Forsee!!

What life holds for us is not what we know of. Certain things in life are to be foreseen, certain things to be experienced, and certain things to be accepted. What is yet to come is what we can foresee.A foresight can sometimes give some idea as to what is going to come. But, whatever it is, when it comes, all we can do is experience it. And once its over, whether it has been good or bad, we have to accept. These three things that man has been going through ever since his inception in this world are unavoidable for they are what make us live. These three things are the key to a happy life.
Foresee, but never expect.
Experience, never analyse.
Accept, never brood.
Live, don't exist!!

The Ride!!!

"Quit pushing you idiot"
"Not like i love falling on a stinky woman like you, I don't have any place to stand"

"Ouch!! You moron! you just stepped on my foot"
"Oh!!Did i hurt you?"
"No, of course not, I love getting stamped upon...duhh!!"

"tickeettt tickeett"

"Can you pass the money to the conductor please? One ticket to Gemini"
(hands over the coins to the person standing close by)
"One ticket to Gemini"
(hands over to the next successive person)
"Gemini, one"
(next person,blank stare)
"I said Gemini, one ticket, can you pass the money please?"
(blanker stare)
"Are you deaf? Sheesh!!!"
(pass to somebody else)

"tickiiit...tickiitt"

"Take that big bag off your shoulder, you are occupying so much place"
"Where else do I keep my bag?"
"Put it on someone's head!! You fool!!"
"What a grouch!!"

"Ya, she eloped with that slob, and she got ostracized..."
"Oh ya? You know what happened to....."

"ticckkeettt please"

"I am carrying a kid, get up and give space for me"
"No, way, it is my seat"
(exchange of dirty looks)

(clink)
"Shit I dropped my coins"

"This is a ladies' seat, get up you oaf"
"But she is my wife, I can't sit next to her?"
"You do all that at you home, now get your big ass off MY seat"
"F*** off woman, I am not getting up"
(bickering continues)

"Stop leaning on me; don't you have any basic etiquette?"
"There is no place even to put one foot down comfortable. Stop yapping, you are not Aishwarya Rai"
"Back off bastard or I will tell the others you are eve-teasing"

(The bus swerves and halts abruptly)
(Driver leans out of the window and glares at a red-faced man on a bike)
"You f***ing bastard, can't you see where you are going?"
"Shut your stinking mouth up!! You took a wrong turn"
(honk honk honk from behind)
"Who the f*** gave you your driver's license? I bet you don't know how to ride a bloody cycle"
(honk honk honk)
"Get lost you beggar"
"Stop being a dog...."
(HONK HONK)
(And the man drives his motorcycle off, not wanting to piss the traffic policeman off)
(Driver, still grumbling, starts the bus)

"Youngsters these days, tch tch!!"
"Quit pushing"

"Ughh that woman just brought in a basket of fish"
"Ooooh i am suffocating"

(shove) (push) (fall) (grumble) (yank) (yell) (sigh)
(In between all that, there are men/women sleeping blissfully, heads lolling dangerously out of the window)
(And there are college guys and girls busy chattering)
(Yet others yelling above the ruckus inside the bus, through their mobiles)
(And a few others head-banging, listening to their iPods)
(Kids pulling the person-before-them's hair)

"t-nagar....everyone who got a ticket for t-nagar, get down here!"

(And I get down from the Public Transport Bus, heaving a huge sigh of relief)
Boy!! Was that a roller coaster ride or what?!!!

Slumdog Millionaire overhyped??

With 8 Oscars and many more international awards in its kitty,“Slumdog Millionaire” has become the talk of every Tom, Dick and Harry. It has shaken the film industry like a whirlwind from humble openings in theatres to a huge box office hit ,true to its underdog tag. The production story of this movie is a nice tale of “Hollywood meets Bollywood” . But this movie has also generated a lot of negative reactions from the film fraternity.Firstly,the movie was not that much a favorite of the critics when compared to other movies like “The Reader” and “The curious case of Benjamin Button”.The aforementioned ones were being touted as the favorites and slumdog was nowhere in the fray.But all that changed on the Oscar night with this film earning the majority of the awards.Now many people point out that the movie is definitely great with lots of inspiring performances by the actors.But it is surely blown out of proportion by the frenzied media hype its has been getting lately.That coupled with the false feeling of Indian association with the movie, where only the actors and the music directors are Indian; this added to the hype.Besides, there are some things in life which, in my opinion, are not supposed to be shown on the big screen even if they are true and the downtrodden condition of the Indian slum dwellers is definitely a taboo issue.This makes Westerners get the false notion that majority of Indians reside in slums .Also the title “slumdog” is derogatory in itself.The only good thing coming out of this movie is the superb score by the legend AR Rahman who thoroughly deserved both the Oscars he got.There are a lot of great things about India more than the negative things portrayed in this movie.And Hollywood films are inclined towards exploring the bleak side of this country and we embrace it readily as long as they win Oscars.
It is quite late, very late actually, to be doing a review about this movie; but this is not quite the come-and-go-away movie; it is going to stay, for a very very long time!!

Just a touch!

It feels like you can actually feel yourself moving; the world is moving in such a fast pace. The definition of happiness has changed from buying a car, to finding a parking place!! If you sit and enjoy a strong cup of coffee steaming through the air, sitting on an easy-chair on your balcony, enjoying the pitter-patter of the rain; there are two things that might happen: (i) people who pass by are apparently thinking "This girl must be totally jobless, how I wish I could relax too" (or) (ii) you suddenly realize that your roof is leaking. Enjoying little things in life has become almost ephemeral. Every person is in the middle of some contest; contending for position, money, status, recognition, what not?! There is some question or the other lingering in each person's mind; there is always a quest to know more; achieve more. Among all this chaos and pressure, all of us forget that we need to relax, take some time off to enjoy the rain without worrying about a leaky roof.
I do take some time off my busy schedule, to spend sometime enjoying nature, sprucing up my thoughts, and lazing around. It was one such time when a certain train of thoughts filled up my mind. I wondered "What is a miracle?" "Who is God?"
My dad told me a small story then.........
A man once yelled "God, speak to me!" The thunders rolled across the sky; but the man did not listen.
The man looked around and said "God, let me see you!" A star twinkled brightly; but the man did not notice.
The man shouted "God, show me a miracle!" A life was born but the man did not realize.
The man cried out in despair "Touch me, God, and let me know that you are here" whereupon, God reached down and touched the man; but the man just brushed away the butterfly and walked on.
We should not only seek God, but we should also recognize his presence around us. God is omnipresent; he is there in every bit of nature around us; only, it doesn't dawn upon us immediately. If we do not seek God in the quiet moments of our lives, we are not likely to find him when trouble strikes; rather, we are most likely to panic and doubt his presence or assistance. But if we learn to seek him and trust him in the quiet moments, then most certainly, we will find him, somehow or the other when the going gets tough.
When you walk along the shores of the sea, you are never alone. God doesn't leave footprints beside yours; but he blows as a gentle breeze very close to you.
Life is a tapestry, we are the threads, angels are the frame and God is the weaver; only He sees the whole design, but we can choose our own colors.
Success through God is just a step away.
Well, it is not often that I get such thoughts which induce an entire discussion on philosophy and spirituality, intertwined. For the few times I do, the above story suffices to convince me!

[P.S :- Atheists out there, I am not ready for arguments yet!! lol!!]

The Pensieve!!

“Sigh… I wish I can somehow convince mom to get me that classy dress I saw the other day….”

“Hmmm… I wonder how beer tastes…..”

“Damn, I better finish soldering the components soon, or my project is going to turn into a fiasco….”

“Yesss, collar would look better than a plain neck on this dress….”

Buzzzzz….buzzz….buzzzz…. A million, or probably, even a gazillion, and uncannily incoherent thoughts ram through her cerebrum; just like a dumpster swarming with flies. (Well, probably not the right metaphor I should be using here, but….it sure conveys what I am trying to say!!) The reflections keep flitting, flashing through the brain rapidly, the speed of which, is comparable to Schumacher’s Ferrari.

Period.

She rolls her eyes, looks surreptitiously at the mobile below, suppresses a smile and looks up, putting on a look of concentration.

“Tap tap tap” goes the thumb on the harrowed mobile buttons. (If I personified the mobile buttons, they would have probably cried!!)

“You are not even looking at the mobile girl; how do you manage to type so fast?? Wow…so cool”

She turns, grins smugly at the speaker, winks and turns back to the front.

The next moment, if you noticed, her eyes are staring intently at the blackboard.

“How many chips are required to implement 128 bits in the DRAM?” drones the professor.

She cringes, looks up and puts on an I-am-calculating-the-number-of-bits expression; the kind of look that is plastered on a geek’s face.

From behind, she hears the a few serious students shout out “8 chips, sir” and immediately grasps the number. Wiping the somnolence off her eyes, she shouts out, along with a few other ‘zombies’ like her, “8, sir!!”

And then, she sees the professor nod his head and turn back to the board, and within a second, her head is bent to the plethora of messages flooding her inbox.

Time to time, she looks up, nods her head vigorously and puts up an earnest expression, giving the impression to the professor that she is actually listening to him.

Period.

“Stupid fellow hasn’t replied yet; what’s taking him so long…..?”

“Ooof, X is listening, and I guess I should too…..”

She looks up, rests her elbow on the desk and stares blankly.

Period.

“I think I should wear the white kurta tomorrow….”

“I better stud for my test atleast this time….”

She turns her head sideways and whispers “Remind me to tell you about this guy…..” smirks, and shouts out “Volatile memory, sir. RAM….”.

She nods her head and……………….the thoughts swarm in………….

Buzzzzzz…………!!

She hears the bell ring, slams the note shut; the note, in which she was penning down the above words!!!

The End………………..of one period of a lecture on the Computer Architecture….!! ;)