Never Say Die!!

There is a time in everyone’s life when inspite of trying hard we don’t achieve what we want, and at such times the only question that lurks our mind is “Why me??” Why this struggle? Why this hard work? When we are not even sure whether we will gain anything from it!
I don’t want to sound like a spiritual leader over here, but why not tell ourselves instead “It has to be me!” After all we are living,
And the basic reason behind it is our struggle for survival. When we have the strength to live, when we can enjoy all the happy occasions then why can’t we face the obstacles that life offers us? And it’s not that we don’t gain anything from it, each event in our life, whether good or bad, has something to teach us. If u haven’t succeeded in the first attempt, instead of cribbing “why this, inspite of so many efforts “, be positive and give in more. Maybe what you gave before was just 50% of what you can really give! Believe me hard work always pays!
This is not what I have heard from someone but it is simply what I have experienced from my life. I got high grades in school/junior college. But getting low marks in CET, the main exam that would determine my future was totally unexpected. Had I not moved on, not struggled to get to the place I want to be, I really don’t know where I would have landed. Why curse the problems, when they are there just to teach us something in life and the day everyone realizes this, the world will be a happy place to live in! In good times we have every person by our side, but it is during bad times that you realize who your real well wishers are! I have known who my true friends in such times. The people, who end their lives just because they are troubled, are plain cowards! There is no other better word to describe them. They have simply missed a great opportunity of creating a good life for themselves! After all one event, an exam, a job, money, can’t play with our future, it’s only we who can make or break our future. And at the end of everything, it’s always, SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST!!

Life of a Mumbai University engineering student

From the 5th grade probably I wanted to be an engineer, the actual reason being my uncle was an engineer and he has always been my role model (part of it was also because he earned really well).Well…so from there on began my quest for becoming an engineer. Back then, I really didn’t know what being an engineering student meant, especially one from Mumbai University…now when I know, I really curse myself for not knowing it earlier.
An engineering student has to just do the following things:
 Work
 Work hard
 Work harder
 work much harder
 and work much much harder
After working so hard you would probably expect some Nobel Prize coming your way…but if you get at least 60% marks in the University exams, you should feel blessed and offer treats to your friends because that’s really a feat!! Not that I hate working…but when one works really hard, one expects some good results but if you are an engineering student, ”expecting” is the biggest mistake you could make! As far as I have seen hard work plays only 25% of the role in getting you good percentage…luck does the rest 75% .You just need to be lucky if you are an engineering student…firstly, lucky to get an admission in a good institute (this is verrrryyyyyyyyy….difficult!).Secondly, to get through all the examinations without getting a KT and thirdly, the most important, not getting into a conflict with any teacher (this urge is really difficult to control). During the four years of engineering, you are totally at the mercy of the moderators in the first and the final year and of the college teachers in the second and third year! So behaving well in the class is the mantra! Obviously the University moderators are people you will never know and who are probably in worst of their moods during paper corrections (that shows in the marks they give).

Then comes the submissions. How much time do you think getting a file stamped takes? 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes…well its 45 minutes (or more…for the people who were behind me in the queue!). You got to wait for people to finish their lunch at 10.30 am, then if they aren’t feeling lazy they’ll call the peons to help them in the process… nobody cares about the 2km long queue that awaits the teacher to just check and leave them. I am not a sadist for sure… you see good, when it is around.
If you happen to be in a good college, you’ll get the support of some really good teachers. While at the same time you’ll also come across teachers, who ‘have been there and done nothing’. In such cases one has to depend on him/herself (or “hail coaching classes!”) and leave rest to God (in this case it could also be a moderator or a teacher). But you can’t blame the teachers wholly as they have to complete the syllabus within a short time, so the frustration level is really high w.r.t. students.

As an engineering student the values that I have learnt is patience, working hard even when you know you are going to get average marks and being resilient.Surely,I wouldn’t have assimilated these had I not been an engineering student!

Are We Really Independent???

A few days back, every news channel had the racist attacks on Indians in Australia as their breaking news. Like every other news this too was hyped a lot with discussions, debates etc. taking place (media in India is very fond of highlighting bad news to a large extent).A large amount of students feared going to Australia and the ones there, came back. We called Australia a racist country…but aren’t we one? We always like to point out others faults but who is going to rectify the mistakes we do? We follow a different kind of racism altogether…we segregate on the basis of caste. Indian Students in Australia are getting beaten up by the native citizens because they are taking away their opportunities at work…and Indians in India get beaten up because they take away the opportunities of the people of that region…now isn’t that great? And we call ourselves a peace-loving nation! We blame Pakistan for being incapable of fighting the terrorists, but what about us? We are feeding a terrorist in jail instead of hanging him for killing innumerable people. I’m a true patriot by heart, trust me, and that’s the reason why I can’t see my nation going towards the negative extremity.62 years after independence and we still have a large amount of our population under poverty line…but no, we don’t want to talk about it! We hate it when some director portrays this poverty and wins an Oscar, we hate it when our politicians are exposed taking a bribe, we hate it when our president is frisked at the airport (though we claim that security of the nation is of utmost importance).I don’t think the people who sacrificed their lives for this independence would be happy seeing us as slaves of corruption, poverty, malpractices, discrimination on the basis of caste, religion, sects, gender.

We blame the youngsters, migrating to other countries for jobs, for the large amount of brain drain…but what have we done to stop it? Obviously when you are offered a good salary elsewhere, you will tend to move in that direction. Everyone wants to progress in their life, right? I was watching ‘Swades’ today and it truly depicts the condition of our country. More than the government, I feel the people are responsible for our nation’s lag. We can’t see any other person progressing. (Reminds me of crabs, if one tries to move up, the other pulls his leg!)

Even after so many years, we still believe inter-caste marriages are not good, girl’s…howmuchever they progress, ultimately the main aim of their life should be settling down and having a family, giving jobs on the basis of caste and not on merit, sentencing rapists to only 7 years of imprisonment(in most of the cases they are set free) when the crime is equivalent to murdering someone, following fanatics who don’t know what their real motto is, and the most important one…learning household chores is much more important than studying in a school(for girls that is).The conditions in city as compared to villages is much better but not something commendable. After witnessing this literally everyday which Mohan Bhargav would leave his NASA job and come to India to help people, when people here themselves don’t want to change?

I salute the people who laid down their lives so that we could experience this freedom, but I can’t say whether they really would be happy seeing what we have done to our nation! We are the youth; the future belongs to us so let’s pledge today that if not for them at least for ourselves we’ll try to make our country a better nation than what it is now!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Expressing Yourself!

I really can’t preach on this because I myself am very bad at it! When it comes to being happy I’ll have the broadest smile on my face so that everyone knows that I’m really very happy… even if it is because of a lecture getting cancelled. But when it comes to sadness, worry, anger, fondness,confusion…I really can’t show it. Neither am I afraid that the other person will bash me up if I show my anger to them nor am I scared of sharing my fears with people. It’s just that I don’t want others to have a bad day after talking to me…after all people will remember you only if you have done good to them and not left bad memories behind! I feel it’s necessary to share your happiness and spread the smile all around but when it comes to sharing worries…you should keep it to yourself because you might just spoil someone’s day!
This attitude of mine might have been nurtured by my family members constantly telling others “she’s very strong and brave”, “she never cries even though she’s a girl while her brothers cry for silly reasons” etc.etc and my dad treating me more like a son than a daughter. And to live up to whatever they said I learnt this technique of keeping some things to myself rather than expressing them, especially the negative emotions. (I don’t think my parents saw me crying ever since the 2nd grade…pride you see!) Obviously I’m wrong sometimes when I’m not expressing myself…my friends listed this as my biggest drawback! According to them I’ll call ‘right’ as ‘right’ but when it comes to telling something is ‘wrong’ ,I’ll end up saying ‘it’s ok’. Like when I saw one of my classmate’s cell phonebook and my name with a tagline ‘bitch’, I got really very angry for I had done nothing to get that famous title added to my name(I’m still wondering why that person did so?)…but I didn’t show any signs of frustration or anger…I really don’t know why? Probably because I don’t want to hurt anyone (am I talking like some spiritual person?)
I know speaking our mind is really important but if it hurts someone is it ethical then? When I don’t speak up I know things are mounting up within me but if I do, I’m scared of making someone sad or things getting out of control. When my friends discuss their worries with me, it takes out some part of “the happy feeling” from me and I fear doing the same to them by telling them my problems (gawd…this is getting so senti!). Lastly I feel, one person sad is better than 100 sad faces around…isn’t it?

Friends Forever!!!

I would consider myself very lucky when it comes to friends…wherever I go I have always had the best friend circle that anyone can have and hence when it comes to parting ways, it has always been difficult for me. Whatever good I’m today is solely because of my friends, because I spend most of my day with them rather than my family and they understand me more than my parents do!

For me friends are not people who you only hang out with, go for parties, have fun etc. The meaning of a “true friend” goes much beyond that!

True friends stay with you in happy times to share your happiness and in your sad times they are the people who motivate you to keep going rather than providing a shoulder to cry on! They know what your each and every gesture means. They know when you are faking a smile and when you actually are happy! I have noticed this many times, Smita(one of my bessssttt friends) always knows when I am thinking or worried about some issue while my parents never suspect anything different in my behaviour. She knows me only for the last 4 years while my parents have known me since 19 years and yet they cannot make out what’s going on inside me. And I guess that’s the case with most of us…our friends know us better than many others.

True friends will never encourage your wrong behaviour and will always appreciate you when you’re right. When you achieve something, they will always be happy, much more than what you are…and when you don’t they’ll tell “there’s always a next time” (standard dialogue).

In school, I was a bit reserved kinda girl…I never interacted much with anyone and people would end up thinking that since I was a bright student I had this attitude problem. (I never had any, believe me!) Finally in 7^th grade I became friends with the “most mischievious people of the school”, as described by my teachers, and we turned out to be friends forever...Destiny, destiny! I do agree they were mischievious but they helped me in knowing myself and presenting what I really was, to others! Having studied in a girls school I always feared communicating with boys but unfortunately in junior college I had to and that was ‘THE MAJOR PROBLEM’ for me at that moment. Then came the guy in shining armor (too much of exaggeration here)…Nitish (again one of my bessstttt friends). It’s because of him that I was able to talk to guys as normally as I talked to girls. I know it wasn’t easy for him to do so because I followed this i-hate-guys-and-i-won’t-talk-to-them ideology (at the first instance, I disliked him too because I thought he boasted a lot about himself). He has helped me during my worst times and I know repaying him would be impossible! I owe a lot to all my friends…I don’t know how good a friend I have been, but they all have certainly lived up to the title ‘best friend’! Tomorrow being Friendship’s Day I just want to say one thing to all my friends…Love you all!!

Dedicated to:

Kiran,Nitish,Amit,Ameya,Amodh,Glavin,Deepika,Vanessa,Annie,Priyanka,Neha,Joyce,Gauri,Sonia,Sonali,

Reena,Arvind,Gladys,Supriya,Sanjay,Sumangala,Akanksha,Gaurav,Namrata,Mini aunty,Afreen,Nayan,Yakshita,Leena,Madhura,Racheal,Akshata,Twinkle,Pearl,Shradha,Sakina,Neha,

Tejasvi,Dwarkanath,Vishwanath,Nirmal,Anish,Harsh,Pratik,Raisa,Suhani,Smita,Namrata,Alisha,Priyanka…sorry if I missed your name :-)(You all have contributed in making my life wonderful…hope the list has more names in near future!)

Good Deeds Are Always Rewarded!!

Just recently it was announced in our class that we could join NSS (National Service Scheme i.e. a social service programme). I was always interested in such activities, for me helping a needy is the best thing a person can do. When I asked my friends whether they would join, my friends shocked me by telling “faayda kya hai?”(How would it benefit us?) and to that one of my friends replied “you will get a certificate for it which will be beneficial if you are giving GRE”. Sorry friends but I really disagree with your viewpoints! I know as humans we are selfish to some extent but what if we were in those people’s place and someone wouldn’t help us just thinking it wouldn’t benefit him, imagine our plight! When you know you want to do a good deed, you cannot think of your gain! And this is not related only with my friends, it’s the case with all of us! We always need a reason to do something good “to others”.
A blood donation drive was held in our college, I was very enthusiastic about it even though I knew I was underweight. A week before, I started eating as much as possible to gain weight and be able to donate blood to a needy person. I was silly I know and finally returned unsuccessful, without donating blood…but I was proud that I at least tried, unlike others who were healthy enough but feared losing blood from their body! Why do we become such misers when it comes to giving things that we are capable of giving? At times we are such cowards…good for nothing! If God was to think before doing good to us…I’m sure nobody would have been happy in their lives ever! Aren’t smiles on someone’s face, someone’s blessings, someone’s well-being, worth anything?
I have decided that when I earn, I’ll put a little amount into charity under whatever circumstances and I think if everyone does the same the world will surely be a better place to live in!
I don’t know how many will be inspired by these views, but I really don’t care…because I know, if not for others I’ll always do what I think is my duty as a human!

A Lie Can Change Your Life...Forever!

It’s not that I’m some kind of a saint that I’m propagating the virtue of telling the truth always, neither am I a devil, giving tips on how to say lies, if you want to tell one! As a child I really hated having milk before leaving for school and one day I ended up sneaking and throwing it into the sink and then telling mom I had it all! But then I was so bad at this art of telling lies (I fumble a lot while telling a lie and I’m not that good at making stories on the spot) that mom caught my lie and like all mothers do to threaten their innocent children she told me she will stop talking to me if I didn’t have that weird liquid(read as milk) everyday. Moral of the story: small children can never lie to their mothers :)

Getting back to the topic, I feel the worst of people have a good side to them, God has designed us that way! Whenever we lie or do something that we are not supposed to there’s always an inner voice that pricks us, that keeps telling us that we are wrong. But for some or the other reason we suppress it! I’m not telling we should never lie, come on, we are humans after all! We do have times when we think that telling a lie is a best way out! Blame it on the circumstances, the pressure from outside world etc.etc. you told it for someone’s good, you just wanted to play a prank on someone…finally a lie is a lie! We had our results put up on the net and I was supposed to see my friend namrata’s results, she was declared failed then(it was false, after reevaluation she passed) and I had to convey this thing to her…I simply couldn’t tell her the sad news and went on to lie that there were problems with the site. I wish I could tell her the truth, I know she would have been very anxious to know the results. Telling a lie is breaking someone’s trust and according to me that’s the biggest sin you can ever commit.

Once you have lied, you cannot revert things, the only thing that you can do to preserve the trust people have in you is confessing. You may be punished for it, but that guilt within will definitely subside with time and people who love you will definitely come back! I lost a person I liked the most to a lie and I don’t even know if I will ever be forgiven but I know for sure that by confessing I have done what I could on my part!

Me & Blogging!

Hey ppl,this is richa (how silly was that!you would have very well guessed it by my profile).Well,this is my first blog and actually speaking I don’t know what to write!(you would have guessed tht too!).Blogging is a new thing to me,heard a lot abt it since nowadays all bollywood actors/actresses are doing it(No,I don’t consider myself as one!) but never really understood why ppl like displaying their experiences, views and opinions on the net…I mean who cares to read them and aren’t our personal experiences supposed to be kinda a secret? I mean,our lives are complicated by itself,why would we be interested in whats happening in other’s lives and reading something of that sort is what I detest the most.but then I happened to read my friend vishwanath and manjiri didi’s blogs which were abt their day-to-day experiences and views,and I loved the way they expressed their ideas,and that is why I am here,writing my own blog!(if I write crap,you know who u got to blame).

well getting back to introducing myself,I’m an engineering student who obviously wishes to be placed by excellent companies like google,Microsoft,intel etc.etc. and earn high salary(range:1lac to whateva is higher than 1 lac per month).my family and friends are the world for me! i adore my brother sanat the most and friends well…I love them all! right now my best friends gang consists of…god,the list is too long..some other time! Ppl often think I am kinda a reserved person but that’s generally not the case! It’s just my way of judging ppl when I meet them first time.i love to listen to songs,especially slow meaningful hindi songs and dance is my passion.i am a firm believer in god and I hate classifications done on that basis. on my blogging page I’ll generally share my experiences,not that I have done some kinda PhD. On life but being present on this land for 19 years(I don’t like hiding my age [;)]) I too have learnt certain things which I would like to share! As it is I like talking a lot(I would have been a RJ if not an engineer,surely!). now I’ll get back to reading some more blogs..bye 4 now!