Caution:Exams ahead!

Greetings mates!

I’m going through THAT time of the year.

Yes it’s THAT time. The time when you know that the final exams are round the corner and you haven’t prepared a bit. The time when you feel like life’s gonna tumble and you won’t even be able to earn your bread (forget about strawberries dipped in dark chocolate)!

Anyway, what I wanted to discuss today is the study pattern of the contemporary world. Is it right? Well does it leave the child with enough to time actually “discover” stuff? I don’t know about other countries, but in India – life of a student is miserable.

To think deeper, we see that Gaglelio, Newton, Archimedes – great scientists – had never sat in their laboratories writing down gibberish on a piece of paper and making frantic calculations! No!

Galileo spent hours in a church just observing the pendulum. Newton spent time under apple tree I’m sure. And Archimedes took lazy baths.

But students today? They wake up in the morning, go to school, come back, go to coaching classes, return home and study a bit more so that their brains could go to hell and then eat a bit and go off to sleep (that’s for 4 hrs). They stink sometimes due to the lack of time (means no bath!). They are sleep and food deprived. They have no social life. And then they finally get into THE IIT ! Yay – goal achieved.

But then when they look back at their earlier years of life they see that there’s nothing – absolutely nothing – that they can laugh about or smile on.

Is this the way I am supposed to live life?

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Anybody interested in guest blogging?

Email me at : aayusibiswas@gmail.com 

 

Gift me a comment please!

Being Me wishes a very merry Christmas to one and all reading this post!! Hope you guys have a wonderful festive season and enjoy to the fullest!

 

Hereby, I’ll request my fellow bloggers and followers to kindly read the following lines and comment on it please!

Today morning my mind revolved around a particular piece of news…

Delhi, the capital of India, is a highly polluted piece of land. And to control this state of pollution, Mr Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, has decided to launch a new campaign. He calls it the odd-even formula. According to this campaign, on odd dates vehicles ending with an odd number will be allowed to occupy the streets and on even dates, the even numbered vehicles will come out. This – according to him – would ensure pollution control. This formula would be executed from the 1st of january (for a trial period of 15 days).

While some people think it surely will be a success, there are people who question the sanity of the man who proposed the plan! They believe that this would promote crime, engender loads of problems and so on! There are some who believe Mr Kejriwal is trying turn Delhi into an arcade game where you can built your own city and play cityville(a popular facebook game) or something!

What do you think? Your comments are essential!

The week ♡

Greetings to all my fellow bloggers and followers!! This is gonna be my 100th post! Yay!

Sorry for being absent for so long! I’ll explain that!!

This week was the Dusshera week in India ! It’s Durga Pujo for my fellow bengali’s, navratra for other Hindus and plain dusshera for Punjabi’s. It is a festival that symbolises the victory of goodness over evil! It has a number of stories relating to the Hindu Mythology – one of them being the defeat of Ravana by our Lord Ram. (I’ll get back to that later!)

So, this is THE MAIN FESTIVAL in our com munity and seriously, this is the week that goes off in a blur of motion!!

A very happy dusshera to all 🙂

The second thing I’d like to talk about is …. Vaibhav Mukim – an excellent author – and his lastest book  GUNSHOT VICTIMS UNITS.

I was sooo lucky to recieve a free signed copy of this awesome book!

No, I won’t reveal the story but you’ve gotta read it on your own! It’s thought provoking, the action is breathtaking that flips the page on it’s own 😀

Sorry to be brief but I’d elaborate on each and every part of this post later!

Love ya all ❤

Stay Connected !

Super heroines!

They were the “weaker clan”, the “ones who manage the heart and the hearth”, the ones who were thought to be of no importance. Even as they struggled to get  position in the society, they had been discouraged. These were the WOMEN of our country.

Rani lakshmi bai, Rani durgavati, Savitribai, Mother Teressa, were all women who eluded the tortures of the society by fighting with their warrior spirit in their own brave or tender way. They changed the course of actions that could have changed from bad to worse.

One such woman whose actions never fail to inspire me was Savitribai. A salute to the ever gay spirit of her that still dances one earth with the name of “Kavya Phule” and “Bhavan kashi subodh ratnakar”.

A deprived daughter, a young bride, and an unfortunate Indian to be alive during the rule of British in India, Savitribai Jyotirao Phule, was a blessing to the girls and women of India in the 19^th century.

Just like every other girl unfortunate enough to be born during that time, Savitribai was deprived of education and was married off at the age of nine. But life never gives you something you don’t deserve, (one may take it positively!) and so was the case with Savitribai. Her husband Jyotirao was one of the most understanding, intellectual and broadminded of men. He educated her, helped her achieve her dreams and was a constant fuel to her fire of imagination.

Not many girls today know about the sacrifices she’s made. Most of us are unaware of the stones showered on her, and a fewer still of us are aware of the taunts and boycotts she has faced. And the reason for this societal torture was that she had decided to take the initiative to open the first girls’ school; that she had decided to be the first lady teacher in that girls’ school; that she had let go of the cast based distinctions; that she had knocked down doors of discrimination based on gender.

She was a woman who changed the history of India, who changed the view point OF girls and ON girls. She strived hard to make the lives of women easier and better. Not just that, she dug wells for the untouchables, fought against most of the social evils haunting the so called ‘lower classes’ as well as the ‘weaker gender’. She did all she could to erase depression and backwardness.

She was a feminist. But more importantly, she was a female! A female who had the guts to bring about a revolution, but a female with no liberty. She was a contrast to those present day woman who, despite of being in the 21^st century, live in the 19^th century. She was a lesson to those who still hesitate to educate their girls, who still want to marry their girls at their tender teenage. She was an inspiration, and always will be, to those who are born rebels; to those who have the ardent desire to be of service to this world.

Each and every one of the woman mentioned above (and many more who aren’t) had done their part. They had played their roles in the theatre called life to the best of their abilities. And as they departed, they left a message for us all – that we are the writers of our own future.

Today, we can decide and be that sassy girl on the cover page of a fashion magazine – yes the one who will be replaced tomorrow by another sassy figure – or we can strike the match of diligence and write the history by changing our future.

Women, and always will, play a vital part in the synthesis of this earth. Keeping this in mind, I beckon every female to keep the torch alight. Remember, the victory is never easy, but it isn’t impossible!

Jai Hind!

Love yourself Quote #2

So here goes my second love yourself quote! I’ll be posting more of these on a weekly basis! Hope it helps to keep you motivated through the day!

Befriend your mind, love your heart, marry your soul, and I bet you, happiness would never divorce you!

Stay tuned for more of these 🙂

Stay blessed! Love you all!

Savior – A piece of Fiction!

When I was 11, I was obsessed with action.

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Millions of people fought years ago and died years ago. Millions of people did that for us years ago. Many of them became famous as freedom fighters. Bhagat Singh, Lal Bhadur Shastri, and Rani LakshmiBai were some of them. But there were some who never came to be known by us, some who were dedicated to the people, worked for the people but were not by the people. And I know about such a man, a man whose death still haunts me. Maybe because he died because of me.

It took place years ago, when I was just 18 and the whole of India was fighting for freedom. A time when the Indians killed Britishers on sight and the British too did its share of kidnapping Indian women and children. And I too was a woman, a helpless woman whom they had kidnapped. I was thrown into a ship and that was when it started….

Previously, two of their captives had disappeared and the Brits believed that they were rescued. So this time they had put us in the upper deck where only the whites could enter. I looked around at the three other people in the room. One, a kid of about seven, was lying on the bed and looked unconscious to me, another was a woman looking out of the window and the third occupant-a woman -was sitting on the floor, her knees pulled up to her chest, and sobbing pitifully. I went to her and put my arms around her to comfort her. But when I tried to speak, I couldn’t. It was hard to choke back tears at this point but I held on. At this precise minute, the door opened and a white man entered the room.

I saw the other two women around me shiver (ok, I was scared too) as the man entered the room. He strode directly towards the kid on the bed, his face determined. Was he going to kill us or were we being handed back to our families in exchange of something? I had no idea what was in store for me. I stared as the man heaved the kid on his shoulder and motioned for us to follow. Noticing a gun in his hand, we complied. Once outside he took us through winding passages in the ship. As time passed, the passages started growing deserted.

After a few minutes, the route he took was totally empty. On a sudden impulse I asked the man, “You’re going to kill us?” as soon as the words were out, I wished I had never spoken .The man stopped and turned towards me. His face sturdy but not cruel. “No” he said in a deep voice. “I’m not going to kill you, or even hurt you, as a matter of fact. But promise me that as soon as I let you out, you’d never turn around or speak to anybody about me. Once you’re out I don’t exist, ok?”

We nodded and I was about to speak when a man’s voice boomed from the rear, “You traitor!”

We all turned around to face a burly Brit. The next thing I knew was that I was being pulled from behind. We were all running and shots rang from behind us. The man led us to a door that opened into a dark hollow. He led us through the narrow path and after about fifteen minutes walk he stopped. We saw a thin streak of light behind us and knew they were not far away. The man brought his mouth near my ears and whispered, “Lead the women and kid through and take the first left. I’ll handle the bastards. Just hurry and don’t make a noise.” I could clearly hear his labored breathing and was reluctant to leave him. How I came to trust him, I don’t know but whatsoever, I followed his orders. Moving cautiously in the dark, I suddenly noticed a light ahead. Moving towards it, I noticed that it was the turning, lit by a lantern. It forked into two, and I took the left and suddenly stopped short as I heard the fire of a bullet. Looking behind me I saw the tension on the other women’s faces too. The one who now carried the child looked on the verge of tears. My own breath was held and after what seemed like ages the voices of the men went away. After what seemed like an eternity, I started walking again but not towards the exit but towards him.

Making my way through the dark with the lantern, I finally heard someone breathing heavily and my leg hit something. Bending down I realized it was none other than the man. Placing the lantern down I noticed his bleeding stomach and knew that he was shot. I was so frantic that all I could do was ask why?

And to this monosyllable he answered, “I lost my loved one in their hands and didn’t want your lovers to experience the same. I knew it was wrong, that we’re wrong. It was the least I could do.” And with that he left the world but his memories never left me. Many wouldn’t consider this meeting as being a friendly one but for me that single meeting was enough and I knew that he was my friend, my savior…….

Dear Diary!

There’s been a question disturbing my piece of mind since many days and today I’d like to voice it – WHAT AM I?

Oh I have no doubts about being a girl, 16yrs of age at that, but what I really want to know is AM I an adult or a child?

In the adjoining room, seated in front of the television with a chopping board and a bottle guard in hand is my typical Indian mother who at one instance argues that I’m too young to go over my friend’s place for a harmless party and at the very next instance says that I am old enough to go three kilometers out of the way to the grocery shop to get finely ground white flour – just the way she likes it – for the delicacy she wants to prepare for some distant aunty who’s visiting her after a long time, say about after two days!

She says I should behave lady like and like a tamed young girl – all prim and proper – in front of the society. But, but, but, if I just as much as comment on something they’re all discussing, I’m told to shut up and keep mum like the 16yr old I am. Well, what do you say about that?

Ok, all that is bearable but what happened today surpassed all. You see, next week is my dear Shreya di’s wedding, and don’t ask me who that is coz frankly I’ve met her just twice but obviously it’s a big event as mummy took me out shopping for that. So I am supposed to be dressed traditionally. No issues at that. But trust me; shopping with mum was one hell of a nightmare! Unbelievably disastrous that trip turned out to be!

I chose a Sabyasachi sleeveless fishtail cut peach costume. It was hot I must say. Just as I was about to take it off, I was dragged to check out a down market, yellow and blue lehenga with stupid sequences and bright zari all over it. It’s hard to breathe in with that thing on, leave alone attending the wedding. There were similar war waged over jewelry and sandals and other such stuff.

After this spree, I have no doubts about mum being intent on turning me into Lady Gaga II.

The next intended pun was at the saloon. Is it so out of the ordinary to color one’s hair? I didn’t ask for a ridiculous purple or pink dye but just a streak of rust highlights. But no, Mrs. I-like-you-offended had to intervene! Doesn’t she know there is ammonia free stuff available now? Or does she seriously want me to be in a huff at all times?

Am I allowed to do nothing I like? Am I too old for half the things I enjoy? Am I too young to indulge in activities I find fascinating? Or is it that the statement ‘act you age’ is a punch line for all times for parents who want to save themselves the pain of changing THEIR outlook.

Shouldn’t people update themselves with the changing times? Shouldn’t they try to understand teenagers as they themselves have been through this age? Or am I being too fussy about something adolescents have been facing since time unmemorable.

I don’t know…but I’m not made of moldable soil. I am what I am and always will be. I won’t change myself!

ps: I’m sorry if you were bored coz of my ranting…! And thanks for reading the whole thing!

Love you all ❤

But then mummy says I’m too old to preserve that attitude…