essay for some university

Just thought id post the essay i wrote for a friend which she had to submit to some university..

What did you experience when you first went abroad or visited a different culture than your own? How did you overcome the cultural differences?

My first trip abroad made me realize that You don’t have to go looking for lessons about life in sociology theses, you simply have to go around the world and explore for yourself.

Fascinating truths of life emerge when we move out of our own space to wander around. Cultural differences, language, accents, mentalities are all the minor things that we deal with; the lessons learnt are the bigger deal. From my first experience i concluded on the following

Lesson 1: Your viewpoint depends on your point of viewing.

Lesson 2: Life is a continuous battle to find your own space.

Lesson 3: Keeping an open mind is the key to forming cordial relations

My imagination out ran logic when I thought about the difference between my home and the outside world but experience taught me better. People, I realized are all the same what differs is the lifestyle but what binds us is our humanitarian nature and our innate ability to accept change and rather learn from change than resist it. It wasn’t exactly a fish out of water experience it was more like the river fry meeting the sea fish. Being a native of India where each state has its own culture and tradition it is not a task to fit in, it is rather a task to know everything one has to about his motherland which is so diverse. In PASCAL’s words “Since one cannot be universal by knowing everything that can be known about everything, it is necessary to know a little about everything.” The little we all know about all the cultures is enough to get us to converse from there on individuality takes over.

A common term we people in the east hear is “western culture”. The adults frown upon it and the adolescents thrive on it, but rather than going to the extremes the majority of the people choose the elements of the ‘western culture’ that appeal to them and same goes for the people in the west. It is the amalgamation which forms a mosaic rather than the individual dominance.

Music Therapy

Burn it down till the embers smoke on the ground And start new when your heart is an empty room With walls of the deepest blue Home's face: how it ages when you're away Spring blooms and you find the love that's true But you don't know what now to do Cause the chase is all you knowAnd she stopped running months ago And all you see is where else you could be When you're at homeAnd out on the street Are so many possibilities to not be alone The flames and smoke climbed out of every window And disappeared with everything that you held dear <----------But you shed not a single tear for the things that you didn't need Cause you knew you were finally free Cause all you see is where else you could be, When you're at homeOut on the street are so many possibilities to not be alone And all you see is where else you could be,when you're at home,There on the street, are so many possibilities to not be alone. . . .-Death Cab for a Cutie.

this song is my favorite one rite now. . . . its all about restlessness and longing , its about someone who always pines for something more in life but can never get a grasp on it. . .

My state of mind 22/8/08

Its been a very long time since something really moved me. ..since sentiments struck atleast one responsive chord. Gone are the days of butterflies in the stomach feeling or even chills down my spine feeling. . .i feel numb like a corpse. There have been times when my life played out like a movie...preferably a black and white one but the reality is in color and is less well scripted than a movie. This feeling called life drives us all to our finest heights and our darkest depths. . .the joy brings inspiration,creation,passion etc. then comes the pain, unafraid outbursts and so the vicious cycle of giving and receiving everything continues. . .
There are times i wonder why cant we just scream and get violent and let it all out.?why is it that we are civilised? inspite of man and his animal instincts. . .is it because we are here to impress?no it is because this is what we are. . . we civilize ourselves to disguise ourselves and when we cant anymore we raise each other to heights of aggrevation and we tear each other limb from limb. It happens all over be it in war. . .or in relationships. . .anything!
L-o-v-e is the most sought after four letter word. . .people use it so much that i wonder what is the correct definition. I have often mistaken infactuation for love or maybe not. . .how do i knw? right now love to me seemslike a mutual clutching at the lifebelt of the other while drowning in lonliness. . .fearing that if i do give up on it i mite be giving up too soon on something that i actually desire.. . on the contrary i also tend to think that im not up for it. I am seized by melancholy because of my state of mind but im sure it will sublimate into the public sphere like all other thoughts and feelings. . incase it doesnt. . .i will just have to roll in the mud of self pity for a while. ..

Ayn Rand put it simply for me: The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.

The IN thing!

Gourmet meals, gizmos, garments which are recklessly consumed in conformity with the current social aesthetics are out! Its murder, rape, treachery, inflation, rebellion, road rage, elections…which are all in!! I don’t think an hour of headlines is enough anymore that’s why NDTV is the most sought after channel because its 24/7 up to date with the crime scenes, political monologues, narcoanalysis results, court hearings, under the table deals…or whatever is it that pulls a common man out of his skin and gives him a reality check: WATCH OUT U MAY BE NEXT!
I’m not going to start off about how bad our legal system is or how the county’s gone to the dogs! Cos as citizens we can’t really do much…whats ironic is we’re the biggest democratic nation. Public opinion maybe the new religion….but we’re all heretic! i think...
'To be comfortable with discomfort...one must banish all contact with ease...' since this is a trend which is here to stay!
(NOTE: For all of u ppl who think bad news sells and it doesnt mean we are next..firstly i write from my point of view..and secondly u need a reality check)

what i wish i'd known sooner..

I feel overwhelmed by the uncertainty of what I have. Things cannot be taken for granted ever cos u never know when life will strike so hard that we won't be able to lift ourselves up... I'm not the same person anymore. I'm not living in some horrific perpetual hell like or dream state yet somehow i am unable to interact automatically. Little did i know something would unhinge my brain and id have these thoughts colliding with each other and creating a mass of....confusion I guess. Sometimes I think there are things I wished i had known sooner...

Like...

..We are all a simple action away from a complete disaster.
.. People do get bored of each other at some point not because they lose interest in each other but because u have to be interested or nothing is ever interesting.
..Sooner or later ure parents do find out all the shit u do.
..When we think we are being sly and smart by stepping over people to make it to the top...guess what..the fall to the ground will hit twice as hard!!
..Feel while we still can and have the time to do so.
..Laugh. everyday. no matter what.
..Remember someone’s always having a tougher time than you are. always.
..when the going gets tough.....the tough do get going.
..Self destruction is not the answer to anything...i mean why inflict pain on ourselves while we have things like pillows to stab!!
..MURPHY's laws are the most sensible laws ever..cos they prove themselves everyday!
..Crises are there at every stage... childhood..quarter life...mid life...old age... so deal with it!
..Don’t ever let ure life wait for other people.
..If it hurts don’t ever do it again.
..ten yrs from now most of what we freak out about won't even matter.
..Smart people can sometimes do very stupid things.
..Being nice to people will get you very far.
..Never Ever let anyone make you compromise your standards. NEVER.
..Nothing is ever too good to be true.
..Never do something if the risk is greater than the reward.
..God doesn’t make JUNK!
..Hair is flammable. Very flammable.
..If you laugh at ureself then u'll do fine. If u allow others to laugh with you...u'll do great!

Speaking "LOUD & CLEAR" can cause deafness!

“At home Drawing pictures Of mountain tops With him on top Lemon yellow sun Arms raised in a V Dead lay in pools of maroon below Daddy didn't give attention To the fact that mommy didn't care King Jeremy the wicked Ruled his world.. Jeremy spoke in class today Jeremy spoke in class today Clearly I remember Pickin' on the boy Seemed a harmless little fuck But we unleashed a lion Gnashed his teeth And bit the recessed lady's breast How could i forget He hit me with a surprise left My jaw left hurtin Dropped wide open Just like the day Like the day i heard Daddy didn't give affection And the boy was something mommy wouldn't wear
King jeremy the wicked Ruled his world Jeremy spoke in class today Jeremy spoke in class today Try to forget this... Try to erase this...From the blackboard.”

Bullies…. We have em all over the place…be it in school…at the playground…in college…at a workplace.. they never go away….instead it’s a vicious cycle….the bullies stay bullies and the bullied become bullies in due course of time..
How many of us have been Jeremy (not in the literal sense of blowing our brains out)? Or atleast played a role in creating a Jeremy??
Trying to show the world we are better..stronger..people…while breaking down with insecurities on the inside… shoving the naïve into the hoops of sorrow and depression and lifetime of low self esteem…while we long treaded that path…
Ask me what a definition of a bully is…in my mind bullies are intolerant of contrary opinion, domineering and rather cowardly. Secretly hoping that none of those terms could be fairly used in describing me. Truth is all of us are intolerant of contrary opinions…..some lash it out…while other keep shut like safety vaults…things locked are valuable things which others do not care to see…
Jeremy the wicked ruled his world unspoken... shook the rest of the world when he spoke...leaving behind impressions of things unsaid….leaving ppl regretting…leaving the blackboard with inerasable stains…
Whats the point…we all know how it feels but we still go on…cos we need something to trample on..something to make us feel we have made a mark..even if its on somebody!! It’s a vicious cycle…

Sense and Sensibility

The life cycle is simple there is no place for emotions..sentiment...drama here actually speaking. It starts with life and ends with death. u come into the world with nothing and u leave with nothing. People who say good memories of a good life lived and all is utter nonsense cos hello ure dead...ure mind does not function it is devoid of the riot of thoughts.....ure finally at peace.... we get all the warmth we want in the womb and when we're out...is a cold cold world... the price u pay for everything is non negotiable. We pay a price for death also...”Adult body: Rs 250; child under 12 years: Rs 125." this is also non negotiable…Pooof…ure burnt to ashes!!
That is the simple truth of life… but what we want from life is actually not that simple….

People travel all over the world for mental peace...serenity…the travel agents are the ones who profit the most from this stupid misconception that “PEACE” is available in some foreign destination for a price. Its part of our “human” nature…we need something to look forward to something that makes us feel different for even a little while…anything new excites us….cos if peace really did come for a price then we’d all be living in the same piece of paradise wont we?!? Atleast all the Pg3’s would…

Face it we all sadistically like our run-of-the-mill lives…even the man who says “omg ekta kapoor needs to get a life” secretly likes the saas bahu drama…all of us at one point or the other have watched them and were addicted to them… and then we blame it on our moms or grandparents watching it cos of which we were forced to watch…drama drama drama

Guys complain about how much time a girl takes to dress up and all nonsensical gyaan she gets from cosmopolitan…only if they weren’t so embarrassed to admit that its not the chick on the cover they are interested in but all the beauty tips about how to keep the skin clear and have a perfectly toned body and they love it when the girl takes a while cos it makes them feel special like their opinion matters.….drama drama drama

We all love drama…be it bold and the beautiful or saas bahu boo hoo’s or our never ending hunt for something better….we all think it makes our life better and worthwhile. Truth is nothing matters.....what we give into life is what we want out of it as long as we live. Cos after that who cares….

Mr and Mrs. Talwar

In an increasing trend, a totally innocuous incident of rage has led a father to kill his daughter?

"What was widely suspected but was virtually unspeakable has apparently come true. Dr Rajesh Talwar, one of the city's most successful dentists, killed his own daughter, Aarushi, and manservant Hemraj in cold blood to write an utterly depressing chapter in parent-child relationships, according to police. " Reads the Times of India newspaper..
But seriously how much of it is actually the truth? It sounds more like the police are framing the father for their incompitence rather than, them finding hardcore evidence to prove the case.
If he actually killed his daughter and the manservent why would he not dispose off the bodies?? being a doctor he'd know the best possible way to do so...unlike the clumsy money-fame- hungry mediocre kannada actress and her outraged naval officer boyfriend.
Lets examine the sequence of events again.... the father found the manservent in an "objectionable but not compromising" position with the daughter and Why did he do it again?according to the police there are two reasons on offer — him being consumed by passion for a woman and enraged by his daughter's opposition, as well as a desire to save the family's "honour" by killing his "loose" daughter —but wait they also mention.... "only further investigations will bring out the truth." so they still dont know what the truth is and they have so confidently pinned down the father..this is what i call abusing position and our right to the freedom of speech!
It took them more than ten yrs to solve hundreds of cases like Jessica lal...the road rage of the spoilt rich son of an MP, the scarlet case which is still "under investigation"...im expecting atleast another three hundred odd days..for them to "investigate" this one and come out with answers.

my oxymoronic state

Every form of happiness is private. Our greatest moments are personal, self-motivated, not to be touched.
How happy are we now-a-days?? Genuinely..is it the company of friends and family that makes us happy? Is it achievement in any sense that makes us happy? Is it getting everything we ever wished for? Is it the birth of new things? Is it a great day? a good night out?lots of booze?(lol)
What is it that truly makes a man happy?

I was watching this movie Last Kiss where the scrubs guy Zack Braff stars..as usual totally over rated movie...but what got my attention in the whole movie was the fact that the guy had everything he ever wanted and it wasn’t enough...the fact that everything was perfect didn’t make him happy...instead he felt saturated and “stuck” . Is that how most of us feel? Cos to an outsider looking into anyone’s life...it looks great..desirable..better than his in every sense of the word..what the outsider seldom knows is that to the man; his life looks like a fun house mirror....skewed..every scene so blown out of proportion that he forgets what the root of the whole problem was in the first place. Gettin back to the movie..hes so stuck that he thinks cheating on his close to perfect(cos there’s nothing like perfect.lol)girlfriend will get him “unstuck” and when he totally screws up everything for himself he wants the old things back!

Why is it the case with everyone that we seldom know how much something means to us until its totally lost.?!?Blame it on the human nature...but that would be blaming ourselves...more like an eight sin that Dante forgot to mention.. so lets blame it on... the rise in terrorism, crime, inflation, sixth pay commission, bad government!!!

whirlwind..

Round and Round i love to go...
in this whirlwind i lose myself...dispose my troubles..dispense my sorrows..
awaken my soul....im alive now...
in a world so dead..
every breath i take measures my life....in this moment i want to live...
time spins...trees look greener...sand looks inviting...
childish imagination runs wild..
... highlighted by the moon...
reality slays my thoughts..
freedom is not free!