Include Me!!

     The title seems absurd isn't it? What can it possibly mean according to you?Include you, but where? People have made good friends with whom they hang out with, have a good time with. Everything seems fine and green when you see a person in the group. Recently, I was amused to see the amount of efforts which people take to maintain their status quo in a group.
      We measure the "coolness" quotient of a person by the number of friends he/she has. A person who has more number of people at anytime is said to be crowd-puller,hilarious and an attractive personality. There are no second thoughts about the qualities which this person possesses. Everybody wants to become like him/her. The real problem arises in this thought only. To match upto such sort of personality, people try and force themselves into things which they might not be interested in. Let us take up the FIFA worldcup as the reference. People's mind which are 'football dead', suddenly woke up when the world cup bell rang. I was surprised when these people were acting as if football was not an alien sport for them and that it has been decades since these people started watching this game. The best part is when these people accost other hardcore football fans with some recent game discussion and end up making fun of themselves by stating some wrong facts owing to lack of knowledge. My laughter knew no bounds when a person openly supported a football club as opposed to a country. Such has become our attention-seeking habits that we just crave for attention albeit through such ways  warranting unnecessary self-mocking and devaluation of one's own personality.
     Having said all this, I fail to understand one thing, why do people want so much of attention? my wonder-lust struck mind wanted to dig deeper. One of the possible answers could be we belonging to the "social being" category.How would you feel being a loner when all around you are in groups making merry. One always feels to have someone with whom they could speak, lighten their heart and have fun; pretty natural that way.Let me tell you, being surrounded by people always or having let people bother you at times is annoying. Sometimes, it is always better to be alone and nurture one's thoughts.
     Human beings are pretty ambiguous when it comes to liking something.For instance, people living at a particular place always admire other places rather than acknowledging their own surroundings; to be precise, people in the north pole always admire the south pole and vice versa. When we go and reside there, we come to know the complexities involved in residing in that place. So according to this principle, a loner will always want to be surrounded by people and sometimes, a person in a group may want to be accompanied by solitude.
   I have always been blatantly opposing the method of forcing oneself into something which one doesn't wish for primarily.There are always people who will be like you when it comes to giving you company. There are like minded people and there are people who differ greatly in thoughts compared to you. I feel it is always better to be a loner as opposed to being an "intruder" in the group for the group members. Deliberations will always make you and other person uncosy with each other.
     So, guys stop deliberating and live naturally.The "include me" attitude should be deserted. Let me tell you that there are ways in which I have kept company, not that I have people near me in abundance always; company can take various forms you see, take you into wonderlands, make you imagine places you have never been in before, make you imagine characters in those places, make you imagine a whole new world.If you get what I mean to convey.........
So guys, who is giving you company??
“If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company.” 
-Jean Paul-Satre

My Sunshine Blog Award

Hello everyone out there. This is my first blog award and I wish to share this with all my readers who have relentlessly supported me by reading my blogs.
As the legacy goes, this award is awarded by a fellow blogger.This award helps to identify other fellow bloggers and connect with them.
I acknowledge my nominator Namrata who writes awesome blogs and whose page is worth visiting time and again.I just like her style of writing
Thank you Namrata this award shall always be cherished.

There are certain rules one has to follow in order to accept the award. They are:

1. Display award on your blog.
2. Show gratitude to the person and link back your nominator.
3. Nominate up to 10 of your favorite deserving bloggers.
4. Link the nominees in your post and let them know.
5. Write ten interesting things about yourself.

My nomination list goes as follows:
1)Anusree Burman
2)Vishal Bheroo
3)Ananya
4)Ankita Shreeram
5)viyoma
6)Vinay

I shall nominate a few other bloggers with time.
Here are 10 things about me:
1)I have just completed my engineering in IT and on the verge of beginning my professional career.
2)I love reading books and that too from a  variety of genres.
3)I believe in simplicity and I find beauty in uncomplicated and clear thinking.
4)I am a deep thinker and my blogs are a reflection of that.
5)I really admire my parents and their simplicity.
6)I write what I feel and expect readers to be open about their views on that topic.
7)I also love singing and have got a token of appreciation in this too.
8)I believe in absolute dedication in the work I take up.
9)There are certain people who are valued dearly in my life.
10)Lastly, I believe in sarcasm a lot....:P.

The conversation among intellectuals!!!

                                                             

                   Now that my exams got over and for sometime atleast I am getting a respite from all the stationery items. So I utilized this time to just wonder about what they had to say about me. They have worked really hard to get me here and I guess they deserve credit for the same. There were some stationery items I would prefer using during my examinations while for others, they had found a dark recess inside my pouch to rest during the strenuous times.They were very reluctant to talk to me in my presence so I just put a microphone on the table and went away for a break during studying for one of the examinations. Here's what everybody had to say:
(My pouch has a pencil ,Pen A,Pen B(used less as compared to Pen A), Scale, Rubber,Sharpener lets see what these people have to say about me..as recorded by my microphone)
Pen A: Hello guys, how are you all doing?
Pencil: I am doing well, it's only during the examination that I become a commodity to be used; other times I    have a peaceful sleep. Life is kind of seasonal for me. Every 6 months my importance is realised.
Rubber: I pretty much agree with Pencil, I am only used to rub off the scars which this pencil creates on the   paper. Pencil, I need to ask you one thing, why do you create so many wrong curves and marks??
Pencil: Hey that's not my mistake; this guy guides me to work and I create my marks according to how he     holds me and guides me along the paper.That's really unfair of you for blaming me for this!
Rubber: As you can see my status, I have become so small in size only to hide the wrong marks created by you. I feel I don't have a life of my own. While everybody grows, I am just  reducing in size as the days pass rubbing someone else's wrongdoings.
Pen A: Well, you two, it seems his pouch has only a pencil and a rubber. Look at me, I am the same since 4 years and that is so boring. he doesn't even dispose me for me to take a new shape and for my life to get interesting. All the time he refills my ink and uses the same style of handwriting. Let me tell you one thing, his handwriting is cursive and he must be rotating me about 30 times a minute continuously, that's so tiring. I am bored of his touch and curves!!!!! The worst part is on the answer paper he tries to overwrite pencil's lead marks with my ink in diagrams. I am fed up of so much of importance!!Sometimes I even try to protest by not giving out a smooth flow of my ink but he ignores and by flipping me in different angles ensures that my ink flows properly!!
Scale:No reduction in size, no issues but my surface becomes rough after a point of time.
Sharpener: It seems I am in relationship for life with pencil. The only job is to groom the pencil so that it delivers quality and sharp marks. Nothing more to say!
Pen B:Hey listen up you all, I am quite chilled, he uses me very rarely, I am fed up of his mood swings but guess what i really like him since he bothers to care of me and also makes me realise my importance by using me regularly. So I think, I have nothing to crib about with this guy.
Pencil: Pen B, maybe you wont realise, for his own needs he sharpens me and reduces me in size as days go by, as I work for him I see myself reduced in size and power. Won't you feel bad for such a thing?
Pen B: Not at all, infact mates, I rate all of us more than his friends who are humans, would you like to know why?
Pen A: That's a very interesting point you made Pen B, I can't wait to hear your justification
(Everybody now listens with full concentration with the rubber allthemore curious )
Pen B: As you all know, he prefers Pen A more than me, so I have been kept at the outermost zip in his pouch where he hardly explores things.I could hear all he spoke to himself when he was alone. He spoke about how humans are manipulative and not trustworthy. He hates such people and loves people who can be trusted upon. I think we all are loyal to him and stood by him for all these years! doesn't that make us better than his fellow friends??Though we loose a part of us daily, I feel proud to do so, its a life lived of pride and no guilts.
Pen A: Hey come on bro, aren't you getting too serious here, I need a change okay?
Rubber: I agree with you Pen B, you are absolutely right! all these days I have been cribbing but now I feel proud of my own loss. I just hope after my slaughter, he disposes my cover properly which i am wearing now and on which he holds me to rub!!
Pencil: Correct Pen B, but before laying my life for him I would surely advise him to buy a lead pencil rather than pencils like me, in this way those pencils can remain loyal forever with only the lead changing inside.
Pen A: Scale and sharpner, I hope you are on my side atleast!!
Scale: No, Pen A, I agree with what your counterpart has to say, I shall serve my master!
Pen A: Scale, It seems you are in the armed forces. Oh come on scale!
Sharpener: Do we have any option here?? but there is some substance in what pen B has to say.It's better to be loyal and serve him after-all he is caring....
(Meanwhile, I make an entry and they all are back to their static positions.....now you all can imagine what can they say after this...)

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Chaos isn't a pit, Chaos is a ladder

                      /**I welcome one of my friends to co-author this article with me**/

           Chaos, a situation where our mind fumbles and heart rumbles. Everybody of us, at some point of time face a chaotic situation. Before I get to the helm of this topic, let me pose a question to you all, what is actually chaos? Prima facie, it means a disordered situation where one isn't able to decide what to do. By what I spoke just now then, chaos is a pit, a pit which is rounded, where there is no corner, everything seems even, every option seems viable and good to go with.

   It is a concept that is feared and a concept that is envisioned as this vast pit that is hard to escape from: A dark pit where all humanity is lost and there is no order. 

   So, elaborating more on chaos as a disorder, the next question that comes to one's mind is where is the way out? We are always unsure about every path we take may lead us down back where we are.We climb a few steps of a ladder we just chose in the chaotic situation, look down and finally fall back of being unsure of reaching the destination. So, having explained in a abstract way, now let me take a few examples:

Scenario: Suppose Mr/Ms X is appearing for campus interviews, and his/her college is a very renowned college in the country. Now X has too many options on the plate. For him/her, every option seems  to be a good bet. Company A provides ample money, company B provides a job profile he/she  wants, company C also provides a job profile of his/her choice.As he/she is not able to decide, he/she is in a pit, where to him/her every option seems viable and  good. He/she then chooses a company from the plate halfheartedly so that somehow he/she is  able to get out of it. With partial dedication there he/she always  judges every situation minutely. If  something ever goes wrong, he/she will blame it on the choice he/she had made during the chaotic  situation. Finally , with total dissatisfaction he/she leaves the company with framing up reasons for the same somehow in his/her mind and getting satisfied temporarily.

     Now let us take another perspective keeping the same scenario in mind. Mr/Ms X has so many options, so this forms a chaotic situation, or is it? The situation is not at all chaotic when Mr/Ms X knows what are his/her priorities. Even in the case of multiple companies offering the same profile, he/she will now choose the best one since his/her thoughts are directed. So, chaos is a situation which is backed by unclear thinking or priorities. He/she uses the so called chaotic situation to come up,rise up with the best possible option available. Just think, if he had just one company offering him a job, would he have had the privilege to work with the best in the market? Absolutely not. So, Mr/Ms X has now risen from the chaos; not only risen but also got the best possible option currently in market. So, what is the conclusion of this scenario? It is that chaos can be used as a ladder to come up with something which was otherwise not available in an ordered and systematic situation.

 I consider chaos as a combination of pleasure with pain. Pleasure because we are in the cloud of uncertainty as to what might turn up thus keeping the excitement quotient up. Pain because handling an uncertain situation requires a lot of mental effort and thinking out of the box; it also involves taking risks, sometimes even falling down and again getting up, which, to sum up, requires a great amount of endurance.

     Chaos is just a concept that hasn't been understood well. For example: chaos brings the best memories. When was the last time you remember something that went according to plan? It's not that much of a lasting memory. But don't you remember that time you got lost on the way home, and had to figure out the right way yourself? Now THATS a memory. And that's something that you will remember and even utilize every time you step out of your house.

  Absence of chaos can also be related to one not getting out of his/her comfort zone.There is a saying- The best things happened when you step out of your comfort zone and that is a perfect example of chaos; Stepping out of your comfort zone is a way of courting chaos. You have no idea and no control over what might happen, because you've never done this before. That seems a scary proposition. Most people would shy away from such circumstances. But the truth is that no matter what happens, you are always going to grow as a person after that. It might not be in the way that you'd expected, or the way that you'd want, but the fact is that your life is going to be different in some way; however subtle, however small.

   So every time you court chaos, you are in fact growing and changing. That chaotic event is going to take you some place that you've never gone before. And that is why it is a ladder. A ladder that makes you grow and take you places.

     However, some people choose to stay away from it because of reasons like fear, or their preconceived notions about what chaos is, and they cling to whatever they know without giving much emphasis on exploration. Some choose to not venture out into the unknown and stick to things they know and like, and what that essentially means is that they are stagnant. They are forever stuck in their so called ideal version of reality and convince themselves to stay away from chaos. They cling onto ideals like faith, pride, trust, ego and they choose not to climb their ladder, only to later realize that they have not grown as a person from life's experiences as much; how they are, in most ways, the same person they were years ago. Sometimes you might realise that you don't even require faith; sometimes you might find that you are strong even without something supporting you; sometimes, even from fear, comes strength.

  

So, friends, leave your inhibitions. Climb the ladder. Something great will come of it.

--Co-authored by Vikram Thyagarajan

1st blogiversary.

      So, dear friends, it has been a year long journey of writing on this platform.I started blogging on April 30,2013. Blogging has been a very soothing outlet for me for my issues in life.
       In January 2013, I wasn't even aware about the various platforms hosting blogs and the concept of blogging. I had a notion that bloggers were some people who were stalwarts or people who have established themselves who air their views for their followers and fans to read(this notion is quite hilarious for me too now). I later on realised that one need not necessarily be a big shot or a stalwart to be a blogger. Simple people also blog by airing their views and garner a lot of appreciation.This provided me an impetus to start blogging.
    If you all would have read my very first article, I had mentioned that various problems in my life had compelled me to pick up a pen and paper and use words as a medium to vent out my thoughts. Though I have mildly criticised my experiences in my blog, I feel I have successfully made myself feel lighter by doing so. Really, my laptop's keyboard and screen have been patient enough to take my words. My screen's unflickering support has led me to publish 27 posts and many in making still. However, I only blog about the issues which touch me to the core; I do not focus on just increasing my blog post count.
    Blogging, as an experience, has been wonderful. I have grown as a person here interacting with fellow bloggers. I was able to reach to people from multiple countries; something I hadn't imagined myself doing a year ago.Some people were silently expressive by hitting the +1 button of google plus while a few of them were expressive by commenting on my posts. I really appreciate the efforts of both of them and welcome even more people to be expressive in the way they want.
     Google has to be thanked to provide this platform which connects so many thoughts, so many people across the globe through the medium of blogger.com. Also, Thank you all my readers, you all have indeed been of great support to me by reading my posts. I hope, through my posts, I could influence a few of you in a positive way.
     With the completion of one year, I am also conferred upon 'The Sunshine Blog a\Award' by a fellow blogger which I shall formally accept soon. For a blogger, nothing could have got better in a year with all such credentials and optimism.
I hope to come up with some more intense topics in the coming time.
THANK YOU ALL ONCE AGAIN.    
     

End of a journey, beginning of memories

The apprehension at the beginning of the journey, the anxiety before the journey begins and thus sometimes refraining from entering the journey itself. These reactions are so common whenever we try to venture into new things in life. For the time we experience it, we never find any sort of joy in such things and always wish that the journey gets over as soon as possible for the "better future" prospects awaiting us.
    Still, as we say the true value of things are only realized in two cases: before we get it and after we loose it.In the same way any experience in our lives are valued in two cases: before we are about to experience and after we experience. What remains after is the memories. Memories are the elements of life which form a link between the present and the past and a lot has been spoken about it. This time though i would like to share with all my readers how my memories are, having reached the periphery of this four year long engineering journey. I would focus on the first two and the last two semesters while writing(start and the end).
    To start with, I was a pretty reserved guy, if you would have asked me in my FE(First year of engineering), probably I would have been shy enough to voice my opinions and never started blogging. There were a few people I would hang out with, we had lots of fun, exploring new places. For me probably this was the phase where I started going out to the fullest.It's not that i never had a set of friends before or places were in scarcity but then this is the phase called "college days" where such outings reached its peak. The first semester was mostly spent in speaking to people and getting to know them.  I had made acquaintances but things never reached a level of friendship. Generally first semester is really stressful considering the grand transition to studying everything in a matter of 2 months previously done in a year or so. This semester passed by soon and the first war was waged on November 30,2010(i meant semester one exams..:p). We fought a month long battle which came to an end on December 29. It is said "if the end is good everything is good" and we missed on this pleasure too(the last paper being disastrous for many) .
   A fresh start for semester 2 was the need of the hour. This is what I exactly got. Now that some acquaintances turned into friends, we started to go out and started "bunking" and hanging out, playing and enjoying. A semester comprises of roughly 3 months and during this course, I hardly studied anything and sometimes my folks often wondered this radical change(all the studies came in the last month). My reply would be just as simple "There is time and I will make up". Things had just settled and i was getting into a mode for which the coming 3 years of my life would be spent. Thus, semester 2 was an semester which gave me an  idea of how this journey would be. By this time I can say i had fit in the shoes and got adjusted to this life. Some of the good moments which are worth remembering are our trip to juhu, and some inordinately wonderful moments with all my buddies. This semester ended with all of us going to Juhu which was the tip of the iceberg(MV wisdom).
      Once getting used to all this, I began to enjoy engineering, it had become a routine for me to study for a month and to enjoy the rest of the time. I will always remember the time i spent playing carom at the hostel in our college. A guy named Anand who resided there would arrange for our gameplay. I along with friends named Amit, Aadesh, Akshay,Bhushan,Bhavin,Fahim would all go there and have "striking" time on the carom board.  Sometimes, while they played, I would be reading some or the other book totally engrossed in that.
    The next checkpoint is the Industrial visit which I have already described in the article titled "The legendary trip".  After this trip my bond with some people got stronger. So in the following semester, we all would gather, have discussions and in this way i got an opportunity to speak with many people with whom i had never opened up much. Needless to mention, I got to know some more good souls out there.
    Semester 7, was the semester of a lot of work. All got busy in a race to get placed. Myriad number of companies coming to our campus and recruiting people. This was a deciding semester for us, since the efforts we put for all the preceding 3 years was about to bear  fruits. It was also a semester of disappointment for many since they couldn't make it. This is where a friend's importance was realised. We were all always mentally supporting the people and reassuring them of their own capability. I am happy that today they are placed. One memorable thing about this semester is the garba night where I danced to the music. I learnt a few steps, which was a great thing for me since I would always refrain from dancing.
  Lastly, coming to the VIII semester, the final one. The beginning of  end was in a  way the beginning for me. Since this was the last semester, bonding between people increased even more now that people knew that the end was not far away. Let me tell you, its a terrible sensation when you have a good time knowing that things are going to end soon.  I sometimes feel why hadn't I or why they did not open up with me being in the same course and class. I consider this semester as the semester of parties and enjoying one's heart out keeping in mind the "end" which was nearby. The end which was expected to arrive but wasn't expected to be so painful. Just yesterday we had our farewell and officially, yesterday was the last day of our college where we could meet our friends.Frankly,  I don't think our emotions developed in these four years would ever separate us apart come what may. There are some relationships which distances can never separate because of the bond called emotions.
     When we look from a larger perspective, 4 years is not much in a lifespan of about 60-70 years.What counts the most is the time and age in which these years were spent and this is what makes it stand apart from our school and junior college days. I learnt so many things here personally and professionally. I would also like to state that during this journey, some pastures were red and not everything was green. Such times made me strong and ready for the unforgiving outer world composed of mortals who just think about themselves.
   If I made a list of what all I will miss about this place, it would itself turn out to be an article. Through this medium I would like to thank all those who were with me in this 4 year long journey.
 Bhushan, the train journeys I have had with you; we got to know each other so well in these journey's ; sharing each other's problems and thus strengthening our friendship bond. Fahim, for the long talks after college;;who is also my my project co-member with whom I have had so many fights, good moments and a wonderful time. Amit, the person I could pretty much relate to and whom I had so many talks with;you are really good at heart brother, keep it up. Bhumika,a lady who thinks deep and has a sound intuition. Anvi, who is more into sitcoms(I will surely watch scandal..:p).Aadesh, the cricketer who was the captain of our college team , will always remember the pranks you played with me and also our short and sweet game of greeting each other in regular intervals.Chirag, the shrewd guy who I believed knew the ways to handle things to produce exact result, be it work,business or personal relationships, you will be missed man..:).Mangirish, the MBA,MS talks and the car journey's after exams. Aakansha, a person who sings well, have had so many singing sessions with you.will remember all this.Milind, the code master and Bhavesh, a funny guy who would turn out to be a prankster of the highest extent, the master of sarcasm, will miss you..Shiv(Bantaay), I will miss the morning walks with you; the talks we often had which turned out to be so productive and deep.Some other brother-like and sister like people with whom interactions were short and sweet...the list goes on...

    If I could ever see you all in my life at one place and at one time, I would be the last person on this earth to miss this opportunity.Guys, it's too early to be so emotional but this is what I feel frankly.
Time goes on and nothing is permanent, so unfortunately, have to bid adieu to you all from this platform. I hope you all do well in life and one fine day we could meet at a place and recreate our class to put life to all the memories we will henceforth carry from this stage.It is the End of this journey and beginning of memories...

Shallowness

               

            /**I welcome one of my friends to co-author this article with me**/

I believe Shallowness is the greatest suffering of the day. With advancements in science and other arenas, we are also advancing in becoming shallow in our thoughts. By shallow I mean having thoughts, principles based on something immaterial.

      Deep emotions, deep thoughts have rarefied these days. I mean when I see the world around me which is so manipulative, a place where the concepts of FWB (Friends with Benefits), I find one thing; shallowness. We are apparently running behind some or the other thing without knowing the reason why we crave for it. Lets take up one example, majority of us run for money; justified. Till we get adequate money that excitement and ecstasy is always there. As soon as we get the money, we feel, now what??

Shallowness lies in the thought that since majority of the people are behind something, we also run behind the same thing also called as herd mentality. Some of the common scenarios of herd mentality is taking up a course just because of its popularity,  buying a thing just because someone else has bought it.

     The world is a strange place, laden with people from all sorts. Shallowness doesn't have to be restricted to higher concepts but to also lines of thoughts such as these:

Scenario: In engineering, we have 8 semesters and on an average 6 subjects per semester. Scoring marks is the sole purpose of many of the people here. Well that isn't any problem because all of us would like to score good grades. The problem arises when grades are the sole purpose and people resort to rote learning. According to me, the aim must be learning and applying and if one learns, scores follow automatically. In a way I would term this as shallowness because no purpose is served by hosting rich scorecards alone with a poor mind.

  To run behind the results without knowing the base of things can be said to be shallowness. In every article of mine, I have spoken about relationships. This article is no exception. "Beauty" is such a terrible Maya it leads to shallowness.We, many a times do not judge the person's inner beauty but only the outer one, visible which can be artificially obtained these days. Isn't it shallow guys?? I think we need to change our thinking regarding this.

Shallowness is a terrible thing, one can say since it never makes the person realize the consequences on time . I have in the past also spoken about karma and how a person pays for it. Often, one can find people indulging themselves into crooked ways to achieve something and this leads to the path of being shallow. Its one thing that causes immense suffering but only after the human has settled down in relief that his motive was accomplished..over the surface, it seems that his/her intentions were sorted and taken care of by being shallow..and that person who has been shallow will continue to live in blissful peace on the job being done.He/she will always have the feeling of being complacent though he/she was being shallow but, this shallowness is such a silent predator, like the very-feared heart attack, that it strikes the person who had been shallow in the past, all of a sudden..a bolt from nowhere..and that is when all the suffering starts..the guilt conscience first completely shoots down one's morale..then self degradation, owing to the past where one had handsomely exhibited to oneself how low one can stoop on morals and ethics to achieve that lame and sometimes ridiculous motive which one had, This guilt first starts to creep in and misery compounds. One thing leads to the other and eventually, one fine day the person who has been shallow will be ready to lay bare and sacrifice his/her life as well to atone for his/her sins. We can clearly see how shallowness gradually leads to one's destruction eventually.

 On a lighter note now, One more aspect of shallowness is in our line of thought: "If I cannot go ahead, bring the other one down to my level." One must realize that bringing others down doesn't compensate for the fact that you have not gone ahead in life. Such people are sadistic people,selfish people who can only think about themselves and their happiness.Happiness for such people is coded with a if else statement...let me also write the pseudo code:

   if(I achieve)

{Then I am happy}

else if(others arent able to achieve)

{Then i am happy}

else

{I am sad}

Hilarious..right?? Remember one thing, that never fall prey to such thoughts which are shallow. Even the core of the earth is 6.5k  kms away from the surface and that is where the processes are taking place...isn't that deep enough?? Shun shallowness and embrace deep,powered and directed thoughts.

-CO-AUTHORED BY SHIV NAIR

To feel the onset of the "end".

         Every journey, including life has an associated timeline with it. When we start any journey, we are hit by anxiety. I began my engineering life on August 23,2010. The very first day of my college was just awesome. I still remember physics was the first lecture I attended and concentration at that time was at its best. It's been 4 years now and still these memories haven't faded.
       After 10 years of school life and 2 years of junior college life i was all set for this engineering life. With much expectations, I traveled by Mumbai local to my college's location. Since I wasn't used to travel by the local train , I had a friend to accompany me on my first day. On the morning of August 23, when i tried to enter into the college, I was stopped by the watchman demanding a proof of I being in this college(I wondered, on the first day itself the college tried to disown me..but was wrong though..:). After some fuss, I was let in. In a huge campus of my college, I was a lone wanderer like many others who were there with me. Two buildings and not knowing which building housed my class. Being in a group always helps and finally after some brute force method of search, we found our class. The professor who was teaching physics was a thin person, bald to some extent. The whole class was silent when I entered, engrossed in what the professor was teaching.
   Following the lecture, we had a break of 45 minutes. On the first day itself, I was a bit tensed as to how I would interact with my seniors. However, everything went off well with the seniors. After two lectures passed in a similar sense, we had a practical session. Here we were asked to work in a group of two. I worked with a guy there who had a chilled attitude towards life. I was pretty much indifferent towards bunking lectures owing to my school days and sincere attitude. We often bunked and to beat my tiredness I would come home and sleep again(though now bunking is associated with activities other than sleeping for me).I often remember bunking on Wednesday's after my practical session would get over. Unfortunately, this guy moved on to some other college. I still remember the times I spent with him, we enjoyed a lot.
   He left, but I met people who have added value to my life later on and today I am glad to have such people in my life. To sum up, i sensed a feel-good factor on the first day of my college and I felt I will do something useful in these years, develop myself, work on interesting things and I am happy today that I have done it all.
  I just thought of expressing about my first day today because I got nostalgic thinking about how that day was. Currently, hardly a month remains for this journey to end. My experiences have been mixed and I am sensing emotional beats increasing in my heart as the end nears. Today, I feel.....the onset of the end has begun.....

"“The end is in the beginning and lies far ahead."
-Ralph Ellison

Get coloured!

   Wishing all my readers a very happy holi. May this festival bring happiness and contentment in each one's life. I relate colours to various aspects right from emotions, life,love,travel,people and locations on this earth to cite a few.
   Well, talking about emotions, as i have already stated in my article Emotions, they are responsible for making one's life colourful.Take red as anger,blue as sadness,green as acceptance,light red for joy I would apply all of them on my readers so that you experience a just balance of everything. Guyss..experience the highs and lows of life all are equally important. When i apply red colour on you, let all your anger w.r.t me be expressed(i just hope it doesn't turn out to be too red). Let blue represent all the sadness of yours caused by me, when i apply blue, let all those memories fade away. Light red of course, represent the joyous movements I and you may have spent.(I wouldnt mind if this becomes a bit more dark..:p).
   Talking about love, to all those immersed in here in this domain. Let Red be not a colour of anger for you all but a colour of Love. Though i would suggest one thing, even if the meaning of "Red" switches from Love to anger do not mind and revert back to the original meaning i.e love. Enjoy this wonderful feeling this holi.
   Travelling, to all those who love travelling and listening to songs. With each song played we remember all those moments which the songs points to. The blues of life, the good moments, the sad moments and all other wonderful moments of life.Travelling is never a waste of time but a time to analyse self, relax and listen to music and experience each colour and its meaning.
   Talking about people, we have numerous people in our lives. The ones who make us angry, the one who make us happy, the ones who make us confused, the ones who value us, the ones who irritate us. Each of these people represent a colour and all of them make up our life. Life will never be complete without all of them.
  Locations, to all those who can relate to various locations where we often spend good times, bad times and times where we get bored. Let all of them always be there in our lives.
   As it is said, we must enjoy these colours in our lives but at the same time also be careful from resulting imbalances and harms. 

I would appeal all my readers to play a safe holi.
HAPPY HOLI TO ALL ONCE AGAIN.

Always for you, Mom and Dad!

             Do you all remember the days when you couldn't walk by yourself but trying to take your first few steps? Do you all remember the days when your fear for a particular thing would vanish with the motivational talks given by your father/mother?Do you all remember the days when you passed your first board exams??Do you remember the day when you got your first job?
      All the situations I mentioned above is what all of us remember. We remember how we reacted in those situations. What we sometimes forget or rather fail to acknowledge is the role of parents and their reactions in our achievements. More than us, they are happy for our achievements but their happiness often fades away in our lives. We are always busy informing our best buddies, loved ones(if any..:p). Getting a job was the most recent thing which happened and I still observe the happiness my parents portray for that. Going a bit back in the timeline of life, I remember the anxiety I had a day before my CET (entrance for engineering).  They were the ones who fueled my spirits when I needed it the most. Today, with God's grace and with my parents blessings, I am on the verge of completing engineering from a renowned institution.These are just a few events I mentioned and there are myriad number of them.
      I have in the past spoken about relationships and expectations. Would you all like to know the relationship which is the purest? A parent-child relationship, according to me is made from a womb where we are not yet "blessed" with any brain to get manipulative. We are at our modest best. Leave a small kid in the crowd and all you can hear him/her screeching for is his/her parents and not anyone else; irrespective of whether he/she gets manipulative later on in his.her life. Their rebukes have a huge component of love hidden in them. The love which reminds us of the righteous path we must take in life. As I mentioned in my previous article, the world is laden with illusions(Maya) which we are not able to make out sometimes. They guide us through to tackle all such illusions.
   Today, I see people telling me they need someone to love them, care for them. For that very moment I often self-talk "Oh, come on what is wrong with you, you have your parents, have you forgotten them??".  I again take this opportunity to emphasize on the point that people/objects which are the closest to us often loose value with time. This is a matter of grief. There shouldn't be any resistance or lack of excitement for new things or entry of new people in life but it is of much harm when that leads to deterioration in the value or ignorance of the old and near and dear ones. Keeping this aspect in mind, the worst condition that is seen today is leaving one's parents in an old age home against their wishes and thinking of them as a "load" in one's life. For one moment if we imagine the care, the relentless efforts they put to make us stand on our own feet, we will keep such thoughts out of our mind keep aside doing such things!
    For once one can imagine a loved one/friend leave but the ones who are always with you for whatever you are and will be are your parents.I have seen relationships where either of the person is ready to break the friendship for some or the other habit of other person. In case of our parents, they never talk of leaving on such issues which is why they love us unconditionally. When we fight with them, we do not need to have the fear of loosing them. We can be "ourselves" with our parents for rest all relationships we need to really be careful before things go out of our hands and the relationship ends.
   Today, I want to thank them for all that they have done for me, the sacrifices they have made for me. My heart is overwhelmed with emotions as I write this article. From sacrificing an ice-cream in our childhood to sacrificing their own fancy needs to satisfy our needs which are sometimes unworthy but valued more than their needs, they are the epitome of sacrificial behaviour. I am running out of words as I wish more and more to describe about them. The best gift of life is having your parents stand by you during all your problems as well as successes.My heart today reaches out to those who are deprived of parental love.Maybe I wont be able to imagine their plight.
   Dad and Mom, you  have been an inspiration to me and will be always valued and respected come what may.....always for you..mom and dad.
GOOD DAY TO ALL OF YOU!