Saturday, August 20, 2011

An incident I don't wish to recollect

Had been to college today for the alumni meet today. Met many of my friends whom I interacted with. While having a chat with the close ones, they teased me on this incident. Thought of documenting the same. All my classmates know this.

It was the first semester.

We were in the chemistry cycle of which computer science, basic electronics, chemistry etc were the subjects. Everything was new. The college, the lecturers, the students. Everything. Ours was the first batch. We boast of the freedom we got for the same reason today.

Three months had passed. We were familiar with one and all. The zeal of new college was in each one of us. People can say that we were like one family. I could've described it better if I was a poet. Duh!! It was a startup college. (Ah! Thats me!)

There was this electronic class that day. I won't disclose the name of the lecturer. She was explaining some electronic component and its working.

To be frank, analog electronics never entered my brain. Still I'm not sure why a transistor behaves exactly opposite if you increase the voltage? (I'm just blabbering gibberish! I don't recollect even the doubt I had those days, though I can google n get it back. I'm lazy)

That was another typical electronics class wherein I tried to get the sense out of it but in vain. So I guess I started thinking on my own lines of things that interested me.

I don't know what I did after that but I guess, I smiled as the output of my thought process or someone around would've cracked a joke or I was indifferent to expressions.

The lecturer took it in the wrong sense and screamed in the class.

Lecturer: "Now Sandesh, mind yourself! Behave! Don't do that again or I shall take severe action on you"

Sandesh: "Me??? eh??"

Lecturer: "Don't act smart! I would throw you outa the class if you do that again!"

Sandesh: "Ma'am, but what did I do?"

Lecturer: "Shut up and STOP staring at me. If you do that again, mind you, things will not be right!!"

And she continued.

Till date, I still am not able to figure out what was her intent in acting that way! Me checking her out vulgarly? eh! come on! I wouldn't do that to any girl on this planet to the best of my knowledge.

I could draw up these reasons:

1. She could've really felt I was checking her out!

2. She saw someone doing that in the class and couldn't directly convey the same to them and I was the scapegoat she found. (Similar such incident happened with a different lecturer though)

Nothing happened after that. She continued with the class, I was startled for a moment and continued thinking on foolish things. She didn't complain to any one as any other lunatic did.

Thankfully, things were fine after that. Good thing is that even she forgot the incident and started to act as if nothing had happened that day, till the day she got married and said "Good Bye" to the college (must be in our fourth semester)

Thanks for reading my grief! Keep looking for the next post.

Friday, August 12, 2011

A post on the account of Independence Day.

Thanks for the cursing. I'm back with this post. I think I always begin my posts this way. Should change them from the next post. (Grrrrr! Its never ending)

Okay. Here is another post on Independence day. Here is another nostalgic incident I wrote on the account of Independence Day four years ago.

People who are loathsome the whole year, become alert in the second week of August just like Kannadigas get alerted on the first week of November. Independence strikes their mind like how a mouse gets alerted seeing a cat. Patriotism rises from all the molecules of their blood.

Politicians talk of the trio Gandhi, Nehru(?), Subhash Chandra Bose. How we gained Independence picking rare incidents from their history texts. Some of these Rang De Basanti patriots take the name of Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad & all the British branded extremists; Taking a void oath of re-iterating the drama to abolish today's political condition in India.

Poor kids (so called future citizens) are made to toil in schools with weird aerobics exercises to entertain the politicians and the chief guests. They're also made to hear the bi-anual patriotic speech of how Gandhi led the freedom struggle. How Subhash Chandra Bose formed the INA, etc of which many of the kids are in no mood to listen under the scorching sun.

Check out the parody, we snatch the independence of the kid and force them to attend the school (first half). I still see many preferring to be at home if not attracted by the sweet/confectionary distributed at the school.

For many of us, who passed through all this and are now working, we enjoy the holiday and never bother to think anything about the independence struggle. We'd rather bother discussing our office chores/ share market trends/ real estate ratings rather than discuss independence. Thats the liberty we get gaining the independence.

Again for some fraction of us who work for IT/MNCs we do not have a holiday and are forced to work. Some of the benovelent, do declare a holiday with a catch of getting paid in double if somebody supported the clients abroad during the holiday. People do get attracted for the extra money. (I'm not saying you should forcefully take a holiday on I-day, its your wish)

Some of us plan to go for an outing, getting embarassed by the beauty of nature not forgetting to describe the same to the collegues with a pinch of ego. Some of the married couple take this chance of a long weekend and head to their natives.

Some of the poor chaps who do not have an option, toil at their workplace. Many of them do not know about I-day, even if they know, they hardly care for it. Its not that their insulting it, they simply do not have an opinion about it.

Some of us who believe in Karma, are indifferent be it, I-day, any festival, their own B'days, anniversaries & what not? They just live their life as it is.

Sometimes I feel its a shame to have an independence day for the country but at times I'm glad we finally had one after all that happened through these years.

Even the freedom fighters would laugh at us celebrating this day if they know the reason.

Many of us post on social networking sites that we celebrate Valentines Day, Friendship day etc etc but why not Independence day? Well thats the state of the country today. Its with the generation. Can't really help it.

There are more amusing behaviors which I haven't listed too.

Again to quote myself ironically, all of this is the liberty we get with the independence we gained 64 years ago. This is the only reason why I can write such a post. Its again the bhikshe of the freedom fighters.

Sometimes I feel like

If you want to celebrate something, celebrate it every day, every hour, every minute, second, milli, micro, nano, femto.... any goddamn unit of time.

If you want to change this, you need to change it from the grassroot. Rather than preaching kids about independence, create interest in them regarding the same. Share stories of small incidents which would act as seeds of patriotism in them. Explain them what the real India is. They would be surely keen on listening to all of them. After you've sown the seed, you just need to provide them with the manure of more resources to learn like library/movies. They surely would cultivate patriotism within.

It would rapidly change the condition of the country. It might again reverse the brain drain and hola, we might again go back to the Golden era.

Do this and every kid would be eager to participate in the I-day celebrations. The future generations would also be eager.

You may feel I'm exaggerating (even I feel partially) but I feel atleast some part of it is true. It is worth a try.

Say what?