A *Remembrall For Life

It was extremely hot when I stepped outside. A smartly dressed gentleman walked towards where I stood, waiting for a bus. He stood beside me and I observed him. Black and grey stripped suit, white shirt, maroon tie and polished shiny black shoes. Even after that man left in the next A/C Bus that arrived moments later, there was something I noticed about him that didn’t quite fit. It was a scorpion shaped tattoo of the word ‘rock’ along his collar that showed itself when he scratched his neck due to the scorching heat.  After a few days, I saw the same guy performing at a kafeoke (karaoke coffee lounge) with his friends in a outfit that very casually carried off his tattoo. He also had a clip-on stud. A strange thought occurred to me. Apparently, the other day, tattoo and business suit did not jell well.   

Ever since my college made it mandatory for lecturers to be dressed in a saree, there was this young lecturer at my college who had a belly button ring which, she had a tough time hiding from her seniors who wouldn’t stop judging her.

A friend of mine worked as programmer at a top notch company and never until was I once invited to his place for a jam session, that I discoverd what an incredible singer he was.  In addition to that, he could play guitar and mouthorgan too. Even more brilliant was the fact that he was able to sing and play both the instruments simultaneously.  When I asked him why he had not cared enough to showcase his talent before, his reply surprised me. He said he believed in knowing what he could do. Rather, it was enough, only for him to know what he was good at. He also wanted to keep this part of him separate, relishing it apart from what he actually did for living.

That night, when I tried to inter-relate the previous incidents to this one, something cropped up.

Maybe, never once did that gentleman think while getting that tattoo nor did my lecturer when she got her navel pierced that later, at some point in life, they would be doing something where such things were discarded and not overlooked.

Sometimes life forces us to be someone we didn’t want to be. When that happens, we often try to hold on to a little piece of who we were.  Maybe a tattoo, a piece of jewellery, a talent, a passion or a very old habit. A tiny souvenir that reminds us, this is who I really am. The more we find ourselves drifting towards something and away from our dream, our passion, the tighter we hold on to that knick-knack .

Does this mean that people who did not end up being what they wanted to be, stopped being who they were?  Not really.

 I believe that one of the greatest assets that we, humans, have is our ability to change and improve ourselves consciously. This is one of the major reasons we were given brains and free will. Learning to be stronger and better doesn’t mean not being yourself and doesn’t mean betraying who you really are – it means becoming better and stronger. Too many people use the excuse of “don’t change me… let me be myself” as a justification for their weaknesses, laziness and lack of proactive attitude toward improving themselves and their lives. Believing that they should “remain true to who they are” gives them permission to not learn, work or put any other efforts into improving who they are socially, professionally, physically and otherwise.

It happens with everyone, doesn’t it? We often might or might not end up being what we wanted to be and face our fair share of disappointments. But then we change and adapt ourselves to the situation in a way that best suits us. If not, then why else do we willingly pursue our passions like singing, writing, playing, acting, cooking or any other thing even if it’s not something we do for our living?     

Sometimes, it’s just the way it should be done.

No matter how wonderful life is, it seems to be rigid from the outside.  In the chase to be successful, we overlook a lot of little things in our life that constitute a great part of who we really are.
So, even if it’s for an instant, take a moment off from your busy life and search for that special souvenir that makes your life even more beautiful by adding more significance to it, the one which rings a bell of who you really are. You never know what you might end up discovering.

Most people are other people.  Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. 

-Oscar Wilde

*A Remembrall is a hand-sized ball that glows red when its holder has forgotten something. It then turns clear once whatever was forgotten is remembered.

My Miracle, My Mother

On this day, I have nothing more than a poem I once read. I dedicate it to you ma.Mom, I look at youand see a walking miracle.
Your unfailing love without limit,
your ability to soothe my every hurt,
the way you are on duty, unselfishly,
every hour, every day,
makes me so grateful
that I am yours, and you are mine.
With open arms and open heart,
with enduring patience and inner strength,
you gave so much for me,
sometimes at your expense.
You are my teacher,
my comforter, my encourager,
appreciating all, forgiving all.
Sometimes I took you for granted, Mom,
but I don’t now, and I never will again.
I know that everything I am today
relates to you and your loving care.
I gaze in wonder
as I watch you being you—
my miracle, my mother.By Joanna FuchsLove you ma.Happy Birthday to you!

Helpless Young Minds

*Screech *

I felt a soft pain when my cousin pinched me. I was at my uncles’ place for the weekend, my cousin was sitting beside me on the bed, studying for her annual exam, and she was really ecstatic about the fact that she and I, we both studied the same subject. Computer Science. She was in class 5 and I figured that she should be studying the basics of computers, things like ‘what is monitor?’, ‘what is keyboard, what is it used for?’ and similar fundamental stuff….

I was indolently staring at the same page for the last half hour from the book that I had been reading. Suddenly, I heard gentle sniff and I looked at my cousin to see what made her sniff because I was pretty sure that neither she had a cold, nor was my aunt cooking. I was surprised find a pair of wet eyes and my cousin was trying to hide it from me. I asked her what was wrong and she explained her problem to me. My cousin was very particular about scoring good marks and had a reputation of coming first which she worked hard to keep up right from her L.K.G days. The issue was very simple. She did not understand what she was studying. Being a computer science graduate myself and trusting my tutoring skills, I offered to help her.

I took the book from her and I was stunned by what was in front of me. Staring back at me was the information that even I had a tough time understanding, while I was being taught the same.

Q. What is high level language?....

Q. What is low level language?....

Q. What are the rules to define variables and constants in BASIC?

Ans. The BASIC variables should start with alpha, followed by numbers and the length of variables or constants name should not exceed 8 characters. Special characters should not be used except for dollar symbols. For non numeric character variable and constants and dollar symbol should be appended at the end.

Ex. Name$=”mohan kumar”, a$, b$

Program Input Output

10 input ab 10 run

Input 20 o/p: ?50,40

I could not believe my eyes. I turned a few more pages to have a clear idea of what a class 5 kid was expected to lean in COMPUTER SCIENCE. There were a few more pages explaining what conditional and non-conditional statements were, if loops…if then loops…nested if loops….unconditional jump statements etc.

It seemed absurd the more I tried to understand why a kid, studying in class 5 would be expected to learn such intricate material. I was in college when I knew what data, constants, variables, loops meant. I turned to my cousin and reading my expression, she said “tough, right? I am not able to understand even a single word and I cannot omit this too”. I asked her what she had understood so far about computers and she started telling me about games, mouse, keyboard, internet, Google, chatting etc. Now, I had a clear idea as to what the subject meant to her and on the contrary I held in my hands something which was Greek and Latin to her. I asked her what she understood by characters and she said “I know cartoon characters!” I could not help smiling at her innocence. Then I asked her if all this was taught, practically on a computer and she shook her head. Her state said it all.

Immediately, the dialogue by Aamir Khan in 3 idiots popped up in my mind,

“Bache, KAABIL ban KAABIL, KAMIYABI jhak maarke tere peeche aayegi!” (Meaning: Become CAPABLE and SUCCESS will automatically start following you. )

Now it got me thinking if what he was referring to was really possible in today’s world? Even if a child wanted to understand, learn and become capable, was he\she allowed doing that? I mean, how would a grade 5 student understand what ‘UNCONDITINAL JUMP STATEMENTS’ are? How will she able to know what is ‘appending $ symbols for a non-numeric data ‘? Is she mature enough to realize the importance of following the syntax in writing a program? Will a break statement be clear to a kid who is only accustomed to car\bike brakes?

I would say that the underlying Indian Education System itself is at fault. It discourages even the concerned kids who would like to become competent by understanding and applying their knowledge. They are compelled to mug, eventually, when the subject no longer applies to their level of understanding, just for the sake of scoring marks. To add to it is the parents and peer pressure. Everybody is concerned about the end result. It is ridiculous to teach a student from class 5 about BASIC language only because it is part of the curriculum that some senseless moron designed to raise the standards of their institution.

How would she understand 'BASIC' language when even the basics are not clear?

Is the claim of various institutions, today, offering ‘quality’ education just words? Does increasing the quantity or raising the bars help in anyway? Education standards should be raised not by making a child study what one studies at graduation level, but by implementing advanced teaching methodologies, inculcating good views and values in children and by supporting them to become a better person each day. At the primary level, quality education should be made available to every deserving child without the constraints of exuberant fee, donation or recommendation.

To start with, the politicians should stop considering education as a business venture and consider excellence over money. Just because knowledge is overstuffed into the Indian students’ brain, doesn’t make them superior. Consequently, children are growing tired of pursuing education.

It is no longer is the excitement about “NEW day, NEW things to learn!” but “just another day and LOADS to learn!”

*phew*

  

The Opening Act

Looking at the world, through my eyes, in my own perception....I see My World, the way I want it to be!

Heya everyone!!

 After contemplating for quite a while on whether I should or shouldn’t start a Blog, I finally decided to go for it with a lot of inspiration and little persuasion. 

Inspiration- from the awesomely mind-blowing writers I know of. (Truly brilliant, I'd say) 

Persuasion- from the few people who think I have got the "talent" to write, also, doing which I can make a better use of my time and start making sense, after all.

So, here Iam....with my "introduction post”, in an absolutely clueless state as to what I write in this one could oblige my ‘first-time readers’ to revisit.

Well, let me start by explaining why I chose this particular title for my Blog. I cannot possibly say that it flew into my mind all of a sudden when I was idly busy wasting my time. But, I sure can say that it was something that struck me in the middle of attending a lecture. Now, I will not bore you by giving the details of the lecture, whatsoever. Later, when I thought about it, the title made so much sense to me.

Reality is created by our perception. What we believe, we will perceive. The way we choose to perceive things in our life, is kind of what we will receive in our life. Like it is said, when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at, change too.
Iam a HUGE Harry Potter fan and hence, here is a great quote by my most favourite author that goes like this - "It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities".
This quote is a great foundation for what you will discover in this article.


It is our choice how we choose to see and perceive things. We always get to choose how we see a person, place or a situation. Our perception determines our experience.
When you change the way you look at people, places or circumstances in your life, they will change. You have the power to choose to see through the eyes of anger and fear, or through the eyes of compassion and love.


We have seen it many times where two childhood friends, who are close to the same age, both grow up in a similar environment. Each will grow up to be completely different, one may grow up to have a very troubled life and the other will end up having a very happy and successful life. Both the friends, in this situation, experienced very different outcomes, because they made different choices of their perception. It is our perception that creates our reality.
Our perception creates our reality, not only with people, but also with how you perceive situations and circumstances. It is always up to you, in any situation, how you choose to perceive the situation or circumstance. The same goes for places or other things like movies. Your perception of any particular place or movie will become the reality of that for you. For example, you can take two people for a movie and have them sit right next to each other, or at a place, looking at the same things and they may have completely different experiences from that one movie or at that same exact place. They have different experiences because they are each choosing to have different perceptions.


The most important thing to realize is that our perception is always a choice. We can stop at any moment and choose to have a different view of things. You have the power to create your reality to be whatever you choose, by choosing the way you perceive your reality.
Thus when a person of situation gets you hard, just pause for a bit and chose to change your perception and see what you want to see. Iam sure that will atleast help handle it.


Good Luck choosing your reality! ;)