Be the Child in You

"We grow up and we are never the same again!"

While growing up, we seldom realize the gradual change in ourselves. In the quest of materialistic success we tend to forget the undergoing psychological changes in ourselves. All we care about is the future, and in order to have a bright future we keep working blindly, totally unaware and careless of the subconscious changes taking place in us. So we keep getting away from the child in us. We keep getting covered with an artificial aura. We lose our natural instincts, we lose our innocence, we loose our inquisitiveness, we loose our truthfulness; we in fact become a new person- a different person altogether. But the irony is that we love those childhood days and in fact sometimes we wish we were still child!! Why don't then we simply be the child in us? Why do we let ourselves change so drastically?

Once I had gone to meet 'Mitthi'- my Jijaji's niece. I was meeting her after 3-4 yrs. Last she was just 4 yrs, and now she had turned 8, studying in 4th Std. She recognized me easily but was really shying off. Thankfully, I had brought lots of chocolates to bribe her. I was feeding her chocolates and chatting with her. I was coaxing her to come with me to my home. I said- "तुम मेरे साथ मेरे घर चलोगी? 2-3 दिन रहना, चाची (my didi) से भी मिल लेना, और फिर हम तुमको वापस पहुंचा देंगे." She said- "नहीं, हम मम्मी के बिना नहीं जायेंगे, मम्मी जाएगी तभी जायेंगे." I said- "Plzz चलो ना." She again replied in negative. I said- "नहीं चलोगी? :( :( Plzz चलो ना :( " She said- "आप तो एकदम बच्चों जैसे कर रहे हैं" !! I was left amused at her straight, innocent reply. But later, I was also left pondering over the changes in her. She thinks acting your natural self is childish!! Back then when she was 4 yr old, she definitely wouldn't have said the same thing. But now she has grown up a bit, now she thinks that grown up people needs to act serious, not behave sentimental in front of others.

The surrounding environment changes children a lot. We start undergoing change from the very childhood. First our parents teach us the right and wrong, how to behave,how to react and all; and later, when we have grown up a bit, we ourselves start observing and learning from our surrounding. Friends, teachers, books, magazines, TV; these start changing our behaviour. Unfortunately, almost none of these teaches us to preserve some of the most needed childlike traits. We learn, we evolve, we grow up and we are never the same again!!

Many will say that we can't carry our childlike traits for long. We have to keep evolving, keep changing with growing age so this entire talk of being the child stands nowhere. Well, true to some extent. Of course we can't remain the same always. We need to change, keep adapting, but to what extent?? Sadly, being surrounded by shrewd minded people all around us, most of us, in order to cope up, change so much that we totally lose the child in us. We become a completely changed person. We start taking things too seriously, we stop having fun, we start hiding our natural emotions, we start taking a pragmatic approach (to things) rather than acting on our natural instincts.

Children are one of the most marvelous creation of God. They say "God resides in small children." Look at a child's behaviour intently, it is so fascinating. The innocence, the truthfulness, the frankness, the inquisitiveness, the easy-to-mix-up friendly nature.... everything looks so lovely, so enchanting (and that's the one reason we love children). But unfortunately, we tend to lose all those qualities one by one. As we grow up, we start departing from our natural self and keep drifting towards an artificial being.

But why is it so hard to be the child?!! I don't think it's really so difficult that we change ourselves so much. Try for it, throw your artificial aura, embrace some of those childlike traits back, you will love it. You won't lose anything by being your natural self. You will, in fact enjoy the new experience. So go ahead, 'Be the Child in you'!! :)

Revolution 2020- A short review

Well, it's a story of two friends falling for the same girl. One guy is passionate about bringing about revolution through his writing, and the other guy-the hero,being out of choice gets caught up in setting up a College business. He albeit himself clean, but the money for the college is funded by an MLA who is corrupt. The girl keeps changing sides until finally deliberately given away by by the hero to his fellow competitor friend. Apparently he gets a change of heart, feels guilty and thinks he doesn't deserve the girl.

Anyway the story is a nice one but since it has sad ending, so it disappoints a bit in the end (In the end the hero deliberately sacrifices his love for another supporting role hero, which most reader would dislike). Otherwise, apart from that, it's very nice. It has been given modern touch by including online chat conversations and a few more similar things. And as always, Chetan Bhagat has put a few very good one-liners, some witty and some thoughtful ones. All in all, a detailed love triangle having all the needed masaala(a few steamy scenes too), and also enlightening how girls can switch between guys so easily and so frequently. If the last 30 pages had been of my choice-i.e. the hero getting the much deserved gal, then I would have given it a 8/10 rating. But this way, I would give it 6/10. But still, it was far better than his "3mistakesOfMyLife" and "1Night@callCentre". I am sure he could have easily written a bit better,just brought sm different twist in story in the end making the ending a happy one. I don't know why he preferred a sad ending :/

*****     *****     *****     *****     *****     *****     *****     *****

Now here goes a composition of all the witty, hilarious, interesting and thoughtful one-liners from the novel, that I liked big way-

☞ Love makes us do stupid things.

☞ Love, officially, is nothing but a bitch. (Page 73)

☞ (#Bansal) Students and teachers strode about in a purposeful manner as if they were going to launch satellites in space. (Page 59)

☞ Why does girls give confusing signals? (Page 44)

☞ Happens. We are losers. We don't get things easily. Marks,ranks,girls- nothing is easy for us. (Page 79)

☞ Sometimes the only way to get rid of an unpleasant feeling is to replace it with another unpleasant feeling. (Page 80)

☞ Of course you could be one of those naturally talented students who never have to study much. But most of us are not,courtesy our parents' mediocre genes. Ironically, these same same parents who donated these dumb genes take the longest time to understand that their child is not Einstein's clone. (Page 82)

☞ I wanted to tell her she hadn't spoken to me for three months. However girl gets extremely upset if you give them evidence contrary to their belief. (Page 85)

☞ She gave me an understanding nod. But she could never understand that losers, even if they do not have a brain, have a heart. (Page 102)

☞ When you screw up someone's life, the least you can do is leave the person alone. (Page 105)

☞ It's amazing to be in love (but) only when the other person loves you back. (Page 151)

☞ Life is a bitch when the only women you can think of belongs to someone else. (Page 159)

☞ I didn't know what to say to that. Girls can come up with the simplest of message that have the most complex meanings. (Page 208)

☞ Girls are contradictory. They will say they like communication, but on certain topics they clam up. If they like you, they would prefer you sense it rather than make them say it. (Page 228)

☞ Girls don't like to discuss intimate moments,especially if you probe them. However, they also get upset if you don't refer to the moments at all.
(Page 251)

Hope you liked the post :)

चला जा रहा हूँ ....

अन्जाने रास्तों पे चला जा रहा हूँ ... 

गमों को भुलाने चला जा रहा हूँ ......

इन्ही रास्तों पे, कहीं न कहीं तो, मिलेगा मुझे वो ख़ुशी का खजाना, 

बस यही ख्वाब लेके चला जा रहा हूँ ....

गमों के साए में, बस इन्ही ख्वाबों को दिल में संजोये, 

गमों को भुलाने चला जा रहा हूँ ....

हसरतें बहुत सी हैं, उन हसरतों को पानें की चाहतों को दिल में दबाये, 

इन अनजाने रास्तों पे चला जा रहा हूँ....

घना है अँधेरा, घनेरे हैं बादल, घने बादलों की बारिश में भीगे, 

गमों को भुलाने चला जा रहा हूँ ...

कभी तो मिलेगी मुझे मेरी खुशियाँ, कभी तो मिलेगा वो खुशियों का सागर, 

समंदर की लहरों के हसीं ख्वाबों में खोये, 

गमों को डुबोने चला जा रहा हूँ ...

सुना है समय का चलता है चक्र, ख़ुशी और गम दोनों की आती है बारी... 

इसी समय-चक्र के भरोसे चला जा रहा हूँ ....

गमों को भुलाने चला जा रहा हूँ, अन्जाने रास्तों पे चला जा रहा हूँ ...

Real Beauty!!

It was a perfect fairy tale dream!! I was still lying in bed thinking about it.

I was in some strange, never-seen region; never seen but pleasantly surprising!! Everything around looked surprisingly beautiful. The surrounding environment looked pleasing, aesthetic and unbelievably natural- devoid of any adverse human interferences. People looked quite simply but neatly dressed. Everybody's faces were beaming with joy and satisfaction. Little kids were playing merrily with their kid friends. A few people were enjoying bath in a nearby waterfall. The environment was intermittently filled with the musical twittering of birds. Snow clad mountains provided a heavenly backdrop to the area. Everything looked so enchanting, so mesmerizing, that I felt myself murmuring -"Ohh woww!! This is what you call beauty!!"

And then I woke up. Lying in bed now, I was having a mental replay of the dream. I tried going back to sleep and continue the journey in the same dream, but it was already dawn and sleep seemed hell bent on evading me. Nature's beauty is just incomparable. Snow decorated mountains, sea beaches, greenery,wild life; everything is Nature's perfect example of beauty. You want to witness real beauty and all you need to do is visit a scenic location and lie there soaking in the beauty of nature. Beauty soothes mind and brings about an aura of serenity with it. Getting the opportunity to lie in the laps of nature is just a heavenly experience.

Human life is another beautiful creation of Nature. But when it comes to beauty in reference to human beings, views varies widely. Most of us use the distorted meaning of beauty. We refer more often to superficial beauty than to the deep meaning behind the word. Beauty comes from within, it's more of an internal thing than an external one. Real beauty is unfading, everlasting and continuously growing. It is associated not with what we see but with what we feel and experience. 

 
But it's generally taken to be the opposite-the external and superficial, and it's quite obvious too. We humans generally get attracted to people by their external outlook. It's only after we get fully acquainted with the person that we really start loving him. But before that happens, it's the external features that strikes us. Nevertheless,we should understand that it's not the external looks but the nature,attitude and behavior of a person that matters. After all, when we get emotionally attached with a person, it's mainly his nature and behaviour that keep us bonded for long. External,physical beauty is short-lived. Real beauty comes from within and is long-lasting.

Beauty is something which we all love but at the same time find hard to define. It is as abstract as 'Love.' Both are difficult to be defined and written about. Yet, writers after writers go on to write about these mysterious, inexplicable terms. It's always interesting to write on something which is difficult to write yet very closely associated with our day to day lives. Let's hope we get a better understanding of beauty as we advance further in our life.

P.S.- I have written this post for the contest by indiblogger- "What does real beauty mean to you?"   This contest is sponsored by Yahoo and Dove team. You may visit the site- Yahoo Real Beauty  to read more on beauty.

Stanley Ka Dabba

This was a wonderful attempt by director Amole Gupte. Such a fabulous movie, in a span of just about two hours, it lets you go through multiple emotions. Its entertaining, heartwarming and brings us face to face with some bitter situations of people we are living around with.

The classroom camaraderie of kids could surely remind you of your own days. Its funny and entertaining too though not as much as some comedy films. The movie specifically seems to have been made with a purpose of spreading some messages in a entertaining way, and I bet it was successful in doing so. Unlike "Taare Zameen Par," this time Amole Gupte has done wonders without the help of Aamir Khan. His acting in the role of Khadoos (the nickname of teacher) too is very good. The child actor Partho in the role of Stanley has also done a very good acting. 

The film is basically about the issue of unprivileged orphans and child labour, their lack of education, their lack of proper nutritional food and yet their hidden talent and their intense desire to get proper education, though  one comes to know of this theme only in the last quarter of the movie. 

When the Science teacher scolds Stanley, you get the similar memory of some similar strict, non-sense teachers in childhood days. When the teacher Miss Rosy applauds him and treats him with chocolate you feel happy for him. When you see him having a sneak peek at Miss Rosy hugging her fiancé, you get the same tinge of childhood having a crush of sort on female teachers. When khadoos (the hindi teacher), barks at him for eating his share of lunch and for making it compulsory for him to bring "dabba" in order to get in class, and he walks away sadly, you feel the same sadness. The moment when Stanley brings his dabba and puts it open in front of Khadoos asking- "Sir ab main class attend kar sakta hun na," I was almost in tears. It very aptly depicts how eager and desperate many children are, to attend regular School, but they can't, due to so many limitations. When before going to bed, Stanley lights a candle in front of the photo of his parents and says- "Good night Maa, Good night Paa," in that single moment you come to feel the pain of orphan children. The brave, happy face kept up by Stanley, hiding his real situations from his friend, brings in a stark emotions itself. His talent albeit not appreciated by teachers except Miss Rosy, gets you to the reality of the fact of how extra-talented even some unprivileged, poor kids can be.

Child labour, pain of orphans, lack of education and nutritious food in poor children, and hidden, ignored talent in them- these are the aspects depicted in the movie very skillfully keeping the movie fully entertaining. Hats off to Amole Gupte for creating such a wonderful movie. I hope more people would come out to support unprivileged children in their education and living arrangements. 

A must watch movie!! Entertaining and giving a very nice message.

"Victory of Democracy." Ohhh really!!!!

So finally Govt. yielded to pressure and acceded to all the major demands of Anna Hazare. Celebrations erupted all across the Nation. Some people said "People power won" and some said "It was the Victory of Democracy." Initially it really did look like that after all Democracy won, because in a democracy, people have the ultimate power. But contemplate a bit and you will end up pondering and asking yourself whether democracy really won, whether this victory really signifies the victory of democracy and whether we should really rejoice at this victory.....

Just 2-3 days back, Anna Hazare said-“If the government alone drafts the anti-corruption bill, it will be autocratic not democratic, there will be discrepancies."
Now think over it, ok, there may definitely be discrepancies in the bill but is it really autocratic if Govt. alone drafts the bill??? If Yes, then tell me how do you define autocracy and how democracy. Isn't in democracy the elected representatives are entrusted with the task of framing and amending laws?? Democracy hinges on the three pillars of Legislature,Judiciary and Executive, all three being interdependent on each other but having clearly defined areas of working. People elect their leaders and put their faith in their leaders. The leaders become the part of Legislature getting exclusive rights to frame laws and amend already existing laws.
Cut short to the present situation, a few unelected representatives will be taking part in framing Lokpal Bill. Nothing looks unusual till you ponder over its future implications-more and more joint committees getting formed to frame laws. Now think over it- Common men's participation in framing of laws, isn't it diluting the powers of Legislature,isn't it wandering of electorates out of their own domain, and most of all, isn't it going against the very basic tenets of democracy??

After that, let's talk about the proposed Jan Lokpal bill. The draft presented by the INDIA AGAINST CORRUPTION team, is again against the principles of democracy. The selection committee to chose the chairman and members of Lokpal, is all supposed to be unelected representatives (baring two elected ones-chairpersons of both Houses).The presently envisaged Lokpal system seem to be empowered with immense power and authority. The most notable fact is that it would be JUDICIARY (court) and EXECUTIVE (police) both rolled into one, in short an all powerful,supreme institution completely chosen and governed by unelected representatives,the institution being so powerful that it may go on to override the powers of even some already constituted fine institutions in our country. So our elected representatives' power will be waning gradually,implying thereby that the hugely important electorates' power will loose its sheen. Electorates will no more be having the ultimate power-the power of voting someone out, because unelected representatives might be having their say in framing of laws and also in these all powerful institutions like Lokpal. Don't all these developments look dangerous in a democracy??

It's an irony that people have started to despise persons whom they themselves have elected to power.
The biggest irony is that WE FEEL PROUD OF OUR GREAT DEMOCRACY BUT WE HATE POLITICIANS AND POLITICS !!!! People have lost hope in their own elected representatives. People have started thinking that any law framed by their elected representatives(politicians) will be a weak,poor law. Isn't it a dangerous sign for democracy?? We are trying to distance ourselves from politicians when we know very well that politicians are one of the pillars of democracy.What worse time can we have for democracy. And then people say-"It was the victory of democracy!!!"

Its not the victory of democracy but merely the victory of 'people power' which came down upon the Govt. as a strong force due to severe anger in common men against the rampant corruption lying all around. An end to this rampant corruption was what all in the mind of people while they came out for this cause. The Gandhian protest by a well known public figure made the support even more swelling. While demanding these things, people didn't realize that they may be actually acting to weaken the pillars of democracy, because all that mattered to them was a solution to this never ending corruption trail, which they had got  totally fed up of.

But then, what's the way out?? Isn't there some other way than these direct participation of common men in legislation?? Well, there must be. Democracy can't be so weak that it goes down on its knees in such situations. Ups and downs are there in the lifespan of every system or institution. An institution has to continuously keep evolving to keep pace with the changing times and situations. Making the three pillars of democracy more firm and immune to the threats surrounding it would be the best thing to do.

The "Right to Recall" could be a very good weapon in the hands of electorates against the corrupt politicians. With the fear of getting recalled by electorates, politicians will become much more accountable and responsible towards their duties. With so much of corruption all around in politics, such a tool will further empower our electorates. Apart from that, electoral reforms too are very necessary. The "Negative voting" concept though being criticised by some section, can prove to be a very strong deterrent to the political parties from fielding tainted candidates in elections. Like in the case of various public services, for being MLA or MP too a strict educational qualifications must be introduced. Similarly the age of retirement too should be fixed. Similarly such reforms need to be introduced in Judiciary and Executive bodies too. The Executive bodies' vast dependence on political structure must lessen. Too much of interference by political power in executive bodies is not healthy. It needs to be changed. There should be clear demarcation of duties between judiciary,executive and legislature; at the same time there should also be a clear working relationship defined between the three. Finally I would say, we should give democracy a chance!!!

******              ******          ******               ******            ******

P.S.- This blog-post of mine is inspired from various articles that I read on Internet, some of those links are mentioned below-

• http://kafila.org/2011/04/09/at-the-risk-of-heresy-why-i-am-not-celebrating-with-anna-hazare/ 
• http://realitycheck.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/jan-lok-pal-caveat-emptor/ 
• http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1716 
• http://www.indianexpress.com/news/of-the-few-by-the-few/772773/2 
• http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/the-hazare-hazard-/431045/ 
• http://www.deeshaa.org/2011/04/08/anna-hazare-goes-to-new-delhi   

Mysterious Love

They say "Love happens when you least expect it." And so I was left wondering should we stop expecting being in Love with someone!!! Everyone dreams of being in Love with someone. And so it's quite natural that one would keep expecting it hoping for his good times to turn up and enjoy that alien feeling. But then what about that philosophical statement!! 

I kept wondering a while till I realized what it means. It is said that everyone is a unique person in himself and no one should wish to be someone else, and that's because one can perform better being oneself than trying to be someone else. That also means that one should focus over one's strength rather than weakness while trying to achieve something. In short we can say that it's better to be one's natural self than being over-conscious about things around and thus losing control over even things you are good at. Being Natural brings out the best in you thus making your chances of falling in Love better. And definitely when you are being natural, you will be totally submerged in your acts and so you won't even realize when exactly you fell in love.

Being Natural is of course not easy but neither is falling in Love. If you be your natural self, some people may dislike you for your being so but but some may even like you for being. The fact that you pose as your natural self is a proof in itself that you have confidence in yourself. 'So what, I am what I am' attitude just shows that you have learnt to accept your inadequacies and still seem to bank on the positives in you. It also clearly indicates to your 'to-be' partner that you would happily adjust to her inadequacies and still be happy being with her. So you see, being natural instills a sense of security in your 'to-be' partner. 

Still, love remains a mystery. You know why, because no one knows when exactly Love walks into one’s life even if one keeps expecting it every moment of life. As the saying goes- “True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked.”- Erich Segal 

Love is a big mystery and puzzles often. I mean what is that which makes you fall in love? What is love exactly like? What are the subtle differences between Love, crush, infatuation etc.? The more one thinks, the more he gets puzzled. You think you love someone and would love to spend lots and lots of time with her but the next moment you may think, “Am I really in Love with her”!!! Frustrating you see. You would love to talk to her, you would love to spend lots of time with her, you would love to see her smile, you would love to help her out in difficulties..... But then how come you get confused about it!!! 

The ‘Mysterious Love’ you see..... J