Thursday, July 13, 2006

.perspective


FlashBack.
Take 1. July 13 2001,

Pune, India.

I get up early in the morning. Its a new day. It is calm and serene. The sunrays are just coming in through the window. No actually its not that calm. I can hear the drizzle of rain. And there are no real sunrays. Its just that beautiful light that dissipates just before sunrise. I get up, get ready and move out. Its such a wonderful day. I am greeted by the cool wind as I come out.


As I try to kick start my bike for a few times i realise that the dew on the handle has got my shirt wet. I wipe off the dew from the rest of the handle and I am surprised how nice those little water droplets feel as i push them off. I have finally managed to start my bike and off I am - headed to the gym. I remember that I had an assignment to submit - one which i totally forgot about. Aah .. never mind, I will find time to do it. I am sure it was a easy one.

After a refreshing workout, I come home to some hot tea and pohe - served by mom. I get ready to leave for college. I get stuck in some traffic on my way. There are so many cars these days. It feels real nice to see these big cars in India and know that the people in the country are getting richer. I see people going to offices. Man, I am lucky I dont need to work for now! But some day I will get a job and buy one of those cars for myself. For now, all I need to do is go to school and have some good time with my friends.

The rest of the journey is quiet un-eventful, save the incident where I almost run over a poor sick dog. If life were a computer game, I could have had 2 points for knocking that dog :P . But it is not, and I manage to avoid calamity in the nick of time.

I bunk the first 2 lectures because we need to play out the cricket match we had started yesterday, and was left incomplete because of bad light. I feel satisfied knowing that my attendance is being marked by a friend. There is something so great about playing a sport in this light drizzle and the cool climate. The game is ok. I was never one of the good players and we loose, but it was great fun.

We then attend one of the classes. The topic that is being taught seems to be interesting, but I give in to peer pressure - I just stop paying attention to the lecture. We have more interesting discussions at that :). I almost convince my friends them that Hakkinen is the best driver .

Lunch is in the canteen. Its my lucky day. I find a ten rupee note in my pocket and decide to treat my friends to some hot wada-pavs. Those things always taste the best in the monsoons. We discuss lots of stuff - sports, politics, movies and just about everthing under the sun. We talk about the problems of the world and of course, we all are the experts in all the fields.

I remember about the assignment and rush to get it completed. We are completing the work in the classroom, all of us joking away while we work. We make fun of the professors, of friends, of each other, of everybody/everything under the sun. My stomach hurts from laughing. I have the assignment ready just in time for class. Its surely not the best I can do - but hey ! - at least I did it.

After the class its back to home. The pollution is more these days, and so is the traffic. I find driving my bike to be soo much fun. The wind in my hair and on my face. The power I feel when I twist the accelerator. The sweet sound of the engine. It all makes me feel freeeeeeeee.

Instead of going home I go straight to my friends place. All of us gather there and well - pass time. Again we have our discussions on all the topics under the sun. Most of the time is spent cracking jokes. Its a good diverse group. There are these guys who keep telling us hilarious tales about their gang in their college. Then we have this hard working fellow and we all pull his leg once in a while. Theres this guy with the pot-belly - we tease him so much. There are many more. I wont describe them all, but they are all fun guys.

We plan to go to the movies, but we decide to postpone it to the next day. When its late, I turn up home. Dad is somewhat angry at me, as I forgot to inform my parents about my wherabouts and for being late. I thank god I dont have a cellphone. There is hot food ready to eat,as always served by mom. And as always, it is just so sumptuos. We watch some TV after that. I go to my computer and load my favorite game.

I am confidant that I can defeat the enemy by going to the "iron age" before him. I have no idea that I have been at the computer for 4 hours. As my eyes get heavy, I take off to sleep on my cosy bed, ready for the next day.

Life is good !!!!


Take 2.
July 13 2001,
Pune, India.

The light on my dreary eyes wakes me up. I did not get enough sleep. I hear it raining outside and curse the day. I want to sleep some more, but i get up. I get ready and move out. It is a cold and wet day.

The bike always refused to start on such days and I struggle with it. Its also irritating to get your shirt wet from all the dew. As I am driving to the gym I remember the assignment I had to submit. I remember that my friend was supposed to give me the questions which he never did. I wonder when i will find time to do it. I already had missed the last one.

The workout is tiring and my muscles pain so much. I come home exhausted and get ready to leave for college. I get stuck in some traffic. Its getting so bad. People have no respect for the environment. They live in their shiny cars and pollute the air for people like us. I wish I had a job. I am also irritated by all these stray animals. Why cant the government take care of such issues ? How incompetent ! Yeh hai India !

I meet up with some guys as I park my bike and they insist that I join them to play the game we had abandoned last evening. I dont feel like it, and try my best to avoiding them. But they win in the end. I am not feeling up to the mark, and to add to it,we end up loosing. Our openers really wasted so many overs that it was impossible for me to score the runs in the end. As we leave the field I meet up with the friend who was supposed to "proxy" my attendance. The fool forgot to do so !

We then head off to the class. The lecture is going on - my friends keep disturbing me. I debate with my friends, about who will win the F-1 race and am really irritated when they insist it will be schumacher again. Why cant they understand that he just got lucky !

I head for lunch in the run down canteen. Its so dirty and unhygenic in there. When will Indians learn ? I find a 10 rupee note and my friends start bugging me for a treat and I have no choice. It is still raining outside. The food is good, but I am still a bit hungry. There are some more discussions and I am amused that my friends think that globalization is not good for the world. How can they be so naive ?

I remember about the assignment and rush to the class. Its so much distracting to work in a group, especially when I have to explain every single thing to that dumb guy - twice over. If it had not been for him interrupting me, I could surely have done a better job. And to add to my distraction these disrespectful people keep passing silly comments all the time.

I submit the assignment in class. The professor informs me that there is a test in 2 weeks. We all curse the system. How can he expect us to do well in the test, when he himself how does not know the subject well enough. I leave the school to be stuck in the mess of the traffic and the pollution, and yeah did i forget those animals on the street ?. If I had a car, at least I could have listened to some music and avoided all this smoke.

I remember that I had some chores to do at home, so I go to a friends place. I am waiting there for 20 whole minutes before he turns up. People just dont respect time anymore ! I As other friends join in, we spend the evening there.

There are too many of us. One of my friends has a real bad tongue and I detest the way he talks. Cant he talk of anything other than rowdy insignificant issues?. There is also this one guy who is a "class topper". We all make fun of him when he says he wants to go home and study ! What a Looser !

That guy who volunteers to loan me his class-notes seems fishy. I am sure he has a hidden agenda and he will ask me for a bigger favor afterwards. I know these people all too well.

There are some discussions of going to the theater - but these guys can never plan out things right. I want to leave, but they keep talking. I reach home late only to face my angry dad. Well I have no idea how he expects me to tell him that I was gonna be late, when I dont have a cell phone ! . Mom serves the food. The same old thing.

I turn on my computer. It is so slow. It just had 32 MB ram, while everyone else has 64. I start playing a computer game. I dont know why they dont have the Indian civilization in the game. Racists. It really sucks how these games always get harder as we play on. And what is more irritating is that the computer hangs just when I had reached the next level - I dint get a chance to save the game - The memory is too low.

I go off to sleep thinking about all that I have to do tommorrow again. Same boring stuff.

I really hope that life will improve someday.

Take 1:
Now,
Earth.
I read this blog. No too bad for someone who never usually writes. Not good - but at least he tries.

Take 2:
Now,
Earth.

I read this blog. Doesnt this guy have anything better to do. He should go fly a kite.