Careless Whispers

Too much of anything is bad, the same goes true for polythene bags, a boon at their inception they have become one of the biggest pollutants in the world. Recently the BMC (Brihan-Mumbai Muncipal Corporation) banned the use of all polythene bags in Mumbai, in the aftermath of the floods it might seem to be too late and too little, but atleast we have a start. Its not that the civic authorities here and across the country were blind to this big nuisance. But the people always fail them, the same people who were worst affected because of the floods, and the same people who very easily shrugged the entire blame away on the govt. and others responsible, but are we ourselves not the "others responsible"? Let me explain

A little research brought forward the following facts. This is not the 1st time that BMC is enforcing this ban, 5 years ago around the same time of the year after similar flash floods (though a much smaller one) non recyclable polythene bags (thinner than 20 micros) were banned. After massive movement against the polythene bags that imposed heavy fines for defaulters the city experienced a huge dip in consumption of this non-bio degradable menace, but as the authorities relaxed and the ever complaining public got an opportunity, the bags soon found there way back into every nook and corner of the city. Infact I could find no reference to any declaration revoking the ban, so what we have now is the ban being reimposed when its already on (I might be wrong here, but I hope the point is made " without danda, result is anda").

Agreed that it is a little uncomfortable without the bags, but nothing more than that. Its not as if all plastic bags are being banned, only the non-recyclable ones are covered in the ban, also substitutes are available, reusable/ recyclable/ cheap ones. So is this too much to ask for a better tomorrow? Why wait for a ban in your town or city, cant we take this responsibility without it being thrust upon us? I’m not asking for you to give up its use entirely but is it necessary to ask for a polythene bag every time you have to get the smallest of the things? I’m sure the age-old excuse " ek mere use nahi karne se kya hoga" will come up, but it has to begin somewhere, why not with you? Infact I’m sure, if these bags are not used indiscriminately the need for their ban might never come up.

Continuing with my fascination of kgp and DFE, here is the last addition to a series of entries based in and around the wing situated on the eastern side of the farthest block in the oldest hall in the IIT Community.

The most often quoted statement quoted in our wing was made by a drunk man who wouldn’t have cared to remember it the next day, had we not been there to capture the golden words as they were spoken it would've been lost in oblivion. Strokes of inspiration come at the most unassuming of times, but this time the occasion was as big as the words themselves. Hall day celebration after more than a decade and testified by almost all who were present there as the best that was ever organised, was no mean feat. For us the satisfaction was manifolds coz we were at the core of it, like we had been in everything from the time we had stepped into the hall. All illumination competitions, Live cricket world cup telecast in the Netaji, Puppy’s election and then the subsequent ones, both the hall days, Akhada, all chaoses, all patching up, we never thought abt right or wrong, doing the stupidest to the most awe inspiring things without the blink of an eye, for each other and for the hall.

Now that I’m no longer a part of the hall I often wonder was it all worth it? Even though all looks very nice and glossy from the outside there were moments in my tenure as the president, which I would like to forget. Leadership came naturally to a wing which could boast of 6 hall secys, 1 gymkhana secy, 1 MCM, 3 LCM, 10 inter hall (sports) players, 8 inter hall (soc ‘n’ cult) representatives, 3 inter IIT players who had together put uncountable hours for all big and small hall activities, even before they had started to live together. It was natural for people to have apprehensions about us acting as "studs", the same acts which prompted an applause in our 2nd year were later looked with skepticism. The simplest of things we did, was viewed as a political stunt, the frnds we had, if we stopped by to smile and talk with someone, while we never knew what was going on, grouping against us was almost complete. It came to us as a shock when we realised wat was on.

Fortunately, on our part we had never changed our perspective of the others, not that we liked everyone, but our likes and dislikes were never a secret. It was easy for us to carry everyone with us and finally it was not me alone or DFE alone, but the entire batch that was together in our endeavour which finally led to a truly golden year. G.C, elections, basky court, canteen, stationary shop all became a reality. The journey of the 13 itne sahi/stud/chutiye log was a most memorable one.

Regrets?? Wat regrets???

Well the list for both are long, but here wat comes to my mind immediately

10 things I miss about kgp (final year)

1. Wingies : for all the right and the wrong reasons
2. Comp : even thou I sit in front of comp for the entire day in the office, but the movies, the serials, the comfort of my bed and games on LAN are all gone
3. DC++ : of course when u talk abt Comp, u talk abt LAN, and LAN w/o DC++ ??? unimaginable
4. Coffee shop : After classes or in between them or while they were going on
5. Bhat : Wing body meetings, yagna sessions, futile discussions while in the emotional state varrying from smiling to very happy. after that u don’t remember anything...
6. Cheddies @ nite, splly after the bike happened
7. Harry’s after the long practice sessions
8. Sleep : whenever, wherever…
9. Poltu: ah the nites spend in RK, Azad, Lallu, and then ofcourse, VS, the ruthna and manana of SAM, BC Roy, the drilling in Tata sports, basky courts, and ofcourse the sleepless nites in DFE wondering if I would be successful
10. Bhajans : "bhai bhajan ke saath puja karne mein jo suvidha thi who ab khin aur kahan"

5 things I dont

1. Some of the most forgetable ppl of my life
2. The dirty politics that got into hall. (gymkhana mein sab chalta hai, hall mein baat jamti nahi yaar)
3. The famous non males
4. Attending classes
5. Being tagged F***er, by u know who (not sure abt this one)
   

The last days of Kgp for me were perhaps the most sentimental I had ever been, 1st watching the 3rd years go followed by the 2nd years and then finally the final years one by one as and when their Project eval got over,but the sadest part was when my wingies started to trickle out. We went to see off each and every one. Finally when I was leaving all that was left of DFE was on the station, some of them hurriedly filling the scrap books, some looking blank, some trying to crack jokes and others trying to laugh at them. I had come to Kgp for the 1st time with a drop of tear in my eyes, and i was leaving it for the last time in much the same way.

Just before I left I decided to maintain a diary to record my final few days in Kharagpur, I had decided to explore Kgp and do things I had not done in the last 4 years, and to try to make the most of the last few days in the company of my wingies, I went to the insti gol-c, roof top of the main insti building, Chem top amongst others. One particular dinner was memorable when we had brought food from Punjabi Dhaba, arranged tables and had food like a family on a dinning table.

I found some of those diary entries in a mail I had sent to a frnd though most of it is still safe in my computer in Ranchi

------------------------------------------------------
30th april
this is one of the very few occassions that i have decided to make a diary entry, but then u are not always on a crossroad, on one side is the future waiting for us once we step out the insti for this final time, never to come back again,on the other we have the present and the past associated with this lovely place.

kgp is coming to an end. four years of the life we spent over here is finishing, it all seemed so distant yesterday wen we were partying the whole nite, but today when we woke up to realise that half the hall is already empty. people, we might not c ever again in life, the same ppl we spend so much time with the best 4 years of our lives, are now gone, its hard not to become sentimental.

today after dinner in biloos, we(me with jha and shukla) went to the insti gol
chakkar(the 1st time in 4 yrs, 4 me), as we sat there gazing the stars and the
impressive main building, INDIAN INSTITUE OF TECHNOLOGY written at the top,it was hard not to get a little nostalgic. back in the hostel the inspired discussion with harsh, jha and shukla abt the campus, the insti, the hall, the wonderful frnds we made here, all of which will be over in abt 15 more days made my eyes wet.

i hope tomorrow be more sane, and i can get on with the project work.


1st may
kgp life really sucks in vacations (irrespective of wheter its ur last few days or not), when u come out in the corridor and c all the lights of the block facing u, switched off, all curtains drawn a strange lonliness sets in. and then there is food. mess food here like everyplace else is loathed but then at least u have someplace where u can go and have food without worrying abt paying then and there. in the whole day i had just one meal, that too a dosa and 2 cutlets, and then 1 tinku from cheddis late in nite. money constraint becomes huge specially in a wing like ours where ppl are perineally broke.

coming to the more sentimental part or the real reason y i started writing the memoir, seeing ppl leave is becoming more and more difficult (as if living here wasnt pain enough). now its almost like its only the final years that are still here.

today i started with the proj work, worked a lil slept a lil and so on, but then by early in the morning i could conc a lil and now i hope that the momentum i have gained in the last few hrs can continue from now onwards and the thing gets over soon.
its 7 in the morning as i'm signing off to go to sleep.


2nd may
3 days in a row it has to be a record of sorts. anyway here i am sitting in front of the comp typing todays entry. well the day began for me at arnd 3 45, and then i had to rush to my guide, seeing how peaceful he is i sometimes wonder if there is something else goig on in there, some big plot to get me. anyway my proj is almost done now, 2 days at max, and then its all typing, the panel is also quite peaceful so it should not be v difficult. we have our proj eval on the 12th and have to submit the thesis on the same day, but am aiming to complete it by the 9th no last moment work this time.

no unusual happenings today, no more bye bye's no more farewells. the big news for the day was i heard about vaibhav saxena proposing to pujari, will have to remember and confirm it directly from her.

BTW today(3rd) is tripathis b'day, he brought cake tonite and we finished it up b4 half the wing could gather and in moments all signs of its existence were destroyed, a wing speciality that i'm not going to c any place else. nothing else happened in the day, no proj work atall but now as i'm putting in this entry i'm installing ms office as well, am planing to write some part of the thesis today itself. movies, games, and the familiar guilt feeling of not doing anything in the day, that was the day in short.

maintaining a diary is getting intresting, now that i've started enjoying it i think i'll continue writing in (atleast recent) future.


3rd may
well for the 1st time yesterday i was confident of maintaining my diary regularly and today i almost went to sleep without making an entry. eventhough it was an uneventful day with not much to write abt, but a man has got to do what he has got to do. i woke up relatively early today, b4 1, and then had lunch (after ages i think possibly for the 1st time since last wednesday) the regular at harry's. after food, it was desperate housewives, sleep, the insider, chatting, a lil orkuting, a lil thesis typing and then back to some more comp. life is so simple here, no worries, no thoughts, no responsibilities...

eventhough i tried to do some proj work but unfortunately it has got stuck bcoz of lack of a certain chart which i have to take tomorrow from my guide (thank god i had some excuse today, feels less bad this way).

nothing happened on taklus b'day. i think i hardly saw him, he's one hell of a person, when he gets into his shell then he needs no one, takes heed of no one, just lives his own life, hes made of some other stuff altogether, i dont know good or bad, but different for sure.

tomorrow i also intend to talk to gautam sinha abt the delay in L&T's offer letter, maybe he's got some confirmation of the rumours that our pay may be hiked :D.

signing off till tomorrow.


4th may
Its getting kinda boring, both the life over here and then obviously its description on the diary.on top of that my cards validity got over yesterday so no more phone calls, i think that was the only thing keeping me sane, i'll have to get a refill soon. in the morning i read a mail fwded by nandi that informed that our joining is most probably on the 14th of june in mumbai, so only abt a month to enjoy before the grinding begins.

i also went to JKB today to get the chart and got it too, but did not work on it, tomorrow i've set a target to complete the thing, so that day after tomorrow i can go to JKB with the full project. the typing will take a lil while but then i'll have 1 full week for it so it should not be a big deal.
went to the bank today so the days of counting coins before going out for a meal is over. had proper lunch in sahara today. and then slept a lot, a new series (CSI) has come and with nothing better to do i've started watching it, even though its kinda boring.

did lots of orkutig today, joined communities and did lots of
chutiyapa over there. besides that not much happened in the day.

nothing else that i can think of, i'm getting bored, not feeling sleepy, god knows wats got into me, cant get to sleep before 4 5 in the morning, i think i'll write some one a mail, long one apni frustness nikalne ke liye.

off till tomorrow, hope theres something to cheer about tomorrow, but if i do only proj work then i dont think there's going to be anything interesting, anyway lets leave that for the morrow, no use speculating

Changing form one phase of the life to the other is always a big step. At every such step we take we leave behind people, free ourselves of old ties, meet and make new friends and form new bonds. Both such major steps in my life is linked with Kharagpur, 1st when I came to Kgp and next when I stepped out of it.

After JEE mains I was confident of a decent rank and had set straight my priorities

• Get into IIT Powai
• Never study again
• A grl frnd
• Have a blast

Along with the monsoon that year came the JEE results and dampened my spirits, the result that year of entire Ranchi region was unsatisfactory, sure shot candidates had not made it, I had just managed to scrape thru, all my dreams looked shattered when I set foot for Kgp. When I was leaving Ranchi I had a tear in my eye, thou it was because of the realisation, that I was moving out of Ranchi for good, but it could also be because there was not much in Kharagpur that beckoned me, my thoughts were some what on the lines of

• Powai- no more
• Studies – (the whole point of going to Kgp was getting a Dep C, couldn’t not study at all)
• Grl frnd- no Mumbai, no city, no babes, no grl frnds
• Have a blast – in Kgp? U must be kidding

But life is not as cruel as it seems, "Bhagwan ke ghar dair hai andhair nahi", one by one things started happening

• Studies – I became less serious after the 1st sem, but it was only after the 1st year and a dept change did I give it up completely.
• Grl frnd – well could never really manage to get one, but wait till u hear what my frnds have to say for me LOTS OF GRLS FRNDS, still single, so it cant be that bad after all
• Blast in Kgp, - why not? Infact I sometimes wonder if I had taken any branch in some other IIT just to get rid of Kgp, could life be better than it was? Whatever anyone might have to say, but I’m sure what Kgp offers to you is completely unique, if u learn to make the most of it, campus life can never be better than what u live in Kgp.
• Finally as I took my 2nd major step, I landed in Mumbai, and as fate would have it (my belief in it strengthens the more I think about it) I got a job in Powai itself.

Only if I can improve upon the grl frnd part, everything that I had envisioned then would be fulfilled, but now that all of the above has become true, life has moved on and my priorities have changed. I hope that some time in the near future I would be able to talk of them as I talk abt these now.

what follows is fictitious story, resemblance of characters with anyone dead or alive is purely coincidental.

destiny/fate, do u believe in it? well some times i do sometimes i dont. but recent spate of incidents have firmed my belief in the same.

Recently 2 of my frnds, lets call them Gutado and Dhingrado had come to mumbai. Gutado had come to mumbai coz he was heading for Mangalore, where he wanted to be with his sister for rakhi, why he chose the route to be via mumbai? his brother is here, or maybe because of the recent heartbreaking news(thats a story on its own) he wanted a change and what better place than mumbai to brood over the cruelties of life, while surrounded by gourgeous testosterone stimulants?

This xplains Gutados presence in mumbai, but what abt Dhingrado? he did not have a sister nearby, did he? or was his heart broken recently? definetly a brother in mumbai? No No No, he had come to meet his beloved frnd (me ofcourse, unbelievable? well, no further comments).

Not wasting much more time let me come directly to the point of how and where destiny becomes important.

Gutado is a very social creature, he has frnds all over india, and he doesnt mind roaming around and meeting them. so while his arrival had been via Mumbai his return trip was unplaned to the xtent that he could have been back either via hyd, via mumbai or via pune depending on his selection of the prey (read frnd) he wanted to grace.

Dhingrado is more reserved when it comes to making frnds, but is very faithful to them, willing to be with this one spl frnd of his for the entire trip, which was planed in a working week. (another incongruity, for he never bunks classes). Dhingrado does not like missing classes so he had got his tickets done for saturday so he neednot miss anymore classes.

Where is the bloody destiny?

well here it comes,
On saturday out of the two trains that start at the same time from different stations from Mumbai to his college village, one got cancelled. As fate would have it, it was the train Dhingrado had decided to take for his trip back. I had earlier insisted Dhingrado must have something (to eat) in my house, but we did not get the time, on Sunday thou we (sorry I) had a whole day free but there was not much in the house except for eggs and Maggi, Dhingrado being a vegetarian, i decided to treat him with homemade butter maggi special, so despite his almost missing out from tasting the delicacies i could prepare, destiny made sure he got lucky.

Is this all?, Big deal

My remarks would also have been the same, but theres more to come.Dhingrado could not get a ticket for his village on Sunday, he got it thru an agent for monday, the agent took 200 xtra bucks but did not fulfill his commintment for a reserved birth, and since Dhingrado's W/L status was in the late 100 something he decided he would go back the next day, and this time it was on a confirmed ticket from Pune that he decided to commence his journey on tuesday evening. Gutado meanwhhile out of all places had decided he would go back via Pune, and this happy go lucky guy who is not aversed to bunking classes, out of all possible permutations and combinations had booked a ticket from the same city on the same train, on the same date.

A trip which had begun together is now about to end together, they might even get seats similar to the one in which they had come, Dhingrado for instance has a side upper birth, which was one of the two seats they had the last time, I havent got news from Gutado, but fate willing he might have the second seat exactly same as the other one they had.Now what do u call all this if not destiny?

I love Sundays, of course as the weekend nears the world takes a sigh of relief TGIF, but alas I don’t have that luxury coz for me Saturday is half day working, so the real weekend fun has to be delayed till Saturday evening. After the (compulsive) weekend blast comes Sunday. An entire day for ur self, to pamper ur self, without any tension of getting up early for work (or maybe not to get up at all). Leisurely go thru the newspaper for hours, reading every bit of (mis)information and all that is not useful, lazing around in the bed for hours together, listening to music (alas the TV and computer are still not here), let ur imagination run wild, think crap, write craper and publish the crapest for others to read. Do absolutely whatever you want, whenever u want to, with absolutely noone bossing around, on one at ur heels all the time, ready to bite ur arse if u falter.
A week without a Saturday woulld do, but without a Sunday its unfathomable

Its not only me who has got interested in blogging. (from what I perceive) Till recently the blog world was mapped be a select few, the spread was mostly thru the word of mouth (never underestimate its power as a strong marketing tool). But times are changing with people like me entering the arena the userbase is burgeoning.

Let me come to the point thou, y this blog? (BTW heres an interesting piece of trivia did u know that blogs are acronyms for WEBLOGS)

Well this Sunday HT carried out a full page on blogs/ blogging/ bloggers. What was of special interest thou is that the focal point was mostly Bridget Jones avtars. Apart from being interesting (full of write ups and links with sexual content, which I’ve compiled and put below for every1’s ease) it was also informative, my limited vocab got blessed with a new word, after chic lit, chic flick its not time for chic click. here are links to a few of the bold and beautiful (?) chic clicks and one by a mcp for all to enjoy

http://http://www.stephanieklein.blogs.com/
http://bridalbeer.blogspot.com
http://thecompulsiveconfessor.blogspot.com
http://thatonly.blogspot.com

http://killthewomen.blogspot.com

Disclaimer: The author is in no way responsible for what is written or not written in these blogs, as he had not personally checked them. If u have the time, interest and the patience to go ahead and search the blogs for steamy details its entirely ur prerogative.

the blog attempts to capture the plight of a normal mumbaikaar on the 27th of july 2005, the day when hell broke loose, and subsequently:



The story begins on an ordinary working day in Mumbai, Tuesday 26th July 2005, as the turn of events would have it that ordinary day became extra ordinary for most Mumbaikars:
I was busy with some urgent work and had not even gone out for lunch, being inside the office with all the curtains drawn I never knew what was going on outside. The rains had been going on since 12 but the real downpour began after around 1. At 4 PM when I was almost ready with my files, the current went off. I thought it was unusual but nothing more than that, but people had started packing their bags and leaving, I joined the crowd and got a lift from my boss, a Mr. Pawar. It was 3rd time in 3 days as we had been working late since last Saturday, but this time instead of the usual 2 of us we were 7 in the car. I was sitting in the front passenger side of the car, with a guy we had nicknamed Bhim (for obvious reasons). These new luxury cars are very good if u r 4-5, but for every extra person it really becomes uncomfortable. My body parts were twisted, making weird angles and the side of the seat with its hard contours was continuously pushing into my back hurting real badly. I couldn’t even change my position coz when I tried my muscles spasmed and in the middle of the road amidst heavy traffic and torrential rainfall I couldn’t even get out and strech my legs. The 1st route that we took was completely flooded so we took a u-turn, the next route was no better as we got stuck in a bumper to bumper traffic situation. One side of the road was overflowing with water so entire traffic had come on the other side and the congestion had worsened, anyway it didn’t make much of a difference. Coz except some vehicles taking a u-turn backwards there was no traffic from the other side. We saw walls being broken coz of the water flow, a car stuck in some hole submerged 2 3 ft. inside water and a tow truck pulling it out, which finally was managed after an hour of our arrival (and a wild guess that at least 2 3 hrs of actual trials, as the tow truck wouldn’t have been able to reach after that), it was a new Santro, jiski hogi uski to jaan atki hui hogi.

Meanwhile I decided I couldn’t take it any longer and came out of the car, another couple of guys followed and we decided to check out the traffic situation, and if there was any way out. There was hardly any space to even walk on the sides, while the strong water current prevented us from moving on the other side of the road. When we somehow reached the trouble area, the vehicles there looked like a jigsaw puzzle, some of them facing backwards some that had tries to turn their cars but eventually had given up. Just a little ahead we could see the reason for the traffic blockage, the road was sloping downwards and the area ahead was fully submerged in water. We went back with our report and after a little discussion we decided that we would walk back home. Bechare boss ka laptop bhi gaddi mein hi tha, but there was no option really, so he parked the car there itself and we started our march.

As we walked the water level kept on increasing inch by inch from toes to ankle and upto the knee and a little above. At the side of the road it was above waist height, people had tied ropes to the gates of their building while some held on to it near the center of the road. For moving in or out of the building people had to hold on to them, or else they would have been - literally "swept of their feet".

In a little while we reached the western express highway (for those who have any idea of Mumbai, we came out from the Jogeshwari link road, and Borivali meant crossing, Jogeshwari, Goregaon, Malad and Kandivali) from where we had to walk straight northwards at least 10-12 km more to reach Borivali. All the flyovers were jam packed with vehicles unable to get down on the road coz of the water logging. It was already dusk by the time we reached the highway and we kept on walking as it grew more and more dark. It wasn’t as if we were the only ones who were walking, with all motorised transportation coming to a halt, the usual train/bus/taxi/auto… commuters were walking home. Occasionally we could see a few cars on the street submerged more than half and some time almost totally on one side of the road. Next day we came to know that many people had broken the divider with the hands and car tools to cross over to the safer side, a lot of them had been unsuccessful and were either stranded on the other side or had got stuck on the divider itself.

After a few kms the water level receded but the rain gods were showing no mercy, infact at times the rain became so strong that one felt that there were high force hose pipes gushing water at you all the time. The uselessness of umbrellas had been discovered while we had 1st come out of the car so they were just increasing dead weight. Once we crossed Malad and were nearing Kandivali we could see that the traffic was moving a bit, but the couple of buses that crossed us were overflowing with people, the few autos that went by were already overloaded. So we kept walking and walking and walking…

Finally at around 9 45 we reached home, totally drenched. Fortunately after a day of acting funny my mobile was back to normal. Next day morning I called home to tell that there was no need to worry and stuff but I got no response, later on when it was all over the news they kept trying to call but the connectivity for the next couple of days was very poor.

I went back to the office the next day and there was no current still (only our building was suffering as the electric feeder of our building was in the basement), many people had spent the night in the office itself (some other building). But I could not complete the files on that day also, it was later declared a half day but I had already left by 11, got a lift from someone who had chosen that day off to celebrate and was going on a picnic with his family. Once on the highway he stopped his car to give lift to some other people as well, pour souls they had not been able to reach home since last night, and had started walking in the morning from Worli. Next day again there was no current in our building, but my boss had turned up on that day and so he suggested we should take our computers to the other block and we worked the whole day, while everyone else had again gone back by 10 30.

On Sunday it was again the same story flooding in the lower areas, locals cancelled… Monday was declared a half-day again after the news of flood situation worsening in some areas came. Since yesterday everything is back to normal thou we haven’t seen the sun yet but the rains are more normal and distributed.

One week of my life that I’m never going to forget, and as u might have guessed I don’t have much work to do, after that particular piece of work got over I’ve been bored by idleness, so thought why not write this out finally. Long and boring it might seem, but that’s because what we went through "woh 7 din" is meant to be experienced to believe.

It was 12 30 in the nite, I was waiting for my train, which was running 3 hours late, at Tatanagar junction and suddenly the P.A system burst out with the tunes of "Ae mere wataan ke logon". It took a while to register what was going on, and then I realised amidst the high-speed life that we live in, I had even forgotten it was Independence Day.

Our generation never saw what it was to be under the foreign rule, neither have we felt the immediate after effects of their demise, and our emergence as an independent, sovereign, democratic nation. We take these things for granted. So what does Independence Day mean to us? (Except for a holiday which was even better this year being part of an extended weekend?) I would say a few moments of patriotism, when we see our armed forces showing their might in the parade at red fort (if we are not busy sleeping/ enjoying the holiday), a few articles in the newspaper, a few questionnaires, a couple of news bulletins, that’s it FULL STOP.

Why have we become so selfish, so self-indulgent that after those few moments (if any) our thoughts wander back focused on self centered issues? Why in India we quote Kennedy "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what can you do for your country" only in debates and elocutions, is the onus of making his country great only an American prerogative?

Despite the apathy shown by an average Indian towards government, governance, judiciary, the whole system, despite the shackles of corruption and compulsions, our country is rising and shining and for the first time in the modern era the world is taking notice. I had read this quotation or something similar written on one of my seniors door "What we can achieve is limitless, Sky is just an excuse" so true it is to the present situation, but how? Is it not high time for us to start contributing not only economically, but socially too? At an age of 22 I have a very nice excuse – I still haven’t seen enough of the world, I’m just out of grad school - I may be right, I might be wrong, but one thing I know, I may be short on ideas but not on intent. I’m sure that opportunities will be aplenty, not exclusively for me but for everyone, its entirely upto us what we decide to do with that chance.

As the architect rightly puts in the MATRIX, the choice is yours.

wen i wished some of my frnds in the US happy frndship day, their response was more like - wat? From wat they told, days like frndship day valentines day etc are not celebrated with much enthu over there. but in mumbai i saw ppl celebrating like crazy, msgs written and dozens of frndship bands tied on their hands. u must have heard of ABCDs American born confused desis, well with india shining and all that image is changing, but wat we have in india now looks like IBCV Indian Born Confused Videshis. Back to the core issue wat was this hulla all abt?

wen i was in kgp i had only heard of something like this and when we wished each other it was more of a joke, but here every one was acting crazy abt it. god knows wats the fun, u'll never c a boy wishing another boy happy frndship day. maybe wen it comes to the oppostite sex it probably gives ppl a chance to act more informal than wat they would normally do, cuddling and hugging and stuff, whereas in the US ppl dont need occassions to get comfortable.

as for grls i dont know, they are simpler they act same with both sexes maybe no hidden agenda over there simply more sensitive and caring?
and then there are ppl like me, u dont want to look ignorant so its more like, wen in rome do as the romans do. even if it means to act like a confused indian torn between cultural divide so here goes HAPPY FRNDSHIP DAY ;)