Death's Own Country

It was an incident which happened just a month ago. I was in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu at my maternal uncle’s home. Kanyakumari was initially a part of Kerala but was later merged into Tamil Nadu due to linguistic reasons. My uncle used to frequently travel between his home and Nagercoil, a busy town in the midst of Kanyakumari on business purposes. Since I was at home he asked me whether I wanted to go along with him. My uncle used to travel using his motorcycle and you may agree that riding pillion on one is a very pleasurable matter indeed. Besides the route he used to take was the Trivandrum-Kanyakumari National Highway. You will find the whole journey enjoying yourself in the company of the majestic Velimalai Hills on one side and the serene Parvathipuram river on the other. Women washing their clothes and men bathing their cattle is a common scene on the river banks. Unlike cities, people in villages don’t have any inhibitions on bathing in the open along side the river. Parallel to the river banks are acres of banana plantations in full bloom. And when you are on a bike you get to enjoy all these scenarios even as cool, soothing air ruffles against your body.

Having foreseen the fun in the journey, I readily agreed to it. In a matter of minutes we were speeding down the highway. My uncle is a very safe driver. Though he is young, he is not reckless and I have never seen the milometer in his bike clock above 50 km/ph. Everything was going on well and I was enjoying every bit of my journey.

KSRTC ( Kerala Road Transport Corporation) bus drivers are notorious for the careless speed they input into every journey. They regularly ply along this Trivandrum-Kanyakumari route transporting passengers from Kerala to Tamil Nadu. Like them even the TNSTC( Tamil Nadu State Road Transport Corporation) buses have services on the same route. KSRTC drivers are nowhere close to their their Tamilian counterparts in matters of road discipline. The TNSTC buses rarely go above 45 km/ph. But the KSRTC drivers believe they are proud owners of a Ferrari 360 Modena the moment they step into their bus. They whiz past every vehicle on earth reaching 65-70 km/ph on crowded roads even in peak hours. The difference is so startling that a TNSTC bus takes 2 hrs to reach Nagercoil from Trivandrum while a KSRTC bus takes just one and half! Over the years the KSRTC buses have been the root cause of many road accidents in Kerala killing many people as reported in many shocking statistics.

The bike was trudging along when we reached the Villukuri bridge and small gypsy shops became visible. They were a temporary sight as nature would take its place again. As we cleared the small village we found ourselves behind a huge tipper lorry carrying debris from a construction site. It moved at the painstaking pace of 25 knots. I leaned outside and from a distance saw a mini van approaching us. As the van came closer and closer I could see something behind it trying to vehemently overtake it. After a few seconds I saw that it was a KSRTC bus making its usual trip and as its genetic code demanded, it was trying to overtake every other locomotive on the road. This being a normal case with these buses, I thought that it would give up after seeing the lorry in front of us. Though a part of me was wondering the worst case scenario if it didn’t.

And my coldest dreams were confirmed when indeed it didn’t give up its try to overtake the van. The bus moved parallel to the van and the lorry towards them. Before anyone could get the hang of things, the bus was sandwiched between the lorry and the van. Though it managed to sneak out from between them, the tail of the bus collided with the tail of the lorry. This resulted in a tailspin and it dawned to us that we were about to be doomed. The heavy super-fast bus twirled in an uncontrollable manner. Our bike being just meters behind the truck was in close proximity with the on-coming bus. My uncle just screeched the bike to a halt as if waiting for the bus to come and hit him. Of course the inevitable was going to happen. I almost suddenly felt a cold shiver run through my spine, my tongue suddenly felt very salty, my heart was pumping so hard that I felt it will pop out of my mouth any time. I don’t know what transpired on me but I felt that I was indeed going to die. Something inside me was nudging me to accept the bitter truth and submit to God Almighty’s will.

After taking two voracious turns on the road the bus did the unthinkable. On the third turn the driver miraculously gained control of the bus and the bus went straight beyond us missing us by an inch. So much so that I could feel the hot gas pouring out of its engine. I heard frantic, mouth-shuddering cries from inside the bus as it edged past us. The driver got the bus to a halt just a few metres behind us. It was at that point that I realized that I had escaped death by a nanometer. I wanted to jump, scream in ecstasy and shout like a mad man. But the insanity of the situation in which I was seconds before stopped me from doing that.

A foul smell took over the place and I realized that it was coming from the stressed out tyres of the bus. Smoke was emanating from the engine like a military tanker on fire. People from other vehicles stepped out and looked at the driver with a you-bloody-stupid-idiot sort of look. The driver gave them back a remorseful look. Fortunately no one was hurt. After a few moments of uncertainty everything fell back into place. The driver started the bus and drove of again. My uncle looked at me.

“It happens often”, he said trying to calm me down. I was too wretched to give an answer. We drove back home quietly canceling the trip. We decided not to mention the dreaded incident to anyone in the house. That is why this incident is a close secret between me and my uncle. I told this to nobody, not even my brother or my closest friends in college. And I never wanted to. But the other day I was watching the news when I learnt that 166 people were killed between 12 am to 4 am on the morning of 20th November 2011 in various parts of Kerala due to road accidents. The news also revealed that India recorded the highest death due to road accidents in the world, and Kerala the highest in India. Perhaps God’s own country was turning into Death’s own country.

I don’t think any of the existing conditions will improve even a bit by this post. But it was just my way of showing condolence with the victims by depicting my own experience. I don’t know how to conclude this post but that is it.

Nature At Its Best.........

We as mumbaikars don’t often get an opportunity to indulge with nature at its dazzling and picturesque best. Not at least in Mumbai though. But we, the zoology students of R.D National College, Bandra got that precious opportunity to learn and understand Mother Nature and all its subtle intricacies in its original naturality.

As per our credit system we had to perform an excursion on matters related to our subject of study. Since we had already undertaken an industrial visit to KF Bioplants to Pune as Botany students, it was the turn of zoology department to take us for a ‘ride’. And they did so aptly. The planned excursion was to Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) Goregaon, Mumbai. BNHS is basically an NGO or a Non-Governmental Organisation working for the conservation of nature in and around Mumbai.It is the oldest NGO in Asia running for the past 128 years.

I don’t know about you but I was hearing about this place for the first time in my life. We were asked to come on our own to BNHS. Our faculties gave us the necessary guidelines to reach the spot which is situated alongside the famous Goregaon Film City and on the outskirts of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivili. We had no idea what we had in store for us when we were in the bus which was supposed to take us to BNHS from Goregaon station. As the bus trailed like a snail along the township of Goregaon, I wondered how boring the excursion would be. But as soon as the bus entered into the Film City territory my imagination started running the other way. With every foot the bus moved, my expectations also got higher. And finally the grumpy old conductor announced that the bus has reached its destination. Clueless, we disembarked off the bus. We looked around and found our friends and faculty waiting for us. As we moved in closer I could see a board with a picture of a horn bill which read “BNHS” (that was the first time I realized the existence of this organization!!).

A relatively short man with a captivating smile wearing a T-shirt displaying the BNHS logo leaded us to CEC, the educational centre of BNHS. We were shown into an auditorium where our attendance was taken duly and our batch was divided into four groups for the nature trail (and I got separated from my friends). I looked around to study the members of my group and Dharam, Vivek, Valencia and Unain seemed to be the only people I knew. Our group had two members from CEC as our guides – Kaustubh Sir(Environmentalist) and Eugene Sir(Ornithologist). We were very lucky as we were going on the best, toughest and the most informative trail in BNHS - The Leopard Trail. As soon as we stepped out of CEC, our guides started to shower us with their enviable knowledge of ornithology. We as students could only hear the caws of crows. But they as seasoned bird watchers could make out at least 5-6 sounds of different birds including the Magpie Robin, Taylor Bird, Racket Tail Barbet, Mynas, Thick Built Crows and so on. We were obviously dumbfounded at their inimitable worth of knowledge.

We were trudging towards the entrance point of the Leopard Trail and on the way we were shown many specimens of different creatures and plants and were explained about their distinct characteristics. Kaustubh Sir also brought our attention to the bark of a tree which was valiantly scratched and nudged by a Sambar Deer. We moved on and on the way saw many flora and fauna like the Soccer ball Tree and the Leaf-Miner etc. After some time we reached the gateway to the Leopard Trail. A sign board read

“BEWARE! YOU ARE ENTERING THE LAND OF THE KING OF THIS JUNGLE- THE LEAPORDS...”

Enough to send chills down your spines. But our guides reminded us that leopards were nocturnal creatures and would not come out when people were spotted in large numbers.

We descended down a very steep inclination for a good 30-40 meters. There we met a river which though was not in full bloom, was very scenic and catchy with tiny creatures like the land crab and the water cricket moving around in large numbers. The river would get deeper as we moved forward. There were many highlights on the way like the Ghost Tree, Curled Ginger Flowers, The Wolf Spider etc. We had our moments of excitement when Dharam said he had spotted a snake and I too had seen something wiggling in the water. But nothing much developed out of that.

Then we moved along to the ascending part of the trail which was a very long and harsh climb, tiring us physically. We saw the teak tree. The leaves of this tree are peculiar. On rubbing the leaves on our hands we get a reddish brown tinge which is due to the heavy iron content present in it. I wondered that I studied about teak since I was in my 4th grade but I never came across such facts. Pop came the answer too. Its because bookish study just polishes the external mind. But the knowledge which we acquire through experience stays for ever. And that’s why field study becomes so important in building a person’s career overall. We observed some exotic trees like the Eucalyptus( Australia), Gliciridia(Central America), Gulmohar( Madagascar). Some of my answers impressed Eugene sir and he complemented me. Though I was happy I thought those answers to be childish and known to all.

We came back to the CEC after that wonderful and informative trail and learnt that we were the only ones to take the river route!! I was feeling elated and at the same time sorry for my friends who did not have the luck to trail the coveted Leopard Trail.

The excursion ended with a thanks giving session by Manoj Sir – Not to forget his trademark ‘sort of’ which he included in his speech which made us cry with laughter.

And at the end of the day we walked away with serious thoughts lingering in our minds about nature and ecology. I was thankful that I didn’t take up engineering. Otherwise I would have ended making machines and devices locked up in a four-walled room rather than exploring and playing an important hand in conserving and nurturing God’s precious gifts. Hope another such excursion comes by in no time……………

The KF-Bioplant Experience.....

I know I am not Barack Obama that people will scurry around to read my blog. Nor do I find any sort of satisfaction in presenting this blog which is not a generalized matter like my earlier blogs. Its only that I want to preserve this piece of memory so that it doesn’t get buried in the sands of time. If not for anyone, its just for me so that I don’t forget that memorable day. But having said that I must say that this blog is for all those students who were part of that day with me. I am doing B.Sc Biotechnology from R.D national College in Bandra. As per the new system of gradings the Mumbai University has made two compulsory industrial visits every year for degree college students. This blog is about first of those visits to India’s largest plant tissue culture company- KF Bioplants. What prompted me to write this blog was that this wasn’t like any other tour to any place. This tour opened ourselves to the world of reality. It also also acted as a bond maker between all of us who were almost new to each other.

The said company is situated in Hadapsar, Pune. It was planned that the bus would leave at sharp 6:15 in the morning. But like every other tour it was bound to leave late and it surely did. After it was made sure that all the students had arrived, the bus left for Pune at sharp 7 in the morning. I don’t know about the others but I had no clue whatsoever about the whole nature of the visit. I sat back in ease as I was fasting and it was not advisable for me to do a lot of shouting and enjoyment. I watched in bored fashion as the bus grunted past all those busy bylanes of Mumbai in a disrespectful fashion. I was feeling crappy because my friends and I were separated. But the surprise was about to come just now. In about 45 minutes we had cleared Mumbai and were speeding across the Vashi creek. What followed were jaw dropping scenes of nature at its full flamboyance. The same look which you get when you travel along the Konkan routes during the monsoon period.

Mahendra had brought a camera which was a 12.1 MP Canon Powershot. He was busy clicking pictures of everyone in the bus. Come to talk about it, the bus had by now divided itself into various camps. One group along with Mukul were playing Uno while some were indulging in Antakshari. Some of my friends were busy talking to Vijendra Sir.(Describing him would take a different blog altogether!). The other three members of the faculty were busy talking among themselves. After about one and half an hour into the journey,I saw a sign board which read- GHAT STARTS HERE. The bus which was proceeding at the speed of 65 km/ph suddenly slowed down to a mere 30 km/ph. We could see mountains ahead with clouds covering their heads like the crown of the glorious king. Small bursts of waterfalls could be seen almost everywhere. Suddenly there were flashes of camera lights everywhere. Everyone were jutting their heads out to get a view of the green world not associated to Mumbai. Even the all experienced faculties were looking in awe and amusement. Many tunnels, speeding vehicles passed by for the rest of the journey.

We reached the place at about a quarter to 12 in the afternoon. After dividing us into two groups, we were led to behind the factory were we saw a initiation room. The women working inside were wearing sterile outfits as described by the officer in charge. They working like trained robots oblivious to the fact that we were watching them with the gravest attention.
While the second group went in, we engaged ourselves in clicking some photographs of some really beautiful flowers, mainly gerbera. With the help of Mahendra’s super powerful camera we clicked some really beautiful pictures. Then it was time to visit the second leg of the company which was 3 kms away and which consisted of seven, monstrous green houses. We were taken into one of the green houses. I was dumbfounded as I was visiting a green house for the first time even though I had learnt about it a lot. There were tons and tons of cultured plants lined about in a tabular fashion. I went berserk and was clicking every damn thing that came in front of the camera. There were many different types and colours of gerbera flower and other orchids. I even got a chance to click photos of Vijendra Sir along with the orchids on his request.

Having done that we all proceded for lunch. As I and some of my friends were fasting we indulged in prayers during that time. Then it was time to bid adieu to Pune as we all jogged onto our bus like an army. The return journey was especially fun as the tyre of our beloved bus punctured and caused a delay of another hour. We were at Khandala at that time and simply enjoyed the climate there. Everyone got a chance to bond with the faculty and also among each others. I spend most of the return journey talking with my new found friend, Saylee who was smarter than I thought. She asked me a lot of questions about botany, vegetation of Pune and geology. At times I didn’t have answers to most of her questions.

The faculty members especially the H.O.D Vibha Ma’m confessed that she liked our group and that it was very enthusiastic.

By the time we reached the outskirts of Mumbai, it was sunset and time to break our fast. Our other friends also got along with us and shared their food items with us.

There was a sinking feeling as we were nearing the end of the journey. Majority of us got out at the Bandra railway station bidding goodbye to our friends. It was a mind blowing experience. I reached home by 9:30 but I longed for another trip but I knew it won’t come sooner.

Three days after the trip, we were in our botany lab learning the preparation of wine. That’s when our H.O.D announced the second tour which would happen in the ending days of December. And this time it was going to be even bigger. We are going on a six day tour to Jaipur, Bharatpur and Ranthambore!!!!! Damn excited!!! And I am really longing for it…………

Believe In Yourself.....

It is one of those incidents which you never forget in life. They come up as revelations when you are in need of it. These are tiny leaflets that make your huge book called life. The reference I am about to tell you is an incident that I witnessed which helped me inculcate a sense of self belief in myself. I hope it does the same to you. After months of searching for a good topic to write on, this idea flashed like lightning to me.

I was into learning karate since I was 7 years old. After three years of training when I was 10 years old, I along with about 30 odd students of our karate institution, where selected for an All India Karate tournament to be held in Thrissur,Kerala. It was a ten day trip to Kerala and was planned during the Christmas vacation in December 2005. We reached Thrissur by 26th of December and straight away paid a visit to the stadium in which the tournament was to be held. The scene was jaw-dropping, awesome and whatever you want to call it. Being born and brought up in a space cramped city like Mumbai, we were but naturally surprised to see such a huge stadium. It was actually a indoor basketball stadium with a seating capacity of about 3000. The platform or the WWE ring (as we called it then) was being built at the center. The mere sight of the ramp sent shivers running down most of our spines.

After about a day’s rest, the tournament was flagged open on the 28th of December (ohhh…I can never forget those dates) and would continue for three days. The Black Dragons- a team from Kerala were the official organizers of the tournament. We had heard plenty about their team being fearless and ruthless and the one which swept most of the awards every year. And man they did live up to their legendary reputation. We watched in awe and dismay as seasoned karate pros from all over the country perished like amateurs at the hand of the deadly Black Dragons. They moved on like trained, powerful robots and nobody could do anything about that. The first day itself saw many of our team members including me get knocked out of the tournament. Phew! I suffered a knockout and when I woke up I was at our dugout. The game was over for me.

Well the real story starts now. On the third and the last day all the different weight categories were headed towards the last rounds. Almost all of them were ensured a bronze medal at least.
As I said the fighters where divided as per their weights. Like I was in the 35-40 weight category. Of all the fighters, the one who stole all the limelight was Manoj Black Dragon-as he was called by the announcer. He kicked and swayed everyone who came his away during the tourney. People gripped with fear when they saw themselves pitted against him on the fight list. Most of his fights ended in brutal knockouts. He undoubtedly won his weight category of 55-60 kgs.

And after all that, when everyone thought that everything was over, the organizers announced a surprise trophy. The Dragon Crest as it was called by them. The speciality of that trophy was that it had no weight or gender bounds. Anybody who cleared 5 rounds in their respective categories were eligible for that trophy. Not surprisingly, the first one to get himself enrolled was Manoj. After that it was like nobody wanted that trophy. The organizers asked repeatedly about any one wanting to join as contenders for the coveted trophy. After a while a student from our institution, Deepak or Spiderman as he was know among us him stood up. He said he was ready to fight Manoj who was by now grinning and showing off thinking that he would win the trophy without any competition.

‘Are you out of your mind’, ‘He will chew you and spit you out’, ‘You are gone!’. That was the reaction from our camp. Sure he was the best from our institution and also the only one to win a gold medal from our team, but not up to Manoj, we thought.

In a matter of minutes, he was padded up and the fight would start in no time. Manoj, full with over-confidence was looking at his dugout and gesturing at the girls declaring his supremacy. The crowd was silent. 3000 people, sat like they knew the fate of the match already. Even we at our dugout were counting the probabilities of Deepak returning back without fracturing some part of his body.

The referee called the players closer, and gestured some rules to them. He drew out and after a moment shouted, “Start!” And the fight was on. The showboating Manoj was taunting Deepak who was looking keenly into his eyes. After some initial struggle he was pushed to the corner of the ring by Manoj. This was the moment. Deepak came back with a startler. Running across the stage he unleashed the deathly Bruce Lee style flying kick. It went straight to Manoj’s jaw. And man!! He ruffled across the ropes and was out of the stage. The referee counted till ten so that Manoj could come back in. But he didn’t getup, let alone re-enter the stage. The match was over! The Dragon Crest was ours! The supremacy of the Black Dragons ended. We could not believe what we were witnessing. Deepak unleashed into a flurry of somersaults and ugly gestures at the Black Dragon dugout.

Nobody gave him a chance. Not even his teammates, not even his coach. Of all the 3000 people only one person believed in him. And that was he himself. He had courage, he had power, he had swiftness, but above all he believed in himself. He never let himself down even when everyone others did so. He was holding the metal studded shining trophy in his hand with his eyes gleaming at the limelight. He knew he had achieved something and set a role model others.

Even now I think about that incident after 7 years. I bet all the people present there would also remember him. Now, whenever I am in doubt I think about this man called Deepak and try to draw inspiration from him. Because he was the one who Believed In Himself.

Why Science Students Screw up Their Junior College?

Well scholars and even normal human beings like you and I know that experience speaks on a person. And it surely does. Because this topic is written by a man who indeed screwed up his grades when he came to junior college. Its not just my tale but that of all the students who appear for their HSC in Mumbai- The City Of Dreams. Yeah…poor students are indeed left dreaming at the end.

Every year passes by and you hear all those stories of your neighborhood boys an girls who score considerably less than what their class X percentage was. Since it happened to me too, I analyzed the matter and came out with all those reasons like the air crash investigator who comes out with the cause of a devastating air crash. If gone in detail I can publish a mini book on it. But this is the shortest it can be.

First and the foremost reason is that the Class X syllabus is a hell lot simple than junior college portion. For the newbies who score in the high eighties in class X and expect to do an encore in their HSC, this comes as a Mike Tyson sort of punch to their jaw. They find it difficult to cope with the new and much harder concepts of Physics and Maths. But their conscious mind does not want to believe it and they end up trying to master that portion till the very end. Sadly they end up just trying and nothing more.

Secondly students in Mumbai think that there is a need for a good college to excel in your HSC. Hence in a valiant search for that ensures that you get it at least 20 kilometers away from your home. That means a travel time of one hour if you take a train. A worst case scenario if you take a bus. Secondly the student gets into some very damn expensive classes who as we know only want to please the student’s parents by maintaining a clean slate. They conduct tests before the student can realize what the chapter is about. In fact the chapter is completed even before the student finds out the chapter’s name. Many scientific reports believe that an average child has an attention span of only 3 hrs per day. But these so called coaching classes take up courses in the months ranging from March to June non-stop without even a single holiday for 7 hrs at a stretch each day!

By the time the vacations are over 70% of the portions are finished(what crap!). When college starts they reduce their class times to 3 hrs(great act of responsibility). So if you count 5 hrs of college plus 3 hrs of tuitions plus 2 hrs of traveling. It takes up ten hours of you active 16 hrs. Student spends time in all those daily chores for about 4 hrs. So after all this do you people in your sane mind think that the student would want to study in the 2 hrs they get to sense and feel whats happening around in this world? Of course he would not. He would instead crave for entertainment of any sort to free himself. Also peer pressure acts on him in a terrible way.

I am not supposed to say this but colleges in Mumbai are utterly useless. They would be deserted like government libraries if not for the fact that they conduct practicals. A new collegian expects his college to be a friendly an co-operative affair like his school. But it is not so. Its just like the Indian government(exists for the namesake).Teachers come and go. They don’t care about the portion nor do they take classes seriously. Even then they want students to attend all their lectures. Other reasons include the obtainance of mobile phones, want to attract the opposite sex, and to experience the all new factor called bunking. Especially if you have that odd chemistry teacher who just blabbers out his qualifications. I don’t want to go in detail about all that.

Yet there are those super humans who survive all these atrocities and come out as “Toppers”- the word itself needs coronation. We should really salute those super humans wherever we see them.

It does not end here. Theirs a lot more to it. As I mentioned I can write a mini book on this topic. This comes from a source who has experienced all this on himself and has also seen his friends who were perennial toppers in their school days nose dive with their percentages. I am sure that anyone of the above mentioned points would have contributed to your diminished percentage. Just think about. Yeah, I bet you will.

This was not a pamphlet of complain or anything of that sort. Its just what I felt. And I think you will agree with it to some extent. And do post your valuable comments on what you think about this matter..

Osama bin Laden - Martyr Or Terrorist?

I don't know how many will read my blog. I don't know how many will accept my views. But I am writing this blog for my own self and for the few people out their who can comply with my view point on perhaps the world's most famous personality - Osama bin Laden.

Talking about him and all the chaos surrounding his death. Many people in the Islamic world hail him as a 'mujahid'. They say he waged a battle against the U.S.A- a country which can cross any limits to accomplish and establish their supremacy in the modern world. On the face of it, for any muslim, he is indeed a warrior who fought for all the muslims and performed the duty of jihaad.

But everything is not as it seems. It is a matter of fact that America especially under the Bush regime behaved like an imperialist,bloodsucking maggot, who in the name of war on terrorism did nothing but disrupt and destroy the lives of tonnes of people in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and other similar places. What was perceived to be a war on global terrorism ended up as a civilian war killing more than 5,00,000 people in Iraq alone. Many children were killed, women were raped, and many more rendered orphans. The tyranny of the Bush regime never ends.

It was against this undefiable act of deamonism that Osama waged a war against. A justifiable act indeed. But the method he took to continue with this war is a matter of huge controversy. He declared fatwas (religious orders) favouring the killing of America and its allies which included innocent citizens. He claims this was in accordance to jihaad(struggle against evil) prescribed in the Holy Quran. But his fatwas had serious theological flaws.

Talikng about jihaad, the Holy Prophet laid down strict rules against the killings of women,children and non-combaters. He also prohibited attacking people by taking them unawares. Unfortunately Osama's fatwas transgressed all these restrictions. He considered women and children to be legitimate targets of jihaad. He could have been an example not only for the muslim community but also for the whole world if he had followed the proper path.

But sadly he ended up tarnishing the image of Islam, a religion which deeply emphasises on the principle of peace. Yet people call him a martyr who fought for Islam. A sad but blatant truth. I don't know how many comply with my view, but this my way of thinking and this the way I follow and perceive Islam to be. I finish my blog with a quotation from the Holy Quran which says...

"If anyone kills any innocent man its like killing the whole of mankind"

A Train Journey To Kerala.........

Looking at the title you may obviously think that it is just another description of just another train journey to a beautiful state called Kerala. Well indeed its a journey to my motherland Kerala but the blog I am writing is not a travelogue. Its about my encounter with a man I met during the two day long yatra. My interaction with him thought me a thing or two about the subtle intricacies of life that one needs to follow.

It was after my SSC exams in mid march 2009. Since that was an important year and due to some personal reasons I had not visited my native place since the past four years. Not long, you may think. But for a person like me its too long a time since we have none of our relatives living in Mumbai. Besides Kerala was a place I yearned to live in thanks to its scenic beauty and pollution free environment. Something which is unheard of, in a bustling,24×7, metropolitan city like Mumbai. Sometimes I have gone to the extent of cursing myself for the prospect of having to live in Mumbai inspite of being born in Kerala. Due to all these reasons I wanted to rocket to Kerala as soon as my exams were over. Luckily my dad's friend was planning to travel to Kerala due to business reasons. I booked my ticket with him and in no time in a matter of few days I was of to my hometown all excited.

Day one of the journey passes away entirely travelling through Maharshtra. Its only the next day morning that you enter the Kerala border through Mangalore. One of the very first stations is Calicut-the place where the iconic personality Vasco da Gama landed as he first came to India. A man of short height but stout stature boarded the compartment and sat right in front of me. I got a little excited as I could now talk to a local of Kerala. He looked a little out of place as he was adjusting baggage under the seats. I asked whether he needed help but he did not mind my words. At this point I got a faint notion that my co-traveller was a grumpy man who cannot be easily befriended. And my intuition only got worse as the journey progressed. My uncle who was with me tried making all sorts of friendly gestures with him but everything turned futile. Apart from occasional glances, he just won't talk.
I became restless and tried hard to figure out his personality, but to no avail. I wondered why would anyone wan't to sit idle throughout a long journey. To my mind he had already become an imbecile, egoistic man who disliked public communication. The rest of the journey continued in the same vein with I making gestures by which he understood we were tired of his attitude.

The train hustled and bustled into Trivandrum and we got up to collect our luggage and exit the train. As we were about to leave I gave a final glance to the man, upon which he woke up and came closer to us. My uncle too turned and looked towards him. He said," I know that I have been too recessive. But you must understand that I am not in that frame of mind. I just lost my son in a bus mishap. He was the only one to me." As soon as he said that,he left leaving the two of us doing nothing but staring at each other. We didn't know what to do, what to say but pick our baggage and get out of the train. Suddenly the whole world turned upside down. We were the ones who were imbeciles, egoistics and all those damn slang words in the world. My uncle was quick to run behind him and tender an apology. We watched him as he walked, shoulders drooped into the busy bush of passengers.

"Prejudice is the worst thing that can destroy a relationship son. It leads to miscommunication between people. Had we thought about the matter from his perspective, we could have avoided such a situation.", commented my uncle. That day I learned that we need to think both ways before we come to a particular decision.Our gestures might have hurt him. But there is no use talking about it now. We should have realised that before. In life there might arise many a situations like this and we may end up being at crossroads. At such a juncture, thinking about people from there view helps to make a right decision rather than make a decision based on your view and regret it life-long.

So friends, I hope you might have learnt something out of this ordinary blog I wrote and you may use it in your life.

MY FRIENDS IN COLLEGE.......

I had started my blog on the topic-FRIENDS FOR LIFE???.....and I think the intended people liked it.Hence I have decided to continue on that topic but with a more dip of reality.

Since my childhood days, I have maintained that no one comes close to school friends.And i think that notion is the same for all of us.But college is a bigger fraternity and the friendships we have there have a great effect on our personality.Hence i am going to describe about the closest circuit of friends i have in college.People not included in this list should not feel offended as i am going through a lot of time and space crunch at this moment.

Here are the people who make me what i am in college.(in alphabetical order).

AMEY MORE

Amey.He is the quintessential,typical college loving,happy-go-lucky kind of guy.Apart from being a self crafted batsmen who plays for the prestigious MCA,he is one of the coolest guys to hang out with.He turns out to be the convener for almost any get-togethers organized by our friend circle.Tall,lanky and kinky,Thats how you describe a guy like Amey.

GAURAV AGARWAL

Gaurav is the perfect 'boy next door' type of guy.You will encounter people like him every now and then in AAMCHI MUMBAI.He is also the ultimate TechGuru not only among us, but also among the whole of SYJC.and i bet he can even give the B-tech students a heavy run for their money.There is no other word beyond his,when it comes to tech related things.Be it mobiles,laptops,PCs and what not???And thats why he is a hit with girls?!!!!

MAHENDRA VARMA

Yes the name itself has royalty etched on it.He joined us from the UBS college when we were in the 12th grade.But i must admit that he has gained more friends and popularity in a single year than we did in two!!And thats Mahendra.He is damn funny and humorous.He can kick the ass out of anybody in the so called 'War of Words'.So don't mess with him.....!!!

MOHAMMED REHMANJI

Mohammed is the cute,bubbly funny man of our group.He can imitate our college professors to the teeth with no stone unturned!People say i am good in the subject of biology.But i credit him to be the ultimate when it comes to that field as he is far more dedicated than me.He is always cheerful and blushing.Have a dull moment??You ain't happy for some reason??Just hang out with him and everything will be fine.....infact you will cry with laughter....!!

MUKUL KAREYA

What do heptathlons do??They specialise in one or more forms of athletics.And that is what Mukul does. Though not true to the definition, he is a guy with the ultimate sportsmanship spirit.He can sprint,he can run long distances,he can win tele games for your team and most importantly, he can play football. And man...he does play it damn well!He is a professional and plays for the Yuva Sports Club in Bandra.He is also one of the best in academics among us.....though he denies it always(ha.who listens???)....

SHAYARSH SINGH

The most dedicated among us when it comes to dreaded word called studies.If any one of us studied like him, then we would have got our names pasted on the 90+ lists long back.very quiet and keeps to himself mostly.You will have an impression of a book-worm when you look at him......and seriously,he is one...

SOHAIL SHAIKH

Last but not least.Sohail.He is dark,he is rich, he is shy, and he is a self proclaimed physicist(much like Mukul) and he is from the land of the West-Saudi Arabia.Yes.Even though he is an Indian, he resides in Jeddah.Yeah, he is an import.We call him 'tadipaar' OR simply 'refugee'!!

He again like Mukul denies that he has excellent academic records.But again-who listens?!!He is a typical character who doesn't mind going to ends for friends even if it requires him spend huge prices.....

And hence these are the people i be with in college......These are the gems of my life......

Friends For Life???

Everyday as a 12th grader, my days pass by in a jiffy with the company of my friends. Playing football, teasing each other by names, ridiculing some teachers and all. Yes its the time of our life to make merry......

But people like us rarely think of the larger backdrop. Maybe we don't need to. And perhaps we should not. Because its this time of our life that we get to enjoy. Get to feel the aroma of friendship. The aroma of sincere commitment for each other. We get to enjoy all the moments we spend together. We rarely are concerned about our studies(we consider it as a second priority). But sometimes in the middle of this bliss and happiness suddenly a question pops out of nowhere.

"ARE WE GOING TO BE TOGETHER LIKE THIS FOREVER TILL THE

VERY END OF OUR LIFE?"

If you consider the facts of life, the answer to many of us would seem to be in the negative. And indeed so it will be. In just a matter of few days our first years of college life will be over. All scattered back to their respective nests. All will make themselves ready for the challenges life will throw with them. All will have to explore and survive the big bad world which is waiting for them. At such a juncture, friends will count only as people you meet during a long journey to some place. No doubt all will be in touch thanks to wonders called social networking sites. But will we be ready to spend time so nonchalantly at that time. Now in our moods we may say yes. But looking at the larger picture it will be a time when you will be dogged with family responsibilities. Our young shoulder will feel the pressure to make a career for ourselves. all the childhood buddies will be scattered all around like pearls of a broken necklace.

Such a period is inevitable yet necessary. So this as my first blog is a tribute to my friends. We all came from different parts in Mumbai to one place called Bandra. Yes its pure destiny. Otherwise my Friend Gaurav who lives in Bhayander wouldn't have met me - a person who stays so far away in Ghatkopar. We all spend two years of quality friendship and the time for us to part has come.

So after many years if you see any of your friends in some city in some part of the world, then just remember that it was God then and it is God now who wants you to meet again...............

"THANK YOU MY FRIENDS FOR BEING IN MY LIFE!"