For my Friends

The four years I spent
at the nation's premier technological institution
Have been the best of my lives,
A fact I can state with full conviction.

It wouldnt have had been such
if I hadnt found you all
Since the first year, we have been together,
playing tennis, squash and football.

I know I have wasted these four years,
doing nothing much, and with no notable feat,
but if given a chance, these four years,
in this same way I would repeat.

We havent always had the best of times
and I have fought with most of you
but without you I swear,
I would not have managed it through.

This journey wouldnt have been fun,
if you werent there with me,
Then well, IIT would just be
a pretty boring place to be.

These years have been a learning experience
and professors were not the one who taught
U were my real teachers in here
from you guys, I really learnt a lot

You have been my pillars of strength
and to each one of you I could go
with any of my problems, and you were there
to help me and make me come out of my low.

I still get frustrated
when you dont agree with me
but now I understand
without you, how boring life would be.

It has been a pleasure knowing you all,
for all of you have taught me a thing or two,
And best of luck for your future lives,
and wishing you success in whatever you do.

For my Brother

You have been my inspiration
and I have always looked up to you
At this important crossroad in my life,
I am seeking your advice about what to do

I have always adored and admired you
Even though I am ashamed to admit that
I have tried hard to be like you
But failed to do even that

You have been an ideal son,
and mama-papa have been proud of you
As for me, I have been the reckless one,
Today I realise, a poor second out of the two.

You mean the world to me,
and a nobler person I have never seen.
Without you to guide me,
Where I am today, I could never have been.

I have been mean and rude towards you,
but you have never turned me away.
You have given me all your things to share,
And been a constant guide, come what may.

This blog is written to impress upon you
the fact that I could never ever say,
You are the person I look up to,
and I adore you every single day.

For my Parents

I am often left wondering
why do u still think me to be a child
who knows not what he is doing
with friends who cherish acting wild.

I know I have made mistakes,
but I have only grown wiser,
while earlier I used to be naive and rude to people,
nowadays, I have started to try making myself nicer.

You want me to pay more attention
to my studies, and be the best I can be,
but what I really want from life,
that is what you fail to see.

My elder brother has achieved a lot,
and you want me to emulate him
but please, thats not something I want,
I want to follow my fantasies and whims.

I want to find my calling in life,
and want to do things my own way,
I believe that even though it doesnt seem so right now,
Success shall follow me some day.

I still havent decided what I really want
but I am quiet sure this is not what i want life to bring,
So pushing me down this road,
might make me do some stupid things.

I want to thank you, for being such wonderful parents,
And consider myself lucky, that to you I was born,
But I now think that I am ready to go alone,
and take on life head-on.

I believe that you have cared for me the most,
and that's why you are tensed over my decision,
That all you teachings and values will come to naught,
But believe me, and please show in me some conviction.

Yes, I want to be famous, and rich,
but I believe more important things do exist,
and also what matters most is what people think of you,
and so the following tops my wishlist.

I want to be the catcher in the rye,
to make a difference in people's life,
And when I die, may people remember me as,
"This is the guy who made others live life."

Fifty days of solitude (Internship time)..

Quite unlike the famous book
This is not a fantasy but a real incident
On the training and its fifty days
I would like to add some of my own comments

Of the five hundred and eighteen or so students
Who have just completed their training
It is just a small fractionwho
managed to get PPO's with their meticulous working

To the rest, the layman may ask,
"what did you all do in your companies and labs ?"
To which the expected answer may be,
"We had a well deserved rest, and increased our flab."

Some of us well manage to say,
"Our companies didnt pay us, so we didnt have anyhope."
While others have the excuse,
"We were abroad, had to see the whole of Europe."

But for many of us,
Who are in India and earning too,
why is it that the companies
dont offer us a PPO or two?

Is it because IITians dont like to work?
Or is it, because the time is too less
"Fifty days is very little,
what shall u do here, is anybody's guess"

Are the kind of comments I had to bear
Different Questions like this I had to face
It was a new company and as it turned out
I was the first intern the company had graced

In other colleges, students do training in the final year
Some in the seventh semester and some in eighth
But IITs are different in this regard
And I thought that the other colleges had put in theirthought some weight

So I decided to write a letter
asking the T&P Deptt. to extend the days
So unlike the usual convention
IITD can also follow the other colleges ways

Then I thought a lot about the matter as to what would happen to IIT
if my ideas were taken seriously by men or two
The even semester would become(among other things)poltuless
And in the odd semester, What will become ofRendezvous?

At that very moment I knew
it would be probably much better
If I was to drop this idea
and tear apart the ill fated letter,

And then as I sat within my cubicle
I felt an unending sense of doom
There was no other I knew here
I suddnenly noticed my empty room

There and then I felt
a feeling of intense gratitude
for the T&P section had made me
suffer JUST fifty days of solitude.

Murphy's Law and the Eternal Optimist

If you have read The Alchemist, you 1) would have loved it as a "wonderfully hope creating and opstimistic story." or 2) would have lambasted it terming it to "be hopelessly optimistic and away from life. " or 3) would have remained untouched by it. Read this piece, and you shall probably change your views about the book. If you havent read the Alchemist, read on anyway, and you might want to rush to the nearest book store to buy the book " that has influeced millions of lives." I have only read the book once and it seemed complete sham to me back then. Here was a guy who was actually selling dreams to people (Coelho), and whats more people were actually buying it, as a moralising book. I read it for the storyline, which was interesting.
However a lot of things have happened which have made me change my views about the theories in the book.
The entire book is based on the theory "When you want something badly, the entire universe conspires for you to get it." I always believed the opposite, namely Murphy's Law, which states that "wherever something can go wrong, it will." I still believe the Law, but now I also believe in the opstimistic theory in the Alchemist. Can it be possible, when everything goes wrong, that the Universe is actually helping you? I believe it is. When you want something too badly, you are ready to risk everything you have and go after what you want. And the Universe tries to test you throughout, trying to shake your conviction, trying to break you down, and trying to test you: Murphy's Law is a test that lets the Universe decide the motivated enough. And from there on, the Universe is ready to help you. You have to work for getting whatever you want, otherwise your "badly wanting it " is useless.
If the Universe wasnt helping, could Abraham Lincoln and APJ Abdul Kalam become the presidents of their respective countries? Could Lance Armstrong come back from a battle with cancer to win five Tour de France titles? And why does every movie have a good-triumphs over bad theme? Or why dont the bad forces outnumber the forces thats keeping the world in peace?
It is because the Universe has an order, an order thats made to help everyone.
You might contend this by pointing out, that for every Abe or APJ, there are millions who fail to make it. I know its true, but maybe thats because they werent motivated enough. And they didnt want to win that badly.
I believe that the Universe gives equal opportunities to eeryone, and the number of good things happening to a person is a constant for each person, as is the number of bad things. It just comes down how much can a person take of these opportunities, and not be dissuaded by the failures. And in the end, probably it all doesnt matter: success is defined by a person, so if you get what you aim for, you are successful. The Universe has helped you. If you arent, you just need to want that thing that much more. And work hard to get it as well. Atleast initially. And from there, let Universe take over. I am a pessemist, but deepdown. I believe everyone is an optimist. You just have to believe the Universe and work hard.