Stealing Few Moments From His Life

Her life was a masquerade ball, in

Which the last dance was never 

saved for the Knight whose shadow

Kissed the sparkle of her solitaire 

Then came the night, he danced with her destiny

Leaving her with the courage to 

Unveil the reality of their lives

She shed her jewels

She deserted her castle

She wore no satin

she followed the Knight with her head held high

Defeated his sword with her poised eyes

Became the voice to his unspoken dreams

Paved her desires along his footprints

Seasons passed, the empires grew, 

She read his eyes at every

Winning battle, felt the silent bows of his

Heart at end of each dance

He looked back the night

Asked her why

She chose to place him so high

She told him a story where a night 

She reminded her destiny, that

After this dance all she wants is to

Steal few moments from his life...

P.S. This is my first attempt at a poem so excuse me for few mistakes

Raising hope

Yes I love to borrow titles of my post, this one coming from a critically acclaimed sit-com (please check out Wikipedia for further information). During my life (so far) I have realized that there is a thin line between living in an illusion and actually raising hope. There have been times when I have used phrases like “India can never change” & “there is no hope left for India”. One day, as I was sipping my coffee it struck my mind that I have made no efforts in participating in ‘changing India’, and therefore don’t have the right to say any of the above phrases.

Fortunately, I came across an article published in New York Times by Thomas L. Friedman (the man doesn't need any intro) and quite soon after that I visited India for holidays. There I actually noticed a cell phone tower every few miles and hoardings with  mobile service companies advertising “call @ 1/2 paisa per second” at each traffic light! Somehow I didn’t even mind a billboard saying “learn fluency English in 10 days” which was right above a public toilet. While being amused at such a board was an easier option, I also imagined handful of students who might benefit from attending such a course. Imagining students speaking fluent English would be what I term as ‘living in an illusion’ but when I think of students/parents wanting to spend a sum of money on an English language course that raises hope within me.

Thomas Friedman mentioned two firms which are worth talking about in my post. Ekgaon is a firm which designs and develops software and information systems to meet the needs of developing communities. It offers many interesting services but One Farm is the one which caught my attention. We could ponder about the level of corruption involved in the 2G scam and how competition among the mobile service providers has reduced the costs of services but Ekgaon thought above all this and developed a programme that runs on the cheapest cell phone models offering illiterate farmers a text or voice advisory service that tells them the weather conditions for the next few days, which fertilizers to use according to their soil specification and when to sow and harvest their crops etc.

I can keep on bickering about the quality of Indian products but when I think about the time when each Indian household was cutting back their budgets to save and buy a pager; Reliance Communications came up with the cheapest mobile phones and taught every household the true meaning of connectivity. Just after witnessing a family of four members stuck in the rain on their scooter, Ratan Tata announced the idea of TATA Nano. Indians had to just save some extra bucks to buy Nano than to buy a 2-wheeler. When an average income parent thinks about applying for a loan to buy their kid a laptop, Indian government declared the launch of “Aakash Tablet” @ $60 each. People are unhappy about the processor speed and the storage space (and many more technical aspects which I don’t understand) but Aakash raises hope within those students who have to search for a nearby cafe to complete their projects, and those parents who regret not being able to afford a laptop for their child’s education.

So what if India is growing slowly? So what if the GDP doesn’t increase as predicted? Which nation doesn’t have scams? There is always hope and we can’t give up on it! It’s easy to think big and look forward as an individual. But the day we all think of moving forward with 1.2 billion Indians together, is the day Indians will see that ray of hope.

Going the Distances - part1

Yes you guessed right! The title is borrowed from a movie which could have been better. But that is not what my post is about. It’s about me going distances courtesy my dad.

My dad's first exposure to a foreign land was in mid 2002. His experience of “foreign land” wasn’t quite as fancy as he went to Sudan (oops! Present day’s North Sudan). I don’t blame him since it is nature which injected black gold in places which turned out to be either extremely hot, underdeveloped or in dire crises. He never complained about the place, but instead told me about the enhancement in his technical knowledge and experiences with different cultures. But the only thing which mattered to me after those 2 years was that my dad could pick up the best fragrances in a perfume shop, buy creamier than ever gourmet chocolates, select amazing jewelry designs (this is according to mom), which was mostly courtesy of Dubai duty-free.

In 2005, he decided to move to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) with the whole family. This is when I realized my version of “foreign land”. I don’t remember being consulted before taking this decision. All I can recollect is that I was threatened by my parents to obtain a decent score in my present class so I can get admission in a decent school or else they will be glad to save maid expenses! And a few months later I was standing in a huge reception area in my new college with an enrollment form in my hand. At the counter the lady asked me 2 questions politely, which changed my whole perspective about myself and the place I was in. Although the first one was definitely in a questioning tone it sounded more like a reminder to me; She asked,“International student?” and before I could process the information in my head and answer, she threw another one at me,“Passport please?” And it was this, most of all, which made it very clear that I was in fact in a "foreign land", and I was the FOREIGNER here. And that is when the romance of being in a foreign land ended and reality hit me.

I was not in 11th grade anymore. I wasn't even in a school. I was in a world where I was doing A-levels in a pre-university. I was not just Indian but “Indian Indian”. The “Indian Indian” concept was important to the local Indian origin students, hence to avoid confusion I had to repeat my nationality while introducing myself. The first “Indian” was meant for my race and second for my nationality (please this is not racism it’s called avoiding confusion). My classmates found my “thick” Indian accent and ”wavy” hair very appealing. I had to patiently explain to people that I was not married to anyone - thanks to the very concept of child marriage! Unfortunately, for them I wasn’t even a true Indian as I had never had a glimpse of Shah Rukh Khan and his house or The Taj Mahal.

 My first class was Mathematics C-1 in room 7.14 block-D by Mr. Koh You Beng. In India we just had a Mathematics period for 40 min in the same class as the other subjects for the whole year. Mr Koh often decided to test the students’ knowledge by rapid mental math calculations and with every correct answer he said a phrase yeah lah which sounded like ya Allah! to me and I wondered if there was a possibility that Mr.Koh is “Muslim Chinese Malaysian”. But soon I figured that “Lah” was a Malaysian slang used after any sentence with one’s convenience.

Quite soon I started using 'lah' as much as the locals. This was probably my first step to blend in, which lasted till our literature lecturer started to fine us with every use of this word. It turned out that slang was not allowed in the lectures!

Chopsticks were switched to spoon and fork only when 10 min remained for the lunch break to end. I started wishing for straight hair. And "Can" became a synonym for yes. 

The reason for my trying hard to blend in was not because people were treating me differently - I was accepted more than I could ever imagine. According to me it was a gesture by which I could reciprocate the love and support I received from Malaysia.

That's about it for this one! I could go on and on about my experiences but I shall keep that for part 2, and the subsequent parts, if they ever materialize! There are many more countries to visit and many more things to explore. But till then Malaysia Boleh (Malaysia Can!) and Jai Hind!

    

Me,world, universe and you

ME :

When asked  to define themselves, people come up with a huge list of bombastic adjectives and phrases and to my dismay, i turn speechless when the "About Me: " pops up! And let me clearly state (don't blame me later) that me being speechless is an 'endangered me'. I am a day dreamer because i cant control my dreams at night. So, being practical as always I like to dream with a conscientious mind and lets not go to the part where they come true or not (what will i write in other posts then??).
As always, when there is no choice but to answer the "About me: " i take a huge pause  and say/write :
When i don't have something, I substitute it with CONFIDENCE
And it works! Its 100% tested and proven (by me only but you can try and share your results). Somehow I solve/tackle/face most of my problems with this formula. Oh and very important! This line is not copied. Its my copyright until unless someone proves it otherwise.
Now something which comes in hand with me and my thoughts is my cup of coffee. Addiction to coffee is my birth right, I would have included shopping, watching movies,travelling, chatting and reading random stuff on the list too but these either consume a lot of time or money.

WORLD:

Thankfully, there is an option given to us to come out of the "me" cocoon into the world which is meant to be real but again fantasies have no limits. But here as a personal choice I prefer the former because the real world is so beautiful with loved ones around and comfy materialistic things! I am no saint and for me everything that glitters is as good as gold (which is right now hitting record high btw!)

Now GOLD to me has a wide range- irritating my family and still see them smile - acting all stupid and turning back to see my friends standing with their thumbs up - bossing around my cousin and watching him do my work - eating or deciding menu -no matter how it goes but the feeling after last exam-  notifications on social networks... ( yeah i need to get a life!)
This blog is my attempt to connect to rest of the world and share my thoughts (which go too random at times).

 The things which disappoint and dishearten me are those dark spots which are not only the impurities in our society but also a shame which every human wears. Being a citizen of this world I would be more than happy to fight against these dark spots. I would address such issues in later posts ( i need material for other posts too!!).

UNIVERSE

So, my concept of universe remains the same even after the new (hypothetical) planet is discovered, they call it Tyche I suppose (what kind of name is that? ok lets not go there). Here i bring that fantasy world which i talked about earlier in this post. Universe to me is something i have never seen (No i don't work in NASA) but believe in its presence. This is the creative and fairy-tale part of my life which i want to believe will come true ONE DAY! Universe is my relationship with that "force" ( i also call it God) that is a mystery which i never want to solve.
Oh and also i have a tiny-miny interest in astrology because i am a firm believer of the fact that universe has a plan and everything plays its part somewhere to make it happen!!!

You:

 This is for my unknown readers who i am sure are very patient human beings to have come a long way reading this post. I don't know whats going on in that mind of yours but your comments will be of great help and i intend to blog when i have something interesting to talk about. If u like this then YAY!!! and if you didn't then give me some time to get better.
This blog post is to be completed by YOU!