Upma + Mountain Dew

How about writing an unusually funny post, rather than old philosophy? This is what I thought, while having breakfast at our college canteen. I immediately took this picture, to attach it to the post. LOL. I decided right there that today's post will be the "how-was-your-day" type.
10:10 AM
I and Shibesh ordered Upma and Mountain Dew at the canteen. Mountain Dew was of my favorites, although Shibesh argued "7Up is better!" At this time of the day, you would always find the canteen crowded. The man at counter had a really tough time, taking orders & collecting money. There were lots of hands with currency notes pointing towards him. In a minute, he suddenly shouted - "How the hell, am I gonna deal with you, if everyone shows me 100 rupee notes? Take out some change!" May be he was exhausted with change notes, and was frantically looking for some 10 or 20 rupee notes, which he didn't get.
I looked at Shibesh's hand where he had a 50 Rupee note. I expected the man to shout again at him, seeing the note, but luckily he didn't.
10:15 AM
We were at a table having the food. I noticed the scene of the occasionally crowded place. There was a good-looking girl at a corner table with her friend, who was yet another pretty girl. The girl was feeding the other girl with a spoon. Every new guy who entered the canteen, glanced towards them, before ordering anything. At a table adjacent to ours, were a group of 8 to 10, discussing serious issues related to IPL. Its a not a new thing, to find people discussing IPL these days. It was a craze. In another corner, you could find someone hooked to his cell phone and talking endlessly. And at other places, small groups of 3 to 4 people were writing lab records.
10:30 AM
We were in a "instructor-less" classroom. Most of our classmates were found there. We had DSP Lab at 11AM, so lot of them were busy in writing lab records, including Shibesh who was copying down from mine. Today was a special day, because I had completed the task in time, after so many days. Other members of our BBC (Back Benchers Community) Sikal and Arvind had joined us. When we get together, the Devils in our minds come forward and we plan mischief. Suddenly Sikal threw a broken glass from the window pane onto the floor, breaking it to a hundred pieces and a noise of broken glass (which I love) echoed the bit empty classroom. Most of other guys looked back. Someone in the front, didn't like it and yelled - "What's this nonsense?"
Shibesh replied - "Shut the fuck up!" And he went away. Few minutes later, when I was about to take out my iPod to listen music. Sikal threw another piece of glass on the floor, following another such lovely noise. This time, Sumit (not a BBC member), unable to bear it, shouted, "Wouldn't people get hurt by those broken glass pieces?" To this Shibesh had another quick reply - "No one walks bare foot here!" Very soon their argument intensified with louder voices, making the other record-writers look away from there notebooks, and stare at us. I was just thinking, what was the best way to throw a glass onto the floor so that it breaks into the maximum possible number of pieces. Eventually they cooled down, although no one seemed to compromise.....
This was the first incident when someone opposed an event of BBC. Today's a special day.

Will life take a U-turn?

Will life take a U-turn or shall it be like today, a one-way road? Let's go 10 years into the future, where I have for you, the story of reality.
Its the year 2020, I am sitting on a bench in forest park, in the southern side of the city. Suddenly I remember the last time I visited this place, back in 2010. It was early evening, and amidst my thoughts, I noticed people jogging around, old people who came for a evening walk, love birds 'walking and talking' (inspired by idea's TV Ad). This was the place I spoke out my emotions loud for the first time, and shared everything with Ashu. I had described, how I messed up my life, why I wasn't that what I was supposed to be. Ashu proposed various solutions, and it seemed I sorted out the odds. But life was a one-way road, and it became messed up again very soon. There was no U-turn, you had to move ahead, and if you apply brakes, you'd collide with the vehicle behind you.
Today most of the things were still the same, except that the park looked more crowded. And today, I was alone. One thing that I always wanted to have, was with me. It was a Macbook Pro, sitting on my lap right now. These days connectivity is no more a barrier, with several wi-fi hot-spots around the city and 3G data cards getting more affordable. If I wanted I could be blogging, and could be online at Facebook 24X7. But being hooked to these machines and the virtual world for years together had finally made most people like me, now sick of computers. The day I got the Macbook and first touched it, I felt vibrations of attachment, building up within me, as if it were to be my life-partner.
The Facebook homepage was wide open in front of me, though I wasn't continuously gazing at the screen. Now, I had just so many friends that, not less then 10 updates would appear every minute, I refreshed the News Feed. Last year I returned from Gangtok, fed up with eating momos, the most famous traditional delicacy of Sikkim. This old attitude of not being able to one place for too long, had made travel a lot. Now I was back to get settled at the place, from where I popped out.
An hour passed looking at the Facebook page and recollecting old days. The next time I looked away from the screen, I saw a person approaching me, with a familiar face. I remembered Shibesh who had in college, once written a blog about his future, inspired me to follow him and write something like his post. He was the lone dude of our class, and a member of BBC (Back Bencher's Community). It was him, I recognized him because he still had the same look as in college. I expected he would cry out - "Hi, Steve Jobs" ( he used to call me Steve or Jobs or Steve Jobs, because those days I was so crazy about Apple, and such a big fan of Steve Jobs, that I used to run around like the brand Ambassador of Apple.) He said - "How are you, dude?"
"I am great. What about you?", I replied and was about to minimize the Facebook page, when he turned the thing towards him and exclaimed - "Wow, you finally got one! Kitne mein liya?". "Approx 1.4". This wasn't the first time, that I was asked the price. People (those who think Macbook are just like IBM Thinkpads) used to jump off their seats when they heard, I got this for 1.4lacs, and tell me - "You could get two Sony Vaios with that. Or you could get a Karizma ZMR if you wouldn't have wasted so much money. " And people like me who were in love with the Aluminium body of Apple products and the beautiful logo, would just say one word - "Wow!" We were happy to meet after 8 years. We were definitely not in touch, after he left for a job in Dubai. He had the same story to tell, being fed up of the place where water is more expensive than petrol, he returned to Bhubaneswar, to settle down. The memories of Mayfair Lagoon, and Haka brought him back. He was back to taste momos in Haka, in contrast I fled from the place full of momos. Later on, I got to see his new girl friend's pic, in his cellphone. "This is the best looking gf you ever had", I said  snatching the phone from his hands. "Ya, she is. But why are you still single man, get hooked up", he sounded as if he would take to me place where they sell gfs in a mega sale.
"It isn't my cup of tea. I never have stable relationships", I admitted. Few minutes later, he asked that which I wasn't wanting to talk about. "How is Sandy?"
I became speechless for a while, but over the years, and with the change of my adolescent attitude, I could relax and answer - "She passed as a parameter to another function. I returned to main." ( to add a bit of programmer humor). Shibesh turned about his place and said - "What? She got married? You are such a loser man." I was again silent, deciding the next programmer joke to be told, when he added - "And who's that moron, she got away with?". "Why on earth would he be a moron? He's good."
"You met him?"
"No, I mean if she chose him, he would definitely be better than me, right? Simple logic."
"Its loser's logic", we sighed in unison, and looked away from screen.
I got up from my seat walked 2 steps ahead into the jogging track, a old man came in my way, and I had to step back. With another sigh I spoke, "There's no U-turn yet....."

A thing of beauty is joy for ever.

A thing of beauty is joy for ever.

Confused? Don't be. I'll explain.  [ As I always do :) ]

An ordinary thing appeals, only temporarily. 

A beautiful object, appeals your senses permanently.

Her loveliness never fades.

Never shall she make her admirer disappointed.

Her creator may pass into nothingness.

But she is immortal.

She's a ray of light that consoles her admirer,

when he recedes to occasional miseries.

She is a genius, who speaks without her voice.

Artists 'create', but admirers 'define'.

She shall not understand,

'coz there aren't yet invented, mirrors for emotions.

She will be just be by God's Grace,

another beautiful thing.

She shall never find, the words of philosophy,

she just created, in someone's heart, within.

She would be still admired,

whoever she'd have been.

...
This is my version of John Keats' famous poem, "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever". 

I am not an Atheist!

This post will be about God.

Almost every person who knows me well, including my parents, think I'm an atheist. One who does not believe in God. Its true I never visit temples, even if I have to go, I don't perform the Hindu rituals that most people do. I don't have any wallpapers of God in my laptop or cell phone. Still, in reality, I'm not an atheist.
I have a completely different perspective of dealing with God, which I will write down today. I was inspired by the Vedic Culture, which we were taught in early years in school, in a no-credit, extra subject called M.Ed (Moral Education). God is Omnipotent (has complete power over all things), Omnipresent (present everywhere), and Omniscient (seems to know everything).
God is an object of no form, no shape, even no name! We have named him God. From childhood I have been fascinated by the lot of different customs and rituals that people perform for God. I will just share some customs that Hindus observe:

Someday, my parents said to me - "Wherever you are, never take non-veg on a Monday". Most of us become vegetarians on every Monday. Some are vegetarians on Monday and Thursday. The rest of the days of the week, they are non-vegetarian. I don't understand, whether you are cheating God by being vegetarian for a day? People will say, every Monday is dedicated to Lord Shiva. So, all worshipers of Shiva don't take Non-veg on every Monday. Does Shiva go for a holiday the very next day, when you enjoy boneless chicken? There is God, when you don't take non-veg. And there is same God near you, whenever you take non-veg. Human beings are omnivorous by nature. God made us Omnivorous. So, it definitely isn't a sin to eat non-vegetarian food. Everyone has the freedom of  choosing their own food habits. But the custom of being vegetarian for 1/7th of your life (One day out of 7 days in a week), and being a non-vegetarian for the remaining 6/7th period, doesn't seem a worthy habit.

We take off our shoes before entering inside a temple. I never understand why we do it. Just because its God's place? But God is everywhere, so why don't we go without footwear to college? The whole world is the home of God, right? Why don't we walk bare foot?

We think we did a favor to God, by breaking coconuts and offering sweets right? But does God ever take food? I dont understand the concept of "prasad".

I never mean to disrespect or create hatred in the minds of the readers. If it were so, I wouldn't use a Uppercase G in the word 'God'.


Think about it.