The night wasn’t getting any younger, and neither were we. It was high time for us to assess our stand on what had come to be known as relationships. The word excitement summarizes our thoughts on the then newly evolved notion. Everyone, including us, was buzzed with the idea. With most of my friends way ahead in the race, my group didn’t want to fall back either.
So, discussing on the topic, and two of the four of us(including me) already committed, frustration was pouring out from the other two. We were discussing how a third one of us was hitting on an already committed girl. The fourth however, wasn’t on any girl’s list. He had a whole list of his own crushes though.
Right then the fourth, frustrated and desperate, with reference to the Indian Railway Reservation System, commented "Ok guys, this is the scenario, you two (pointing to the already involved ones) have a confirmed seat, this guy (pointing to the third) has a RAC and I, well, I am in Waiting”. We all had a good laugh for the next couple of days on that statement. It was, spot on!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Brand India
An Italian guy dressed in a Tiranga riding the name Force India. World over players playing under one banner – The INDIAN Premier League. Entertainment in the name of India. Wow!
Harsha Bhogle narrates an incident in TED India Talks about Dwayne Bravo in the IPL. I quote the incident.
Mumbai Indians (MI) flew in Dwayne Bravo(DB) from Trinadad and Tabago overnight and when he had to go back to represent the West Indies, they asked him
MI: When do you have to reach?
DB: I have to reach by certain time so I have to leave today
MI: No, no, It’s not about when do you have to leave; it’s about when you have to reach.
DB: I have to reach on date X.
MI: Fine then, you play a match on the day X-1.
So he played in Hyderabad, went straight from the stadium to the airport, sat in a private jet and he was in West Indies in time. Never would India have thought on such a scale before.
Brand India is now recognized world over. It is not the land of snake charmers anymore. However, India is at the edge of a precipice. It can now take off and soar, going ever higher; it can stay where it is; or it can suddenly begin to fall. Of which I hope the former is true. Jai Hind!
Harsha Bhogle narrates an incident in TED India Talks about Dwayne Bravo in the IPL. I quote the incident.
Mumbai Indians (MI) flew in Dwayne Bravo(DB) from Trinadad and Tabago overnight and when he had to go back to represent the West Indies, they asked him
MI: When do you have to reach?
DB: I have to reach by certain time so I have to leave today
MI: No, no, It’s not about when do you have to leave; it’s about when you have to reach.
DB: I have to reach on date X.
MI: Fine then, you play a match on the day X-1.
So he played in Hyderabad, went straight from the stadium to the airport, sat in a private jet and he was in West Indies in time. Never would India have thought on such a scale before.
Brand India is now recognized world over. It is not the land of snake charmers anymore. However, India is at the edge of a precipice. It can now take off and soar, going ever higher; it can stay where it is; or it can suddenly begin to fall. Of which I hope the former is true. Jai Hind!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Great Expectations
Engineer Sudeep Sodani. That would be my title in some time. And every time I mull over it, the funnier it sounds to me. Did I expect life to be so? A big NO! Expectations are a part of life, and getting nowhere near them comes complementary. I started out with dreams of being a scientist at the age of 7. As I aged, so did my dreams, making their way through an archeologist, a businessman and a pilot, to being an engineer.
Am I happy? Or do I look back at my choices with dissent? I am glad that I have a real job at hand but the thought of being one of those professionals, fascinates me to the core. Boy o boy! Me as the next Indiana Jones? What a life it would be! Reality bites back to bring me to the truth, to make me realize the essence of the real world. But I guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
Great expectations aren’t that great after all when they turn that smile upside down. Life is a roller coaster ride. What is the point if you anticipate in life? Let it be the way it is supposed to be. So I believe, do not expect, just remember to hope.
Am I happy? Or do I look back at my choices with dissent? I am glad that I have a real job at hand but the thought of being one of those professionals, fascinates me to the core. Boy o boy! Me as the next Indiana Jones? What a life it would be! Reality bites back to bring me to the truth, to make me realize the essence of the real world. But I guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
Great expectations aren’t that great after all when they turn that smile upside down. Life is a roller coaster ride. What is the point if you anticipate in life? Let it be the way it is supposed to be. So I believe, do not expect, just remember to hope.
Monday, March 15, 2010
The Bicycle Analogy
With the last two months of college lined up, a conflict of emotions emerges within me and my friends. Excitement for the future ahead and what it holds for us verses the fear of letting go what has been our home for the past four years.
Pulling each others' leg, the long talks in canteen, the boring lectures, and the list goes on and on. So many things you want to remember, the ones you don’t, you hope will pass over time. However these few years have turned out to be, one thing is for sure. These days will be remembered. Clearly etched in our memory will be every laugh, every fight, every moment spent here. Reminiscing heightens all these emotions, as we look back at this place feeling safe. And so the memory lane narrows down on you, making you believe that the idea of facing the world all alone, though churns your stomach, is not safe at all.
Excitement for the future, however, makes this notion interesting. The fear translates onto a better side, like riding a bicycle for the first time. Though it doesn’t seem safe, the urge to get on that bike and try something new is fascinating. So get on that bike, and once you ride it, you will love the wind rushing through your hair, even though you might look back at walking with awe.
Pulling each others' leg, the long talks in canteen, the boring lectures, and the list goes on and on. So many things you want to remember, the ones you don’t, you hope will pass over time. However these few years have turned out to be, one thing is for sure. These days will be remembered. Clearly etched in our memory will be every laugh, every fight, every moment spent here. Reminiscing heightens all these emotions, as we look back at this place feeling safe. And so the memory lane narrows down on you, making you believe that the idea of facing the world all alone, though churns your stomach, is not safe at all.
Excitement for the future, however, makes this notion interesting. The fear translates onto a better side, like riding a bicycle for the first time. Though it doesn’t seem safe, the urge to get on that bike and try something new is fascinating. So get on that bike, and once you ride it, you will love the wind rushing through your hair, even though you might look back at walking with awe.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Master Class
There were no running laps around the field, no aggressive gestures, nothing over-the-top. He did what he always does, raised both his arms, closed his eyes for a moment and quietly acknowledged that it had been done. The way Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar celebrated when he reached his 200 epitomized the man's persona.
It took 20 years for the little master to break a record that stood strong for nearly 40 years. However, it’s just not the numbers game that is worth acknowledging. His attitude, endurance and respect for the game are much more significant. It’s not just now that his love for the game is visible. Previous instances have had us witness the greatness of this man. No one can forget Sachin receiving the Man of the Match award with tears in his eyes, because India lost that match. Even at the top, he understands that the game is bigger than him and not the other way around.
Most of the sportsmen provide us with entertainment. This man has provided us with much more in the name of cricket – Emotion.
It took 20 years for the little master to break a record that stood strong for nearly 40 years. However, it’s just not the numbers game that is worth acknowledging. His attitude, endurance and respect for the game are much more significant. It’s not just now that his love for the game is visible. Previous instances have had us witness the greatness of this man. No one can forget Sachin receiving the Man of the Match award with tears in his eyes, because India lost that match. Even at the top, he understands that the game is bigger than him and not the other way around.
Most of the sportsmen provide us with entertainment. This man has provided us with much more in the name of cricket – Emotion.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Fade to Black
January, 2009 is clearly etched in my memory as my college witnessed the death of two students. While ones’ heart gave out to the pressure of failure, another committed suicide for reasons unknown. More than a year later, a similar incident resurfaced my feelings on the matter. Before I put forth my views, let me narrate the incident.
Recently, life support was taken off a student, from our college, who had been declared brain dead, as a result of drug overdose. When medicines didn’t provide remedy for his regular viral infections, drugs (suggested by his friends) seemed to do the trick. Neither of the neighbor students, nor the warden or college authorities, nor his parents paid attention to his condition. And after all was said and done, it just became a hot gossip topic for everyone in and out of college. Everyone speculated as to what the reasons were, but the reason was quite clear - Ignorance.
In India, student deaths expire with newspaper headlines, and this is a matter of concern. Here, the youth are considered to be the future of the country. So what happens when the youth are consumed away by suicides, drugs and failures? The bright future fades to black. I believe that this is not the end of such incidents, and I hope that I am proved wrong.
Recently, life support was taken off a student, from our college, who had been declared brain dead, as a result of drug overdose. When medicines didn’t provide remedy for his regular viral infections, drugs (suggested by his friends) seemed to do the trick. Neither of the neighbor students, nor the warden or college authorities, nor his parents paid attention to his condition. And after all was said and done, it just became a hot gossip topic for everyone in and out of college. Everyone speculated as to what the reasons were, but the reason was quite clear - Ignorance.
In India, student deaths expire with newspaper headlines, and this is a matter of concern. Here, the youth are considered to be the future of the country. So what happens when the youth are consumed away by suicides, drugs and failures? The bright future fades to black. I believe that this is not the end of such incidents, and I hope that I am proved wrong.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The Story
So many a times we have stopped at traffic signals and have had beggars come up to us for money. We might also have encountered a few men telling us their sad stories and eventually the need for money. Experiences tell us to avoid these supposed con men, to ignore them and look away. The other day, waiting at a bus stand for a friend, I, with a group of friends, had a similar rendezvous.
Ignoring the guy when he first walked up to us and asked for money, we continued our wait. We didn’t turn a deaf ear though, and listened to his story with little emotion. He had traveled 850 km from his home to come to Jaipur to find a job, heeding his brothers’ advice, who lived in the city. On reaching his brothers’ address, he learnt that his brother had left the place. Stranded, he spent all of his money searching for a job. Now he had only one choice, that to go home. With a train the same night, he just wanted some money for “kharcha paani”, as he put it. The story, though far-fetched, involved us somehow. To add to it all, he pointed out his wife and son, whom he had brought along all the way from his village. We tried to cross-examine the story, trying to find a loop hole, but he seemed to have had a genuine answer to all our questions. We guided him to a police station, but he told us he had already been there and they had given him rotis, and that this was all the help the police had provided. Saying this he showed us a container filled with rotis. We had listened enough, but to believe that a man in his late twenties could be so stupid, as to bring his family along without a job, would be stupidity on our part. We contributed 40 bucks, not for the man and his story, but for the wife and the kid.
I am not sure if we did the right thing or not. Did we encourage art of con or really help out a guy in distress? I am sure of this though, it is our innate nature to be humane, and we do lend out a helping hand whenever someone, no matter who it is, touches our hearts.
Ignoring the guy when he first walked up to us and asked for money, we continued our wait. We didn’t turn a deaf ear though, and listened to his story with little emotion. He had traveled 850 km from his home to come to Jaipur to find a job, heeding his brothers’ advice, who lived in the city. On reaching his brothers’ address, he learnt that his brother had left the place. Stranded, he spent all of his money searching for a job. Now he had only one choice, that to go home. With a train the same night, he just wanted some money for “kharcha paani”, as he put it. The story, though far-fetched, involved us somehow. To add to it all, he pointed out his wife and son, whom he had brought along all the way from his village. We tried to cross-examine the story, trying to find a loop hole, but he seemed to have had a genuine answer to all our questions. We guided him to a police station, but he told us he had already been there and they had given him rotis, and that this was all the help the police had provided. Saying this he showed us a container filled with rotis. We had listened enough, but to believe that a man in his late twenties could be so stupid, as to bring his family along without a job, would be stupidity on our part. We contributed 40 bucks, not for the man and his story, but for the wife and the kid.
I am not sure if we did the right thing or not. Did we encourage art of con or really help out a guy in distress? I am sure of this though, it is our innate nature to be humane, and we do lend out a helping hand whenever someone, no matter who it is, touches our hearts.
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