THINGS IN LIFE: THAT ARE PRICELESS

I seem to be in a very retrospective mood. So here goes...I have done a lot things in life that have been given adjectives such as "stupid", "crazy", "loser" and so on ... you get the idea. Now when I look back at them I regret a few, I laugh at a few, and for some I laugh... then smile and ask myself " WTF was I thinking ". But in some stupid way I am glad because I can say " yeah man I have been there done that " sounds cool right??... but my friends and Jayan and Nitin will tell you with me its more a case of "hey... I was also there re..."

My top moments in no specific order are:

The final of the cricket tournament during my first year of college, played a perfect tourney till the last ball of the final. Opening batsmen... Opening bowler... crucial runs, crucial wickets, good catches I had done it all but... then it all changed within the space of one ball.. the last ball. 1 ball 3 runs to win the batsmen hits the ball in the air straight in to my hands I still remember like it was yesterday ... that too in slow motion. The ball went in and then right out.

During my undergrad days I was in the bad habit of getting a kick ridiculing the so called "popular" girls of the college. This habit of mine came back to bite me in my 2nd year when my really close friends started dating the very girls I made fun of ....( for the record they all found what I said funny... and added to it). And then all of them conveniently dumped the whole thing on me and yours truly was vilified for the remaining years of college.

I also seem to suffer from a disease called “foot in your mouth". Symptoms include saying in the wrong things at the wrong time, not being able to keep your mouth shut on issues that might strike an emotional chord ... you get the picture. When I was in school I had this teacher who a very heavy accent. So once she asked us study for an upcoming exam while she was sitting in class. I was preparing for the exams with my friends and suddenly felt this urge to ridicule her pronunciation, which I did. Only problem being I was sitting on the table on the 1st row with back facing the teacher totally oblivious to her presence at decibel level which give Pavarotti a complex.

I guess I never learnt my lesson. In college I was in the room of one my friends and everyone was looking at snaps of the "popular" girls and again I could not control my urge to say something. So I went on and on about how that girl was over rated. All the time I was oblivious to my roomie kicking me to hint for me to stop, as one of the people present there was her boyfriend. (Thankfully he was a smaller guy so ... i dint get beaten up...)

I once travelled to Bangalore to drop a friend of mine ( the point is the friend was a she... ) I had reservations for my journey to Bangalore but had none for the journey back. Being in college just having been bitten by the travel bug I decided to take general ticket for my return journey, I had travelled general many a time to chennai so how bad could this be?? Oh did I mention that this return journey would happen only after 10 in the night!! Something I forgot even then, to the extent I did not check the name of the train that I would have to take back. So I reached Bangalore at 9 PM dropped my friend back at the station by 9.30. After which my ordeal began first, I asked chaiwalla when the next train was to Vellore was he told me there was one 12.00am and another at 1.30am. Now the problem was what do I do till then?? So I decided to kill time I shall shuttle between Bangalore Cant station and Bangalore city by hoping on to trains that come ( I assumed that all trains will pass through both... thankfully my choices did).

It was time for the 1st train, I walked myself to the backend of the platform to board the general compartment. As the train passed me I felt it was overly packed, that was till I saw the general compartment. It was so packed that the door could not be opened or rather the people in it were not willing to open it. I quickly told myself "let’s just take the other one". As I was waiting for the next train I began to panic what if the next train had similar situation?? My panic was made worse when the cop working the platform told me that I need to get on to this train or leave the station. I had only 150 RS in my pocket so a lodge was out of the question the other station Bangalore city was too far. I prayed to god to somehow get me on the next train. The train pulled in to the station it was pretty crowded but somehow I managed to get myself in to the general compartment rather I was forced in to it by the crowd which had gathered to board the train behind me which I had not realized was quite large. Thus my ordeal began.... The only place that I could find to put my butt down was close to the loo. It seemed to be vacant for a long time so I though damn people are stupid ... quickly rushed over there and sat down. But after 15 minutes or so I realized why it was not taken the smell emanating fro m the loo was just awful. The guy on the opposite had in my opinion not been introduced to the concept of bathing. So I sat there for 5 1/2 hours not being able to move to another place as the only other place was next to the door which was suicidal for me due to a lack of warm clothing (it was late November and yes I feel cold very easily). That was last time Idecided to travel general on a night train.

Bottom line even though these things did not turn out too well for me ... I am glad they happened and I actually find them to be priceless.
And yes there are a lot more of them!!! but for now these will do.

POLITICIANS REALLY LOSE THE PLOT AT TIMES!!!!

I got up this morning to read about what is going on in India. I was for the lack of better adjective shocked, to see that jet airways had layed off over 900 employees and more were in offing. It dawned on that the financial mess of western world has implications ven in India. I guess it price of globalisation. But what really shocked me were the headlines that followed it. 

1. Raj Thackery threatens to ground jet airways.

2.Mayawati & Sonia exchange blows

3.RS Mp Kanimozhi submits resignation letter to promote Sri Lankan tamil issue (DMK vociferous about support)

4.Homosexuality should be legalised says Health minister Ramadoss

ok.. I need a moment to let this all sink in. My first reaction was wow a lot can happen in one day.

I never knew that a politican holding no postion of adminstrative power or significance can make claims of grounding a entire ailine fleet. Oops!! I forgot in India it is possible to do so.. or should I say it is possible in Mumbai and West Bengal. This is coming from the same man who said north Indians should be driven out of Mumbai. In my opinion such persecution of an ethnic community makes a man no different from Hitler. But for him to dictate how a private firm operates is also preposterous. And the reason he is able to make such absurd statements is because people like you and me do not ask him to shut up!! So shut up..... and if people feel they have been dealt a bad deal then go to judiciary and not involve politics with it.

Behan Kumari Mayawati ji and Sonia Gandhi need to grow and stop with this game of out doing each other. Please people you represent the nation , this is not the way heads of state behave. I mean you have elections coming up in a few months who ever is not good will go... is that not democracy. You have no need to wash dirty linen in public by banning one from trying to play in in others back yard. I think both of more pressing issues of inflation, hunger & poverty etc to deal with. Please ladies you both have been put on the list of the worlds most powerful women, please do not let your ego get the better of the argument of who should have been ranked higher.

This one is my favourite, politicians here want to support a freedom movement (LTTE) which takes the life of many innocent people. The same organisation that assinated our leader. The question is not if their cause is justified or not but If we did support them how different are we from Pakistan,  who do the same in Kashmir. They apparerenly support the Kashmiri's fight against injustice and for freedom. Again may be, the ruling party in Taml Nadu  DMK should concentrate on issues of the state rather than trying to voice their support for tamils in Sri Lanka. They need to remember that their loyalty lies with Indians and not with cultural background of tamil. The daughter of the party leader resigning her post to voice her discontent with respect to the issue, makes you wonder where this is all going???

And last but not the least our great health minister, after jostling for control over AIIMS  with its vice chancellor, banning smoking on screen, now banning smoking in public,  wanting movie stars to stop drinking on screen and many more ideas which i hae no clue about. The man has finally out done himself. He wants to legalise homosexuality... yes folks it is illegal in India to be gay.

It is not that I am against it but the timing that astounds me. I actually do not know what to say.... if he is right or wrong. Are we mature enough to accept it?? it is one thing to say yes in a flash but in a society,  which is still coming to terms with live in realtionships and so on... The issue homsexuality may be a little more than what we can handle. May be Mr. Ramadoss should deal with increasing trend of AIDS, the fact that more 17 states in the country have alarming conditions of malnutrition and hunger as declared by a recent world report. It went on to say that things in certain states were as bad as the situation in th african country Chad. Government hospitals are no where close to being respectable.

I think these itself are enough food for thought.  

So please my respected country I request to handle more pressing issues that face are nation rather than play to galleries.  

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY: BEING AN AGGIE

I seem to be suffering from a very bad case of writers's block. And I write this post with the intention to write my way out this rut. I feel I have been whinning since the time I have got here but one thing I feel good about here is the University. Texas A&M University is regarded as one of the top universities in the USA. 

Life at Texas A&M University for an international student is about understanding of two   words "Tradition" & "History". Once you understand the context of these words, everything falls in to place like the pieces of a jig-saw puzzle. The college is over 100 years old, to say the campus is gigantic would be an understatement with no parallel. The moment you set foot on the campus the history and culture of the place just leaves you in a state of awe. Everything from a bench on the walkway to the university dinning hall has a story associated with it. 

The students of  Texas A&M as reffered to as aggies, this comes from the fact that initially the college specialised in the field of Agriculture and Mechanical sciences. Even though the university has branched out, it still retains those letters (A&M) as a link to its past. The college has every rich military tradition, with a large number of its alumni having served and serving in the armed forces with great distinction. That tradition is carried forward today by the student section know as the Cadet of Corps ( similar to the NCC in INdia but way more serious & at college level). Watching these men and women in uniform with their boots and spurs everyday can and will leave you in awe.

The core values of an aggie are loyalty, integrity, excellence, leadership, selfless service and respect. These are not just some words that go up on a board, these values are something that all students take to their hearts and really adhere to. This is evident from their helping nature, the manner in which they greet you even if they know you or not and their ability to instill the same in you. The one thing I learnt here is that age is no bar when it comes to sports and sport can be played at any time. In my first few weeks here i used to play soccer with certain older men in of the many open grounds in the campus. I was flabbergasted to find that these people where professors over the age of 50 who only play on weekdays between 12:45 to 2:00 in the afternoon( My reaction exactly, considering it as hot as vellore here).

 

I also realised that an optimistic sports fan is a personality disorder which affects a lot of people beyond the realm of cricket in India. The college football Team presently is not a powerhouse like many other teams in Texas but it once was one of the most feared teams for its punishing defense. The days of glory have long since passed but here every match brings with it an air of expectation among the fans that today things will change and we will be begin our climb back to the top ( reminds you of our cricket team does it not). The football stadium is called Kyle Field and it would not be justice done if I were to describe it in words.  All I can say you should be there to see 84000 fans wearing maroon standing all through the game cheering their team regardless of the score. 

Basically the moment you enter campus the school spirit just takes over. The feeling that you belong to this larger entity just engulfs you. Soon you will see that your wardrobe is being taken over by the color maroon, saying howdy is not something that is strange to you any more and you want to get tickets for every home game and if not even the local radio will suffice. 

I am sure you get the picture of what I am trying to say... there is a lot more traditions over here like the bonfire, yell practice, yell leaders, rivalries with Texas austin and so on I will write about them in the time to come. But as of now all I will say is this,  here at Texas A&M you will get an expeirence that you will cherish and enjoy for rest of your life. Being an aggie is a lot more than just being a student.