Where do i belong?

There was this one day when i was taking my routine 8pm walk with my good buddy and he pointed out how education wasn't mostly about the technical nuances but it was primarily about 'growing up' and learning how to handle situations.I kinda really seem to like the line that "College is a demo of life";-) ... I am not really sure how much of the money my dad invested in amrita has converted into my technical proficiency, but one thing for sure.I have changed.I have learned.And i am only gonna grow for good. My list of deeds is definitely not a clean sheet and i guess i'll have to silently accept the fact that i have done things which has disappointed ppl.It has always been a problem for me. Gosh its so hard to balance "living-my-life-the-way-i-wanna-philosophy" against "do-what-people-around-you-want-you-to-do-philosophy".. And being right in the middle makes me feel uncomfortable.. U knw.. I don understand to which school of thought i belong to...

I had a good conversation with a wise uncle about this and he told me that throughout ur life you'll continue to be uncomfortable about this! He told me that he wanted to live his life one way but his commitments to the family,society and the department for which he worked, often failed him... Is it possible to strike a balance between the two and still achieve the results you yearned for? Uncle just shrugged:-).. I personally feel a lot of people around me are facing this problem of being stranded in a place unable to achieve either means. May be the most ideal to thing to do would be to just keep one philosophy close to your heart and live life that way. Something for all of us to figure out:-) 

Fairytale of the silly amritite!

If you're a non amritite, i suggest you switch to the other tab you were reading. But if you are an Amrita kid, then I have a fairy tale for you:-) .. Its the story of that one person whom you all can relate to. He represents the silly amritite.

It was his first day in amrita. After setting up all the paraphernalia required for a hostel life, his parents decided to kiss him good bye. Before leaving, they gave him a motivational speech whose essence were as follows " Son, you have done exceptionally well in your school life.College is something bigger.A demo of the tough life ahead.Be the best you can be!".. Tears welled up in his eyes as parents gave him the sayonara wave.

The very next day, Joshi sir taught him what "Om Sri gurubhyo namah" and the following lines of the prayer meant. But little did he think of it when it was being sung for the first time in the class. All he could think of, was home. He thought that home sickness was his biggest problem. After couple of months, he realised that home sickness was just the offset of a series of unfortunate events.

He faced several problems.Problem#1- Brandaholism. Wherever he looked, he saw the superbrands! The adidas, nike, reebok n puma n blah. Everything from underwear to carry bags had a brand to project. And then he looked at himself and he realized all he was projecting was "babu tailors". Problem#2 - CGPA. There was this one day when he came out of the room and saw something and got the shock of his life! A late 8 pointer was looking through the keyhole to see what a 9 pointer was doing! lol! The politics was often cheap and non digestable. Problem#3- Question of manliness. His friends circulated the idea that a man was incomplete if a man didnt smoke,drink alcohol or watch porn. Now our lil friend here, did none of these.So the question of manliness was often raised at him.

Problems didnt end here. There were problem#4, problem#5 and 6 and 7 to 100 odd. At some point he went into a state of depression. He started blaming his parents, himself and all around him.He lost all his confidence and began to feel like a complete loser. Every night he'd pray to god- 'Oh lord, who has the solutions to all my problems?'..

And then one day an angel appeared before him.An angel from the heavens.She whispered to him that there is a saint who has the solutions to all his problems.He lives under the purple tree on the top of the tallest mountain.

He wasted no time.He looked around and spotted the tallest mountain and climbed to its peak. He saw the purple tree, but there was no one there. But instead, there was a golden mirror under the purple tree. He took the mirror into his hands and looked into it. What he saw in the mirror, changed his course of life. He saw the image of himself in the mirror. He came back to the amrita feeling like a winner. He never pitied at his orange tag or cried at the mess food.

There was no more problem no.1. He realized that brands were just ornaments and he didnt have to wear any. The key to looking good was your attitude and temperament towards his life and not your gawdy ornaments.

There was no more problem no.2. He concluded that the lust for grades was the worst habit that he could develop. Instead, love for knowledge was the right strategy to be adopted.

There was no more problem no.3. He concluded that his biological organs were more than good enough to prove his manliness.
He found out the solutions to all the other problems too.

..
.

Friends. We all have that saint within us. That person with magical abilities who has the solution to all our problems. He resides right in the bosom of our heart:-) .. We're always busy blaming the systems and the people around us. Possibly there is something that amrita is tryin to teach us. They will shoot problems at us till we go to the extent of gettin fed up. But when we do get fed up, we will see the saint within us. And then we will know that the problems are to be solved and the obstacles are to be overcome. If we think we have a problem, then we deifnitely have a solution for it. The worst problem is when we have a problem and all we do is think about the problem and not think of a solution. The key to living high is to accept the problems that comes your away, analyse them and see if there is anything you can do about it. If u cant, then its not ur problem! Invoke the saint within you.Screw the problems.Steer ahead.Have a beautiful life:-)

Me, you, the textroverts and our society

It was a nothing-kind of a sunday and i was desperately trying to find a new post for my blog. And then my mobile beeped. It was her(again). Oh i'm sorry i didnt tell you who she is! She describes me as her best buddy. She sends me 15 messages a day. She shares her darkest secrets with me. And she has been my classmate for the past three years. But hey, we do not talk to each other in class. Neither do we smile at each other, nor do we make eye contact. But still we're great friends. And tell you what, she is even a fan of mine in orkut ;-) .. psssshh!!

Weird? Welcome to the generation of TEXTROVERTS. The rapidly growing section of the society who were initially thought to be introverts but who have found out a new medium in the form of SMS to spill out the desires of their hearts. Ooops! Sounds familiar..?! You know them! I'm sure you have come accross that one single person who hardly had the guts to look into your eyes and the very next day he drops that 'whatsup' thingie!

And here's another googly. I have this habit of plugging my headphones and walking around alone in my hostel, even when my primary objective is not to listen to the music. In a way, what i need is that one excuse to block off raw contact with the bustle of life and not to acknowledge another person who waves at me. What i need is social insulation. Sounds fucking sad to me!!

I gave it a serious thought. On one side, we have the gradually corroding society with people floating apart from each other, constantly disconnecting from each other. And then on the other side, we have IP messengers, Social community websites and free messaging which acts as a medium for people to help "get wired" with others, help them connect and help them build relationships.

Let me qoute a few science facts from Daniel Goleman's 'Social Intelligence'

"Neuroscience has discovered that our brainls very design makes it sociable.During neural linkups, our brains engage in an emotional tango, a dance of feelings, which have far reaching consequences, that affects heart to immune system! Nourishing relationships have a positive impact on our health, while toxic ones can act like slow poison."

People need each other.People need each others company.Its important that we love and be loved. Because thats how we were designed to live. People are losing it. Damn. Technology might have given us reasons not to make friends, but our brain needs to get wired. We need relationships that can set our hearts high. We have to get back to our basics.The Textroverts and Messengers could just be the start we're looking for. But definitely not the solution. I somehow don seem to like that wall that comes between people! Be open friends. Its time to get out of our shell. Mingle, Jingle. Lets have fun:-)

The math-"For every hour people spent using the Internet, their face-to-face contact with friends, coworkers, and family fell by 24 minutes.

You cant get a hug or a kiss over the Internet :-)