My footsteps into IIM Shillong

Amidst the cloud of seven sisters

The sun fails to peek,

Never did I know I could lose

The count of the days of a week.

Between the class and the hostel

The hustling footsteps shuttle,

Never was it this new

As focus fades and sleep does settle.

Within the walls that are hallowed

There are people I could miss;

Friends and family that are new

The feeling that remains is bliss.

Beneath the serenity of nature

It feels peaceful to stay,

2 weeks gone and 2 years to go

Make it worthy I pray!

Random thoughts at Mu Sigma

We lose our temper for petty issues.
We get irritated if one of our old friends calls up and asks 'why haven't you responded to any of my calls or messages?'
We hate to have long conversations with our parents especially when they show care on us.
We get dejected in our workplace when the rest of the team members leave us behind for an outing/lunch and they didn't even realize it
We love to say 'I seriously don't find time to.....'
All this is happening because we are changing ourselves to suit the professional environment around us. Having entered the professional environment, something in us keeps telling us 'You have got to change yourself'.

There are many people around us who carry the same attitude. They would love to have lunch only with their team mates/ ex-team mates (not missing out even on a single day), hang out with the coolest of the people in office, increase the socializing factor, stay online for the entire time they are awake and finally end up saying 'I did not find time to do this/do that'.

What we can do? It is necessary to be versatile but let us be a little cautious to realize how much we are changing just to suit the environment around us now. This may change our true selves and bring us close to our family/old friends. Why? Because, deep within, we all yearn for that person(an old friend/parent) who can ask/tell 'Did you eat properly?','Is everything okay in office?','Are you happy there?'.

It is important to understand that we are entering a virtual world where the only thing that is with you 24x7 is your laptop/mobile and the only thing that we love to be with 24x7 is Internet, not realizing that the real world has people who can show care/who are waiting for our calls or messages/ who will definitely miss us and yes, they will realize it!

The Inner Voice

Realized the importance of inner voice:
There is this inner voice within us that keeps telling us what is right.
A couple of instances where the inner voice has helped me do the right thing:

1) I saw a visually impaired person standing right in front of me not able to cross the road. I desperately wanted to help him but by my instincts I was not very convinced. It is like when my instinct questions me 'Should I help him?' (I do not know why it didn't come instantaneously) the inner voice tells me 'The right thing to do is to help him'. And I went by my voice.
2) I was sleeping when I was disturbed by someone opening the door. I could hear my friend talking to someone over phone. It was unusual for him to be at home at that time. I could hear him talking about an accident that happened to him. I wanted to continue rolling in my bed (Seems selfish and stupid eh?!). But the inner voice again forced me to get up and ask him if he was alright.

It is like the auto correct feature in MS word. It is always there unless you force yourself not to listen to it.
What would have happened if there was no such inner voice? We all would have been nothing more than living examples of selfishness.

Social Security

More of an outburst this time!
We have often taken the privilege to say - 'India would have attained real freedom only if a woman can walk alone on road at midnight 00:00 hrs.' Of late, people have even quit quoting this ideal-ideology. My thoughts on this:
1. Guwahati molestation - People watching a girl being molested in public?! And the first public statement that Assam CM could say is "We have made 8 arrests on suspicion". What good will arrests do when the very statement that the CM says has the meaning -we will make arrests and that shows I have taken a step towards it as a CM? On a pretentious note he says something in this sense -I expect some responsibility from the journalists. HaHa!
2. Mangalore Morning Mist incident - Social activists attacking girls and boys assuming they were into illegal activities. Oh boy! These activists-Are they god-sent symbols of purity & morality? I wish they rot in hell. And the public again -Silent watchers? When the cameraman was questioned as to why he was not trying to save the girls from the attacks all he says is 'this has been happening regularly in Mangalore. I wanted the rest of India to realize what was happening'. Does that mean you allow a girl to be attacked in cruel ways?
Do I need any more incidents to explain the apathy in India?

Things that make me restless in this regard-
 a) What social security means to Indians when they very well know that the police is lax when it comes to offenders?
 b) In the first place, when are we going to realize that silent protest does not work in all situations?
 c) How can people stand the sight of someone being attacked brutally? Why do they have to form a crowd of silent watchers? I am saying 'Move away from the god damn place!'. If none can muster the courage to fight lawlessness in front of them he/she does not have any right to stand and watch! This is not a public show!
 d) Speaking of police - Have they forgotten what is good/bad and right/wrong? I desperately want to see what police training involves.
 e) To whom should we seek help if we are in a crisis when corruption, laxity & lawlessness have infiltrated all levels of authority? Who will provide us social security?
                      India's situation now is similar to that of Gotham compounded so many times both in size and severity. I am skeptical if any League of Shadows would come to destroy India as we ourselves are self-sufficient to destroy ourselves. Not sure if it is bad governance or coward people or immoral journalists or useless social activists or a combination of all these but it is high time we had a Batman to save us!

Final Destination III

Second year and I was close to a popcorn,
When movies and strategic games
Should have suffused my desktop entirely
Playing the verbal and the quant game
The hat of responsibility that I adorned myself onerously.

Third year and I became a stupor,
When the feline infection was becoming malignant
Making me look old in the eyes of the infected 
I smelled salubrious air of company
And in my preparation, seriousness reflected.

Final year and I faced the stage,
Where to prove the hard work that was sufficient
The head or tail decision went against my wish
I lacked consistency and it was evident
Not to fret, a little payback I did relish.

Independence and the humbleness to learn,
No preparation and no wonders expected
Without having the effect gone was the infection
Back to third year but as a forlorn
Thrice now, will this be the final destination?



Meanings for clarity:

• "feline infection"         - CAT
• "head or tail decision" - Job or higher studies
• "payback"                    - Was able to pay the loans back

Conflicts of the Conscience

Great to be blogging again!

If at all I were to be asked 'Has there been any change in you/your life?', I would say yes.

I was in a life where going to classes/assignments/attending lab sessions/writing records/preparing for internals were the only things that mattered apart from the regular tackling I had to do in my home. Having come to a place where guessing the language of the state in which it is in is very difficult, I feel I have been pushed to handle responsibilities(though I am loving it), learn things the hard way(as always it has been) and most importantly, learn to walk alone(for the benefits of your own self). Yes, it is Bangalore! I have been asking 'do I miss Coimbatore in ways I can't compensate for in Bangalore?' to myself. The true answer is NO. It might sound strange hearing this from someone who has spent 12 years in Coimbatore. It was strange to myself! I had to figure out why i was so comfortable in Bangalore (or rather) why wasn't I uncomfortable in Bangalore. The reason is that I am living a life of less apprehension when compared to what I was in Coimbatore. Fear of failing my parents/fear of not living up to expectations/ lack of confidence over which people called me over-confident/ lack of clarity in what I want to do are a few of the fears I had been managing for those 12 years. It became difficult at a point where I locked myself inside the door and kept thinking of all these fears, sometimes with watery eyes. I have been able to overcome all these fears.

Though I would not say that I have got clarity in thoughts, I would definitely say that I am being more of myself in this busy city. I am living all those I-am-also-a-normal-guy-with-normal-wishes moments laughing out loud whenever possible (even in my workplace). I am opening up my mind. I am trying to help people around me. I cater to my selfish needs with a lot of caution. I try to save money. But, I am still doing the mistake of thinking beyond what I should be. I take things to my heart very easily. Bangalore is easily teaching me to live the corporate life. Is this the voice of a frustrated kid? I don't know. What do I want to do in my life? I don't know. Am I doing the right thing? I don't know. Overall, the conflicts still remain the same but the fear because of others is gone, though the fear arising from my uncertainty still remains. In short, conflicts of my conscience still persist.

Not many wishes for the coming year. I only hope I get a little more clarity. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! :)

Athirapally

I was having the impression that the WCTC vacation would go without visiting any place.Having shown my angry face on my friend on friday(18th June) evening for reasons I never knew(probably frustration for not going out anywhere much),I was convinced that this hols would go as boring as any other holidays.But,I was wrong.Moonar being the initial place for our visit,we ended up finalising on Athirapally falls(or Chalakudy falls as we knew initially!..It was later that we realised that both meant the same location) for our visit on Monday(21st June).

Referred to as the Niagara of India,the Athirapally Falls is situated 150kms from Coimbatore.

Coimbatore-Ukkadam check post-Valparai-Malakkiparai -Sholayar-Peringalkuthu Dam -Vazhachal-Athirapalli.

The roads were perfect till the start of the hilly region;called as the entry point to the falls.Reaching the entry point of Athirapally Falls,which was 34kms from the falls' view,the road was not so good for some 5 kms.After that we had a smooth ride.

The entire river was fenced.We stopped at a place where we found we could have access to river water beyond the fence through an opening in it.We played in the river for nearly 2 hrs.Water in the river was cold and we found it drinkable.

We continued our ride up the hill for some 20 min.Getting an entry ticket for the falls we reached to view the highest point of the falls.We could never go really nearer to the falls due to protective fencing.Frustration crept into us as we felt Rs.105( 5 per person for 6 of us and 25 per bike for 3 bikes)had gone waste.Thanks to my friend who saw the board "This way for a full view of the falls".We went down the hill and found ourselves awestruck!

A video of the Athirapally Falls taken by us :)

Then I knew why this place was preferred by many directors for shooting movies.Nature at its beauty!The river fell down the rocks as two sources of Waterfalls.Standing near the foot of the falls one could get drenched easily within seconds.The force with which it fell threw water drops all over us that even made taking snaps difficult.Down,the Chalakudy river branched into two(as you can see in the video) and in one of those river branches we had played.

P.S: *The song "Enna satham" from "Punnagai Mannan" was shot here.

*Director Maniratnam has a special fascination for this place.Raavanan was almost entirely shot here.Other movies as "DilSe","Guru","Iruvar" and "Kannathil Muthamittal" have songs shot here.