Sailing towards uncharted waters, better than drowning in dismay

Finally I’m getting a well-deserved holiday , I’m most probably going on a vacation to Visakhapatnam(Vizag) , a coastal area in Andhra Pradesh, with lots of beaches and enough “sun, sand and surf” to relieve me of all the stress I have been facing lately.
Of late life has been demanding in more ways than one, the details of which I shall not burden you with, but basically it has been pretty frustrating and its not helping that most of my friends have been pretty depressed themselves thus leaving nobody to liven my own dampened spirits. Some are depressed due to family problems, for others its work related issues and for certain others its just plain boredom, whatever the cause may be the effect has been more or less the same, and I guess its really not helping anyone that the weather has been so foreboding too.
Anyways I m glad that in a couple of weeks I shall be getting away from all this, like the Linkin Park song goes “ Its easier to run………..” , I would rather run than feel so low.
Anyways coming to the sailing part of it, you see Vizag is a sea port and my uncle ( who stays there) is some sort of director in the ship yard so I may actually get the opportunity to sail in a ship, so I’m hoping that as I sail in one of those majestic ships, I’ll also be able to sail past my own depression and cruise into happier times.
PS-: If there are dementors around spreading dread in the air, "HELP, harry we need a huge patronous".

Hibernating at home

Three months ago had you told me I’d be given a chance to sit at home doing absolutely nothing and be given the freedom to do what I want when I want to, I would have probably been ecstatic and jumped at the very idea of spending time so aimlessly, but now that I have the opportunity, I’m not so enthusiastic. Every day I sit at home, idle, having absolutely nothing constructive to do and my frustration gets the better of me. You could probably say ( like a lot of people have) watch movies, go out with friends, catch up with your reading etc etc………( and believe me the suggestions are endless)but that does get saturating after a certain point, since that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the past 1 ½ months, now I long for something useful to do, a grueling schedule, even engineering maths seems highly appealing( I’m sure in the later months I’ll be cursing myself for saying this)…………. Anyways this clearly shows how ironic life can get sometimes, and I’m clearly not laughing at the irony in mine.

August to be spent in denial

Even though all this while everyone’s been focusing on which college or which branch to get into, everyone also realises its time to say goodbye, some for the better( mostly to the jain chem and physics department , who made my life in jain college a living hell and also to a few select students in class whose names I’d rather not mention) and others unfortunately for the worse. Even though most of my friends are going to continue to pursue their studies in banglore, a few are leaving for better prospects elsewhere………but even though this may sound a tad melodramatic ,considerin I can always keep in touch through the phone or the net, whether a few miles or millions this does make a lot of difference, and so this fact that I’m going to be away from people I’ve known since nursery has’nt really been accepted by me. I choose to live in denial…. Sad na but true because sometimes living in denial does give one a false sense of security and warmth and puts away a lot of unwanted mental stress and apprehension, and the only thing I’d like to say to justify this psychopath like behavior is that anyways in a month’s time I’ll have no choice but to face the truth so I’m just trying to avoid the inevitable while I can. .So for now I’m taking life day by day and plan to face the music( whether melodius or not)later…..

Speculating in July

If you guys have observed the weather in banglore lately,or atleast the past couple of weeks,it has been pretty weird, strange and unpredictable. Early in the morning the sun’s up and shining brightly as if it were summer however around noon it disappears behind the clouds followed by a constant drizzle as if monsoon and about 6 in the evening it turns unusually cold, making us hunt for our sweaters and blazers , as if winter.

I have been pretty jobless the past month and have spent my time mostly admiring the weather( you can easily guess that I have absolutely nothing to do),and so I feel that this strangely unusual weather reflects my confused and unsure state of mind.

Confused probably because I still have no idea whether I made the right choice in choosing the college and branch that I did and unsure as to what is going to happen in the fast approaching casual round .I m in a very unpredictable state of mind ( just like the weather) joyful, optimistic and highly hopeful at times , like the morning sunshine, while dull, sulky and moody at others like the gray skies of the afternoon and yet there are times when I’m highly anxious, apprehensive and scared like the cold and chilly nights.

So you can clearly see I’m see that I’ m spending way too much time speculating about the future but then there are those afternoons when there is bright sunshine accompanied by those typically refreshing banglore showers which results in those beautiful evenings with cool breezes and lovely sunset, and those are the evenings I look forward to when I can relish the lovely weather being careless ,having a nice chat with friends and a nice hot cup of chai in my hands…………….

The Mugg N Vomit Syndrome

This is a bloody endemic which has deeply inflicted and crippled the Indian education system. India’s youth is said 2 b 1 of d most intelligent, hardworking and academically inclined one in d world but thanx 2 d above disease which has gripped d mind of d Indian youth their potential is not being completely sapped. I m an ICSE student n thanx 2 dat atleast my ability 2 understand , contemplate n criticize was encouraged 2 a certain extent but 4 my 11 th std I shifted 2 d state board and was appalled by their system of education here let alone encouraging a student’s ability 2 understand , here d phenomenon of understandin is completely discouraged. Here d students r provided wid typed notes n r asked 2 completely learn it by-heart,n during d exam d student is asked 2 reproduce d same without missin a comma or a question mark. Here d question as 2 whether d student has an understandin of d subject does not even arise n is treated as irrelevant. If any student has any doubt regardin d subject he/she is asked 2 read d notes thoroughly again n if he/she further questions d teacher , he/she is made a mockery of or is shouted at for askin unnecessary questions……….hence in conclusion I’d like to say dat 1 has 2 take some sort of step 2 change how things work here because in today’s world where things knowledge keeps widenin its boundaries by d second 1 cannot continue 2 live in this ignorant n knaive fashon. Thus I’d also like 2 add by sayin dat after knowing how things work here it does not shock me when India inspite of being d home 2 d largest no. of docs n engineers in d world is not home 2 dat many scientists since even though d ppl here may b remarkably gifted, very rarely r they encouraged 2 use their brains.

D cobra in my garden

This happened 2 me n my fly bout 5 yrs ago…………………I live in south bangalore in an area which is not quite in d outskirts of bangalore but an area which until 4-5 yrs ago was pretty forlorn. My house is a beautiful white 1 wid lush green trees , thickets n bushes adornin it on 3 sides, which itself had bcome a home 2 a few woodland creatures lik birds, butterflies n even a few squirrels, but 5 yrs ago was when all d development began which transformed our area 4m a “ peaceful not so well-developed “ one 2 one of d prime areas in bangalore.
U c a group of builders had bought this huge orchard near my place n were now goin 2 fell all d trees n replace them wid majestic apartment buildings n condos, n so they came wid their noisy trucks laden wid concrete n other building material thus bringing noise n pollution 2 d then unpolluted area. Don’t get me wrong of course thanx 2 dem v now hav lovely malls n shoppin complexs @ a stone’s throw away , but den v were robbed of d earlier solitude v possessed………….
So in addition 2 disturbin d mental peace of a large no. of humans d very homes of a no. of creatures ,birds, bandicoots n snakes( of whom till now v were blissfully unaware of), were destroyed. So as d trees were chopped dese animals crawled, scurried n slithered away 2 find a better habitat 2 reside in n unfortunately some of them chose r homes as a temporary residence.One evening as my mom n I were standin on our balcony jus admiring d beautiful sunset, v heard some sorta of commotion comin 4m d neighbour’s house on enquiring v were told dat dere was a cobra in their garden , instinctively I looked down @ r own garden(not knowing wat I’d find dere ofcourse) only 2 c this long, shiny black serpent wid a spectacle mark on its hood 2 b curled around d curry leaf tree. Its very length astounded me 4 I can assure u it was atleast 10 feet long, I kept staring @ it 4 a good 60 seconds bfore regainin my wits , I then told my mom who panicked n called 4 d colony watchman. He soon came along wid a few labourers armed wid sticks 2 kill d snake but thankfully d snake was just too quick 4 them n gav them a slip.
Till 2day everytime I look @ dat tree I m haunted by d memory of dat long, black cobra wid its fangs full of venom n it sends jitters down my spine, but now I realize dat d poor snake had nowhere else 2 go, 2day wid r ever increasing population every inch of forest land is being felled 2 accomodate us humans leavin behind no place 4 other animals lik snakes, tigers, elephants etc 4 whom lush green forests r necessary. So some sorta compromise has 2 b reached so dat dere is sufficient space 4 both animals n humans, I do not know how this can b attained but soon some drastic measures need 2 b taken bfore it leads 2 more complicated circumstances

Sandy - My 1st love

Ppl bfore u get any crazy ideas let me tell u sandy was my dog's name n bfore u further go crazier by thinkin i m 1 of those few ppl who hav sexual relations or marry a being of another specie................ let me tell i m no such weirdo . sandy was this beautiful labrador which my dad actually got as a gift 4m his vet frnd cuz she knew v were lookin 4 a dog.............. it was 1 of d most beautiful dogs i ve ever seen ( n blive me i m not bein partial or anythin cuz he was mine) he had this delicte golden-brown fur, pretty thick actually considerin labs r not very hairy, makin d doc assume he was a cross b/w a lab n a golden retriever, lovely , beautiful silver-grey eyes, remindin me of franki muniz's eyes n amazingly energetic. He was a perfectly healthy dog n we had given him all d shots v had 2, he was a healthy eater n slightly lazy( but c'mon who can blame him he was related 2 me). He was amazingly popular wid everyone in d neighbourhood n everyone 4m d milk walla 2 d poo-karee used 2 pet him every mornin, of course this made him useless as a guard dog considerin his overtly friendly nature but more than a guardian he was a dear friend 2 all.Sadly however 1 night he fell seriously ill, v called d vet who said v should come n meet him d 1st thin in d mornin, sandy hence suffered all night n week took him 2 d vet d nxt day he asked us 2 rush him immediately 2 d hospital cuz he suspected dat it had ingested some sorta foreign material......... my mom @ this pt asked d vet if there was some sorta threat 2 his life........ he cud'nt make any promises but assured us dat if v hurried things wud b ok............... v immediately rushed him 2 d hospital but sadly he passed away on d way itself.... it was my 1st experiance wid loss, of course now i hav learnt 2 accept it however i m unsure whether me n my family will ever gather enough courage 2 keep a dog again................. sandy was a lovable an a loyal pet but sadly his life was so untimely cut short, however in wat little time he did spend wid us he brightened our lives immensely n i m thankful 4 dat..............