Being April Fool

I was born in April. I celebrate April Fool's Day like my birthday. I cut cake, wish others believing it is their birthday as well. I have not really been a prankster but I have been fooled a lot of times and done foolish things. Although I have grown quite smart now, autorickshaw drivers, fruit sellers and other smarter species continue to fool me, not just in April. I won't go about insulting myself much. This article will proudly boast of things I have experienced which have been quite foolish. Comedy comes from tragedy, here's my side: 

On a bright summer sunny day in Kanpur (just for the effects) I returned from school quite excited. I had been informed about the supposed first summer camp. So, as always (and with a bit more enthusiasm that day) I started telling my elder sisters about what I was told, word by word as I remembered. "Pata hai, summer camp me swimming sikhaane wale hain!", said I beaming with exuberance as if they were paying me to advertise. My sister, I fail to understand how, asked me with some surprise element, "Accha Ankie! Kaha par?". "Paani me", I replied. I had wanted to say "river" but then I just blurted out whatever I felt like.

Then on a not so bright day, the computer needed to be shifted to some other place in the house. I guess I was in second grade then. My father always knew I was intelligent and took keen interest in electric equipments and procedure etc. (reference to the shock incident). So, he asked me to check if the power socket was working. I peeped into the hole, looking for "electric sparks" which I was sure to find in any working electric socket. Sadly it wasn't there, but to my amazement the socket worked like wonder! 

Foolish is as foolish does.

"Think about yourself at least once in your lifetime, otherwise you may miss the best comedy in this world!" 

- William Shakespeare

Where the Civilization Stands Today

Time and again to this nomad inside me, it has occurred to know the whereabouts of the human civilization. I have been bored to think about others as such for I have lot to ponder about myself as of now. In the literal sense, I have often seen the human civilization standing : in queues at the railway stations, bus stops, during admission processes, concerts, cricket matches, football matches, protests, revolts etc. etc. We as humans have always loved standing, be it by force or by choice.

Well this of course is not about the literal standing thing but would certainly need some serious consideration.

Picture: Statues of Ahu Akivi 

Let's see: at the current figure of about 6 billion people inhabiting the earth, we surely outnumber any other mammal species if not insects and rodents. As the population figures have grown, we have seen civilizations emerge and form kingdoms and nations. We have also tried and succeeded to some extent in reclaiming land from the seas. Food production has grown and so has its demand. Unlike some 70 odd years earlier, we now have global economies and open markets. The scope for a world war has certainly reduced and we have nuclear weapons for mass destruction. Science has made the unthinkable quite possible but the population explosion still remains a concern. Population explosion and global warming. Natural calamities can still not be dealt with easily. Time and again these disasters inflict great damages upon us. And then we look at other "human" problems; corruption at its height gives a clear picture of declining honesty levels. We are not really in serious trouble because the good old days have always been good. These days as well would be considered good in the coming years hopefully.

So, although just like other futile posts this too makes no sense, I would like to emphasize that our civilization must be looked upon with greater concern. Of course we have all the time in the world to save tigers, pandas and elephants from vanishing if we can first avert potential dangers that face us. Consider this, we claim to have stepped on the moon and we have got a spacecraft on Mars and yet we stand on the earth which gets crowded as you read on.

"Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities."
- Mark Twain

If Poetry was Prose

I don't know why but I had to do this. I wanted to write a stupid poem so here it is, test your tolerance:


If poetry was prose 
It would not convey meanings
Neither hard in dealings 
Nor any place for subtle feelings


If poetry was prose
I would have written at length
I would have added some depth
I would need no more strength


If poetry was prose
The number of lines wouldn't matter
Expression would certainly be better
Words would not sound to chatter


If poetry was prose
It wouldn't have the smell of a rose ...

For the Heart, By the Heart, To the Heart

The human heart is four chambered, no wonder it gets broken. It has a terrible shape to add to the vulnerabilities and in size is only as big as the person's fist. People blame it on excess consumption of oil and fats that deteriorates the functioning of the heart, I blame it on the poets and lyricists. Having become a subject of all depressions, miseries and love songs, it is tired. They say love is a drug and then they subject their hearts to such dangerous things. If you think it's easy being a heart try doing what it does everyday. What the heart can do you can't even dream of ... how many times have you pumped blood, and managed its delivery all over the human body!

Even philosophers love the heart so much. How easy it is for them to preach 'follow your heart' and be praised for the advice of a lifetime! Nobody asked cardiologists what they have to say about the heart unless some malfunctioning was found in the same. Anyway, if you'd know, the word "awesome" was ruled out of the dictionary for its over-usage but still continues to be harnessed. One day I hope humans will become cyborgs and the heart will be left alone. In case I have not been clear on the "over-usage" thing, let me illustrate: 

A boy named Lakshya studied with me in my class during my primary education years. Lakshya was very normal - normal lifestyle, normal hairstyle, normal eating-style, normal dressing style ... abnormal name. Not that his name was bad but if you might have figured out by now, it's easier saying Lux than Lakshya, so what if it's a popular soap brand. So we had a soap brand in our class. Poor kid was so disturbed, he changed his school but before that, he changed his name to something else, very insignificant compared to Lux.

Moral of the story is not that we shouldn't be teasing boys with unconventional names (or perhaps that could as well be one of the morals), it's about the over usage that we subject things to. 

Every love song will have a worthless mention of a heart. Before you say "I love you with all my heart", try seeking permission from your heart; it won't allow you, it won't stop you. It'll do just what it ought to : pump blood. People might perhaps one day start associating intestines with love - large intestine for friends, small for the beloved. I won't mention the heart again.

This is the last paragraph and it's going to be short, you may heave a sigh of relief. What has turned out is instant : no thought process, no nothing, very much like other blog posts that were written out of insomniac compulsions. If you're bored and you know it, clap your hands (and pretend to be an idiot for a while, it won't kill you). And for the quote, here's from "The Scientist" by Coldplay : 

Questions of science, science & progress do not speak as loud as my heart!  

Facebook, Cell Phones and the Like

I was once sitting outside the college canteen when this idea struck me. As I sat alone in one of the corners with some music playing on my earphones and surfing through Facebook, a classmate of mine came and sat beside me. I hadn’t known him very well but we knew each other just as classmates. After having acknowledged each other, we got busy with our respective cell phones. I had a call on my hands-free and I said “hello”. Having heard me and assuming that it was for him, he greeted me back and then he felt embarrassed. It was something new for me. At the school we were not allowed to carry cell phones with us and that had positive results, nobody sat alone. Groups of students huddled up to have fun, remaining uninterrupted by cell phone message beeps, calls and other disturbances. 

I am neither against technology nor its implications but it strikes me and I believe it should strike everyone to see how social interactions have dwindled to silent texts and smileys. A psychological study that I came across after a few days of the aforesaid incident had my mind thinking over and over. According to the study, human interactions remain “incomplete” if there’s no face to face contact. To get a message conveyed complete in all respects, we need to have an eye contact. The more we interact virtually, the more we hollow ourselves from within. The electronic chats that we engage in, entertain us for the time being but in the long run spell despair because of a talk that has remained incomplete somewhere. An empty feeling in the mind is generated.

There’s nothing wrong in making acquaintances in the virtual world but an attempt to remain indifferent to the influence is required. Since the probability of meeting these people is very low, a detachment is necessary. Think about it, when was the last time that you talked to someone ‘real’ without having been interrupted by your gadget?

"So if you have a minute why don’t we go, talk about it somewhere only we know. This could be the end of everything, so why don’t we go… Somewhere Only We Know" - Keane 

Sit-a-While

On the way to my village by road is a place of mythological significance, Valmikinagar. Valmikinagar is said to be the place where Sita, after being ousted from Ayodhya, lived with Maharshi Valmiki, the sage who wrote the Ramayana. It is now a place with dense forests and a few hutments can be observed in fringes in the middle of these jungles. The story told hereby, takes place in one of these houses.

I had been vacationing at my native place once during the summers which was quite a routine for me. As a city dweller, the serene country side can do wonders to your tired soul. Being a part of a Zamindar family, I was one day asked to go to the nearby town and look into some matter pertaining to the land. I agreed without hesitation as it wasn’t going to be a hard ordeal. It was certainly a matter of an hour or so but as destiny would have had it, it took more than the time it should have taken. It was getting dark and hence it was decided that we should be heading back to the village, only to come back the next day again. I was reluctant but not being fully aware of the repercussions, I decided to obey the advice of the person who had accompanied me. So we set out in the jeep. 

Within an hour of our journey, we were on the road through the jungles of Valmikinagar. As I tried to focus on the beauty of these old yet strong trunks of the trees that were silhouetted by the full moon’s glare behind them, the jeep started showing signs of a breakdown. And among the hooting of the owls and the sullen silence of the night, there we were standing next to the jeep, a grey smoke emerging out of the engine. The driver went in search of water while my wise accomplice who knew we could not fix it that night, asked me to accompany him to find a shelter in one of the huts. We happened to find one decent two storeyed house among a group of about six or seven hutments. My accomplice first introduced himself to the owner of the house and then pointing towards me, he told the owner that I’m the son of the Zamindar in my village, after which the owner was quite pleased to have us as his guests for the night. A decent meal was served to us and after a light chat about the work that I had gone for, we all retired to our beds. I was given a bed in one of the rooms on the second floor which used to remain empty most of the time. I fell deep asleep as soon as I lay on the bed.

At 3 in the morning, my eyes opened to a sound. I checked my cell phone for the time, and to illuminate the room a little to find out if everything was fine. As I turned to the right flashing my phone, a woman had appeared dressed half as a saint and half as a woman belonging to the royalty. After having been back to my senses from the sudden horror, I tried to sit up in my bed and greet the woman and ask for the purpose of her visit at this hour. I couldn’t. I was fixed at my spot and this woman came and sat at one corner of the bed. Then she started pressing my feet. I could not feel the touch but I sure could behold the sight. And then came a song from her unmoving lips, a sound so shrill it could literally crack window panes, but it didn’t. It was a melody. So I lay there in juxtaposition of the bed and the woman, trying helplessly to move, to save my life if it were meant to end now. I could not do anything, I knew it somehow. Around 5:30 in the morning, the sun’s first rays came into the room. And there was another sound; I took a look at my cell phone again, got a confirmation of the time. The woman stood up, smiled and walked out. I got out of my bed, tried to pretend as if nothing had happened. When I went down, the owner of the house looked at me as if he knew what had happened that night; he asked me if I had any strange dreams. It was not a dream. I don’t remember them so clearly… 

The Story of the Overhaul

My blog "Nomadic Diaries" (formerly, nomadic aspirations) had been lying dead for quite a time. As the blog description reads, I hoped my mind would find it a frequent visiting destination which did not come up as expected. A few posts out of anxiety and then I remained still without reason. I know I've been lost and begging for more.  

Talking about the overhaul, the biggest observable change would of course be the name. I reflected upon the name only to find out that I have almost settled with the "aspiration" part of my life. Nomadic Diaries comes up as my posts would continue to be my views, this time with a little more insight into issues and entertainment. To be writing essays, critiques or analyses is not my idea of blogging and hence to suddenly shift over to these would be quite a task for me. I will, however, go into matters that I find worth talking about and this time I hope these are matters which would be supported by readers (whatever fraction I can gather). Overhaul, yes I have gone through the physical appearance and layouts as well. I must admit that a friend's blog which he calls The Pucca Critic has been quite inspirational for me to go ahead with the changes in appearance. But my blog still remains simple in outlook and I hope to catch on gradually. 

Not with this post that I'll hit the panic button but I will certainly try to pursue blogging a little more seriously. Till the next time (soon, i.e.), it's a goodbye. 

"I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some..." - Jason Mraz