WITH LIGHT...THERE IS ALWAYS DARK

The age old tradition in every facet of our existence is highlighting the bright side of anything and subduing its dark one. We all vouch for an uber existence as full of malls, high end facilities, speeding cars and every other possible amenities. We enter malls full of pride and awe and refuse to acknowledge the shanties and "chor bazaars" around it. We all drive away with pride in our vehicles, " bigger the better" , being our motto and fail to see the roads and our fellow humans being choked alike. Living in anything less than a villa or mansion is way below ourselves and hence we turn a blind eye to the mode of procurement of land, agricultural or tribal..why should we give a damn! We drive and curse simultaneously on encountering bad roads and prefer to turn up our noses at the open drains or overflowing dumpsters. Sadly we must know that the waste is the "dark" side of the "bright" consumer goods.
Socially speaking, apartheid , caste discrimination like phenomena and the ever increasing anti social diaspora today is simply lack of giving them proper acknowledgement. Ignoring the "dark" skinned, the "dark" lives of those downstream in the social ladder , and more recently the rights of those who live in dark, inaccessible places and are taken to be absent from the country's scenario. All this has been the cause of uproars and violent rebellions ( armed Naxalism an important example) presently and through the ages.
The many stresses and woes of modern life are pinned upon the hectic schedules and cut-throat competition in society. No one ever wants to accept that the schedules got hectic due to our mismanagement, keeping the small yet important things in the dark, not taking them into account. And the darkness of population explosion still haunts us giving way to the omnipresent competition. Try and ignore that if you can! The stress buildup in everyone's life is inability to express ourselves completely at all times, the democracy which is so hypo-critic calls upon us to wear a "volte-face" and keep our true feelings bottled up in the dark. Shrinks hence proudly display themselves as our only light and hope , we get dazzled and go to them to vent out. However that superficial method is no way out and we know that. Scorning at and hence ignoring things in the dark can be disastrous. Many-a-times we also keep things in dark from our family, thinking it would bother them, not understanding the illumination that discussion would cause and it would ward away all our troubles.
Come Diwali and there is no distinction between day and night. The whole town gets decked up with almost-bridal jewels of light. Not surprisingly enough though, this light is very effectively able to mask the heat and toil of the firecracker factories. The loud laughs, cheers n gaiety mask out the noise of unwonted explosions. Even the stifling smoke emanating out gets an almost attractive shimmer to it. This is the dark that the brightest of all festivals in our country hides.

On a philosophical note  one can say that, the presence of light can only be sensed in the dark.The harmony or balance of our existence is essentially the balance between light and dark. Judging the things on the "darker side" of life as simply evil and bad is a very biased view of life. We must remember that as long as there is no negative scale, the positive cannot be judged against anything. A full moon night is as beautiful and as dangerous as a new moon night in any predator-inhabited jungle or with respect to high-tide phenomena in seas and oceans. Light and dark are two extremes of "the shades of grey" and represent the respective stoppages to the ever ongoing transition of existence, light being its Utopian and dark being its Dystopian version.However, the concept of light and dark is a perception based one, and we may be actually endorsing something dark without even knowing it (like moral policing or khap panchayat decisions). Life only in the light without any flicks of dark becomes perfect and boring, it is the dark imperfections which add excitement and the scope for betterment and progress in life. We all sure do love "happy endings" but please people, it is time to get the real picture around us and prevent the sad and "dark" endings before it is too late. The bright light around can be a very well illusion by which we should not be easily fooled and keep blissfully ignore the dark. 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

© [Anupama Sharan] and [something...yet everything], [2012-2020]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to [Anupama Sharan] and  [something...yet everything] with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

A THING OF BEAUTY

Back to the pavilion of my college life and quite a few days into my 2^nd year, I am still amazed by the beauty of my college. It is not bound by any dimensions, time or season of the year. A shortcut here, an unexplored path not taken before and voila! , we stumble upon a scene that renders us literally speechless.

Get up early to the first rays of the winter sun and watch the tall tree tops turn golden. Stop worrying about creepy crawlies and take the muddy way on a rainy morning and one look around will assure you it was worth the effort. Almost every other path in the college in nothing less than a beautiful boulevard, flower-laden trees dotting the frequently tread trail to the lecture halls, the giant ones forming a leafy canopy from the R’n’D to the main building, sheltering us from the rain and sun alike. The quaint or tranquillity which surrounds us here helps us achieve the much needed peace of mind when engineering begins to take its toll on us ( and that is quite often, peaking during exam time :p ). Just pick up the books, hop outside and enjoy a free mental spa which the hostels’ gardens provide. Sometimes, when our legs give away, refusing to tread any long paths in college, we crave for vehicles. Yet we are also thankful for the minimum traffic here, the moment we take the bus to a hot and sweltering, congested, city outside. “What a relief!” are the first words as we come back from the city trips. We may love to grumble during the incessant rains but stop doing so the moment we see a normal dance floor getting converted into a much happening “mud-dance floor” (hello Halloween :D ) during any party. The best way to avoid sleeping during some of the particularly boring lectures is by simply taking a look outside. The activity of any bird or squirrel is sure to both engage as well as amuse us. However one should be careful to not linger long enough for the teacher to actually notice!!! :p

In fact BIT is kind of a best place for hiking & nature trails. So every weekend instead of hopping on the bus for a hectic ride to city, take a bag-pack and explore the campus to keep discovering new facets of its amazingness ( we shouldn’t need treasure hunt or Scotland yard every time for that). Yes there are many out-of-reach places but that is what gives the parents’ a good night sleep at home with attentive guards patrolling every nook and corner possible.

Enjoying the beauty of the campus carries with it a sense of responsibility to maintain it. It pains me to see people casually chuck off garbage on the roadside or the drain when the next bin is just is just a few paces away, riding bikes on campus just  because we have entered senior year or using plastics instead of paper or bio-degradable bags. Simply participating in the “green drives” organised by the EPAC club or occasionally vowing to help maintain the campus clean and green, are very shallow approaches towards the cause. We do owe a lot to the gardeners, sweepers who painstakingly keep the campus beautiful and clean. Sitting in the nature’s cradle obviously gives the campus beauty an edge but kudos to those who sweat-it-out to preserve it. Overburdened as they are, it is only moral & ethical that we shouldn’t increase their workload. Refrain yourself first and others will follow suit.

So for the new 2k12 batch, you will gradually discover the best part about our college’s beauty, that is gives a “sense of being home” to anyone who has chosen to become a part of it. And the passed out 2k8 batch rightfully chose this couplet to describe what they will miss the most about college life,

              “A thing of beauty is a joy forever :

Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness” 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

movie review : two brothers

i had been meaning to do this for quite some time coz this one's a movie i can never get enough of and have watched it umpteen no. of times.   :

it is a 2004 movied directed by Jean-Jaques Annaud. nothing like a critically acclaimed or award winning one with a modest imdb rating 6.8/10, and yet its cute storyline told sans any attempt to make it anything but heart-tuggingly simple, is where the magic lies. :)

set in 1920's french-ruled cambodia, the basic plot is about two baby tigers who get separated as cubs and reunite later in adulthood.( gives any indian reader a feeling of  deja-vu with the plot of "brothers ka bichadhna in kumbh ka mela n reuniting later on but anyways!! )

the story starts with the tiger family living in the ruins of an ancient temple which is demolished by an explorer and hunter Adian Mcrory( Guy Pearce) . in the struggle that follows the father gets killed and one of the cubs get separated. Mcrory takes a liking to the cub and hands him over to the village chief. however, the chief being a corrupt person, sells the cub to a local circus( well its safe to guess that corruption has been like froever in every society!)

later on, for pleasing a pompous prince of the region, another hunt is organised in which the mother tigress is shot in the ear and the other cub is befriended by the young son of the french administartor, Raoul, who makes him his pet. after some initial months of merry, the cub is added to the princes' ferocious creatures' collection, much to the dismay of Raoul. the two tigers are eventually named Kumal amd Sangha. Kumal is trained to be a circus acrobat while Sangha is prepared to be the ferociuos animal, his vain master intends him to be. in an epic showdown a year later , the two tigers are pitted against each other at a battle-until-death organised by the prince in the memory of his father. much to the amusement of the audience and the embarrasment of the idiotic prince, they recognise each other and start playing instaed of fighting. the end is all about their escape to safety and reunion with their mother who gives them the long-due lesson of hunting.

what i found fascinating was the accounting of the tiger, branded as a solitary creature erstwhile, as a family one. one can't stop oneself from croonig over the cuteness and intelligence of the cubs and the playful antics of the young tigers. the breath-taking camera work catching each and every expression of the cubs and tigers, makes one actually forget that its a animal movie.  the screen play is also fabuluos recreating that era efficiently and the beauty of Combodia.for wildlife lovers as well as non ones, it is a delight alike. so still not late to catch up with this beautifaul piece of cinema with your loved ones ( i must also mention full-on warm and absolute "family stuff" ala the tiger family :) )...what say people?

for me on a scale of 5 it gets a rating of 4.5 .  

Scenes to watch out for :

• the vain prince talking to sangha in his cage about his father. a classic display of typical human ego and unwonted pride which is redundant infront of the refreshing animal  innocence.
• Sangha recognising Raoul in the end  and Raoul warning him to stay away "from the villages of men". ( "animals and children tell the truth they never lie.... which one is more human that's a thought now u decide" .... the animal song :)   )
• Kumal taeching Sangha to jump to safety fromn the fire around them using his training in circus ( and also as a cub licking sweets from Mcrory's hand.... nothin special but he's chooo shweet in those shots
• last but not the least, the tigers' escape from the battleground, with the audience being driven in the same ground where the tigers where supposed to fight , for their protection.( this should have a lasting impact on anyone for its message shouts out loud and clear  to us humans " you are just another species like us, u cannot decide nature's fate".

i miss you....... my dabba : D

everyone i am sure can still remember those last few minutes of class at school which seemed to pass wretchedly slowly ( or well, get extended if ma'am was in one of her devilish moods ). and then came the jarring yet lovely sound of freedom a.k.a the recess bell. less than halfway through, it was drowned out by the hullabaloo of students storming outta their classrooms to the cherished half an hour or something of freedom. although outside play was must and somebody still remaining back was branded a "rotten egg" , play time didn't come before everyone huddled around around the bench-cum- temp dining tables to wolf down our beloved "dabbas". yes "wolfing down" because every time the flavors on  the palate were varied and irresistible. the most unfortunate ones during the recess times were actually those who happened to have their moms in an extra good mood that morning and ended up with something special . an eye blink , swift swoop down of hands, and almost as if Mr. H. Potter had uttered the vanishing charm, whooosh!!! empty and extra clean interiors of the tiffin stuck out their tongue back.
the "dabba" actually held quite an important position in the school life of anybody. it was the tool for gelling in of the newcomer with the others, deciding the group hierarchy in class based on its deliciousness ( all very versed with the bully n li'll kid's ad for 'Everest masalas' ) , or branding of the class's teacher's pet as the one who regularly brought that extra something for the teacher. it fuelled a new challenge for mums everyday as the kid brought home tales of something or other exotic in his classmate's dabba and she was hell bent to improvise and and win the title of "the best dabba" in class.
 
for the schools with long hours, everyone without fail was actually handed down a basket that had the dabba and its accomplice , the undisputed symbol of hygiene, a napkin. the child who never failed to spread it out before lunch was sure to get that "special star" from the teacher and made an example before others. so hence the dabba evolved but we didn't. from smart tucked in shirts or pulled up socks, we became the dudes n dudies with hanging ties and improvised uniforms fashioned to be trendy. the one still carrying a basket and a napkin was termed "dorky" and it was cool to actually bring a dabba in the 'minimalist style' so as to hang out in the canteens more often. the thrill as to 'what mum must've packed 2day' was still there but it was the height of uncool to express it out loud. ( trust me people all this was the absolute true experience but as sidney white goes "we all are dorks"..... so wth!!)
as a gal i actually had some of my friends suffering from the "we-want-to-be-hep-coz-we-are-seniors-now" syndrome chucking away the already little food with a view of dieting ( n yet could be spotted hogging in the canteen later!!!) . in this sense guys held my full respect as they stuck to the tradition of finishing off the dabba first and then gorging on outside food ( well probably their huge appetites called but anyways!!). so the transition from middle to high school made the center of attraction shift from the humble dabbas to the canteen.
but as the saying goes "life comes in a full circle". one day having a long hearty talk wid my best friend who is a day scholar in an engineering college back home, she casually said that i had "somethin something" in tiffin today. i doubled up laughing my head off and could barely get the words out "what- u -  still - get - a - dabba -  for college???" we both laughed away. and yet some days later when i came back from my grandparent's place back to the hostel, i could still see those hands in class swooping down to gobble up my nani's paranthas leaving me none. it hit me then, i was also among those hands which reached out for any homemade stuff we could lay our hands on in the hostel. that is simply because any dabba brings with it , a sense of  being home, of standing and seeing mum in the kitchen filling every single of those containers with love and warmth. in a world of egoistic and intellectual divsions..." the dabba" unites all. and well yes , there is no universe in my knowledge where addabazi over a "ghar ka dabba" isn't one of coolest and best hangouts ever.

(P.S : stanley ka dabba is one of the cutest movies i have ever come across...give that a try for more on "the dabba".. ) 

MISS INDEPENDENT

“Oh there’s something ‘bout her,

 ‘cause she walk like the boss ,talk like the boss, do what a boss do,

She got me thinking ‘bout getting involved, that’s the kinda girl I need!” – ( Ne Yo , song “miss independent”)

 She’s here and now, hot and happening and the ultimate powerpuff girl, none other than the miss 21^st century Indian. She has broken confidently through every male dominion, falsifying the foundation of age old gender discriminations and stereotypes. Be it the corporate or education sectors we now have a Chandra Kocchar for every Vikram Pandit and a Rajita Chaudhuri for every Arindam Chaudhuri.

 She doesn’t mind raising many an eyebrow by performing the last rites of her father herself or becoming a maulvi to perform a nikaah. She’s scaling heights as high as Mount Everest, outperforming her male comrades in the army (read Shanti Tigga, the first woman combat officer) and making a mark in sports globally. Women in India now enjoy bachelorette bashes, work as DJ’s, bartenders or even bouncers! Stay-at-home dads and working moms is a common story of every other urban household. Now we’ve even got villages celebrating the birth of girls – a remarkable and much needed change.  

All these illustrious examples shout out loud the fact that India is finally waking up to the dawn of the age of the fairer sex. My history teacher had once rightly said that the reason for women in India not protesting against the brazen violation of their rights (even the right to be born) was because the men had always provided for them – granting them the right to vote among several others even before the European and American nations. So the quintessential”docile Indian lady” became even more indebted and submissive. But the women in the West had had to fight it out from the very beginning for them and hence learnt how to ward off unwonted male dominance. Well that past is through with now and it’s a happy fact that Indian women have really woken up for themselves and now want the best of both – the household and the outside world. Now we can actually realise why the goddesses are always shown with multiple hands as that is what every woman of today does – balancing multiple things at a time and still being the best at it. Maybe the male chauvinists had perceived this and therefore barred women from venturing out of their homes as they knew we wouldn’t stop until the world was ours to call. But my dear sirs, why can’t you differentiate between need and use. We are not mere objects to provide for you and be taken for granted. Women no longer need men in this assumingly “big, bad world” to safeguard them or to avoid social shunning. Women can manage fine by themselves and no longer are prey to eve teasers or molesters, possessing the capability to give a fitting reply to these anti-socials. Everybody in this world exists due to a woman, so please wake up people! There’s no question of the “innate superiority” of men over women.

 Men make a move, we are here now. No longer your arm candies or simply household geckos, not “dumb” but “legally” blonde now! As for all the females – celebrate and feel proud of the fact that you are the “miss independents” of today and start believing in “girl power”. The world is in your hands, seize it!!!

my mom's supermom!!!

this is d photo montage i made as a part of our mother's day gifts..... :) kiddish but mom found it kinda cute!! :P

THE POWER OF RESISTANCE

:P

For students like us with science drilled so deep within our heads, the first imprint on our minds for the word resistance is just the tiny two terminal device we so hate in the electronics lab. But take a break guys, in the mad rush of everyday we have forgotten the magnificent role this noun can play in our lives.

Each of our day is filled up with numerous whinings about one or the other omnipresent problems, say injustice, corruption, pollution or even terrorism. Even if we open our eyes to these problems and mutely support leaders like Anna Hazare, we seem to forget that each one of us can be a leader and solve these problems for ourselves through the sheer power of resistance. Resistance basically means offering an opposing or retarding force. Isn’t opposition to something wrong and conviction in one’s cause, all it takes to battle any evil gripping our society.

Corruption would not have taken such an incurable form in the country and become incombatible unless a separate constitutional body is established for it. Handing a 100 rupee note to the traffic cop and  breaking rules the very next day is a shortcut which shouldn’t be taken. The key is resistance to corruption. We must not forget that somebody who turns a blind eye to a pressing problem is as guilty as its propagator. The same argument is applicable to terrorism and the violent side of Naxalism as well. Resistance to these would have been in the form of the economically deprived or the other discriminated sections resisting their respective governments’ indifference and waging a peaceful war for their rights. The priviledged class should also not have ignored the governments’ apathy towards their counterparts and used their erstwhile position of advantage to resist this extreme wrong by the so-called people’s representatives. As economic and rights deprivation are the root causes for terrorism and Naxalism, these would have been successfully nipped in the bud itself and not become a pan-world or pan-India problem!

History gives us many illustrious examples of the breakthroughs in science or battles won against atrocities of cruel rulers through resistance in the form of an inhibited spirit for fight and not fearing the harsh, inhuman punishments of those times. In an age of church principles being blindly followed, we would never have got epistemology and logic, had it not been for socrates and his resistive will power. Nor would we have had the astrophysics of today if galileo would have remained a nobody fearing the church. The french society would not have been of the form today without the fearlessly resistive group of the Jacobins or the many philosophers Voltaire, Rouseaue.

In conclusion on tracing the timeline of all the long standing problems in the world or india, be it gender,class,caste or racial discrimination, poverty, population boom or even pollution for that matter, have a simple solution i.e. resistance to their root causes. So people, awaken the dormant power of resistance in you and shape the world and our country in the way you want rather than waiting for somebody to do so. Just resist and feel the difference you can make!!!