BEING HUMAN

Holy places of pilgrimage strikingly posing like the remains of a deadly battle, Corpses afloat in the sacred river waters,  Stranded people everywhere,  Rice and Roti being sold at completely in-human prices.  The Helpless government coping up with the job of helping the helpless people, The ever un-lit heroes raising-up to the brave task once again, Those innocent people having a strong delusion of the existence of the almighty, The justifiable questions having no proper answers. All these are a cumulative collections of the much happening part of today‘s India. The Tsunami’s had done this earlier, The Gujarat quakes much before that. This act of god never demands an explanation nor can it be given a fitting one.

Now, Indian politics never fails to put up a great show. And here it is in full swing:

 Mr. Modi is busy  carrying out the Rambo act saving only the Gujarati’s, which is because the congress ruling Uttrakandh’s  CM refuses to accept the rescue helicopters sent by the BJP-ian. And let me make it clear, I am not here supporting BJP or Modi here. I am pretty much sure that they too (BJP’S) would have done the same thing, if say, the floods had occurred in Gujarat. They never have in mind they are Ind-ian’s at the first place. They are politicians, they should never have those feelings.

The silenced headman does what he does best; maintaining the prolonged silence. I hope you would have guessed by now the person I am talking about. The act of condemning an incident is what they all do so damn perfectly, and rightly so is the case here too.

 Ooh !  Common yaar, this is Indian politics. What else do you expect?  

 These men deserve much more than a salute. I don’t know what, but they do deserve something better. The brave acts they pull off to save people they never have met before is nothing but pure love for humanity. Their efforts have always been right up there and they deserve total respect for that alone.The exceptional people in our country are never given the right place they deserve. Be it the farmers who sow and reap under the hot sun, or the jawaans who live out the icy nights camping in virgin lands to protect the million fellow countrymen. They are never given the right place.

The media glare is slowly fading out of this entire issue and they are busy focusing on the humiliating defeat of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federrer and Maria Sharapova, The downfall of the Indian rupee, The  bizarre decision of DMK garnering the support of the congress for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls and many more.

 Slowly people will start to forget the Uttrakandh floods which is very natural. No matter what, life just has to move on. Before just forgetting and moving forward, one has to imagine for a few minutes the life of all those homeless and landless people.  Even there, life just has to move on. But it is easier said than done. This is where the real help must be given. There are several out there lending out financial help and NGO’s doing the manly service. If not all those, let us at least pray and wish for them a prosperous life and try being human!  

Schooling is done ! So, What next ??

Please god do bless me, for tomorrow is 9th may, the dreadful day. These recurring words year after year after year, bring about several emotions for the next few days. "Pass" "fail" "toppers" "school" "excited" "unexpected"  "satisfied" "cheerful" "disappointment" "suicide" blah...blah...blah are a great catch in the newspapers for the coming days. All is well until the results are out.

So, what after this ?? What is this utterly nonsensical question you are asking ??? ENGINEERING it is, of course !! This is where almost everyone fails, I being one among those several.

One thing is very clear from this

* All those medical and arts college students, I don't think this piece will be of any use to you.( i doubt if it ll be of use for the rest too ) .So I suggest you just close and continue your work.

For the majority rest:

Engineering degree is almost like a morning newspaper, Almost everyone has one today and anyone can have one tomorrow. Just one major difference, the former comes at an astounding price but values much less, whereas the latter is exactly the opposite. Oh yeah, I get it. It's a bit too exaggerated.

But, the exaggeration is something I was compelled to make. It's the unfortunate reality of today. Engineering is something that's lost it's core purpose today. Most colleges offering engineering courses themselves do not know what engineering is. Pity us, we follow the same path.

 Engineering college is never like how it is in "Minnale" or any other movie and you are no "Madhavan" or "Remma Sen" . That's cinema. It's fake , every single frame of it is. If you have any such idea of a college like that, then it is always one that belongs in your dreams. Engineering colleges of today try teaching you almost everything except engineering. If you are really interested, you have to learn it yourself, and that's how engineering is.

Then comes the biggest foul play - "Placements". This is where your beloved parents fall. A job even before you get your newspaper, err...sorry, your engineering  degree. Well, what's the use of a mechanical or civil engineer getting placed in TCS or CTS ?? That would be the most bizarre thing to happen. But just look at the beauty here, almost no one is bothered. You will be on their payroll for a maximum of 2 useless years of your precious life. After that ?? Well we never want to think about that now.

Take up engineering, not because your friend has, not because there are 500 and odd colleges offering engineering, not because your dad and mum told  you to. Take it up, if you are really interested. And still, you will have to learn it yourself. because that's what it is. And for the rest, there  are tons and tons of things out there. Try out and do things you love to . Photography, journalism, statistics, music, arts, food, travel, writing and there is a long list waiting to be explored. Just two request's

• Firstly, Don't make any other stuff as famous as engineering of today. Engineering itself is more than sufficient. 

• Secondly, Don't even try considering cricket as an career option. Almost entire India is playing it today and it's equally dangerous as engineering

Hmm....YOU are absolutely right,  These are exactly what "Aamir Khan" told in "3 idiots" and "Vijay" tried telling in "Nanban". So what new have i done here ?? I have just wasted 5 minutes of your facebook-ing time, trying to tell you things you are very much aware of already. Well, here it is ......

What  if you are not good at anything at all ????  Well, you need not worry, You are a lucky guy.You have this wonderful, priceless path. Jump straight into politics, no turning back, every other guy will be under your control. And how is that possible ??? 

It is because of this simple know worldly fact;

Almost none will do what "Aamir khan" or "Vijay" or several others tried telling .They will nevertheless fall into engineering and you'll most probably be owning an engineering college.....And that's how it is !

 Long live Indian politics - jai hind

DISTRACTING DISTRACTIONS !!

OooH ....What a woman !!!! .....Sexy song on the television...... How much likes would i have got for that pic i uploaded last night ??? ....Will she text me ??  Is He in love ??? How much arrears am i going to end up with ??  What if i am not able to clear them at all ??  ...... Will India win the series ?? Will MAN-U beat REAL MADRID ?? How am i going to convince my dad to get a smartphone ??? How cool 'll it be if i somehow succeed in convincing him ??? Will i ever have a girlfriend ??? What plans this weekend ???
Who's b'day is up next ?? So, Where is the party ?? Which movie this Friday ??? And millions of other such stuffs...

One unknown genius somewhere has deliberately managed to bring all of the above said stuffs under a single, decent, demarcate phrase and entitled it "DISTRACTION" .  Ahhh...GOD !! How much distractions he would have had in achieving this mammoth task, only he knows. Well, I had a bloody lot of distractions before completing the first para itself, Which i think has eventually distracted me to write this piece about that cool guy himself (Mr.Distraction).

Not knowing where to begin and how to begin, i have in some such way completed the first two para's.
So now, lets get into a life of a college going teenager and see how distractions designs his life.

# Getting up extremely early on a Monday morning and without knowing what to do, does everything with such a hurry and  finally misses the bus. What's the bloody distraction here ??? ... Well facebook and late night movies and  are. You feel for it that morning, but it wins you again the following night ! Why not record notes and assignments in that list ??? Well, to answer that, i guess a very few does it the night before.... Class hours are solely meant for it and a majority do it there !

# Entering into college, we try to catch hold in sight, an immensely great looking person of the opposite sex. This one happens very rarely because,  we always find super hot chicks and handsome 6-pac guys in colleges other than ours. So we get satisfied with the "sumaar figures... and soup boys" and go on to the next phase.

# Except for the alien few sitting in the first benches, none have a clue about what is taught in the class. They are engrossed in every other thing. Sometimes even the board, but surely not about the content in it . Mind you,  i said only the aliens in the first benches, So this undoubtedly includes even the lecturer/professor handling the class. It would be quite a lengthy and lazy task to guess what everyone would be thinking. But it would, most of the time, be something i mentioned in the first para..So let's move on...

# In the lunch and tea, we usually discuss about the wandering thoughts we had in class, with our close mates and they their's . After the huge plenteous mid day meal, this is where,  "distraction" loses it's game, however hard it tries. And this is because, Even If your eyes are wide open, you are undoubtedly in deep sleep . This technique is something that's in-born and almost every student is a master. You can be distracted from that state by just one thing - "The electronic bell", which goes off at the end of the after-lunch period.

# After the college hours, the "sumaar figures-soup boys" session repeats itself once again and injects crushes invariably to random guys and girls. As a result of which, Mark Zukerbergh has become one of the richest teen and the popularity of facebook has grown to some unimaginable extent. This phase is very shortly interrupted by dinner and goes on till.....Well it depends on the individual's state. And the whole process repeats itself once again the next day.The cycle test, and the internal exams are definite preys to our protagonist. The semester too sometime succumbs. Still very few care, and rest don't give a shit about it.

Distractions are something inevitable and a life without distractions is actually impossible.They take us further ahead from tough times. They are like pills at at times, they divert us and gives us hope.Distractions are relaxers, They make us tell "there is always a next time". They do good and they F*ck up too. It all happens

This very piece on "distraction" took around 5 distracted hours to get completed and thus proving itself right,  time and again !

CONTROVERSY'S BEST FRIEND - KAMAL HASSAN

Before even starting to write this peice, i asked myself, "Do I have to spend 3 odd hours and a few units of the abundantly available electricity, to write this piece??" and this silly thought was because, this topic was on it’s maximum high a few days ago. Almost everyone wrote on it, a few cursing, a few praising, and a few even raising up. The facebook news feed’s carried only this. Every top journalist at least mentioned about this somewhere in his post. And of course, the news channels too, were on a total high on this debate, and directly proportional to it was their TRP. Such was the fan following this scenario managed to achieve, and it was solely because of the man behind this issue and his incredible brain. This disturbing thought being on for quite sometime, I just re-collected everything that was hooked up with this issue and decided to go ahead with writing it. One more important factor that made me write this was my “engineering record note”. Just the thought of that made me switch on the computer and open ‘Microsoft word’.

You should have surely guessed by now, if not, then you are most probably some guy from mars or Jupiter.To start with, ‘Vishwaroopam’ befriended ‘cultural terrorism’ on it’s way, before hitting the screens. This unfruitful friendship yielded lots of sour fruits. This friendship was not quite surprising because, controversy is a long time ally of ‘Mr.Kamal Hassan’, the man behind Vishwaroopam. One would be surprised, only if a movie of his, releases without any sort of trouble. Only the form of trouble was the curiosity quotient.

In the past, Cultural terrorism has successfully managed to bring fame to two eminent artists; The late 'M.F.Hussain' and 'Salman Rushdie'. As a result of the latter’s familiarity promotion, a book of his was made into a movie. In our case of discussion here, the protest by self proclaimed minority Muslim groups temporarily managed to “ban” the movie, thanks to the T.N. government. And the reasons they stated, were rightly unknown to themselves. Their only aim was to gain popularity, and they managed to achieve it quite efficiently.

This drama made a few things certain

#  The people of Tamilnadu will always rise up and support a great artist and his creation but never for the electricity required to watch the creation. Of course they ll swear at the theatre operator if a electricity failure interrupts their show. But never beyond that .

#  Politics can test and tease even a man like Kamal Hassan with such ease, So don’t you dare raise your        voice against issues like electricity which are concerned with politics.

# And lastly, Vishwaroopam 2, without any doubt, is going to face it's dose of trouble.As a result, the first two steps are going to be occuring once again.

The best part is, after the high dramatic fight, the result achieved was utter stupidity. A mere few dialogues were muted. And look at the brilliance here, these dialogues were very well known to the public even before watching the film, because the opposition parties told it in every media possible. What’s the point here ??   Don’t think too much, I know you won’t, but still, you can never arrive at a definite answer. Such is the beauty of this very place we live in.

After watching this mind-blowing movie, I was told by a friend of mine to write on it. As a result, I sat out patiently through my 2 hour power cut and ended up with this piece.

A tribute to God's Own Country !

The lush green mountains, the step terraced farmlands on those mountainous slopes, the narrow winding roads, fog-filled early dawn, leaves with droplets waiting for the warmth of the morning sun, The complete calmness and serene beauty, are all what this human eye could perceive sitting in a car and riding through the roads of god's own country.
It's around 5 in the morning and rolling down of the window, just rewards me with a chill breeze brushing my face violently and sending my hair up, almost immediately. The smell of rain blended with that of the sand and the malayalam language is something that is out of explanation.

On the way further, our car stops for a chayya break. The cold weather makes me shiver and cross-hands,  desperately trying to cover myself from the biting cold wind. There is just this one chayya shop open in the otherwise deserted road and we are the only customers there except for the flock of pigeons coo-ing nearby.
The chai-walla famously known here as nayar , sporting a flat streak of sandal wood paste in his forehead, is briskly onto his work. Few minutes and a couple of cars pass by, before i am handed with a cup of hot tea.My shivering hands desperately hold on to the hot glass . The hot vapor rising from the glass is eaten up by the weather almost instantly and the tea is waiting to be drunk as he too cant stand the cold . The small break ending right there, our car proceeds further. 

The sunrises slowly providing the much-awaited warmth and the vehicle rides past a temple. And thank god for the small traffic, for this is where i witnessed the "bold and the beautiful"; The absolute gorgeous mallu girls in their complete traditional costume. Their wet hair fresh from bath and dark eyeliners are stunning examples of  divine beauty.The men with their silk 'mund' and the 'chandanam' are marvellous examples of masculinity. The entire place was filled up with an incense, for which i could find no words to explain. The heavenly sounds from the traditional instrument "chanda" fills the air with holiness. Time had no mercy for me and was at its maximum pace. The near 5 minute stop had loads of things to be admired and looked upon.
This place is one of nature's pet as it fills everybody with an awe. The roads are always clean, A sight of green almost everywhere, The pride in the people never too high, never too low. 'Respect'- right there and 'humility'- of course, without any doubt. All these delights make me come to this place time and again, and i thoroughly cherish every minute of my presence, in the lap of god's own country !