That one bus ride...

It was the second week back in the campus, I had to go home for a couple of days to attend my cousin's wedding. The day that I return to the campus was the day I had to submit my physics manual...so I had to finish my record work in great hurry and rush (with loads of luggage) to the campus gate to catch the 5:15 PM bus...I ended up waiting there for half an hour before the bus turned up. The campus to Secunderabad bus is always extremely crowded...and there's nothing I hate more than people bumping into each other in cramped places, so I was thanking my stars when I got in and found a seat. After 2 stops, the bus was totally packed...many people were standing and fidgeting uncomfortably while I was sitting aaram se in my seat listening to music.

In the third stop more people got in and among them was this young woman with a baby...it would be just too mean to watch a baby get cramped in with rest of the crowd...so I offered my seat to her and moved into the standing crowd. There were no free hand rests..so I held on to the railing around the seats as though for dear life, and whenever the bus would threaten to come to a stop I would say a silent prayer to save me from falling down.There was this big group of laborers who were surrounding me (not that I minded that)...but they were all talking(rather too loudly) to each other over my head. The bus conductor was gigantic, he would literally squeeze through the crowd every time he had to move around and he ended up stamping my feet twice and poking his elbow into my head once.By this time, all the excitement I had about attending the wedding and meeting my family was fast evaporating. I was again and again thinking of the first 10 minutes of the journey when i was seated comfortably.

Finally, when my stop was nearing, i got ready with my luggage to get down and then I happened to glance at the woman and the baby....I swear I'd never felt what I felt then ever before. The baby was tucked close to its mother's chest and it was in deep sleep.It had the most innocent and beautiful half smile on its lips. At that point, I knew that I had done the right thing and the crowd, the stamping, the discomfort, none of it mattered anymore!

Thinking about thoughts...

The school that I studied in is just a 5 minute walk from my place, and just behind the school is this beautiful and green colony where IAS officers and Ministers stay. I go for a walk once in a while in this area. I enjoy these walks thoroughly…the trees, the breeze, the view of my old school, it all brings back such sweet memories! And when I’m walking I think about the times, say a couple of years back when I was walking through the same area…and when I recollect that moment, I don’t think about what I was wearing that day, or who I was walking with or what else I had been doing that day; but I think about what I was thinking then! Take a moment here and you will understand what I’m saying.

When I’m reading pages from my diary which go back many years, or when I’m looking at a photo taken long back or a video shot ages ago; it’s fascinating to think about and remember what was it that was going on in my mind at the time I was writing that particular diary entry or having that photograph taken. What was I thinking, what was I feeling, what were my worries, my delights, my thoughts on the things and the people around me? Now would those thoughts seem childish to me, probably even funny? Zapping through the thoughts of the past me…feeling what I haven’t felt in a long while, remembering people and moments from what seems like another era in itself….it’s all just too wonderful!

There’s this episode in ‘How I met your mother’, in which Marshall (the lead role’s best friend) finds a letter that his 15 year old self had written for his 30 year old self. Guess what, I’m going to write a letter to my 30 year old self too! At first the idea may seem silly, but think about it…what better way to record your present thoughts for your future self to amuse over?

Here's my STORY....

I guess I’ve mentioned it before, but here it is anyway- I love writing! I can write about things that matter, things that don’t, crazy things, random thoughts, happy feelings, strong inhibitions et al…but there one thing that I just can’t write- a STORY!

Architects can build structures that are nothing short of breathtaking; Doctors can perform miracles, Engineers can make technological breakthroughs that can propel us into a whole new era….but none of these people hold as much awe and make my head spin with admiration as a master story-teller can! How I wish I could write a great story…just one!

I truly mean it…it just amazes me how some authors can transport you to a magical land (and I don’t mean it literally like the Harry Potter or Twilight or Artemis Fowl books!), they make you feel like you are a part of the story, make you feel the adrenaline rush, the feelings of love, wonder, amazement and faith. It is beautiful what some stories can do to you. They whisper to you, your own secret, personalized message. They tell you what you want to hear. They simply make you feel alive!

By story telling, I don’t just mean novels or comics. There are movies that we hold so close to our heart, they are the kinds that make us feel good, they tell us about the simple truth about life and they just make us smile quietly to ourselves! We usually give the credit to the hot actor or the lovely settings in the movie, but in the core essence it is the story that appeals most to us, we may not realize this but it is true.
It is truly fabulous how some writers and directors come up with stories so captivating and so complicated sometimes, they just leave you gasping with every unexpected twist!

Many people poke fun of TV soaps, but many more are hooked to them and that, my friends, is due to the simple fact that they have stories that intrigue us, that intimidate us and in some cases, stories that remind us of the things we do, that make us laugh at the characters in the soaps, characters that we soon start feeling like we know, we recognize and we relate to. At the end of the day, it is the Story alone that keeps the magic alive!

Now I’m going to stretch the boundaries a little here- Great story tellers, we have seen touch our lives through books, movies and soaps. But there is more….for those of you who have read the Bhagavad-Gita (I’m guessing not many), you will know that our scriptures are stories too, they teach us morals, tell us about the glories of God and state bold truths…all in stories again. Those of you who were lucky enough to have been told the Mahabharata or the Ramayana by your grand parents would remember how as a little girl or boy your eyes would light up in wonder and amazement listening to all the glorious stories, cuddling up next to your granny while she would animatedly describe all the little details as you prod her with questions and doubts!

I feel there is nothing more hauntingly beautiful than the talent to write a story, not just any story, but a story that people love to love! Some stories are more sagas than stories. I feel J.K Rowling and the makers of How I Met Your Mother are nothing short of brilliant, with their ability to produce a story which spans several years with such tiny, intricate given so much attention and subtle, vague hints about future events being dropped in early books/ seasons. Bravo!

Its authors like Jeffrey Archer, Dan Brown, Irving Wallace, Stephanie Meyer that push you all the way to the edge of the cliff with their blindingly magnificent story telling skills that threaten to test our ability to resist our urge to set the book aside to eat, reply to a text message or even pee! It’s simply bloody brilliant.

Even though it might take years, if I ever do write a good story…I will count it among one of my greatest achievements!

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH???

These holidays, I’ve realized that there is a very thin line between being hooked to something we like and simply over indulging in it to the point of being addicted. Trust me, sometimes when we cross this line, things can get pretty ugly. This article was inspired by me, because I tend to get ‘addicted’ to things easily. For the first couple of weeks of our two and half month vacation [I know!!! :)], I was totally, crazily and irritatingly (not for me but for those around me of course!) addicted to the sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S. My mother would get super annoyed with me for sitting glued to the laptop all day (getting up only for the most inevitable of daily activities). She would say that I was acting as though I was in a hotel room with room service and everything where I didn’t have to do any household chores! Every now and then I would tell myself-“this is it, this is the last episode for the day”, but I would end up watching ten more. It was as though I had no choice, no control; I HAD to mechanically watch it all day! And then, 10 seasons, 240 episodes and 5280 minutes later, it was finally over.

Then the ‘Twilight’ madness took over, now I was a different kind of crazy person. Reading the books again (I would finish one book in less than 24 hours and grab the next one with one even touching any air in between) and watching the movies again, finding new videos on you tube, checking out pictures of Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson… this went on for a while.
I also tend to do this with food, if I like, say the coffee in some place, I would keep coming back to the same place again and again and again and yet again till I get sick of it!

Most people don’t accept or even realize that they are addicted to something. Youngsters are most prone to get addicted to video games, social networking sites, sitcoms, certain sports or sadly even hookah and booze. Sometimes it’s cool but sometimes it’s downright scary! I know that it’s just hard to figure out how much is too much and more often than not we have find out the hard way. I know some friends who are on facebook literally throughout the day; while eating, studying, talking on the phone and even while hanging out with friends. I have a friend who is so addicted to mint that she gets through 3-4 mentos packets everyday!

While doing something we like, if there is a constant nudge that keeps pushing us to do something, not just as a hobby or as a ‘once in a while thing’ but as something that we just HAVE to do all the time, then I guess it is an addiction, which is not supposed to be very healthy. Well, I don’t want to be a hypocrite; so for those of you who are snorting and saying - “look who is talking!”, I would like to add-my latest addiction is ‘How I met your mother’!

YOU DON'T NEED ELVES TO KEEP YOUR ROOM CLEAN....

Living in a hostel has taught me many things and it has also made me realize that this world consists of the most extreme kinds of people.
Let's consider just one small aspect of life called ‘cleanliness’, I’ve seen people whose rooms are so meticulously clean that it would make their mothers blush with pride. A small example- the brush that they use to clean their combs would be cleaner than the brush that we use to clean our teeth! On the other hand there are people whose rooms eternally look like they had just been looted by a burglar who in his hurry removes everything from its place leaving everything strewn all over the place. When you go to such rooms just make it a point not to forget small objects like keys or pen drives because you won’t be able to retrieve it in anything less than an hour!


I’m not a hygiene freak myself but I’m not as bad as the second category too….I do get an ocassional praise or two about the general cleanliness levels of my room, so I thought (for the benefit of many people in our hostel) I would just give some tips on how to keep your room clean. Some points might be tricky to apply at first but if you try hard enough, you will be able to. So here they are-

1. Firstly get yourself this very useful thing called a ‘dustbin’, which wiki defines as “ a container for temporarily storing waste, and is usually made out of metal or plastic”. This will help you store the trash from your room which would otherwise end up all over the floor.

2. There are certain semi-circular metallic objects called ‘hooks’(you can get them in MORE), which can be used to hang clothes so that you have space on the bed to sleep!

3. I know that its tempting to leave your spoon unwashed after eating Maagi because you know that you are anyway going to use it the next day and its going to become dirty again, but please for God’s sake, do wash it.

4. Using the same bucket for washing clothes, mopping the floor and taking bath is convenient but may help you contract certain things called ‘germs’ (unless you’ve already developed a resistance to them, what with your constant exposure to them!)

5. If you keep your laptop on your bed, then your charger, mouse, LAN cord, hard disk etc are eventually going to end up on the bed too, again leading to the tricky scenario called ‘not having space on the bed to sleep’.

6. Conserving water by not mopping the floor is sweet but not once your friends start tripping on the greasy floor!

7. It might be helpful if you don’t wait till there’s enough hair to make a hair ball or enough dust to make dust bunnies before sweeping….

8. Never have a mid-night birthday celebration of a friend in your room, you will need a whole day to clean the mess (that is if you do intend to clean…)

9. When all your friends are ordering food and eating together, conveniently ‘forget’ where you have left your room keys and suggest you eat in someone else’s room.

10. This is not related to cleanliness of the room, but since I’ve had the misfortune of seeing people do it, I’m begging you- Please, Oh please, if you’ve dropped food down, don't eat it off the floor. (It looks cute only when Joey or Rachel do it).

11. If your room is in the basement and if you ever come across frogs or mice(which is not quite uncommon in Krishna Bhawan I hear), please don’t try keeping them as pets, they involve a lot of dirty work.

12. If you love Chemistry, go see if they could use some help in the research lab but don’t EVER try to conduct the experiments in your own room.

13. Lastly, the easiest and most obvious method to keep your room clean- stay in it as less as possible!

'D'termination

After having written about many things which are serious and thought provoking, I wanted to write something totally crazy and extremely sarcastic….so here’s presenting something ‘hatke’. Please don’t take offence for any of the things written here because everything was meant in good humor.

TETE A TETE WITH THE MOST ‘D’TERMINED….

Shravya: Today we have an eminent personality and D-graders’ rights activist -Mr. Nearly headless Nick (name changed) with us today. He has been kind enough to accept our request to grace the blog with his interview, sharing his deep insight into matters dear to him. So, Nick shall we get started?
Nick: Yeah….I can’t wait!

Shravya: First things first, Nick, what according to you is the greatness of every D-grader?
Nick: Well, in bad times like these, we D graders are terribly down-trodden, the people getting A grades get so much attention when in reality the credit should be going to us. They get an A because we get a D and not vice versa. We are the one’s slogging day in and day out to bring down the averages and there are hundreds of people out there who have blind faith and trust in us to bring down the averages and we shoulder this responsibility with pride and satisfaction.
Everything said and done, we are more 'popular' and talked about than them (any day)…be it among the teachers or the students!

Shravya: That’s great! So tell us, how much preparation goes into achieving a ‘D’?

Nick: It’s definitely not easy. We are the most over-worked people on the campus. Our problems start right from the time we get up. If we go to the mess immediately after getting up, the messwallah says “breakfast ki baat chhoddo…lunch time bhi katham hogaya!”, in spite of this, we never complain and we start our day (I mean noon) with 4 hours of counter strike.
People have no idea how much time and effort it takes to come up with apt nick names for everyone, to explore every nook and corner of the campus, to make up good *make ups, to spread wild rumors, to discuss social (wink, wink) issues, to keep the library clean by never entering in, to help the cafeteria and Amul owners become millionaires and so on and so forth.
We have many hurdles in the form of tut tests, quizzes, presentations etc. but we never give in because we are too ‘D’termined to give up too soon. Basically, I want to say that the campus would fall to pieces without us!
(*In BITS when you miss an exam, you apply for whats called a make-up)

Shravya: Wow, you guys do work pretty hard! Tell me Nick when did you make up your mind to work towards this.
Nick: Actually when you first step into the campus, you come with this twinkle in the eye to ‘make a difference’, to do what we are destined to do. And after test I results we realize what exactly it is we are ‘destined’ to do...and that right there was my defining moment. Since then some of us have continuously strived to deliver our ‘duties’. Many seniors have time and again told us that no one gets a D in a 4 credit course and that was when I had made up my mind to prove them wrong and guess what, I actually did!

Shravya: What other factors have encouraged and supported you in taking giant strides in this endeavor?
Nick: First of all I would like to acknowledge the contribution and encouragement from the seniors, who though didn’t realize our capabilities in the beginning, now have tremendous belief in us. Their advice and tips keep us going. And then the hot chicks in the class (though they aren’t many) do their part of keeping us distracted during the lectures. Then there’s DC, the gift to mankind and then bus no.211....its things like these that contribute a lot.
Sometimes when the campus gets too ‘studiousy’ to bear and tries to divert us from our purpose, we go into the city to gather inspiration and ideas from our peers in the local colleges and certain other focused young engineers like us.
And last but not the least all those teachers who have put us to sleep in the few classes that we do attend and all those who give us less ‘bhaav’ and even lesser marks. If we (by mistake) do a question correctly, they would use a microscope to find an error…all in all they have been very supportive.

Shravya: That’s nice Nick. I hope you will achieve more impossible feats and continue to help your fellow batch mates. Thank you very much for sparing us some of your precious time.
Nick: The pleasure is mine…please make sure that people do read this blog of yours and understand to appreciate us plus I also hope that this will be a source of information and inspiration to many.

Shravya: Yeah, I will, thanks again.



(NOTE: Someone actually did give me an interview with extremely exaggerated versions of whatever he/she has experienced or seen other people experience)

AAL IS (NOT) WELL!

Here’s a déjà vu for all adolescents- have you ever felt totally lost and confused as to what exactly do people expect from you…..whether you are supposed to act like a boy/girl or a man/woman…..and whether you are allowed to do whatever it is that you wanted to do or if it was it OK to say whatever it is that you wanted to but somehow got stuck on its way from the brain to your mouth because you weren’t sure if you could? We are too young for certain things and at the same time too old something else….how in the world are we expected to figure out what falls where?


Let me elaborate- We all must have experienced this for sure: The lecturer in the class is writing some gibberish of Greek and Latin (I bet those would be a lot easier to learn!) on the board….and then seeing our lost expressions, exclaims-“Oh c’mon, now you people are in a University, not school….you are mature enough to figure out this stuff on your own!” and on the other hand more often than you like you must have heard this from some adult-“Oh no you guys just because you are in college now don’t go over the board…you are too young, you are not mature enough to understand the complexities of love and relationships……” (you get the picture right!!!)

And home (say when you were around 14-15 years old) you must have had an older sibling snatch the remote from your hand and scream “Eeeowww….what a sissy, still watching this show”….and then if you try watching something different ;-)….Mum would walk in, clear her throat not so discreetly and say-“Beta, such shows are not meant for you…”

Here’s another one…(this one totally holds for me)- If you screw up an exam you dunno whether you will hear a “ That’s OK….just take life as it comes, don’t take too much pressure, you have too much life ahead of you…” or a “When will you learn…YOU ARE GROWN UP NOW…you must realize that you are responsible for yourself and your life and blah blah”......


Will someone please stand up and tell me what exactly am I supposed to do??? I think our ‘rishta’ with multiple choice questions doesn’t end with the entrance exams…because our whole life is about choices , irrespective of whether you make them or they are made for you and that sure is a good thing…but then why even give us a choice if we are time and again told the most diametrically opposite of things…and put in a fix!

I think many girls must have had some nosy neighbour aunties (whom God has created to help Ekta Kapoor make a fortune and to have them spy on you all the time only to go running to your mother and complain….) They love to say things like- “Arrey beta…abhibhi aise bacchon jaise kapde kyun pehen rahe ho…kabhi kabhi salwar kameez pehenliya karo” and as if that isn’t enough to get on your nerves the same Aunty would say something like- “Kaha ja rahe ho…beauty parlour? Arrey you are too young for all this….”
[YOU HAVE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!]…..

To your older brother….you are still too young to handle a lot of money….so he takes ‘responsibilty’ (euphemism for ‘taking a share of’) of the pocket money….and you are also too young to stay out late…..but when it comes to matters like helping him ‘patafy’ a girl or take your side during an argument with your parents, he’ll come looking for his mature, ‘not so baccha’ little sister/brother!

I mean, seriously people, give us a BREAK!....and meanwhile lets just stop sighing and sing along with Britney Spears (the guys could change girl to boy and woman to man…LOL):
I'm not a girl,
Not yet a woman.
All I need is time,
A moment that is mine,
While I'm in between……