Pani Puris of Life

Hello Reader

If you have never enjoyed the high class luxuries like owning a penthouse with all high class facilities, rich bright colored, white shaded walls with famous paintings hanging on them, having bath in a jacuzzi, cuddling with your chihuahua, a rich wardrobe, having lunch at the most 'Englishly' civilized restaurant with the most lavish ambience, going to shop at Varsace and Louise Vuitton showrooms in your Audi, don't be deluded because you have encountered better events in your life. This sophisticated, well-bred lifestyle may really look good from the outside but trust me, real fun is in living down to earth.

It is just incomparable.

Eating your meal at a place with only noise coming out of the forks and spoons touching the plate, people silently swallowing in food with turkish napkins rigged to their collars or laps and the dining hall too shining with the perfect decor and the mannered and educated waiters can't be compared to the pani puri and other junk stalls on the roadside where you are served on wet, unhygienic plates and spoons with oily, unhealthy eatables mixed with a little bit of sweat, dust and automobile exhaust.

Ordering your well-dressed driver to the destination sitting back comfortably with all updated magazines and daily newspapers in the back door panel of your stylish sedan, with perfect inside atmosphere and temperature maintained by the air conditioner, just right amount of silence or music adjusted on your mood and tinted glasses to prevent you from the sunlight can't be compared to your struggle and fight to get the seat in a public bus, crowded so much that there is not even a little space to rest your foot, then hanging inside the bus with all varieties of people surrounding you, stinking with sweat, drunkards and in between the conductor whistling and fighting with you asking for the change.

Certainly the former is more humane, correct and cultured. But the real bliss is in the fight for the seat, the spice in the junk. One feels complete only after going through all that annoyance and discomfort. The value of water can only be felt after a long day of tedious hard work. Similarly, pleasure lies in such small things.
A smile from an unknown person, waving out to the crowd through the window, dancing in the rain, spending time with your loved ones rather than your new iPad and all other 'Me Gusta' jobs.
The spicy taste of Pani Puri!

In the name of God?

Hello Reader

Salman Rushdie, the famous booker-prize winner author had to leave an important literature festival at Jaipur as he was threatened to be killed by some Muslim groups. All this started when Salman's book 'the Satanic Verses' was released and got controversial because of its content. And it was said that it had hurt the sentiments of the Muslims. Salman had to face a fatwa branded on him by Darul Uloom Deoband.
A few weeks ago the Hindu Holy Scripture, the religious book 'Bhagvad Gita' was banned in Russia as Russians had a say that it contained certain inappropriate verses. Which lead o some discomfort in Indo-Russian relations and lead to lot of debates.
Many years ago, number of scientists were killed by the roman catholic church because the work of scientists, as per the church, was against the god. They said that the world, the universe, created by God cannot be simplified using silly scientific, mathematical equations.

So basically, from all these years, people have been killing one another for their Gods, to show their devotion to their religion. Their faith in God and their religious protocols win over their faith in the other fellow humans. They kill someone of their kind for someone whom they have never seen. And then same kind of people say God is everywhere. Oh yeah? Then you just killed your God, buddy.

Or I would say it is just a way to cover up the real reason behind the killings.
It is not what God wants you to do, its what your inner evil wants you to do.

So many sacrifices, women, children have died in the religious riots. They are countless.
Instead of praising the literary work or scientific achievements, people watch out for how something can be converted into a controversy on the basis of religion and call it 'against our rules'. Why do they call themselves secular then? and what about freedom of speech?

Young Muslim guys are trained and taught about the old fatwas and about the Jihad. Kasab is a snake, who has sprouted out of such a laid egg. They make terrorists in the name of god.

If there really is any God, he would be crying looking at how his name is being used to carry out the work of Satan.

Love, Humanity, Peace, Music are the religions to be followed which are unbiased. There can be walls between two territories but not in the hearts of people. I don't think any other religion teaches the Lesson of equality. If it did, The World would have been a better place to live.

Ashish

Engineering: public transport

Every year, in India, almost 35000 students aspiring to be engineers get selected into IITs or NITs. Actually, more than 10 lakh people try to get into these prestigious institutes every year. But, only 3.5 to 4 % of the massive crowd gets this opportunity. Here, I will talk about the rest 95 % of the students because I, myself fall in that category. These people either join other good, bad, average, government, private institutes or take drop for a year.

Now, every private institute claims to give the best. Best faculty, best laboratory facilities, best hostel and best placements. When you go for the counselling, you find every college has its own stall, like that you find in fun fairs, boasting their pros and previous achievements. It is almost like a sabzi mandi with representatives at the stall screaming “le lo le lo admission le lo, humara college best”. After you get brainwashed through these advertisements, you go into the main counselling room where you wait for your turn, as per you rank, to select the college you want. When you reach at the final table, you get about 2 minutes time to decide which college you wish to get belted in for the next four years. Just 2 minutes to decide your future. Even if you had decided to opt for which branch in which college, there is no surety of that seat to remain unfilled. Once you lock your choice of college and branch, you are kicked out of the main hall to make you realize your place in the crowd.

On the first day at college, you start attending lectures, you meet your new classmates and you are also introduced with the giant syllabus to be crossed in one semester. But you may feel good about the new college, new friends and a new start. This goes on for a while, the ‘feel-good’ moment. Soon it disappears as you find it is just repeating. You keep on reading and reading about the concepts of different theories of how things work and a few mathematical problems related to it. There really is no practical approach. They teach a concept and formulae related to it but never tell you where exactly it can useful in the daily life. You somehow learn the concept, understand it and clear the exam. Is that all? What they tell us certainly helps us score marks and clear the exams but what is the application of it? Where do you apply it? It is hardly taught anywhere.

At a point in your engineering, you find that it is just a formality to sit in the class, to listen to lectures and write exams, by hook or crook. After four years of so called struggle, you have a degree but not much of technical knowledge. For the four years, all that you do is read and read and do nothing that can be called practical.

Where is it taking you to?
What does one do after getting the degree?
Now, you stand in the middle of crossroads where you have umpteen options.
Even after finishing engineering, except for few, most of them those who get a job end up at an IT company regardless of their branch. Until and unless one has a technical job relative to his field of study, all that he studied for the last four years seems a waste.
All that you studied helps you clear your job interview but never after that.
Instead of just loading up the student’s minds with only stories and facts, there should be more about tackling the problems in real time.

Today, anybody can get engineering degree. There is no value of an engineer as much as it should be. An engineer is one who makes other people's life easy and keeps them happy. They are creators. But, now if there is nothing else to do and someone wants to be a graduate, first option he think for is to be an engineer...even if he has to sit in his daddy's grocery shop for the rest of his life.

It is like a Public transport bus which every one wants to board whether there is any seat or not. And public transport buses are always full. It has 50 seats, but takes in 80 people. Rest travel pulling, pushing and hanging through out the journey. But anyways everybody reaches the destination.

But it is true that, in the four years of engineering, an engineer, if interested, can learn a lot more than engineering. It is a lifetime in itself and teaches one to live life and how to manage things even in the last minute, how to adjust even if there is a cast away kind of situation. It all depends on the learner.

Ashish

The two faces

Hello reader,

Today, I want to talk about evil, Satan and being bad.
Ravan had 10 heads, Voldemorte had 7 lives and each one of us has two personalities: A good and an evil one. It is always said that evil, seldom loses to good. But in recent times I don’t see that happening. People love the evil, the black. People want to be bad. It happens when the evil part of you attracts your mind more than your good side. It’s up to you to choose with path to follow. Mostly it may attract to the evil side because from the outside, it looks lovely. And what people first look at is the cover page, not the contents. The path of evil is a shortcut to what you want. Like, you find a wallet lying in your college campus with the same amount of cash you are in need of. What would you do? Keep it for yourself or return it to the person it belongs to? It all depends on what your mind bids for at that moment. Where there is good, there is evil too.

That’s why, when Shahrukh Khan plays the character of Don on screen and loots a bank or kills his enemies, people love it. They like their favourite star playing bad sometimes. Where, the bad Don never dies. Being bad is now a style and especially when we have trend setter like Shahrukh himself. The movie was awesome with international quality cinematography. I loved it. And so are the stories written where almost every time the villain is showcased as more powerful. Although in the end, as we have seen in the movies, it’s the white which always wins. But people know evil never dies. And again every time an evil takes birth in different avatars, a hero is born to finish its story.

Today, in India, resides a villain, a terrorist, who was responsible of killing hundreds of people. He has been kept safe and it is taking ages for Indian officials to prove his crime. He is not the only one, there are many like him who feel safe living a luxurious life in Indian jails. So what is happening now is that evil is being kept in like our own guests and are being fed healthily. I don't see the evil losing. Where are our heroes? Heroes have chosen the path of evil too i guess. Everybody knows how corrupt the politicians are, common man always curses them, but do they ever think if they are at the same position with all that black money, would they not think about the personal pleasures? It’s all about where their mind asks them to go. And the evil welcomes with wide open arms. Why wouldn’t evil grow?

Now, in modern India, even the pub culture is an evil. Drinking and smoking wasn’t really a common activity a few years ago. The youth gets attracted to it. Then they look for the next level in being bad. And when the future of India has no problem in getting committed to evil, why wouldn’t evil grow?
I guess I am too good to see the evil win. I always try not to choose the evil.
It’s time to discover and erase your inner Satan. It is really powerful and it grows. But we are gifted with the angelic part too. Let the evil not take over that. We all have a hero inside, don’t we?
It’s all up to our decision and then why wouldn’t the angel grow?

Ashish

Mirror, Diary and Headphones

Hello Reader

Many at times, the only person you want to be with is yourself.
Only you and nobody around.
Mostly when you are not happy or angry. May be your loved one ditches you, something not happening like you wish the things to go like.
Sadness is a part of life for every human. Only difference is the period of sadness. For some, it remains for too long and they ultimately start being alone and away from the rest of the world around them, shattered.

Otherwise, people always celebrate their life, every moment.
And even after the loud parties and joyous rides, one always seeks peace, silence, some time to spend with themselves.

And in all these times there are some very precious accessories and stuff which they always want to be with them in those lonely times. Those non living items carry a lot of emotions. They are just a medium to talk to yourself. Introspect and reveal yourself to yourself. In knowing the people around, we forget to think about ourselves. And then these mediums help you to discover yourself.

Mirrors. When you look into a mirror, it doesn't just tells you whether you are looking good for the party or not but it tells a lot more. When you look into your own eyes, you get to know if you are being true to yourself. It shows us our real face. Even the professional dancers and actors rehearse in front of a mirror before they go for the actual performance on stage before the crowd. When you are on a phone call with your loved one, look at yourself and it will show you, your emotions. Smile?

Diaries. Diaries can be your best friend once you put forward your hand to it and it won't deny your friend request. When nobody is with you to share or you don't want certain things to go public then all you need to do is ink out everything on your mind into your diary. And diary may show you a way, lead you out of the darkness and solve all your problems. Believe me, diaries talk. When you have something inside which is burning you. Hold a pen and start scribbling all that on to your dear diary. And then your tears start flowing faster than the ink off the nib and you feel relieved. Sad?

Headphones. Depending on the mood, people select their playlist and songs. The lyrics convey the same message they want to read, the same emotion they want to feel. A punk emo follower listens to a hard rock metal scream at a corner of a deserted place, a usual sad person may walk along a silent road and listen to some sad, blue song and a very happy person may find himself dancing in middle of a crowded bus stop and people staring. It all depends and headphones are the medium which connects you to that emotion and makes you feel every note of music that enters your head. And as the music plays, you walk along, not thinking about the random people around you, the music plays only for you, the lyrics match and you walk along with the beats...apni hi shun mein. Lost?

This Christmas, fall in love with yourself. Lets get committed...

Ashish