A penny...er..."pensieve" for your thoughts!

For the un-initiated and non-Harry Potter fans: A Pensieve is a stone receptacle used to store and review memories. Dumbledore had one to store his thoughts when his mind became too cluttered!

A few days ago, when I was on my way home, I met this girl, sitting right opposite to me in the train, and smiling as if she knew me....now we all have at some point or the other smiled at random strangers just like that...But, no, this was different...she was gesturing and looking at me as if I would acknowledge her and exclaim "HII!! So long since we last met...!"
Well, her face seemed familiar, and although I pride myself on my memory
and don't forget people easily (at least I thought so till then!) , I couldn't for the life of me imagine where I might have met her...

Then she asked me if I recognized her. I stuttered a bit and finally admitted that I couldn't recollect exactly who she was and where it was that we had met...
She then reminded me that we used to go to the same tuition classes during the 11th std...hmmm...yeah...now that I thought of it...yeah...may be she was right, but I still couldn't remember her name...

I felt real foolish, especially when she started on how we used to hang out together and stuff...GOD! Was it embarrassing! I couldn't do anything else than "yeah-yeah" and nod and wait for my station to come...and think "How CAN I forget her name?!"
It was not if I had forgotten everything about my 11th/12th std. tuitions, I am in touch with many of my friends from there AND some of my Profs too, but THIS particular girl I couldn't remember having been with!
It was as if some one had torn that single page with this girl in concern out of my memory...

Another incident added fuel to this fire of forgetfulness...
The other day, my mother and I were discussing my admission process after 12th std and how I had goofed up at the process for Medical CET @ JJ hospital(the goof-up is another story altogether, and deserves a post of its own) but again , the point is I DID NOT remember having EVER been to JJ hospital at all!
My mother in desperation to make me recollect, started giving out hints like "Don't you remember there was this lonnngg winding queue and we had met XYZ person and you had forgotten to bring your black ball pen...etc etc"
I tried and tried, but come what may, my grey cells refused to budge and remember anything even remotely related to JJ hospital!
At long last, after much effort, I asked her whether there was this Hanuman temple bang opposite the Hospital which we had visited. Although that turned out to be true, I couldn't remember having ACTUALLY been INSIDE JJ Hosptial...
It was as if my memory had been wiped out clean just at that particular point - leaving everything else intact!

Now this had started getting creepy, there were parts of my life, not too distant a past, mind you, just 4-5 yrs down the line and I seemed to have forgotten them as if I had never ever lived them! :-o

Then it struck me!!!! OH, how convenient! Amazing! How I wish I had a pensieve!!! :-)

A real pensieve, where I could store away ALL of my memories, good-bad,happy-sad, new-old, silver-gold and never have to worry about forgetting anything ever again!!
How very very awesome could that be!
Just imagine this - you could remember every single thing your best friend and you shared, talked, gossiped and laughed and cried(?) about!

Sometimes, I really wish I had a pensieve, a place to stash away all my thoughts, aspirations and dreams - always there, easy to find and relish on a lazyy lazzy rainy Sunday afternoon!
Just dig and voila! there's your buddy from Kindergarten happily munching her tiffin while taking a sneaky bite out of yours :-P
Look, that's your very favorite dress *sigh* how you used to love wearing it!
But wait! It'll also have ALL of the things you tried hard to forget, the pains, the trials,the tribulations, insults belted out and insults borne, friendships that withered with time...things which are best forgotten (and forgiven).....

May be, as they say, forgetfulness really IS a gift...

I can't quite figure out how to end this post, so I leave it up to you to make up your own mind...
So long then,
Till I decide whether I want a pensieve or not,
Signing off!

Random Ramblings

I am writing something after ages...not as much due to the busy schedule and blah blah as much due to my laziness...:-)

Disclaimer: (Should be read as "Statutory Warning") - This one may seem full of cliched gyaan and highly over-the-top for some (read "most") of my friends. ;-)
I highly recommend skipping this post and waiting for a better one! (in case I decide to publish this)

Well, if you are still reading this, here's a set of absolutely random ramblings from the past 6 days - things I did/didn't do - thoughts I had/didn't have - some may not even make any sense and seem (rather they ARE!) totally out of context.

1. Your family is THE BEST GIFT you have ever got/ever will get.

I can never be enough grateful for a wonderful,understanding and supportive family - all of whom pamper me silly (well, they always do but the dumbo (dats moi) had self-realization).
Love you people!


2.Sometimes, you find humour in some of the most unexpected and unlikely of places/books/events.

I had sworn I will not read another Chetan Bhagat book after the crappy "One night @ the call center"...but circumstances in the past 6 days, forced me to read "2 states" (I had no access to any other book immediately and had entire 2-3 days to kill).
2 states is 2 goooddddd - it had me rolling,guffawing,snorting and rollicking with laughter - so much so that when I was reading the climax (and had a heavy blanket draped around me) my Mom asked me whether I was shivering!!! (hey folks, this is a true incident...trust me ;-) )
It helped me tide over the initial shock of the hospitalization and the initial two days... :-)


3. It is better to just let go - let go of prejudices - let go of grudges - let go of expectations - let go of fear - just let go!


4. A higher qualification may not always give you higher common sense!

My nurse had tons of common sense - much more than the trainee doctor who pierced my right arm twice in search of a vein (unsuccessfully each time...wonder whether that's the reason why doctors "practice" (no offense please!) )
Anyways, she suggested that we should try the left arm instead - that way she will be able to eat her food by herself...
Good old common sense - hope we get more of that!


5. You need not worry about a thing BEFORE it actually happens.

Well, this may sound strange, but if you know that you have a blood test scheduled in 4 hours, it's better to block all thoughts of it till the time it actually happens- else you tend to feel the pain a hundred times during the 4 hours you spend dreading the test when in reality you needed to have faced it only once i.e when it actually happened.
Again, common sense!


6. Friends are the Next BEST GIFT you ever got/will ever get.

Played "Yaaron Dosti" in a loop... :-) Guess my "sorry & thank-you ki dukaan" can never ever find a substitute for friendship...
I couldn't have gotten past these 6 days without your moral support - Deedums, AM, Gayu, Sush, Harshada(plural) (sorry for the PJ;but guess that tells you am back to normal ;-) ),GL,Kanchi, Chitra,Anu,MB, AJ, DVB, Tree Trunker, Sandy, SK, PP(the official ASC Cult Secy) and all my friends who called/missed call/SMSed ...
:-) :-) :-)


7. Well, I accept, this one's a bit over-the-top... Sometimes all you need is a "divine" little signal.

I know (at least MD will say so!)this sounds like the gyaan the sadhu/baba on the "Aastha TV" show your grand-mom watches @ 6 AM in such a loud volume that the songs/keertans enter BANG into your head :-)
But couldn't help writing this one although can't bring myself to write about the exact incident...but I guess you got the point.


8. All manual labour is dignified.

Sadly, not every one thinks so. It's time we learnt to respect and recognize their presence - not merely assume that no one has walked past your desk,or move away under the pretext of being thirsty - when the janitor comes to clean it.


9. OK, this stuff is getting sentier and graver - fear not, I have no more gyaan to baato-fy.
Just one thing - F.R.I.E.N.D.S Roxxxxxxxxx - TOTALLYYYYY !!!!! :D :D :D

Well, Congo - you have managed to reach the end of my ramblings (for today) ;-) Hope you are still sane and sound. :-P
I promise not to get freaky and belt out another one of these (soon).
Till then, ciao!!!

The Tree of Knowledge

(Photo courtesy : Wikimedia)

I first saw it from the first floor of Main Building ( on the corridor to the Cash Section to be precise) , nearly an year ago when I came to pay the first year fees.
At that time , I was over-awed with everything here @ IITB and didn't give it a second glance. But during the year, every time I saw it, I wondered and stared and then wondered some more :-P ... but try as I might, its meaning eluded me...
In this past one month, I walked past it nearly twice every day... and I was still clueless as to why it was there or what it stood for...
Finally, curiosity got the better of me and I decided to ask my enlightened friend (you guessed it right - Google :-) ).
Well, all I could gather at first, was this wiki page, which said that this was a wrought iron sculpture and was called the "Tree of Knowledge".
hmmm... I could now see light at last! The tree of knowledge depicted the various "branches" (and quite literally at that! ;-) ) of knowledge @ IITB. And it blended just perfectly with the IITB motto "Dnyanam Paramam Dhyeyam" (Knowledge is the Ultimate Goal) .

My friend also came up with yet another pic of a similar sculpture (and by the same name too) at the University of Vermont, USA and another one at Yellow Springs Public Library, Ohio, USA.

IITB is indeed a forest of knowledge and this is just ONE tree in that vast forest (and it took me more than a year to grasp its meaning!! ) ... hoping to discover and understand many more by the end of two years here ... :-)

A cool drink and a warm gesture ...

       "Aaaee...Bottle wapas karneka...idharich baithneka...bottle leke door janeka nahi...." the woman gruntled, handing over the bottle of cold-drink to him. But he was oblivious to her words and to the look of deep distrust she gave him. He went and sat royally at the table - as if holding a rare gem in his hands... it was a gem - nothing short of a treasure to him.

       As he watched the dew drops slide down the bottle's surface, he felt a cold shower wash down over his body...He clasped it tightly...then released it and caressed it lovingly...He wanted to savour every drop, every moment of owning this drink...He had chosen the drink of his choice - the nice lady who had bought him this drink had taken him to the shop and asked him what he wanted - it was the first time in his life that he had been asked what he wanted- when he had been offered a choice - and he chose - he chose this sugary sweet and sour liquid soda - housed in an emerald green bottle - afterall it was the drink which Dhoni - his fav cricketer - drank.He had seen him on the big poster above the traffic signal...smiling down at him and telling him how wonderful it tasted ...asking him to " BUY ONE NOW...IT TASTES SUPERB!! " ...and he did have one now! He smiled to himself at this thought.

       He had the bottle all to himself..no one to share it with...none of his friends to grab it and ask for their share...

       He sat there..the proud owner of a bottle of cold drink...free to enjoy it as he pleased. He drank a mouthful...his tongue tingled at the sweet and sour taste of soda, he smacked his lips in contentment...and closed his eyes in pure bliss.

PS: This is an incident I recently witnessed at an exhibition. A lady bought a cold drink for a street-urchin who helped her carry her shopping bags. A really warm gesture and a cool drink too!

"No Excess Baggage"

The other day I was helping my cousin who was going abroad on a business trip, to pack her bags...as usual there were many things to pack and not much space...The baggage limit kept by the airline was just 20 kgs, so my cousin was saying a firm "NO" to all excess stuff (we did have a tough time deciding which ones were to be left out, but my cousin knew exactly what she wanted to leave behind, so that was not much of an issue) ...

How good would it be if we could set a similar "limit" on the amount of our thoughts ... No excess baggage!!!
Life would be so uncluttered, so much lighter... so much simpler...
We would then be able to devote time wholeheartedly to things that are most important to us, and the unwanted things would have to wait... because there would be no room for them...
Our "mind's weighing scale" would go beep beep every time we tried to overload it with "excess baggage" - a signal to stop, think and simplify...

Not so routine...!

It had been five months since I joined IIT - and to say that my routine had changed, would be an understatement- a new life at hostel - away from home , new friends, new courses... so much so I didn't even have time to reflect on how much my life had changed in the past few months...till now...it was vacation time...a respite from the hectic schedule , and although I had some R.A duties to fulfill, I could easily commute daily to IIT and back home...

It was a long time since I was commuting by a local train in the afternoon....it was not so crowded and there was the usual afternoon crowd - teenage collegians busy listening to their MP3s or FMs, mothers with bawling children, the chiku-wali haggling with some adamant lady, the artificial-jewellery seller with her fancy,shiny, coloured, plastic and metal assortment of ear-rings, bangles, hair-clips etc. ...

It was then that I heard her familiar voice coming from a distance (nothing extraordinary about the voice, so can't even add any adjectives...) - before I saw her making way through the melee - stepping aside tactfully to avoid tripping over the toes of people on the 4th seat(the 4th seat is a classic "second class local compartment seat" - actually the seat is meant for three people but people usually say "jara shift ho jayiye please ..." and manage to balance themselves on the edge of the seat with such grace that is seen only in "2nd class compartments" ... in the "1st class" you will be glared at even if you dare think of asking for a "fourth seat" ... will write all about that sometime later) .
She was the silent and unknown witness of my college "semester exam days" - days when I caught the afternoon train (in fact, the same train by which I was travelling this time...) - tensed, balancing books and bag...trying to mug up last minute "notes and important questions", sms-ing friends about what I had left for "option" and was mostly late for the exam .... she would be there- every paper-every semester -the same train - the same voice -the same person selling "khaman dhokla", chakli, samosa and ladoos in her characteristic voice and tone , her face a web of wrinkles, an old cotton saree draped gracefully around her; with blue slippers to cover her tired feet .... - she didn't (she doesn't in fact) even know me - I had never even bought anything from her. For her, I was just another familiar face - a face which must have faded from her memory by now... over these past 5-6 months ...
But that day after such a long gap, when I saw her again, she reminded me of all things @ VESIT - my friends, my college... I didn't realise that I had been missing those days so much...but more specifically, she reminded me of my life - my routine of four years....(which had changed drastically these past months) and I suddenly felt at peace knowing that, her routine (at least it seemed...) had not changed....her life seemed the same;... it was mid-December - the time when Mumbai was still reeling under the blow of terrorism, a time when the air was rife with rumours of Indo-Pak war, recession, pink-slips and all things dark and depressing....

There was so much "security" in knowing that at least her life, her routine, was unchanged - she was still there; standing solid and strong - still going about her routine; like an anchor - steady amidst all chaos of life...symbolising that the ship is safe and firmly anchored amidst the storm of changing times....

How soothing and refreshing can the mere fact, that someone's routine is unchanged, be!

The SLS formula

I recently came across an article on "same language sub-titling" (SLS) and was totally impressed by its sheer simplicity and effectiveness...

It is all as simple as adding subtitles in the same language (as opposed to Hindi subtitles to an English movie, have English subtitles instead!) to a movie/ a T.V programme....the project "Planetread" involves using this as a method of mass education. In India, more than 500 million people have access to TV , yet 40 percent of these viewers are poor and have low literacy levels - they can "understand" and "read" but have poor "writing" skills.

Putting subtitles on popular T.V programmes will enable them to learn the alphabet better - all at the mere cost of just ONE U.S. dollar per 10,000 people – for a year!!!!

Do read this google-blog and visit the Planetread website for more details.