Happy New Year!

This is that time of the year when

- you say Merry Christmas and mean it

- you blow out air and pretend you’re smoking

- you wish it were warmer if you’re cold

- you wish it were colder if it’s not

- you call up old friends and catch up

- you promise these friends you’ll be in touch regularly

- you know no one believes these promises

- you make elaborate plans to celebrate

- these plans usually don’t match your expectations

- you’re too drunk to care anyway

- you look at that bottle of booze and promise it’s your last

- you make too many promises you won’t keep

- you smile even if you don’t feel like it

- you laugh with the gang when you really want to be alone

- you say Happy New Year when you really don’t mean it

- you say it ‘coz you hope yours is better than the last year

- you wait for the clock to strike 12 so you can be the first to wish a loved one

- you get jealous when that number is busy

- you resolve to forget an old love

- you find yourself distraught when that person doesn’t call

- you resolve to reduce that extra inch of fat at your waist

- you know you made the same resolution last year when it was an inch lesser

- you wish you were spending it elsewhere

- you still tell the guy next to you that it’s the most fun you’ve ever had

- you look back at your year and remember the lows more than the highs

- you resolve to blog more

- you know ‘you’ is really ‘I’ most of the time

- you wish you could think of more to write

- you say this is that time of the year

God bless us, everyone!

Happy New Year to everyone, I mean it :-)

Non starter

It's been 5 months since I last left an imprint on my own space on the digital world. I can probably claim writer's block but it was never the case that I posted too many of my writings on my blog. Doubters can refer to my notepads, cell phone, class desks for numerous scribbles. Anyways I did try to put in some articles on my blog but never got past writing more than a few lines. And now after a long and hectic week, I decided to give a shot at writing another article and hopefully ending it. This is a tribute to a few things I've intended to do in my life and have never got to starting on them or if started, never completed them; or if completed, utterly failed at them.

1. Weekly updating of my blog
2. Preparation for summer placements at IIML (yeah, I know! I'm in a B-school now :O)
3. Making a huge DVD collection of movies
4. Watching the huge collection of movies on my hard disk!
5. Trying to see beyond the next one week of my life
6. Stop lying and contradicting myself (note points 2 and 5)
7. Keeping in touch with all my friends (feel terrible sometimes that I'm losing touch)
8. Letting my hair grow for more than 5 weeks (yay! in the 6th week now, for the first time ever... ponytail, here I come!)
9. Stop reading and thinking about football for more than 2 hours a day (it's the only addiction I have, and I totally empathize with a smoker who's trying to quit)
10. Start working on my novel, which is now way behind schedule and my only hope to retire by 25 with millions from royalty selling it

Well, 10 points are good for now, I guess. That's the beauty of cooking up random ranting posts. I won't have to put across my excellent philosophical views into print. Maybe I'll update this post later.. YAY! finally my blog is back in business! Now to hunt down readers!

PS. Btw I just wrote the title before I had a clear idea what I wanted to write in the post. As usual, I got distracted from what I wanted to write and digressed. I have a sad feeling this may be the same case with my upcoming novel :(

The World's a Stage - Part 1

ACT 1: Scene 2

The little girl, all of 6 years old, looks on longingly at the doll that catches her eye in the window of the shop. It is the most beautiful doll that she has ever seen. Colored a light shade of brown, with a flowing pink gown and beautiful black hair, the doll is the one that the girl had wanted ever since she started playing with dolls.

Her mother catches sight of her gazing at the doll. Immediately she knows that buying the doll would make her daughter very happy. But she wonders if she should. Her husband had bought their daughter a lovely kitchen set just a few days back when she had asked for it. The mother knows that if she grants her daughter's wish again, she would begin to take for granted that her parents would give her whatever she wanted. She does not want her daughter to grow up like that.

Her husband looks on as he reminisces how he never got what he wanted when he was a child. He grew up in a poor family and could never afford the toys that most kids who were in well-to-do families played with. He remembers the promise he had made to himself that his children would never grow up with anything lacking. And he is proud that he is in a position to provide everything for his family.

The little girl understands that getting her mother to buy the doll would be a tough ask. And she knows that her father would easily yield to her wishes. She nevertheless asks her mother if she can have the doll fully knowing that her wish would be refused. She pleads with her mother as her mother tries to convince her that she does not need the doll now. She realizes that her mother will not yield and now her only hope is her father. She goes to her father with tears in her eyes and refuses to talk as her father questions her on the reason for her grief. She knows that eventually her father would realize what she wants and get the doll for her.

The father looks helplessly as he knows he can buy the little amount of happiness for his daughter, but understands the wisdom in his wife advising him not to buy the doll. But his heart melts at the sight of his daughter's tears and he cannot bear to put the little girl in so much sorrow. He buys the doll for her and savors the look of joy on his daughter's face, and is proud that he is able to provide so much happiness for her.

The world's a stage...

ACT 2: Scene 4

The young boy trudges along disinterestedly towards his school. He wonders why a 12 year old should be put through the daily torture of attending school and doing homework. The only part of the school that he enjoyed was the time he spent playing with his friends, playing pranks on teachers, and teasing the girls of his class, and now that had been taken away from him.

He is known among the teachers as a trouble-maker, always being the mastermind behind any mishap that occurs in the class. As he walks past the principal's room on the way to his class, he remembers the last time he was there, which was not too far back. That time he had really pushed the limit as the principal was furious and threatened to expel him. But somehow, the tears shed by his parents and his numerous apologies and promises to turn over a new leaf had saved him.

He walks into the class and sits alone, away from his friends whom he had, in a way, rescued, by taking the entire blame for that event. However, though his friends are grateful for that, they avoid him now as their parents do not want his bad company influencing their children. He stares despondently at the door as he waits for the teacher to arrive and begin the classes for the day. The class begins with a teacher who had only recently joined, and whom he had not yet targeted as he had taken quite a liking to her classes. She walks up to the board and gives a little smile to the boy as she begins to take attendance.

The teacher knows how much trouble the boy is in, and it would have been very easy for her to label him a brat, like the other teachers do in the staffroom. However, she realizes the boy's potential as she knows what a good student he is when he takes interest in anything. She knows that she would have to guide him properly in order to tame his wild side and develop his talent.

She had been informed by the principal that a new student would be joining the school that day, and she would have to introduce her to the class. She had taken a few minutes to meet the new girl, who was an extremely gifted child, but seemed to be very shy and quiet. She had then smiled to herself as it was clear to her how exactly she would nurture this girl.

A few minutes into the class, the boy looks up from his notes as the teachers calls the class to attention. He looks at a frail figure in a pretty yellow dress, standing next to the door. He wonders who this new entrant is as she shyly looks at the floor and gives a hint of a beautiful smile while the teacher introduces her to the class.

The girl then quietly makes her way to her seat as directed by the teacher, avoiding the curious stares of the entire class. She looks at the boy sitting next to her and returns his smile but cannot help but notice a mischievous look in his eye.

The boy manages to hide his surprise that the teacher directed the girl to sit beside him, and wonders if it is some kind of mistake. He, however does not complain as immediately, ideas spring up in his mind to torment this new entrant. He gives her a mischievous smile as he decides to wait until the end of the class as he was already in enough trouble without creating a ruckus with a teacher in the classroom.

The bell rings signaling the end of the class and the teacher walks out after instructing the students on their homework. She watches the boy and doesn't miss the glint in his eye and is sure that he has planned some mischief. She waits in the corridor hidden from the students' eye eagerly waiting for her plan to spring forth into action.

The new girl shyly tucks away her notebook in her bag and smooths down her new yellow frock. She feels awkward as she is the only one not wearing the blue uniform of the school. She turns towards the boy and he grins and points out that she is not wearing the uniform. Before she can respond, she sees a splash and looks down at her frock to see a stream of blue liquid flowing down her dress. Immediately mixed emotions of dismay and anger bring tears welling up to her eyes as she looks up to see the boy holding an empty bottle of ink.

She fights back the tears and remembers the words of advice her teacher had given her before she came to the class. She remembers that she needs to be strong and not let people take her to be someone who can be easily brought down. She looks up at the boy who is now laughing loudly, and in a flash of anger, gives him the tightest slap she can muster out of her frail body.

The boy is dumbstruck as he never expected this reaction from the girl. He sits back in his place and hides his face as the whole class now begins to laugh at him. He looks at the girl with wonder as she now comes closer to him and tells him that he deserved it. He gives a weak smile as he takes hold of her offered hand. He gazes at the twinkle in the girl's eyes and acknowledges the fact that he now has a worthy opponent.

The girl smiles to herself as she tries to hide her shock at how she reacted. It was something she never would have done and was desperate to make amends even though she knew the boy deserved it. She looks into the boy's eyes as he warmly holds her hand with a smile on his face, and knows she now has begun something of a friendship. Maybe this new place would not be as horrible as she imagined it.

The teacher looks on with satisfaction and knows that this burgeoning friendship between the two opposites, though it started off on a bad note, would eventually help them both be better persons. She can't help but carry a smug look on her face as she congratulates herself on engineering the whole situation.

The world's a stage...

where's the effing title template!?!@?!

First of all, to any blogger who happens to read this post, why the hell can't I have a title for my posts?! I must have screwed up the template somewhere. Please help me out!!

Now, that's out of the way. I think my last couple of posts have had a serious tone to them. My attempt at humour with the Alladin post brought me quite some appreciation from my friends and family. But come to think of it, I am usually a serious guy, and few people would refer to me as 'fun' company. I take sole refuge in Jimmy's statement that I may not exhibit true Arian qualities at first sight, but once I hit it off with people, I tend to exhibit my more 'fun' qualities.

Well, this is probably a pathetic attempt to convince people that I am fun but Jimmy has a point. I am generally a bit reticent (one of the few GRE words I still remember :D ) with people but at least since IIT happened, among my circle of friends, especially Jimmy and the hostel junta, I am quite a... umm... livewire ( ;-) hehe, here I go again!).

Well, anyways, I think Jimmy is mad, at least much madder than me. So, getting back on track, where was the point of this post?
....
.......
..
Phew, about 20 minutes gone since the last word I typed at 4 in the morning and I've realized there was no point to this, just a random rant I started all of a sudden. By the way, those 20 minutes were spent reflecting on how I happened to open this rarely active blog of mine. My thought process went all the way to a couple of nights back as I recalled what brought this latest reflective mood of mine. And most of this time has been confusing, with bits of joy and anger, and the final straw was frustration which I vented considerably on Srujan at 3.30 in the morning. And then I began reflecting on why I lost my cool, as I rarely do.

But in my defence, I lost my cool because I was right to do so. Yeah, it was a silly game and there was no need to get worked up about it, but at least sometimes it's alright to fight for what is right (The 'sometimes' applies to me because I really am not a fighter when it comes to things that I do not believe in even when they are right). And yeah, that's what my defence is going to be if I don't make it into any of the IIMs :D. I did put my best effort in them but it was more for my parents' and friends' sake than mine. I could definitely see the logic behind my parents attempt to convince me into management, and being the only one among friends who put a lot of effort for the exam, I did not want to belittle their dream by not putting in my full effort.

One more advantage of my reflections is that I can make a defence for any situation I am put into. No wonder Srujan got pained when I nearly convinced people that I was not the wolf in the game we were playing since 1 in the night.

Wow, an hour into the post, and I have finally made some semblance of relation between the random rants that I have been typing early in the morning.

Anyways, I've got to cut this post short as Jayant is still awake and finally his 3 month plan of going to the beach for catching the sunrise seems to be happening. So off to catch some waves now.

And mom, if you happen to read this, do not worry, I am already living on California standard time so I'm not going to screw my body a lot. I still think I can manage to convince you that that's where I belong. It is one love that I do not want to let go off :-).

Haha, a very personal article, so readers who do not know me, I hope I have not pained you so much that you won't read the posts below. Adios!

End of a dream

The writing’s on the wall,
Says we were not good enough.
The deeds are done,
And the tears are shed.
The game was afoot,
And it was our time.
But what went wrong?
Why the tears?
When did the tide turn?
When did hopes melt?
The one who began the dream,
Snatched it away again.
The hero showed the light,
But the darkness was too great.
When heroes fall,
What chance have the mortals?
We search for a leader,
And one steps up.
But it is too late,
The hopes are dead again.
Why did we ever believe?
Why did we ever concede?
Was it just a fool’s hope?
Was it just bad luck?
No one shall we blame,
No one shall we deride.
We walked in as equals,
And we walk out sharing the grief.
There are no more chances,
And no tomorrow for many.
Before our time was up,
We missed our trip to glory.
Is it time to move on?
Is the sorrow too great?
When the dreams are dead,
What else can life offer?

The writing’s on the wall,
And it’s time to hang up the boots.

I'm No Superman!

"....But I can’t do this all on my own
No I know
I’m no superman
I’m no superman!"

Superman is one heck of a tied up guy, so many powers and oh so many responsibilities! It must be a real trouble for him to have the great powers that he has and yet have the constant persuasion to use it for the good of everyone around. In truth, no one ever persuaded him to use them but once he did, he had to carry on or he really would not be the Superman we all have come to love. I pity the guy, and would really hate to be in his shoes and be responsible all the time.

Have you ever made a huge mistake that you will regret all your life?

Superman does not make mistakes. He has the power and the will to do everything right, and even if he did, it really would be very easy for all of us to forgive him and get on with life. After all, he is super'MAN'. And man is allowed to make mistakes.

"I’m no superman
I’m no superman!"

This song has been on my lips for a few days now, and I just can't stop singing it. Because I'm NO Superman!

Have you ever made the same mistake twice?

Now, Superman would never do that. Period. He would not!

Have you felt the exhilaration when you do not feel responsible anymore?

Ha ha Superman definitely would never have had such a feeling! Poor guy, the sucker for being a hero that he is. It is an awesome feeling, to know that things are definitely not in your hands anymore. A burden off your shoulders, a new way to look at life, new opportunities, hopes and no regrets!

How did Superman become Super?

This article is beginning to look more and more catechismal. But readers, do not worry, I am neither answering any of my questions nor am i preaching because

"I’m no superman
I’m no superman!"

A cliched response to man's inadequacies that makes the right choices and responses in difficult situations led to Superman being immortalized. The guy is everything that we all aspire to be but know we never can be.

The existence of such a Superman is totally impossible as no man is infallible. The thought of there being someone infallible and perfect seems very haunting to imagine. Is such a person a man or a machine?

Perfection in a person would only make him more of a zombie than a human, and life would definitely be less colourful if not for the imperfections in people.

Alladin and his cramp

One of the most loved stories of all time and an extremely successful movie of Disney is Aladdin. This is the rags to riches tale of a street urchin and how he comes across a wonderful lamp that changes his life forever.

So Aladdin lucks out and gets this brilliant lamp from which comes a genie who gives him 3 wishes; the catch being he can not wish for someone to fall in love with him, or a dead person to be reborn, or wish for more wishes.

When I first heard of the three wishes, all I could think of was that my first wish would be to ask for a thousand more. But unfortunately, the genie was clever (all credit to him for that!).

Now Aladdin promises the genie that he would be freed with his last wish; so assuming that Aladdin is an honest and compassionate human being, he effectively has only two wishes.

Two wishes.. TWO whole wishes to ask for anything in the world!!

Let's forget Aladdin for a while and think of what a common person like any of us would do with two wishes.

The most obvious wish for any person on earth would be to ask for wealth. We are all a money-minded people and riches would truly be on the top of our priority list!
Now now, I can hear all those 'Miss World wannabes' reading this article think that they would wish for World peace and Elimination of disease etc. etc. etc. Trust me people, all that works fine in a beauty contest but when it comes to making such a choice, you will definitely think of yourself first.

The thoughts that would play in your mind are quite clear- "I still have one more wish, I can ask for doing good to the world with that"... "Let me become rich first, I'll help the world with my wealth then".
All these thoughts are definitely tonic for a person's conscience, while hiding the true fact that most of us would actually be thinking- "F*** the world, it was my good fortune that I got these wishes, I'll use them to my advantage"

Now getting back to Aladdin, what did our favourite hero do? He was a commoner just like us and probably would have thought along similar lines. But I forget, there was another factor in this, Aladdin was in love!

He was in love with the Princess Jasmine and the law stated that the princess could marry only a prince. So what does our poor lovestruck hero do? He wishes to become a prince!!
So my commoner theory is indeed correct. Prince = Riches! But no, Aladdin didn't do it for riches, did he? He wanted to marry Jasmine and hence he became a prince.

This decision leaves commoners like me fuming because it oddly seems noble, and there are very few princesses around now who marry only princes! Not fair, I cry!! I want my riches and I want to be noble getting those, just like Aladdin! So where do I get a princess now!?
Hmm huge technical difficulty... can we rewind a bit and correct these difficulties?

a) Find a princess (who marries only princes)
b) Fall in love with her (hope the reverse happens too)
c) Find the lamp (luck out again!)

Ok, now we can wish for riches and feel noble doing that. Yay!

So now all of us would take an end with a 'Happily ever after' line anyday, especially with a wish to spare, and a princess and the riches of the world in the bag!
But STOP! it doesn't end there, does it! This is after all, a love story! (Ok, love for nobility's sake in our case, but let's talk of Aladdin here) And any love story has to have a villain who also wants to marry the princess. A villain who would stop at nothing to get what he wants.

So Aladdin gets conned and trapped by the villain who throws him into the ocean in a barrel, but funnily enough, with the lamp in his possession! And not surprisingly, Aladdin uses his second wish to save his life.

So there we have it, our hero's saved now and can go confront the villain and win back his girl. Basically the same old good wins over evil stuff.

But wait, did anyone notice!? Second wish!! HE USED HIS SECOND WISH! There are no more wishes now! Doomed!

Now, any of us would have a strong urge to go back on the promise to the genie and use the third wish for our purposes. But let's give us some credit, we did make a promise after all, so we shall free the genie.

So after all these incidents, the damages are

1. Riches
2. A princess
3. A villain who unfortunately did not get killed when Aladdin got back
4. No more wishes (let's not free the genie just yet though!)

Now whatever happened to world peace and elimination of diseases? Whatever happened to the true nobility that we promised? What went wrong?

Aladdin had a wonderful lamp but he also had a cramp to go with that. It was the thing that made him act in the ways that he did and so he could not fulfil the true potential of his lamp. He could have done wonders with the lamp and become great but instead his actions were governed by this cramp.

Maybe he was right in doing what he did, and any of us in his plave would have done the same when experiencing this cramp.

Maybe this is just another pointless article.

Love was Aladdin's cramp!

A Pointless Article

So I was travelling from Bangalore to Chennai, and was as usual lost in a maze of thought when I decided to write. Not the first time I decided to do this and not the first time I'm acting on this decision. This time though, I decided I would publish my writings, and this time, in my name. Anonymity is really boring and hardly motivating so finally my blog goes public!!

Anyone reading this article will guess that my style is very 'amateurish' and hardly grammatically correct. So this is a strict warning to purists to keep off! This is a very dangerous grammatical landmine you are trodding!

So what do I write about? The most obvious beginning of a blogger would be to write about him. So here I go, writing about me. Me and the 20 years that have made me what I am. Me and what I have achieved. Me and my greatness. Me the genius! Me the supreme! me! Me! ME!

Hmmm... yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn!!! Anyone still reading? I would be really surprised if you are! How boring, writing about myself, I can imagine the pain any reader is undergoing now. So I shall digress. Enough of myself, let me write about something interesting.

At the moment of me penning this article, the most interesting thing in the world is obviously the FIFA World Cup. That's a nice topic to write on. I could go on for hours discussing the cup, my favourite team, my favourite players etc. etc. etc. But then, aren't there enough analysts on TV to discuss the cup? What more of an 'expert' opinion can I add? It is really pointless writing about football now. So I'll close this pointless topic with just one advice to my fellow Indians. If you are a recent football convert due to the cup and think that Brazil had a God-given right to win the cup, then please get a life! Football's not cricket and Brazil's not Australia.

So what's next? As I think of what to write next, I can't help but feel that I have already lost two-thirds of my readers- half of them to the football digression (why don't women like sport?!) and the rest to the part on myself.

The remaining third of you who have still stuck with me might have realized that I am trying really hard to drive you away! If you still don't get the point, stick on at your own risk!

I'll put an end to this torture by writing on one final topic- the Spotlight.

The spotlight is one that we all seek, one that we all feel a need for, one that makes us jealous, one we would do anything for; It is one that gives us joy, that gives us acclaim, and gives us satisfaction. When it burns too dim, it makes us sad; When it burns too bright, we loathe it; When it turns off, we give up our hopes.

We all need a spotlight, one that burns just right it doesn't hurt. We need one that has shades in it where we can hide when the light's too painful.

If most of my readers do not understand the spotlight, I totally empathize with them. I do not either. I just search for my shades and hope not to be engulfed by them.

Well... THE END!! Told ya not to risk it....!!