Arbitrary Notions

**Sitting idle on this lazy Sunday afternoon, checking out my own Facebook profile ( heights of joblessness I know ) led me to the notes section (t he little known and long forgotten area of Facebook which rarely anyone sees ). There I found that I had shared this poem about three and a half years ago. I don't generally like poems as much I love stories but today as is turns out is one of the days where I could appreciate this.  Now the poet is no Tennyson but yes this 20 year old has done a good job. Read on.**

I don’t think so. To be fair, I have not got dedicated readers for this blog as of yet so asking this question itself is stupid. I think this question is more from the ‘love-writing’ me to the ‘too-busy-to-write’ me instead of you my dear reader. So why am I telling you about the debate going inside me? Good question.

Y ou might have come across this video before. I am sure. It was all over the social media some time back. I guess it was this day, last year. This video titled 'I am 20' was made by the Films Division of India for the 20 th Independence Day. The lucky few born on the ‘stroke of the midnight hour’ ( not quite literally ) were selected and interviewed about their hopes, desires, expectations, fears and various other issues. Take a look if you haven’t seen this gem before.

“There is no friend as loyal as a book.”  – Ernest Hemingway

Interviewer- David Beckham and Sachin Tendulkar entered at the same time in the royal box.                       Do you know who Sachin is? Sharapova- I don’t! M aria Sharapova probably did not know that this statement from her will turn a full country of 1.2 billion people against her.

I t was back in 11th standard that I first came to know about blogging. The idea appealed to me as at that time I wanted to show my writing to the world. I thought I really am writing well ( this thought was helped by my teacher praising me for one of my stories written in exam ). I did not understand anything about it. I wrote a story, published it on blogger and waited. I waited and waited for a very long time, logging in to check how many page views I had. It was disappointing ( Very, very disappointing ).

C ollege has just finished and this is what has been going on in my mind... I stand here again, On these never-ending crossroads of life. Here I face again, Many choices, Of which choosing one will shape my future, Take me to where I am destined to go. I have to decide again, And fast, But I don't want to. For once I want to let destiny choose me, To see how everything plays out. But it does not matter, These crossroads will come again, And I will have to choose, Better choose wisely now than regret later.

I f you go on to Google and type the words ‘Rich Meaning’ ( alternatively you can find that dictionary and look up the meaning ), you will find that all the different meanings given there essentially mean ‘to have abundance of something’. This something can be of culture, money, colour, land, people, or anything and everything else under the sun. Sadly, and more importantly it is a matter of big concern that this word has come to be associated mostly with money.

I t was just the start of the 20 th century. India was fighting against the British rule. In these times a boy, like any other, was born in a middle class family. His father worked in spinning mills and mother was just mother, for him and his three brothers. The family was living a life of peace, happily spending the days. But it is usually at this time, when one starts taking things for granted, that god decides to show that life is not all walk in the park.

Q utopia. This one word is the reason I have kept coming back to college ( This and semester exams ). When I joined the college, we were given a small book which described about the various societies and the extracurricular activities that took place here. Going through it I was interested in one or two of the societies neither of which were Qutopia. Reason, I had never done any kind of quizzing activity ever in school or for that matter anywhere else. Since we weren’t allowed to join any activity in the first year I did not even try to join any society. (I was a law abiding, afraid of breaking the rules kind of guy )

E veryone who has ever written a blog post ( or a diary entry for that matter ) has at some point in their life thought about penning down a book.  It may not be a fully fledged novel but the thought of getting published does occur in the mind from time to time.

W e all need appreciation time and again. We are constantly fishing for words like ‘well done’, ‘good job’ ‘keep it up’. We are living on this god’s earth longing to be appreciated. Whether it is doing something for the public, doing something for our friend( s ), showcasing our talent ( or even writing a blog ), everything that is done is done to get the approval of others. It somehow makes us feel good about ourselves. Earlier it used to be just a figure of speech, to be liked for doing this and that but with social media taking over our lives it has become an actual thing.

I know it’s a little late but it’s never too late to pay your respects. To the legend, Mr.Khushwant Singh. May your soul rest in peace. L ooks like my plan to write one post per week is not going to happen. I was inactive for a little while before my last entry but I wasn’t sitting ideal. I was going through some of the personal blogs ( like this one ) and found that many of them contained a post talking about why they started writing. So, I thought I should do it too ( In simpler words, I could not think of a better topic to write on in the past couple of weeks).

Disclaimer : The stats and numbers posted here are completely made up by me. There is no source to verify these. T his post is going to be exactly what you think. Many before me have forayed into this area and done a better job than what I will do. Idea for this came to me a few days back when I saw a post on facebook which said ‘In India we first become an engineer and then decide what we want to do in life’. This actually was one of the most honest posts to have been put up. Outside India ( by that I mean USA and other western countries and not any of our immediate neighbors ), the kids usually get to explore their potential in fields other than academics during their school years only. This helps them to decide what field of study to choose and then they go on to make a career in that field. Also we have the arbitrary notion in India to have doctors or engineers in every home that our western peers don’t have. Some will say opportunities are given in India as well, but to them

F irst off, this is not going to be a political blog; this post is but not the blog. This is just me trying out my hand at writing something and utilizing my time better. I chose to write my first post on elections cause this is the thing that is on everybody's mind right now. And with elections barely a month away, what better topic to start my blog with.