Category: Thoughts uncut

Passion and reality in conflict

You know that feeling you get when you look at a picture of a beautiful place; that blissful feeling you have when you realize you want to be there? What happens after that?

You come to reality.

You know you can’t be there, it’s way too much for your purse to handle, or it takes too much off your scheduled office time. What crap!

When I got to know about the Green Lake in Austria, I felt a sudden rush of liking to be there and to enjoy it. I don’t want to come back to reality; I’m not going to convince myself that I can’t do something I haven’t even tried. I like it and I want to see it. Nothing wrong with doing what I like, right? It might sound far-fetched, but it is still a nice feeling to know that you are at least trying to do what you love.

OK, let’s just forget about the whole ‘Green Lake’ thing; that’s my problem. What I’m trying to say is that, most of the time, the heart yearns for something blissful but the problem is, our mind tells us that it’s impossible. That’s where the conflict begins. Why does it have to be that it is always the mind and heart that disagree the most? The real challenge is to balance between the two and figure out which is dominant. That’s where we fail most of the time; that’s where I’ve failed.

Why is it so though? The heart always speaks for passion while the brain seeks reality. Why is it so difficult for us to win over the brain? The answer, as far as I know, is because we surround ourselves with people who have succumbed to the brain’s wish and have convinced themselves that their passion was beyond ‘reality’.

Now comes the biggest doubt: what is reality? Reality differs from person to person, right? It depends on our own lives. How then, can anyone say my passion cannot be reality? Of course, it can’t be his reality, but, it just could be mine!

Piggy business

I’ve used this blog to record a lot of my everyday rants, the common one being the incredible standards of education in India, particularly the South. Nowadays, in India, education is spelled M-O-N-E-Y and lots of it too. Having successfully broken through the hectic school life, I’ve had first hand experience when it comes to admission for higher education. And I have only one thing to say.

Bloody flock of sheep.

I was totally appalled by the way people rush to settle their children into a college; it’s almost as if they want to get rid of their kids for a few years. Parents make pathetic efforts to enroll their children in colleges, and I must say how amused I was to look at the look of desperation on the faces of anxious parents. How silly of them!

Unless I’m mistaken, (and I’m quite sure I’m not) a degree is not a necessity. I feel that the ones who heavily advertise and promote the concept of the necessity of a yellow robe are the representatives of leading educational institutions. Those preachings are now the talk of the town; our people are not the most difficult to convince. (we witness it during every other election) Isn’t it evident that these institutions are just mercenary, and not at all interested in the empowerment of youth as they claim?

I believe that a student should do a degree only if he/she has an interest and curiosity to do it, and not for the sake of a written attestation. Isn’t it better to spend one’s life in something he knows he’d enjoy, rather than whiling away precious years in a course that parents force them into? Oh, yes it is.

And about the sheep story, it’s a pity that folks feel convention is safe, despite watching conventions turn into absurdity. They say change alone is permanent but refuse to put it into action. Sad.

This convention doesn’t seem to be confined to education alone, rather, people stick to a step by step procedure throughout their lives and are scared to break free of their shackles for fear of what society would say. Society has it’s own say in everything we do and most people are too concerned about it than themselves. The same goes when it comes to marriages. I really don’t know who framed the real age limit for an unmarried life, because a lot of people can’t bear to see a twenty+ year old girl at home; everyone from relatives to friends begin to bombard the parents with questions and even matrimonial offers, as if life is an arrangement. Society doesn’t allow girls to even enjoy their lives. Boys are more pitiable; just when they realize the joy of freedom they’re persuaded into marriage. It disgusts me that people can’t keep their noses out of others’ lives.

People have been brainwashed so much that they now believe that conventional college life is the only option. That’s the sad part, they are sincere in their belief. Even reputed companies don’t care much about their employees’ talent, rather what interests them is the number of years their employees have spent under a college roof, the more popular the roof is, the better. Education which once led to knowledge, has now become a doorway between money. You can spend loads of money and learn how to retrieve your money and earn more. Where’s the possibility for genuine knowledge?

Of late, it’s quite common to hear parents complaining how much of a business education has become, but despite all complaints, they still tend to spend (at least by means of loan) on colleges. Ask them why and they’ll say, “better safe than sorry.” As far as I know, not even the world’s greatest scientist can guarantee a safe night’s sleep. Then why waste time caring about the certainly uncertain? (stole that from my brother!) ;)

It’s not just commoners who are to be blamed, listening to the authorities of those money-machines, anyone would be tempted to enroll immediately, and what’s worse; to pay a major part of the fees. They use such polished language that it’s difficult to see through it. To be point blank, it seemed to me like addressing a group of pigs before a mass slaughter.

Well, after all of this, I’ve decided that if I do a degree I would never trouble myself with my results, I am interested in nothing more than my passion. I’ve decided to break my shackles. No matter how difficult the consequences of my choices are, I believe I can face it as long as the decisions are mine.

These kids nowadays…

I have met a lot of adults who complain about the young generation. Most people find it difficult to accept that life on earth — from being easy — has now become challenging. Nowadays, mere survival requires enormous effort.

Irresponsible, forgetful, careless, jealous, greedy, inane, insane. These adjectives, we hear almost everyday from parents of teenagers. From their point of view, their teenage children are useless and can’t do anything right. Parents nowadays accuse teenagers of whiling away their time in front of television watching useless programs or surfing the internet, killing time.

There’s something they need to understand though. The period between 10-20 years is the most difficult part of a modern child’s life. Difficult, not only to the child but also to those around him/her. That is the age a child begins to look at himself/herself as an individual. That’s when a sense of self-importance arises. We feel the transition from a child to a person in society. That’s when we desperately try to break through the chains of childhood that our parents and society had restrained us in.

It’s like taking the first step out into the world after a lifetime in prison. Everything and everyone seems strange. It feels like a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon. As a child, we’d have thought everyone we met were good and everyone was a part of a larger family. It’s during those pre-teen years that we figure out that our childhood fancies, were indeed fancies and everything we thought we knew of the world was wrong. It’s when we meet the jealous, the ruthless; the deceiving, and the unfriendly that we realize how wrong we had been all along. It’s hard to accept.

It feels like forcibly being thrust into a group of snarling and unfriendly wild dogs. Suddenly the picture of the ‘beautiful world’ starts to crumble. We see the world for what it really is.

In days of yore, children were either forced into adulthood before they could come out of their cocoon or our society wasn’t as bad and corrupted as it is now. There wasn’t much difference between the family children knew and the society they would soon get to know.

Now, however, things have changed. It’s like balancing two worlds that are in complete contrast with one another. The change, in itself, is a hard-to-bear reality. That causes depression. And to add to the helplessness, the usual duties of school and homework come in harder than ever before.

That’s the age we feel a sudden urge to experiment on relationships; that’s when we learn to make friends of strangers. Making friends with others who feel as insecure as us is easier said than done, we find it difficult to trust anyone; we view even family with a doubtful eye. Inexplicable emotions run amok in our minds and we won’t feel confident enough to confide in anyone.

Bottled up insecurity, frustration, fear and emotions threaten to break out as depression. When they do break out, they result in desperate mood swings. That’s when the rest of the world calls us ‘irresponsible’ and ‘incapable of doing anything right’. These accusations make us feel as if something is indeed wrong with us.

Naturally, we look up to our family for help. Parents are the only ones we trust and if they have problems of their own, that would be a huge let down for us. Of course, there are some families who make efforts to try and understand.

We find it nearly impossible to rest. To overcome the chaos within us, we look for alternatives. And, with some help sometimes, we do find them in drugs.

Most teenagers who do drugs only do it to relieve themselves of the stress of the outside world and try to rest. I am not justifying the use of drugs, but merely stating that they honestly believe that drugs can help them clean up their scattered emotions. Those who escape the claws of drugs turn to the option of suicide to escape the harsh realities of life. It’s only a moment’s foolhardiness and luckily, some come out of it as coming out of a reverie.

Me saying all these might sound odd because I talk for teenagers in general. Of all things I’ve said, I have felt almost everything myself and I am pretty sure other teenagers feel it too. I realized I wasn’t alone when I read Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, Letters. Reading letters from fellow teenagers around the globe, inspired me to muse on my teenage life, and this is what I came up with.

Earth Day; a camouflage

Early this morning, Google via its doodle, informed me that it is Earth day. When I was younger, I remember discussing this is in school. We never spoke of it again. This topic only popped up in essays of exams. No one in school thought of the necessity to educate or even give us an opportunity to mull this over and voice our thoughts. It may have been because we had grown up and we had more pressing matters to argue at school. Honestly, does anyone really get too old to talk about our Earth? I think not, thus after all these years, I felt the sudden urge to analyse this topic.

Today’s Google doodle is brightly colourful. Pity we seldom see such lush greenery in our busy schedules. Moreover, it’s not just our life style that keeps us away from our Earth’s blessings. Summer is ravaging this part of the world I call home. Nowadays, people prefer staying indoors because the sun is ferociously scorching. This, experts say, is most unnatural. Mother Earth is not so cruel as to torture her children. Who then, can we hold responsible? The obvious answer hangs over our heads, only we don’t make attempts to accept it.

It is natural for a country’s government to face pressures. Of late, one of the huge pressures our government has met is the farmers’ issue. Farmers of Indian villages couldn’t bear to see all their crops in a withered state and thus, heartbroken, they committed suicide. This, is not the story of an individual; it is the life of those villagers without whom our plates wouldn’t be filled with mountains of culinary delights.

Why did the crops wither? Why hasn’t the land been drenched from the blessings of clouds? The answers to these queries are found in our junior school text books. I remember studying something about trees being our life blood; maybe there is a connection. Then why didn’t it ring a bell before we bulldozed these trees?

When I appeared for the Board Exams earlier this year, the examiners instructed us to strike out the pages remaining unwritten. It seemed such an ordinary instruction; it happens all the time. On the first day of exam, once I had finished my writing, I had about five pages unwritten. The hall supervisor reminded me to strike out the extra pages. I took my pencil and ruler to follow instructions; I hadn’t felt anything until then, but when I began to draw those diagonal lines, it struck me how many trees would have been ‘struck out’ as such as unwritten; unused. That’s when I felt guilty of our educational system altogether.

Couldn’t we use recycled paper for our writing purposes? Is writing on whiter paper more significant than the future of our generations? Isn’t the price a bit too high? It’s what I feel.

Scientists discover new things even as I write this. Science and technology have opened up the possibilities of what our ancestors considered impossible. We read articles and hear news of the wonderful services Science has done to humanity. Man is now considered (by himself) as the ‘cleverest’ among creatures that has walked this Earth. Hasn’t it occurred to the ‘cleverest’ people that it is the same inventions and discoveries that led to the puncture in Ozone? It must have occurred to them at some point, because it is in some book that I read of it. So, we know enough to write bestselling books, printed on paper made from felled trees, and displaying concern about preservation of trees and of Ozone’s pity predicament.

Also, the entire concept of ‘Earth Day’, seems like an all new veil to hoodwink; one to convince ourselves that we can actually do something to pull out Earth from the pit we have ruthlessly thrust it into.

Stupid people.

The caste prejudice

Our society feels proud to say that there’s caste discrimination among them. Surprised? Attend a family wedding and you’ll be shocked. People are so clever as to hide this attitude from outsiders though. Because, in the civilized society, people consider it quite rude and uncivilized to admit one’s caste hunger in public.

But as far as I have noticed, (and honestly, that isn’t much (so forgive me if I’m wrong (though I’m quite positive that I am not))) this is a line of thought prevailing mostly in India, or more specifically, Indians throughout the world.

I’ve personally met a few people who are so much against inter-caste marriages. But they hold their tongue in common presence; they are careful not to allow others to decide their character because of their uninterest in accepting an outsider as family.

These folks – I like to call them ‘insufferably narrow-minded people’ – cause so much confusion and disorder if an unfortunate person is to suggest a different-caste helper, let alone marriage. The ones most prejudiced are the Oldies, and they take extra care to educate their generations about this.

There is one problem, though. This is my question, which I direct towards the “insufferably narrow-minded people”, why is it that these people, who feel ashamed and hesitant to accept an inter caste marriage, are proud to declare that their sons or daughters have settled themselves in a foreign land?

You might wonder what the connection is, here’s what it is: when I spoke to my mother about this, she said that the main reason for underlining caste differences is because it is socially difficult to adjust with people of other castes, or as they say, ‘people of other family and social backgrounds.’

How then, can they easily adjust with people of  other national backgrounds?

Whenever long-unmet people meet each other, (particularly at a family gathering) they have the most irritating habit of inquiring of the activities of each other’s children. And what pride they have in saying that their children are residents of the Western world!

I abhor their pride and pity their prejudice.

The very fools, who feel distressed to accept people of other castes, because of their different way of life – which, by the way is the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard of – find it prestigious to admit that their children have abandoned their nation and have gone to live with ‘people of other family and social backgrounds.’

Suckers!