When something’s gotta give, its gotta
And sometimes we wonder what happened
When time flies by we get the picture
And the role we played therein
Yesterday was a story that we lived in
And it went by in naught but a wink
It’s today when we find ourselves surrounded
What happened then, we stop to think
Tomorrow’s knocking at my door now
I should know better when it comes in
Conformity- Dead Poets Society
If you have been following, then you probably know by now how much I have learnt from the movie- Dead Poets Society 
This clip is by far the most beautiful way of putting across an idea everyone is always looking for- be it the admissions committee, your professors and peers, your wonderfully large family, or even the interview panel when you apply for a job- How far do you conform to the rules set by society, or as they like to put it “what sets you apart?”
But most importantly, this idea has been the greatest motivator and morale booster for me, personally. A video on conformity and I cannot help but agree!
In the long hiatus that I have taken… I was on a journey where listening was more fascinating than speaking, and voices from all over the world surrounded. The long search for people and matters that would engage me beyond the routine chores of a mundane life, finally saw light. I have had an amazing and tremendously fulfilling time in the one year that I have been gone from home. Discovering and rediscovering the many things that makes up this world.
I hope to post regularly now, for this journey has surely reaffirmed, ‘Oh! That’s why, I am me!’
What is simple logic,
Common sense for you and me,
What is it to be rational
Has been for me a real mystery.
When I say I’m right,
They say I’m wrong,
And when I think I’m wrong,
Praise from people comes along.
I’ll do what I want, thus be what I can
All the world tells me to be, is to “Be a Man!”
The other day (long back actually) I read about this research study being conducted to find an equation for happiness, in like real mathematical terms! I don’t know how far they have got with that…and in the mean time I decided to make one for myself!
And this formula I came up with was not because of any long hours of research work, but due to the fact that I did not get any sleep all night (thanks to a power nap in the evening and a huge hot fudge ice cream at 11.30 p.m)
I was up watching the Bowling Green Sunrise from my window and just like that I thought of that formula again…*it keeps popping up in my head at odd hours now! They better come up with something soon!
And here’s what I thought of….
Happiness = Reality + Hope
Happiness I believe would never be achieved if I don’t learn to live in the real world. I have to know what is me; what is not…but then there are times when reality is too bleak to associate it with happiness. That’s when Hope comes into the picture.
When ‘reality’ and what you would ‘hope’ for, are the same, I believe you have maximum happiness, but then when ‘reality’ is not enough, add the hope factor to it, to increase the happiness quotient.
But hope can only be added with limitations, you cannot hope for foolish dreams to come true without working towards it, for then it will be very momentary and when the bubble breaks, happiness will drop so low, even a good reality won’t be able to help.
Socrates, Hippocrates and Cheddar Cheese 
may argue that happiness would mean getting rid of all worldly desires and expectations (thus eliminating hope and accepting reality as it is), but they are the ones who may have attained perfection in life unlike most of us.
In my world and to go where I want to go, hope is surely an ingredient very important along with accepting reality to be Happy.
*Inspired by two of the most amazing ideas presented in the movies-
Pursuit of Happyness & Shawshank Redemption- “for hope my friend is a wonderful thing”
I have been going places.
I have travelled more miles in the past 15 days than I have in all my life put together. From UP to Mumbai, and then the United States of America via Kuwait and Germany. But the one landing at Washington DC was not enough, I guess, I travelled the next day to Bowling Green Ohio…
I am a college student once more! The fourth year of undergrad degree, is what I am studying now, at Bowling Green State University.
Teacher to student transition, the new life and for real being ‘away’ from home. A new chapter.
And hence, Welcome!
So long I have been writing about the different events and my observations while I ran ZAF’s Model English School in a village in India.
This post is my story, feelings and comments for ZAF. I came to the village exactly one year and ten days ago to teach… Went on to become the Principal and I am glad I can say, started the process for a few children to hope and live their lives differently…better.
I sit in the principal’s office for the last time as I write this. I handed over my duties yesterday, and the sweets I will distribute before I travel back home lie on the table in front of me.
I wish now more than ever to be able to be in two places at the same time…I want to travel further for I have much to learn, and yet want to see the sapling I planted here grow and bloom. And for this I promise I will come back here again and again.
Looking back I understand what ‘Greatness being thrust’ on me was. This challenge and the work I took up was far greater than I could have thought of, as also the reward. I have people to thank, my people.
Jeej and Sam- without your talks I wouldn’t have done my best- I cannot thank you enough… I have all your conversations saved, they are my personal motivation boosters
Hb and Bhabs- Your challenges made me more what I am than all the love could ever have.
PM- Those every week everyday(?) phone calls…while I spoke and laughed so hard it hurt…I prepared to get back to work all anew.
My family back home…The ‘isspert’ comments you all took, the ‘gaon wali teacher” that you guys loved, loves you more now
And last but not the least- all you people who taught and said I couldn’t. The biggest thank you, this was my first time taking up such a big challenge and it feels awesome! just to be on the winning side!
There is a looong list and little time. I have to go meet the village elders for whom I was the “bumbai ki bahini”. My stay here is over, not the connection.
I sign off as I chew on a toffee…
It indeed is sweet. I will come back.
When so much is waiting to happen and yet you can’t tell if it will, for real,
When so much is there to say and yet words fall short for what you feel.
Dreams, desires, reality bytes and more…
This past two weeks have gone by in a jiffy…Visited my favorite people ) Planned, unplanned and then some more about the second year of ZAF. Sent a few more than necessary mails…
It all feels so real and yet a part of a dream.
I travel tomorrow to UP. I look forward to the 28 hour journey by train this time, I need some sleep without the guilt that I could be doing something besides! More from there.
-S
P.S- Saw Inception this week, I liked what I understood and I’d like to watch it again for what I dint’.
I was home yesterday, so were my other family members who generally are at work on a Monday. As also my neighbors, friends, their friends…well…actually a greater part of my countrymen were.
Rickshaws and taxis were off roads, private vehicles too. To tell you, the only people on the roads yesterday were the ones who were asking everyone else to stay home. The opposition ‘partieses’(they are so many, the usual plural will definitely fall short) of my country united together(“on the very first thing in history”) and called for a nation wide strike.
The strike was to serve as a wake up call to the ruling party and to bring to their notice the immense trouble the “aam junta”-common man (I bet this will be the next hindi word to go into the oxford dictionary) is facing due to the increasing price rise.
You will find all about it on the internet or simply if you ask any Indian you meet (There won’t be any trouble in finding either) But, what strikes me the most about the ‘strike’ is that I don’t even know if I wanted to support it… Everyone else who stayed home is not very sure they liked the idea of the strike either. But stayed home we all did. So ultimately, support the strike- we all did.
And this is the latest…the forced herd mentality- the new meaning of our ‘democracy’. The government increased the price- everyone is paying the new rate, you do too. The opposition calls for a strike- you “better” stay off roads to make their mission for the “aam junta” a success.
Why does it feel that democracy is now slowly becoming the freedom of a few to make the rest go “moo” with the herd?!
Imagine you have to step out of your house… and it is pouring outside. You either take an umbrella along or don’t carry one at all. And suppose you do carry one, and it turns upside down…
Until a certain age in life, all of us are in our cozy, comfortable homes. Here, I mean that you take what you get, served on a platter. People dictate terms and you accept them and enjoy. Home will be home, schools will be chosen- you get to choose the subjects, picnics will be planned- you get the permission… The time spent at home though, may differ from person to person. Some leave home earlier than usual, some later, but leave home, almost all of us do.
And when the time comes for us to leave home, some carry the umbrella some don’t. An umbrella of hope and expectation. And in our journey along the road, leading to our goals it pours cats and dogs. Your umbrella turns and you face the same wind and rain, just like a person who doesn’t carry one at all.
If you carried one- the umbrella can be turned back down again, at least you had protection while it lasted and what if it just did not have to turn at all!
If you didn’t- Without the umbrella you were still on your way to the goal, saves time and embarrassment, brave the rain like an adventure!
Imagine you have to step out of your house… and it is pouring outside. You either take an umbrella along or don’t carry one at all. And suppose you do carry one, and it turns upside down…
Which one would rather be your case, if one of them had to be?
