Cheerful Zombies?

Four formal interactions later, when there was a subtle picture in-front of us as to how we would be down the lane in our career, one glaring and common advice I got from 8-9 officers, men and women was that 'You need to try and be cheerful!'

Between the Physical training that is extremely draining for a person who never in her life stepped into a gym and the puzzling law complexities,map readings and unarmed combats, there comes a point where there is a lot of excitement of what next while at the same time having the pain of enduring it.

While the system tries to hold on to many things that might not even make sense to a new comer like me, it also makes me cherish these moments all at the same time and sometimes even appreciate something very meaningless for an outsider, which I was,till a few months back.

For a highly nocturnal person waking up at 5 am could be the worst, doing that everyday and having to do things that are inevitably out of your hands makes you feel like a zombie, most of the days. A zombie that walks to the rhythms of Ek - Do- Ek.

Between the formal first impressions,the nasty second impressions and the acquaintances that might never turn into friendships, a glaring indeterminate future awaits us, and all the advise in the world one could get, is 'Stay Cheerful'.

How ,you ask??
I was searching for the answer for quite a while now.
It is difficult to put your finger on the answer when you search for an opportunity to learn in isolation too.Well, may be that is the challenge. None who advised me said 'Happy' everyone was careful enough to say 'Cheerful'. Ahh that blurry line between the two.. Well third time lost the charm and I ask why that particular word, to get the answer that cheer helps you get better at the job too, with 'Happy' you can't be so sure.

Then is when it struck me.. When you realize you don't have much of a choice, when you realize that you ll be pushed to expand your comfort zone to know your potential at any cost and when you realize that the element of surprise is only getting to be monotonous.. You go beyond surprise, frustration, anger, sadness.. All you have left is to grin and try to stay cheerful.. Because deep down, deep deep down, you know it is only making you better in many ways and is helping you guard what is precious in a more possessive way.

Speaking of  how to paste that grin on my face..  Those two friends I made, when they search for me just to say hi.. That does the trick!! Through all the uncertainties, aren't we all just looking for a gaze that means that someone's watching over??

Some day, the cheer will kick the zombie out, I am sure of that.. I can feel that happening already.

After all, Change is good!

Swachhta!

She sighs, tired from a long day, and sits down to scribble a few lines in to her journal.
She rarely does that. Something really profound must have happened.

May 2nd 2012,

My cousin and his kids came home from the U.S. of A last week. I ve been spending a lot of time with them.

Cute kids, they have a lot of energy,so many stories to share, it is so much fun being around them.. Well the younger one is a peach, the kid is in that place where they learn to talk, precious right?! 
Had a really long day. But one incident just baffled me.

My nephew was filling his 'Ben 10' fanny pack with wrappers from all the chocolates and ice creams he had. It was so full he started holding them in his tiny fists and  washaving difficulty holding the other things. 

So my cousin says 'Why aren't you throwing all the trash away?? Why are you collecting everything?' 

The kid complained, 'I couldn't find a trash can dad!'

For which he got a reply, 'No no, you need not search for a trash can , you can throw the wrappers here or for that matter anywhere!'

The kid obliged. What else would he do? He is four!!

Well thank god there was someone who cleaned up right behind him.

I grew up with 2 siblings who did not give any thought before throwing juice boxes, wrappers or cartons right in the middle of the road for 22 years. I even got into a huge fight with my brother over a Frooti bottle and didn't talk to him for hours and got into trouble with my parents for being arrogant, obnoxious and some other things I shouldn't even reveal here <Well, sounds stupid now I guess>. And today, this happens!!

Well I guess you tell and tell, but you only end up being such a bore to your own cousins and nothing ever changes!!


August 16th 2012,

It is one month since Tinku returned to India after her long trip from the U.S. of A, and I couldn't help but notice that she is being really clean about everything around her, conspicuously putting every juice box every small wrapper nowhere but in the nearest trash can.

I was very intrigued and grilled her for the reason [well my wicked plan was to work it on Pinku so he could change too.. ;) ] when she said that she was shamed by our nephew (the four year old with the fanny pack) in-front of his foreign friends. He said, and she quoted 'Se,e don't litter this place with all this plastic,if it is India, you can.. But you are not in India anymore,so here you ll have to put it in the trash can.'

Though I can't play this card on Pinku, it got me thinking. It took a long expensive trip and shaming by a four year old for Tinku to realize.. And the worst part is, she is educated and all!

I wish I could smack on Pinku's head and the keys fall in the right place, that would be so much easier!!

October 2nd 2014,

My cousin and his kids are visiting again. The kid threw some trash on the road.
I asked him to pick it all up and hold it till he finds a trash can when Pinku said, 'Well I don't know which India your father grew up in little fellow, but here, we don't do that anymore!'
He happily obliged!!  Well, he is just six, but he ll never do that again. Not here!

<This is not fiction. It is very much veridical!>

Might not be as moving, but we are literate and sensible right? 

So the next time you mindlessly stop to pee on the roads, realize that you are making approximately 60% of India's population vulnerable to cholera, diarrhea, typhoid etc..

The next time you drop a juice box on the roads, realize

that there thousands tourists who dread coming to India,well you are just slackening up the chance for a low paid employee to construct his own toilet.

The next time you spit on the road, the next time you throw a still- on-fire cigarette butt on the road, realize that there are many girls dropping out of the school because they don't have good sanitation facilities, you are robbing them of their future and dreams.

'Nirmal' or 'Swachh', good intentions can never let us down. 

Every effort to fulfill our duties is also patriotism.

I am that change. I hope you are too.. 

So we can meet on the other side where the grass is greener and India is cleaner!

Pseudo-Choices

Regionalism connotations.. Political attachments.. Really??

The way I see it, they are a complete betrayal to the unbiased evolution of Indian nationalism and hold an invitation to conjectural understanding of a glorious history.

Are we heading for a political equivalent of being stuck between a rock and a hard place??

Some one in this magnificent democracy say 'No!!'

Well, when temples are raised and tombs are built to react to mere partisan politics or a political responsibility, whichever way you want to see it.. I think it is true. We ARE stuck..

Hmmph.. Whatever happened to intellectual integrity?

PS: Please don't tell me that a basis of anti-corruption campaign stands the chance of being a panacea, let alone a mere rhetoric.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

I am from Vijayawada(That implies I watch many movies!)
Point is,When you ask a director, he says his inspirations are the real life characters, After all the media is a reflection of the society they say.. Or is it the other way round?
A lot of debate about Raanjhnaa spurred along the past few months, citing women empowerment how cultural barricades are closing our minds to the free open lifestyle, when a male protagonist is a stalker and also the narrator, the director missed the point that this colours the act of stalking to compel the audience to sympathise with him, thus making his actions ok.. Once they are OK, even for a few, doesn't that send the wrong message through the stratas of the society. Fine! Moving on,Chennai Express, the highest grosser they say, isn't that just humour veiling cultural stereotyping? How many in the South drink, Coconut mein Lassi mila ke? Its as if men there do not wear trousers at all,meaning everyone dons a lungi. Fine the movie is only for 3 hours,laugh and leave then why a game, to perpetuate the effect, huh??! Fine, moving on..

Bangalore exodus and the Muzzaffarnagar incidents recently they all have had one thing in common,the politicians blaming the social media for flaring up the issues! Whether it is a blame or it is the true thing,god knows! But when media can be a weapon that destroys, we have to remember, it can also be a pen that constructs the impossible! The Delhi rape case,got so much of an attention, well.. apart from being outright brutal and happening in a public place, eventually killing the victim, the social media played a very important role in spurring the much needed wake up call to the society! 
What is it to some cities,even diplomatic relations of billions of dollars for some huge countries like Iran are fluctuating in few hours and days because of Social Media, as it is a symbol of openness.

Definitely,what constructs can have the same or even more immense capacity to destroy..
May be it is time schools stop giving a debate topic of 'Is TV a boon or a bane?',only to start 'Is social Media a boon or bane'.. 

The medium changes, but there will always be a mirror that shows us what we are.. To correct ourselves,shunning it will cost the self and not the mirror! If we turn out to be so arrogant and ignorant enough to not heed to  the voice that faces us toward the mirror,then who can save us? Nothing can equal the Media as a friend to the society.. To correct the self or to ignore it is only a moot choice. Because we all beleive that betterment is the only way for tomorrow. As inconclusive as this may be, one thing is for sure.. One reflects the other,the main question remains. Are we ready to learn, or are we still with the quetching or flaunting it as art?!