C'est La Vie....

SHE REMEMBERS

His warm hands enveloping her cold ones.
The firm grip.
The perfume on his neck.
The broad shoulders,
The strong back.
The soft hair on his hands.
His disarming deep gaze.
The way his hands tucked her hair behind her ear.
And gently caressed her tender lips.
When he tried to manage both the steering wheel and the gears with just one hand
As the other rested on her thigh interlocked with hers.

SHE REMEMBERS

That fateful day.
The confrontation.
The incessant rain of tears.
His indifference.
Her anger.
The sinking feeling.
Her disappointment in him.
In herself.
Regretting knowing him.

All this, as she tries to UN-REMEMBER it all.

Kabhi-kabhi shyam hone par suryoday hota hai,
Kabhi-kabhi suraj ki pehli kiran se fiza mein andhera chaa jata hai.

Kabhi-kabhi aasuon mein khushiyan jhalakti hain,
Kabhi-kabhi ek badi si muskurahat ke peeche dher sa gum chupa hota hai.

Kabhi-kabhi mithas mein namak ghula hota hai,
Kabhi-kabhi sagar ka paani bhi meetha lagta hai.

Kabhi-kabhi duriyan nazdeek le aati hain,
Kabhi-kabhi nazdeek rehte hue duriyan bad jaati hain.

Kabhi-kabhi lau baati ko jala kar khud ko mita deti hai,
Kabhi-kabhi shama parwane ko bhi sirf garmahat hi deti hai.

Kabhi-kabhi sab kuch keh kar bhi kuch ankaha reh jaata hai,
Kabhi-kabhi khamosh aankhein sab kuch bayan kar deti hain.

Kabhi-kabhi poori duniya mein hum hi hum ho jaate hain,
Aur kabhi-kabhi hum bhi hum nahi reh paate hain.

kabhi kabhi, ek nagma hi ek ghazal ban jaata hai,

kabhi kabhi, ek khayaal hi ek zindagi ban jaata hai.

(Just for the record, this was written on 8th may, but me being the lazy bum that I’m, it’s being posted today:))

Since as long as I can remember, the one sport that I’ve followed throughout my life is cricket. Yeah, basketball and soccer have their own importance but nothing beats cricket. Like every true Indian, I too consider it my religion. And today I achieved nirvana according to my religion, because for the first time in my 20 orbits around the sun, I watched a match – LIVE!!

Match – Delhi Daredevils vs. Chennai Super Kings
Venue – Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium, Delhi
Time – 2:30 p.m.

The scorching heat did not seem to be a deterrent for the hundreds of people queuing outside the stadium. The match itself was by far the closest encounter IPL had seen so far. Chasing an imposing 188 for victory, a beefed up Chennai batting order got it down to 15 off the last over. With Gony on strike, Sehwag, in a gamble gone horribly wrong handed the ball to Shoaib Malik. Soon it was scores level, down to the last ball. The audience went numb as Sehwag had a long chat with Malik. With chants of “Malik, Malik” in the background, he bowled to Badri who hit hard and Shikhar Dhawan, at deep mid-wicket, made a valiant attempt but it was all over. Chennai had broken their losing streak, winning by 4 wickets. Had Dhawan held on to what would have been a brilliant last ball catch, the match would have seen the first bowl-out of the league.

Gambhir’s blistering 80 off 49 balls (which went in vain) got him back the orange cap for the tournament’s highest run-scorer from Sehwag.

The turning point of the game was when Albie Morkel hit 3 consecutive sixes off an over by Sehwag and took a total of 25 runs off it. That one over changed the complexion of the game.

The disappointed crowd did not even stay for the presentation. And as if in protest of the outcome of the match, the weather brewed up a strong dust storm as soon as the game ended. Well, as they say, you win some, you lose some.

The attendance requirement is akin to the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads. For a batch of future managers, such a trivial rule is demeaning, not just to us, but to the very faculty that endorses it.
First hand evidence of this fact is that this was written while I was in one of my classes. : It was a subject that I can very well handle on my own. Given a few printed hand-outs and a couple of reference books, all I need are a few hours to clear a few concepts. Then why on earth was I sitting there twiddling my thumbs? So much for time management!
Frankly speaking, I’m not an academic genius. In fact I’m in deep trouble in a few subjects. I’ve done the internal papers badly and thanks to Symphony (the college fest); I have no idea of what’s happening in class. And outside the rigorous B.Com schedule there’s the DramSoc, CAT coaching classes, Placement Cell…..At this rate, I either need 48 hours a day or I drop down dead.
What really gets to me is that I’d really like to start studying and not make a grand show of seriousness by attending classes, wake up late for a couple of days, get some notes together, READ them and actually LEARN something. Think that’s far better than writing notes in class as dictated from a 20 year old register whose pages have ages but whose contents remain unchanged. That’s not about learning, it’s a prize-winning ad for MODI-XEROX.
Let’s face the facts. The issue isn’t new; it’s an age-old argument. The attendance requirement has been reduced to a whip in the hands of the faculty; its sole purpose to keep ‘wayward’ students in line. Let’s take a quick look at BITS-Pilani, where students plan their own schedule after seeing that of the faculty. No one accuses a BITSian of being irresponsible and undisciplined. Then why is this honor bestowed upon us? Which civilized educational institution detains its students on the basis of the number of hours spent staring at a blackboard! If this is the basis for professional education, then we’re all destined to be pencil pushers, adept at preaching but never practicing ourselves.
Back to Ground Zero. What are we here for? Becoming good managers I suppose. Logically speaking that should involve learning a subject from the basics, developing a hands on approach to problems and being able to solve problems in the best possible way. Sounds pretty impressive, doesn’t it? But is that what we are actually heading towards? Hours spent staring at teachers’ faces, furtive glances at the watch, SMSing all and sundry, doing CAT papers or reading the latest bestseller aren’t going to get us there. Wonder what all this has to do with the attendance requirement? Simple. People will study when they WANT to study. Forcing undergraduate students to attend classes and study exactly what is being taught just doesn’t work. Just look at the number of academic success stories who’ve topped with the aid of just the photocopying machine. In any case, 50 students sitting together and poring over the same material day in and day out won’t produce hot shot managers. We’ll just end up as a batch of graduates collectively pouting out what we have learnt, sorry…studied.
Not that this is a reflection on our faculty. Hats off to our teachers who teach with so many students oblivious to what’s happening in the class. It’s the system that’s faulty. And this is what prevents our faculty from reaching the apex of their teaching potential. At this level, the role of our faculty should be restricted to providing guidance, entrusting the bulk of the learning process to the students. For, any faculty is much too valuable to be wasted on such a retrograde teaching process involving a compulsory physical presence in class. It’s time to accept the reality of our current situation and move on with the times.

Think about this :
We are living in an India that has a GDP growth of over 8%, a Forex reserve surplus of well over $250 billion and which boasts of having one of the highest English speaking populations in the world. We are an IT powerhouse, a country that causes outsourcing blues in the US Senate and an economy that gives old hands China a run for their money.
But behind this entire hullabaloo, do we miss the true picture? Let us analyse.
India in reality is just a developing economy in a rudimentary stage. The economic disparity among the masses is huge and there are factors that ensure that it remains this way. Illiteracy and corruption are rampant. Every move undertaken here is politically motivated and the interests of the nation take a back seat whenever self interest is concerned.
The recent issue that has brought this unpleasant fact to the forefront yet again is the issue of caste-based reservations. As if 7.5% reservations for the STs and 15% for the SCs was not enough (do not ask me how the govt. actually defines these categories), the govt. has created another category called the OBCs and has sought to provide an additional 27% reservation for them in premier govt. institutes in the country including the esteemed IITs and IIMs. That makes the total reservations in these institutes a whooping 49.5%. Let us see what implications this move has for different sections of society.
Understandably, no political party has stood up against this move of the govt.because that would endanger its vote-bank and would also make it seem anti-poor. But the question to be asked is how many of these politicians actually think this move would benefit the so called unprivileged classes of the society (whether socially, economically or otherwise is anyone's guess)? This politically motivated move would, in my opinion, further demean the long oppressed 'lower classes'. Then who stands to gain from it? No one except the politicians for whom such acts of despair every now and then are their only modus-operandi in this age of competition. And do not forget the unscrupulous elements in society for whom a back-door entry to an esteemed institution is just a fake caste-certificate away. As Abraham Lincoln once said, "You cannot enrich the poor by impoverishing the rich." Similarly, does the govt. not realise they cannot develop the lower sections by putting the better sections at a disadvantage?
The following words or phrases fromt he Preamble to the Constitution stand out as very relevant to our discussion - EQUALITY OF STATUS AND OPPURTUNITY. Meaning that the State cannot discriminate between its citizens on the ground of caste, creed, language, sex or origin in providing oppurtunities. How well does the reservation policy agree with the Preamble to the Indian Constitution? For B.R.Ambedkar, the Father of the Indian Constitution, had himself siad that the reservations at the time of independence were the need of a dormant society, one that needed to give someextra 'concessions' to a long oppressed 'lower socety'.to rise, but that reservations should be done away with after a period of a few years because otherwise it would pose a hindrance to the development of the nation. These views of his were recently echoed in Parliament by his grandson Prakash Ambedkar who actually felt that the use of the word 'caste' should be banned from the country for its betterment. But is the govt. listening?
The IITs and IIMs are considered hallmarks of excellence worldwide. Just imagine what would happen to their reputation if half their campuses were inherited by not-so-competent people. not-so-competent because in the past most people admitted to the IITs and IIMs under some reserved category have been seen to be below par as far as academic performance is concerned. Such people are also almost routinely neglected by the pvt. sector companies taht come to these campuses for recruiyment. As a matter of fact, these reservations only set out to compromise the regime of intellectual meritocracy that these esteemed institutes have developed over a period of time.For much of India's success story in the global economy today can be attributed to these institutions. And a near 50% reservation in these institutions would spell a slowdown in the nascent Indian economy, which in the long run would hurt the very people it is supposed to protect. Another point to be considered here is what would happen to those meritorious students who miss these institutions narrowly. Would they not blame it on the quota sysytem that the govt. is following and would this not add to the unrest and frustration in the country? In short would it not go against the principles of a just society?
If the stste of affairs continue the way they are, with reservations being extended to almost every sector, we might soon have a caste-based reservation in the Indian Cricket team. Can you imagine that? If the govt. is so adamant on including the OBCs in the reservation circle, why do they not start with the Parliament, which at present does not have any reservation for the OBCs? But rather than playing these political gimmicks, can we not concentrate on improving the education facilities for the deprived few at the grassroots level and try to integrate them with the mainstream of society instead of giving them reservation where it would not matter to them?
As auch the hype surrounding the economic boom in India can be best described as "Much Ado About Nothing". This is because of the simple reason that the issues that matter are far more despairing than the glorious ones taht hog the limelight. And even more despairing is the fact that there is little that the common man has done or can do to improve the sorry stste of affairs that exists currently. So, at the end of it all, i'm still tempted to ask, "Is India really shining ?"

Happiness. One word. Million interpretations.

Money. Love. Shelter. Good grades. Security. Freedom. Friendship. A square meal perhaps ?
Whatever the case be, they are all branches belonging to the same tree - HAPPINESS.

Hey, wait a minute !!! I don't have a lotta money (I'm a student after all and God only knows how I survive on my pocket money!), don't have my own house, have much less freedom than I'd like, there's absolutely no sign of love in my life and don't even get me started on my grades !
Hell !!! I should be miserable !!

But surprisingly, I'm not! I'd like to believe that it's the small things in life which make me happy. Yeah yeah I can almost see that eyebrow go up.

Seriously folks, I feel really happy when the book I'm reading has a happy ending.

When I take out my winter blazer at the beginning of the season and find a five rupee coin in it, I'm over-joyed.

When a friend who hasn't been in touch for a long time, calls up out of the blue, my heart takes a joyous leap.

When I really like a shirt/skirt in the display window o a shop but find that it's outta my budget and save all week to buy it & when I go back 'n' it's still there, I feel ecstatic.

When I'm really skeptical about doing something which eventually turns out to be in my favour, I feel on top of the world.

When I'm feeling down & out and all of a sudden my absolute favourite song plays on the radio station, I feel absolutely happy.

But then, I'm a simple girl with simple needs. :)

Do you know that according to the American Constitution, every citizen there has a constitutional RIGHT to be happy ? I'm sure that there are loadsa people there who have just about enough money, with little or no security &/or shelter and who haven't met their soul mates(yet!) but manage to be happy nevertheless.Perhaps, they like me, find happiness in the small things in life. :)