Think you're all grown-up?...think again

I am starting to think that there isn't much of a difference between the personalities of a 9 year-old and a 19 year-old.
What..don't agree with me?
Sample these-

A 9 year-old cries when someone snatches away his precious Pokemon figurines/cards while a 19 year-old cries when his parents get his net connection cut off.

A 9 year-old dreams of possessing a cool-looking bicycle while a 19 year-old fantasizes about the coolest new cell-phone.

A 9 year-old thinks his class teacher is his worst enemy.A 19 year-old thinks any college professor who sets the class any homework for the weekend is the 'crappiest teacher ever'.

See....there's hardly any difference.People of both age groups are KIDS.Or maybe,I'd say, a 19 year-old possesses more childish character traits than a 9 year-old.
In fact in some cases a 9 year-old is capable of showing more maturity than a 19 year-old.(if a 19 year-old possesses any maturity to begin with)
Atleast they know it's their duty to go to school and finish their homework on time.While we think it's perfectly normal to stay up till late,wake up late,skip college and go to the mall instead.

The next time I'm in a situation where I have to watch over someone's kid I'd think twice before scolding him/her too harshly.

I donno whether it's a common syndrome plaguing all college students or engineering students in particular-but we never study..atleast not before the exams are like a coupla weeks away.And then we sit and shed tears(not literally though....or maybe we do) and ask ourselves 'Why oh why didn't I study throughout the sem?Everything woulda been so much easier then.'And we'd vow to keep ourselves updated with the syllabus from the next sem.
Now repeat the same sequence of events for the next sem and so on..
It's a never-ending cycle.
And WE are supposed to be responsible young adults who are the future of this nation.

God or someone else...please save our nation!

Fears and Hopes

Erm hello again!Thought I wasn't going to make a post in here anytime soon....ah but here I'm with a poem..or something close. :P
Here goes...

I try to take a long,deep breath-

And recognize that burning sensation in my throat.

There's no clean,pure air around-

Only fumes of this thick,black smoke.

The glass house I live in-

Will shatter to pieces..any moment now.

And I'm afraid I'll walk the streets again-

With a bruised heart in tow.

There are no glittering stars above,

When I look into the face of the night.

There's not even a solitary firefly around-

To cast a tiny thread of light.

The walls are closing around fast.

This eternal pool of pitch-blackness-

Is about to engulf me.

And I finally realize that I have to break free.

No longer can I live in this fragile world of lies.

That's why I want to breath again in your abundant skies-

And drench myself in the summer rain.

Only then can I hope to be whole again.

When India speaks...

God automata is screwing with my head so bad.I really like the subject though.Compared to other crap like principles of communication engineering it is heaven.But this however doesn't make the task of recalling the method of recovering the input sequence from the output sequence of a lossless machine any less tortuous. :(
Anyway let me inform you that I'm not gonna bore you to death with constant blabbering about my sucky ensuing exams.I ain't even gonna whine about anything here 'cause for a change I'm feeling quite happy and satisfied with the happenings around me.
It was a BIG day for India yesterday-the day of election results.And boy-did the verdict surprise everyone!All the exit polls and pre-result speculations were pointing to the fact that it'd be a close call-and that it'd be a tough job for both UPA and NDA to find suitable allies to reach the magic 272 mark and form the next government.
Do I hear you say anything?Third front?-Huh don't tell me you envisioned Mayavati shaking hands with Barrack Obama as the next Indian PM(*tries to imagine and barfs*).Though I admit I tried to visualise the whole scene a few times before and was close to getting a heart failure every time I did.
Oh Dear Lord thanks a lot for preventing this kind of a fiasco!
So what happened?-The UPA alliance scored a decisive victory over NDA and Dr. Manmohan Singh is all set to become the second PM after Nehru to serve a second term in office.
For the past few days there has been so much drama going on in different political circles.Leaders of different parties assuring UPA of their support yet at the same time caught whispering into the ears of someone from NDA on live camera.Others were busy declaring that they were 'keeping options open' which of course meant they were preferring to wait till the results came out and once they did they wouldn't hesitate to join anyone who wins the most number of seats-all the freakin' dumbos care about is being a part of the government and gaining charge of some ministry.
Ah but look what happened in the end.
THE PEOPLE SPOKE.
The people gave Congress an overwhelming majority thereby re-affirming their faith in the leadership of Sonia and Manmohan.So after all the Indian voter knows what kind of a government he/she wants.He/she is not undecided.And this is the part I'm happiest about.
That age-old cliched saying of 'unity in diversity' doesn't sound so lame after all.India said this loud and clear yesterday that this is the way it wants to stay-secular.It still wants to follow the ideals brought to life by Gandhiji.Inspite of the numerous differences,divides and internal strifes the people want to stick together and move forward towards a better future.(atleast there's hope)
And when the people speak these unscrupulous jerk-offs who go by the name of political leaders have no other option but to shut the hell up and listen ^_^

P.S.:I'm under exam stress guys so not at my creative best.Pardon me if you find this entry to be uninteresting or like typical yawn material.Actually I wanted to type out a much longer post but I don't have the time :( But I promise to be back with a bang in June end.Till then have fun!

Unlucky(?) 13

This goddamn heat is such a deterrent.I had planned to study all evening...ah but well the Lord had different plans for me.I woke up all sweaty from my afternoon nap and found myself to be in a crabby mood once again.But I took out my books anyway.However getting myself to concentrate on whatever I was reading was a different thing altogether.Finally I gave up and decided to respond to mum's repeated summons from the living room to join her.Well she was watching a movie on our local cable channel called 13B.

Does it ring a bell?If it does then good.If it doesn't,then don't worry.I'll refresh your memory or rather tell you about it(in case you've never heard of the movie)

Well it tells the story of Manohar,a middle class working guy,and his family who have shifted to this new apartment at the address 13B something.And like the mother of all horror movie cliches the freakin' apartment is haunted by the ghosts of not 1,not 2...but 8 people who had all been mercilessly bludgeoned to death by a psychopath.(well not exactly...the guy was avenging his brother who'd committed suicide 'cause of the family)

Now of course these spirits are still roaming around in the same apartment they used to live in as a family 30 years ago with the purpose of revenge.And they use a tv(ridiculous huh?) to communicate with the present occupants.And weird things start happening-like Manohar's face appearing distorted in pictures taken with his cell phone inside the apartment,the milk turning sour everyday and the weirdest of all...a tv serial by the name Sab Khairiyat(Everything's fine) airing at 1 o'clock or at 13:00 hours which strangely enough follows the exact story of Manohar and his family's daily life.

Anyway without going into the details,the film ends with the psychopath doc who killed the previous inhabitants,getting killed and everything returning to normal.(Huh as if anyone expected anything different -_-)

The thing is I'm not here to talk about the movie.It is a B grade flick anyway.(Or something between A and B...A-- maybe?)The movie just got me thinking about the superstitions revolving around the number 13.Unlucky 13 to be precise.

Unlucky 'cause Jesus had his Last Supper with his 12 apostles which meant that there were 13 people at the table.Unlucky 'cause King Philip secretly ordered the mass arrest of The Knights Templar on Friday,October 13th,1307.Friday,the 13th supposedly(allegedly may I say) even decided the outcome of the Battle of Hastings in which King Harold 2 got killed!

And who can forget the popular American horror franchise of Friday,The 13th that consists of 12 slasher movies?

A hell lot other bad stuff occurred on Friday,the 13ths.I'm not going into all the details.Check Wiki to get your answers.I'm only typin' this out to highlight the kind of celebrity spotlight any Friday,the 13th enjoys.
I even read somewhere that the famed U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt used to skip work on Friday,the 13ths.

Different studies reveal that the rate of road accidents,thefts and reports of fire are comparitively less when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays, because people are more cautious or just stay home.(doesn't this kind of prove that Friday,the 13th is a relatively safer day?-_-)

I mean,seriously...WHAT THE HELL?So much fear instilled in the hearts of common people 'cause of a lame number?
I know we all are superstitious in some way or the other.But c'mon isn't this a bit too extreme? -_-

I'm sure if Jesus woulda been alive he woulda asked people to believe in things that actually worked in favour of the greater good...not in some silly superstition that is a hindrance to progress of any kind.

Lost amidst the crowds

*sigh* Why does something as noxious as loneliness exist? Why do we so increasingly feel ourselves plunging into the depths of this dark, bottomless pit? What is this perpetual feeling of incompleteness and gloom that always surrounds us?
Or is it just me? :(
Okay I really don't know what I'm typing out here. It's just that I feel so..well...pathetic at the moment.And seriously speaking I am totally out of meaningful topics to write about. Though I try hard to not let this space turn into a personal diary I guess even I have to bend my own rules sometimes. And c'mon now I don't have any other place where I can write whatever I feel like. (My gratefulness towards sites like Blogger,Wordpress and Typepad just increased.) Ah anyway let's not make a big deal out of this.
I didn't have a very long day today. In fact it was reasonably short. Went to college, had a lab class in the first half. But by the time it ended I was a complete mess. The heat is to be blamed for it, then my sleep-deprivation for the last 2 nights(when my friends suggest that I might have been a vampire in my previous life..I ask them "How can you be so sure of me NOT being a vampire in this life?"-_-) Oh yes add to it the fact that I was also on an empty stomach (for some reason if I happen to eat more than 2-3 spoonfuls in the morning I tend to throw up). Walking the dusty roads fully exposed to the sun's merciless glare (even with your sunglasses intact) at 2 o'clock in the day is the crudest of tortures that could be inflicted on you - if you happen to live anywhere in India,that is(excluding the northern parts of course). And I had to go through this today. Damn I guess I'm complaining too much. Mom says that I'm getting spoiled-'cause half the time when I'm at home I insist on keeping the ac on and when I'm outside, I'm mostly travelling in ac whiteliners. And yet I'm being grouchy about the heat. Atindriyo is so right when he asks me to spare a thought for those living on the streets,or the traffic-policemen or the autorickshaw-drivers or bus-drivers and a hell lotta other people out there who don't even have the option of skipping work a day just for the simple reason they can't. They have to leave home just to arrange for a full day's meal.I just tell him,"You know I might just be a self-centred,inconsiderate moron." Anyway his blog got hacked-the poor soul! He just found out in the morning he can't login. So if any of the people,who happen to follow his blog, are reading this please be patient. He'll be back with a new account soon. Or just maybe he'd be lucky enough to retrieve his old account.

I never really got around to liking this song but for some unknown reason I can hear Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera right now-

Why, why, why
Oh ooh ohh

There you are, in a darkened room
And you're all alone, looking out the window
Your heart is cold and lost the will to love
Like a broken arrow
Here I stand in the shadows
In the shadows
Come to me, come to me
Can't you see that

Nobody wants to be lonely
Nobody wants to cry....

I just realized that the more populous this city gets, the lonelier everyone becomes. Whenever we go out we find sooo many people out there-walking side by side on the same pavement, travelling on the same bus, buying stuff from the same stores - yet nobody gives you a half-a-friendly-glance or a smile. Neither do we of course. Because after all, all of us are strangers here - in this BIG crappy city which throbs with life every moment. And yet is so lifeless at the same time. It's the rule to behave like a cyborg, go about your business, maintain that stony expression 'cause of course it's a BIG BAD world out there. Just do your job and ignore others.
But aren't we the world?

It's hard to count the number of heads we see at a regular bus - stop at a peak hour. Yet at the end of the day when I begin counting the number of people with whom I can be completely open with I realize with a pang that there aren't more than 2 names on this particular list.
I often wonder is it just me? Am I the only one who often ends up wallowing in this feeling called loneliness?Or do most people dwelling in the heart of a busy metropolitan city feel this way?
I mean, yeah when I go to class I have a lot of people who engage in casual chit-chat with me - you know like talk about the weather, impending exams or some joke about some teacher, crib about the deplorable state of lab equipment in our college or study-talk and even fav music, books and movies and similar such stuff. And then I kind of feel fine. But unfortunately the feeling doesn't last very long.
Pretty soon I am dismal - especially so when I'm on my own. And then I repeatedly try to tell myself - 'Hey I'm okay. I have a perfect life. I have friends with whom I can go out, have a decent conversation with. I have an awesome mother who is less like a mom and more like a best buddy. I am studying at a decent college. My grades are good(though I admit I'd like it if they got better). So I don't feel bad about anything. It's just an illusion.'
But is it?
Even though we are surrounded by a million others everyday,every minute,every second aren't all of us lonely as hell?

Anyway lonely or not atleast I have Taylor Swift for company. At 19 she has probably already realized that greatness lies in simplicity. That's why her songs are so simple yet so beautiful. So if you are all by yourself or sad or feel like crap 'cause of some reason I guess the best way to get out of it would be to let the music play. ^_^
This sure works for me.

Love...or something like it

Ah internals are finally over.And I get some time to breathe again.Not exactly though.I have an english presentation due next week and semesters are just round the corner.So I have a lot of studying to catch up with given the fact that we(B.Tech students to be precise) DON'T GODDAMN STUDY throughout the sem.Yeah this is the trend in engineering colleges.Not studying is like part of the rulebook.
Anyway so before I get busy again with text-books I might as well contribute something for this space.And before I begin lemme tell you what I'm about to type today does not fall under the category of 'creative writing'.It is just something that I feel like sharing with others.
Yes you have guessed correctly,I have a few things to say about love.Er no I won't torture you with mushy stuff.Trust me on this.
I am going to talk about loooove that I am witnessing all around me every moment-on my way to college,on the bus,in an empty classroom,in the canteen,in some mall or a cafe` and in infinite number of similar such places.-Love that feels that the cosy nook of a 3-sided book-shelf at a Starmark outlet in Mani Square provides a place more suited for cuddling rather than looking for a book(yea I actually witnessed this disgusting scene).Love that is merely satisfied in being tagged as 'just a relationship'.Love that feels being in a relationship is the 'in-thing'.Love that falls for any pretty girl who wears skirts and make-up or any tall guy with lots of cash.Love that swears by the terms girlfriend/boyfriend and thinks 'lover' is too damn cheesy for it's tastes.Love that loves to do all the things associated with a love relationship except love.
There's so much loooove all around these days that one might wonder if the atmosphere has been filled up with soapy,bubbly wisps of it! ^_^
I'm sorry if you find nothing wrong with all the things that I pointed out in the para before the previous one.But I sure find a hell lotta things that are more than disturbing.Lemme provide examples and illustrate:-

Case 1

Girlfriend-Boyfriend inside a bus squeezed tightly next to one another in a seat,whispering into each other's ears and doing similar such stuff that are better left to imagination.In short they are being all lovey-dovey.Sweet ain't it?
Now enter a hot chick in skin-hugging jeans,designer top and cool sunglasses who climbs aboard.And BAM Mr Boyfriend forgets the existence of Miss Girlfriend and starts with the staring or should I say ogling.And no he doesn't just steal a quick shy glance checking her out,he stares at her time and again as if she were a space alien who has just descended from one of those fancy alien space-ships that we have seen in War of the Worlds and similar such movies.Irritated the hot chick shoots Mr Boyfriend a bone-chilling glare and he finally goes back to coochi-cooing with Miss Girlfriend.
Anyway this routine continues when the next hot babe enters the scene.

Questions of the curious mind:So does Mr Boyfriend love Miss Girlfriend or every hot chick he sees?Or does he keep loving different girls alternately while being in a relationship?Why does Miss Girlfriend tolerate this bullshit?Does she feel similar about other guys as the Boyfriend feels about other girls?*confused*

Case 2

Let's talk about another boyfriend-girlfriend duo.I'll call them F1 and F2.F1,the guy, is totally in love with F2.So he carries her bag and books around,blows a lotta money on her-paying her mobile bills,spending on their dates and even buying her study-books.While F2,the pretty princess,enjoys all the attention.She's the kind of girl who calls up other boys(who aren't even her friends) on her b'day and demands to know why they forgot to wish her.In short since she is pretty she feels she deserves to have the attention of the entire male population and has the right to flirt with them completely ignoring the fact that she is already in a relationship.The general vibe that I get from this couple is that the girl is constantly on the lookout for a better option(or if I may be allowed to say greener pastures?) and the moment she spots it she'd dump F1 and add another name to her list of conquests.

Questions of the curious mind:Is this actually a relationship or a mutual agreement of some sort?Does F2 love F1 or all men?Why is F1 okay with all this crap?Is he just afraid of losing a pretty girlfriend or does he truly love F2?

Now before you roll your eyes and say,'Yeah and who do you think you are to analyze other people's actions and their personal lives?Have you found your soulmate or something?' let me tell you I have not.In fact I was 'in a relationship' with a guy who loved me like crazy and I didn't.I jumped into the relationship without giving the whole thing much thought.At that moment I thought I liked him too.But it turned out to be an illusion.
Such a disaster it was.In the end I had to just make a run for it-away from him.(He was a good guy but we didn't have much in common)I admit to this fact that it was indeed my fault.And trust me I am more than sorry.
But atleast I know that it was a mistake.And I wouldn't repeat the same one again even if I have to be on my own for a while.'Cause I'd prefer to wait for the right person and the right feelings.And until they come to me I am going to stay put and continue with life as it comes.
I don't do relationships just 'cause having a bf/gf is the popular trend.
SO DON'T CALL ME A HYPOCRITE!
I have a few questions(yes again!)
Is true love a term that is better left off in the world of romance novels and rom coms?Are all relationships based on convenience and need?Have all love relationships become..er..PDA-centric?(no PDA doesn't stand for Pushdown Automata...sorry that was a pj)
If you feel like you have the answers to these then please leave a comment 'cause I seriously wanna know!

P.S:The examples I have provided in this post aren't one bit made up.I have witnessed the whole thing mentioned in the first example on a bus I was travelling in.And I personally know the couple I talked about in the second example.