CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

I was randomly sorting out my closet when I found some childhood pictures. Seriously, they were the GOOD OLD DAYS. Sigh. Wish one could bring back one's childhood.

Some Loreto Convent days

House Marchpast.

Lil Dev and Lil Tam

I left my collar open on purpose. I wanted to be different from the crowd. haha.

The Boy-ish days



Fail efforts to grow tall. Stretching.



Always a drunkard, :P

Go-carting, Powai Mumbai

Can you put the sun away, please Mister?

Red Riding Hood, much?





Shillong, How I love you!

 

 

Mystic beauty

No matter where I am- Sin city or the Grand Canyon; there will always be one place I would want to come back to- SHILLONG.  Nestled in the North-East, this hill station happens to be my so called home; my haven.  Far from the madding city crowd and all the noise, this one place is peace and beauty personified. I feel fortunate that my parents chose to stay here.  When the partition happened, my grandparents had to leave Sindh, I don’t know how but they eventually came to Shillong.

An evening at Bara Pani

My friends accuse me of being a tour guide and a promoter as I always try convincing them to make their next trip to Shillong. It’s just that I want them to experience the magic that Shillong has to offer.  Here days pass slowly and you actually LIVE your life. When I’m in Bombay, before I even realise the day ends and when I look back and what happened in the day; most of the times its just plain unproductive nonsense.  You can feel your life passing away here but in Bombay, before I know it; I’m a year older.

Speaking in practical business terms, it’s also very easy to obtain monopoly in business here and the market here is elastic and you can turn it in your favour. In terms of education, few of the universities here are globally recognised and there was a time when Shillong was considered the hub of education for the North East.  Also, for those interested in shopping, you get amazing clothes, shoes and bags here and all of it at reasonable rates! People here have a good sense of fashion. You don’t need a Zara or a Vero Moda to look good, you just need to team up your clothes well and have a sense of style and most youngsters here follow that. In Bombay I spend more than 500 each day and here I must be spending 500 in a week or maybe more than a week. Hardly anything is expensive here. You go out for lunch with friends, have the most amazing food and still you hardly have to pay anything. Well, in Bombay; it’s just the opposite.

Yeah! There is no shopping mall here, no multiplex, no disco-shisco but then there is something about this place that will always be absent in city life. Unlike cities, I get to wake up to my dogs barking instead of alarm clocks, I walk in my garden instead of walking the dirty streets in cities, I can go and sit and read by a lake side instead of sitting in a bookshop, I don’t have to catch a crowded train ... I can just walk it up here. I don’t need an Earth day like in cities to go and plant a random tree somewhere, here it’s just an everyday routine.  I don’t have to see hail, mountains or rivers on “reel life”, I can see it in “real life” here.

The Lake just next to my house

Unlike cities, materialism is irrelevant here. My mom cribs that there is hardly anything that she can do here but then 20 days in Bombay and she is already sick of it, eagerly waiting to be back to Shillong. If you’re the quiet, non- socialite, I read and keep-to-myself kinds then listen to me, pack your bags wherever you are and just shift to Shillong. If you do so, trust me- You have probably made the best decision of your life. I am very sure that if you have not seen Shillong, a little bit of your soul will always remain untouched.

The Young Politician

The "YOUNG”

Politician

 The question rises: “Will this new, so called “young breed” of politicians bring this change?” Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam is of the view that if India is to become developed by 2020, it will do so only by riding on the shoulders of the young. The youth are considered as the future of India. The focus, both of the media and the public has now gradually shifted to the gen-next of politics.So who are these gen-next politicians? Among the “Pundits of Politics” we have names of Rahul Gandhi, Agatha Sangma, Omar Abdullah,Sachin Pilot and Naveen Jindal.

So much for the frenzy over young politicians! However, are young politicians really any different or is this an aberrant? Barkha Dutt in her show “We the People”, on NDTV brought up this issue in public limelight. She questions, despite India having this much-talked about “young breed” of politicians, has politics really got younger? Or is it the case of “Young politicians and old ideas?”.

Another show on NDTV, “The Big Fight” raised the much necessary question, “Are young politicians REALLY any different”? During the course of the debate, several people were of the view that though they have their ideas in place,political acumen is what they lack. India certainly requires young blood to bring about productive change but are our young politicians heading in the right direction?

Interestingly enough,facts state that in the 14th Lok Sabha, 34 MP’s are below the age of 40, of which 19 of them are just daughters and sons of politicians and other such influential people. The so-called “Pedigree Politicians” are only 8 in number and they are hardly noticed only because unlike the others they are not born with a silver spoon.

Today the Congress proudly claims that they have young politicians—Rahul Gandhi,Sachin Pilot,Priya Dutt. If Rahul was not a Gandhi would he be the face of the Congress? If the Sachin and Priya would not have their MP fathers would they be in politics in the first place? Rahul Gandhi is always spoken of as the young face of the Congress. Going to his performance as a politician, one would be appalled to know that in the past 5 years he has spoken only 5 times and raised only 3 debates! We thought we expected a young politician to raise long overdue unanswered questions and make concrete, significant changes. The true Hindustan is not one with politicians as children of MP’s!

No doubt young politicians in India have started redefining Indian politics in distinction to their political inheritance.

Is this the “redefining” that India is looking for?

Nevertheless, it is better to place them in the domain of optimism and wait for the change that they bring.

The next PM?

BOMBAY

So it is, Bombay

So,college it is. Yay! Im going to Delhi University- 4 close friends, rent out an apartment, stay together, have crazy nights- Just the perfect college life. Perfect, but only in thought.

When have all my dreams come true? NEVER! EVER! Thank you God, btw.

Sigh. So all my close friends and special people study in DU while I land up in St. Xaviers, Mumbai. To study what? Mass Media.  

Woah. Sounds grand,eh? Erm, come to reality. Join college-blah! FAIL. FAIL. FAIL.

Augh. Anyhow, things are improving now and college is better but somehow it’s not the education I wanted. Course at first seemed drab, very unlike what I expected. Few subjects and profs were awesome and some... well, forget it... its best unsaid. Anyhow, its college. Its best not to expect. During one of the first few lectures, a Prof told us... BMM is not going to do anything for you, YOU have to do something for yourself. I think it applies for every course in every college. Its no more like the education we would receive in school.

Talking about Bombay... not a strange old city for me. I was born here. Every school vacations I would land up here. Got plenty of relatives here. So, do I like the place? Erm, maybe, maybe not. There are certain things I like about this place and certain things that I dont like about this place.

Like.
      1. The fact that the city never sleeps
      2. Marine Drive (with the right people)
      3.That unlike hostel, there is no deadline
      4. NIGHT LIFE
      5. All the movies I get to watch (not happening in Shillong)
      6. The million coffee shops and places to chill here
      7. That I get to stay with my elder sis who is FUN understated
      8. All the restobars in Bandra

9. College, sometimes :)
10. THE COMEDY STORE
11. The fact that I have few awesome wawesome friends here.
Ah, too bad I cant think of more reasons.

Dislike

1.   Just when I think I've found a friend to talk to here, it all changes. So difficult to find a friend here. Hanging out with people and finding a genuine friend are two different things. I love having people to talk to and unfortunately like I said, just when I think Ive found someone, it all changes.
2.   NOISE- I hate it.

3.   The fact that there is hardly green anywhere

4.   LOCAL TRAINS- Where I literally used to get bashed up in the beginning.

Not anymore, ******!

5.   That I hardly have any company
6.   The homesickness that I have to go through here
7.   Days end so fast :(
8.   That materialism is central to everything here


In the next two years I shall come up with more reasons and update this post accordingly.

Anyhow, Bombay is sort-of beautiful in its own way :)

Last piece for the AVE

VOICE OVER

 

(Back in School, we would run a weekly entitled the AVE- Assam Valley Express. I served as Deputy Editor of the weekly in my final year at school and this was my last piece for the AVE)





The Assam Valley School

 

This is your last piece; this is something that people will remember you by, if not by any of your other articles. It had better be good!” I was reminded by the Head of Publications while binging on porridge at breakfast.

Unmindful of the curt reminder, the first thing that flashed like a klieg light in my mind was to get the girls lined up for Assembly. Nonetheless, the editorial, though pushed a little deeper into a nook, still managed to make its presence felt. On my way to the WMH, with a bevy of girls behind me for Assembly,I was taken back in time.

I was reading in the ninth grade when my father received a copy of the Assam Valley Express. I can still recall my father’s expression as he cast his eye over the names of the editors and correspondents. I distinctly remember every word that he had said, laced with dismay, “Why are you not in this team?”

And today, I am proud to serve as an editor of the Assam Valley Express. Indeed, time does fly. Moreover, until this year, I had only read other editorials; to find that it is now time for me to string words together to write my own editorial is indeed a bit strange. Questions and confusions regarding what to mention in the editorial crowd my mind. Numerous thoughts, lessons learnt at school, and bittersweet memories take away some clarity from my retrospection. During class, I tried to come up with a few opening lines: “As I now leave the iron gates…” was not what I intended to write. Firstly I needed to be sure that I felt and meant what I had to say.

The best classmates ever-12 Commerce

 This editorial could not possibly be a panegyric where I will blatantly lie and write sugar-coated paragraphs thanking people who made no difference in my life. I tell myself, I shall give my pen freedom to leave its own trail. My pen’s task is that of an interpreter – to convey to you my thoughts.

Instances of my first year at The Assam Valley School are embedded in my mind like the sepia strips of an old movie. Nostalgia sits upon me like the twilight that descends upon the eastern skies and I remember that I had a single purpose, an oft-avowed one: to make something out of myself.

Sending away a child was not a very palatable thought for my parents but I would not be discouraged. Even till my second year at The Assam Valley School I was not very sure if this was the school that I wanted to be in. Everything seemed larger than life and horribly intimidating to a child in the Middle School. But today, I feel proud of spending eight years in this very school.

Friends I will cherish for a lifetime

What kept me going was an urge to stand up in a crowd, to be noticed, to have an opinion and to be able to articulate it, and this urge till this moment is still alive. Six years of school life passed in a blur, setting and achieving targets and then House Captainship happened– another indelible page in the chapter of my life. Leading sixty-two girls taught me significant life lessons, those that I will always draw upon. It gave me an immense satisfaction to know that I was, in some part, responsible for shaping a shade of their personality. The power that I held as a pupil leader also filled me with a tremendous sense of responsibility.

 The girls looked upon me for direction and support, so, endeavouring to become a role model occupied much of my time. During moments of despondency when I struggle in the world outside, when I struggle to find one friendly face in a sea of strangers, the memory of those moments spent in the first floor of the Kopili-Subansiri Hostel will fill my heart with warmth.

 I admit with candidness that throughout school-life I have made mistakes galore. Sometimes, I chose the wrong friends; most of the time I jumped to conclusions, leapt at opinion forming, and fell upon bias and prejudices with great enthusiasm. I found myself forming the wrong opinions about the right people. I failed to reciprocate ‘genuine’ care. The memories of the times when I spoke out of turn at the wrong forums make me embarrassed. I made another mistake: I did not realize that truth not only has many shades but is a rather subjective term. Diplomacy is a skill that needs to be cultivated and is an important life skill in today’s world.

 It is not the mistakes that I made but the fact that I learnt from each of them. Indeed, they served as good ‘life-lesson’ teachers. At this point in time, I genuinely thank those who corrected me. Had it not been for them, my growth as an individual would have remained stunted. Of course, one must know how to differentiate between those who correct out of sheer concern and those who do it out of spite. Criticism that builds you up and that which makes you lose your sense of self: one has to be able to discern between the two.

I must also admit that I was provided with a lot of opportunities –some that I made judicious use of, while others that I did not capitalize on. There were times when I got sufficient appreciation and encouragement, and there were times when many (who speak off their hat) made baseless remarks and assumptions about me. Considering their expertise in this art, I gave in. There were phases of the highs and the lows; the achievements and the failures; both of which were significant in shaping the person that I am today.



I am not quite sure if I can quantify what I will feel when I leave The Assam Valley School forever. However, I am sure that I will feel a void – a painful one – which can never be filled or compensated for. For all it was worth, the seven heady years at The Assam Valley School has gotten under my skin: it has made me weep bitter tears, it has made me break out in laughter, it has brought me profound pain and uncontrollable mirth.

It is a part of me now and forever, whether I may like it or not.





School brings back some wonderful
 memories