Wednesday, March 24, 2010

"50 Things"

Great great read !!

http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/life/workplay_balance_at_mit/50_things.shtml

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Just One Step.

It was a calm chilly night. Just like any other nights. But it was completely different for me. I guess everything seems different when you are standing at the edge of the 20th floor of a building.

I was feeling chilled to the bone when I was standing there. I looked down and I could see everything so small. The cars moving on the road were looking minuscule. It was just like playing games in the childhood all over again, the only difference being that the remote was not with me. The series of street light going in a straight line never seemed to end. I never imagined this face of the city.

I was all alone there, on the roof top. I was depressed. I was in despair. And while I was standing there, I was thinking that just one step will solve all my problems. There will be no more days when I have to wake up afraid of facing the world all over again. There will be no more people to whom I have to give answers. There will be no more office where I will be forced to talk to people. There will be no more parties I am supposed to attend. No more phone calls I have to entertain. I will be free from the mask of sanity and courage that I have been carrying around for the last two years. Above all this, I will be free from my guilt, my own guilt. The guilt of having been a part of such a horrifying act. And all this could have happened, in just one step.

But the last step is not so easy. I was there filled with so many conflicting thoughts. Thoughts about parents, thoughts about friends and thoughts about the good times. I could see flashes of all the people I have ever met in front of my eyes. I could even see some faces which I saw in the bus last night. Every face was giving me a reason to live. But the question was - am I worth their attention? Or rather, do I even care about them now, because that moment was for me, about my life, my pain and my guilt. And today I had a chance to free myself from all of these. All I had to do was to take just one step which would have taken me to a better end.

Then suddenly, while I was deciding to take that one final step, there was this brief moment. The moment when I got numb. That moment was filed with the silence of darkness. I could feel the air piercing right through my heart. I was standing there at the edge of the roof and all I could see was the ground beneath me. There was no pain, guilt, family or friend. It was just me and the ground. I could clearly see the pebbles and polythenes lying there. Everything else was hazy. My mind was not able to move my body and for the first time, it was all blank. Scaringly blank. Free from thoughts, reasons or its after effects. At this stage logic does not work. No matter how deep is your pain, whatever you believe or think, everything comes down to the courage to take that one single step.

And they say, people who commit suicide are coward. I was coward that day who took the hard road down to living the life.


PS: It’s just a work of fiction so I would request my family and friends not to call me and ask about life. It’s still sad, depressing and suicidal. :)

Thursday, March 11, 2010

SurReal StoWry

I was talking to my friend. Rather, I was having the most lamest possible wall chat on FB and this idea clicked me.

Okay, let’s get back and give you a background. In our company we have a ‘StoWri---March Contest’. I don’t know why it’s a ‘March contest’ when it can just be a contest. Anyways, the rule is to write a story covering this picture prompt. I was thinking about some idea and the above mentioned conversation give me this idea to write. So, here I start…



I can see a Black and a white girl in the pic.

Black and white colors are present on chessboard also.

Chess is a really interesting game.

Our national game is Hockey.

Hockey world cup is being held in India this time.

India won the cricket world cup in 1983.

In 1983, Sunny Deol debuted in Bollywood with the film Betaab.

Sunny Deol is my favorite actor.

I don’t understand why people credit Harman Baweja as an actor.

Harman Baweja acted in a film (??) based on cricket.

If cricket is a religion, Sachin is the God.

Sachin Tendulkar has the record of fastest 200 in the all forms of International cricket.

Paplu owes me 200 bucks which he now denies.

Life is hard. Denial can help. ( Courtesy : Kathryn)

So I am stuck here now and I need your help. I guess we can turn this into a game.

Rule: Just pick one word from the comment above you and continue from where it end.

(Title Courtesy: Anuja)

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Mayhem Day

“In fresh violent protests against an article purportedly written by Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, a petrol bomb was hurled on the office of the Kannada daily that published it. The office of Jai Kirana, a local English eveninger, was also stoned, police said.

Miscreants forced their way into the building housing the office of New Indian Express and its sister publication Kannada Prabha, which published the article on Burqa tradition on its Sunday magazine section, and hurled a petrol bomb.”

I saw such news last time when actor Rajkumar died. Oh wait I heard it when YSR died. One sec, did it happen in Mumbai also on the North Indian issue or last year in Chennai for the Srilanka issue. Oh yeah, now I remember. It’s still happening over the Telangana issue.

I got into a pensive mode looking for a solution to this problem - the problem of destructing anything we can get our hands on when we have the chance to. I drank 4 straight cup of black coffee; Milds 20s pack was over within a couple of hours but nothing came up. How can you have a solution to a problem which is present in the world since the inception of life?

A million futile attempts later, I hopped on to my bed and crashed.

While sleeping, I realized why it’s not a good thing to drink 4 cups of black coffee. I woke up and as I was trying to get rid of it, it struck me. Such a simple solution for such a great problem! Who would have thought about that?

Now let me get straight to the solution:

( Before 17 years)

Sir: Why do we have festivals??

Pratik from the first bench: Sir, We have festivals so that we can celebrate our culture.

Sir: you are an idiot, Pratik! Yeah you tell me Sonia (* with a long smile*)

Sonia from third row: Sir, we have festivals so that we can eat sweets.

Sir: That’s brilliant Sonia. Okay now let me explain it you. We have festivals because they unite us. They give us a reason to be together and celebrate.



That was the first thing which I was told about festivals when I was in grade III. But now I realize we don’t need special days to celebrate our happiness. I mean we do need but how many of us are really happy? Deep down within us, we all are in pain and frustration.

But do we have a particular day when we can let all our frustrations out??

No we don’t!!

Then how can a person like you and I who is frustrated with the bomb blast in Pune, Shashi Throor’s tweets, biased Hockey federation, and even a crying Ponting can let out his anger in a legal and civilized manner.

The only solution is – Mayhem Day.

We should have a universal day- Mayhem Day, when we can burst out our frustration. Rather we can have Mayhem Day on a quarterly basis matching with that of the quarterly results of companies because nothing frustrates more than a dip in the share price. Respected governments should make arrangements in a park where there will be different sections for letting your anger out.

Kids section can have small plastic glasses which they can kick or small punching bags.

Ladies section can have a special throwing arena where they can throw anything they want on a heap of glass bottles.

The masculine gender’s section can have government buses or cars which they are allowed to set on fire.

Just think over this for a sec. If we can do all this officially and legally, what will be the need of a silly excuse like the death of actor Rajkumar to burn the government bus, which is anyways driven like hell. I know that this may sound farfetched but it is a proven method applied in the past.

You dont remember it?? Are you kidding??

Have you forgotten the Gladiators?

This has been the most effective technique to keep people calm other than the obvious Genocide.

BTW this news has reinforced my long time belief that we are all just a wild species who have somehow managed to grow further up in the evolution cycle. I guess such incidents show us who we really are and the potential threat we are to this planet. We are our greatest enemy.