Junkyard

Now I have been on the social networking sites for a quite a good period of time. (Actually not for very long, just for a few months after I turned 18) And I know it will be hard to digest for any OR all of you, but I am unable to figure out what am I supposed to do there.

Well keeping those things apart and getting to the point:

Once I log on to my account on any of these sites, I see my home page. And then I see a big collection of “profiles”. I know many people on these sites personally. But, when I see their profiles, I feel there is not even slight similarity between their original self and the ones they desperately try to portray on the profile. Be it their display picture or the tags to support their names. :neutral: Be it the “about me” section or their personal likes/dislikes. :neutral:

I think these people have real dumb personalities in real. :eek: :eek: But, they try real hard to get that, ”cool” factor on the display.

And, not-so-surprisingly, they terribly fail at doing so. :razz:

I laugh uncontrollably when I see one of the following:

1. A display picture or tag line such as : “Down to Earth, But Above you all!!!!!” OR “My attitude in LIFE: Say ‘Try me!!!’ Not ‘Why me?’

(Thanks to ctrl+c - ctrl+v, or what would these people have done! :cool: )

(Note: Give special attention to the exclamation marks above. :wink: )

2. In a section:

First thing you will notice about me : My eyes or that I am a ‘straight-forward’ person.
OR In the images : the ‘dashing-pics’ of their favorite Film Stars (invariably from Hollywood)

3. A page full of description about their persona! Like:

• I am a nice and sweet girl (but in reality she is the one who creates *helluva* problems! :mad: )
  

• I hate liars (And this person lies before you/to you about 10000 times :mad:)

Well, I can go on and on about these profile observations! But, there is no point in jotting them down here.

I just have one question! Why the hell is this longing in your minds to be called as or recognized as Mr. / Ms. COOL fellas! High but fake attitudes in virtual world. And a load of garbage and rubbish in reality!

Just think boys and girls! Doesn’t a calm person, who is good in thoughts and well in manners, appear COOL to you? :???:

If not, then I think, may be, I should have been born in the 18^th century! :shock:

I just completed the last assignment of my current college. It was a report on the topic: "Access yourself: Are you an entrepreneur?"

It's idiotic. We have to write all sort of theoretical stuff which has nothing to do with either entrepreneurship or business. But at my college, the motto for students is "Mind your own business!" :mad:

I wrote 6 pages full of non-sense about: If I have so-and-so skills, I will make a good entrepreneur! The blame does not go to the folks at my college. They are doing their job (i.e. minding their "own" business)

But, as I was over the last few lines of my assignment...
It occurred to me that I have a one month long vacation before my final exams,
And a break of about 3 and ½ months before I take admission to a graduation college.
And I started feeling terribly bad. :cry: I hate vacations.

I don't yet know if I am a workaholic or not. But, I am surely scared of being idle for so long time! I have no plans of outings and I have made no arrangements to keep myself occupied. :cry:

These thoughts started to drift away as I again looked up at the monitor screen.

And suddenly, I smiled. :grin:
And I wrote the conclusion. :grin:

(P.S. Entrepreneurs don't take vacations.
Because they LOVE what they do. And so they don't need breaks!

Accessed myself: I am a wanna-be entrepreneur.) :cool: :cool: :cool:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you.
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting you.
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies.
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating.
And yet don’t look to good, nor talk to wise.

If you can dream and not make dreams your master.
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make trap for fools;
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken;
And stoop and build them up with worn out tools.

If you can make heap of all your winnings,
And risk it on one touch of pitch-and-toss,
And lose and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss.
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they’re gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you.
Except the will which says to them, “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch.
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds worth of distance run,
Yours is earth and everything that’s in it,
And- which is more- you’ll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

My fascination for bridges has been for years.

I don’t know why, but somehow I always find myself having a great deal of interest on the issue of bridges.

Bridges not only connect two pieces of land, they are according to me Man’s greatest adventure.

Discovery Channel once featured a documentary by the name “Man Made Marvels” On that day, they showcased the world’s most famous – The biggest, the tallest and the highest bridges.

I watched the show for 60 minutes without even once taking my eyes off the TV Screen. (Ignore the boring commercials)

I have huge collection of photos of bridges.

My Desktop Wallpaper most of the times has one of them.

It just feels BIG and NICE to look at a Bridge.

Have a look at some of the Best Ones at:

Bridges

And I am thinking hard about what to. This is one of those days when we really want to write something. But are unsure of why we feel so.

So, today before opening this word document, I sat and thought why & what do I want to write? Then after a few minutes, as I was unable to control my urge, I succumbed to my gut-feeling and opened this blank word document, spent some time on selecting my favorite font and font-size, and then began typing. As I wrote the names of the headings that came up to my mind, I didn’t know what I am going to write under that title.

So I typed, “I want to write something…” And this is how this article began. But now that I have written almost a paragraph about what I am feeling, I have begun to think that this whole idea was stupid and a bit of ‘crap’ that occurs occasionally in my head which again, is most of the time jumbled with random thoughts. And slowly I am realizing this page isn’t worth posting.

But I still badly feel that I want to continue pressing the keys which are right now, visible under my palms. I am continuously thinking if I should just press the red button with a white cross at the top-right of this word document and when the message box appears, if I want to save changes, I would just click no, and move away. But, I cannot bring myself to do that.

I think, writing this article is a waste of time for me. And I am sure that you, as a reader are feeling why I am reading this. May be, some of you will feel that, there might be something interesting at the end of this post. But let me assure you my friends, this is just another idiotic act of mine, the author of this blog to spend my time doing absolutely worthless things. I required approximately 3 and a half minutes writing this post. My head is empty. And I think I have had enough.

Now I feel it would have been better if I had done a little practice of Java or .Net programs, instead of whiling my time away in this manner. But, still somehow I feel satisfied by typing a page full of rubbish.

It was fun. Try it sometimes. Now, I feel sleepy.

So, I let go off the desktop (of course after publishing this post on the blog) and straight way I hit the sheets (i.e. the informal way of saying I am going to bed!) [:)] Have fun. And Do Keep Reading me.

Chao!

Whenever the “euphoria” of competitions grips my surroundings, if I ask any Tom, Dick or Harry, “Why are YOU taking part?”

I invariably get the answer, “I want to see where I stand (at district/state/national/international level!)”

(In my mind internally I feel, don’t you even know where you stand now?)

Well, forget it; the other answer which is more common now is, “Because I want a certificate!”

I have observed countless number of students asking to the in-charge, “Do you give participation certificate?” OR “Will we receive certificate immediately?”

And all I can say is “What the heck?” :-x

Damn it! Is this like some kind of a fad?

I want be surprised, if in a few days time, people start mentioning “Collecting Certificates” as a hobby :shock: (as if it were something similar to stamp/note collection, is it?)

Is that all what my generation craves for? “A Certificate” ? And what good it does you?

I spotted a novel on a book shelf in a shop, which had following words on its back cover: “We want things and keep wanting more things, without necessarily knowing WHY we want them!”

You ain’t fooling no one. You are yourself fooling you!

Give it some thought friends!

It will help. ;-)

In my town, Nagpur, this word has been adapted in our local languages (be it Hindi, Marathi or whatever you speak around!)

Now what does this word mean?

As I know, Setting in normal English means situation, locale or surroundings.But, where I live, this word is used in an altogether different sense! 8-)

For e.g.:

“Abey, tension nako gheu. Mi setting jamavto/jamavte.” :neutral:

OR

“Itna costly liya kya? Mujhe batana tha, Maine setting se saste mein jamaya rehta!” :neutral:

OR

“Abey, Mehnat se kuch nahi hota, apni har jagah setting rehti hai.” :neutral:

Somehow, these sentences can be heard in every nook and corner of the crowded streets and we can easily find these words slipping even from the mouths of our own dear friends!

So, my question is, Do you think this kind of setting works…always?

And my despair is that, the people (like me) who are unable to do / haven’t tried setting yet, lag behind to the ones who live a life full of risky settings? :-?

If I pose such a question to the “setters” (i.e. the people who do setting :P), they will undoubtedly say that, it gets done things quicker, so why not?

May be!

But I think it will MOST probably land you in trouble, some fine day!

So, watch out! :roll:

That’s the place where I had been this Saturday night.

A complete Rajasthani Experience.

The foreigner’s who visit such places in search of “True India” find such places very exotic, interesting and a reflection or taste of the real India. :-?

Well, that isn’t completely false.

And about my experience there, I did all sort of ‘ajeeb’ things (the most unusual of me)

I danced with a small kid and two Rajasthani ladies on their folks songs. ;-) (The small kid dragged me to dance with him.) And our group took video clip and photos of the same.

Right now I have heena (Arabic mehendi ) on my left hand and its smell is going inside my nostrils.

This may not sound ajeeb (i.e. weird at all). But, it is. And now for the weird things that I saw there…

The two ladies that I danced with, later on picked a needle and a blade with their eyes. 8-O (Can’t describe this more. You have to see it to believe it) Then, a man put off a big fire (on a mashaal) by putting it inside his mouth. 8-O

A small boy did all sort of acrobatics on a thin rope tied on two poles (while his father was playing dholak and his mother some other instrument) 8-O

Some people were laughing and jeering. (Some were even showering 10 rupee notes)

But, I don’t know why, I had goose bumps. I couldn’t see it. I felt terribly sad looking at the boy. His face looked pale and he was so used to do all these things that he had no trace of fear on his face and his moments were terribly swift. I could not look at it for long. So, as I walked away.

It was sad to see the family, making their son to dance and act to earn money.

(Some may say that’s their way of earning money. But, if it is, it’s horrible)

Later, we ate food. And boy! It was so delicious. I took a lot of photographs.

There were a lot of charpoys laid there. I slept on one of them and stared at the night sky.

It looked beautiful! :D

We returned with a lot of good memories. :D

Alphabets, letters, numbers, special characters, words, sentences and more horizontal or vertical lines…Nothing else.

In short, everywhere text surrounds!

Text on White-board. Text in SMS. Text in Emails.Text on Hoardings. Text in Textbooks. Text in Novels. Text on Television. Text here. Text there. Text on my screen right now!

Talk in Text. Walk in Text.

More alphabets and more numbers!

I don’t why but I can suddenly sense that I have become aware of all the text that has engulfed my world.

Every few hours my cell phone buzzes so that I read a new message which is again in “text”. Again you have to send a reply in “text”. Because calling is costly. And I don’t know why but all of us are big balance-savers! I have to even remember the toughest terms for all my theoretical exams.

It’s kind of nice to be able to converse in text. But, it’s sometimes irritating. I feel it’s better to go and speak face to face.

But, I give my heart-felt sympathies towards all my fellow youthful citizens, who like me, waste their precious time in messaging & encounter these alphabets and numbers and are not able to detach themselves from this, what can I say, habit!

Today is 26^th January, 2009. The 60^th Republic Day.

I came back from flag hoisting at my school.

Whatever you do, wherever you go, there are some things that one holds dearest to the heart. Among many such things, what I hold dear today and will do so forever is undoubtedly “My” School. :razz:

When in school in spite of being in my school choir group and always interested in taking part in extra-curricular activities, I never realized the auspiciousness of these days.

Now almost three years have passed since I left the school (physically! Because I still imagine myself roaming around in the corridors of school :P), and I have never missed a single 15^th august or 26^th January till today.

And I want to continue.

In so many years of my school’s existence, nothing has changed.

Teachers clad in white & red saris, screaming at late appearing students, some curious, some tired/sleepy faces in the primary classes, our music teacher playing patriotic songs on the synthesizer, the NCC cadets (girls & boys) getting ready for the march past and our old English teacher doing the comparing in the most soothing voice I’ve ever heard. :grin:

This is the exact scene what I see every time I entire the gates of the school ground.

My eyes search the crowds for the glimpse of my favorite teachers. We show them a familiar gesture. The chief guests arrive and the flag is hoisted. The national anthem echoes in all directions. And without being instructed, almost mechanically we salute the Flag.

And I am sure, the most unpatriotic person present there (even though for a second) feels pride in his/her heart as one for nothing else but our nation, our country,

:-o INDIA :-o

As I see the flag flutter & wave, I just feel nice. Flag hoisting can be done anywhere. But I will always prefer school.

This can be a debate topic whether the young generation feels patriotic only on these two days. Some think it’s just another holiday. And consider it as a punishment to wake up early morning. :-?
Well, it’s your wish, after all. But, I think there is nothing much to argue on that.To me, it just feels great to be present there.

Anyways, hoisting is followed by some cultural program, felicitating students and speech by the dignitaries.

What we await the most is the sweets distribution! :mrgreen: Then we meet our beloved teachers and leave the school while promising them to reappear the next time too.

And believe me, it’s a tradition for me now. Whatever I do, wherever I go, I will keep returning to “my” school whenever in city. :wink:

It’s with me for years now.
However hard I try I am unable to get rid of this weird of feeling.

I think too lowly of myself. :sad:
I never feel that I am superior to others.
I just think I am capable of doing this.
JUST that.
I never even once think that I can/will do “it” better than others. :???:
I don’t know why, but I always find myself feeling that people around me are able to perform things in a more efficient manner than me.

I am writing this post early morning because I woke up just now and could clearly remember a dream (or a nightmare) while brushing my teeth!

(Another weird thing about me, while sleeping I dream almost daily.
And unlike many, I remember most of my dreams clearly! :P
If I write about my dreams I can write another BIG post.)

So I remember today in my dream I was back in my trekking shoes.
And our madam was shouting at me to climb the hill as fast as possible.
The hill was full of big rocks. And I tried really hard. But my foot was slipping continuously. All others who were with me, had now reached at the top. And were showing me their sympathetic faces.
(Boy! That was scary!) :neutral:
The dream ended with my ‘ultra-screaming’ alarm!
(Boy! That’s scary again!)  :shock: :shock: :shock:

So, in all dear readers, you must have realized that the ‘lowly’ feeling doesn’t leave me while sleeping too!

I even do F9 twice on my post to check if anything is wrongly spelled.
If anyone says I am doing something wrong more than once, I take utmost care to avoid repeating it.

I don’t know why I am like this.
In spite of all my achievements till date, I wonder will I ever, for even a day, feel that “I am the best and ignore the rest!”

My folks say I am just plainly too modest. (That sounds cool :cool: )
May be that’s true.
But it’s still kind of weird when I see people with mediocre talents or nothing-extraordinary personalities behaving as though they are the Kings & Queens of the World and go on pretending to be best and throwing tantrums at others. :mad:

Thus, the lowly feeling does nothing ‘bad’ to me.
But, it surely disturbs…

Now I am sipping the hot coffee and thinking...Main aisi kyu hoon! :wink:

Being 18 years neither seems old enough, nor mature! :P Till now, it has happened endless number of times that people say, “Bahaar ki duniya bohot buri hai.” People also say, “Abhi tumne dekha hi kya hai!” .... :(

What these people want to point out at is that, we live in a protective shell and we are not ready for the horrible things waiting around for us. Once we move out we will experience things so bad that we won’t be able to believe them be true.

In newspapers & on television, all that they show is crap! It gives me a feeling that in world all that is left is hatred, treachery, non-cooperation, jealousy, corruption, violence & war. While, I believe & want to continue believing, exactly the opposite of that! :)

I discussed this with Aai. (Aai always sounds better than “Mom”) :P And as always she has the perfect answers to all such questions. Aai says, “Why the heck should we believe that the world is bad. If we believe at heart that everything & everybody is here for good, then the world appears that way to our eyes.” She says, “Consider that all the bad things are not meant for me.” :)

And if we really start thinking that way, it chases away all our worries & gives our mind, some space to think more of GOOD. :D

Really! Try it, it works.

And Aai...

:) You Rock! :)

As JK says in Harry Potter, if bad things are happening to you, believe that they happen, FOR THE GREATER GOOD! :)