How to say it - Toastmasters speech (cc4)

Today i want to tell you a story about a girl called shy.

Shy's a good friend of mine.

An avid reader, dancer and loves the color red.

An interesting cookie, that one. And i love the way she delivers her speeches.

Shy can talk in front of a room full of people without as much as a flinch.

Shy knows how to alter the timbre and quality of her voice.

She can command, and demand attention , when she wants you to listen to her. Shy oozes confidence.

She can instruct, and invite you to a world of knowledge - giving you snippets of information on things you'd probably never have thought of.

She can be a storyteller, and make you feel a part of her tale - spinning a web of emotions around you as she enthralls you deeper and deeper into her story.


She can walk up to an audience member at any time and say - "How you doing?"   and make it seem like it has something to do with her speech.

Oh and Shy can tell a joke at her own expense. ;)

Shy can engage an audience.

Shy can share. Shy can inspire. She can create visions of her stories in your head and transport you to another world.
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Take one glance at Shy, and you'll be rest assured that she pretty much knows the tricks of the trade.
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But take a look deeper.. And you'll realize - - Shy is not all that she appears to be.


So at any social gathering, for convenience sake, let's consider this very meeting.

She walks up to the host, and says -

'Hi.' < looking sheepish, playing with fingers, fidgeting>

'Nice meeting.. u hosted it pretty well.'
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'So which service line are you in?'

'I am in AMS.'

' Oh ok.. i am in HRT. Workday.. it's very similar to SAP, for HR module.. '

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 Awkward silence....uncomfortable smiles,... shifting of steps...
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Shy is thinking of something clever to say. What happened to all those .... those things she had learnt..., she could come up with the most absurd relations at those godforsaken inpromptu speeches! ughh! think! think! .. oh god!!! What should i say?
What do i do! come on.. relax. calm yourself down..!
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"So anyway, I have a meeting to attend.. soo... i'll see you later then!"
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And Shy walks away - disappointed, ... at yet another failed attempt.

After all those tries. And all those books. And all that practice - of smiling and talking to herself, looking into the mirror -

And all those times when she'd said to herself - it's okay. There's nothing wrong with you.

Shy simply walks away - feeling defeated - once again.

Shyness.

A character trait so stigmatized by our society that it sometimes borders on the term 'disease' , or 'social anxiety disorder'.

Some people even go so far as to believe that extreme shyness is a SCOURGE on the American population,
and that it is the third largest of the mental disorders, after only depression and alcoholism..
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So today, let's talk about that girl.

That girl - who can deliver a speech with aplomb but always finds herself sitting in a corner at every gathering, only smiling when someone talks to her.

That girl - who gets feels a sense of panic every time she walks into a room full of people where she is 'supposed' to socialize.

That girl - who comes home feeling dejected after every party. she calls up her best friend and speaks to him, to make herself feel better - and tells herself - i am normal. there is someone who i can speak to, who can understand what i am going through and that it's okay to feel this way.
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And Shy cries.
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But Shy wakes up. And Shy tries.

Tries harder, each day.
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Shy dapples with this question on a regular basis. But she still hasn't been able to find an answer.


And she wants to tell you that most of the time when she says she has an urgent appointment/ or pretends to talk on the phone, she's really just petrified of you.

And she wants to make you realize that she isn't a snobbish person! So bear with her. Don't dismiss her as someone who doesn't care. Because you couldn't be more wrong.

Shy wants to shout out to you and the rest of this world - that hey! you know what? 'quiet' is not 'boring'!! Just give us a chance.

Be patient. And listen.

The only thing you can accuse her of is that she's still figuring out - How to say it.


Thank you.

Long posts?

The only reason I have not looked at my blog in SO long is because I am too lazy to sit and write a post. Or I think about writing a post, but can't think of enough matter that would exceed a Twitter status. But why not? I don't use twitter. Don't plan to. The micro-second talk-a-thon about my life doesn't appeal to me. Besides, (a standard excuse for anyone mildly boring) - "I work in I.T."  So 40 per cent of my day is really not tweet-worthy. :)

But let's not get negative here. Here's what to expect -

A link I find interesting.       A fun event I went to.          A dance class.         A joke.         
  A song, maybe. 



Noise.


I'm actually feeling good after writing this utterly pointless post.

 See you soon.

Or not.


Open to interpretation :)

Startup Saturday, Mumbai

Back in Mumbai J After a short hiatus in Bangalore with ‘ze job life’, I’m back home. It’s been about two weeks, and I’ve begun to get antsy. Need to go out meet some new people. I had read about Startup Saturday a couple of months back, and it seemed interesting, but I had never got the chance to check it out. It occurs every second Saturday of the month, and I was just in time for their next event, so I thought I’d give it a shot.

The rationale behind a Startup Saturday is to provide a monthly platform where local entrepreneurs, professionals and students can get together around engaging talks from veterans in the startup industry. Each event has a loose theme and relevant speakers from the chosen theme. The audience plays an active role in shaping the discussions and brain storming is to be found aplenty. (*)

The event was held at SP Jain institute of Managerial Research, Andheri. I entered what seemed to be one of their lecture halls, with around ten to fifteen people of different age groups waiting for registrations. My first thought was – “Okayyyy. What am I doing here again?” They all seemed to be pretty experienced – or MBAs, the very least. A couple of them were working away on some sort of presentation on their laptops, some were browsing through personal notes in diaries, and I was feeling thoroughly out of place. Nevertheless, I took a seat. I was beginning to wonder if I’d be the only college graduate there. But people started pouring in slowly; and I was about to realize how wrong I was in making that assumption, as you will soon find out. J

The first speaker was Dinesh Tejwani, a CA with a keen interest in I.T, managing director of Fast Facts(*), a paid tax software. FastFacts business was recently acquired by Thomson Reuters. Mr Tejwani's session went in depth about software distribution and sales. 

The next speaker was Gaurav Bhardwaj, Regional Manager, Mumbai, from CMO Axis, which he introduced as an ‘MPO’. Wait. What? I’d heard of KPO and BPO. Clearly, this was something new. CMO Axis(*) is the first in its kind- a Marketing Process Outsourcing company. They handle everything from sales analytics, marketing campaigns, positioning and targeting of product, channel creation, sales operations, and so on. His argument was that outsourcing one’s marketing process to an expert is a good option for someone who is new in the business. He gave an example of a case study where a client from the IT domain came to them, saying that they wanted CMO Axis to help plan and manage a music event in various colleges in their area, sponsored by them, to help increase visibility among students. CMO Axis turned it around, and instead, gave them a more interesting option of sponsoring a coffee table book to the principal’s offices, whose contents covered the stories of young achievers in their area. A visually aesthetic product, a relevant item in an office setting, emotion in the right place, and right in front of the principal’s table- what more visibility do you need? Brilliant, I’d say. But a lot of the attendees were not convinced about how cost effective outsourcing their marketing processes would be, especially for someone starting a new business. Also, Outsourcing v/s having an in-house team to do the process for you - most people believed the latter was a less risky option.

Following this was a small tea break-cum-networking session. I met people with varied business interests- from ‘Meter down’, (*)a company that does branding for auto rickshaws, to venture capitalists looking for new ideas, people who had worked for four-five years in multinational companies, looking for interesting start-ups to work with, people who had established their companies and were looking for help in specific areas, some who had an idea, and were looking for mentorship to help them implement it.

After the break, there was a small rendezvous of sorts, between entrepreneurs looking for people they want to work with them, and people looking for jobs in start-ups. Each party was made to give a 1 minute introduction, stating who they were as a company and what they were looking for. It was a good way to break the ice, and also to let some of the attendees achieve their purpose of coming to the event.

After this, was a talk by Kunal Shah, CEO of freecharge.in(*), an online mobile recharge portal. Until now, most of the talks had been very cut and dried, focussing largely on the core business point of view, making it slightly difficult for newcomers to fully appreciate the content. Right at the beginning of the event, Kunal had introduced himself, and asked everyone to write down their specific questions on a piece of paper and pass it to him, just so that he gets a feel of which areas of concern need to be talked about in his session. He introduced his talk by bringing in the infamous ‘we are like this only’ charade that we Indians are oh-so-familiar with. He talked about the USP of his business- the reason his company was such a big success- the word ‘free’. 50 % off, buy 1 get 1 free, one bucket free with every 5 kg pack of Surf Excel that we don’t really need - sad to say, but that’s who we are. And this is why, the concept of coupons, giving discount on everything under the sun- from McDonalds to Crossword, Shoppers Stop to Jet Airways, free, of course with every recharge, worked brilliantly. He talked about how one needs to understand the nuances of a culture to sell it things, and how copying business models from abroad and trying to implement them here may not always work, as our entire setup works in a completely different way. What I liked was how he knew he was right, and completely unapologetic about it. He said that as a nation, we are afraid of taking risks- from education, to marriage, switching homes or jobs- and that holds us back from taking the plunge. His talk was more generalised, and generated good discussions. He addressed all the questions, from ‘when is the right time to start’ (which he replied with a curt-‘just go for it’), questions on SEO, market, competition, and so on. All in all, it was a great talk.

I was kind of surprised to see the next speaker. This was an electronics graduate from Sardar Patel College of engineering, Mumbai, Directors of Deltecs(*), talking about his first client- Wipro. Theirs was a mobile platform (called Drona) , which could be used for corporate communication, training, sales and HR. He gave a short but engaging presentation on ‘what to do and what not to do’, when giving a sales pitch to a client. About what they say, and what they really mean. There were some good tips there, (like if the client says ‘drop me a mail, I’ll get back to you’, it simply means ‘SPAM ALERT!’  J)

Following this was a couple of Lightning Pitches, which is basically a short presentation by aspiring entrepreneurs about their upcoming ventures – to attract VCs, get the crowd engaged about their product, generate discussion about it and so on. There was one on a new social network, and one on a new idea that is trying to increase CSR in big firms.

So there was a good mix of people there. What I mostly felt was that a lot of people had great business acumen, but not the necessary technical skills to implement them. Some of them had probably worked for several years in a sector, and had everything else they needed to start their own companies, but the technical knowhow was a drawback. Which is why a lot of people there were looking for CTO (chief technical officers), java developers, computer grads, the works. Some people felt that the discussion had become too IT oriented this time, but with internet visibility becoming a huge factor for brand value, one needs to step up in this sector to grow. So a session on marketing without bringing in IT was not quite possible.  

Also, there was something for everyone – from Kunal’s inspiring speech, to a young graduate’s (Divyesh) venture and his journey, marketing knowledge for those seeking professional help, it was great. Everyone present, especially the volunteers, were open to feedback and having healthy discussions on what can be changed, how the event can be improved, open to offering mentorship and/or volunteering opportunities to those interested.

This was something new for me, and I felt exhilarated by the experience. I recommend you to attend the next chapter of Startup Saturday(9^th June, SPJIMR, 2:30 PM) . Looking forward to the next event!

Links:

* http://headstart.in

* http://startupsaturday.headstart.in/chapter/Mumbai/

* http://www.fastfacts.co.in/

* http://www.cmoaxis.com/

* http://www.freecharge.in/

* http://www.deltecs.com/corporate/index.php

Attempts at haiku

On a sunny afternoon I watch
our dog sleeping. The flowers wilt outside-
but my tea gets cold.


Stones, pebbles, mud, gravel, thunder-
gently wiping off a tear he asks
if it is raining outside.


Faces here and there, a quiet room
A promise to return-
maybe.

The last one is a bad joke referring to my continuation of the activity :P

Writers

It is often said that the mood of the writer tends to creep into his work. I have a friend, who loves to write stories, who validated this statement. Being an amateur, she says she is able to write her best stories when she is experiencing some sort of extremity in her mood- extremely happy, extremely angry, extremely sad, and so on. She has not yet been able to fully capture her moods and nurture her abilities accordingly. I recently saw X-men : first class, which shows how the X-men came into existence. They showed Magneto as a child - the first time Sebastian Shaw asks him to show his ability to him. He tries, with a frustrating concentration, applying his entire energy to moving the coin with his powers. But he is unable to do it. Shaw calls in his mother, whom he has captured. He tells the boy, “I will count to three. Till then, if you are not able to move the coin, I will shoot your mother.” The boy is aghast at the repercussions of the failure of this transaction. He looks at his mother, with trepidation in his eyes. His mother, helpless, tells the boy it is okay, and he will be able to do it. Magneto concentrates. His entire energy is on the coin. “One”. The camera closes in on him, his nerves pulsating with tension. “Two”. The coin hasn’t moved. His mother looks on, nervous, telling him it’s okay. “Three”. Gunshot. Magneto watches in despair as his mother falls to the ground with a thud. He screams in anguish. And then, it begins. Sebastian looks on in wonder as his troops’ metal helmets are destroyed, still on their heads, his office is wrecked, his entire lab is destroyed. Thus, the world is introduced to his superpower, in its entirety. “Anger, and pain”, says Sebastian, taking his hand, “is the key to unlocking your powers. And with this, we are going to have a lot of fun”.

Fast forward. Similar scenario, different person. Magneto is now standing with Charles Xavier, also known as Professor X, who is training him to use and control and harness his powers. He tells him to move a satellite dish towards themselves. Magneto says it is not possible, since he needs the anger and pain. The emotions are not present. Then Charles Xavier says something beautiful. He says, “I believe that true focus lies somewhere between rage and serenity.” Using his telepathic powers, he controls the mind of Magneto, taking him to a beautiful memory with his mother. It is so beautiful that even watching it, Charles gets tearful. “I didn’t know I still had that one”, Magneto says, awed by the sudden revelation, experiencing something he had not felt ever before. He turns towards the satellite dish, with complete calm, and laughs, like he has never laughed before, as he sees the miracle before him, he watches and learns, how he can do the exact same thing, and yet feel so different, not make himself go through hell as he does it. Even the nature of things that entail, have a different effect. No more crushing helmets, for a long time, at least.

Everything that we do has our inbuilt signature in it. Even a simple thing as making a cup of tea, when made with the right mood, makes it taste different. The doer lends a little of himself to everything that he does. My friend says that no mattr what, however she is feeling manifests itself in some way in the story. It may be an object, a person, anything. This one time she sent me a story about a boy who is going home dejected after an examination, and talks about his adventured with a beggar who was once the son of a successful businessman, who lost everything. The beggar gives him a toffee and tells him to not get disheartened, and so begins a lifelong friendship. The story was beautiful. Just one thing. She wrote this story right after getting her results. And yes, you got it. They didn’t go very well. These things struck me a few days back when I was reading an article on a mother who had a problem with ’too much pink’ and did not want her daughter to follow in the steps of the little mermaid, who gave up her voice for a man who ultimately, she did not get. The story talks about sacrifice, maybe, stupidity, even, I would like to think so at least. I decided to find what other people think. One thing led to another, and very soon I was reading on Hans Andersen and the other stories written by him. There seemed to be a recurring pattern of sadness, or darkness in all of his stories. Be it ‘the ugly duckling’, ‘the little mermaid’, and several others.

I mean think about it. Andersen’s life was one full of feelings of ostracism, alienation, a deep inferiority complex, unrequited love, the works. And his stories always have some element present in it, which shows one or more of these, it is just difficult to grasp sometimes. It says somewhere that after the death of his father, Andersen travelled to Copenhagen to pursue an acting career at the Royal Theatre. Under the patronage of the Theatre’s Jonas Collins, he attended the Copenhagen University which were formative but difficult years for him. Coming from a humble provincial background he had to adjust to bourgeois life in the capital city and competitive realm of the theatre. *

‘The poor duckling didn’t know where it dared stand or where it dared walk. It was so sad, because it looked so ugly and was made fun of by everyone in the duckyard.’ ‘The Ugly Duckling’.

'"Poor little ugly duckling!" the Mother Duck would say. "Why are you so different from the others?" And the ugly duckling felt worse than ever. He secretly wept at night. He felt nobody wanted him.'

Andersen wrote novels, poetry and drama, and began to experiment with the fairy-tale. Most of his work was autobiographical. Its reception, though generally favourable, was not without its critics – amongst them the Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard. Andersen was acutely sensitive to criticism and longed for the approval of the intellectual and social elite. *

In May 1835, Andersen’s first four fairy tales were published under the title Eventyr, fortalte for Børn (Fairy Tales, Told for Children). The reception was mixed. Some saw their appeal immediately; others took longer to recognise their worth. Between 1835 and 1842, 15 further tales were published, many based on folk-tales which Andersen had heard as a child. For his second collection, Nye Eventyr (New Fairy Tales, 1843-48), Andersen wrote some of his most important and famous stories. He moved away from traditional folk material towards creating tales that came from his imagination. The words ‘told for children’ were omitted from the new title as Andersen sought to engage adults and children alike. He had found a genre in which he had a unique voice. *

‘Oh, to travel, to travel! If only one could spend one’s life fluttering about! I feel as if the world is my home and I shall, I must, frolic about in that home.’ - Mitt Livs Eventyr

"Oh, how I'd love to go up there and at last see the sky, which everyone says is so pretty, and hear the voices of humans and smell the scent of the flowers!" - The Little Mermaid

In both books, the ugly duckling and the little mermaid, you always find common elements of the ‘big, bad world’. The mermaid’s family warning her not to go into the world of men where she does not belong, but she does so, giving up her voice to the sea witch in exchange for legs, and once she reaches there, she only finds despair. The ugly duckling is ridiculed wherever he goes due to his inferior looks. Nobody accepts him. They are both misfits, longing for acceptance. She, from the prince, he, from society. And both these elements are reflected in Andersen’s life. He faces a spate of rejections from his objects of affection, and longs for acceptance of his work, and himself. There is a deep sense of ambition in both characters. What seem like innocuous parables to us, belie deep, unsettling feelings of loneliness and want.

As the duckling, he gets a happy ending, as the beautiful swan. Everybody bows down to him, humbled by his beauty and grace. An excerpt from the passage -

““Kill me,” said the poor bird; and he bent his head down to the surface of the water, and awaited death.

But what did he see in the clear stream below? His own image; no longer a dark, gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan. To be born in a duck’s nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if it is hatched from a swan’s egg. He now felt glad at having suffered sorrow and trouble, because it enabled him to enjoy so much better all the pleasure and happiness around him; for the great swans swam round the new-comer, and stroked his neck with their beaks, as a welcome.

Into the garden presently came some little children, and threw bread and cake into the water.

“See,” cried the youngest, “there is a new one;” and the rest were delighted, and ran to their father and mother, dancing and clapping their hands, and shouting joyously, “There is another swan come; a new one has arrived.

Then they threw more bread and cake into the water, and said, “The new one is the most beautiful of all; he is so young and pretty.” And the old swans bowed their heads before him.

Then he felt quite ashamed, and hid his head under his wing; for he did not know what to do, he was so happy, and yet not at all proud. He had been persecuted and despised for his ugliness, and now he heard them say he was the most beautiful of all the birds. Even the elder-tree bent down its bows into the water before him, and the sun shone warm and bright. Then he rustled his feathers, curved his slender neck, and cried joyfully, from the depths of his heart, “I never dreamed of such happiness as this, while I was an ugly duckling.”

This incident is reflected in his acceptance and literary praises showered on him. He received the Knighthood of the Red Eagle from King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia in 1846, and the Maximilian Order of Art and Science from King Maximilian II of Bavaria in 1859. He was made an Honorary Citizen of Odense in 1867.

But sadly, there is no such happy ending for our mermaid. She is shown as a girl who gives up everything for love. Her feet hurt with every step she takes, she leaves her world behind, gives her voice away, but she endures it all, for love, hoping the prince would return her love. But he is in love with someone else. It pierces her heart, and she longs to go back to the sea world. Her sisters give her a knife which she can use to pierce his heart and make her tail reappear. Blinded by despair, she almost does it, but at the last moment, throws it away. She walks away from the kingdom and throws herself in the sea, casting one last disdainful look at the world behind her. But just as she is about to die, she hears a voice. She becomes an angel, for her love, kindness and purity. This all seems very noble, and maybe I am being a little harsh, but i would not encourage any girl to do something like this. She was a dreamer, she longed to see the world, did so much for love. Call me cynical, but I would not endorse anything like this. And this again, to some extent showed Andersen’s own predicament. In the original version, some say, the angels do not appear, but I suppose it was added to sugar-coated for bed-time story consumption.

So, all in all, I feel, that the next time you are reading something, google a little about the author. You never know what you might find. Maybe if Andersen would have found his love eventually, perhaps the little mermaid and Sebastian would’ve got something going on, eh? I always loved that crab :)



*Wikipedia, several links

Prisoners of conscience

"Assasasination is the extreme form of censorship" - George Bernard Shaw.


"Bura mat dekho,Bura mat bolo,Bura mat suno".

This was the message given to us by Gandhiji's famous 3 monkeys.(Mizaru,Iwazaru and Kikazaru,by the way.Just fyi,in case your 100 Mb space has run out.)And yes,his message IS being implemented.Religiously.But we are forgetting what he really meant by it-See the bad and the good,judge for yourself-what is bad,and filter it out.YOU choose your path.Even the Father of the nation made mistakes.Even he,at some point,stole from his father,and then,realised his folly and vowed never to do such a thing again.He burned his fingers once-and never played with those crackers again.What I'm saying is that if you completely shut out the bad,and choose to blind yourself against its existence,how will you know it's bad?Because it is human nature - when you see something new,you are curious to discover it,in spite of being oblivious to its vices.Only when you make the grave mistake of discovering its ugliness,do you decide to steer clear.Forever.Because,like a wise man said,very aptly-What doesn't kill you,only makes you stronger.

When we graduate from this college we are supposed to be ' adults ' -people who can think for themselves,and make the right choice - to speak up and stand up against what is wrong.That is the way it always was,and that is the way it should be.Even as kids,we had certain rules and regulations which were not meant to be broken-and that is fine.But one must remember that even then,when our parents warned us against something wrong,they'd tell us once,they'd tell us twice.But the third time,if we still went ahead and did it,they wouldn't stop us.Because you LEARN from the mistakes that you make.You GROW from the mistakes that you make.A person who has never got burnt while playing with fire does not know the agony of being charred.A person who,on the other hand,has played with fire,knows not to go near it.This may sound like a very cliche example but it has a very relevant meaning.This does not mean that all of us jump into a pool of flames,but to take the decision ourselves,whether or not to do so,in spite of being warned.Because in the end,you have only yourself to hold responsible for that decision-and isn't that what adulthood is all about?

Yes.I believe it is important for every teenager to go through some sort of pain when he is crossing the bridge from adolescence to adulthood.I think it is important..important?No.NECESSARY- for every teenager to go through something-be it rejection,or heartbreak,maybe even a smoking phase,peer pressure,.......the list is endless.

Because it is THIS that shakes you,jolts you out of the harmonious symphony that you were waltzing to,and makes you face the music of this dark ballad called life.

Don't they realise that by pulling wool over your eyes right now,in an attempt to 'protect' you,once that wool is stripped off,you'll be BLINDED by the penetrating light?And why..?Because living in the dark has deprived you of the right to see what light is like.From experiencing it in all its harsh,naked luminosity.

I understand that prevention is better than cure.But the 'disease' for which you are taking these preventive measures needs to be justified.Just because some guy somewhere made 'SOME' MMS video,it does not mean everyone is going to do it.Which is similar to saying - just because your roommate gets a mild fever,or a cough,that doesn't mean you quarantine him,or make him wear a mask and walk around.Well,unless it is swine flu,where such measures can be justified(Again,a huge debate,according to some ).

Wearing helmets when you ride a bike-this is completely justified,since road safety is something that cannot,and should not,be tampered with.Or say,ragging.Taking action against those who do so IS justified,because it is 'having fun' at someone else's expense.Even the 12 am deadline for girls,(come to think of it,we have a lot of freedom here compared to other colleges)is justified-mainly due to parental concerns.BUT - when guards glare at them with suspicious,accusing eyes for - hold your breaths - oh my god..holding hands..(!!)it makes me wonder..it maybe time to have that 'birds and bees'conversation with my mom again.

Things like banning gaming sites-though that really doesn't help-CS,DOTA,AOE (and all that jargon I don't understand) are still played in the hostels,and become a source of entertainment for many,serving as a break,before exams,and as a break,after them.Is it REALLY necessary?

Consider another example-something that shakes even the Kumbhakarana of your wing out of his deep slumber,before you can say ..well..Kumbhakarana . Pop quizzes - they are held with the basic purpose of ensuring that people attend classes.But what it really is,according to me,is how many people can manage to crawl out of bed,scamper to class,and...sleep there.At present,in most cases,it is more of a question of being physically present in class because of the weightage given to these pop quizzes rather than being present for learning anything.Though I understand the incentive behind it,it doesn't quite serve the purpose.And the whole idea behind it is very high school.I would like to clarify - I am not justifying or supporting students bunking lectures;I am just saying that they should be given the freedom to decide what's best for them and how to go about it.Because at the end of the day,we are mature enough to know our priorities-and for those of us who are not as yet,then it's about time that we do.But,like it is often said,a bird only learned to fly once it is pushed out of its nest,isn't it?So if a person does not want to come to class,forcing him to come there is not going to suddenly bring about an immense love for the subject.It WILL bring out something else - a stifled yawn.



Imposing DAC on students caught smoking in hostels and throwing them out for a semester - Let me just say - I don't endorse smoking in any way;but as long as the ones doing it are doing so in full awareness of their actions and its repurcussions,let them be.But if it starts harming an individual,or a group of individuals,then the authority should be exercised.But even that,is a little unlikely,because,at least as far as I have seen,smokers also possess a certain 'smoking etiquette'; and stop,if someone around is uncomfortable.And if that doesn't happen,well,that is where the 'supervision' aspect comes in.


One might argue that a certain amount of discipline needs to be maintained on campus-but strangely enough,there is never a problem when some of the professors do so.All the signs on campus say "Smoking is strictly prohibited in this area".I squinted as much as my eyes could allow me,but nowhere did I see any '*' saying 'Conditions Apply' - about who is allowed and who isn't.Why is that?Also,I have
seen some students throw away stubs right outside the gate,since they know,that once they have crossed that 'lakshman rekha'(the college gate,over here),they can get into trouble.In some cases,it is not out of respect for the rules,but as an act of DEFIANCE.Funny,how as long as they're outside,it's fine.Even if it is RIGHT outside the gate.All in all,it is not preventing them from smoking in any way.So why these
double standards?

Firstly,if a rule exists,it should apply to everyone.Secondly,why not make it easy for everyone and remove such a rule?Because the way the human mind works,as we all know,it always craves for something that it is denied,no matter how trivial it maybe.You know it all-you've heard it all before-'we want what we can't have' and 'you only appreciate the true worth of something when it has been taken away from you' and all that jazz.Because hate it or love it,that is how the cookie..or should I say,'cigarette packet',crumbles-and falls to bite the dust.OUTSIDE the gates of our college,of course.

A solution to that would be having 'smoke huts' in some part of the campus.They are there in various other colleges..alright..alright..if it makes you happy,various "Engineering" colleges- as well-Yes-EVEN the sacred,mother-of-all institutions-every wannabe engineer's dream-the IITs.I don't think it has caused any major problem there,so far.So why not?It gets rid of the double standards,and it is only for those
who want to-it is not harming anyone else in any way.

Still not convinced?There is an extremely popular and practical example of this which might change your mind -

I am sure you all must be aware of the 'legal drugs' policies of Amsterdam.At some point,it may have occured to you as absurd,or irresponsible on the Government's part.But the policy makers aren't stupid.A lot of brain has gone into making and allowing the implementation of this policy,which,according to me,is sheer brilliance.The whole idea behind it is that - every human being may decide about the matters of his own health.Another idea which guides Dutch laws in their drug policy is a conviction that hiding social negative phenomena does not make them disappear - on the contrary it makes them worse, because when concealed,they become far more difficult to influence and control.An example of which was seen in the 'war on drugs' started by the US President Richard Nixon in the 1970’s,which resulted in the state employing enormous, expensive organization enforcing strict drug policy and incarcerating hundreds of thousands of its citizens, often for just minor offenses. It also made all drugs a forbidden fruit, which increased their attraction.(**)

But this not mean that the whole of Amsterdam's population is lying around zoned out all the time.They have divided drugs into two categories-hard and soft.Hard drugs as cocaine, LSD, morphine, heroin are forbidden in the Netherlands as in any other country. Soft drugs,on the other hand,like marijuana and hashish,are legal as far as
it is limited to PERSONAL USE.As a result smoking of cannabis even in public, is not prosecuted.Even selling it, although technically illegal under the still valid Opium Act (dating from 1919, cannabis added as drug in 1950), is WIDELY TOLERATED provided that it happens in a LIMITED AND CONTROLLED way (in a coffee shop, small portions, 5
grams maximum transaction, not many portions on stock, sale only to adults,no minors on the premises, no advertisement of drugs, the local municipality did not give the order to close the coffee shop).But large scale growing, processing and trading in marijuana is still forbidden,as in any other country,(**)

The result-is for all to see.According to statistics,2.9% of Americans aged 12 and above have experience with cannabis and 5.1% have used in the past month. These figures are twice as high as those in the Netherlands.It seems this has manifested itself even on the consumption of hard drugs-The percentage of the general population who have used cocaine at some point is 10.5% in the US, five times higher
than in the Netherlands.(***)

On the other hand,prohibition of alcohol was imposed in the US some years ago.That period- from 1919-1933,rather than showing positive effect,as one would normally expect,saw increased criminality-and had to ultimately be withdrawn.(**)Isn't it surprising,that such a 'noble' step could have such an adverse effect?An extreme deviation from what it was intended to?

This not only proves my point but also brings me to the realisation that 'assassination' is not necessarily physical.As long as there are laws being imposed that 'assassinate' people's freedom,their spirit,their rights,their thoughts,their independent actions,they would try to break free from them-which is why you WILL have a hundred odd people in Ahmedabad die due to consumption of spurious alcohol.Which is why you WILL have students marking proxies in lectures where attendance is mandatory.Which is why you WILL have people smoking in their rooms in hostel.

What I am trying to put across here is that there has to be a 'restriction' to the 'kind' of restrictions being imposed.There has to be a distinction between SUPERVISION and AUTHORITY.Between WARNING and CONTROLLING.And as absurd as it may sound,(but if you think about it,valid nonetheless),between DEMOCRACY and DICTATORSHIP.And the fine line between each one of them.I understand that the transition between adolescence to adulthood is one which is very unstable and a lot of things could go wrong during that phase.But we NEED to be given a certain benefit of doubt.

On our part,we can help by becoming a LITTLE more judicious about what to do,and to what extent we do it.Let us be aware of our actions,without imposing our beliefs on someone else.Realise what NOT to do,and not to let anyone else's beliefs be imposed on us.That would be true maturity.If we talk about the restrictions being imposed on us,we also have to realise WHY they are being imposed.Only when both parties work in collaboration,would we find utopia,even in imperfection.Let us not become,and let us not force someone else to make us become - Prisoners of conscience(*).


P.S. - There is a possibility,that,(let me stress,)IF this piece reaches the 'wrong hands';some aspects of it maybe 'questioned',leading to ..'not-so-pleasant' circumstances.But you know,it wouldn't matter.In fact,I'd welcome it.Embrace it even.Because it would simply strengthen my point-


"Assassination - the extreme form of censorship".

___________________________________________



(*courtesy Wikipedia)Prisoners of conscience (POC) is a term coined by the human rights group Amnesty International in the early 1960s. It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, color, language, sexual orientation,belief, or LIFESTYLE so long as they have NOT USED OR ADVOCATED VIOLENCE.It also refers to those who have been imprisoned and/or PERSECUTED for the NON-VIOLENT EXPRESSION of their CONSCIENTIOUSLY-HELD BELIEFS.

(I think the capitalized words speak for themselves.)


(**)http://www.amsterdam.info/drugs/

(***)http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/67

DAland.An outsider's view

At first when my professor told me to survey this place,i went through a wave of emotions.Fascination.Excitement.Anticipation.Fear and then,laziness.After all,how many people ACTUALLY DO a rural internship?He rambled on and on for about half an hour about the place.He was so excited he kept giggling.Did I really want to spend the rest of the twenty days here listening to him?So at the end of it,when he raised his hand and asked "Are you with me?" I knew the answer right away.DAland,here I come.


DAland.General Information...


Number of inhabitants:roughly 960 divided into 4 groups of 240 each.Other communities are present in small numbers but are not worth mentioning.Also include langoors,dogs,snakes,peacocks,various birds,insects and a leopard.Local language:DA lingo.not spoken by most parts of..well..civilisation.I take this platform to thank Sahil Chaudhary's "THe DaiIct LinGo-Blah-Blah" ;without whose reference i would have been,quite literally, at a loss of words in that place.Thanks,man (Y).


People...


Now the inhabitants of DAland,are all,well,how do i put it.. unique..in their own way.There are so many of them,i could go on and on.But some of them are really worth mentioning.But before that I would like to mention something-

The characters in this narrative are NOT purely fictitious.Any resemblance to any living person,place or thing is PROBABLY co-incidental.

Now that that matter is cleared, here I go.My expedition.To DAland..


I reached this place after a long journey.Just on the outskirts of DAland,I saw this small place selling lemon juice and milk with crushed fruit mixed in it.I recognised this place immediately.It was 'galla'*.I had read about it so decided to check it out.But on my way I accidentally bumped into a gruffly looking individual.I apologised;but all he did was mutter something I did not understand and went away."Stay away from him.We call him Axe-e." A kind soul sitting there said to me.I got to hear this sentence a lot.Incidentallly,it is usually the first thing I hear when he is around.Most of the inhabitants do not come within half a km radius of this fellow out of fear of being beaten up,hit by pellets,branches or whatever is lying around,or worse.Get to hear some very strange words,which, the way in which they are said,i do not want to know the meaning of.

Now Axe-e i one of a kind.His activities are pretty much limited.Mostly all he does is eat,sleep,drink a lot of milk at 'galla'* .When he is not doing this,and if you're unlucky enough to be around,well...

(*'galla' - for more information on this topic refer "THe DaiIct LinGo-Blah-Blah")


Let me tell you more about the inhabitants of DAland.I met this little chap with an extremely curly mop of hair which i presume made up for 1/5th of his height.Most of the time I'd see him banging sticks,stones or anything that produces some sort of sound.I guess that must have been the origin of the term-'rock' music in olden times.Oh yes,the localites call him Pebblehead.He,along with his room-mate,have a jolly old business running in the heart of DAland,at 89th street,house no.106.its called "Venom's Hut".All the inhabitants of DAland come to this place almost every day.This especially gets a lot of visitors before or after some major activity-like exams or cultural activities and so on.Pebblehead,it seems,has a keen interest in cultural plays of far off lands.Last i heard he presented,in Venom's Hut,his very own version of a very famous cultural play which had got a lot of praise in various lands.I never saw it but the male inhabitants of DAland couldn't stop raving about it.It was about some millionaire...


Now,WHO was i talking about?Ah,yes.The self proclaimed stud of DAland.He knows everyone.And I mean everyone.He introduced me to some people who even the inhabitants didn't know existed.Now,anytime you want to find this guy,its easy.Mostly he'd be around some water source or a reflective surface-preening and praising himself.If you dont find him in DAland he's probably in another town not so far away called NIFTown .That..is when exams are not on.otherwise you will always find him with either some intellegent looking male inhabitant or one of the female inhabitants.Especially this small one called so-so.(I wonder why they call her that.It seems mean.She's so tiny and cute she reminds me of this blue alien character I had seen in a recent bollywood movie...)and then there are only two syllables he utters during this time that seem to work magically on everyone..sounding something like-"padha de"...


As I mentioned earlier,DAland is divided into groups of 240.these are further divided into four subgroups mainly for work purposes.of course,the other kind of groups the 240 are divided into are very difficult to keep track of.they name themselves after dry fruits or two-wheelers,and they keep diminishing in number everyday.But that's another story.I wouldn't want to drive myself NUTS over that.Anyway,during these work hours,i saw an interesting person.She is always the first to raise a doubt.Well..she is also always the last one to raise a doubt.She always looks so worried,poor girl.I don't know her name but I think she's called "Oh-nooooo...".Because that's what Axe-e and Pebblehead always say the minute she says something.


Vehicles used...


I discovered a great piece of engineering work in this place that i must tell you about.It belongs to Pebblehead.It has two round stone wheels which have been chipped from various parts and is only barely supported by sticks that could give way any time.But still,this..erm..thing..called skooty..can carry even upto four people at the same time.And still manage to move.Amazing.


Major activities...


Now one major activity here,any time of the day,month or year.Come rain,wind,hail or storm-is the infamous game 'Boulder - Strike'.It is very popular among the male inhabitants of the area.Players from different clans fight each other by hiding behind huge boulders and throw pellets at each other.Sometimes even planes made of leaves.And they would go on for hours.I was watching one such match..and it seemed extremely stupid and pointless.One of the teams was losing pathetically.Most of their players had been bruised badly.Then,one of them,it seemed,got an idea.They decided to use their weapon of mass destruction.Finally,I thought.Something exciting..Cotton wads were passed and they even gave me some to stuff in my ears.Were they planning to use some sort of supersonic sound?I took a wild guess,and waited in anticipation.But what did turn out to be the weapon was..wait.A guy.With a jar of orange juice???!Ok well,technically,it was Tangerine juice-as someone corrected me.But that didn't matter.. what good is that?Their team stopped firing and stood in silence.What was going on?Even the opponents stopped firing in confusion.The guy strode confidently,taking huge swigs of the juice as if for energy,proceeding towards the middle of the ground.Was he crazy?When he reached there,he sat down calmly and took one final,huge sip and closed his eyes.Then he started muttering something-seemed like some sort of one-liners,I gauged.
Now,ladies and gentlemen,what I am about to describe to you is a scene not meant for the fainthearted.I have never seen one man cause such a flurry of activity.It seems I was highly mistaken about him;and unfortunately,so was the opponent team.They started running helter-skelter,as if suddenly gripped by madness.Had he cast some sort of ancient spell on them?I had heard of people behaving weirdly under hypnosis,but this was something else.Judging from the thunder and lightning which soon followed,it seemed to me as if even the heavens were revolting.They covered their ears and groped wildly for anything- leaves,shoots,anything-to block out the sound.One of them fell to the ground,shivering,as if in extreme pain-exclaiming "Nooooooooo...Take him away!!Take him away!!Dont't do this to me!!I'm too young to die!!"and then he fainted from the trauma.

In the midst of all this hullabaloo,i was concerned about poor Pebblehead's safety.what if there was a stampede?I scanned the place carefully till I found him.He was jumping excitedly standing next to a a big giant.I smiled with relief.He was safe.No one dared to annoy that giant.

Oh i almost forgot.This giant I am talking about.I have tried so hard to interact with him.I tried everything.I used all the words I had learnt in DAland..hearing some of which even poor Axe-e got embarrassed and left.All possible sign language/hand gestures I had seen being used here.Yes.All.But it seems he has some sort of crazy fascination of a praticular species of the frog variety.because anything i'd do,his only responsewould be -a goofy smile on his face and then he would mumble-"TOADD..."
Strange,no?

But yeah,anyway..coming back to Boulder-Strike.Within minutes,the ground was cleared of all the members of the opponent team.The ones left were still writhing in pain,too harmless to do anything.The winning team went wild with joy and started doing DHAMAAL on the ground to celebrate their victory.As for the "weapon",he was given a fresh supply of orange..sorry..Tangerine juice and taken away.


What WAS this place?Where had I reached?What kind of people WERE these?A million questions were whizzing in my mind at the same time,and I did not know the answer to any of them.Confused,bewildered,annoyed,frustrated,hungry(??),I roamed about aimlessly in DAland in search of answers.I reached this area which was supposed to be the centre of education of DAland.During the day at least.It was called L.T'..But when i reached there and saw the condition,I thought they should seriously consider rechristening it 'M.T'..(Get it?M.T..Empty..?muahahhahaha..Ahem.Sorry I think one of the cotton wads fell off during that last match of Boulder-Strike.Stil suffering from a mild headache).A class was going on about communication using smoke signals.A senior inhabitant of DAland was standing next to him,with a creepy,menacing look,as if he was ready to perform some weird experiment on any one who tried to leave the class.They reminded me of the mad doctor and his evil assistant.The fact that the elder one laughed in a crazy manner from time to time didn't really help.The students though,were unpertrubed.They were laughing,some of them even singing and throwing planes made of leaves at each other.He left the place and started walking in my direction.He stopped a few steps away from me and looked at me.Maybe he wanted to tell me something.Did he have the answers to my questions?Was it,finally,a glimmer of hope?What was it that he wanted to say?

I scrunched my forehead in deep concentration,ready to hang on to every word of wisdom that escaped his mouth.For two whole minutes,he stood absolutely still.The silence was almost dramatic.Then he opened his mouth and said one.single.word-


"Buuuuuurrrrrrrrp".