How to survive 2017 (An overview of 2016)

2016 could easily be called the ominous year (exceptions of the plaque and world wars). With the clear disgust, disapproval and disconcern about the year, all of us are the waiting for the last few days to pass like sand through fingers. Carrie Fisher dying seemed to be the cherry on the cake collapsing under its own weight.

I don’t want to be chased by an angry mob millennials, but I honestly did have a decent 2016. Which qualifies me to write a guide to how to survive the coming year, 2017. Come on guys be a little excited, if anything, atleast for the wild parties on 31^st and for those of you who go to sleep at 10:30 just to rebel, or spend time in peace; I see you, I see you good.

Well I could sure make a list but that is too boring even for my taste. Secondly by no means this might work for everyone so just enjoy my mindless chatter and my un-asked for expert opinion.

Now you must know I survived my 2016 because of my 8 month long vacation which stretched on till August. Thus most of my time was wasted away in staring at my laptop screen mindlessly or coloring on the walls. I read books and thus tried to stay in touch with my hunger for knowledge. I went into a coma where my assimilation of knowledge was just like one listening to music. Taking in the words, but not the meaning.

This seems like a complain, well it is, but not as much as it is a lesson. I learnt that reading, getting active information is the key to wisdom. Now I aint trying to sound like a 90 year old man or a monk, just giving some good ‘ol advice, read as much as you can, because nothing adds more character than books.

I went through a lot of anxiety and in fact developed a hysteric sense of humor due a project taken up by me. Obviously a success, I think the biggest lesson of the year would be to have patience towards people and situation, because in the end, everything ends well. Putting it into perspective, waiting for your order at the favourite restaurant is always worth it.

And with those wise words, developed a new emotion, we millennials constantly seem to be experiencing is “ahhh fuck that” often exclaimed with droopy eyes and bushy hair. This taught me that some situations just need you to kick back and relax because these people or things don’t need your time and energy, because it is not going to add to you as a person.

I saw way too many posts on social media where people expressed their reluctance to go out there and put effort into their week or day. I did the exact opposite and I can rightfully say I did conquer each day everyday. All y’all got to do is get out of bed and look at the glass as half full.

Trust me it works.

As philosophical as this post is getting, I think it’s okay, three days to the year end and I can assure you I am now a much calmer and happier person. Honestly with this age of social media and all information always floating around in the car, we as humans still failed to acknowledge the real news of the world and instead dwelled in the media spun stories about war, politics and economics. 

Obviously as general public, that’s the information we have access to but it’s up to us to not jump on to bandwagons we don’t know the destination or origin of. It’s time for us to get smarter and put our mind to more useless things than scrolling on Instagram at 3 am.

It’s clear that most things went wrong in the year. The uproar about differences in religion. Un deserving presidential candidates, shadow of war in the middle east we always pray for, political unrest in India and its fight with Pakistan and on a more personal level loss of motivation, death of our favorite singers and actors, stupid medical examination goof ups, student suicides and demonetization.

But keeping in mind all the unfortunate events we had a lot of good news to look forward to in 2016 too. PV Sindhu’s win at the Olympics, wider acceptance of the LGBTQ community, beautiful Canadian Prime minister opening borders to refugees and other countries following, Consequences of Brexit are subjective, introduction of a digital India, more woman centric films like Dangal, Hidden figures. Uber and other startups rose in India (oh thank thy lord for Uber) Sure war still exists, but with collective effort of our main nations, 2017 will be a year where second world countries become strong in defense and sociopolitical situations, not sure about the first world countries.

Sure the world seems to be on a tip of collapsing, but I can’t guarantee what sort of year 2017 will be. But the least we can do is have a positive outlook and stop binging on mindless videos and go out and breath and more aware. Start thinking about the earth and where our individual actions lead the world.

We don’t want to be only known as the generation that killed the Great Barrier Reef.

Oh and a Happy New Year!

  

My Un-Ladylike Chronicles- Part 3

It’s not very pleasing for a girl to be complaining or pointing out obvious flaws in system, but here I am, on the third part of my series. And I got one more to go.

If you are wondering what today’s topic is going to be, you were right if you guessed the Olympics 2016.

OLYMPICS 2016.

An event where casual Indians complained and cheered as the Indian athletes underwent a range of struggles and emotions. And so did we. We were one with the pride of our country and if you were a follower of the games, you, like me, had never felt more patriotic before.

But I wonder. What do we know where do the athletes go through? A casual Indian is present just in the celebration of victory or the funeral of a loss. We all understand the frustration of every loss that Indian athletes underwent but just as onlookers and not as an individual standing in the middle of your battle ground while the crowd chants the name of your opponent. While your people cry in despair since you apparently were made responsible for their emotions.

That’s what the problem is.

Why is a hardworking athlete the reason for your disappointment towards your country when you disappointed them all along? Did you know how long they trained? How much they sacrificed? Did you know how many legislative ristrictions they had to face to get across the pacific? Did we make it any easier for them?

We didn’t. we didn’t do shit for them till they stood on the podium and claimed the metal; that’s when we truly claimed them as our own.

I am talking about majority of Indians, including myself. I never knew any of these sportsmen and women. PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik, Dipa Karmarkar and OP Jaisha were simply a future pride to come and I feel ashamed for not following their progress upto their victories. For then I would truly feel like a part of the celebration.

I don’t need to remind anyone of comments made by famous figures and our ministers and Neta’s barely batting an eye towards the plight of our dehydrated runners. Anyone can point out the obvious flaws of lack of systematic support or any acknowledgement towards the players by the government until they proved themselves. I know a solution to that Netaji, how about you start tweeting with the right names and spellings of our victors?

It was clearly outrageous; the lack of support by the government as pointed by OP Jaisha furiously. Haven’t we really thought about this? Isn’t the real problem our attitude towards sports or the lack of one? If only more young men and women were pushed into this art and more coaches were supported financially and with better infrastructure may be Piers Morgan wouldn’t really have a chance to tweet what he did.

With 2 winners, 2016 should be a year of start of incremental improvement in our sports system and outlooks until we fly to Tokyo.

And sure lets address how WOMEN shone out bright as they wrestled the shaming of Indian status and emerged and saved the day. Suddenly all of us value the “girl child” even more. World take a hint already. We are here.

Not only did the bharatiya naari shine, but all the women who struggled to get on the field, the track and the mat and finally stood amidst of the supporters, they won. They won when everyone wasn’t rooting for a man or a conventional sport, but when faces were painted in the honor of a sport other than cricket or football.

Badminton

Gymnastics

Running

And the myriad girls who will be inspired to enter the gym despite of all the boos and raucous laughs. Their hearts were won. That’s when we all won; we are one step closer to the pride of being a woman. Carolina Marin.

 Israel. 2 bronzes, with half their delegation women. Yarden Gerbi.

If you don’t know these names, keep up. We are moving ahead too fast.

And oh I m proud of all the athletes who won and made their country proud. Men or women. But as far as india is concerned, I m going to be biased and say it.

Our ladies seized the day.

Image Courtesy: 

www.rio2016.com

www.vox.com

www.news18.com

Fragmented tries of the ambitious.

Everybody seems to have a plan but me.

With all the craziness surrounding the admissions it seems to me that everyone has forgotten what it is like to take a deep fresh breath and enjoy the sunlight and what a delight it is to actually taste the food you eat.

I probably know this because all I do is…laze around.

Does that mean I’m unambitious?

Looking at all the medicine and engineering aspirants, us, the animals away from that herd feel like our hustle isn’t enough. Well to break it to you all, I am definitely an above average student with dreams to fulfill which are different from being able to eat that last piece of cake in my fridge. I do see myself as a CEO and an empowered woman, but currently it’s just me sitting on the sidelines looking at zombie looking young adults race for those scarcely provided seats.

Reminds me of an enraging thing.

The 9 or so suicides that were committed just because of the JEE mains (First of the many exams to be given to get into IIT) marks were eligible but NOT GOOD ENOUGH. The sudden change in the medical examination syllabus and in the exam itself, two days before the exam, leaving thousands of aspirants preparing since 2 years, totally unprepared.

Our students are trying, killing themselves in isolation and depriving themselves of real practical experiences just to grab a seat in the top or at least decent colleges so that they can secure an unforeseeable future. The ratio of medical seats to students is 1:0.08 (approx.). I think the government needs to be reminded the ration of doctor per patient of 1:50000.

I think it’s time for Indians to be a little more quality oriented and little less result oriented. Our numbers are only increasing because students are killing themselves.

But then this series of surprising events happened. Many IIT eligible kids changed streams to arts and commerce, to pursue a much more involved interest. Well it partially comes down to the society to stop showing medicine and engineering as the most prestigious professions so that parents don’t need to spend so much money and time to bring the child’s spirit to vain before he realizes that’s not what he wants to do.

And well, if you are wondering, it enrages me because how stubborn our society can be and how people are pushed to limits from where one can’t even see any other possibilities which could possibly be their calling. And when it comes to me being a little foggy about my future, perhaps I’m not; sure we might not seem as focused as thousands out there, but I think there is a plan for kids like me who just go with what their gut tells them (gut feelings are 100% of the time wrong when it comes to a situation based on chance).

That being said, we can charm our way through. Don’t worry I have given exams myself to get myself in a good place. For now let’s just look forward to the future and the angry mob of parents that might chase me down tomorrow.

HAPPY ADMISSIONS EVERYBODY!

Writer's Note: I felt the need to write this; I cant explain why. Thus m sorry this is more like a diary entry.

10 things that need to be appreciated about India.

There are perhaps a lot of misconceptions about India that originate from feeble resistant minds. We are seventh largest economy in nominal GDP, the largest economy and perhaps one of the richest countries culturally, socially and economically. India has its own film industry, cultural identity (in fact, several), tourist destinations and its own galore of intelligence as proved by the millions of Indians out there inventing, changing and leading the world’s outlook towards almost every field you can come up with.

With our first expedition to Mars, I think it is now it’s time to address the elephant in the room.

STOP associating India with filth, dirt, poverty and spicy food. This country is more than naked children, garbage and rapists that are being oh so publicly shamed worldwide. Yes, the social inequality and inability to develop in some parts of the country has left some communities and cities lagging behind, with their own shares of crime and shameful behavior. Many crimes and shortcomings have been prominent but really doesn’t the world admire the chicken tikka, our youth culture and even our gullible engineers?

Succumbing to this aggravation, I’m going to filter down a 100 things to 10 things about India that need to be known, that are more lovable than our accent.

1. India is a very young country. Our population is on the rise and more than half are less than 25 years old. And yet! We manage to keep old aging men with backward thinking to rule over the parliament who remind us about our democratic right once every four years. But! With a growing youth it is clear that the country’s social norms are facing change. Crime against women, importance of a girl child, cleanliness, education are all ideas instilled and nourished by today’s young who have the courage to question the wrong “values” of the country.                
2.  Not all of us are engineers. Even though majority of children aspire to become Initials or want to become doctors, not all of us can keep our food down looking at blood. Recently, I found my aunt glaring at my sister’s wish to become a writer; surprised that it’s no longer a retirement plan. So refrain from asking us about your weird mole or math doubts.                                          
3. We love education! Children fight for their right to education. While we complain, children walk miles bare feet and in scorching heat to learn the basics of addition and subtraction. Nowhere will you see girl fighting their families who are keen to marry them off for just a few more years of studying. We want to grow and not be gullible with our head buried in superstitions. Where will you see determination like that?                                                              
4.  Our food is great. Well you all already know that. But chicken tikka is not all that there is to it. Oh hell no! Indian food has sub categories: South Indian, Punjabi, Goan, Gujurati, Assami, Kashmiri and a lot more I can’t list. My mouth is already watering. I’m going to get some curry and naan bread.  

   

   Yum!

                                                                                                                       
5.  We don’t travel elephants, camels, horses or have slaves. We don’t. Period. Just no. We have malls, cars and luxury better than any other country. Stop focusing on the poor.                                                               
6.   Have you seen Indian women? Mothers, house makers; amazingly skilled jugglers between their professional and private lives. Besides, well poised, most, educated, beautiful and graceful. Do I really need to elaborate? Have you seen Madhubala? Our women CEO’s? Pratibha Patil? Sunita Williams?                                                                                                                                
7. India has a vivid history. Stretching back before independence, the Mughal rule to the history of literature and arts which remain preserved in museums. We had gems like Rabindranath Tagore, Munshi Premchand and still living sharped tongued personalities like Shashi Tharoor and Shobha de. Bollywood is the most vivid far reaching industry. Well, yes people shouldn’t randomly break into songs but who said films weren’t larger than life? And Bollywood is not the only industry.    
   
                                                                                                                            
8.  Indians still believe in tradition. The sweet smell of incense wakes us up every day. The old stories narrated by the old holds the fabric of values together. Every festival isn’t merry making but the preservation of millions of beliefs and cultures in one land. While one society celebrates, other watches in merry.
   
   There is disregard and a little discrimination with so many castes fighting, no country has stayed in as much in harmony with so many differences as much as India.                                                                                                                                            
9.  The use of mobile phones are on the rise. We have more mobile connections than tooth brushes! This is an indication of our technologically driven thirst and hunger to develop and become a proclaimed country who doesn’t stand behind in the global race.                                    
10.  KHUMBH MELA IS VISIBLE FROM SPACE! Can you believe that? It’s unbelievable! Bandra Worli sea link has metal wires as long as earth’s circumference! We found water on the moon. Freddie mercury was born Parsi and Ben Kinsley was Krishna Pandit Bhanji. We have the human calculator. And she is a woman.

World, beat that.

Madhubala

Images courtsey: Google, Photobucket. Hongkiat.

India's story of patience.

There is no story. Indians don’t know the meaning of patience. What is patience you ask us? Waiting for atleast 2 people to checkout before cutting a line. What is patience? Forcing your car between 2 others perpendicular to the whole traffic, within 2 minutes of the signal turning red. What is patience? Rushing into decisions that have a downward effect on the whole nation.

Don’t ever ask us what patience means. We have never known the meaning.

It is a universal problem, however seems to be more concentrated on us. God seemed to have forgotten to give us this virtue. May be we are not one of the worse cases out there, but we aren’t the most saintly ones either. As much caring one is, there is no patience unless it concerns each one of us. The traffic jams would probably be less of a puzzle if we learnt what the white lines on the road mean, how lane discipline works. Stampedes, deaths and accidents wouldn’t be such a bad problem if instead of panic, patience and rationality crept into our minds, and instead of making a situation worse, there could be a rainbow of solution shining above our head.

But no wait! Let’s just all rush into a store like bulls and throw stuff off the racks after seeing them and not finding them pleasing. Because patience.

Well this outburst comes from the accumulated personal experiences which, I’m sure we all can relate to. The important underlying truth behind this behavior that we have been overlooking is a selfish motive. We all do things because apparently it will help us meet an individual desire, but what we forget is that we aren’t alone in this world. Nor are we as individual in the center of it. It is ironic how everyone is capable about advices about patience and etiquettes but no one in the right situation remembers their own advice. Better said than done right?

If we did think about the effect of our behavior on others, then we would be benefitted ourselves. People would be more forgiving, foregoing and kinder. Rushing to make money in a faster way will only reproduce more hungry mouths, more tattered homes and more broken families. On an even larger level religion would not be the excuse for our anxious restless minds, and the real meaning of patriotism would still be intact.

Less soldiers would be rushed off to war, if countries would negotiate patiently. Laws wouldn’t have to be ENFORCED on people since everyone would understand it better. There would be more agreement and solutions then a worsening economy.

Well like Aristotle famously said, patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. But sweet fruits haven’t ripened yet. They won’t till us as individuals take steps to improvement. Because urging no longer works. Actions speak louder and inspiration is the weapon to get results. India needs results now, leading as a nation should be our aim not individual motives. We have dug our own graves and this our own fault.

Something needs to be done. We all are running out of patience.

Few words: Eid Mubarakh. :)