From here to there...

Born that we are
Die we sure shall
En route to death,
A path so different,
Follow he, you and I shall.
Some reach faster,
Some slower
Some happy and contented,
Some happier still,
Some sad and unsatisfied,
Some sadder still,
Destined we are to the same place,
A joyful ride for some,
A displeased one for others,
Wonder if the path chosen or the traveller
Makes travel all too different

Caretaker

Flies hovered around her wounded toe. Runny nose and dried phlegm that blocked one of her nostrils made her breathe uncomfortably. Yet, not a thing in the world would stop that 2 year old girl sitting blissfully on the sand heap from constructing castles out of it. One of the laces of her tattered frock suspending and another absconding,the red ribbon around that knotty and dry orange tinged hair were some of the many things that added to her unkempt appearance. As I was totally engrossed in studying her,I saw that she suddenly put a handful of sand into her mouth. Then came her sister, who was just standing close by watching kids play while still having an eye on her kiddo sister, to drag her out of the mess.

I did pity that small girl for being dragged on the graveled path by her elder, but not-so-elder sister, but how interesting a play for a 4 year old girl will it be to take care of a sister, young but not too younger to her? How often can she play that take-care-of sister-with-care-game without frustration when her peers are playing hide and seek in the vicinity.

Just recently in one of our chats, I told my friend that all women at some time of their life would become Montessori teachers but here that girl, who herself deserves a caretaker, is all set to take care of her kiddo sister when her parents are off to earn bread for the family.They earn. She helps them earn, or is she too earning her bread all too early? After all, relief that she gives her parents by burdening her tender shoulders comes for a cost, isn’t it?

A milestone, not the destination!!

Yesterday morning,I happened to sit next to a lady who was an english lecturer by profession in a reputed college , of which I got to know a little later. As both the acts of my pulling a book out of my bag to read and her attempt to strike a conversation with me coincided, she consciously withdrew from interfering in my business. Since I too thought, her intent for talking could not have been any different from the bus-pastime talks that ranged from the the heavy traffic to the scorching heat to rising prices of commodities to the driver's slow driving to the ticket the conductor never issued etc, I too didn't volunteer to ask what she wanted to know and left it at that and got to my turning the pages of the book. As she was seated between me and a college guy, opportunity had knocked her twice and this time, she did strike a conversation with the college guy. There ends my act of reading the book. Somehow lecturers' talks have always diverted my attention extended towards my books, not any different this time too!! Hence I suspended my reading with the blind hope that she would alight in sometime.

If I have eavesdropped, blame it on the lady's decibel-potent talks. I could not help but overhear her conversation with that poor college lad. Her viva-voce with him started from his career to his hometown to his qualification. Then she did her bio-data delivery and came to the crux of the matter. She had to go to Mysore and was here for examination paper evaluation. Since she was not very familiar with Bangalore,she wanted some directions the City railway station to catch a train to her place (No PJs here that of course, to a railway station, people go to catch a train!!... not really, some go to welcome people too!!). After she got the directions,thanks to the heavy traffic, she still was left with so much time to talk that she had to dig topics. Since the college lad was a computer trainee, she assured his belief that it's a good one to make bug bucks instantly and said that she advised many of her students also to go for the computer stream. She is virtually a career-consultant too, I thought. After this, came the fact that her brother's daughter,studying her 12th now,who had secured 95% in her 10th standard board exams,is exceptionally intelligent. That guy curiously asked Ms.Career-consultant which professional course the girl wanted to pursue after 12th. For her scores, Medical or Engineering course is quite possible, he suggested. An instant NO was her response to his suggestion. Such expensive courses for girls are totally uncalled for,she said!! I was disappointed to hear this, more so from a college lecturer.This is just one case, previously too,I had seen some of my friends who could not cherish dreams of being engineers or doctors or other professionals of the chosen stream for reasons that can vary, but all based on the common fact that they are girls:

1. Parents were not ready to spend for such expensive courses for a child who would eventually go to someone else's house .(This feeling from people who are economically sound is disgusting to know).

2. Parents could not afford to spend for education as well as wedding and since wedding takes the inevitable priority,education takes a toll (this is quite pitiable to know).

3. Parents who are economically very sound but consider that studying such courses taking all the pains is of no use when no one is waiting for her earnings now and in future too, as her (definitely status-matching)husband would take care of her necessities ( Economically self-sufficient, but mentally deficient , you see. What do we say of such people who can't figure out the difference between career interests and the money earnings).

4. Parents not very sound economically, but give importance to education and quite aware of the education loans provided, are quite apprehensive of who's going to repay the loans in the future. (This is quite understandable,not many guys would like to marry girls who carry debts along, right?)

There could be many more reasons, but all I want to say is that let Marriage for a girl be just another milestone of her journey,not the destination,not the sole purpose!!

If my parents thought on those lines, I could not have been an engineer, nor my sister a doctor. I don't say that one has to be an engineer or a doctor, but let them be allowed to pursue their interests putting the thoughts of marriage at abeyance until their careers are shaped. Well, if marriages turn out to be so dreaded and life-time-achievements for girl's parents,then they are not to be blamed,right? Down with the society that savours on the pains that go into pulling off a wedding event!! If only wedding was considered just another casual event, maybe the intelligence quotient and brain power of India would increase enormously,no wonder fulfilling many a girl's dreams, which now die even before they bloom!

Book or Crook?

There are two kinds of books for bus travellers. Both yielding the same effect of missing your alighting stop.
Ones of kind that put you to a sound sleep, no matter what happens, with just a page's read!!For some aspects in life, perseverence simply does not pay, hope I sound more as being realistic rather than pessimistic.
Others of the kind that keep you so engrossed in it that you end up missing your alighting point, well, I just finished reading a book of the second kind."Five point Someone", one that had been in my wishlist for ages,finally got read..What a wonderful and lively writing it is! An amazing ride it was from the maiden page to the last full stop encountered. Kudos! Mr.Chetan Bhagat.

Fractured Posts

The whole of this month has been the ultimate block period for me. The lack of enthusiasm won over my will to write for reasons unknown. Yet , I am adamant about giving justice to my will. It is said ( not sure ,so what? I say...) what we write reflects our mood. It's basically an attempt to make a root-cause analysis of the cause for the lacking enthusiasm in me. Here I put forth all the mid-way abandoned, haphazard, disconnected posts,rather posts-to- be.
Let's see if my root-cause analysis has enough inputs via these black and blue beaten posts.

5/6/2007
Being jobless and having friends who are again jobless is a win-win situation. While, I don't have enough work and friends are too busy to be disturbed,it's a tough time!! As per ethics, can't really doze officially at workplace, you know. So, had a very comfortable,no work time yesterday. Just as I turned 25 three days ago, my orkut fortune said that I would have a very comfortable old age. Should I feel ecstatic that I am having a comfortable time or should I feel disgusted that my supposedly old age has already kicked off? old age at 25,huh?



8/6/2007
Not many folks, not a single soul I knew around.Pitch black sky or something that looked like it under which I sat in a corner weeping totally lost!! Not knowing what to do or where to go.At some instances I screamed out of helplessness,not to get a reply. All I saw was that all the people around doing the same thing as I did,weeping and screaming at times. As was I lost, so were they. The stronger the will to know where I was,fainter was the clue. Where the hell was I? Hell, by any chance?



10/6/2007
ONLY DEATH IS CERTAIN.
While most of us say that we are not afraid of death since it has to happen one day, yet a moment of silence spent on how death might encounter us can send shivers to our spine. Truth is bitter and as long as the truth is presumably quite distant,everyone heaves a sigh of relief. Even when a dear soul passes away at 99, there are a couple of near ones crying away as hell showing their dissent at destiny's say.Never is it the right time to die,isn't it?

15/6/2007
One of those innumerable times when a sting of aversion towards my blog has bitten me. For days, I have not visited my blog, which happens rarely, and when it happens,happens big time. For days I haven't cared to see what's happening or thought of updating it although so many things provided scope to blog. So very often feeling possessive about my blog as if it were my kid and then forbidding it for quite some intervals as if it meant nothing to me!! Strangely contrasting!
If I have an aversion towards my blog and end up not giving a damn for it for long, who else will appreciate it,anyway?
Not sure why, my respect for moms increased double-fold now. Come what may, do they ever forbid us? For all the mess we do or how irritating we get, never for once do they averse and forsake us!! Hats off.
Not sure if my comparison makes any sense to anyone, but to me the sense of belonging moms have is the most supreme in the world.

16/6/2007
As a cosmetic remedy, as per observation, I suggest that guys having protruding teeth and scared to consult a dentist can adopt to bearing a moustache. Seriously, a fellow worker at office never gave a hint to anyone that he had protruding teeth until he shaved off his moustache to look young(I suppose ) for his wedding. I hope the bride had already seen his before/after -moustache images before, otherwise, the shock she could have had at the wedding could be shockingly immense.

19/6/2007
I have always had the tendency to talk to people to whom very few people would like to talk, rather the loners attract me more. Ever since I was in school, I would volunteer to talk to people who mingled very rarely with the others. I somehow sympathized with them,used to feel sorry for not many interacting with them, so I used to talk and in the process,ended up making great friends.But in the process, .................................... (Hmm.... I really don't remember which heavy-weight job I had to handle that I left an abrupt post in itself, more abrupt!! Looks like I could not wait to complete the sentence!!)

Today!!
Well, did it aid my root-cause analysis? Yes, absolutely.Idle mind is indeed a devil's workshop!!

People.Places.

Ever wondered what makes a person trace his eldest brother's wife's first uncle's neighbor's brother living in some corner of the US when he goes there? No distance or familiarity or the lack of it can stop one from getting hold of some souls on landing in a totally new place. That's pretty understandable too!Man craves for company, for more than anything else, security.Some level of security crops into the mind that he/she has some folks familiar to them that they can turn to when in trouble.
At my previous workplace which was relatively small,if people could avoid bumping into one another, it would be a great achievement altogether. Yet, day in and day out, most of the the encounters would go unacknowledged keeping the ostensibly unfamiliar people,unfamiliar. As were so many others,a person I saw mostly everyday ( of course leave,weekends,holidays etc claim for exceptions) never cared to talk to me anytime for over 1.5 years. Well, not that person alone to be blamed, I never cared a bit more to talk either.Well, that was a disease I gradually picked up after entering the corporate sphere.Fake a smile only to the people concerned,in the business sense, at the most.After all, how often can your ego afford to get offended for not getting a response for your greeting?Only later I got to know that it takes a lot from people to smile back!!
Coming back to the supposedly unfamiliar person,when I happened to see her at another place that was quite unfamiliar to me and very unfamiliar to her,she came forward to strike a conversation.Speak she did with so much comfort giving a feeling that I have known her for over 1.5 years.Unfamiliar places do make unfamiliar people familiar!! Strange are (wo)man's ways!! Of late,We reach out if need be and not for anything in the world,otherwise!!

Married,Yet Available!!

A married guy claims himself "Available"!!! What is supposed to be his wife's reaction? Should he be spared for all the love she has for him or punished for his deed? Is it short of any offence?

Offence it is not!! What is his mistake after all, if Google talk offers 'Available' status message too, irrespective of the user being married or not?!!

:P