High Time

May be some of u may think that this article is written quite late…….I mean I am actually penning my thoughts on this topic so late. But there is one reason. I was so shocked and confused. I was so much in pain and sorrow. It was too difficult for me to understand what was going on?

Till now u must have understood that I am talking about the Mumbai massacre. But it’s just not the Mumbai that has suffered….the whole Nation is facing a new problem….. Even the political leaders are sufferers…..ya, many of them had to resign.
The fact is that whatever happened to Mumbai for 3 days has shaken the base of our own India. We Indians who were proud of our country, of our political structure, of our democracy, of our political leaders, of our politics are now in great dilemma. We all Indians are now questioning ourselves what is happening. Who is responsible for all this. So many innocent people who were killed, who is culprit behind this?

Ya of course the terrorist are the ones who killed these many people. But terrorist are the final outcome. I am talking about the input - means how on the earth these terrorist were able to step on Indian soil. How they were not spotted by our coastguards. Why our intelligence agency failed to have any pre idea about it?

From last 2-3 days on each news channel ,people are shown accusing political leaders. Even R.R Patil and Vilasrao Deshmukh has given resignation. One question that is troubling me is Why we are asking for the resignation of these leaders?. Whether we want something or other to be done after such horrible incidence just to satisfy our feeling that we have done something or we actually have woken up from our deep sleep.

Whole India was shattered by this incidence. I still cant forget how the bodies were removed from Taj, which was shone in NEWS. I can’t even imagine the state of people who have lost their near ones. The picture of Major Unnikrishnan’s mother crying near her young son’s body is still fresh in my mind. The sound of shooting and granite bombs is still prevailing in my ears. We all are feeling this pain………we all are feeling that we need to do something……but what. Just by asking resignation of few leaders is going to solve this grave problem. Is this the answer to our many question.

No…this not gonna help us. One or two people are not responsible…whole system is faulty. Like, how these terrorist came from Gujrat to Mumbai unnoticed? How these terrorist escaped the coastguards?. Now here coastguards are not fully equipped. Who is responsible for this? How they entered Hotel Taj with all arms n ammunitions? These terrorist were knowing each and every corner of Taj and Oberoy as they were shown videos of them. This means that someone must have shooted that video. There must be some local help. There are so may questions and that much problem . Still now we never gave a thought to it. There were so many warnings but we ignored it. And now we are saying terrorism is a big problem and we are blaming each other. U know what is the main problem...........we ourselves are.....we get ignited when ever such incidence happens....then after some days we tend to forget it.....each time we realize n then we forget....what we need is to keep ourselves charge up....forever.....then only something can happen. Now it’s a high time. If now we forget then may be next time we will not get even this chance to blame each other.

Holidays

I never thought holidays can be so boring and irritating. Yes, The holidays……..holidays for which we starting planning before exam ………holidays for which we wait eagerly.

You must be thinking that this type of rubbish only an insane person can write, but believe me sometime holidays can be boring. Especially when only you are having holidays while all your family members don’t have. Just like in my case, my college decided to give us this time one and half month holidays. And now my problem is that my mom and dad are busy with their college and my sister is engrossed in her school studies. So I am left with nothing.

Actually my problem is not THE HOLIDAYs but the fact that others don’t have holidays along with me. Now many questions must have aroused in your mind like what is the relation between my holidays and others. So let me explain with example.

As I get up early in the morning, let me tell you for me ,now, morning means at 9 am, first thing I hear is my mom. Very nicely and tactfully she asks me,” beta can you do some cooking for me, I am getting late for my lectures. Please beta.” And before my answer her reason why I should do cooking is ready. “ Beta please, also you don’t have any work to do. So just help your mom in your holidays.” Was there any need of telling me that I am idle? Then comes my sister. As soon as she returns from her tuitions, in her tired voice only few words are audible, “ tai please ple…… iron my tunic yaar..ple…ple…. You don’t have any work. Look at you , you are just sitting and eating apple. Can’t you do this simple work for your little tired sis.” Now this is called solid emotional blackmailing. Someone should learn from my sis. Then as I sit on my computer, my dad’s entry is must. The first thing that is visible to me is heap of CDs in his hands .Now it’s my dad’s turn , “Avii, if you have time, I mean if you can take out time from orkut and net for your dad then please sort out these few CDs. Make a list of what each CD contains.” Don’t go on the word ‘few’. Here few is used for 20-25 Cds.

These are just few examples of how I am made to remember that I am idle and others are busy. I don’t deny , even others don’t deny that I am busy through out day with my books n novels, with my blog and orkut. But then most important thing which puts me in idle category is that I am not going to college and hence I am an idle.

You must be thinking what a grumbling person I am? But, ‘post abhi baki hai mere dost’.While doing all these things I started enjoying my holidays in small small packages. This credit goes to my dad. After telling me some or the other work he never forgot to boost up me by saying , ”Come-on avii. Don’t bring that expression on face. Enjoy whatever you are doing. Do it like no one can do it better than u, even if it is ironing your sister’s tunic.” Well now that I have started enjoying my small duties, holidays have become more compatible. And of course by ironing my sis’s tunic and doing some more things for her like taking her to tuitions on my kinetic and picking her from her tuitions, listening to her school review every day, has brought both of us more closer.

My Questions

“What rubbish is this? How can they….how can it happen? Oh shut mann…how we are going to prepare??????????????”, these and many such questions occurred in my mind when I heard that our beloved, favorite and adorable(hope you got the sarcasm) Nagpur University had decided that 3rd and 7th sem exams will be before Diwali and that to only one day gap will be given between each paper.

Doesn’t that sound something disastrous…….something horrible……..if not, just ask 3rd and 7th sem students or those ‘to be’ engineers who had faced this exam. There condition was just like a fighter who is told that he will have to fight his strongest enemy without any arms n ammunition. Oh God!. Me and my friends, we all thought that Nagpur university, (not the building, ………..but people working under it’s roof) had lost it’s brain………ohh sorry this part it never had………….lost it’s senses. All seniors from our college and many others protested in front of Nagpur university building. But no use.
Our pleadings, our demands, our future(as it depended on this exam’s result) had no effect on those people who were more interested in giving more and good Diwali holidays to their non-teaching staff and hence decided to spoil student’s holidays and even result by conducting exam before Diwali. So now only way for us was to appear for exam and pass.

Now just think of a student who has done nothing during whole term as that student is completely dependant on those 5-6 days that he will be getting before each exam paper for preparation. What will be his condition after knowing about Nagpur University’s Diwali Gift. What will be his plan or strategy to pass this one day interval exam……….to get as much internals i.e. out of 20 and get on paper at least that much marks that will make total of paper >=40. This time I was in this same category.

Say it my overconfidence, or I took whole thing very lightly or the fact that my leg got fractured and was in plaster for more than a month, but this time I was not prepared at all. And my low score in sessionals had already lowered my confidence. My first year 78.3% was still alive in my mind. I really wanted to make it above 80% in this term but now the situation was that I was literally planning to just somehow pass in each paper and avoid any backs.

And now as I am writing this article after my last paper and I can tell you that this one day gap exam was not an easy task and to make it more difficult Nagpur University won our hearts by presenting us toughest paper of each subject.( Let me tell you that this is not just my opinion but many other scholar student’s opinion is also considered in it ). So no prize for guessing that my answer sheets contain most amazing answers and examiner will be pleased to check them as he will not be required to put many efforts and brain and they will be less time consuming. And not to mention most of the time he will just be require to put ‘0’ on my answers sheet. Truth apart, this examination has changed my thinking a lot. Now many new and interesting questions have arrived in my mind.

If some how I manage to clear all subjects , what knowledge I had earn from this 3rd sem. My knowledge or depth of 3rd sem is limited unto the QUESTIONS given in VBD or Questions that are repeatedly asked in exam (from 3-4 previous year papers).Whether this knowledge is going to help me in my future, in becoming a good engineer or somehow I will also manage like all others have done or still are doing. Has this examination made me learn something knowledgeable or just taught me how to study for getting just passing marks. Has this exam sharpened my intellect or has sharpened my skill of how to cheat.(Let me tell you that I am against of cheating because I don’t have that much guts but I have seen many of them cheating). So friends I am really confused that why I have given this exam. …………….just as a formality……….or just because my friends were also involved in this mass activity. Why ..Why I wasted each one day before exam in searching the repetitive questions and mugging them. Why I wasted so many university’s papers in writing irrelevant answers.

Well I thing I will require some time for finding answers to these questions or I will be able to answer them myself after getting my degree.

Forgotten desires

To wake up early, work and study,
Is this only the life?
It is just like on head
Balancing a knife.

Hectic schedules, boring routines
Had killed our emotions,
Somewhere we loose ourselves
These are the words of caution.

Sometimes we want to break the cage
And come out of the womb,
We want to enjoy life
Before sleeping in tomb.

We want to take some adventures
Enjoy some new ventures
Want to dance in rain
And bunk the lectures.

We want to laugh aloud
And play with friends a lot,
We get irritated by laptop
And want to catch a maggot.

Then we decide to live life.,
N on tension put a cross,
But suddenly we realized
And in some assignment we get engross.

These thoughts came n went
Decided n then forgot,
And life comes to an end
And we miss these enjoyments a lot.

But then no use
Because it’s a lost time,
This is a harsh truth
And not just a rhyme.

- Avanti

Live in present!

Live in present!

Just ask yourself one question. How much time or how many minutes or seconds you can concentrate while studying or reading? Answer it honestly.
What’s your answer?
30minutes
20
10
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
When this question was asked to the students of IIT Mumbai, Mechanical branch, the answer was 2 to 5 seconds.
Isn’t it astonishing? Yes, but that’s the truth.
Even when we are reading or lets say (frankly) our eyes are on the letters or alphabets but our mind is somewhere else. And this happens with every body, with everyone.

That’s what Rashmit Bhaiyya (our guru at art of living workshop) told us. He said our mind is never stable. It is very unstable and it loves to wonder from present to past and to future. It never remains or stays in future. And that’s what creates lot of problem.
Just take example of us during our exam. When we realize that next day we have our exam, we all can imagine our condition. Right? Well then we weight the book and mere weight of the book kill our hope. Then we count the pages and looking at 3-digit number page numbers all the remaining hopes vanish. Then some how we gather courage to start reading the book. The fact that it’s too late to start study click to us and then time travel of our mind starts. First our mind travels to past and then we remember all the exams that we have given till now. And then we realize that every time we made the same mistake of doing the study just one day before the exam. An then every time we decide that from next time we will not repeat this and we will study from starting. But then we never ever followed it.
Then our mind travels to Future and then we decide that from next time anyhow we are gonna study from starting.
Then our mind starts imagining things of future and we hope that something should happen.................something ..........anything that will postpone the exam. Small earthquake, or small riots, of there should be ‘Bund’.
But in thinking all this, we forget to study and when few hours are remaining for paper we realize that nothing gonna happen, we will be required to give that damm paper. And we regret that we wasted time in thinking about past and future. If we have used that time for studying, i.e for present, things would have been different.

That’s what happens with us. It’s human tendency to bother about past and future and to forget about present. We waste our time, precious time in thinking about past and future.
That’s why someone has rightly said-
“ Past is the bounce check,
Future is the check that has no guarantee,
But only present is the cash that we have”
So live in present. Make it beautiful.

Thank God i joined it!

I had already paid 500 Rs for it so willingly or unwillingly I had to attend it. It was the workshop for youth of Nagpur arranged by ART OF LIVING.
Some times u take a road or path unwillingly and then u realize that this is what u were searching for.Thats what happened with me .
Art of living…..the first thing that comes to our mind is elderly people sitting , doing yogasans, chanting mantras and listening to (sorry for this) swami or baba. Isn’t it? Yes the same thing came to my mind, to my entire friends mind those who had also made blunder by registering for it. And the comments of our non-registered friends, “Yaar tum log budhe ho gaye kya art of living lagane ke liye. Jake bhajan gana wahape”, discouraged us more and we were desperate to get our money back but no way out. They were not ready to return money back. So we decided to check out it once.
The first day of workshop……….17 July. Timing was from 5 to 9pm. We all decided to bunk last 2 classes so that we can take proper rest and then go. Actually this idea was given by one of my nine friends. According to him pre workshop rest was necessary for us, as we had to sustain the 4-hour bhashan and lecture and various assans. The venue was MUNDLE HALL near DIKSHABHUMI (Nagpur). As per Indian standard time we all ten friends gathered at our meeting point and those who didn’t follow Indian standard time (IST) were complaining that they had to wait for long for those who followed IST. Some how we managed to find the hall…assemble hall of a school………..and most amazing thing was that we all didn’t forgot to bring our passes. We got stamps on our pass………….a way of attendance………..and we entered the hall. And on stage there was written ‘UTSAV’ with thermacol alphabets. Then it dawned to me that the name of workshop is Utsav and coincidently one of my ten friends name is Utsav and hence we were able to kill our 10 to 15 minutes teasing him ,as we were first time ,before time ,and program was yet to start. And then slowly the hall was compactly filled with so called youths of Nagpur. I was patiently waiting and our condition was miserable.
And suddenly there was announcement and there entered our first GURU and believe me I couldn’t believe me that that person who was introduced as our Guru is gonna teach such a big mob because he was appearing so young and actually he was hardly 30.He was introduced as “RASHMIT BHAIYYA” .He is an international chess player and has an international ranking. He is from Mumbai but now stays in Banglore. And then our next Guru Nanda Tai came. She must be near about 30 to 35. So it was really hard to digest this that we actually invested our 500 Rs for hearing to these young Gurus who are hardly few years older than the seniors of our college. And now I was sure that due to my mere dumbness and stupidity I had wasted 500 Rs……..I could have done so many things in it……..could have drink 7-8 coffees in CCD or could have eaten 5-6 Pizzas in it.
But as we all know the saying ‘looks can be deceptive’ , that is what happened in my case. And friends believe me whatever happened after that made a great impact on me and it will definitely be with me throughout my life. When rashmit bhaiyya and Nanda tai started talking, and most important when I started listening to them with full focus and concentration, only one thought came to my mind-‘ Thank God I joined it’.

The day my scooty got punctured

Hey this is one more poem that i have written. Hope u enjoy it! Would love to have ur comments on it.

The day my scooty got punctured

Yesterday I got my scooty punctured,
So grudging I had to trudge the road

I took the path ahead
And waved my scooty bye,
Then I noticed new thing
Up in the sky;

As i had seen in nursery rhymes
It was a seven colored rainbow,
Then it clicked to me
That my nature experience is so low;

On the green grass
the little droplets I saw,
N a frog eating an insect
It was the nature’s law;

My hair dancing to its tune
I felt the breeze’s freshness,
I herd the birds chirping
Through the air’s quietness;

I witnessed the setting of the sun
With orange hues in the blue,
Then it dawned to me
Till now my life was not true;

Somewhere I forgot the nature
In the hectic schedule of it,
Nature’s beauty n sanity
never I bothered about it a bit;

In this nature lies the true happiness
today I realized till now I was wrong,
We need to learn its wisdom n ways
we need to sing nature’s song;

We need to forget our worries
and be with mother nature ,
We need to give it sometime

In it lies our future.

HUMOR

Hey one more of my poems.

HUMOR

Humor is for us or on us
That I sometimes wonder,

Humor makes us laugh or laughs on us,
That I sometimes ponder,

But let me tell u one thing ,
It is the one thing to which we all surrender,

Which can change our life and removes sorrow
And brings happiness that we can render.

Desert

This is a short story written by me for an online weekly compition. And it's topis was DESERT.

Am i so bad?"
She asked the only lake remaining in her region. The only lake that people thought as a blessing of God.
"Tell me , am i so bad, so rude, that people, my own people those who belong to me, those who have been living here since decades, blame me, curse me for my nature."
Desert was really in a very bad mood. She was fed up by the taunts n curses of people who keep blaming her, who thought that desert was responsible for their doom, she was culprit for their bad condition, for less food, for less water. She was desperate to know it from the lake . Hoping to get some answer she asked the lake. des
But to her surprise lake said nothing. He just waved his water like making a laughing noise. Desert was already in bad mood n now in worst. In anger she said," So u too dont want to answer me. OK. Fine. I can understand. U r The most famous lake . Aren't u? How can u talk to a desert like me, who is loathed by everybody."
On this lake just smiled n said " No dear, u took in a wrong way. I was searching for a proper answer to ur question. Just look in that way, ther two people r approaching me, soon they will drink my water. Plz hear them n then i will answer u."
Two blond people , holding lots of bags on their shoulders n in hands started drinking water from lake. Desert n lake both were waiting for their conversation to start.
One of them said, " Bill imagine this lake never existed. We would have been dead without water. This lake is just like a boon inthis desert. Thank GOD. U saved us. Thank GOD."
The two men rested for some time n then they left.
Then lake asked the desert," Have u heard what they talked about?". On this the desert murmured ," ya, the usual thing. Whats new in that?"
On this the lake said, " ya usual thing but u didn't understand the exact meaning. God made some good things but man forgot to praise those God's creations. So God made some things which made man realize the importance of the things made by God n greatness of God. "
" Like u, bcoz of u people praise me, bcoz of u they realize my importance. The two men thanked God bcoz in this hot desert he created me, due to which they were able to quench their thirst. N they realized this bcoz they experience ur hotness, ur heat. So its bcoz of u ,people remember God. So u hold important place in Gods construction plan. U are the one who makes man remember God n praise his creations."Hearing this desert felt like her thirst was quenched.

Life is just A Gift given by God. We all know this n we accept this but how many of us follow this, no one knows. Even the person writing this cant ensure how she is going to spend her next day. This what life is. We all know that 'each day should be lived' n enjoy 'each moment' but sometimes i think is it really possible or we ourselves have made it difficult. So many worries that r encircling us, my future, my career, my job, my earning. should we stop worring about it. But how? Is it possible to make even a second in our life worry less or tension less? Can it b done? Atleast we can try. I know it is easy to say but difficult to practice it. There r lots of books on it. We all have read it sometimes or others. But whether we have practically applied it? I know it is difficult to lead a day tension free but atleast we can try. Just five mins of our day we can try to make tension less, happy, cheerful. Lets give a try!