February 21, 2009

Once upon a time in Dehradun

As the legend goes, not so long ago in Institute of Management Studies (IMS), Dehradun, there was a group of devil-may-care guys, who cared for nothing else but G-I-R-L-S. And one of them was just crrrrazzzzyyyyyyyyyy about them. He had a crush on, say, every other girl. Well in terms of girls, his college was heaven. Even there was strict uniform code (waiter's uniform - white shirt, black pant, blue tie), girls looked fantaaaaaastic. And being the loving guy that he's, he loved all of them.

The window

Sitting with his friends on the window-side seat of his first-floor class, from where every goddamn place in his not-so-big college was visible, he developed a crush on, umm... countless girls. Never mind, if almost every teacher noticed, objected, condemned, ridiculed and punished them for staring outside the window, despite repeated warnings during the class. The particular guy I'm talking about, he was asked to come and give a five-minute presentation on why he looks outside the window all the time. And the truthful guy that he's, the truth he told: "There are so many pretty girls in the college sitting outside, it's hard to concentrate in the class."

Sight of every other damsel used to drive his senses nuts. If one girl's hair impressed him, other girls' eyes won him. (DO NOT think further... He's a gentleman!) He was so loving, that he fell instantly in love with every pretty creature. Name a course, and he'll have a dozen of crushes in each batch.

No discrimination
Love knows no boundaries, and he proved it alrite. Course, batch, height, weight no bar, he loved them all. Curly hair wooed him just as much as straight, permed hair. Girls in high heels won him just as much as girls in flats. He'd sigh a wishful sigh as a feminine girl would pass by, and would be impressed by those tom-boyish girls too. If he liked one particular girl because she was silent and cool and calm and poised, he'd like "loudspeaker" too.

Tall or short, dusky damsels or fair and lovelies, slim or unh.., shy or outgoing, sexy or unsexy, feminine or tomboy, almost every girl appealed to him (given that she had something sort of 'charming.') By the end of his second year at college, there was no pretty girl in his class who didn't have the honour of being his crush. And as new batches came, new girls got their names etched in the roll of honour. Ah, those (countless) lucky ones...

Codename XXX
He knew name of each of them, but to be able to converse about them openly, without letting others have an idea what he's talking about, he assigned nicknames to all of them. And thanks to his great circle of friends, that all these pretty girls got rather wonderful names. His group was always abuzz with few of those names at a time. Oh you wanna know what those names were like? What, Whitewash, Sonia Gandhi, Original, Duplicate, Batakh (Hindi for duck), Button, Shampoo, Patakha in Pink, Kangana, Bomb, Arjun, Model... There were many more, couldn't recall now. Others used to wonder, "what the heck are they talking about!?!," as these reckless boys merrily talked about those pretty girls in their secret terminology.

As long as these guys were in college, these nicknames were pretty famous. And so were the guys! There were at least a thousand love stories involving them. All of them one-sided, though.

The tree
There was a "tree" in that college, just in between of the undergraduate and postgraduate building. These guys used to sit under that tree when class was off. And these guys used to sit under that tree when the class was not off. From there, they used to see "Kangana," that short girl with curly hair and high heels, whose class was on the first floor, just in front of the tree. Kangana always used to sit near the window, noticing these guys. And these guys always used to sit under the tree, noticing Kangana.

"That tree" holds a rather important place in hearts of those guys, as in their farewell they were felicitated for sitting under it. Those guys were pretty infamous among a group of junior girls, there was "romantic hatred." Romance was from guys' side and hatred from girls.

Gone are the days
For these guys every day was Valentine's Day. Especially for the particular guy I'm talking about, he was infamous for falling love at the drop of a hat. Alas, as love was in full swing, their course come to an end, and none of these guys failed. So they moved on to different cities to study further. Hmm... The only subject these guys studied in their college (no prizes for guessing), was girls. Alas, there's no certificate course for excellence in this! So let us say these guys had to go on to pursue higher studies to get a job, as it's time to get serious now.

All are in different cities now, trying to make something out of life. But still when they reunite, they can't help but relive the nostalgia. Oh, when they meet up they still zip and zap through Rajpur Road of Dehradun, looking for girls. They'd roam in tuition hotspots of Dehradun, waiting for girls to come out. ("School girls are the easiest to link up with," says one of them.) They'd go to the crowded Paltan bazaar, stand in front of McDonald's, go window shopping in Vishal Mega Mart. Time can just throw them outta college, but it can't take away from them their instincts.

And yeah, amidst their busy schedule of "bird-watching" in Dehradun, these guys still take time out to go together to "their" college, IMS, and sit under that tree. And girls of that rival group still make faces upon seeing them. These girls can't forget those guys. And those guys can't forget these girls. It's a love-hate relationship.

Cheers to friendship, cheers to life!

February 14, 2009

Valentine's Day or...

It's Valentine's Day! Just 40 minutes past midnight and a beautiful girl is giving me missed calls; she wants me to call her. In morning, another girl calls me and wishes "Happy Valentine's Day" very enthusiastically. Ten minutes later, my cell buzzes. A very very very charming and sweet girl has wished me happy Valentine's Day.

Ok, it's nice, I love you all. Thank you. But... I mean, that's it! Only my sisters wished me Happy V-Day! First girl who gave me missed call is a second cousin, second girl who called is my sister (real sister, in your terminology) and the third one was next-door neighbour in Balco.

So, was it Valentine's Day or rakshabandhan or bhaidooj, huh! I mean, nothing against you sisters who called, but what's wrong with other girls in the world! Don't they know I'm single and available! I mean, just sisters wishing me on V-day... What a mockery of Valentine's Day! What a tragedy!

Never mind HG, it's alrite. Like your sis messaged you, never mind if you're single yet; tell others that God is busy writing the best love story. Nice message, dear! Thank you :-)

February 08, 2009

The power of "OM"

Om... I had read that the word "Om" has tremendous power, had read quite a bit. But like my mom had said once, to read and enjoy is one thing, and to feel and experience is another. Today, I felt and experienced.

For those who don't know me, right now I'm doing my post-graduation in journalism. Here, as a part of our course, we have to produce a master's thesis, a research project. I chose the topic "alternative techniques of healing". Among other techniques, I'm including Sanatan Kriya (a modern-day yogic technique). In Bangalore, Dhyaan Foundation is involved in promoting Sanatan Kriya. Today, I went to their centre and practiced the abovesaid yoga technique with them.

It includes practicing ujjai breathing, while simultaneously rotating different joints of body. After all this, it was the time for the audio CD to be played; it was Yogi Ashwini's (he has devised the kriya) directions on what to do and how to do and all. I was lying on my back all this while, in shavasan, as it is called. Towards the end, he said "om" several times.

I don't know how to describe it, it was an experience. You could say, every time he said "om", I felt some energising vibrations (or force or power) entering/passing through my body. And it was very strong vibration. The feeling was, how do I put it, energising, and very refreshing.

And while I was lying down on shavasan, my fingers moved by themselves to form a mudra. Later on, Ruchi, who was conducting the session, said when one is in the state of meditation, the fingers automatically form the mudra suited best to one's body. She told the practitioners that each of the possible different mudras aims at restoring one of the basic five elements of body — earth, fire, water, wind and ether. So whatever our body lacks, it tries to replenish that during Sanatan Kriya by getting into the mudra that facilitates reception of that element.

It was an amazing experience, letting go the control of your body, and observing these never-had-before experiences. Ruchi said that if one is regular at Sanatan Kriya then s/he could notice change in him/herself within as short as two-three days. "Really?" I asked. "Didn't you feel those strong vibrations in the first day itself!" she replied.

Sanatan Kriya is based on guru-shishya parampara. It says, you cannot achieve gyan by reading books or watching CDs, you have to be under guidance of a guru. Yogi Ashwini, who has devised the kriya is guru of all the practitioners, and he leads them further onto the path of spiritual journey. He promises to take your responsibility, all you have to do is to be regular on your part in doing the kriya.

Today was my first day, and the starting day, as I'd say. I'm going to be regular at it, oh yeah. I've also given my name when Ruchi asked for volunteers for training, who could then conduct workshops. Nice start, a good one, I'd say.

A journey of thousand miles starts with a single step, as they say. I've just taken that first step, and hope to cover those thousand miles, and beyond, as efficiently and quickly as possible. I hope to be able to serve mankind in whichever way I could, and also be able to realise my full potential.

February 07, 2009

Tranquil, silver moonlight

I wish electricity hadn't come back past night. Still two days shy of achieving its full glory and shape, the moon looked darn handsome nonetheless. Oh yeah!

It was 8 pm, and all of a sudden we had power cut. That means hostel lights gone, street lights gone... Basically all lights gone. Usually it irritates, the power cut, but not yesterday. Oh my, oh my, oh my! The whole world looked sooo beautiful last night... Our hostel building, under nothing but the moon light. Cool, soothing, calm moonlight. A soothing, silver ball of light in a dark night. Whoa! It looked terrific, I'm telling you, terrific! What a pleasant atmosphere it was man!

And it's amazing, the same place that sometimes becomes so unbearable that you don't feel like staying there, was looking so serene and peaceful that you didn't feel like going from there! Everything looked sooo peaceful, so quiet, so pleasant, and just so so caaaaalm.

The world looked so beautiful under the silver shower of the moonlight! That is called nature at its best. I was just standing under the heavenly sky, soaking the moonlight, singing romantic song (oh yeah), enjoying the serenity and tranquility... And then electricity came back, street lights lit up, hostel lights lit up, every damn light lit up. And all the beauty was gone. It just made me think, as always, that how in his pursuit of comfort, man is losing out on enjoying the best of the nature.

Oh boy! I'm going to live in a large farmhouse, and there I'd have control upon all the lights for as far as I could see. When not required, I'd turn them off and gaze at the magnificent, star-studded universe, which is shaping my destiny with me.

February 01, 2009

A beautiful evening

Whoa! It's such a beautiful evening! What's so special about today's evening? Haha, the first point just came to mind — PEACE.... Tranquility... The usual guys in the lab who make a lot of noise are all out. Only three people in the lab now, all working silently... Ah, I feel so relaxed. And outside it's the light blue sky, with that orangish fireball sinking down beyond the horizon. The orange rays on our college building are looking really fantastic today! (I wish they had emoticons in Blogger.com)

Nice, cool breeze is blowing outside... Everything seems so, so... unh peaceful :-) Yeah... Wow.... It's so nice.

Well, objectively, this evening is no different from other evenings. Every day it's kinda same. And at this time there are very few people in the lab. Dunno what's so special then today, I'm liking it, and that's what matters.

Hmm... You know what? I know what's special. "I" am relaxed. There is no worry, no hurry, I'm all peaceful and relaxed, may be that's why I'm able to appreciate the beauty around me — cool breeze right now and starry sky every night. Life is great, and easy! Oh, I love life.

Ok, ok.... Mr. philosopher (you know, I really want to study philosophy and spirituality), get to work and do something worthwhile in life. Get to work!

"Happiness is a state of mind." - Abraham Lincoln