The Year That Was - 2013

Every year I write down about the previous year and how it was for me. This year will be no different. Though another 48 hours are left for 2013 to be finally over but for all of us it is practically over, unless of course something earth shattering happens, the chances of which seem to be remote as of now.

Starting from the beginning, this is the first year in my career(which started in 2006) when I didn't change any job. WOW!!! What a change, I take it up as a positive change. Else a disgruntled, sociopath, eccentric and an impossible man like me staying in the same job for more than a year is too much to ask for. And ya hats off to Amity for withstanding my eccentricities and giving me th required help to create my innovations.

As for people are concerned I found out quite a few things.

1. People can be and are very unreasonable specially when it comes to accepting their own faults.
2. Women in general (Hey I am not antifeminist. This is just the naked truth) are always ready to bitch against others. Wow.... I have a huge fan following in my own school who would chop my head off my shoulders given a chance. But I must also say that there are quite a few good female friends of mine who stand by me always. Thanks a lot to them and anyone reading this would know in which category they belong to.
3. I have strongly come to believe in the following statement,, "IF TWO EX-LOVERS ARE STILL IN CONTACT THEN EITHER THEY ARE STILL IN LOVE, OR THEY NEVER WERE". God knows which is true.

Many life changing events also took place and they are given below.

1. I became a dad of a boy whom we named SRIJAN. 
2. I became a teacher trainer, courtesy my wife.
3.  I have received more medals as a teacher in the last one year than I ever received in my entire school time spanning 15 years. (Actually as a school student I never won anything!!!)
4. My projects have again reached national level at various science competitions. 
5. I finally completed BEd.
6. Finally my home loan was approved and right now I am paying EMIs. Really I am so happy to pay the EMIs. 
7. Became a co-owner of a company. 

From health point of view this was an average year and could have been a better one had this last minute problem not occurred which has forced me to become bed ridden for the past 4 days.

From relationship point of view things went on pretty smoothly. My ex-girlfriend  contacted me in September "to touch base with me" which means probably to talk to me for some time (hey don't laugh..... can't I have an ex-girlfriend?) and then kicked me again in October. Sala samajh nahi aaya ki contact hi kyun kiya tha jab fir se laath maarni thi. 

 Financially everything was  more or less smooth.

What am I looking for the next year?? More innovations, and enrollment into another study program and become a better teacher. And anything else that God will give me.

सैलाब

Before I begin, let me tell you the background of the story.
I have always been a foodie of sorts. Always loved to eat; whatever, wherever and without limits. And this always led to a series of stomach upsets. After years of torture finally my stomach decided, enough is enough and got back at me. It started to fire at wrong times; in the middle of a winter night when the world is curled up inside a quilt in deep sleep, I used to be shivering on the top of a western style seat of what-you-know-very-well !!! And that was not all. Just when I was about to leave my home for college, my stomach would start churning and blasting at high decibels. So this is the background to the events that transpired that day.

All I remember was it was day sometime in September. The weather was cool. I as usual got ready for college and waited for my stomach to start its daily routine, but it didn't. Overjoyed I started for the gruelling 3 hour journey. I went on foot for 1.5 kilometers to ALT Center to catch the 6:30 am DTC bus to Shivaji Stadium. As I entered the bus and took the seat the first sign of trouble emerged. A nimble footed air leaked from the insides and I felt a bit awkward. None the less I continued. By the time I got down at ITO the nimble footed air leaks had turned into high decibel explosions which, howsoever I tried to suppress, would leak out with disastrous effects which I would not like to share here.

I got into bus no 425 from ITO to Deshbandhu college. I reached around 8:20 am. As I entered the college premises I realised the need to reach where-you-know-very-well as urgently as possible. So  I entered the loo of Physics Department. My urgency was overcome by the terror that was hanging in front of me. Actually not terror, but nearly 11-12 eight legged terrors were hanging from their webs. Being extremely courageous (!!!!) I came out and started to look for alternatives. Bio department was no better; Chemistry department was locked; English department, New Block, Old Block Admin Block and where not (except probably the principal office) I had peeped into every one of the loos and the eight legged freaks were all there to welcome me. My fear of spiders was greater than the fear of being seen in a YELLOW trouser.

I realised that a couple of kilometers from there, Nehru Place, had 3 public toilets which were operated by Sulabh International and were neat and clean. So I immediately made my mind to go there. I had to walk these 2 kilometers as I could not rick getting a bad jerk to my already delicate stomach and nearby areas due to bus or auto movements. To my utter horror all the three toilets were closed. As I was so sure that I will find atleast one of them open, I had momentarily lowered my guard only to realise immediately that I was in a great trouble.

"Marta kya nahi karta" and "Where there is a will, there is a way" combined together and told me to go to ITO, 14 kilometers from there.

Auto and its jerks were out of question. I boarded a bus, 425. The bus was empty, and I was standing. The conductors politely asked me to sit down when I told him, "Bhaiya, baith gaya to fir uthna mushkil ho jayega. Abhi filhaal situation thoda sangeen hai".

The bus stopped near the Old fort crossing and I could see that the bus may reach late and I might need a faster means of transport.

I got down and hired an auto for Rs. 40. The situation was so desperate that I had to take the jerk risk. The auto reached the ITO crossing where there used to be a Public Toilet. I handed over a Rs. 100 note to the auto driver who told me he had no change but if I waited he could get it for me. I just asked him to give me some coins that he had and he gave me Rs. 11 worth of coins. I rushed away telling him to keep the rest. I could look at the disbelief in his eyes, but he might not have known that I was in a greater danger of creating more disbelief around me.

I hurtled into the toilet. Threw my bag into the lap of the attnedent; pushed a waiting man outside the toilet door, and entered it. I bolted the door from inside even as the man standing before me started to hurl curses and abuses at me.

it was Indian styled one and I just managed to sit down properly when the flood gates finally gave away. Five minutes of landslide and I felt relieved finally.

Ten minutes later I was sitting in the ALT - Shivaji bus returning home.

Till date that was the most frustrating and hilarious moment of my life.

Freedom...

Are we really free??

The question is broad in sense because that forces us to ask another question, FREE FROM WHAT??

That brings up a plethora of issues starting from freedom in our own nation to freedom of expression to freedom of one's privacy, and the issues are never ending. But the answer to all of this is one small word with huge implications, a resounding NO.

Someone might claim that I have gone insane or might say I am being too pessimistic. But I will only smile and say, "wait and watch".

Let us for example look at the following scenarios.
1. India became so called Independent in 1947 and our constitution became enforced in 1950. Now that was a cool six decades back. And yet backward people have become more backward. People have become more and more divided on the lines of communities and castes. Vote bank politics rules the roost. Reservations on the line of caste has more priority than merit. Are we free from caste-ism yet???!!!

2. Today an IAS officer is being shunted out unceremoniously for doing his/her duties. The political parties are joining hands not to take the country forward but to thwart the citizens of the nation from accessing their privy deals. Are we free to voice our concerns???!!!

3. According to Government an urban individual can survive at Rs. 27 per day and hence cannot be considered to be BELOW POVERTY LINE !!! Are these guys joking??? Then who can be called to be below poverty line, "those that are dead due to hunger ???". And we are free !!!!

4. China and Pakistan have staked claims to vast amount of our territory; Pakistan has been inflicting wounds one after the other and we shamelessly extend the olive branch to them knowing well how adept they are in backstabbing and we say we are free!!

5.From getting a simple work done such as a driver's license to a more complex one such as a house registration, one cannot get through the hurdle of BABUS without being fleeced. And we are free!!!

6. A person cannot really practice his choice of religion for the fear of being murdered by the religious fanatics. And we are free!!

7. A girl and a boy were mercilessly butchered to death in the name of FAMILY HONOUR because they made the mistake to fall in love. And numerous such incidents happen almost on a daily basis. And we are free!!

I really wonder was this the freedom that our freedom fighters envisaged for us?

Friends, are we really free?? For if this is freedom then I am not sure about the meaning of archaism and anarchy... Probably we were better under the British Rule for atleast we could have pointed fingers at others rather at ourselves which is far more painful.