THE HISTORY REPEATS

Life at a fledgling management institute after graduating from an old and established engineering institution has been challenging. A lot of things have changed, and this includes my attitude towards life and humans (:P). The funny thing about my leaving college was that I was probably the last final year on campus. I went to see off everyone, each time returning sadder than before.
Before coming to Shillong, I was apprehensive about the kind of ‘friends’ I would make here, but more than four months down the pipe, I find that life is fun again. I have met a lot of new people, made new friends, learnt new things. etc etc etc…but somehow I find a similarity between the people I have met here, and my friends at MNNIT.

Following are small excerpts from big dialogues.
Sourjyo: Ideas become a part of cloud of other ideas. This is how logic evolves, which is just another abstraction of a collection ideas picked from the cloud.
Hassan: Life is like that buddy. Sometimes you go up, sometimes you come down. Mine has been down most of the time, but that’s another story.

Naagu (at 12:30 PM): Chaai piyega charre??
Mohit (at 12:30 PM): Chalo be chi-chi. Ek coffee maar ke aate hain..

Sai (In Mess): See I am incharge of only ‘Hostel Affairs’. Food quality is not under my jurisdiction. Please talk to Manav.
Hemant: Abhi caretaker se baat chal rahi hai.. jald hi naya menu aayega. Thoda sabar rakho.

Saumya Sir: Dhang se baitha kar..Lot mat lagaya kar... Tumhare chacha aayenge chaadar sahi karne.
Vishal: @##$^^$% ke… yeh chaadar tera baap sahi karega..aur yeh all out kyon neeche giraya..??

Sumit Kedia: Bhai who video dekha jiska link diya tha? Jabar video hai…
Mukul : Aa tujhe ek music video dikhata hoon masst wala..

SSP(f): Tera kuch nahi ho sakta.. Get lost.
Putaaiwala: Tu jindagi bhar aisa hi rehna.. Kuch ni ho sakta tera.. Bahar nikal kamre se..

RD (our OB Prof): Haan Anurag.. tumne hi badmashi ki hogi..
Kar Sir: Yeh bahut badmaash hai.. Pehchaanta hoon ise main..

Rana: Bas kar Jochi (yeah that’s how he pronounces it). Kitni ladkiyon ko sambhalega ek baar mein.... :O
Singla: Woh dekh be nimbu.. teri bandi jaari…

Lavneesh: waapas aana hai naa be.. Main ticket karwa raha hoon…
SoKuPa: Main bhi jaaunga tere saath.. karwa diyo ticket.. paisa le lena..

Hitesh: Hum to hain hi kaminey.. khule aam bolte hain.. but koi sunti hi nahi…
Pankaj: #@#^&**.. Mujhe farak ni padta ki kon ladki kya soch ri mere bare mein.. (After some time) Bhai but _____ aaj kya gajab lag rahi thi.. :P..

This and a lot more has happened in the past few months.. But the funny thing is .. Its so different. Yet it’s the same. Somehow…. :)

Light through a Prism

Fierce winds-Rain lashing down-lightning-face of a man appears-fear-darkness-splashes-someone running-gunshot-blood-murder-scream.

Tim wakes up, wet with sweat. He has been dreaming the same dream…again. Same dream since past 11 years. He felt his head, throbbing with pain. The agony of dreaming the same dream, every night was showing its effect. Sleep is good when you have different dreams every night. Some prefer a dreamless sleep. Nightmares are better than having only one dream flooding each night of your life. Yet philosophers talk about the relevance of a dream. They have talked about how dreams shape reality. Criss cross, zip zap… they say that it is when you dream..that you create… worlds are created and destroyed in dreams..future can also be seen…. But now imagine the plight of a man, who has not had a dream but one. Who before going to sleep each night, knows what will happen, and yet wakes up each night scared.. more than before..Tears roll down.. as the sun rises in his window..

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Imagine a market place, buzzing with activity. Right in the middle of the road, a lady screams out for help. Everyone hears, but no one listens. The lady, naked, cries out as rogues tear her clothes apart, rip them and burn them until they change into smoke..The smoke.. probably orange…or white.. or green..it was not clear..instead of going up, falls down, forming a cloud, blurring vision, so that nothing was visible. Shrieks could still be heard…and then suddenly a sound of gold coins, hitting the road, as the mystical lady cried and her tears fall on ground as gold..Minor squabbles give rise to more blood, as the on-lookers now rush towards the fallen gold.

The lady continues to cry, the rogues start cutting off parts from her body, hurling them miles away..and the people..indifferent..fill their pockets and rush home….

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A leaf falls from the branch, a gentle breeze starts to blow. The leaf it appears from a distance to be dancing, enjoying the light wind, the sun and freedom from being perpetually bonded to a tree. It had taken eternity for the leaf to be free, and now that it was, there seemed to be no end to its happiness. Nature it seemed, too enjoyed the leaf’s freedom as it continued to dance and fall gently. Then it hit the ground, with a dull thud and everything stopped.

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Wall

A wall stands by the road that leads to the old town of Tinsel. A wall that has seen times change, and has been withered down by torrential rains, heavy gusts and scorching sun. The wall painted in orange white green, each colour neatly painted as a horizontal stripe, now reeks of ammonia and mosses grow along the fissures. The white color has fallen apart, as flakes, at various points in time, when the sun was too hot or it rained heavily or whenever a young man newly in love, felt like making his love immortal by etching down his beloved’s name alongside his own. The green being closer to the ground is decorated in places by betel marks, red in colour, such that the green now looks like the political map of a democratic country, with spots of green separated by blood colored lines.

With time, the orange has slowly seeped down like slowly flowing lava consuming everything that falls in its path. Parts of white now appear orange-ish, with the wall giving the appearance of painter’s masterpiece that did not come out well in the end. The old and forlorn wall is often talked about by both the young and the old, as to how the wall was the dream of a few artists, who wanted it to compliment the journey to Tinsel. They wanted the travelers (going to Tinsel to realize their destiny) to stop by at the wall, sit in its shade and probably elongate the wall further along the road to make the journey even more beauteous.

But the wall today, made ugly by the fissures, patches from color that has peeled off, strong smell of ammonia and the red marks, now appears like a blood thirsty stinking monster, waiting to gobble down any human soul that passes it.

Its time to repaint.

The Snitch

In the game of quidditch, the snitch is third and the most important of all balls. It is the job of the seeker to catch hold of the snitch and as soon as that happens, the game ends. In real life, all of us irrespective of our gender, position, age and background are in search of our own snitch. It may be wealth, success, tranquility, leisure, pleasure, love, gain, glory etc. etc. etc. The list is endless. Just like the seeker, we need to be alert and quick to grab hold of the snitch. If we are too lazy to move or too distracted to look out for the snitch we shall miss an opportunity that might be decisive in determining the outcome of our life/game.

Each of these hunts for our snitch, ultimately boils down to a process of introspection followed by a period of evolution. The first step is always the identification of your goals followed by a series of attempts to achieve them. It is just like chasing a snitch when you see it. You may not be able to get hold of it the first time, or second time or the thousandth time. But each time you make an attempt to grab it, you learn something new about the snitch. You learn how fast it flies, how quickly it can turn, the response time, the effect of wind on its speed etc. All of this information will ultimately help us to reach closer to catching that elusive high flying treasure.

Those who understand the game of snitch are the ones who ultimately end up catching it. Only those who have the patience and determination to chase it are the ones who will be able to grab it.

‘All of us are like actors on stage, and there is only one thing that we should do. Play our character and leave the stage with a smile.’