Poem indeed !!! is it fair ??

What’s life like for a royal child?
Servants attending, all wishes come true!
The child comes to this world with a silver spoon,
Life is beautiful with complaints hardly few!

Go down the ladder to a normal lad,
The child leads an existence, ordinary yet joyful!
The extravagance is spared for all we know,
And the unfulfilled wishes may be plentiful.

But ever imagined life of a poor little child?
Living with the most minimum of resources.
There are hardly any wishes that might come true!
Lonely and alone, he fights life’s cruel and wretched forces!

The child himself earns the meagre meal he eats,
Sweating out every ounce of his ability!
Yet the child is discarded and shown the door,
And labelled openly a cheap liability!

What may I ask is the fault of that unlucky child?
Who works to survive each and every day!
Abused, exploited and cheaply treated,
when children like us live life the easy way!

What would the child grow up to be?
A misfit in society fighting social regressions!
What values would he be able to give his kids?
While hiding in the past of his own reflections!

So is it fair, the ordeal the child is inevitably putting himself through?
Is it fair that he’s made to face situations?
The treatment given is clearly unjustified,
The child clearly needs awareness and affection!

Does this child really have to suffer this way?
In the state of this disgraceful strife ?
We can help that child and we have to,
The child deserves another chance, to affection, to education, to a far better life...

My school

I looked up at the board by which we used to swear : St. Ann’s High School – it read, it was now rusty and old but nevertheless it looked fine, I just silently stood there,
I realized I had completely forgotten how it looked and what it really meant as I walked around the gate kicking the sand – My School shined there brightly under the Sun’s glare.

Walking to the class saying “Good morning Teacher” to everyone who now were just a faded memory, we learnt to read and write, we learnt what a book was, we learnt to receive and give,
Amidst the broken buttons, amidst the untied shoe-laces, amidst the cute friends we had crushes on and amidst the half-full water bottles, we had learnt to live.

Learning swear words and using them in code while laughing at others’ foolishness felt amazing then, creating friend-groups and leaving a legacy; I realized we had made a mark,
Reciting movie dialogs that we had so proudly portrayed and heard was wonderful, the sounds we imitated included a teacher’s scolding or even the call of a dog’s bark.

Scolding a fellow mate for breaking my scale and then hugging him was heart-touching, teasing someone was good; saying “SORRY SORRY” when she felt bad was even better,
Cool air flew as my heart went back to the moment I had first played WRESTLING in school, my mind took me back to the day I had forged my first leave letter.

Telling friends to help us with our crushes and jumping out of joy when they smiled at us felt blissful; we were foolish enough to be happy thinking it was love,
Now I realized would we ever have known what we would have become – it didn’t matter then, all that we cared was the next cartoon episode or the number of pens in a pen-fight away we had to shove.

Showing everyone at home that we received a GOOD in our book was equal to an award, running around the house smiling whenever we received a star,
Throwing paper-rockets at people and then hiding while giggling non-stop, all those benches we scribbled our names on; everything was just a memory; everything we had left and walked afar.

The endless hours of great-thinkers’-discussions we had about Pokemon, the awesome Harry Potter duels we had with our own broken tree-branches and our very own Superhero Dream,
A silent tear slid down my cheek as I remembered the joy and the pride we had when we walked around the school wearing the uniform of the Scouts’-team.

Writing essays about our favorite festivals and building up letters to book-houses to complain was something we were never perfect at, yet at the tries I can’t help but smile,
Raising our hand proudly when we knew the answer to a question was Divine; when the teacher nodded in accordance, our hearts in happiness danced in style.

Sitting there, looking at that long-forgotten clock waiting for the bell to ring as teachers told us about Akbar and taught us how to add one with two,
We never realize what we have until we completely lose it and we never cry a river until we don’t know how to laugh completely – I now knew, it is all true.

I now looked at the time : I had to leave, just like everyone else who ever came, I turned around and began moving away -still dodging, out of habit, that small empty snake-hole,

As I slowly walked back into the wheels of time in the cycle of Life, I realized : Somewhere along those walls I left a part of my heart, somewhere among those School corridors still ran, my lost soul. 

Revolution 2020 Review

Finally…..the much hyped and awaited book of the year comes out and I just can’t wait to grab my copy! Further…. the story is given a political backdrop….something that we don’t expect from Chetan Bhagat!!

So how is it going to be?? Lots of drama?? suspense ??

These were the random thoughts that ran through my mind as I held the book!

Unable to stop myself after reading the prologue, I went on…! The story was quite predictable but what made it worth reading was the way the characters were portrayed…very real and somebody you could connect with!

The Plot:

The story revolves around Gopal (narrator), Aarthi and Raghav set in the holy town of Varanasi! Gopal and Raghav come from two completely different strata of the society and their views reflect the same. While one wants to use his intelligence for making money, the other wants to bring about a reform in the political system and society. Both of them fall in love with Aarthi! However their dreams, ambitions and dilemmas keep setting them apart and uniting time and again..!

So who will Aarthi choose in the end?? While one gives in to the corrupt system….the other fights it….so who will succeed finally??…..this forms the crux of the story

To sum it up…

Pros:

• Chetan’s quirky one liners
• The characterization

Cons:

• The predictable plot

Final Verdict:

Its one of those stories where you know what is going to happen next but still want to read on! Not Chetan’s best….but definitely keeps you hooked till the last page!!

My rating 3/5!

SWEET MURMUR . . .

Back then., when i was a kid, my world started with colors and ended with them. My mum always complained that I wasn’t behaving normal.! Can’t blame her. She only wanted her kid to just play in mud like the others do, but I was just too busy for that. I filled in my class notes with various cartoons and my favorite animated characters. I still find a pencil much comfortable when compared to a pen. A pencil and one book and I would ask for nothing else. I would be more than just happy if my mum happens to buy me a “drawing book” and a few “colours”. I saved a drawing book all to myself since my childhood where I drew all my master pieces. My heart almost broke when I realized that some one flicked that book. That being my first ever drawing book still makes me sad even I think about that devastating incident. Form then, I began putting my stuff every close to me. I dreamt of becoming an artist when I was a kid which made me want to become an Architect.. But as I grew up, I began realizing that my parents had altogether different plans for me. “My daughter will become an engineer”, said my dad really proud to everyone around. It was then that I realized that my dream of becoming an Designer was never meant to be fulfilled.

In my life, I put a few things or just say, I marked my own belongings and I trusted that god would never tamper with my stuff, but NO.! Everything I wished must stay with me began vanishing. Angry with my self, I threw away my favorite set of colours out in the garbage! I swore to myself I will never  touch colours again in my life, that day. I thought that, he who called himself God, began to snatch everything that ever made me smile. I thought I was totally defeated by this so called HOPE..

 But not anymore. I still want all that I desired the most in my life to just come upon me. And I’m sure I’ll wait all my life for it to come true. At present, I think I’m going through a phase where I only see things being taken away from me. Life is just playing a cruel game. But somewhere deep inside, I still have faith that I can do it. And then.,One night, when I was weeping, a dear fairy came up to me.

 “ I’m really sorry, honey. I never realized what you wanted. I was just being selfish and I wanted a secured life for you”, she said. When I wiped my tears and looked at her, I saw tears in her eyes. I saw my mum cry for me that night. I was speechless. I felt horrible that day. It was then I decided that I would do engineering, for the dreams my mum carried for me.

 “Mum I can do what I want anytime later. I can certainly to do a course in designing  anytime mum, so you needn’t worry” I said wiping those precious tears off my mum’s check and trying to console my self that this is the best choice. When I saw a smile across her face, I realized that it was the best thing I ever did as a daughter. I hugged her tight, feeling secured in her arms. “And Mum, who knows. One day I may start loving engineering as well.” I said with a fake smile then which now, I know was the right thing to do. There is nothing more precious to see that smile on her face. Well, I haven’t accepted the defeat yet. Life is too huge for those who want to fulfill their dreams. And I’m certain that one day even I will.

child labor !

Would any of us have liked to be in the place of this child in our childhood days? I am sure students like us studying in schools and colleges are a very fortunate lot compared to so many children in our country who are into hard labor since childhood.

Children are the greatest gift to humanity and the same gift is being misused for personal gains as child labor. Their number is close to 36% of India’s population but a large majority of children in the age group of 5-14 years continue to remain in distress and turmoil. One in every five children below the age of 14 is a laborer. The flower (Child) withers before it blossoms.

“Child labor” is, generally speaking, work for children that harms them or exploits them in some way (physically, mentally, morally, or by blocking access to education).

It is a myth that child labor is only a problem in developing countries. But in fact, children routinely work in all industrialized countries, and hazardous forms of child labor can be found in many countries. It is also a myth that child labor will only disappear when poverty disappears. Yet another myth is that most child laborers work in sweatshops making goods for export, but in fact, only a very small proportion of all child workers are employed in export industries – probably less than 5 per cent. Most of the child laborers actually are to be found in the informal sector – selling on the street, at work in agriculture or engaged in domestic work– far from the reach of official labor inspectors and from media scrutiny.

 

Poverty is widely considered the top reason why children work at inappropriate jobs for their ages. But there are other reasons as well like family expectations and traditions, lack of good schools and day care, lack of other services, such as health care, public opinion that downplays the risk of early work for children etc.

In some cases, working and earning can be a positive experience in a child’s growing up. But it depends on the age of the child, the conditions in which the child works, and whether work prevents the child from going to school. It is not realistic to suggest banning all forms of child labor, because so many poor families depend on income their children earn. However there are steps that could be taken to protect children from exploitation and reduce the need for children to do paid work. Eliminate the most hazardous and exploitative forms of child labor; improve children’s working conditions and their right to appropriate healthcare and recreation; provide education services for working children; challenge discrimination like some girls are expected to work while their brothers attend schools.

We all have grown ahead of childhood stage. How does child labour bother us? This is the attitude towards this social ailment from the majority of us. But we, as sensitive and responsible citizens cannot remain mute to our youngsters being denied their gift of childhood and get exploited. Each one of us has some responsibility in addressing this issue in our own capacities. A beginning in addressing this issue can be, to create awareness on this issue and start a movement towards eradication of this social exploitation in our spheres of influence. Right awareness of the issue and a committed initiative from us will get the required support from the others and also the government agencies. So, let us make a beginning to contribute a small part of our energy and resources to get smiles on the many children who have been deprived of it.

So let us all join our hands and raise it against this evil and slowly kick it out of our world. Support us for this cause. Join The Walk with us....

You Know You Are A Student(Engg) When. . .

1. You make elaborate timetables and plans to study but the only thing you forget to do is to start.

2. When 3-4 hours of sleep is considered to be good for health(provided you even get that much)

3. When the ‘f’ word dominates your mouth whenever you get an assignment.

4. When ‘GOD’ becomes an indispensable source of help during time of the exams and you don’t even know or care who he is otherwise.

5. When you walk into the class and wonder “Damn, who’s this guy teaching?? I’ve never see him before!!”

6. When you learn to say “present sir” in at least 10 different voices.

7. When you aren’t considered human if you haven’t slept once in class.

8. When you take dis note as yet another assignment and are already feeling bored..Aren’t you??

9. When library is used to check out girls rather than check books.

10. When you look at a girl and all kinds of permutations and combinations and probability equations start running in your mind, analyzing your chances with her

11. When you want to kill the professor when he says in an excited voice “EXTRA CLASS TMRO”

12. When you are surrounded by loads of books and the only things you wish to read are novels and comics.

13. When you always think to yourself that “ab next exams se pehle har din padhunga” but wait for the next exam to come and for you to repeat the same FALSE promises to yourself!

14. When night-outs are the ultimate last ditch survival tactics(assignments, exams, notes, etc..they cover a wide variety)

15. When you wake up at 10 am and sleep again realising it’s still early morning.

16. When the most important discussions in class are “Why India lost the match the day before or What colour nail polish Katrina Kaif was wearing in the award ceremony the day before.”

17. When you practically get prepared to digest anything in the world after having the inedible hostel food.

18. When you feel that the girls/guys in other colleges are way better than girls/guys in your college.

19. When your main concern for coming to college is to give a pen drive or movie cd to your friend.

20. When you are a successful leader only if you can initiate successful mass bunks.

21. When more movies are circulated in the class rather than assignments.

22. When after exam you realize in the post-mortem “Yaar ye kausa question hai?? Ye toh mainey likha hi nai !!”

23. When you have tons of assignments to submit and all you do is listen to music.

24. When late-maths assignments are being completed in the last benches of physics lectures.

25. When people sit in the first benches only to improve their studious appeal in the eyes of the teacher when they actually don’t give a damn about studies

26. When after the sems, the geeks run to the library to issue books for next sem and people like me run to the malls to enjoy!!

27. When the real deadline for assignments is at least 2 weeks after the actual deadline.

28. When you don’t know who’s pen is in your hand, or who’s pencil you are using.

29. When a C.S. engineer only thinks about making programs to reach the heart of the person he/she loves.

30. When a Civil engineer would love to make a high-rise building and love to push the principal from the top.

31. When you read the above and realize it has all happened with you and say “Yes I do that and I’m proud”.

Also noteworthy contributions by readers:

32. When you have micro-xerox of all text books, even if u don’t have the text books themselves :D

33. When you know all the programs in syllabus by heart, and you’ll be totally screwed if you get a new one in the exam

34. When you sit and code 100 lines of bullshit code in an AC room after studying civil engineering for 4 long yrs..

35. You spend more time in the canteen rather than in class.

36. When you fail in a paper and blame it on the evaluator.

37. When you go to the library to escape classes and get the assignment completed.

38. When you look at a hot guy and cross your fingers wishing he’s single.

39. When every Monday is a day to catch up on the endless amounts of gossip collected over the weekend :P

40. When you make sure to accumulate a lot of proxy attendance whenever possible.

41. When exercise means walking around the campus in the hope of spotting some cute guys.

42. When canteen becomes the perfect adda to b***h about some of the deserving girls.

43. When gaming becomes a way of life, in hostel rooms, in canteen, in classrooms! :P

ENGINEERS ROCK…..

/*you are free to add any more points*/

The day when god was fooled :p

We moved to a new neighbourhood and the first day in my new house started off like this.

I woke up at five in the morning. I started brushing my teeth when my brother joined me.

DISHUM! DISHUM! Yes, my toothpaste has already started fighting germs.

“Good morning”, I wished him.

“Aaaah!!” he groaned in pain.

“What’s wrong? Do your teeth hurt? Does your toothpaste have salt?” I asked.

“Salt?” he asked with confused face. “Yes. Check mine. Salt makes your teeth strong”, I informed as I gave him my toothpaste.

I finished brushing my teeth and took a bath with a soap that can mesmerise the whole town with its fragments. My brother and I took our seats for breakfast. I noticed my father had already left for work.

“Mommy! Mommy! We are hungry!” we were taping the bowls with the spoon to make an uncanny sound as we said.

“Just two minutes”, my mother  bought hot yellow spiral food. I made a face.”Hey, you will like this. It is healthy, tasty and makes you happy”. The door bell rang as we ate our breakfast. There stood a woman in her late thirties as my mother answered the door.

“Welcome to our colony. I live next door”, she greeted my mother with a smile.

She handed a welcome food in a casserole, “By the way, in which college do you study?” she asked.

“Me? In a college?” my mother laughed.”Mommy!” my brother and I said in unison as we came running to hug my mother. Aunty was shocked.

“How did you manage to look so young? Do you use a magic soap?” Mrs. Sharma asked.

My mother chuckled, “With aging the skin develops wrinkles and dark spots. Here, take my cream, it really works to fight the 7 signs of aging”, she informed as she handed her the cream.

“Why don’t you come in and check our house Aunty”, I invited her as I took the milk and news paper placed in front of our door.

“Mom, I am going out to make new friends”, my brother ran out quickly.Why should boys have all the fun?I argued in my head.

“Your son’s clothes might get dirty no if he plays in the ground?” Mrs. Sharma asked.

“That’s ok Sheela. If something good happens because of dirt then dirt is good” my mother poured her a cup of coffee, “Besides its summer and children’s activities tend to increase than usual. I am worried if they are getting proper nutrition” my mother added in worrisome. Happiness starts with a cup of coffee,or so they say.

I was getting bored. I took my bike and quietly left home. I came to a pause when I saw a small kirana store. I bought a chocolate, I was about to take a bite, the shop keeper stopped me and said, “Madam Ji, first you pay for the chocolate, else you might forget what you came for”.

I paid for the stuff and went to a park to relish my chocolate.If kids are reading this article, remember ,Chocolate is good for a new thoughts. I watched a guy drive the car in high speed. I had to catch my skirt and hat to stop it from flying. When was the last time I experienced something for the first time? I thought.

It was night by the time I came home. My father was back from his workplace.”Welcome home dad”, I greeted as I hugged him. The touch of his soft fabric made it feel like heaven.

We had our supper and were back in beds by nine.

“Are we forgetting something?” father asked before he switched off the lights.

“I cannot forget mother or incense sticks”, I replied.

Suddenly we heard a voice from nowhere, “You forgot to pray”, It said.

“Who is it?” my mother asked in trembling voice.

“Its God”, it replied. The voice continued, “Technology might increase to such an extent that you might have forgotten about me, but you cannot conquer death”.

“I took care of that too. I have insurance in life and after life. I live with my head raised”, my father said proudly.

The voice didn’t say anything for a minute. Then it said in a sad tone, “All are living happily. I am bored.I don’t know what to do”, it sobbed even more. I felt sad.

“Here take this” my brother handed him a phone as he said; “It uses 3G technology. You can play games, get connected to everyone and use various apps”

“Why do the done,do the new”, I said and it cheered Him.It really lits ones brain,I thought.

God wrote “Using New technology.No confusion great combination” on his wall, “Yeeew! I am getting all stupid comments” He asked in disbelief as he saw the comments for his post.

“But they are coming fast no?” my brother replied. After a few minutes I saw God status change to “Back in heaven “.

I switched off the lights and slept. Another day in my life ends and we lived happily ever after.

DISHUM! DISHUM! DISHUM! Yeah, that’s right .My toothpaste fights germs 24/7.

DISHUM!