am obvious and hope you too are that plants and trees don’t have any motor pumps attached with them. And they are able to transfer water against gravity, from ground through roots to its vital parts, without any external power source. Physics relates this to concept of capillarity and many other phenomenon. If this is possible, why it is not possible to run a fridge or other systems without power?

Another case which seems to defy Newton’s law of motion which can be simplified as, “A body remains in state of rest, unless and until it is acted upon by an external force”. At this place I would like to mention about “Sailing Stones”, which is found in Death Valley (Wish you had opened your Google tab). These stones seem to defy Newton’s laws because they slide from one place to another without any external force acting on them. Researchers are still presenting hypothesis, but the reason for this phenomenon is still unknown.

Nature has found its way around to obtain work without power, to move without force, and many other ways to defy laws of physics, still unknown to mankind. Mankind grouped these things under fundamental laws. But, as a famous saying goes, “Laws are meant to be broken”, and the day is not too far away. Who knows we may discover a particle or insects somewhere in the universe that may travel faster than light? And a day may come when physics books needs to be re-written.

P.S: Am neither a theist nor an atheist. Just a lover of Nature.

Breathing Maths

2012-09-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

"In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them." -- Johann von Neumann

(A discussion started by my college alumni group inspired me to write this article.)

The theme of the discussion was about, making the students to learn (feel) the applications of mathematics, instead of simply dumping the concepts in mind. On reading that e-mail thread, an incident which occurred during my high school days came to my mind. On a lazy afternoon in my high school, we were industriously solving some mindless matrix problem. Our only goal (including my math teacher) was to get the text book answer. Like a rare astronomical occurrence, I raised a question to my teacher. The question was not on Math.

I asked him, “Sir, what is the use of this matrices and vectors, which we were learning for past six years. Also they occupy first two chapters of the text book every time. Are they so important?” The whole class turned towards me. He looked at me as if I asked him a very silly question for his intellectual capability. After a brief moment he gave me the reply, which I remember until now and forever. It goes like this, “They have two uses. 1. They have 40% weightage in your final exams, 2. When you become a father, some day your kid may ask you doubt in matrices or vectors, and this will make you to help them with it, and that’s what real application of matrix is.” I am not ashamed to tell that I fell for that answer that time, as it is partially true in most case of our educational system.

I don’t know whether he really meant it or said in a funny sense. But whatever it is, his answer has two hidden facts.

1. The curriculum of our education won’t change for decades to come, as it was the same decades before. Same subjects, same teaching methods, even same laboratory apparatus. It has been nearly 6 years since he had given me that answer, and yet students are reading the same curriculum which I read, same laboratory experiments, teachers working out same kind of problems. Same pattern follows in the case of college education too.

2. We never applied whatever we had studied. It’s wrong to put it that way. More correctly, we have never tried to apply what we have studied, or never even thought of applying it. Math dies a peaceful death, after our school final exams. Resurrects again during our college math, only to die again half a dozen month later.

Just think for a moment, when is the last time you have been with Math? Most probable case would be, at high school math?

But the fact is that we are living in a world of math, thinking “math lives only in book”.

My intention is not to play a blame game on education system, teachers, or students. Or to explain the everyday applications of maths chronologically (as it will eat away hours of your time). But to hit home a simple fact...

Go deep down into anything, and you will find math there.

Everybody's story...

2012-07-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

(written on the occasion of convocation day function)

As in any official function, our college graduation day programme too concluded with Indian national anthem, sung by a ‘DVD player’. I don’t know how many proud engineers present there, know to sing ‘Jana Gana Mana’ (I googled, Jana gana mana, as I wrote the above line). After 52 seconds, my eyes ran through the certificate, which certified me as an engineer. I thought whether the person who certified us as engineers would dare enough to let us, to engineer the construction of his house? Or to fix the trouble in his SUV? Or invest on us to start a software firm? I laughed at myself and left the convocation hall.

As I strolled out of the Murugappa hall (convocation hall), I could feel an air of mixed emotions. I could see loads of FB profile pictures in making. Graduates taking photos with friends and families, photos with borrowed medals, weird poses, I guess the black robe gives an intellectual stimulus to anybody who wears. Happy parents looking at their child’s certificate with pride drenched face, friends introducing their families to each other, some guys taking a longing look at their college day crushes and still hesitant to talk. Guys and girls searching their friends, whom they missed out to meet. Small small gatherings everywhere around with loads of laughter and joy. Nobody will believe, if I say that we were total strangers just four years back.

Its hard to believe that, time has such a power in bringing people together. Nearly five years back, every friends, crushes, lovers, and enemies present today, were just total strangers, drooling randomly at each other looking for someone they don’t know. It is the first and last day when we treated each others with utmost respect. Parents with heavy heart left their child in hostel half-hearted.

Those where the days when we took notes in class and series tests had full attendance. The days when we struggled with standard author books, the days when we feared punishments, the days when we wrote leave letters, the days when we waited for Fridays. The days were seniors seemed frightening.

Later came the days when we mingled. Names turned into nick names and mock names, so that we forgot the real names of some friends too. The days passed when we used five notes for five subjects, and came the days were one small LIC diary is enough for a whole semester. Attending series tests became achievements. Seniors were no more frightening. Lab sessions were mostly spent experimenting on friends (batch mates) rather than apparatus. “Why were you absent?” turned into “Are you this class?” Punishments became entertainment and funny. Standard author texts books turned into local author Xerox. Parents were waiting for Fridays to meet us, after long breaks. Semester holidays seemed boring.

Unfinished assignments, self signed records, arrears, revaluation, Sunday outings, late night movies, messaging in class room, late night nuttings, e recharges, unplanned mass bunks, exam night tea, wearing friend’s clothes, college petty shop, tea stall, canteen, water doctor, college bus stop, watch man, bench scribbling and etchings, sleeping in class, first year class, verandah meetings, gym, EEE labs, CS mams, first love, lost love, unproposed love, college walls and roads with infinite memories.

A light drizzle brought me back to my sense. I could see parents leaving with filled heart, and their children with half and heavy heart.

What's the way out?

2012-06-30T09:15:00.001-07:00

Read thousands of self-motivational books, hear thousands of lectures by people who ask you to do what you love. Movies and posters saying you money is not everything in life. Gurujis and swamijis mesmerizing you, making you believe that health is more important than wealth. Bottom line is all the above said people, write books, stories, direct movies, lectures, not because they care for you, but because they care for money.

If they really believe money is not important in life, why don’t they write books for free? Direct movies without salary, and bless people without getting donations, teach yoga and meditation for free? “Follow your dream” is a fancy word, for which people fall easily. Most of the persons who ask you to follow your dream, are those who aren't aware of their own passion. Motivational experts lecture hours together explaining the benefits of following passion, to the people who haven’t even found their passion yet.

Assume that you have found your fuming passion, due to some magical spell. First case-You are on safe zone until your passion is something like engineer, IAS, IITs, IIMs, Doctor, CA, business, and so on, Because most probably you will have some backing from parents, society and friends. On 9 out of 10 occasions, it won’t be your true passion. But the Immense social pressure would have made you believe it’s your passion. Most of the people are doing what they do because, their society thinks, it’s a great thing to do.

“Following your dream” is a like two sided sword. You can’t handle it without hurting yourself or others.

I sincerely believe that lakhs of people having a common ambition or passion for engineering, medicine, or IAS is abnormal, because if it had been so, technological, medical and economic revolution would have been long begun in our country. We wouldn’t be seeking foreign help for setting up nuclear reactors and aerospace facilities, our children wouldn’t have been malnourished, and rupee value won’t be stumbling.

Second case-You wake up in middle of a nightmare and find your passion to be something among, sport, arts, music, dance, writing, talking and so the so called weird things. If it’s the case, then no sane father in this country will allow his daughter to marry you. And if you are a girl, then you will get tagged as ‘anti-cultural’, and that you are tarnishing the tradition of this country.

Either you should hurt the feelings of your parents and bear the words of society to pursue your interest, or should dump your passion and live for others.

What’s the way out?

The story of 'Horses and elephants'

2012-06-22T03:14:00.000-07:00

(This is a piece of historical incident. The characters of this story are factual.

Conversations are imaginary, except for the theme.)

This incident happened in Alexander’s court. It was the tradition of Greek traders, who tour throughout the world, to report to Alexander and gift him the rare artifacts they gathered around. Alexander also held meeting with them, to know about people, economy, heritage and culture of the countries they visited.

During one such meetings, a trader was explaining to Alexander, “Your majesty! I think you would have heard about a region named India and about its enormous wealth” he continued, “But I guess you wouldn't have heard how big fools they were”. Alexander looked at him confusingly, “What do you mean?” The trader replied with a beaming face, “Yes, they are having high quality horses, strong bulls, and animals like huge mountains, called ‘elephants’” everybody listened to him in utter silence, he continued in a mocking tone, “But those fools, they are using those animals to plough their fields, lift loads and for transportation and farming” A wave of mocking laughter, astonishment and sympathy, spread through the court. One of the ministers commented,”They could have conquered the world using those large number of strong animals; I wish you could have owned those animals, your majesty” Alexander thought, “They are suffering in sun, due to their ignorance”. Court was dispersed after some pep talks.

Later during that day, Alexander described his teacher Aristotle, about the incident happened in court, that day morning. After hearing every word without interfering, Aristotle paced up and down his room, in deep thoughts. After arriving at a conclusion, he said to Alexander,

“Dear Alexander, if really such a land exists where the elephants are used for lifting loads, bulls for farming and horses for transportation, then it should be the most magnificent country in the whole world.” Alexander murmured with curious eyes, “I don’t understand you teacher. Aren’t they wasting the potential of their resources, due to ignorance?” Aristotle replied calmly, “No Alexander, in a place where elephants and horses are used for domestic purpose, it means people and animals are living in harmony as a society. Wisdom is ruling and prevailing in that country. India is a blessed country. ”

"How big mistake is it?"

2012-06-20T23:58:00.001-07:00

Sitting on the sea shore, naturally we look only at the restless waves, waves that travel back and forth without peace. Our vision is limited to the waves. That is why I guess most of the poems on sea, has ‘waves’ as the central theme.

Looking only at the corner of the ocean, we think it’s shallow, restless and unclear. So when we are asked to imagine, draw or describe about ocean, waves are the first thing that comes to our mind and then, sea shore. The ‘restless’ waves and ‘shallow’ seashore.

How big our mistake is, to imagine the ‘restless’ waves and ‘shallow’ seashore as, ‘one big ocean’!

Look straight. Broaden your vision. Envision as long as possible. How majestic is the ocean! How long! How wide! How deep! How clear! How calm! Isn’t this the real ocean? Undivided, deep, wide, continuous, independent. The ocean that has everything within it. Don’t limit your vision with waves, for you may leave without even knowing about the beautiful and serene ocean.

Similarly, looking at small troubles, difficulties, failures and losses, we imagine it as the whole life. “How big mistake, is it?” They are only the losers, who claim, “Life is pain, hex and, life is full of difficulties”. Remember! They are those persons who never dared to think beyond waves.

If you aren’t blind. If you can see- Dare to see beyond the waves- dare to read, not only the first line of the book in your hand, but through the book till the last line- It is then you can call yourself as someone, who saw the ocean, as someone, who had read a book, as someone who lived the life.

The Child India

2012-06-16T05:39:00.002-07:00

School bell for P.T (physical training) period rang in a school. Children of different classes reached the school ground with renewed energy. They got split out in groups and played different games. One such group of boys and girls played together building sand castles. They were at least 7 years old.

A small boy in that group said, “In today’s class, our teacher taught us to draw the map of India. He even drew small towns in it! Created streets in those towns and even drew houses in those streets. Can we also draw like that and play within it? But we should draw big map of India in sand first. ”

This new game seemed interesting to them. So they began drawing India on sand. Marked towns and small houses within it. ‘Child India’ born finally. All the kids inhabited into the ‘child India’. Before becoming the citizens of child India, those 40 little citizens of India, were diversified by class, community, money and lot more things. Upper class Indian, lower class Indian, Hindu child, Muslim child, Christian child, rich, poor and countlessly diversified. But the inhabitants of ‘child India’ had no diversifications, both in soul and sand. The soul thoughts of the citizens of ‘child India’ were the same, undiversified and innocent.

The citizens of ‘child India’ made schools in their country. They appointed teachers. Cultivated crops, and farms, set up trade. They ran families. They were in harmony.

Suddenly one boy said: "Everything is fine. But we haven’t created police".

A tiny girl innocently replied: “We don’t want police. If we have police, then we should make people steal”.

They dropped the idea of police.

The ‘Child Indian society’ was running beautifully in harmony. But it was time for the school bell.

The time for the citizens of ‘child India’ to get back to ‘real India’.

*****

Respected politicians and ‘social architects’ of India. Look at these children quick, before they enter into real India. Learn from them, or at least don’t poison their pure heart.

At least, let our children live in harmony, in the future.

*****

THE PAPER BOAT

2012-06-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

When I was in Kinder garden, my parents made me believe, ‘Success’ means reciting alphabets and numbers, without mistake. When I grew into 5^th grade, getting into ‘Top 5 rank’ meant success to me. When I grew bigger, standards of success too grew bigger. Success meant getting into prestigious institutes for higher studies. I got into one, and thought it’s all over. But life taught me that I had just begun.

All through my childhood, I wondered, “When I would grow up”. And now that am a grown up, I worry, “Why did I grew up”. Life was so simple. ’ Home works’ were the only trouble I faced, ’Good byes’ were valid only till the next day morning, ‘Greatest pain’ I felt was due to the scratch in the knee, when I fell down from cycle. ‘Longest waiting moments’ were the ad intervals between the cartoons. ‘The worst character I ever faced’, was that bully who broke my pencil tip.

Back to reality. I stood bewildered. Success wore a thousand new faces, and so did the people. Everybody had their own definition of success. Success meant to top the college, to lead a college gang, to have a girl friend, to win competitions, to co-ordinate seminars and conferences, to dance in cultural, to do highly creative projects, to do master degree in USA, to secure highly paid job, to satisfy parents, cousins, friends, girlfriend, next house uncle, a nameless well wisher, and it never ends. Each day, every new face I saw, gave a new definition to success.

Random thoughts hap hazarding my mind, struggling to coin my own definition of success; I strolled through a rainy road, where I saw a kid struggling to float her ‘Paper boat’. Wishing to help her, I took the paper boat and unfolded it. I read in it, my definition for success, in a shabby handwriting,

“SUCCESSFUL IS THE PERSON, WHO HAD LAUGHED OFTEN AND LOVED MUCH. WHO HAS GAINED THE RESPECT OF THE CHILDREN. WHO LEAVES THE WORLD BETTER THAN HE FOUND IT, WHO HAS NEVER LACKED APPRECIATION FOR THE EARTH’S BEAUTY. WHO NEVER FAILS TO LOOK FOR THE BEST IN OTHER OR GIVE BEST FOR THEMSELVES”

I silently thanked the kid for ‘paper boat’. She looked gleefully at me, as the paper boat sailed ceremoniously through the rain water.

“Have you found your ‘paper boat’?”