A Curse, That Never Dissolved!! – Part 2

Please read the 1st part before this. Its a continuation.

He went to bus station to catch a bus back to his native. His hometown was 7 hours by bus. He looked at his face in one of those mirrors in the toilet at bus station. He had changed a lot. He was an attractive guy while at collage and always had a distinct hairstyle. He was fair and handsome and his character and looks always attracted people. He was stylish in his own terms but now he had lost it all. He was just an unshaved man with a dark complexion and no distinct hair style. He was now just another man in the crowd.


Back at his home town, he met with a sudden tragedy. His family has shifted from that place and the house they used to live was empty now. None of the neighbors had any idea of their whereabouts. 8 years ago, they were very much depressed at what happened to Sivan. His father had pronounced him out of the family when he came to know of his arrest and hadn’t gone to prison to meet Sivan even once in those 8 years. He made up in his mind that he won’t search for them until he found a decent job and made a nice name for himself.


He didn’t have a nice time in the hometown were people always referred to him as that guy who murdered his class mate while at collage. People kept on talking about Sivan in bus stops and tea stalls and barber shops and bars. Many of them didn’t know him personally and occasionally asked “ So you are that guy who murdered your classmate? You were in jail for 8 years? ...” All these disturbed him very much and he wanted to say them that he was a changed man and he was the most disciplined prisoner at jail. But none of them cared to these stories and they were reluctant to give job to this man. He tried many jobs but none of them ended up long as they kept on humiliating him and many threw him out of the job without any real reason. He felt really sad and heart broken when people referred to him as a criminal. He had already lived in the jail for 8 terrible years and felt it was his time to live now.


He called up his warden at jail Sekhar and came to know that he was in hospital after a heart attack. He was worried after hearing this and the news of Sekhar’s sickness made him forget his own worries. He felt his eyes speaking to people of his restlessness and left the seat and stood by the door.

Please continue reading in the 3rd Post

A Curse, That Never Dissolved!! – Part 3

Please read the 1st two parts before continuing with this one.

He was surprisingly welcomed warmly by his wife and 17 year old boy. They said Sekhar had spoken high of him for all those 8 years and so they didn’t hurt him even with a single word. After 3 days Sekhar was discharged and Sivan said to him the complete episode at his home town. Sekhar offered words of condolences and arranged him a job in a factory in Trivandrum . He also insisted that it was better Sivan stayed at Trivandrum because no one knew Sivan neither his history.


His time seemed to get better and smoother and he no longer dreamt those scary dreams. He started living the life he had dreamt while at prison. He was sure his bad days were over and was happy for this transformation in life. He was a lively man again. Days went by smoothly and it was nearly an year since he was out of jail. He now believed the curse upon him was finally and really over.


During that time, an old friend of his from the jail got released and the same police warden had given him Sivan’s address. He was so happy to know that Sivan had finally emerged out of all tough times and have started working. He went directly to the factory to meet Sivan and called out loudly. “Sivaa..Nee ipo decent aayi joli oke cheythu thudangi alle...Nee aake maariyalloda..purathu irangiyappo aake onnu chethu aayalloda..” which meant .. “Sivaa.. You have started doing a job now ! Great man..You have changed a lot...Once you got out, you have become fair also..”


Unluckily for Sivan the owner of that factory was on rounds and he asked Sivan who was that man. He said he was an old friend, and that man out of his anxiety of meeting Sivan, added that, he and Sivan had spent 4 years together in jail. Sivan was shocked at the mention of “jail” but the owner was even more shocked. He asked the details and Sivan had to describe the full story of how he got into the jail. The owner scolded him in front of the rest of workers and said he don’t want a criminal in his workforce. His heart was broken at those lines and he begged the owner for keeping him. By that time he had already moved on to the next workers space. The news spread in the factory like a wild forest fire. People, even those with whom he had dinner yesterday, started ignoring him from then and often kept talking behind his back about the incident in the factory.


Once again he and his Inglorious Past has been the topic of discussion in the hotel he ate daily. He felt his last one year’s hard work in getting a name and identity had been spoilt in a second. He was almost getting into this world of common people without the distinction of being a murderer and had started sleeping normally without any wild dreams. But this could change it all and it could be an unchangeable change. Now he didn’t even have the mind to go to another place and start all over again hiding his identity as a cold blooded murderer.


Now he was again that guy who cursed his fate and foolishness and rash rise of blood in an unfortunate moment. He cursed that guy who threw that broken bottle to him. He cursed those guys who charged him up to bash Rajesh. He cursed all of them but all of them could be leading a happy life now and he was left with nothing rather than this tag of a Criminal who had murdered his own class mate at the age of 22.
The humiliation he faced since his release from the jail have been more heartening than those physical hardships he had to go through in the initial days at jail. He cursed his fate and wished a Death Sentance could have been much better because then he couldn’t have had to face these hardships from people. He could have lived the rest of his life in that prison and could have had those random nice people inside who understood each others sentiments and he at least had a glass and a steel plate and a room of his own and a darkness to hide himself. But here outside he had nothing of his own and he was an alien Criminal who had gone to jail for murdering his own class mate.


He thought all these could have been because of the curses of Rajesh and his relatives and his friends. Rajesh...a fellow classmate. A guy who sat in the same benches and read the same books and who used to eat from the same mess and paid the same fees. Sivan had ended Rajesh’s life in a moment. But Sivan was living a life full of hardships. He felt the people around him were all demons killing him inch by inch by each word they spoke. He had already suffered for 9 years and how much more will he have to suffer with the tag of a criminal or a murderer? Why should he suffer like this? His heart was burning with these thoughts and he cried out and left out huge groans. Many heard him but none cared. After all he was just a dreaded criminal to them.


To end it all for ever, he went to the tallest building in the town and jumped from the top of it. He had Rajesh’s face in his mind and he was cursing himself at heart even in those last seconds.

The Most Shocking Photo of the Decade or a Master Fake?!

This picture was one among those 19 that i received today as a forward and the subject read “Rarest of rare pictures”. I didn’t spend much time on it at the first go declaring it instantly a Fake! But then i came back to this photo and watched it closely. There were certain things about this picture that caught my eye and i searched about it for sometime wanting to prove it a fake out on all equations. Here i am presenting those things i found out.





First let me explain this picture thoroughly.
The picture is of a tourist posing for a photo on the top floor of one of those World Trade Center buildings that collapsed on 11th September 2001. If you look closely you will find in the right bottom that the date is in fact 09-11-01. Now if your eyes are to trust, this photo must be clicked seconds before that plane crashed onto the same World Trade Center building.


I will present the things i found out here. The ones supporting the genuinity and the ones that could oppose it. I used the theory of contradiction here and tried to prove this is a fake. So lets take this step by step!


Point One
So the 1st thing i did was to check if place in question is the top of World Trade Center or not. A No to this question will put an end to this whole debate. For that i searched “top of world trade center” in Google Images. I was shocked to see that the railings in the image resembled the railings at the top of the World Trade Center or for now lets call it the “Watch Deck” of the WTC. Here I am including 2 photos to prove it looks alike the railings of the World Trade Center.
 

  Now you will accept railings seen in the photo of our question is indeed similar to that of the real World Trade Center that collapsed on 11th Sept 2001. You will also notice that all the pictures are apparently at the same height. This just furthur strengthens the case because you can have the same railings for other buildings as well but you don’t have buildings as tall as this everywhere.
So now its evident that the picture is that of the top of the World Trade Center beyond all doubts.


Point Two
At the right bottom of the picture you can quite clearly see the date which says 09-11-01. I am not an expert on these Photoshop’s but i have heard its not possible or its tough to re-create or edit the date shown in a picture. As i said i don’t know how to use this Photoshop and this thing is something i have heard.


Point Three
Now let us postmortem the aircraft that seems to be approaching the building. I  will say that’s exactly the aircraft that crashed onto the building. Wondering how?


As you all know that the World Trade Center or the WTC consists of two towers. The North Tower and the South Tower. The North tower was hit 1st at 8.46 AM and the South Tower at 9.03 AM. So if you are to believe this picture, you will have to assume that he was standing atop the North Tower, because once the North Tower was hit, this man posing for a picture atop the South Tower is even out of question. Now you know that the North Tower was hit at 8.46 AM, but you have no details about the aircraft. So i searched Wikipedia for those and found out that it was a Boeing 767 aircraft flown by American Airlines. Now you might want to see how a Boeing 767 flown by American Airlines looks like.


Now go back to the picture in question and you will see that the livery or the outer look of the aircraft matches, so does the model of the aircraft. Boeing 767 is a twin engine flight and so is the flight in the picture that we are talking about.


Now its evident the flight in the question is same as in the real incident.


Point Four
If you notice the way sunrise is falling over him, its coming from one of the sides and not from directly over his head. The way and the depth of the shadow falling over his face shows that its either quite early in the morning or a its quite later in the evening. The crash on the 1st building happened at 8.46 AM and the shadows falling over supports it.


These are the four points i found out supporting the genuinity of the picture. Now lets see what goes against this picture!!


Point One
I searched for the average temperatures of New York during the mid Septembers every year. I found out from Wikipedia that it ranges around 60-75 degrees Fahrenheit  or around 16-24 degrees Celsius. Considering it was quite a sunny day, i would like to assume that it would have been around 23 degrees. So what doubts me is what makes him wear a jacket with fur on such a warm day. If what i see is right, it has a hood with fur and he wears another black banyan inside which surely wouldn't have been my choice on such a warm day.


Point Two
Now as you see the aircraft is quite near to him and the building. Don’t tell me he didn’t know that there was an aircraft behind his butt. If he didn’t see it because he is not facing the aircraft he is sure to hear it with two aircraft engines roaring just meters away from him. And I am pretty sure there was another guy with him, the guy who must have taken this picture. At least he should have seen it. Or else you will have to assume the worst case that the guy who took was blind and both these guys were completely deaf to miss such a flight! Or incase they saw this flight, they wouldn’t have been there posing for a photo, they would be thinking how to save themselves. Or being optimists their thoughts could have been that of some random pilots showing off their piloting skills in front of the Epic Twin Towers and they could have been taking this rare photo to show and boast of to their friends. Or else they could have been sure of their fate and this crazy guy would have wanted his picture to live forever provided the memory card survived.


As you see numerous theorems could be proved and disproved and points noted. What if i wasted my 2-3 hours on yet another fake image? If it’s a fake, it’s a well created fake image by an expert with some senses.  Or what if this really is a genuine image?? How did it survive when the big towers fall apart and thousands lost their lives?? We will just have to assume that out of fear the camera fall out of their hands and the memory card was found undamaged among the debris. We will have to believe that it survived to tell a tale. The tale of a tragedy!


Do you have the answers for all these?? Feel free to throw in your comments and thoughts!!

My Journey...A Tale!! (Part 1)

While in an evening walk, while in a crowded bus or a train, while at a library searching for your favorite book or at your favorite hotel for a special dinner, while at the marriage of your distant relative or in an unknown forum over internet,...you meet people! You might give them a smile! You ask for their help, to find a book or your way or the time or some place, unknowingly many a times. You talk to some and listen to a few. Who are they? They are strangers. The same strangers whom your Papa must have warned of to be careful about. And many of those strange friendships or strange-ships lasts no longer than the dress  we wear. This being a small script cooked up in my mind, thinking of those strangers who had helped me expecting none in return, shared their simple and humane thoughts with me and even those who had nothing to give but a nice smile.

Krupaya dhyaan deejiye! Gadi no 6248 Thiruvanathapuram se hokar Manglore tak jaanevali Parashuram Express platform no 2 par aa chuki hein….

This sound of the railway announcement woke me up. I looked through the bars of the window and found that the train had reached Ernakulam Jn station. The hanging televisions in the station played the trailer of an up coming Mohanlal flick which is to release coming Friday. The sound of the video was only vaguely hearable courtesy the loud cries of the Chai-wala's and the murmurs of anxious and impatient passengers. My watch said it was 11.42 AM which meant i had slept for like 3 ½ hours. I bought a newspaper from one of those bookstalls in the platform. The front page was filled with the news of India winning the 2011 Cricket World Cup.


I was reading an article when i noticed that a uncle who sat opposite to me was starring at my newspaper and i offered it to him and he smiled and thanked me. I smiled back and glanced at the people in my vicinity. An old lady with a spectacles was reading a thick covered book, a middle aged man in a t-shirt and jeans was sleeping and another person was reading an Outlook magazine and he had a blue tooth device in his ears. All of passengers seemed to be content with their own mobile phones and books.




I looked out through the window and enjoyed the green-Kerala. There were this beautiful sight of paddy fields and coconut trees besides the track all over with occasional railway crossings where vehicles waited in long queues for the gate to be opened. There were these loud whistling/horn of the train occasionally and i was tuned to this rhythmic beat of the mating between the rail track and the metal wheel. A number of thoughts went passing through my mind and i wondered how many times have i boarded this same train. I remembered this incidence of how i knew Italy had won the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

( Scene: Same train Date: Some-time in mid Aug 2006 )

I was boarding this train from Trivandrum and was already late that i couldn't read the newspaper before hand. I entered the bogie minutes before it left and luckily found myself a seat beside the window. At that instant i saw the picture of Italian Soccer team with the cup in the front page of a newspaper and out of anxiety grabbed the newspaper from some one whom i had never ever met. I was just reading that article when that man grabbed the paper from my hand and scolded saying "Excuse me, who taught you these manners?? .. can't you see that am reading it young man??" and i was embarrassed in front of rest of the passengers.

For the comfort of reading, I've split this into 3 parts. So continue reading in the next post!

My Journey...A Tale!! (Part 2)

Please read the above post if you haven't. This is a continuation

The next few minutes i sat still with my face pressed against the window bars as if reaching out to catch some sight at the far end. The train was out of station and sun was lazily starting his day's work. The incident was as bad as getting slapped on your face and i figured out what a stupid thing i had just done. "I should have at least asked for the paper!!" I kept on repeating at heart. I now knew there was no point in staring out at the semi-dark early morning sky and took out a film magazine from my bag and pretended to read it. But again and again those thoughts kept coming back to my mind and i even cursed him many a times at heart for embarrassing me! 





May be 20 minutes after that he tapped my knees and gave me the paper and apologized for those rash moments. I said it was my mistake and apologized him back with a stressed smile and accepted the newspaper. My mind eased out and thanked him with a brighter smile few seconds later. He too spared a smile at me and i felt a silent conversation taking place. The situation eased out by then and i was all into the newspaper. I read all the articles and described to him about Zidane's head-butt incident and how much Buffon deserved the Best-Goalkeeper award. He as if to change the subject said cricket was his favorite sport and added he had watched the 1983 Cricket World Cup final live on television.


My watch ticked by fast for me, as i was enjoying the film magazine. He as if out of boredom asked me what do i study and i said i was doing 1st year B.Sc. He added that he was working in the Secretariat. His tone seemed to change to an advisory mode and i was least interested to be advised by some one i never even knew, and i wanted to go back to my magazine. But with no other option, i pretended to listen to him and nodded at times just to ensure i was awake. At an instant i asked where he was getting down and he said Kottayam. That meant i will have to bear him for about an hour and cursed my fate for all the ill happenings of the day. Later i switched back to my magazine and a few stations later the stranger left and by then i had made up i will never be friendly to a stranger.

Please Continue to Part 3 in the next post!

My Journey...A Tale!! (Part 3)

This is continuation from Part 2. Please complete part 1 and 2 first!

(Date: Back to present,April 3rd 2011)

The uncle who had borrowed the newspaper returned it.  I looked at the watch and it was just past 12 noon. I went through the rest of the paper and the last pages were filled with posters of those movies to be released soon. I was all excited to be back home from work and i will be there until Vishu (April 14th, New year according to Malayalam calendar). I dreamt of what will be special at home for Vishu? "There could be the customary fire crackers which i really enjoyed and then there would be nice food and new movies coming on television. Then there would be…..Would be….?? Uh..Is that all?"

It reminded me of these festivities way back when i was a kid. Then festivals like Vishu and Onam meant get together of the whole family for about 5-10 days of extreme fun. The courtyard used to be filled with kids playing with loud noises, the elder women at home enjoying the cooking part with gossiping while the elder men spending their rare holidays together discussing their tough working hours, aspirations of building new houses, and so on. Evenings were fun with all jumping and swimming in the big pond and at night all the kids slept in a same room. The grand parents always had pleasant gifts for us and we always had an innocent smile in return.

But now can i, or you dream of such a holiday?? I wish i could! The person whom i had met a long way back in the same train had talked of the changing times and how televisions were starting to influence the household lately, and had referred to peoples keen interest for the Onam season, just because new movies kept on coming in the satellite channels. Back then i had called him an old man, and had told him that he felt the time was changing just because he was getting old and it was not that people had stopped enjoying festivals. He just smiled at me and hadn't replied then. I was happy then to see his mouth shut because i was more interested in that film magazine. Later he had said "Good bye young man. Happy Onam. Good luck…" and had got down at his station.

Now it makes me feel like the time has changed too and peoples interests have shifted poles. But who is to blame for all these? Does a guy sitting dumb in front of the movie celebrating the hero's success and laughing out at even the lamest of jokes know that this is not the right way to celebrate a great festival like Onam. Is it just about Kerala or have the people whole over the world changed too? Do you enjoy the movie songs now? If yes have you listened to classical music?? Have you seen the classical dances? Do you even know what Kathakali is? Is it true that world is changing or as i had told that stranger, should i just assume that i was getting old too??

But for that stranger, whose name interestingly i never asked, would i have had these thoughts too? Was it just a waste of my time to listen to him? More and more questions arise and many remain unanswered. I might never see him again and my questions might remain unanswered for the length of my life.

An Ode to the Gods Own Country.

My Efforts to know Kerala more closely, both Statistically & Factually.

When India was divided into many, on the basis of native languages, a tiny strip at the very south, the one sandwiched between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea , the one where the natives spoke this beautiful language Malayalam, a state was born. Kerala, on November 1st 1956. The same date which we celebrate as Kerala Piravi. At my school, we were not allowed to speak in any language other than Malayalam on that particular day, or you could be handed the Joker Card! (its customarily passed among the sub junior students, those who speak anything other than English at Sainik School Kzm,and the one who has hold of it after the lunch is punished by their house captain).

The sight of the Sun hiding deep into the oceans at Kovalam beach, the sight of House boats afloat a picturesque Vembanad lake at Kumarakam, the sight of lowered fishing nets at Fort Cochin with a lazy sun slowly rising above the horizon at the Arabian Sea, the beautiful sight of tea plantations at the hill stations, are only some of those scenes that might leave a tourist “Awestruck”. In the year 1980, Kerala started its efforts to find revenue by promoting its tourism. By mid 1990’s Kerala had slowly become one of the first pick spots for tourists, both domestic & foreign. By 2007, Kerala had become the fastest growing tourist spot in the World. Kerala cuisine is well praised as one of the best in the world, known for their mouthwatering mix of spices. The festivals like Onam and Thrissur Pooram and local art forms like Theyyam, also had played a big role in taking Kerala way ahead in the tourism map of India. The competitive display of decorated umbrellas atop the ornate set of elephants between the two major temples at Thrissur and the amazing and thunderous display of fireworks that follow at the Thrissur Pooram are some of those things that are worth experiencing.

Since its incorporation as a state, Kerala has invested more on humane aspects and moral values and made sure each kid attended school with a pleasant smile at young ages, rather than clean the tables at hotels or carry bricks at factories.  As a result of those efforts, Kerala now has a society where people respect the moral values of each other. The fresher water bodies and cleaner environments ensured a relatively healthier population than most other states at the same time. The efforts to promote education has paid off well too, making the state cent percent literate. Its found that nearly 1 out of every 3 malayalees are capable of communicating two or more languages. This might not be a big thing for you, but it really is a big thing in a country were 1 out of 3 are still nearly illiterate. (India’s literacy rate as a whole is still hovering around 60% only). Kerala is also tightly knit together by a network of National & State Highways and a end-end railway network.

For a state, as small as Kerala, and with a population of around 3 crores, the kind success and prominence the Keralites have achieved in all the fields is quite phenomenal. Kerala is cited to have the best standards of living in India and when this is matched with the cent percent literacy rate, you got to call it the best Society. Malayalees have been among the top democrats in India. Many renowned writers, artists and top scientists also leave their traces to Kerala. This state has also produced some of the finest acting talents as well as the many of the top cinematographers, directors and other technicians known to Indian Cinema. Even after 25 years since her performance at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, PT Usha is considered as the “Queen of Indian Track & Field”. Keralites have gone on to win Oscar and the Booker Prizes, have been nominated for the Nobel Prize, have held the highest office in the Indian Democracy and has even raced to the top of the United Nations Organization.

The thing that lets Kerala down as a state to some extends is their politics and the law and order systems. The political games and evils of corruption are well known, even to the kids. Kerala government lacks the ability to accomplish the projects at all,  even if not at the expected time. People are least interested in Politics and they have almost zero faith in their law and order system. People are afraid to report a theft to the police because they might ask you for more, than what you actually lost. Its this impression, the public has about their politicians and their law and order. It has to change,for the good, not by words, but they have to prove us wrong by their actions. Yes!! They have to prove that the politicians and the law and order section are trustworthy too and they can implement changes too. As i said, it should not come from their mouths, but from their actions. In a country like ours, where a player turns into a  national Hero by just the virtue of a  100 or a 5-wicket howl in a cricket match, the politicians must understand that if they stay and act honestly to take the country forward rather than fill their own pockets, their names will be hailed by the nation in the times to come.

Kerala has a near perfect mix of climatic conditions, the lovely lakes and the beautiful hill stations and the warm beaches and one of the most loving & hospitable locals. If the responsible leaders of the state govern the state with utmost honesty and pride, Kerala can be your answer to a Heaven down in this Earth. Kerala, The Gods Own Country.

Santhosh George Kulangara, a renowned malayalee,  who has travelled all around the globe is now chasing his dream and is all set to travel to space as the 1st Indian Space Tourist. Let there be opportunities for not only all Keralites but all the Indians and all human beings to achieve even the craziest of their dreams!

Twitter: A Bridge to the fantasy

Social sites like Twitter, Orkut, Facebook not only helps you find your old mates and be in touch with those far away friends of yours, but also gives you amble opportunities to meet up with new people, whom you could never have met, but for this wonderful invention called “Internet”.

I logged into Twitter as always and saw a new dude in my followers list. This guy was so busy following the Johar’s  Khan’s & the Kapoor’s of Indian Cinema and almost ignored my tweet. This reminded me of my own Twitter-time.

Shashi Tharoor and his saga with the twitter have been in news’s for some time now and that provoked me to enter the Twitter-land myself. So a couple of weeks back may be??.... Or even closer?? Ok, some time back I signed into Twitter. The familiar method to find people in all the social websites made things easier for me and I found Mr. Tharoor’s profile in no time. The better thing about twitter was that, if I was attempting to find him in Orkut or Facebook, the other famous social sites known to Indians, I would have encountered millions of his fan groups and communities and fake profiles before the original one. But Twitter has Verified accounts of these public figures making it easier for us to find them.

So I wrote something in his space and went through his world famous tweets. And in the right side I saw a bunch of recognizable images. Those were the guys Mr. Tharoor was following. There were quite some like Karan Johar, Lalit Modi and so on. So I clicked on Karan’s picture and went through to his profile and was overwhelmed to see the whole of Bollywood in his following list. So I opened each and everyone’s profile and followed everyone and spent hours reading their tweets. Even I made tweets to each and every one of them, claiming to be their biggest fan and dying to personally handshake with them and so on. I even posted my blog links on Karan’s space hoping he will like it and even ask me “Naveen, can you script my next movie, please?” (Hahaha!). It was so overwhelming and I felt in the same league as those guys were, hearing them speak seeing them talk to their co-workers.

I was so excited coming back to Twitter a couple of hours later, imagining how Shahrukh would have thanked me for my compliments on My Name is Khan and how Karan would have reacted after reading my blog. but …

But you understand that ironically, even though they  are at your mouse clicks, they are as far away from you as they ever could be. The world of fantasy can never be reciprocated in the reality and it will be tough for those of you, who takes these stars too seriously at heart and when you feel your mad love and admiration for these stars have gone un-noticed.

So today when I found my new follower running behind the Khan’s n Johar’s n Kapoor’s, I tweeted on his profile “ aliyaa, avaru thirichu ninaku reply cheyyaan ponilla..!!” (dude, they are not going to reply to all these tweets ).

Twitter might seem like a bridge, that connects the common man like me and him and you, to those big celebrities. A bridge that has no end. Inspired by the sight of a stranger, who have been following Shreya Ghoshal for a long time now with all the sincerity, but only to see him/her left alone in the middle of a never ending bridge.

The Citizen Journalists.

Amitabh Bachhan , the Big B of Indian cinema spoke on the CNN-IBN’s Citizen Awards function and he stressed up on the need of citizen journalists. “To be a citizen journalist is to be the spirit, letter and action of a citizen in a democracy” , said the legendary actor. He even made the later part of his speech a bit funny and really interesting by respectfully imitating the speech given by Mark Antony in the Sheakspeare’s epic Julius Ceasar, “friends , indians , countrymen and women a good evening to all of you".

Later i really liked this idea of citizen journalist, because i really feel that each and everyone should contribute in a way or other. Every one has a story to write or a song to sing or an image to draw of the things that comes to his mind, because each and everyone is Unique in his/her own ways and the thing that came to your mind may be the idea that leads to the biggest innovation that could change the kind of life we have in this place or it could also be just another piece of stupidity.  If not today, some day your work and story could be appreciated, may be by just a person, or a bunch of individuals, or who knows man!! your piece of writing could well turn out to be the only piece of evidence, showing that this kind of a human race used to exist in this world. I am not talking of today, am talking of the thing that could happen, may be hundreds or thousands of years later. May be silly things scribbled by a useless bunch of jokers could be the rare things we find out today and speak highly as the Indus Valley Civilization, the Harappa’s & the Mohen Je Daro’s. Everyone has a story of his own which is totally his own and no one knows that better than ourselves. So it is our duty to project our angle of life or our story and it is each and every one else’s right to know the same. Amithabh had earlier said, “one citizen’s duty is another’s right; another citizen’s right is the other’s duty”.

Today a day of your friend’s or families or love’s wont be complete without you. Tomorrow when we all would have long perished, the story of human beings wouldn’t be complete without your testimony. I know its totally impossible for everyone to write books and we all very well know, no body is going to read all these books. So why don’t we just log in to Blogger.com and make a blog for ourselves, be a part of millions of other bloggers out in the world and be a proud “Citizen Journalist"

An Outsider.

Its 8.05 PM. Tomorrow is the Chinese New Year and the intensity of celebrations can be seen and heard everywhere. It’s quite chilling out here and the snow that had fallen on 10th haven’t totally melted down yet. The street is completely empty and it was much close to this "pin drop silence" , but for the amazing aura of light and thunderous sounds created by the firecrackers, somewhere far away.

Walking through these empty streets, I was grasping all the strange thoughts in my mind. For the last couple of days, the last phase of winter was really picking up and, adding to the woes all the shops were closed around our campus. The burger shops and the small hotels in back street have all been closed, because of the New Year. We had to almost take a complete “Pradikshina” of the campus in those chilling conditions if we had to find some food in the night. Today the traffic is much light and there are no pedestrians at all. Even though there were not many vehicles on the road, the red letters on the traffic post still read “89,88,87…0” There are predictions for snow falls for another 3-4 days and these could well be the last snow falls we might see in China. Because they say in Nanjing, if it snows this year, the next one wouldn’t.

If you are able to adjust with whatever that comes your way, the life in China has to be funny and enjoyable. Well, first of all let me give a brief introduction about what China is because I don’t think many people are really aware of how life is in China and how everything happens here. It’s this country that lies directly above India. Yet can you name a city in China other than Shanghai, Beijing & Hong Kong? China is one of the emerging superpowers says the magazines and surveyors, then have you ever, bought any of the Chinese products for their quality and brand name rather than their cheap price?

“All that glitters aint gold” is a good old say, which summarizes about China. It’s the place with tall-tall sky scrapers, the cities where the cultural depth is as important to them, as the scopes for development, where the city looks so clean and looks so "westernized" . But you will be stunned at the sight of people spitting in the floors while they eat in restaurants. It’s the country where the university campuses are so vast and the class rooms are so luxurious, but the only thing you will have to compromise is, with the teaching and evaluation standards. Anyone going abroad would be hoping that he can nurture his English communication skills by going to a foreign country, but here in China, 9 out of 10 can't even speak a sentence in English confidently. It’s the country where, one of every three popular social websites could be blocked or banned. The list includes Youtube.com, Facebook.com, Twitter.com, Megavideo.com and even this blogger.com. (am logging in through proxies.) . It’s the same country where the internet giant Google has threatened to stop their internet services. As I said, its all about adjusting to the place where you live and once you do that, all these extreme irregularities becomes extreme fun.

In this 21^st Century when the boundaries seem to erase and the whole world starts converging into a single home , when anywhere in the world you can communicate with a single language, China remains the only place , where you could still feel like an Outsider.

"22" . A date that's worth getting Excited!!

If you ask me, which is the most happening or eventful day of a month, i might point to 22nd. Not just because 22 is my date of birth, but every time the calender passes through this date, knowingly or unknowingly something out of the box happens. Taking an example, on 22nd Dec 2008, i was awarded the scholarship, and on 22nd Dec 2009, the declarations about the scholarships for 3rd year came. My friend from Sainik called me 2 days back and told he could be visiting a city near to my place and possibly, we could meet, and i asked him when is he coming? and he said on 22nd Jan 2010. And i asked my teacher when is the university re-opening after the Spring break? and she told on 22nd Feb 2010. Looking back to my school life, on 22nd Mar 2007, i wrote the worst exam at the boards ( Maths) and that was apparently also our last day in the school. Being a brahmin, the 1st time i had non veg food was also on the same day!

Usually, i am not that kind of a guy who expects things to happen according to fate or what ever. But with these small and big things that have contributed, 22nd of any month is a date worth waiting, to bring with it something special.

A Note...

Life is already flying by fast, for an aspiring aeronautical engineer ( not a lie :p), and i still remember the day i sat in the Auditorium of Sainik School, listening to the speach of George Fernandes, then the Defense Minister of India, often pinching myself to make sure i really belonged there.Because, i never seriously believed that i could clear all those exams, interviews and craps and really make it through to Sainik. But yeah, it was a truth and i was sitting among other guys of Tagore house on the 6th of Sept 2000. Those were the 1st days of hostel or boarding life for me and now, its been nearly 10 years and its been how life has been for me.

I joined that institution only a couple of months after my 10th b'day. A couple of moments later, on my 17th b'day i was having my last dinner at the Kazaks Mess, probably after the worst board exam i ever wrote ( maths). And on 23rd morning, i took the Parasuram Express just like any other vaction, but then this time, i was neither provided the lunch pack ( poori & egg curry), nor the concession card for the return tickets, for coming back after the vactions.
It was never the end of days as expected though. Technicaly speaking, things always started getting better and better, because after 7 years being locked inside classrooms with only boys, i was for the 1st time in my teenage life sharing life... oops... ..classroom with girls. Totally, the 1 month i spent there was kinda totally fast & Fun  ( my parents won't be too happy about the fun factor ).  I donno if i really learnt anything at all there, other than the hotels, cafes & theatres over there at Trissur

And a while after my ranks came out, i thought my dad was joking around when he described some courses in China. But it seems like am enjoying that "joke" really well.