Donnerstag, April 27, 2006

4 feet 3 inches had a Thought!

Although i am a literature freak i hated reading poems. Maybe Ghazals (Something like poem in Hindi)but reading those few lines and not understanding them, always wondering what my english teacher told me about how we are suppposed to look for a deeper meaning in these poems. Well, my brain is not super cultivated for that but this one below written by a african boy totally has the appeal.
Just surprising how the mind explores without barriers of age, sex, race, culture or knowledge. The things you can say just having Microsoft word, a laptop and and your mind. Isnt it amazing?


When I born,
I Black,
When I grow up,
I Black,
When I go in Sun,
I Black,
When I scared,
I Black,
When I sick,
I Black,
And when I die,
I still black..
And you White fella,
When you born, you Pink,
When you grow up, you White,
When you go in Sun, you Red,
When you cold, you Blue,
When you scared, you Yellow,
When you sick, you Green,
And when you die, you Gray..
And you calling ME Colored ??

Sonntag, April 23, 2006

Yipeee Sunshine...


Today, its finally awesome weather. Awesome enough to wear my shorts and walk around. Perfect 17°C. Was talking to dad today and he told me about the untolerable weather in India. I cant beleive my pleasant city of Bangalore is soaring with 40°C. So we are grilling today..:D!Have fun you all.

Samstag, April 22, 2006

Read and SMILE:)



This Story was actually forwarded to me by a Friend. First thing i did after finishing this story was to smile. Read it and lemme know what you guys think.

My First Date by: PRASUN ROY

I still remember the first date I ever went on in my life. Usually
first dates are memorable to everyone but for me it was
something that I can never forget. I went out for my first date with my
high school crush when I was in class eleven. It
was a day that I planned for weeks and finally she, Rachna, agreed to
come out with me, Prasun Roy! In school who was
famous for being a person with a cool attitude with no constraints from
the family end, whose parents were more of buddies
than dominating guardians! However the fact remained that I too was
from a middle class family with core values and
principles like all others.

Back home I lied to my parents that I was going out for a school
excursion and managed to get the approval of my parents
and finally the day arrived.

After a short lunch at a funky restaurant, Rachna and I went hand in
hand for a movie. As the evening was drawing to a
close we were roaming in the streets of "New Market" talking to each
other, about each other. Life suddenly seemed so
beautiful.

All of a sudden, out of the forgotten multitude that was also walking
in the same street, I could see a familiar face
quite distinct- why I didn't know. As realization embraced my
consciousness, I comprehended that the face of the person
approaching me from the other side was of none other than but my
FATHER!

Within a fraction of a second all romanticism vanished from my heart
and a fear engrossed it instead. I could interpret in
that short time the amount of humility and shame I would face suddenly
as my father would recognize me, scold me after we
meet, and that was inevitable! Apart from the scorn that I would face
at home, I could also feel the embarrassment I would
face in front of Rachna, who recognized as the cool guy ... in school
as well as back home!

Crippled with the fear I only prayed that the earth would open up and I
would hide there from all the humility. However
there seemed no practical escape from it. Then some thing happened.

My father came near me, along with the now not-so-forgotten multitude,
looked into my eyes as a stranger and passed by me
rubbing his shoulder against mine and passed by without even
recognizing me. It was the biggest shock and relief of my
life. I still don't know which emotion was predominant at that moment.

After sometime, Rachna went away to her home oblivious of the fact what
ever I just revealed, and I came back to mine.

At home that night, life seemed to me like a prison. I went for dinner
with a fearful heart and a lost appetite. To my
surprise, everything was so very normal. My mother served dinner and we
all ate the usual way. This made my life more
miserable. I quickly finished my food and went back to my room.
Questions crowded my mind and I couldn't figure out what
might have happened after my father came back home and revealed about
my forged romantic rendezvous. Why everything was
still so normal pained my mind even more!

Presently my father calmly came into my room and sat beside me. I
looked into his eyes with fear in mine but discovered a
smooth comfort in his! He soothingly asked, "So Sunny Boy, how was your
date, I must say she was a pretty and sweet lady!"

Like somewhat mesmerized I revealed everything to him about my first
date and added, "Dad, it was simply out of this world,
but the day passed away life a few minutes only!"

He smiled and said, "You know what, Albert Einstein once said ... Put
your hand on a hot oven for a minute and it would
seem like and hour; put your hand upon those of a pretty lady for an
hour and it would seem like a minute! Now that's
relativity. Its all relative, the fact is how much you cherish what you
gained ... RIGHT! This is the biggest lesson of
life my son"

I had never seen my father being like this before; he was more of a
buddy than my guardian actually. I could feel within
me that I would never ever be able to hide anything else from him, he
actually understood me much more than my own self.

We talked for an hour and I would remember those words forever perhaps!
I couldn't interpret whether it was my First Date
with my dream girl or the First Date of knowing my father actually.
However I knew that I realized how much I loved and
respected my father after that. Just as he was leaving my room I called
him and said "Thank You daddy! Thank you so much!"

Both of us knew what I was thankful for and required no mentioning. He
turned towards me with his dreamy eyes and said
these words...

"Hey son, how could I ever let you down my child, never! I would just
say, whatever happens in life and whomever you love
in your life and to whatever degree, you only remember one thing that
your Daddy has loved you 18 years more than that. 18
years more than that dear!"

He switched off the light and went to his room. In the mild blue and
gray of the moonlight ushering into my room through
the window I too could feel one thing ... Yes, its truly 18 more years
of Love, I, or any child, can never ever cover up!
It was in fact my First Date, the first one of actually realizing the
Love I had taken for granted for all those Eighteen
Years perhaps! It truly was so...:)

Freitag, April 21, 2006

Shout for my FREEDOM!


Since this is one of my favourite things i wrote and didnt get much attention to it, i am reposting it. My sole purpose on writing on such sensitive topics like this are just to evoke your minds to start thinking 'outside the box'...that is if u havent started already. Just that you all know...my dad hates this one piece i wrote and doesnt agree with it. Am i glad about the ´system of democracy now. 'Freedom of speech' to be in particular.:))
Your baby daughter, who would actually be celebrating her 20th birthday in 2 weeks comes home at 22:00 on a Saturday back from no pub or disco but from a friends place 10 minutes away. Well back home, the reaction is fuming, the father embarrasses her in front her friend who accompanied her. What seemed like an innocent walk to get some fresh air, turned into this question of ‘self-esteem and trust. So when asked, what was that all about ‘they simply nod and say Parenting’!!! What is parenting? Yelling at your kids because they are a little late or imposing rules on them which are actually doing no good. In my words, its just paving a tarred road to hell because 60% of it tends be a lie.
Today in India we talk about no gender differences, equality to one and all. We always read this in the papers, raise our eyebrows, nod to the thought and turn on. So why is that guys never get questioned but we girls do. Yes, yes my folks tell me that it’s all for my own safety and we are not mature enough to take care ourselves. But please somebody tell me, when do we finally grow up. This so called possessiveness that parents talk about is in fact making us all ‘frogs in the well’. We are all aware about the story, I am sure!! I am purely typing this from a girl’s perspective. Although I think in some cases it might be applicable to the opposite sex as well. Parents bring us up here, always with a difference/discrimination and expect us to fight and succeed in a man’s world. Where in some families, talking to a guy is considered to be a taboo. Please don’t think it’s pathetic but it’s sadly the truth.
Why is that ‘Parenting, is always seen from a 40 or 50 years old perspective and never from a 19 or 20 years old ones. Are we that dumb to have no perspective at all? I thought parenting was all about making us youngsters responsible and help in building a better tomorrow. Where is tomorrow when I have to face 10 thousand questions about going out. Freedom makes us stronger and more responsible. Why is freedom always seen in a negative perspective in our country? How come nobody listens to us? Just because parents are 20 or 30 years older to us, that doesn’t mean, whatever they say must be the ‘etched words on Roman walls’. I know experience and seeing life counts but how do you expect someone to learn to ride a bicycle without expecting him/her to fall.
21st century, everything’s changed. Globalisation, internet, fast food, nano technology and what not. Listen to me, nothings changed, you see two or three malls coming up in your neighbourhoods, that’s it! Being in certain families we have no say and always live under fear. Lie to cover up all the truth. So its always amusing to read through issues about open healthy relationships between parents and kids only in magazines but hardly anyone gives a though to it. I remember reading in my primary classes that Gandhi said something, that read ‘ At 00:00 O’clock when a girl could walk the streets of India without fear, is when it would be pronounced as a free nation’. I guess that way India would never be termed ‘free’. For Christ’s sake bringing up a girl is always such a chaos. Everything has to be different and complicated. Why? I know it’s a big bad world out there but don’t we have to face it at one point or the other. Why not earlier than later? Life is not always walk on bed of roses. We are born into this harsh reality by chance not choice. Rising, falling, loving, getting hurt are all a part and parcel, why not let us live this reality earlier than later. Does holding on to us make the process any easier or colourful?
Parenting most people forget is not about setting rules and always proving that you are right but sitting down and cleaning your ear wax to ‘listen’. One person doesn’t always get to say where to draw the line. Accidents happen, sad things have happened to people earlier but that is no excuse to have your kids locked away forever from the ever growing world. We literally have to beg for permission for days to go on a school/college excursion. When do we see that freedom? When are we termed responsible? Can you guys please let us fall a few times to get us riding our ways through our lives? You folks are not going to hang around us forever will you? Welcome to the world of reality!! Isn’t it time already to let go a bit and reduce on the restrictions, yelling, nagging and questioning. I have a choice, I don’t have live with this forever I fly to Germany in 2 weeks to go on with my fourth semester but my life is no different for me when I am here for my vacations. Being in two continents, two nations, two cultures sadly I see the bigger picture and realise the difference. I speak for all those who are reading this and nodding, who are just sick of listening and now wanna talk !!! So will you please let us ‘Grow up’!

Donnerstag, April 20, 2006

An Interview which led to the TRUTH!


Well, it’s been quiet sometime since I updated you all. So let me start.

The recent happening’s that has made me to Q about many things about self growth, my life and the drive to push to the limits was my interview with Proctar and Gamble. This was the interview for my internship which will last for a period of six months and is the part of my study curriculum. Unlike India here education is always practically based, don’t come and ask me what’s the molecular weight of Glucose (well that’s not all complicated, jus couldn’t think of anything complicated) but if you do come and ask me how to deal with my customer or how do I take part in a Product development, probably that I might answer after my internship. Well, at the end of the day doesn’t it all that matter? How much your company made? How many customers did you talk into buying your product? Well why doesn’t Indian education system realise this, at the end of the day what we all fight over is reservation system. Ooooo…I am walking away from the topic again…like always, let me come back!

So my interview with the MNC, P&G! This interview jus proved it that how people all over the world just want the best. It doesn’t matter you might have the best of scores and the best of recommendation letters from XYZ but at the end of the day if you don’t know how to sell yourself then you are doomed. Knowledge has always been there but if you don’t know how to use it what’s the point? I doubt if the Wright brothers didn’t throw in some Bamboo sticks, some fabric and aerodynamics said we are going to fly then I would think off sea sickness whenever I wanna to come home.
The interview indeed was very very long, an unbelievable 4 n 1/2 hours. Once I walked out of the building, I questioned myself damn….these people know more about me now than I ever did myself. The Questions that they asked me were so full of hidden understanding. Although it sounded like a simple Q but the relevance would be something very very deep and important. Along with the interview I had to do an hour test of logistic, maths, graphs and reading. Damn, these are serious people I thought! I suck at maths so no hopes there but to put innocent bachelor students through this process makes me stop wondering why these companies are the best and always stand out.

Well, my true passing thoughts were during the whole process, oh my god! If they could take the best out in us and make maximum use of it then why can’t we do that on our own and bring up a P&G in every street corner? Why does every graduate from the IIM’s always dream about a seven figure salary but not through his own establishment but always slaving for some MNC. There have been very few who have stood out. Probably being normal human beings, we ten to give up soon enough, coz something doesn’t happen the way we want it to happen….we call it dooms day! Me no exception. I wish everybody could say ‘I am not asking you to think that I am the best but I am telling you that I am the best’. I would sure be disappointed if I don’t get in but I think loosing me is their loss! I am sorry for them. This attitude itself can make these harsh realities so much tolerable and inspiring. Ooooonly if, all of us were thought ‘this fact’ in school or else where. Life would be bustling with soooo much more engery and optimism that we probably could see a Lakshmi Mittal and a Amartya Sen in every second kid.

Well I know I wanted to talk about something else but always end up saying something else. But then whatever it is, It is the truth, isn’t it? So the interpretations are different but understanding is always left to the one reading it. RIGHT!!!:)

Montag, April 10, 2006

more snow....yipeee(totally sarcastic one!!)


'Silent night holy night'......the christmas is back in April. What a wonder!!!

The ghost is here,evrything is white...


Okay people..nothing is goin to happen with Germany, i hope you all read the yesterdays forecast about germanys weather. Today its snowing, its bloody snowing in April. I have no words.Literally, i have no words to type, so i will just leave it at this. SOme pics you see were taken outside my window in the morning. I just to want to check my calender, if tomorrow is the 25th of dec or something. COz it sure looks like chirstmas to me.

Sonntag, April 09, 2006

Me, my country and my Questions.


Sitting in the comforts of Germany's technological capital of Stuttgart I was watching the movie 'Bombay'. Watching the movie after a break of 5 years was itself a change for me. Now I could understand why young people like me fish for opportunities abroad and fly here for those unrealised dreams.
I surely did realise mine, to get the best out of here and get back home, my motherland and do something for her! But when you see features like Bombay which is ironically not very far away from reality, man always has second thoughts. Living here for almost past two years here I have learnt there are consequences and remarks for being a brown person in a white capital! We come here with high hopes and yes they are not disappointed but why are that whatever you do, whatever you earn, whatever fun you have….you never fit in! Go ahead and get a cosmetic surgery and become white but still you are someone else whose supposed to belong somewhere else. These moments you realise how much you would respect and would want to be a perfect citizen of your nation .Coz that’s where you fit in. Well why is it that the simple truth like this suddenly seems to vanish when we step foot on similar grounds. It’s like we start taking every thing for granted. I speak of my own experiences, I fly home tomorrow and I know exactly how I would feel….yes ecstatic on one side but careless, granted on the other. I have to always remind myself before throwing a piece of garbage on the street that 'just coz I am home doesn’t mean I can litter the streets'!!! Which I would dare not do here in the F1 capital.
I always remember how my flat mate, a Nigerian told me 'whatever it is you do, a black man cannot live a life of contentment here, when I still see a few heads turn around the streets…!! Turn around not to check me out but to check if they still have their baggage\belongings right by them and not nicked away'. So why is that after all that we know these truths we still end up taking the challenge of coming down here, like my friend the Nigerian did? The answers are pretty obvious for better opportunity, comforts, future. Which thinking on a neutral basis could have been achieved in our country itself but we HUMANS fishing always for a change! Hmm change is not all we are looking for but to save ourselves from another Ayodhya riot or CET gamble. Yes, you can term me as being selfish but who isn’t?
But I get up every morning thanking the lord for everything he has given me, all the comforts and opportunities and somewhere very deep I do feel contended although away from home. I am happy, why because '19 and the all the freedom in the world` no but I am far away from another Bombay blast or the Bhopal massacre. The movie indeed had a happy ending but reality bites my friend! No Mani Ratnam to Shout Out 'CUT'!!!
The number of youngsters coming to the land of opportunities let it be the US of A or Queens country or my second home Germany is on the rise every year! Well, what can I expect when I read the Times of India e-paper everyday about the clashes of CET. I thank the lords that I kinda had a narrow escape from that agony. Sometimes sitting alone in my balcony my mind wonders thinking, 'if we are the future of the country' then what the hell are we doing sitting here thousands of miles away? Then another thought comes, if I do get back will I make any difference, no let me rephrase 'can I make any difference'?!?!
When I sit sometimes talking to my friend Andreas, I call him the 'Latino hunk'! About my country and the problems! Because it’s not very different for him either coming from a troubled country like Ecaudor. He simply says 'my hair would grey sooner if I think so much' and ends up dragging me to a party. SO again, are we the future of the nation? These unanswered questions frustrates me soooo….I get back to actually solving the most obvious answered question 'what is the structure of polyvinylchloride?

Samstag, April 08, 2006

A haunting Question?


I had this Q from a very long time in my head. Is it me or after watching Rang de basanthi that you get pissed off coz your hands are tied and literally cant do anything? You jus have see the crap and live with it. Bringin a change as portrayed in the movie might be somewhat impossible. Although in the end you see a few voices where raised and then...?!? Luckily movies always end after 2hr30min but what about real life?!?!

hmm...my first words!!

Look beyond…somebody said to me and ever since I have been looking beyond. Since when I was a kid always had the mind to venture into the unkown. For good or bad, my dad, my mentor had the same thoughts, so it was well gelled up thought process of the two of us that bought us to do many things.

Talking about venturing, I did so when I finished my Second PUC and decided to go on to study in Germany. Sitting here in the balcony of my Student Dorm Kitchen in a small but peaceful city of Reutlingen, approx. 23ks away from the Technological Capital of Europe. I ask myself what was that made me accept this venture. Or merely made me decide to have the thought leaving everything I have ever known and take this step into the unknown.
I know that Germany isn’t that a popular place to study when compared to the US of A or the UK especially for your Bachelors. The challenge of learning a foreign language and literally studying Chemistry in German lured me into the whole process. Which by the way is still is an every day challenge. I got out because I needed to see, see everything there is and I come here I have seen it all. I know that I just turned 19 this March but the experience of staying independantly in an Alien Land with the Alien language to add, teach you all. Trust me, for the people in the folds of their parents, whatever best education they might get will never learn the vital elements needed to live and survive. I think I have come here and see lots of downs rather than ups. These sentences dosent suggest that I am asking everybody to book the next flight to Germany or Timbuktu. But stressing the need of self learning, which you automatically are in access to once you come to a place where self help is the best help. I grew up with the notion that academics is a deal but not a big one. My folks always stressed upon figuring out things on your own, doing things by yourself, and thinking outside the box. We are surrounded with the fact that academics is everything. The ease with which people live here makes me jealous. I pray if back home we had the same attitude. Taking a break here and doing something you always wanted to do. To explore other possibilities in life. Enjoy what you are doing and just don’t do it for the heck of it. The fact that studying here or just simply living here provides so many possibilities that it easy for man to get diverted easily and don’t have a constant flow, which we as Indian fear the most. But if your stable of your thought of what you want you can make the best of your life here. Maybe me stressing on living abroad and learning soo many things is wrong I guess.
Personally I suggest don’t even dare stepping out into this world of freedom at the mere age of 18-19. It is so easy to be lured with the colorful things that one can be easily diverted. And I speak this from experience. I think the biggest false notion we have here is that 'everybody naturally assumes that studying outside India is a bed of Roses'. Welcome to the world of reality where it is not all that 'rosy' as it looks.

I totally support the concept of getting the best out of things and implementing it for a better future. But before you take this bold step as yourself one question 'Do I have the audacity to hold on'? After stepping out nothing else would then matter, what anybody says doesn’t matter but it all zeroes down to one thing …… 'YOU'!!!

Just updating..

Nothing much happening in my life except for i have to do a internship next semster and i have a call back on a interview from P&G and i really want this internship. I am jus keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best.
The only part that sucks is that the entrance test in this company as soo much logistic and maths in it. I am just out of my bachelors but i need to know everything. The test is indeed a tough one no piece of cake. Well, i dont know if these MNC's are just pressurizing us on performing better even before you get the internship. Just too much to think about for a 20 year old teenager. I am not complaining but sometimes doesnt it jus get on your nerves that when you are abroad you got to think about yourself. Decide every tiny detail on your own. SOmetimes i do wish that i was just under the roof where dad was talkin the decisions. But this life rocks as well but then nothing can be perfect can it?!?!
Well i must go to bed now but i will write more about what happend. SO keep checking in. And write in what you guys think, eps. the ones working in MNC's and also you dudes and dudettes living abroad.