Are u bored??

What one does when bored? It's really an important question in everyone's mind. Though no one prioritize this as much as our curiosity of what our neighbor does. Life is too short to get bored. There are infinite options to do or dwell while one is bored. Like bullshitting some article like this is one. If not for the passion of writing, I don't know what I will be doing now. Generally normal people play games, talk or advice in case of some old people. The reason why I specifically said normal people is because weirdos never get bored. Inspirations can be drawn from them to do something which might even make our heart to skip few beats. These days people started watching TV series which has become an addiction. So, most probably there are meagre chance they will get bored. Binge watching is definitely best way to spend/waste time when bored. But is it really worth it?? Oh God. Though few series like F.R.I.E.N.D.S and Game of thrones are making me to think twice what I had said just now, I will move ahead with what I wanted to convey. Socializing might prove effective than most of the options we would prefer while bored. It helps us to find people with different perspectives and to understand the chaos God/whoever has created in the world where we are trying to live in harmony. Socializing helps us to realize our inner character at sometimes. The polish talks we make with strangers and the dirty endless amazing talk we have with our best friends forever and the 'awesome best child ever' kind of talk in home doesn't define us the real who we are. We are real when we are alone. Only we will know that character. But what we don't realise is whether it's a good or bad character. We will never know when we go from good to bad n vice versa. There will be no one to audit. This real who we are is the difference between the successful people and those who thrive to be successful their entire life and never achieves his/her desire. This is where socializing helps a lot. It helps us to find who we are. We might talk some bullshit with strangers but at the back of our mind, the brain does it work and helps us to relate everything we talk and it creates an idea. The eureka moment is always near the corner while socializing. Even the jerks in office might talk sensibly sometimes. When we need ideas, bullshitting is the way to do it. By socializing we forge a relationship which might help us one day. It can also be the other way. We might end up as the solution for others problems. Even we might make life better for people whom we don't know. Everyone are trying to find solace in something. Small things like socializing might help realize it and it literally costs nothing except for your bored time. So, getting bored is never a bad thing. It's an opportunity to thrive for whatever we want in our life. May be that's why successful people say they never get bored.

The Dark Knights

April 2035

Distantly I heard a voice saying “Vassi your lunch is ready!! And guess what, it’s your favourite-biryani.”

I recall hearing the exact same lines before. And I still remember who said those lines. It was my mom calling me to have lunch and also to alert me of my father’s presence in home for lunch.

March 2015

“Why would anyone do anything?

Why businessmen would keep on expanding his business and wealth?

Why do people check WhatsApp every morning once they are out of their bed?

Because it interests them. No need of the little push for them to do it. Its human nature to do what the heart likes. Mine is not something like making money or bombing streets or getting stoned. I have a very unique interest. It excites few people and scares most.”  I heard my mom’s footsteps when I typed these lines in my laptop.

“Vassi your lunch is ready, your favourite-biryani. Please keep your laptop aside and come” She said.

I was too busy in my own fantasy world and ignored my mother. I love to read books. I don’t limit myself to a particular genre. I read everything from thrillers to autobiographies. But most importantly, I love to write. I have read somewhere “I scribble something every time in the hope that it will inspire someone one day.” And it inspired me to write something every day in the hope of becoming a good writer, to inspire at least few.

“What are you doing on your laptop all day? Give your eyes some rest. Come and have your lunch” said my dad.

My dad and I are always like warriors in battle. Though we don’t physically hit out at each other, we verbally fight over for almost everything. I don’t know why I always disagree with my dad but I love doing it – Always.

Fact is I don’t want my parents to find out that I am writing a book. I want to surprise them with my first book. Well, to be true, they would kick me out if they found out I am writing a book instead of searching for a job. In their world even reading a story book is a complete waste of time especially when you are without a job.

I replied “I will be there in a minute” and continued typing “When you watch someone die in front of your eyes, you enter into a state of shock. It’s not the same like how you see in movies. Where you don’t feel the warmth of the blood on you and where you don’t feel the pain or fear of the person dying. No Oscar winner can bring it on screen. Human brain is crazy that way. It blocks the thoughts for some time before anyone dies and just lets the emotions play. The fear is leader of the pack……………………”

I need few more lines to finish up my prologue. The book is ready except for prologue.

A minute passed.

I say to myself. ”Think Vassi think. You can!!You can’t waste time. All your hard work for the past two years depend on it. Only two more hours to go. The publisher have waited too long. You can’t disappoint him. More importantly he was the only person who trusted you back then.

Think Vassi.”

I am not getting it. I need some really intriguing lines to finish this prologue. Something that will interest the readers to the read the book. Something that will register in the minds of readers forever. Think..Think dammit, think. If your first book is a success, then you can risk your life in the writing profession. Success will elude you but not always. Concentrate on your book idiot!! Don’t fantasize. A strong line is all you need. Think….

“Are you coming or not?” asked my dad with harsh voice.

With my frustration building up, I shouted back angrily “If you want to have lunch why don’t you have it? Is it necessary that I should always eat with you and mom?”

My dad stormed into my room angrily. And I sensed the much expected breaking point of his frustration on me not having a job.

“What kind of attitude is this Vassi? What are you going to miss if you are having lunch together with your family? Anyways you are going to be at home. You are not acting normal for the past few months. Can you sense the change in you?”

All his sanity talk had really sparked me up. “Okay Enough! Every time you see me I know what you are thinking. You never talk to me like you used to. I know you are angry because of my drinking issues! And I had few issues in my life which I couldn’t share with you. And you don’t take seriously whenever I say something important to you. You just keep pushing your ideas on me. Now I am without a job not because of me. It’s all on you. Did you listen to me when I said I wanted to study psychology and do research in that field?? You along with a few others mocked me saying it’s a stupid idea and that I won’t get a job. Now even after studying engineering as you wanted, I don’t have a job.

Every decision that have been taken in my life aren’t my decisions. It’s all yours. You just wanted me live your life. That’s what you have been doing every day. Right from the school to college, the grades I make, everything is your decision. If you want 90% then I have to score it or else I am grounded for weeks. Every time I kept doing what you wanted and now I don’t have originality. In fact, I don’t know if I had one at all. You just fuc….. . Can you just leave me alone!!

My father didn’t reply. He knows this is the breaking point. He chose to ignore my outburst this time. I got out to get some fresh air.

Two days have passed since that episode. I have been trying hard to find a job and also the last powerful lines for my prologue.

Three days later, I attended an interview in the banking sector. I did well, and knew the moment the interview got over that I would get the job. I laughed to myself thinking an engineering graduate being employed in the banking sector. Can it get any weirder? May be as the tourism department says it’s “Incredible India.”

I boarded a bus back home after the interview. The bus had two columns of seats, on the right and left side. I took the single empty seat on the right side. As usual I was about to take my iPod to listen to some songs. That is when I noticed a girl sitting in the parallel seat from me on the left side of the bus. I tried to catch a glimpse of her but she was talking to someone behind her. I couldn’t see her face. But you know being a guy, I can wait for few more seconds or a minute just to see if she looks good. If she isn’t then my iPod is. She was neatly dressed in a kurta pyjama. Her hair was dark and long, an envy for women. From my seat I could see that she wasn’t very tall but not too short either. Around 5 feet 5 inches I would say, which is an average height for an Indian women. She was slim, but not like a skeleton. That’s all I can deduce for now. She has to turn around if she wants more compliments from me. Though I am not saying it loudly, women can understand everything from the way man looks. They can see through it. And she did.

God! I have to tell you she is breathtakingly beautiful. She has hazel eyes with dark thick lashes and very sharp nose. And her eyes are big enough to make her look like a young girl. From where I sit, her lips looks like soft slices of a pulpy orange. In other words “An angel who could knock you out of your mind in a second.”

That’s when I heard “Mommy, Mommy. Watch this trick”. Only then did I notice the kid sitting beside her on the other side. I wished to god that she shouldn’t be that child’s mom but one look at the kid brought me back to my senses. The kid is exactly the replica of the beautiful woman I had complimented just now. I guess she was picking up her daughter from kindergarten. I felt very disappointed.

Once I realized she is married and had a daughter, I couldn’t look at her. My principle stopped me or may be it was the kid factor. The child saw me and smiled. And I returned her smile. I felt like playing sit and stare. It’s one of the games men play. Just sit and stare at something without any thought. It’s in men’s nature to sit blankly when he has nothing to do. Women try it sometimes but its way out of their league. They just go into the fashion world and occupy themselves.  Even though I tried to play I couldn’t. This is not something you can force yourself to do.

I heard the child’s voice. I never meant to eavesdrop but it was such a calm day in Chennai which otherwise will be a lot of blaring horns of vehicles to move before the signal turns red or with people shouting in their mobile as if the person on the other side of call is deaf. And also eavesdropping on strangers conversation is a better time pass than hearing some random guy beside me snoring continuously, like a mike testing guy who bores my ears with mike check 1 2 3 incessantly. Moreover no secret agent will share confidential information with a kid. And if suppose she is a spy then I should say this “Damn. She is a super-hot sexy spy.” I would love to see her in Anne Hathaway role in The Dark Knight Rises riding the cool bat pod wearing those sexy outfits. She will break a lot of hearts.

Children always want to talk and question everything. Curiosity drives them. The mature beauty asked her daughter about how the day went.

With never ending energy the child said “I learnt some rhymes and had lots of fun with my friends trying to mimic the way my teacher had taught them. It was really cool. Do u want to listen to it” She asked.

Even before her mother started to reply, the child with her sweet voice started singing the rhymes.

“Johnny Johnny yes papa

Eating sugar no papa

.....................

Open your mouth

Ha ha ha ".

I thought to myself Jeez. Shreya Goshal might find life difficult if this kid takes up a singing profession. Such a bold, yet calm and beautiful voice, you can imagine how the teacher sang.

That sweet voice from the little beauty not only impressed me but a few other passengers. Heads turned around in search of the unique voice which was followed by little gossip. Few more heads turned towards the cute angel like a converging beam.

Her mother had a big smile on her face by the time her child had finished singing her rhyme. The woman hugged and kissed her daughter as if she had achieved an impossible feat. May be that’s the way of encouraging and planting the confidence in child’s mind.

She was insisting her child to sing the rhyme one more time and the child didn't hesitate. Yes, that hug had done its job. This time she had more captive audience and more importantly higher expectations. And she didn’t disappoint. She surprised us all in her teacher’s voice, we think

Everyone in the bus felt so happy once she finished her rhyme. The calm innocent voice changed the mood for most of us.

I smiled to myself like an idiot who fell in love. And yes that’s when I fell in love with my parents again. I kept thinking how my parents had taken care of me and taught me everything.

Helping me whenever I beat up myself and motivated me to be a good human being.

They had given me everything I needed without ever asking them. Parents love towards their children is unmatchable. Loving unconditionally for a season is easy but for a life time? We will end up like a maniac going in circles. And yet parents choose the path of love towards their children like it’s the only way.

This child and her mother didn’t do anything different. They just had a normal conversation but that has helped me to refresh my mind. I realized how much positive energy love can bring with. This incident showed me what happiness is all about. It showed me that love is everywhere. When we beat ourselves with depression and be in a state of destitution, we just need to look around us for an inspiration. That’s what we all need to do it. Just look around us to feel better.

Love should not be eliminated from our life by our silly acts. It is the emotion which can lift up anyone and more importantly when it is shared. Time and again it has been proved, but in reality the L.H.S=R.H.S. isn’t enough. A reminder in our life “clock” is all we need.

That day I said sorry to my dad. As always he ignored it and said” I always tried to help you to be a good person. I set meaningful goals in your life. I gathered information as much as I could and tried to help you to build your future. But I feel I may have failed to give your ideas much thought. Now you are a man who is not afraid of making mistakes. I am sure you are making the right choices. But always keep in mind that we are there if you stumble upon any hurdles and need a hand. I understand you.

As always I opposed this time with a smile, “How could you possibly tell me that you understand me? We have virtually nothing in common. You like different movies, music, TV shows. You have a completely different sense of humour from me. It’s impossible for you to understand me.”

My father replied in cool manner “You are my kid. You are me.”

April 2035

I replied to my wife “I am coming dear. The author is always hungry when its biryani.” Just a reminder in our life clock is all we need. Love is everywhere.

WC2015 first leg

This world cup has not been the best one to watch. Most of the games being one sided and top sides playing like an associates, its certainly one of the worst world cup ever already with still quarter finals to go. If not for some nail biting matches between the associates this world cup is full of crap. Just give the associates more matches with the last five of the top 10 teams, I am sure they will show how thrilling cricket can be.

Shopping & thinking

Shopping is one simple word which excites everyone although most of the men lie about it. To be clear men don't dislike shopping but the time spent is what make them tell those lies which has few things to do with egos of the gender. These days men don't lie, they proudly say about the shopping they did in the e-sites. The exciting offers, the lucky hampers, the pathetic designed dresses, the OMG rates of few headsets and blah blah. These days the shopping has moved to a new level where one can buy anything just by clicking. In fact there is no necessary to walk to stores, choose the items and bargain for cheaper rate. Yes you read it correctly, no more bargaining which means now a days people just buy without knowing the true value of it. The next generation will never have the power to bargain. They can't even know how this bargaining system works. Bargaining just doesn't buy one the items cheaper. It teaches them how to read people, how to manipulate them, how to find the reasonable rate by judging the quality of item, how to talk confidently even though one doesn't know anything about a product. Precisely it makes one to think which I am sure will be lost in the advanced digital world relying on computer powers. Wall E director may have just ignored this point of thinking capability to have a better story. But we ain't movie makers trying to come up with better story. So face the truth.

Eureka Experience

I have finished my bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and going to do my Masters Degree.I don't know my neighbors of my age.I grew up in hostel since i was 10. I got my set of hostel, school and college friends.My final exams got over by May 2013 and i was just enjoying with my friends by hanging out somewhere with them.It continued for a month.But how long one can hangout with friends spending time and money.Everyone has got their own work to do.None of my friends were thinking about post graduations.Some went in search for jobs and some got their call letters and left to different cities.Soon i was like a lone wolf.I really don't know how to get out from that.I want to beat the destitution.I did a small research about myself and i found about my helping nature.Then i thought of doing something to underprivileged ones.I joined eureka as a volunteer.My first assignment was to take two interns studying in Mcgill university to cuddalore for their survey.I along with other two volunteers (Sumita and Sudha) traveled from chennai to cuddalore in bus.We shared our knowledge with each other. Sudha was a sociology student and she shared about various social issues while travelling. Sumita was working in TCS and left her job to study Master of social works.They both were good in talking.Till i met them, i thought i was lucky to be in hostel where i learnt a lot and was brought up as a broad minded guy.But when i spoke to them i really understood how much life i had missed by staying in hostel.I came to know relations and neighbors do play a lot of role in friendships.Then we met interns(Carmina and Galle) in cuddalore. We helped them in their survey work by translating their queries to farmers and getting feedback from the farmers.They spoke about the cultural diversity of India and the places they had visited and the things they learnt in India.We suggested some places to visit and some songs they would like.We really had good day.I also learnt a lot from the farmers about the agricultural and financial issues they were undergoing.That trip not only gave me some knowledge about agriculture but also some good friends.

After that trip i joined in eureka math and science resource center. It is also a part of eureka child organisation which concentrates on giving practical education to the students for the better understanding of this scientific world.It has science and math models and experiments that explains the concepts in a simple way.Every day a batch of 60 students of class 9 from corporation school visit there to gain some knowledge.All corporation schools in Chennai visit the center. It will take 3 months for the same school to visit the center. again.I hope this definitely gives a rough idea about the number of students benefited through this center. I go this center to teach basic physics concepts to the students.its not a problem for me to teach physics to class 9 students but my real problem is to over come my schedule.I am a nocturnal being.I sleep at 4.00 am and wake up at 12.00 pm.For a guy like me it is really difficult to take class in morning session.I got to start class at 10.00 am in center.It will take 1.30 hrs to reach the center from my home.fortunately  Mr. Murari (project manager,eureka math and science resource center ) is staying nearby my home and he picks me up early morning. Sorry its not early morning for him because he picks me up at 8.15 am.Though i struggled with the change in my food  and sleep times, i enjoyed a lot.When i finish the teaching and ask some queries to students,they answer most of it.I ask the questions related to the practical applications and when they answer to those,its really a great feeling .I cant express those in words.The satisfaction that i get through those answers is worth sacrificing the schedule i followed.When i get the right answers from those corporation school children, one thought beeps in my mind"THERE ARE ABDUL KALAM, AMIRTYA SEN, SIR C.V.RAMAN ETC. , HERE IN THIS ROOM BUT WE DON'T SEE SO MANY OF THEM OFTEN IN THIS INDIA." It surely tells that our education system is not going in right way.I hope we all people can change it.I can sum it up like this "EUREKA! I FOUND THE MEANING OF MY LIFE."

Love is everywhere

Today after taking classes for corporation school children i was returning back to my home in bus. I was very much satisfied after long time as i did something constructive. After travelling for half an hour in that never ending traffic the bus stopped in velachery. Still  i got to go 10 km. I boarded another bus. I just saw a beautiful girl neatly dressed sitting in the parallel seat to me.Then i realized she was married and having a daughter.she was picking up her daughter from kindergarten school it seems.She asked her daughter about how the day was and what all she learnt.Slowly the child turned her head and said we learnt rhymes and had lot of fun and it was really cool.She started singing her rhymes " johnny johnny yes papa eating sugar no papa.....................open your mouth ha ha ha ha".Her mother was really happy and all passengers shared a light moment when she finished her rhymes. Her mother hugged and kissed the child.She was insisting her child to sing the rhyme one more time and the child didn't hesitate.This incident showed me what happiness is all about. It showed me love is everywhere.It is the one which cant be destroyed by dynamite or any other chemicals.Most people think love is very difficult to get but i feel its the easiest one you can get in this world.Mothers love towards their children is pure divinity.There is no equivalent one.

Story of Engineering Super Human

I was just another guy who finished the bachelors degree in engineering and really having no idea about why i took engineering.Some people say everything happens for a reason.But they failed to say whether it is for good or bad reason.I presume it to be a good reason.When i finished my engineering i knew that i got the potential to to do something big in this engineering world.I cant brag about my grades or projects that i have done in my engineering.Its all just average but i have the confidence.