Laughter :)

Reading has always been in my list of favorite "To-do" activities. Perhaps, it feeds my brain, nourishes it providing food for thought. Now, going by my current state of affairs, when monotony has taken a center stage, overpowering every bit of enthusiasm, I find no other thing or person coming to my rescue except my cherished hobby of reading. The motley collection of text that I have read in the past few days, thanks to the EIL library, has indeed been refreshing, offering some respite from the insipid nature of work with which I have been associated for past 2 weeks. 

Now, it was yesterday when I read a piece of article on "Laughter" and found it deserving enough to get a place in my Space. Here's an excerpt from that article-

"Laughter is needed for you to exist. It has to be understood....there are three types of laughter. The first is when you laugh at someone else. This is the meanest, the lowest, the most ordinary and vulgar when you laugh at the expense of somebody else. Deep down this laughter there is always a feeling of revenge.

The second type of laughter is when you laugh at yourself. This is worth achieving. This is cultured. And this man is valuable who can laugh at himself. He has risen above everything. He has risen above lowly instincts- hatred, aggression, violence.

And the third is the last-the highest. This is not about anybody- neither the other nor oneself. The third is just Cosmic. You laugh at the situation as it is. The whole situation, as it is, is absurd- no purpose in the future, no beginning in the beginning. The whole situation of existence is such that if you can see the Whole-such a great infinite vastness moving towards no fixed purpose, no goal- laughter will arise. So much is going on without leading anywhere, nobody is there in the past to create it; nobody is there in the end to finish it."

I don't remember what kind of thoughts went through my mind after reading the above article, but what flashed before my eyes were the past 2 weeks. What followed next was "Laughter". COSMIC  it was, I reckon !!

20 minutes !

It's cold here in Delhi. The mercury is dipping, the days have become shorter and the nights even longer. One thing that I really like about these wintry nights is the silence that they bring with them. On a chilly winter night, the warmth of the quilt and a cup of tea, perhaps have been my perfect companions since childhood. As I introspect today I find nothing has changed. The winter is still the same, the silence is still profound, the quilt continues to shed its warmth, the tea continues to make my nights merrier but one phenomena that has become an essential part of my sojourn is "Solitude". I experience it every now and then, whether I am on a crowded street or on a deserted road, disregarding all notions of space and time, it just grips me up.

Recollecting one such evening when I was on my way back home, after a day of mindless and meaningless activities at work, where 9 hours seems like eternity, I decided to get down from the bus at the penultimate stop and a take a stroll back to my house. The weather was pleasant, dusk making way for the night to spread its cover. The streets were crowded hustling and bustling with people, draped in their winter attire, oblivious of their surroundings, some deeply engrossed in their own thoughts, some chatting with their friends while others lost in their world of cell phone. The street lights entrusted with the responsibility of dazzling the roads with bright light were in full charge. The shops along the roadside were drenched in white light. Everything seemed perfect. Even Delhi's traffic, which I have always found "pathetic", seemed to be oozing along, the buses speeding away, making way for the lighter vehicles. Everything seemed to compliment each other. Amidst all these invigorating sights, the sight of a flock of birds on their way back home, was indeed liberating. I felt happy. I felt relaxed. I experienced solitude. 20 minutes of walk gave me something to cherish, something to forget,  indeed a bouquet full of colorful moments !!

Random Musings

It was sometimes back when I heard a quote saying “Bad Memory can be a good thing”. For all the conventional thinkers the quote might seem unreasonable or unjustifiable for the matter of fact, but to me it appealed a lot. Recall the instances when you had a terrible fight with a loved one of yours or a case when you experienced pain of some sort or recollect the instances when you failed at something and felt the pang of disappointment in your heart. Well, I reckon not many would choose to remember all that. On the contrary, the adversaries of my expositions would argue that in reality those are the instances when we as humans learn the real lessons preparing ourselves for the hardships of this so called journey of life; without any questions I agree with them too. Memories are indeed an effective catalyst, having the power to alter ones behavior at the blink of an eye.

But what if you get a chance to erase some memories or say people from your memories?? Indeed, a far-fetched idea!! It was last night when I happened to watch a strange movie with a concept, so alien, that provoked me to come up with this blog. “Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind”, the name of the movie with a plot wherein the protagonist, in order to free herself from the bonding of the sour relationship with her beau ends up erasing the person from her memory with the help of some advanced medical technology. The beau on facing the harsh reality goes on to do the same, until he realizes in his dreams what actually he was doing was nothing but foolishness. “Impulsive” is the word that defined the action of two characters. Though in any case the concept of the movie moved me to an extent to question myself “Would I really like to delete few memories from my brain??” and the answer that came out was a loud “NO”. Memories are, undoubtedly, the single most effective source of motivation for me. Remembering a certain someone trying to squeeze lemon over sliced onions is enough to bring a bright smile to my face.

But what if such an advanced medical technology really comes into being?? Would it really help people solve relationship problems, just as it was projected in the movie?? Won’t the action be called an act of intentional brain damage?? Wouldn’t deleting the harsh times undermine the sweetness of the sweetest memories?? The questions are just as fanciful as the whole concept is, nevertheless, it is worth questioning yourself “Would I really like to delete few memories from my brain??” Just ponder over it.

Memories, good or bad, are indeed powerful, so just cherish them always!!

P.S. - Happy Valentine’s Day To All of You !!

P.P.S. –To my friend with so called “Chinese Origin” A Very Happy Chinese New Year to You !!

Eccentric

I wonder sometimes what have I made of myself, a distraught writer blabbering every now and then or an enthusiastic gamer whining every time on losing a FIFA match or a cynical urchin dabbling aimlessly in search of an aim or a worthy opponent defeating his inner-self each and every day of his erratic life or an anxious Romeo who is missing his Juliet a lot. “Eccentric” is the word that sums up all those aforementioned avatars. Entropy of a system always increases, that’s what I was taught a few years back, but this sudden surge of entropy in my system seems to have taken me aback. I am propelling myself forward with every possible force, searching for some motivation from everything and everyone around me, sometimes smiling smugly at the glories of the past, often admiring the beautiful uncertainty of the present and more often cursing the unpredictability of the future.

I remember in my first year at IIT-R a certain Miss. Bubbly from the Humanities Department came to our class. We were shouting and behaving like raging bulls. She quietly stayed there in the middle beaming with an undecipherable look of satisfaction covering her face as if that was the thing that she expected from us. After few random questions she said “I wish you all be the same person, just as you are today, 4yrs from now...the energy, the ebullience, the shouting...never lose it....what I have experienced from my interaction with the 4th yearites is the fact that they get so much involved in their jobs, studies, girlfriends, politics etc that they tend to lose their sheen, energy and the ebullience....So just keep them intact.” Today, I reckon Miss. Bubbly was damn true and her advice as valuable as twenty four carats of gold.

But the million dollar question still remains what exactly is driving me to have such introspections?? Why am I peeping into the past to deal with the questions of the present??Am I really missing something in my life?? Is The Raconteur losing his sheen??

Well, no need to answer all that, I already said “Eccentric” is what sums it all !!

A Word on This, That and the Other

Ahh

A blog at last. A moment to pause. Relax a bit. Smell the roses. Hear the birds chirping. Watch the water dripping. Listen the trees rustling. Take a deep breath or a two perhaps and enjoy the lovely sunshine after weeks of hazy days and chilly nights. Reflect on not the Good, Bad and the Ugly incidents of the recent times but about this, that and the other. It’s really hard for me to even explain myself the reason for the longest hiatus, 120 days to be precise, that has plagued my blogging history. But never mind, I am writing something and that’s reason enough for me to be happy.

My final semester at IIT-Roorkee and perhaps the coolest of all. Minimum lectures and Maximum fun (conditions apply!!). Almost two months of placement season is over and that has left me in a position to brag about my present status of being among the chosen few who are still unemployed amidst the crowd of employed. It has also endowed me with a special status of being the “unlucky guy” or the “job hunter” who having faced 8 interviews in all (the sources say insti highest is 9), in addition to the much talked about higher-studies-hoopla of 5 companies, hasn’t been placed yet. But for me it’s been a nice experience till date for some valid reasons. To state few I have fully utilized the cost as well the display potential of my dashing suit, I always have had a story to tell after each of my interview, I have perfected the ways in which one can screw himself which in other words alludes to the fact that I have learned about my mistakes and perhaps that has been a worthwhile lesson for me. I sincerely hope of not becoming a living legend carrying the beacon of mediocrity, for all my junior counterparts, who got his name embossed in the record books for having screwed himself the maximum number of times before actually getting placed.

Reflecting on other things I have found that I have been reading a lot these days, thanks to the flexible time- table which bestows me with 4 days of freedom every week and also to the sorry state of the internet connection in my hostel. Lately, I have also been watching number of series, xo xo the Gossip Girl being the latest in the list which also includes my all time favourite How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory. But after much said and done one thing that’s really annoying about this newly attained freedom of 4 days a week is the emptiness that it has added to my routine. Sometimes I just sit back in my cubicle with random melange of thoughts, good as well as bad, worthy as well as worthless, growing and bursting like the tiny bubbles of water after a torrential downpour. I end up assuring myself that things will be fine in times of come, the bad will transform in to good, the good will take the shape of better and the better would surely turn up to be the best. I think that’s what optimism is all about.

Just to end I would say that though the final semester has brought with it the freedom that I have been looking for since ages and I am also relishing it a lot but what I really want is a feeling of being liberated from my very core, something that would last forever and ever.

P.S.- Sorry for sounding so melodramatic in the end but that's how my mood has been for the past few days.