Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Who Am I?

Although the title somehow gives the impression of me writing an article that a Mr. Sanjay Shinghania would have written [assuming that he had enough of a memory to remember what he was writing about..:) ]But no, this isnt about me asking myself who I am in society, its more about me asking myself how I shall be remembered in society, by all those people that I care about . Who shall I be remembered as, when people look down at their lives and regret those 1000 things that they do regret or cherish that one moment that they think “changed” their very lives.

There’s always been this lingering question of who we are and what role do we have in life and the lives of others. And there shall always be this question of whether we truly are who we want to be, or else, why would we care of what others thought of us? Why do we care about what others think when someone or we ourselves do what we do? Why is it that I [and here I finally ask the question] always want to be someone who is remembered for what he was to others than for what he just was? And why is that it has taken me so long to realise the fact that just being remembered isn’t enough. Why is it that it has taken me so long to realise that a person isn’t just what he is, more than what he is, he’s what he’s remembered by.

All around us, we find a number of reasons to remember someone else, to remember and cherish or try to forget those moments that one has had with that one person, to hope that there will finally be a day when we get to relive those days, or not. There will always be a memory, like it or not, of any episode in life, and more importantly, every person in our lives. It’s those memories that tell us who that person was to us, who that person shall be remembered as.

Finally I ask, as a person in other people’s lives, who am I remembered as? Am I just another one of those thousands in one’s life who doesn’t seem to matter much? Or am I someone else? Am I the one person who was avoided? Or am I someone who is remembered because I was one of the people no one could ignore?

There are so many of these irrelevant, ambiguous questions that don’t seem to have much importance but whose answers seem to have such an irreversible effect on us.To some, it might not seem like this post may have a point, and they may be correct. Maybe this was just another post to take up some more of that infinite kb on the internet. But to some others, like me, this is what they feel to be more important than almost everything in their lives. After all, this is a question whose answer defines who we are. It gives us the answer to the question “Who Am I”.

Ciao :)

Today's Song: "Dreaming Wide Awake" by Poets of the Fall

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Jani.

Back in IIT, there was this friend I had, Mohammed Gouse Jani was his name. He was this silent kind of guy, from an awesome family, but to be frank to the world, his family wasn’t exactly financially stable. And yes, he had more than his fair share of troubles. But he was a really nice guy, never spoke when he didn’t to, and always laughed at my jokes, no matter how bad they were. There was this smile he had on his face, a smile I never really could place.

One day, he left. He left IIT, and he never returned. The rest of his friends were as shocked as me, we tried everything we could to try to get in touch with him. We soon learnt that he had left Guwahati, to go back to Hyderabad so that he could start studying for EAMCET (The Andhra Pradesh State Entrance Examination) again. Not many people really cared that he was leaving IIT .Not many people knew him i guess. Very few did actually.

I was one of those few. But today, when I read in the newspaper, that he had topped the damn EAMCET, I let out a sigh of relief. More than that, I realised, that he actually did it. He did what he needed to do, and got one step closer to what he aimed for. What he wanted, I shall never know, but I’m glad that he didn’t lose his way. He just merely took another path. More than anything, I realized that it was wrong of me to worry about him, it was wrong of me to think that he had made the wrong choice by leaving IIT. It was wrong of me and my friends, although we did miss him, to ask of him to come back. It was wrong of us to forget what he had been through before he made the decision to leave. And for that, Jani, although I know that you will never read this, I apologize.

It’s a funny world this. The very things that we assume are rarely the most obvious. What we assume to be right, maybe not wrong, but it doesn’t mean that it’s the only thing that’s right. The very choice that we assume to be right from the very beginning, doesn’t really have to be the ‘right’ one. In many cases, there is no right choice. There are only different ones. And that knowledge, I now know, makes all the difference in how we look at them.

Ciao :)

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Cooking 101

Today was “The Day” people. The day I walked into the kitchen with an intention different from that of eating. The day I never believed that would come.

Today, my friends, was the day my mom decided to teach me how to cook.

Out of all the things I could expect that my parents were going to teach me, this was the most unexpected one. :P

“Driving”, or “Reading Telugu”, or even “Laundry” for all I care, were definitely above “Cooking” on the list. And yes, all those fears of burning afternoon lunch, or frying a curry into a black crisp….

They were for good reason.


Cooking’s no art, and no, it’s not a science either. It’s magic, that’s what it is. I mean, the way my mom literally just jerked the pan, and the paratha just did a 180 degree flip and landed, exactly where it was supposed to land. Or the way she just chopped a whole cabbage into mere pieces in a matter of seconds, THAT my friends, is something even Wolverine or Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street), would be proud of. :P Or even the way she turned a mush of various items and a bowl of rice into amazing(trust me, AMAZING) biryani.

That my friends, is what she said I would be able to do if I kept practising.

Glee?
Not so much. :P

But what I don’t get is how I’d be able to THAT, when all I was able to do today was cut the rest of the cabbage that my mom, so kindly, left for me. And lets not forget to mention that I cut it like a surgeon would cut open a guy’s chest with utmost precision. And yet, my mom felt that the damn pieces were too big. (To be fair, I merely thought I’d have to open my mouth a bit wider while eating. :P)

But yes, today’s day in the kitchen? Not so bad I must say. I didn’t burn the afternoon lunch, nor did I fry anything to a black crisp. (Toast doesn’t count ok? The damn timer was broken :P)

And most importantly, the fact to remember today is that I walked out of the kitchen alive!
(Seriously, there are enough tools in there to fatally injure someone.)

So yes,

Heres wishing that I’ll learn how to make a paratha do a 180 degree flip.


Ciao. :)

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Robin Hood

Went for Robin Hood today.

Damn, it was lame.

It was like they tried doing a “Batman Begins” and a “Braveheart” at the same time. :P Ok ok, I know I’m not the movie-review guy from the newspaper that we all adore because he warns us not to watch or not to miss movies, so I’m not going to start reviewing movies every weekend for you guys. :P Although now, I’m seriously considering it as an alternative career choice in case my stint at IIT doesn’t go so well. :P Think about it, movies, popcorn, nachos, etc etc. Even your girlfriend would be pleased with the free tickets. :)

But yes, this post?
This post is just because I’m bored as hell.
:D

So where was i?

Ah yes, Robin Hood!
Russell Crowe was a dissapointment, but admittedly, he didn’t have anything to work with in the first place. Me and my friends were so bored by the time Robin decides to lead the English Army to battle against the French (Yes yes, im still talking about Robin Hood,:P For more details on how this happened, read “Robin Hood” on any popular movie review site. :D), we started joking about every single thing.Like how Little John and the rest of the not-so-merry men get better looking English ladies than poor little Robin Hood(Cate Blanchett? Come on!!!). Like how the king of England always was and always is going to be a wuss :P. And by the end of the movie, we ended up getting a new nickname for me.

“Little J”, I’m to be called.


Yes sir.

...

THAT’S how productive this movie was. :P

Apart from the caramel and salted popcorn, the slush, and the nachos that the three of us idiots kept munching on, I didn’t have much to do in the theatre.Right from the word(s), “Long live the King” to the ending, I wasn’t really interested. That’s a phenomenon really, when a Russel Crowe film can’t captivate you, you know you HAVE a phenomenon on your hands. :P

And yes, my vote for the best scene in the movie goes for the following set of dialogue:

(Right before Little John decides to try his luck on a girl)
Friar Tuck: Little John?
L.J.: Yes Friar?
F.T: Why do they call you Little John?
L.J.: What are you trying to say Friar?! (Angry) Im well proportioned all right!

:P

Ciao. :)

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Just for the sake of posting.

You know how hard it is for me to write nowadays?

I mean, seriously! You might as well put a damn block of concrete on the top of my table and call it a writer’s block. :P

These past weeks I’ve been finding harder and harder to write something good. And as days come and go this irritation I feel when I sit in front of Microsoft Word’s oh-so-friendly pale blue screen, only seems to increase. It’s like someone came along and pulled the plug on my talent-meter (Thank you BTW, Coz it was already empty wasn’t it?! :P) And nothing nowadays seems to help me. For eg. Look at my last post. Zero Comments.(Yea. ZERO :P) So much for confidence eh? :D

And everytime I hit upon a good topic, I'm instantly distracted by someone. OR Something. It's like God doesn't want me to write. Divine Intervention anyone? :P

On one side, I’ve got my mom, yelling and shouting and yelling and shouting at me for not doing something at sometime, somewhere, where I was supposed to be. On the other, I’ve got my dad pestering me about how I should ‘utilize’ my holidays. And I’m stuck over here, thinking that sleeping and watching movies, after those 4 months back in Guwahati, was what I would be doing for my holidays. But just like how the Israeli government can’t see the Palestinians get sympathy from the rest of the world, I guess, my dad can’t seem to take the sight of his tall son, growing even bigger, sitting on the couch in front of the TV. (Come on, be fair to him, he thought he had got rid of me a year ago. :P) (Just kidding Dad. :D)

And loads of other stuff. (Yes, your right, the ‘loads of other stuff’ is the actual important ‘dope’ :P) So well, it hasn’t exactly been totally awesome atmosphere for me to update my blog these recent days. :)

So until I come up with something decent to post.

Ciao.

Jayesh

PS. There’s this thing I saw on a “friend’s” blog recently. So I might just copy it. :P (Sorry Bunzzie. :D)

Today’s Song: “Going Down in Flames” by 3 Doors Down.