Perspectives and perceptions

[A journey of words through the times that I’ve spent in this institution, from AMAG and then BMS, making many friends, to finding a person that I am, an individual, proud to be.] Five years, it’s been five years since a curious, shy girl that was me entered the premises of this building for the first time. Everything was for a first time, each step an achievement. The moments move past me in a blur, a rapid sequence of still shots, moments of, jumping into the train for the first time, running down the corridors, voicing those opinions, etching those first words, growing up within these walls, only to learn how to fly, how to rise beyond the limits and blossom in the blue sky. A period of time enmeshed with emotions and filled with events, from friendships to crushes, from authority to responsibility, from the unknown to the widely known, from J.C. to T.Y., a journey in which I have grown. A quest for realization, a journey of knowledge, experiencing everything, the emotions, and ...

As I stand before you today, Birds of a kind; together, Ruffling our wings, In anticipation of flight, The moments that we’ve shared, The times that we’ve spent, All making us, who we are, To realize the finality of it all, To stand alone, To stand tall, We take our first step, Into the horizons beyond, And face the world that is, Beckoning for us to belong, We wait, we think, we decide, And raise our hands up in the sky, And take off into the wind, Only to rise, only to win, Struggles and hardships we will face, But what’s success without that pain, We will win, we will fly, Our dreams and aspirations in the sky

Gay exuberance, joie de vivre, and lots of fresh energy! :) A fun romantic comedy, with a lot of natural acting and chemistry between the two actors on screen.. Simple enough storyline, well depicted mostly.. the only negative aspect were the songs.. Only two of them were slightly acceptable, hummable.. but the rest were a complete misfit. The voice of the singer was utterly unsuitable for Shahid and the beats were complete disco beats which just didn't gel with the ambience and context of the scene, I mean imagine, Shahid's been asked to sing a song in front of her entire (huge) family and he starts singing a song (the name of which i've already forgotten and had to google to find, and the name's hilarious! nagada nagada!! :) ) and this song is bhangra mix with disco beats.. i'm sure it's popular in the discos already, who knows! nevertheless, the characters were pretty well etched, dialogues were easy flowing and quite casual, scenes and picturisations were fa...

the mere thought of it makes me smile, the transition of my fears now nowhere in sight, what makes people fear a test, that you don't have what it takes to clear the rest? or is it the same like being asked a question, being shaken out of the world of fiction, being asked to reason out your feelings, being asked to have justifications, the numbers that seemed so incongrous, the words that seemed to escape my conscious, are now like drops in the ocean, the one i steer with my emotions, the intent and passion that i previously felt, is now more of compulsion for myself, the excitement of wanting to state my point of view, is merging into the seas of views, trying to mould an answer like it should be, is like asking your mind to think differently, not innovative or even creative, but restricted and unnecessarily extended, it's a game that i used to play very well, but this time i don't think i will gel, i've had my way, i've taken my time, i've done what i wanted a...

What is a festival? A celebration of what? Of what has happened in the past, for the reasons that our ancestors established rituals, and followed traditions... Lokmanya Tilak started the Sarvajanik Mandals for Ganesh Utsav with a primary motto for bringing people together as a community to celebrate a festival and to be able to spread the message to a wider base at a particular time. Is that relevant today? What has Ganesh Utsav turned into now? More and more humungous sized idols, more chemicals, huge crowds, political powerplays, and huge environmental hazards! Take another example of Durga Puja, a primarily Bengali Festival which celebrates Maa Durga and her avataars, normally we'd expect it to be hugely popular in Bengal, accepted that Bombay is very secular and so on, but surprise suprise, the political parties in Bombay decide to give this festival a huge boost and we see Durga Pandals all across the city! I for one, spotted not less than 30 processions (for immersions) near ...

One of the most powerful emotions that I have ever felt, There's nothing so obvious and so pure as this emotion. It is also one of the most over-used words in the world, for reasons that I now understand. People try to typecast love, they generalise it, they try to "simplify" it. In other words, they tell you what love "should" be like, not what it is. They associate it with words like compromise, waiting, adjusting, sacrifice, compassion, support, which is anything but that. They take vows where they agree to sacrifice their happiness for that of the other, they vow never to leave, to stay together through thick and thin. By binding people into this emotion, you're killing any chance for that emotion to flourish. You can't love someone without wanting it in the first place. It is as lucid as that, you can't force/pretend a love that doesn't exist. There are no two ways about it. Love is happiness in the fullest sense of the term! It's being ...

Talking about responsibilities, Civic Responsibilities are the responsibilities that we have for being a citizen of the country. Yes we get a raw deal, I see my parents putting in more than they can, each day and receiving much lesser than what they actually deserve, yet they will make all attempts to be responsible citizens. What is it that defines this spirit? The feeling that when you call it yours, you want to change the way things are, you want to make a difference to the place around you, you want to live in a better environment. In an argument in the local trains, when a woman was stopped from throwing some litter into the creek by a college girl, the woman quite embarassed and miffed, snapped at her, saying, "What's your problem?" The smart girl that she was, replied, "26th July, that's my problem" (26th July 2005 was the year in which Bombay Suburbs received 944 mm of rain in a span of 3 odd hours, it caused absolute havoc to the entire system, and ...