Trials And Tribulations

I know I have been rather lazy and failed to regularly update my blog. I have realized that maintaining a blog is a tough task and I salute all those regular bloggers who come up with ingenious topics. I mean seriously, where do they get the ideas? I haven’t yet been hit by a brainwave for my blog as now, but I think tales of woe and suffering make an interesting topic. At least your own problems seem dwarfed by comparison.

For the past one and half months, I am stuck in a cycle of exam-submission-exam-viva-exam schedule. We were giving our unit tests when most of my classmates didn’t even know the name of the subjects. Cool, na? Managed to pass somehow. The test as a joke with many of my friends extremely proud of the marks I single digits. He he.

Someone seemed to have stepped up the accelerator and time just whizzed past me. All of as sudden we were inundated with assignments with few days to go before the final submission. Something of ‘Operation Pendulum’ (Five Point Someone, remember??) was planned and we divided the assignments. So a master copy of each assignment was available and if the professors had bothered to check, even the wrong stuff in it was Xeroxed. We call it ‘chapna’ coz everything is written as it is with no changes. Some guy came close to copying the role number too!

Then came the prelims and we braced ourselves for endless days of studies, books, coffee and midnight calls asking “Kitna hua padhke?” I was in mortal fear of falling asleep during the exams. The prelims were just the firecrackers; the actual bomb hadn’t yet been dropped. I gaped at the viva dates and realized my batch was having it day after tomorrow. Rocking life, isn’t it?? Don’t ask me how they went, I don’t remember it. With six days to go before the university papers, I was cursing myself for the times I procrastinated saying “Sab padhai PL me ho jayega”.

I am now done with four papers, one was good, two were ok-ok, and one was bad. Four down, two more to go. I think I will lose my nuts by the time I complete engineering. But then, not anyone can boast of surviving such a stressful phase.

P.S.
For all those who think I have magnified my woes and exaggerated my experiences in engineering, here is an interesting anecdote:
My friend was in a tearing hurry to catch a local train which had just arrived on the platform. She tried to get in but lost her balance because of the wet floor and was half inside the train and half on the platform. A group of elderly uncles noticed this and the usual racket ensued. She somehow managed to get in before the train started but not before one gentleman asked her, “Beta, are you an engineering student?”.

BOUQUETS N BRICKBATS

This is the first time I have ever written and posted a poem. I can’t really call it as a poem; it’s just an expansion of my random thoughts. So it is quite natural that some may not quite get with the flow of the ideas in it. Some might find it rough or badly edited, but that’s the way my thoughts were while penning it and I wanted my state of mind to reflect in the poem.
All I want to say is that I REALLY REALLY want a feedback- positive or negative on my first attempt at what I may dare say, poetry. All those who read it, please don’t forget to add some comments. Who knows, maybe some of my other random thoughts might see the light of the day.

ILLUSIONS OF REALITY

It’s just another word,
For you,
It’s a big deal for me.

Thirsty in wide expanse of sand,
I searched for it,
And forever like a mirage,
It fooled me yet again.

Reality is just another word,
For you,
It’s a big deal for me.

The breeze whistled in my ears,
Replaying dire warnings,
The cynics mocked and giggled and pitied,
Mine was a search for the alchemist’s stone,
They said,
Heard, but never seen.

The moment finally comes,
Unannounced and unpredicted.
The desert winds howl,
Kicking up furious dust,
The world around me swirls,
Oh, why did I have to ask for this??

This has to end, this has to end,
The little voice in my head spoke,
Looking above for a guardian angel,
I realized it’s a lonely world.

In agreement, the sky roared,
My hands felt the tears of the sky,
Cleansing and purging my soul,
The rain washed away all grime of the past.
And streams of fear flowed out.

Reality’s no big deal,
Need to sow seeds of
Self realization,
And let them blossom in your life.

The lump in my throat loosened,
I yelled out to them,
Oblivious of my euphoria,
They huddled together,
And mourned the loss of a girl,
Who got lost in the storm of reality.

The Alchemist- Paulo Coelho’s bestselling novel has continued to inspire and awe readers across the globe. With his books translated in more than 39 languages, he has fascinated readers with his writing which imparts in us a greater understanding of our self and that of the universe. With the hard-hitting and universal truth presented in his book, The Alchemist is surely on my list of ‘Books to Read before You Die’. Here are a few quotes from his famed novel:

At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.
p. 18

There is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe.... The soul of the world is nourished by people's happiness.
p. 22

When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. (my personal favourite)
p. 22

At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible.They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their destiny.

If good things are coming, they will be a pleasant surprise," said the seer. "If bad things are, and you know in advance, you will suffer greatly before they even occur.
p. 102

Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dream.
p. 130

There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
p. 141

What happens once will never happen again. But what happens twice will surely happen a third time.
p. 156


...And that dream, day by day, became less important. May be cause it wasn't really his dream
Don't think about what you've left behind.
If what one finds is made of pure matter, it will never spoil. If what you had found was only a moment of light, like the explosion of a star, you would find nothing on your return.
It's not often that money saves a person's life.
It is said that the darkest hour of the night comes just before the dawn.
If I am really part of your dream, you will come back one day.
Fatima

May love be your guide in every moment of your life.
As he mused about these things, he realised that he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure
The desert takes our dreams away from us, and they don't always return. We know that, and we are used to it. Those who don't return become a part of the clouds, a part of the animals that hide in the ravines and of the water that comes from the earth. They become part of everything... They become the soul of the world.
Fatima

Understanding Harry Potter

Well as you might have guessed from the previous post, I am down with Harry Potter fever. With the last installment of the Harry Potter series and the film based on the fifth book ‘Harry Potter and The Order of Phoenix’ releasing one after another, it is a treat for all of Harry Potter fans. Many might depressed about the series coming to an end, but as they say, all good things have to come to an end.

For more than a decade, the bespectacled orphan boy has managed to capture the attention of thousands of readers and has continued to maintain its faithful base of fans. Google the word ‘Harry Potter’ and you will get approximately hits. J.K.Rowling has, in a way, revived the dying habit of reading. Many critics might dismiss this idea, but they themselves have no explanation as to how these books have set a record for themselves. Fans line up since midnight to get the first copy of the latest installment and then they finish it off by reading it for hours at a stretch. In less than a few hours, websites dedicated to Harry Potter carry spoiler warnings for the plot as the fans quite animatedly discuss about the plot and characters.

So I wonder, what is it that endears ‘The Boy who Lived’ and his best buddies- Ron and Hermione, to the readers? At least there is a partial explanation to this. According to a research, the reason for success of books of authors such as Enid Blyton and J.K. Rowling lies in the way they use simplicity of language. As many might have noticed, both these authors have used simple, lucid language in their works which triggers certain biochemical reactions which in turn keeps the reader hooked. Simple language has got to do everything with their success.

Another reason for success of Harry Potter is that it presents to us a magical world which is completely different from our ‘Muggle’ world. The author has delved into every tiny detail of Harry Potter’s world which makes it all the more believable. We use the book as an escape from our mundane, mechanical life. How nice it would be if we could summon the remote with one flick of wand! Or we could use a flying broom (I personally would want the Firebolt) to zip off to our destinations, without getting crushed in the local trains. The possibilities are unlimited, provided we give free reign to our imagination. More often than not, I find myself chanting spells, charms and hexes in front of the mirror, in the hope that it might work and then I would be inducted in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I would scan the skies for an owl, conveniently forgetting the bad reputation it enjoys in various cultures.

The emotions in the book are so raw and so human, that you can actually relate to them. Many cried when Sirius Black and Dumbeldore were killed, as if it was their personal loss. Many would ask why one would shed tears over the death of a fictional character. It is because the reader and Harry Potter merge into one whole entity. His problems bother us and we celebrate his victories. It is a source of utmost pleasure to us when we, at least for a few hours, are the hero and by partaking in the adventures, we try to feel the adrenaline rush in our veins. I feel this infuses a new energy in us, which in turn prepares us to face fresh challenges. The author stresses the importance of facing one’s fears and even though we might have many allies in this battle, the final battle will have to be fought by you-alone. And above all it underlines one important fact, always emphasized y the beloved headmaster Dumbledore -nothing is superior to love.

Do you find this idea too churlish? Here are a few lines from ‘Life of Pi’ by Yann Martel-
“Fear is difficult to put into words. For fear, real fear, such as shakes you to your foundation, such as you feel when you are brought face to face with your mortal end, nestles in your memory like a gangrene: it seeks to rot everything, even the words with which to speak of it. So you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don’t, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.”
Need I say more?

HARRY POTTER FEVER

Ah, finally my net connection is restored, putting an end to my withdrawal symptoms of internet addiction. Phew, I don’t know how I managed to pull through three whole weeks.
As I am writing this entry, a particular incident comes to my mind. This was my first encounter with the so called ‘moral police’.
The scene: my friends and I are waiting for the classes to begin and hence are standing outside the building waiting for someone to open the classroom. The time is 5:30 pm, but the teacher hasn’t come yet.
friend 1 and friend 2 are reading my SMSes with absolute silence. An elderly woman approaches us.
Elderly woman: Can I know why are you standing here?
Friend1: we are waiting for our classes to start.
EW: can I know why do you come so early and wile away your time here?
Me: the class was supposed to start now but the teacher isn’t here yet. We don’t come early; it’s just that the teacher is late.
EW: but you see the problem is that you sit here and pass comments on the boys passing bye. (What?)
(Silence)
Friend2: why should we do that?
Me: we have better things to do Ma’m.
EW: even if you don’t do anything, the boys passing by notice you and they pass comments on you. (OK we will ask them to pass comments on you. HEE HEE. )
Friend1: we can’t help that.
EW: I know that but you see we weren’t so open with boys when we were of your age. (Jealous?)
(Notice where the conversation is going.)
Me: huh?
EW: actually you see I am against these classes. This is a residential area. I m also a teacher (Ah, a moral police with qualifications!)
Friend1, friend2, me: huh?
EW: you see there are certain NORMS of the society that you must follow. (Oh really…….)
Then she leaves, and we were left to think “what was she trying to say?”


We were left quite confused. Let me clarify friend1 and friend2 were girls so there was nothing to bring out the moral police in her(unless of course.. u know.... she thinks otherwise...ahem). And if reading text messages is considered a nuisance, then God save the world. Since when did teachers become so narrow minded?
I bet she is lying but if she is not, then god bless her students.
She is an insult to the community of teachers.
I am still wondering what she was thinking to say such things like that. Maybe I should take her for a tour of my college so that she can share her ‘knowledge’ with the students there. At the end of the day, who the hell is she? Any idea?