Right or Wrong?

As I sit here on my desk trying to write something for my soul and your enjoyment, I find myself at loss of topics and above all the most vital and common omission- concentration!! And why not? Concentration demands favourable surroundings and mine is the least. Except for the small space I have reclaimed for writing, the whole table is strewn with magazines, papers, copies and titbits of disastrous time pass regime.

Suddenly from this heap, my now useless seventh semester marksheet seemed to be mocking at me with the ‘#’ symbol indicating the flunked subject. And my mind in the brain and adrenaline in the blood started racing. I had something to think or rather something to ponder upon. Don’t worry friends, I am over the academic interest but can’t help the practical thoughts. And what I was thinking was blasphemy after proudly calling myself a ‘MECHANICAL ENGINEER’. But thoughts are thoughts dear and I am not strong enough to ward them off.

What went wrong? Did I want to be an engineer? Or did I want something else? You might laugh at the futility of such thoughts but I wish to question the very basis of the general mindset where the parents want their children to be either doctors or engineers and the children are wary of breaking new grounds. Having taken the dip myself four years back, I can’t see myself as a champion of free thinkers and trailblazers but call it remorse or corrective thoughts, I am thinking today.

Actually it is a very difficult decision to take; you have a professional and clear cut life on one side and an uncertain path thanks to the lack of proper information channels. Mindset also plays a major part in such cases, a mindset that deems commerce stream as inferior to science! Students often take the bite that is fed to them under peer pressure and the fear of failure. Caring not for the skills they have or rather the skills they lack. Disregarding the fact whether they are even interested or not they go for the plunge.

I am myself guilty of doing it; I chose engineering over my dream with evidently disastrous aftereffects like the one marksheet on my table, peeping at me with the ‘#’ sign, still mocking me and many more marksheets that are part of my resume now. All say only one story that I was not made to be an engineer.

Many a times life becomes a wrong step and you should be brave and determined enough to rectify the mistakes. Hoping for the best from the future I am hereby signing off but the marksheet with the ‘#’ sign still mocks me…..

Infatuations with slimness

Since I was a child, I always had a sweet tooth and of all the means, I always preferred the good old Dairy Milk, endearingly known to us as ‘Cadbury’. Isn’t it the same chocolate that our parents and probably their parents had as children ( a vintage pack gifted to me once suggested that). A chocolate bar that along with 5-star (now relegated to obscurity) has become a synonym for the whole lot of chocolates available in market, just like Xerox for photocopies.
Yet with changing times, our dear ‘Cadbury’ has also changed. As long as I can recall, formerly it use to have a paper packing which after much wormy controversies was changed to the present plastic packing which also gives it a more ‘take me seriously’ look. But the other day, when I decided to relish the calorific sin, a look at the new version of the standard Rs. 5/- dairy milk and my heart sank- it had been trimmed to half its former size. To be fair to the brand’s policy makers, let’s say that it has been ‘slimmed’ and why not?!! Aren’t everyone infatuated with slimness. Whether it is the dear uncle and aunties next door for whom the whole world should be slim except their own children or the TV channels that promote slimness through the soap operas where even the 60 year olds are unbelievably and enviably slim and of course young looking too to add to the injury of the viewer’s already battered ego.
So if we want everyone to be slim, we will have to accept everything as slim…..slim TVs, slim mobile phones, slim cameras, slim models and slim chances so why not a slim ‘Cadbury’??!! May be very soon, the ad campaign which says ‘kuch meetha ho jaye’ (let’s have some sweet) would be changed to ‘kuch kam meetha ho jaye ’(let’s have a little lesser sweet) where our Big B will reason with the world that his age calls for such desperate measures.
So the die has been cast rather the slimmer chocolate has been cast for us to suffer the agony of relishing a slim ‘Cadbury’……the only time I despised the generalization of slimness..

In Defence Of Window Shoppers

Just came back from a taxing journey to the city, taxing on my strength, taxing on my pocket. I had gone to meet some friends but the merciless city never provides one with comfortable meeting places which makes me miss my college even more, where every place was suitable for a meeting. So the commoners like us who can at least dare to think and above all act big always have a juicy option to meet at one of the malls but here you have to actually buy time. You would be coaxed into either shopping or indulging in some kind of peptic sin just in order to avoid developing a complex and all that comes at a hefty sum considering the standard maintained at such places. But in such demanding situations, the cake is taken away by a group of seemingly cheeky characters who happily defy all odds and weather all complexes to emerge as the successful survivors of this materialistic world which is constantly intimidated by the onslaught of incessant marketing strategies aiming to tear open a big hole in your pocket or the more ambitious ones going for your hard earned and harder kept bank balances. Branded by the civilization as window shoppers, I am in complete awe of these artists of the drama called sophisticated life.
Constantly marginalized by the vain and oft despised, class of ‘shoppers’ neither add anything to the coffers of the ever expecting traders nor they seemingly do anything productive. But friends, in my opinion they must be encouraged and why not? They lend a hustle bustle to the place and indirectly increase its appeal as potential buyers are often apprehensive about approaching a shop that is less visited perhaps suspecting something untoward. Secondly, these are the ultimate authorities of cost to brand utility ratios providing a detailed overview of what is reasonable and what is not, so if you are on the money losing side of the transaction, consulting an accomplished window shopper is always a remarkable idea.
Coming back to the mall scenario, after we had given in to the complex, we were gorging on some exotically named dessert, “At Rs.70 ONLY!!” as the advertising board had shamelessly declared. The sweetness of the dessert was lost in the bitterness of shelling out a princely sum for four of us. A quick glance around the place and I cold see happily moving window shoppers, peaceful at heart with secure pockets and roaming with élan, with a wry smile on their faces. Lucky they were, not to fall prey to worldly charms. I AM JEALOUS!!!


I saw them proudly gliding along in front of every shop and we, the group of so called sophisticated shoppers (read fools) were sitting there licking the last drops of the dessert as if licking our wounds after being hammered on the head by the generous payment we made at the cash counter.
May the art of window shopping flourish and may the tribe of window shoppers prosper.

Best moment or worst moment??

Life is always full of ironies and moments that tend to break you apart yet call it the beauty of living your life off the edge or the unfolding of the little precious feelings out of the rubbles of disaster, you get to live the best moments of your life only during such times.
Yes, that is a very different question that whether you get to enjoy it instantly or not but you surely cherish that moment throughout your life as one of the best moments when you come to know that you are being loved and cared for.
Although it would be a horrible mistake to ignore the importance of other beautiful moments but as I earlier said, it is the moments of disaster that brings out the best.
And hence, the same is true for my best moment in college life. It was a moment that filled me with hope and it was a moment that made me believe in love, it was an evening…..
An evening without anything extraordinary about it barring the fact that our semester results had been declared, and the maverick I am who was never tensed about the examinations ought to be tensed about the results. And yes, I was. I approached the notice board full of hope, prayers and apprehensions ignoring the rush of over excited students who had definitely prepared well for their examinations.
One careful glance at the list of roll numbers displayed and I knew that my worst nightmare had come true- I had flunked. Two or three more scrutinies didn’t help either. Neither did the declarations of an auxiliary list by a rumour spreader. Dejected I was coming out of the crowd; the whole world seemed to be worthless. Ridiculous it is that people expect to succeed without putting an effort but the truth is that they do, and they also feel the pangs of failure. And so did I.
Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by a familiar and soothing voice. Even before she asked something, I told her everything and then came the moment that gave me such a feeling that no award, no praise ad no achievement had ever given me….. she held my hand tightly and let me feel the warmth of care and after some time snatched my admit card and went into the crowd to confirm what I had confirmed four times. She came back crestfallen and I could see that she was feeling the same agony as I was and she was in as much pain as I was. Suddenly she gave me a warm and loving hug and I started forgetting all the pain and disappointment. At that time I wished to say a million things but I was speechless, I felt like shedding a billion tears but I couldn’t. all I felt was a serene peace prevailing upon me and slowly seizing my inner self, driving out all the negative thoughts, and at last I was calm and steady.


Strange it may appear to all of you but true, the worst moment of my college life led to the best moment of my college life. Being at the lowest point of one’s life is really very painful
but being told at that time that you are not alone means a lot. It reinforces your belief in your relationships and above all in your own self.
Soon after that my excellent friends helped me out of the situation very quickly and it would be unfair to say that their love and affection was in any way lesser but the quenching after the blow was too much to be ignored. Still when I look back to that moment, I am always filled with a magical sense of well being.
And so my belief strengthens that the best moments in your life are not the moments when everything is favourable and all are with you, they are the moments when you are in the deepest depths and someone assures you with love and care, helping you come out of it.