Some Original Thinking

While speaking of my transition from a junior college student to a senior college student, one thing that I’m currently undergoing is the competitive examinations. And let me tell you that they’re ample and annoying.

Well, in my case they are ample because I’m giving a lot of exams. From Engineering to Arts, the only exam I’ve not given is CPT for the CA entrance and the IIT-JEE. But I’ve covered pretty much everything else.

One thing I have realized in giving these exams is that they truly cannot gauge one’s aptitude for a subject. I saw this picture on Facebook in which a man sitting at a desk proclaimed to a zoo of animals, “To decide which the best animal is, we have arranged for a simple task as the examination – all of you must scale the tree behind me.” The comedy of the cartoon was in the fact that there were elephants and rhinos in the crowd of animals.

What defines an aptitude gauge for a student seeking admission? Is it just the Board and competitive exam marks? Or must the government see beyond those answer sheets and take a look at a student’s personality, his intelligence?

A relative in my family was talking about her neighbour. “Brilliant guy. He topped the CAT entrance and knew every concept in Business Administration. But he scored 56% in his 12^th Boards and failed his university exams. They chucked him out of the college without another word.”

Have grades overridden intelligence? Have textbooks replaced intellect? More importantly, do we even need intellect these days? It just takes a little bit of hard work, a little bit of luck, an attitude to accept rules without a thought and lots of money to get us admitted to tuition classes that can teach us everything we need to know about tackling entrance scenarios from an entrance exam to a personal interview. However, it takes less intelligence and more rote learning. It is often not a representation of what our point of views may be; it is a representation of what our point of views are meant to be.

I do not oppose people conforming to thinking within the box and not wondering beyond what we aren’t supposed to know, even if, for the sake of maintaining the rules and regulations of the organization we’re affiliated to avoid anarchy and annihilation of hierarchy. But does that mean squashing our one true gift given by God – freedom of thought? What difference is between man and other animals, apart from a conscience and an ability to think? I’m not trying to encourage stupid daydreaming or hatching plots to cause disruption on any scale. I’m simply telling people to achieve their life’s goals by doing some thinking on their own.

There was a time when people studied at night after working during the day. They had no help to get them through. But these days, with the opening of a plethora of tuition classes for every subject imaginable, the procedure of getting into the industry has been made an industry. And the universal, or rather, sole method of getting around in this industry is money. Apparently, the colour green doesn’t just allow cars to proceed; it also clears the way for you in a traffic jam of people.

Today as I sit in meditation of the exams I have recently given, a small fact makes me proud – that I studied for these exams on my own. How I have fared is something I don’t know as of now, but at least, the results are consequence of my hard work and not the spending of big bucks that are proof of my parents’ hard work.

Remembering the Past Image

Around twenty years ago, the West was *the* place to be. Everybody loved following western culture. Everybody loved adding the unfamiliar western twang and slang to whatever they spoke. And most importantly, everybody loved being remembered as a “Westernized” person.

The culture of my country, India, is perhaps one of the oldest known in the history. The amount of scriptures, prayers, gods, languages, dialects, traditions and beliefs that India has can’t be matched by any other country.

And for a lot of time, we wholly took pride in our culture, until the advent of Westernization. And since then, our people have begun to abandon our cultures to adopt the westernized ways of living. Joint families were replaced by nuclear families. The respect of elders has slowly started decreasing. People have become shallow and have started caring too much about their social image and status.

And this is where we went wrong. The West never taught us all this! Sure, these things more frequently do happen there, but we conveniently ignored the efforts the Westerners take to keep their families together, the amount of time they spend with each other, how they follow their cultures such as Thanksgiving dinners and celebrating their festivals with gusto. We never picked up their love for sports or their sportsmanship and their drive to be a prospering country in every field possible.

The ironic thing is that the West is curious to learn about Indian cultures and traditions. People travel thousands of miles to come to India and be amazed and refreshed by the meditative, enigmatic atmosphere that is found in every city of India. The foreigners know more about our culture more than we know it ourselves!

Why have we given up on our culture? Is it because a sarod is not as funky as an electrical guitar? Is it because most Bollywood films are Hollywood copies and hence, we see everybody as a wannabe? Or is it simply because it is easier for us to act like we’re cool and amazing than to follow the rules of living a good life?

I’m not saying that the changes have been entirely bad. A lot has changed in this country for which we must thank the foreigners because, without these changes, we wouldn’t have been able to cope with the New World. But I think while we’re busy adopting an awesome way to live life, we must pay attention to not leave behind our intuition, our cultures, our rich heritage and most importantly, we must remember a past image of our true selves. Because only when we know where we come from, do we know where we can go.

The Green Light on Corruption

One of the major topics in the country up for discussion is the plight of corruption. Starting with the Anna Hazare campaign to the millions who collaborated and supported him in the movement, the count of the people who want to put an end to the unwanted plague is on the rise. Everybody wants to live in a country where you don’t have to pay ten different people ten different times to get government work done. Everybody is sick of politicians scamming and stealing from every single budget that is financed to an operation.

But is the government only to blame? Or are we too?

Only today, while commuting by rickshaw, I was gazing out and happened to see a peculiar incident (actually, it is a very common incident but I’ll tell you why it’s peculiar later). A traffic policeman was standing at a car’s door, arguing with the driver. The next second, the policeman calms down. The second after that, he nonchalantly looks away while slipping his hand inside the window and the driver slipped him money.

Like I said, it’s a common incident. But, it’s peculiar because I’d seen this same guy (the driver) propagating the Anna Hazare campaign at the railway station a few months ago.

Is corruption bad only when it’s done by the government? Is the common man supposed to be exempted from punishment if he does the same thing? Sure, the driver probably wanted to save his time, but does that mean he’s allowed to not abide the laws?

What about donations in college seats? Sure, the college is out to make money and they are at fault, but they’re not the only ones! It’s we who encourage them to continue taking donations! It is we who give the green light on the flow of greens!

I touched on this issue because I think my generation is at the point where we can decide whether or not to follow the bad examples set by the previous generations and try to make this world better. So, sometimes we’ll end up paying hefty fines. But at least, we own up to our mistakes. Sometimes, we may not get what we want. But that’ll only happen because there’s something else waiting for us that is better for us. And most importantly, we’ll be people with clean consciences and strong wills, which is something that money will never be able to buy. And the things that money can never buy are the things truly worth having.

Finding Oneself

I love watching TV shows. From Chuck to Criminal Minds, from Seinfeld to How I Met You Mother or from Touch to Grey’s Anatomy, I watch everything. Without watching Coupling and The Wonder Years, I never switch off the TV.

It’s fun to see the awkward situations people get themselves into in sitcoms. It is interesting to see unusual cases being solved in those crime shows. And thriller shows just make everyday boring life slightly appealing.

But do these shows really entertain us? Or do they make us realize everything that we can’t do in our normal lives and help us live our dreams through them? Is watching these shows making us miss out on the special moments we could have experienced in our lives?

I recently got my TV connection. Before that, the last time I had watched programs on my own TV was almost four years ago. Yes, I didn’t have a TV connection for almost four years. My dad had had it disconnected so that I could study with one less distraction.

Of course I hated him for doing that. I mean, it’s a supply of entertainment, a source of time-pass, a means to do mindless activity after hours of mumbo-jumbo studying. All my friends would discuss the latest episode of Castle, while I didn’t know what the heck they were talking about (no, I didn’t watch it online because I couldn’t – I had a connection that had a speed of 112.5 KBPS).

I used to play the piano in class four, but I got bored of it by class five so I discontinued playing. But during these years of no TV, I played the piano to relax. I also started reading books, too. And, most importantly, I learnt to play the guitar on my own (I hate taking music lessons. It doesn’t make sense to go to learn music twice a week – you don’t learn anything worthwhile in an hour packed away among heaps of others in the class).

Today, when I have college admission interviews, I feel like I have more to present to the Board than what I would have if I watched TV all those years. Those four years made me discover so much about me that I feel more confident as a person and when I talk to people, I think I make a good speaker. In fact, if I wouldn’t have had all that time, I wouldn’t have gotten interested in writing either!

These days, I watch TV because only creativity inspires creativity. It freshens me up and changes my mood from the study (read: war) zone it is in to the person who composes music and loves writing. I’m not saying that my dad was right in disconnecting the TV because there surely are more ways to discover the real person that we are. But, I think I don’t have any regrets or anger because I’m happy to have found myself.

Identity Issues?

Earlier this evening, I saw a guy with brightly-coloured streaked hair walk by my dad and me in the mall. As in India, streaked hair is still an uncommon sight, it caught our attention.

“Look at his hair,” my dad said. “What need is there to colour one’s hair? It’s understandable if you colour it when you grow old – although, I still haven’t done it because for me, looks don’t matter. One should age gracefully.” I nodded along to show that I was paying attention to what he was saying.

“But these young people,” he started off in his previous (and most favourite) vein. “Everybody wants to look cool, everybody wants to look different. Why these people have so much identity crisis, I don’t understand.”

I immediately rooted for the poor teenager who’d walked past us not five minutes ago and didn’t even know that somebody was ill-talking about his choice of hair colour. “These days, people are very artistic and they take a stand for things. They denote their difference in opinions—”

“Being artistic is fine. But attracting unnecessary attention is not. If you do good work, people are going to recognize you. You don’t need to look like a parrot or walk in slim-fitting clothes. You…”

I tuned out of the conversation since I knew how it would go on. Instead, I began to wonder. Is today’s generation really just a show-off? Do we really care so much about shallow things like our looks and the number of relationships we have?

Being a musician myself, I sometimes wish to colour my hair, because I think it goes with the image of the band and all that. But is that the real reason behind my wanting to colour my hair or not? I mean, am I subconsciously looking for ways to attract attention to myself? Despite of how I think I’m so mature, am I, in fact, a very shallow person?

I don’t have any answers.

The Conundrum of the Cell Phone

With the completion of yet another academic year come changes. These changes can include obvious things such as curriculum, classrooms and calendar schedules, and some uncommon ones such as change in friends’ circle, college and even food favourites. But the most imminent one, especially for someone with a non-Qwerty keypad, without a chat messenger, typical dabba phone is – getting a BlackBerry.

Well, that’s the most widespread choice of brand so that’s the one I’m going to talk about.

With those new commercials, especially the one featuring men dressed in corporate suits singing glee, a BB has really become a collegiate essential. I’m not talking about a BB being a social necessity (although, it is part of the reason why a BB is essential). Most people stay connected on BBM, or the BlackBerry Messenger, throughout the day. Yes, WhatsApp is a cheaper replacement for non-BBs but somehow, it isn’t as glorified as BBM.

People buy BBs because mostly everybody else has one. The whole idea is to get your entire world on one platform.

Also, while you can use WhatsApp on BBs, you can’t have BBM on a non-BB. So, a BB is doubly advantageous.

But, the whole dilemma arises on two counts – one, when you have to leave the phone and study and two, when the bill comes. Neither count is particularly pleasant, I’ve been told.

But the joy of being in the loop, of knowing what you might have missed out on, of getting those kinds of instant updates that Facebook could never give (but you do have an app for your notifications on the BB), sharing your sentiments and emoticons? They make it seem worth the trouble!

Right now, I have a phone (no WhatsApp, no Facebook) which perfectly caters to my needs of 24/7 music, texting and calling. A new academic year at a new college with new people in a new city slowly approaches. Is a BB a good idea? I wonder.

Knowing the Unknown

Questions like “Does God exist?”, “Why are we here on earth?”, “Are we alone”, etc, are a few things everybody has thought about at some or the other point in life. We often find answers to these questions, in magazines, in interviews, on websites and from learned scholars, among other sources.

But the main question is this – Which answer is right?

You could say, believe the scholars. But, scholars have studied from books and learned from experiences, both things which are easily available on the internet.

So maybe we should believe websites? Except, website manias often sprout from media articles, such as those in the magazines and newspapers.

Then believe the paper media! I mean, if they’re wrong, we can sue them or something and we’ll even have written proof! However, magazines and newspapers publish such articles in the form of interviews and they interview learned and experienced scholars.

This is the vicious cycle most of us are caught up in. Now, I can give you two answers to escape from this cycle – either read up everything, every single source and get overwhelmed by all that information our brain has never handled in that quantity at the same time, or, simply don’t care about the matter at all. I mean, everybody’s got pressing issues to handle as it is, and providing answers to gratify our curiosity isn’t, for all probable causes, a necessity.

But then arises the main question again – Which answer is right?

Each answer maybe right or wrong in different dimensions. For example, logically, not caring is better than caring, because you increase your productiveness in this world of purpose (read: money). But, mentally, choosing our curiosity over our capacity for productiveness would be natural, as that is how humans have been made.

In the end, which option can we choose? Both make sense, and yet they don’t make sense.

I really don’t think change is the only constant thing in the world, because confusion is still untouched by change. Confusion may reduce in some subjects. But, in matters of the cosmic nature – matters of which humans are the effect and not the cause – it is the only constant I know.

Tea Trouble

What is it with grown-ups and drinking tea?

My mom loves tea. She has it in the morning, when she wakes up. She has it in the afternoon, after coming back from her art classes. She has it in the evening, with Haldiram’s Bhujia Sev. Apart from these fixed timings, she has tea whenever she comes back from shopping and whenever some people decide to come home. The best part?

I, some way or the other, end up making tea for her.

You must have often heard this simple example to explain to you how good you should be at something – like the way you can tell me the result of two added to two even in your sleep, you should know _____ (fill the name of the activity you’re being lectured for) that well, too. Well, I could probably make you some tea in my sleep and serve it to you with Haldiram’s Bhujia Sev. Not that it is much of an achievement.

I used to get really agitated about making tea for my mom earlier. “Like I’ve got nothing better to do,” I complained grumpily one day to her.

“Okay,” she said. “Even I’ve got better things to do than to cater to your needs.”

And then, I had one very hard week of washing my own clothes and making my own food (read: walking to the general store to buy Lays’) and looking after myself. After going through all of that, I had to apologize to my mom for being rude and promise her that I would religiously make her tea whenever she wanted it.

I learnt a big lesson from this: never challenge a grown-up unless you’re one, too and have house-help to cater to your needs. At least, you don’t have to make tea for the house-helps all the time.

But I still don’t know this: What is it with grown-ups and drinking tea?

The Day of Terrorism

So, something really scary happened to me.

I was coming home in the train. There were only four people in the compartment. I was nicely listening to Children of Bodom’s In Your Face, head-banging in my mind to the guitar solo, when I suddenly noticed a wind breaker hanging from the rack above me.

Now, I’m not somebody who gets alarmed easily, but a lone wind-breaker in a Mumbai local is enough cause for alarm, especially since 2006. Looking at that wind breaker made me break out in a sweat faster than I would have while wearing pencil heels.

I immediately called out to a guy, who was wearing a nice suit that looked obviously out-of-place in the train (even though it was the first class compartment) and told him about the wind-breaker. The other two commuters, another man wearing a white kurta and pyjama and a lady carrying vegetables in a basket, also heard me out eagerly.

The four of us chose the farthest place possible from the wind-breaker and were huddled together. I immediately called Western Railways (the number was put up in the compartment) and alerted the lady on the line about the wind breaker. She assured me that she would look into it.

When people feel they’re close to dying, they say that time slows down for them. I wish they weren’t right. Commuting from Bandra to Worli at 9 in the morning could have been faster than the train going from Borivali to Kandivali at 6 in the evening. I was sure that if I didn’t die in a bomb blast, I would surely die of a heart attack.

But, we did reach Kandivali station finally (the train master sure took his sweet time). The four of us rushed helter-skelter out of the compartment and ran to the over-bridge, ignoring the surprised looks from the other commuters.

Now, I don’t know what happened of the wind-breaker, except that it wasn’t a bomb (or we would’ve heard about it). But what I do know is that whether you’re a general hotshot at your workplace, a person of great simplicity, a housewife or a rock fan like me, a lone wind-breaker in a Mumbai local is enough cause for alarm for anyone, especially since 2006. Thank you so much, terrorists. Now we know why the rate of people suffering from heart attacks has increased.

Introduction

To say that the people of my generation (I’m talking about the people in the 16-22 years age category) are about to make a change that will completely modify the world is a true statement. Of course, our generation consists of people who are so evidently different from their old school parents and other elders and so, naturally, there is enough reason to expect an alteration in the ways of the world in the times to come. It sounds so grand, when one dreams of being freed of the orthodox bonds of the old world to embrace the magnificent ‘New Age’ or the ‘Free World’. It’s the most ardent desire of a lot of people to experience such an enriching and livening concept.

However, the problem arises when one questions the nature of the change itself. That, a change is going to happen is imminent, but whether the change will be good or bad is what puts the elders in a dilemma. They want the change to be good. They want our generation to preserve whatever good they’ve done and also to expand the empire of goodness so that the next generation benefits from it. So, to ensure that we don’t forget what they want us to do, they keep hollering at us to be good at our studies/job/society roles/extra curricular activities et cetera et cetera while we learn to be neat and tidy, to be nicer to our younger/older sibling, to be respectful to every single family member irrespective of whether or not we like them, to do house chores which often involve the pet animal’s morning chores (this is just as descriptive as I will get regarding this particular chore) et cetera et cetera. Whew. It’s just too many et ceteras to handle.

As if the elder generation problem wasn’t big enough to handle, we teens face another problem – handling our social lives. College life is no joke, especially when there are hundreds vying for the same things – popularity, top grades and even dates. And I am one of the countless who’s stuck in the rat race.

And so, I present to you the experiences in my life. It might be a lot like a general teenage life, but there are things which are very different, too – things that have taught me a lot and kicked me into better shape to face the world.

At least I think so.

I hope so.