The Indian underdog.

“In the listlessness of the day, and the dullness of the night, In brightness of the blazing sun, and the solitude of the empty streets, Your memory comforts me. You radiant magnolia, usher of perspicuity, You eternal source of incandescence, panacea of all distress, Your memory comforts me. Like a rock you stand, anchoring me to the shore, Oh soul stirrer, refiner of the flawed and erroneous, Your memory comforts me. Like a fiesta of sunset in the distant mountain tops, a glistening rain drop filled with piquancy, Oh sweet harbinger of joy, my melodious enchantress, Your memory comforts me.. “ -Siddhant

Year 2004, Surya Dubey and his family of four, moved into a rented place in the sub-urbs of Raipur. The spacious house, with its grandiose garden and brilliant location seemed immaculate, it was a dead-on catch. And they got this mansion of a house at a very economical rate. The first few weeks were really happy times for the family, everything was A-OK, just brilliant. Week three, and things got a little uncanny, The grandmother thought she smelt something burning, it felt to her like the smell of a pyre burning, later in the night her bed started shaking. She informed her son Surya of the events of last night, he, being the rational and analytic government official merely ridiculed his mothers inference and brushed off the idea of the presence of something 'supernatural', after all this was the 21st century, ghosts and all did not exist, bah humbug. Some time passed, nothing happened, things were going hunky-dory. Then one day, the photograph of  Lord Ganesha fell and sha...

Once upon a time, not so long ago, There were two friends, very good friends indeed. But this unison was strange.Why? Because they were completely different from each other. One was the righteous and moral good fellow who used to ponder a lot before doing something,he was a romantic fool and often found himself in fixes,while the other was the carefree chap with the devil may care philosophy,he was a musician and music was all he cared for. Living in a world of magnets and miracles in a small town in the heart of India, these two lads aspired to change the world, but each in his own way. One was a conservative who believed in gradual change, while the other was an ardent devotee of Ernesto "Che" Guevara and was convinced that only by the means of a revolution the world can be made a better place. They always had conflicting notions, always debated about right and wrong, mocked each other's views, but in the end, they were still very good friends. They learned to accept...

I was watching Dexters Lab on the Cartoon Network(Thank God that in the night they don't broadcast those crappy shows like "chota bheem" etc.) when it hit me.. I'm almost 19 years old (18 and a half to be precise) , I'm an adult according to the law of the land. I'm gonna be in my second at College this year, My younger cousins(really young I thought) , are preparing for their competitive exams. In the end credits of the almost all the cartoons that I used to watch I can find "copyrights 1998,2002"etc. My favorite cricketers from childhood have retired ( See Glenn McGrath), my dad can no longer beat me at arm-wrestling ( He is still damn strong though! Love you old man!) , I no longer feel the urge to have a girlfriend cause it's cool, All my school friends have gone away, I 'enjoy' reading the newspaper, I relish the prospect of indulging in a political debate, and most of all - My clothes don't fit me! I won't say it's a h...

For the past couple of weeks I've been pretty melancholic, but today ,I'm really amazed to say, I feel pretty good about the way things are shaping out to be. Yeah my grades at college do stink to the core, I've been living the life of a hermit for a while, I've got no one to resort to in the times of distress and forlornness , So that's that! But so what? I'm still in good shape, have four long years in my hands to make or mar my life, Hell I'm still pretty young! My parents still love me , even though my allowance has been cut short , the point that I'm trying to stress on is that life is never too short , It's never too short for making mistakes and learning from them. As humans, it is our duty to commit follies,as it is inherent in our nature. So I vindicate that we should live our lives as they're meant to be, never be afraid of doing something that is offbeat and appears bizarre to the psyche, It's actually pretty fun to see how the ...

Trounced again, yet another debacle in this downward spiralling life of mine. All the grandeur and all the augustness just fading to oblivion. Who am I again? Was it all just a fluke? No it can't be! Again at crossroads, the usual way. It should come as no surprise, I should have seen it coming. After all I've never been the salt of the earth when it comes to pedantic contrivance, never put in even a diminutive effort , but still it aches to see myself being frowned upon by the populace. Can't fight fate eh' ?  Alas, it's time to change my ways, seek for greener pastures , since my paradise city was not all that it appeared. It is a mechanical world , cold and calculative , I misjudged it , and hence had to pay the price. Maybe I will rise again, and maybe I'll be brought down the way I usually am. But as of now , I'm in a fix, so sorry for sounding morose, but it's my right to be so at times, I'm only human.

After a rigorous session of contemplation and brainstorming with my hostel chumps , I was compelled to introspect. Am I not seeing the greater picture? Is getting good grades at college and then getting a good job and a secured future is all there is to life? Do we not have a more meaningful purpose? Is the real purpose getting obliterated by humanity's perpetual race for material goods? Is the "system" that the world follows,nothing but a stratagem to shroud the path of enlightenment? Since time immemorial we have all heard about sages renouncing the earthly pleasures for attaining "moksh". The idea seems too abstract and surreal to me. But what if that is what we are really supposed to do, rather than giving in to the day-to-day frivolous deeds? I'm not quite sure that reading algebra or about dead scientists,sociologists,and political philosophers would get me anywhere in life. You might think I'm gonna talk about completely engrossing myself with s...