01101100 01101001 01100110 01100101

Surrounded by blinking lights 

We lost our way 

Endless scrolling endless typing 

We live a life of infinite screening 

Images fed directly to our brains 

In a digital coma we are suspended 

Chasing the perfect photo status 

We live with digits around us 

The thing that you hold is just plastic 

The faces that you see are pixels 

The way you talk is electric 

A minor blimp in a series endless 

You ignore your flesh 

You ignore your blood 

You live in a world 

You cannot touch 

To break free is impossible 

To be free even more so

To open your eyes is a nightmare 

Your battery may be full 

Your life, zero.

(Title is binary for "life")

Life, Music

Music has always been a big part of my life. I can’t play any instrument that well. But usually, my air guitar is followed by awesome air drum solos.

Ever had the feeling that whenever a song starts, a voice inside your head goes “Yes. This is it.” You don’t have to skip ahead to see whether you like it or not. You just know you will. And a bond is formed between you and the song. It will always be one of your special songs. You can’t ever find it in yourself to delete it; even when you’re running low on memory. It always survives transitions between mobiles, and iPods. Even when you lost your whole backup, you find it stored safely in some other folder.

The song comes with a memory. It can be the song you listened to when you dreamed about her, and later listened to together, her head on your shoulder. It may have helped you get over him -assuring you there’s someone much better- it may have been the one you and friend listened to and danced along.

It doesn’t matter. Whenever you listen to it, everything changes. You may be in the Dombivli - CST  train at 9 in the morning, your nose pressed against a hairy armpit, and when the songs comes on, the song makes it better.

Sometimes, a song is forgotten. Lost between torrents of new ones. Then once, by chance, you are awake at 2 am in the morning, just about to go to sleep, and you find it in your playlist. And you play it. And it still feels the same. It doesn’t matter that it’s late. You’re tired and have to get up in the next morning. Assignments are pending. You have a lot of unfinished work. All forgotten.  The song moves you. It takes you to that special place in your universe. The lyrics, the music. Everything is just perfect. As if it was made for you.

Your dad comes out to see why you haven’t slept yet. He sees you with your eyes closed. Earphones plugged in. drumming away. Lost. Happy. He just turns of the lights and goes back. As he comes back, your mother is awake. He smiles and holds her hand. She smiles back. He’s thinking of a song. Their song. And she knows it too. She can see it in his eyes.  They used to dance to it on their honeymoon. And even after all these years. Even though everything has changed so much. The song remains the same. The romance, the joy, still the same. Because families, friends may drift apart, money can come and go. Studies may erode away your heart. But the magic of music is eternal.

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.

Two antonyms of  each other, happiness and sadness. These two emotions influence the everyday life of a person. “Oh, my friend got married!” is happy and “Oh! My friend got married!” is sad. We experience both of these emotions in life but what matters is, for how long. To be honest it’s a matter of choice to be happy…

Case I : A person earns RS 100,000,000,000 per year , has a bungalow, his own sports club and a Bugatti Royale but is unhappy because of the responsibilities he has to take, his daughter never graduated high school, his son is gay and got divorced thrice. On the contrary, a middle class person ears RS 1,000,000 per month, has 3 BHK flat, pays for his gym every month and has an Audi is happy because he is satisfied with what he has. Satisfaction is important for being happy.

Case II : A person whose father is the greatest actor of all time, has a well-known last name, married Miss Universe is unhappy because after 15 years in the film industry never got the break he wanted. On the contrary, an orphan who lost his parents at the age of 10 , lives in church, has 3 best friends, who love each other and help each other grow in life is happy because he has accepted the fact and moved on to prove himself. Accepting the fact and moving on is important for being happy.

Case III : A person who is healthy, has a loving wife, 2 kids who love him is unhappy because he thinks his fellow friend has a better life than him, a better body, a more beautiful wife and the kids are more intelligent than his. On the contrary, a person who has got over the news that he is suffering from cancer and going to die, leaves the women he loves because he didn’t want to hurt her is happy because he accepted what he is. Accepting what you are is important for being happy.

Most people suffer from merely existing versus really living, embrace new experiences. Go beyond your comfort zone and be who you are. Be free from fear and other emotions that are sabotaging you. Let go the past and the bad memories, sadness only breeds more sadness.

There are over 6 billion people on this earth. There are infinite relationships to be had. Everyone has something to give. Everyone offers something worth learning. There is infinite love to give and to offer. You can choose to be lonely but you are never alone.

If you can read this you are fortunate. If you can walk, talk, see, smell, taste or feel or all this things you are fortunate.

Remember happiness is a state not a circumstance. Happiness is a state of being, not merely a moment of pleasure or joy. By committing to happiness you accept there will be times of challenge and suffering but by staying true to who you are, you will not just survive but thrive. Happiness is not just the bird floating serenely on the water and happiness is not eliminated by the rocks that temporarily disturb the water, happiness is the water itself, always being exactly what it is.

“You have to leave the city of your comfort and go in the wilderness of your intuition. What you will discover will be wonderfull, what you will discover is yourself.”

“Be such a man and live such a life, that if every man was such as you and every life, a life like yours, this earth would be god’s paradise.”

SO, YOU DECIDE...

                                                                                                                                       -$UN

COLLEGE LIFE

 
Smashing the snooze button as hard as possible, barely swallowing breakfast, after a quick shower, you put on your old faded jeans, a cool T-shirt, spray some deodorant and leave for college, missing that one train that made you barely reach the college in time. At the parking near the gate, you give yourself a final look and set your hair in the rear view mirror of someone’s bike. Then you enter your class, If it’s more than 15mins late, it’s over you can’t go to the class even when you know you can still make it, somewhere in your heart you want to just sit in the canteen and goof around and by any chance if you make it you select the last bench behind a huge and tall guy and patiently wait only to sign the attendance sheet.

Almost every student keeps looking at the professor but with their minds somewhere in the canteen or at the door, waiting for “that special person” to come in. Well, there are few party poopers in the class “The first benchers”, they look at exams as a war and try every fair and unfair means to stand out of the crowd, they want their not so beautiful faces in the college magazine with a tag line “topper of the year” , they make proper notes of every topic taught in class and there are few “brilliant students” who takes the Xerox of that notes few days before the exam and says “It’s worth a shot, huh?”. Joking and gossiping from behind your huge chemistry book, playing Tic-Tac-Toe on the last page of the only book you have brought to the class, writing your name in different fonts just to look which one looks cooler or throwing a paper ball at you friend and look away, as if you are the most innocent bastard on the face of the earth are the ways usually used to kill time. By the end of the lecture, everyone is restless and keeps glancing at their watches, slamming books and dropping bags. The professor mercilessly continues teaching, in this situation the worst thing you can hear is professor saying “I am taking the next lecture I want to complete this topic”. Then the most awaited sound comes, the sound of bell ringing, you know you can’t sit the next lecture, because you made a promise to certain some one that you would meet, so you tell your friend to look for the next teacher while you plan escaping via back door.

You can’t expect getting a table in canteen in recess. So if you want to rest your ass on a sit the only way is bunking the previous lecture and grab a sit. Once you get the table you are not leaving it till 5.45 in the evening. When you are sitting on the table with friends you are going nowhere you are like
“kya boor ho raha hai yaar”
“bohat bhook lagihai, kuch khaneko la!”
But no son of a bi*** is ready to get up and walk to the staff and place the order, unless you are too desperate.

During monsoon you see the most beautiful phase of college. You don’t care getting wet in the rains as you don’t have any important thing as such in your bag. That puddle of water in front of the college which few hate can be a matter of enjoyment for others. It’s fun sipping a nice cup of coffee giving a warm feeling to your throat in cold mornings. Exchanging that secret smiles across the tables, telling your friend about your latest crush, you get that teasing from your friends when your crush passes by, the thrill of bunking, the fun of partying and watching movies, That awaked moment when you face the person you were talking about, The feeling when first time we spoke or were introduced to the one we secretly admired and loved, walking by her side while she has no clue what you feel about her, the joy that comes when you receive that “yes” from that one person you has always loved, Taking a romantic rainy walk with someone special on the Marine drive, all that pranks that we pull off; are just too good to miss in life. That taste of tears when you lose your friend, remembering the time when we used to be best friends and now act like total strangers makes your heart cry, the pain that we feel when we are dumped or ditched can rush all the emotions through our veins, to the heart out of nowhere.

The rose day, sari and tie day, chocolate day, college festival is the most awaited days. All “dress to kill”, guys look all hot shots and girls look, well, just HOT and don’t forget the friendship day and the Valentine’s Day. College is the place where most of us make friends of life time.

 The trickiest part of college is we have to pull off our studies, especially when we have so much to distract us, but most of us manage it pretty well and come out as a success. One has to keep a fine balance between enjoyment and what we are here in college. At least make an effort to stand-up somewhere close to your parent’s expectations.

-Amod