Generation Gap

Every time I meet my granny (mom’s mom) she always has one thing to complain about for sure my clothes! Personally I find nothing wrong with my clothes, but then she has these small issues with my clothes why do I wear skinny jeans? How do I manage such tight jeans? Why do I wear short skirts and frocks? And I end up showing her the weirdest clothes (trust me they are not weird) I have and I enjoy the expression on her face. Then she shoots a question at mom “how do you allow her to wear such clothes and go out?” I still remember her expression when she saw the top I wore for my fresher’s seriously there was nothing wrong with it but she found it weird. Well is this what we call generation gap? Or is it just that we live in an era which is quite alien to her. In her times definitely girls were just into the traditional Indian wear saris. She is not used to seeing girls getting dressed up in the way they do now. I don’t take her comments seriously but I enjoy them and whenever I get a chance I love to flaunt and tease her. But I could have concluded that that she is conservative narrow minded and blah blah..but no she is just not used to it. My mom did not grow up wearing the type of clothes that I wear and then suddenly when my granny sees her granddaughter in skinny jeans and tees or maybe shorts she is not comfortable with this change. She finds it strange when mom allows me to wear short dresses and go to a friend’s party. The change that my granny could not accept my mom could. She gave me the freedom to wear the type of clothes I want but then subjected to many restrictions I must say. These restrictions were imposed on me just to protect me I know but I could not accept that easily. A Capri and a funky message t shirt is what I find to be cool and just the perfect thing for me!!A kurta and jeans is what my mom finds to be descent and just the perfect fit for me!! Whenever we go shopping most of the time we end up getting nothing for me and whenever we do buy it is after a strenuous search for almost 2 or 3 hours trying to find a combination of cool+descent outfit :O and finally when we lose patience one of us compromises.

Few days back I was having a chat with a friend regarding these new changes and the generation gap. It started when she said that her younger brothers are into dating right from standard 8th and are always into late night talks. The first thing I asked her was they are in standard 8th and already have a personal cell phone? I remember in are times both of us were given personal cell phones when we left school. We were 16 then. And now kids get cell phones in class 8th. She was completely against this idea of a standard 8th kid using a cell phone and indulging into late night talks. But then can we blame the kids??Is it their fault?ofcourse not!! We have been through the same stage the only difference is that the mistakes which we committed when we were 16 they are committing it when they are just 13. And at such a point of time you can’t even stop them. They will make mistakes and learn from them. That is the beauty of teenage. She told me that even standard 7 8 students go pubbing and have perhaps tasted every damn drink. At this point I was not sure whether I should be shocked or sad about the fact that I am 21 and have no real idea about pubbing. I have never been to a ‘real pub.’ Well it’s true that I and my friend were sitting at a pub only discussing all this but then it was in the afternoon there was no dj! forget the dj we did not even have music not a single person out there and we were just munching potato wedges and chit chatting. If this is what you call a real pub and pubbing then yes I have been to a pub. My friend was not able to accept all this. She was not against it but she kept saying one thing ‘there is an age for everything; this is just not the right time.’ This sentence just reminded me of my parents they used to say this to me every other day a few years back. I could not help smiling. I was not allowed to have a facebook account till I turned 16 but now even a 9 year old has a facebook account. At that point of time even I could never understand why my parents restricted me from all this but now I can clearly see the reason. All of a sudden she told me ‘Anks I am really scared!!Things that I did after I turned 18 my younger brothers are repeating the same when they are just 13! I wonder 20 years from now what will be my children doing? They will be having a personal cell phone right from standard 3, they will start dating from kindergarten itself. My daughter might end up wearing a bikini and walk casually to college?:O Shit!! What will I do? I mean off course I won’t let all this happen. I won’t be giving a cell phone to my kids till they are done with their high school. I won’t let my daughter wear any such crap but then things are changing so fast..Who knows what will happen...” I just stared at her with a blank expression. Pretty obvious whatever she was saying did not make any sense to me. I have never ever thought about my kids sorry I meant would be kids :P she just now told me the unpredictable future of her would be kids.

Back home I wondered if whatever she said was actually going to happen. But who cares what will happen 20 years from now. She said we would not let our kids use a cell phone till they are done with their high school. But will that be possible 20 years from now? What if all the moms in this world don’t think in similar ways? How will I be able to stop my 8 year old kid to have a cell phone when all his/her classmates have one? How would he or she feel at that time? What would they think of their parents? Will they be able to understand why we avoid or restrict them from doing things that might seem pretty cool to them but not to us? It would just end up like he or she becomes an arrogant little shit and I become a terrible old fashioned conservative mom. A friend once told me “I can’t understand why the elders always criticise our generation? What exactly is wrong with us? And before criticizing they should once think that they are actually criticizing their upbringing.” So does that mean the way we shape them that is exactly how they become? But practically is that possible? I don’t believe it. I remember I read this somewhere written by George Orwell “Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.” No matter how much we try to make them the person we want them to be, at the end they become themselves. Maybe they will benefit more from the lessons that they learn from their mistakes and blunders. We should just let them fly after being sure that they have learnt the proper way to use their wings. But how badly I wish our parents thought the same :P

Seriously at times I wonder why I am so different from everybody. Why is it that my thinking process my way of seeing things are so damn different from my parents? If I am trying to put myself in their shoes and understand their point of view why can’t they do the same? I am not saying they are wrong but rather than terming me as the one who is immature and stupid can’t they for a few minutes see life from my eyes? Maybe the term called generation gap can be bridged if we and the generation before and after us try to see and understand things by walking in each other’s shoes. A thing that might have seemed absurd in one generation might become wisdom in another. I don’t know if the changes that we are about to notice in the next generation are for the better or worse whatever they are we are supposed to accept it and move on.

It ends...

This was supposed to be posted on 23rd April, but the moment I logged in my cell phone beeped “sir calling”....The four minutes conversation was enough to make me realise that there was just a week to my exams but I did make it a point that this post is going to be a part of my blog as they say that this is supposed to be a big day in everybody’s life so I should definitely be sharing this..
Five years of college life ends today. As I walked out of the exam hall it was a weird feeling realising the fact that it was the last day I sat in this classroom. Walking through the corridors I experienced a blend of emotions...5years are over..Really??Off course when I had joined this college I was 16 now 21.I spent 5 years of my life in this college and never realised it. Just then I happened to come to the science block I could clearly get the flashbacks the wonderful slideshows of standard 11th I badly missed them .The sprity canteen, the world’s craziest bunch of people as friends, the one year of living life to the fullest. I did not realise that I had actually stopped walking I was standing there watching something invisible. And then these three years of I don’t know what is happening type of feeling...The moment I stepped out of the college building I could not help looking back at the commerce block. I could clearly remember the day I had shifted to this block, switched to commerce, the day I made a new friend who in these three years has become one of my best friends. Three years have passed and it seems like yesterday when I was struggling at home to let me opt for commerce. Three years have passed in just one wink of an eye. Unbelievable!!I could hear people rejoicing the last day of college. My eyes had become heavy. I turned back once again just smiled and told myself “this is life.”
Back home I just had a small conversation with my parents about the last day in college. Dad told me it’s a different feeling an important phase of your life ends, college life ends..but then you people won’t feel or understand this as you literally never had any college life, friends, activities or any attachment towards college. How true!!I never realised when this important phase of my life started and ended...I could not even get that proud happy feeling of being an unofficial graduate. I had fresher’s party farewell party everything but never had a college life in these three years. I kept thinking has anything changed within me??around me??My life??yes so much has changed or maybe everything has changed and I could not even realise when. Should I be feeling happy that my college life is over??Or should i be feeling sad??I don’t know ..I just know that it is over ..

RaNdOm CrAzY

To be frank I have nothing much to write now. Its 2.50am in the morning but I am not at all sleepy. True, I have spent many sleepless nights before but today it is totally different I am just on a path to self discovery and self realisation. I am writing it just to remind you that I am alive. It has been ages I have not been writing though I have been trying since months but never found anything worth posting here. The ones I found sharing here I could not maybe because I was too lazy to type :P and at times just lost what I wrote and where I wrote. My usual habit of scribbling down things on the last page of any notebook I get and later on forget where I wrote. And then finding it after ages and don’t feel like posting it. At times I felt is it good enough to tell everyone what I am feeling how things are in my life??That was another reason why I had stopped blogging but then I can’t deny the fact that I tried like hell to get something to share with you I had so many things in my mind( even Google would not get them) but failed to express when I tried to put them into words. I just became clueless. There was something I wrote which I badly wanted to post here it was dedicated to a few people in my life but my laziness did not let me do that. Apart from that its true i did not get much time to write before but since December I have literally been doing nothing but still could not write anything. Reason??Even I don’t know!!! So here I am writing something just to say I am alive ear phones plugged on listening to ganesh hegde’s jaa rahe ho agar after ages...anyways why on earth am I giving so many excuses for not writing??Was anybody really checking out my blog updates??Was anybody actually wondering what happened to me why I stopped writing??Are people really interested in my life well I have an answer to this question some people are always interested in other peoples life :D I have started loving those people it is good to know people are more jobless than me. gawd!!What am I really writing??Nothing actually I am not sleepy and i just wanted to write something so I am doing that. Soo many irrelevant things ok back to some relevant things in my life..Well my friends say I am having some vampire traits in me, true i have started seeing n feeling vampires around me, I behave like one, I am in love with a vampire as well called Edward Cullen. He makes me smile he makes me dream he makes me wish for a guy who would love me that way..Apart from that life has been good as well as bad..My mom says am not a perfect girl even i agree with her. I am a human being how can I be perfect? True I lack a true good qualities of a so called good girl woman or whatever I am careless I am crazy lazy weird and more over half vampire i can only use a microwave to cook food sorry not food but Maggie but Maggie is food only naa??I cannot keep my room clean my clothes are always messed up so is my study table but I swear I prefer staying away from all girlish things apart from shopping: D now that is a proof that yes there lies a real girl in every imperfect girl :P but I swear I am not drunk now don’t know what made me write all this..but before I get confused mad sad whatever..I need a good night sleep :D hope you had a crazy time reading this..:P and yeah am alive :D

:S

Time of joyful beginnings,snowfalls,daffodils seemed to have bid farewell to my life those days. There were just long sleepless nights, endless hours of crying, with only one friend by my side that is my teddy bear. I lived in the land of bye bye sun. Daily I woke up to find a new trouble in my life it did not matter whether I welcomed it or kicked it off it,it just crept in through the closed door of my room don’t know how and why. I would find myself sitting on my bed the whole night and just go on crying for hours. Months passed by and I found myself completely plunged into depression. And then I realized I was so damn changed, every time I looked at my reflection I found a complete different person staring at me. My throat choked with words unuttered, my mind and heart had become constant aching things. A constant feeling of gloom, loneliness had engulfed me. There were times I would just sit and hear the tick tock of the watch and wait for time to pass by, my mind would be completely blank then and suddenly I would realize that I would be crying since when I never used to have any idea. This continued for months or maybe years. Its not that I did not try to get out of this I really tried my best but it never happened. For months I had switched off my cell and thrown it somewhere just did not want to talk to anyone. I wanted to be left all alone. It was then that I wrote my first my poem. Just got a piece of paper and thought about myself and those were the words that came out.It was then that I realised how sad I was.Depression was a monster that had grown larger and my desire to live had become fainter.There were times all I could think about was finding ways to end up my life, I just wanted to hurt myself(physically).Hurting myself at times gave me a kind of pleasure.At times I thought I was suffering from split personality.How badly I needed help. How much confused I was. It seemed as if my life had come to an almost dead end. Whatever it was I just wanted to get out of it. I could no longer sit and cry in despair. I used to think does anyone feel as lonely and sad as I do? Somewhere inside me I was actually dying.. I was scared of myself. I would just sit quietly for hours imagining my death. I tried running away from myself. At times I could not feel anything, for a few seconds I could not make out what was happening to me, I just wanted to end my life. And then suddenly I would realize what I was actually thinking of doing then I would just go on crying “somebody help me.” I was not able to concentrate on anything. I thought I actually needed some psychiatrist(infact till now at times I feel it):P Then I started talking to myself,I thought just about one person and that was me. I asked myself what I actually wanted to do?what do I love?what made me happy?what kind of life did I want to live?where would I end up if I continue like this?It took hours but finally I got the answers. And then somehow I fought back, I started getting a control over my thoughts, my emotions and my life. I just wanted to be happy. I was dying to be happy. But I just did not feel like doing anything. All I used to do was sit and cry. Still I did try my best to get over all this. I won’t say I was 100% successful still I was 50% successful. And that 50% means a lot. But there have been many changes in me, previously I used to be a great chatterbox now I rarely open my mouth. Ask the people who used to be a victim to my nonstop chattering.Now I just don’t understand what to talk to whom to talk. But the best way to keep your depression away is just to keep yourself busy. I tried doing that it worked, and I still try to do that. But there is no point running after happiness. You can never find long lasting happiness; it seems it does not exist. All you can have is a moment of happiness, a moment of joy and fun, that is what makes life worth living. If you truly want to be happy trust me nobody can stop you once you have a control over your life.
I thought over 100 times before posting this depression story, to be frank I really did not want to post it. But then I have seen people who have gone through the same trauma like me. This one is entirely for them. Doctors and pills might be of help but trust me self help is the best. If I could why can’t the others??

...........

At times in life we face such situations whose consequences we are not aware of.Still we are bound to take some decisions no matter where they lead us.Its not that easy to decide something on which your whole future depends.These situations leave you completely befuddled.You know you can decide something take a step which you want to,but then there is a question ‘are you that matured to take such a step?’ specially when the world around you is just compelling you to take just the opposite step.You discuss this with your friends(the ones whom you listen to,the ones who have the ability to help you get out of this) but its also of no use.At the end of the day you are again more confused and your friends can only say ‘never seen a more confused person than you.’ And if you happen to take your own decision like I did you really have to face a hell lot of hurdles.I had decided to pursue commerce after completion of my 12th boards. I was expected to go for engineering just like all my friends and every other person out here.I did appear for engineering entrances (being a science student I was forced to do so) without any preparation so I just could not get through damn good colleges as expected by everyone who knew me in school.Though I knew I wont get through any good colleges.Things like this also happened to me in my entrance exams I wrote the wrong roll number got my paper rejected,trust me I did not do that intentionally,it just happened. Neways I was still forced by my family and of course relatives(trust me at times I hate this word called relatives,they really mess up a lot)to study engineering.I could get through some good colleges but I was least interested in engineering.Somehow after lots of melodramas I was able to convince my parents to let me study commerce.But then in this place I mean where I live they have this misconception that commerce is opted by those who lag behind in studies, who never study,who can never build a descent prestigious career with a good pay package.CRAP!!!If you are a good student then you are expected to study medical or engineering.As if doctors and engineers rule this world..and rest every person who is not an engineer or doctor has no brains,is pea headed,not a good student and if he is studying commerce then he is for sure a spoilt brat.And commerce is just a piece of cake any tom dick harry can score a handful of marks in it.Its a complete pigshit!!I really felt like showing them DU cut offs(DU-my childhood dream:( ) but I could not because I could not get through DU.Well I did not even apply for DU the cut off being as high as 97%:( how do you expect I could??If commerce is this bad and has no future then why is DU cut off so high??Really these people out here need to grow up. Throughout school we are judged by the marks we score,you score good marks you are good you don’t you are bad.And then finally when it is time for college you are given just two options medical or engineering.This is the trend that people out here normally follow. As if there is no other field left,no scope in any other profession,and a large scarcity of engineers n doctors. So once you have completed 12th close your eyes and place yourself in any engineering or medical college(if you are lucky then in a college of your choice else wherever your parents say).We are not even given an option to think about our future what we actually want to do,what we actually want to study.Everything is just predetermined you are either born to be a doctor else an engineer. Why can’t the child himself be given this option of deciding his own future?? Then there are a few cases I have seen who ask others “hey I will be doing engineering please suggest me some branch which does not have maths or physics” Then why in the first place you want to study such a thing? “its just mom n dad told me to do I have never thought much about it.” This is what happens in maximum cases with people out here. Yea it happens only in this city or maybe this state. I remember those conversations at family gatherings or any damn place where you have to meet your relatives. Each one of them made me feel as if I am committing some big blunder. And then I happened to meet a few nerds of my college somewhere, I remember the look they gave me when I told them I am doing bcom and simultaneously pursuing CA. Bcom??:-O ohh okay..CA??what is that some computer application course???With a look of contempt they would ask me such questions. As if I had come over from Mars and telling them some alien bedtime story.And yea when I told someone that am appearing for CPT(CA’s foundation exams)this was the response “you are worried about your compartmental exams?Dont worry you can manage it.You are not that bad” (around 4 or 5 told me this,atleast they would have bothered to ask what is CPT rather than responding in this way):-O And then I must tell you about this reaction I got from a school friend when he came to know that I am studying commerce “Gal you spoilt your career you were such a good student,how could you take such a step?”
Despite all this I was stubborn about my decision. I believe there is ample scope in every field but it is possible only by the person who seeks them. You actually need a lot of courage and determination to go against the current. I chose a complete different life by taking up commerce.

The best conversation I ever had...

The number you have dialled is busy,please stay on line or try after sometime.This is what I heard evertime I tried to call.Maybe I had tried for about three hours at a stretch.Hats off to my patience!!And finally I lost my patience and gave up the idea of trying again.I knew I had to handle it all by myself..You must be wondering to whom I was trying to call up so damn desperately..Hmmm let me tell you ‘He’ is not a person like you or me.Infact I don’t know how He looks,wat he eats,nothing.But I am sure about one thing He never wastes time over orkut and facebook like you or me.Sorry I have been perhaps blabbering all hogwash stuffs now back to the topic.Anyways I thought of giving just a last try might get lucky!And finally I heard a sweet voice on the other side.

I: Hello..Is this H E A V E N??
The sweet voice:Yes
I: May I talk to God??Is He free now?
The sweet voice: No He is actually busy on another call,a girl from earth has called up.God is busy solving her problems.
I: huh..okay!
And the phone was disconnected.I could not help wondering what made God talk to her and not to me.I also belong to the same disgusting place having so many “varieties”of problems.Yet He did not talk to me.I did not know when I fell asleep with flooded eyes.
I found myself exploring untrodden paths full of hurdles.Everthing had become cold,the night air wet on my lips.At I distance I saw a light it was not a flashing one but a flickering one.Suddenly all that mattered to me was the light the hurdles did not matter anymore.I went nearer and nearer to it don’t know how and why.The nearer I went the more better I felt.I found myself standing infront of a narrow beam of light.You would not believe but the light spoke to me.Yes!!I heard a clear,soothing and grave voice.I had never heard a more clear voice before.He did not have to introduce himself because I knew who He was.He was the one whom I had been trying to call the whole evening.

I: Hello God
GOD: Hello my child
I: So finally I got to talk to you..why this late?I cried for the whole evening,banged my head but you were not there when I needed you.
GOD: what makes you feel that I was not there when you needed me?I can provide you with a boat or cannoe to cross a river but I cannot row it for you.You have to learn to paddle it all by yourself.That is the way it has to be.

I: If you were there then why was it so painful?why do I suffer?
GOD: What you call pain and suffering is a part and parcel of life.You have to learn to accept whatever happens.
I: Does that mean I should just let the grass grow under my feet?
GOD: Remember you are born to live,do not live because you are born!Dont go the way life takes you,take life the way you go.But you should have the guts to face the consequences and accept whatever happens.You are wholly responsible for whatever happens,and what you become.Learn to be a fighter not a loser.And first you be the change that you want to see in the world around you..

I: But why have I been sent to earth?Is there any purpose?If yes,then what is mine?
GOD: Yes,every person on earth has his own purpose.It is upto you to find out your own priorities and purpose in life.Ask yourself you will definitely get the answer.

I: Why is it that you did not receive my call today?You solved that other girl’s problem and why not mine?
GOD: My dear little girl.You are my favourite angel right??That is what you call yourself ‘God’s favourite angel’ isnt it?I knew that my strongest favourite angel can handle her problems,besides I am always watching over you.There are people around who were in greater need at that time,their problems were much more bigger.Your problems seem bigger to you only because they are your own.Remember life is all about learning to dance in the rain rather than waiting for the storm to pass by.

I: Am I really your favourite angel?I have a wish, will you fulfill it?
GOD: What is it my dear?
I: I want to become a real angel,the one with those white wings,white dress,lovely crown and the magical wand.
GOD: Why is it that you want to become such an angel?you are an angel now..
I: I want to be a free bird not a caged one.I want to fly.I want to have those wings.I want to have that magical wand so that when you are busy solving somebody’s problem I can help out some other girl like me whose call will be on waiting.
GOD: Hmmm I cannot grant you that wish now.But I promise to keep that for some other day maybe on the Judgement day if I feel that you actually deserve it.

I: But why is it that my problems seem to be a penelope’s web?
GOD: Life is not just about the rising sun but the setting sun as well.You cannot be unfair to life just by loving its brighter side and ignoring the darker ones.Everything happens for a reason.Someday you will also understand it.
I: when will that day come?
GOD: Few things you will gradually learn and understand in your lifetime and the rest you will understand in heaven.Heaven is the place to understand life on earth,why things happened to you.

I: But what about the things that we lose and sacrifice?Do we get them back in heaven?
GOD: sacrificing and losing are two different terms.Sacrifice is a part of life.It is supposed to be.It is not something to regret or try to get back.Sacrificing means just passing on something precious to someone else.And about losing something is life well for everything you have lost,you have gained something else,and for everything you gain you lose something else.Its about your outlook towards life,you can either rejoice or regret it.

I: Why is it that in the worst of my times I don’t have anyone to stand by me??I feel damn lonely at such times,nobody understands me.How will I plough a lonely furrow?
GOD: At times all a human being needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.The most difficult phase in life is not when nobody understands you but its when you don’t understand yourself.The world will never stop for your grief when your heart is broken.Life will always move on and you have to move on with it.Its better for you stop depending much on others.You are not the only person who has experienced such emotions and feelings.There is a phase in everybody’s life when they have to appear tests.Its all about how you face it,your attitude to wards your problems.Learn to rise even in your most difficult time,just like a phoenix from its ashes.You are wholly responsible for what you become.I am getting late now anything more you want to ask??

I: Thank you for this wonderful lesson.I don’t have anymore questions.
GOD: Remember one thing be a good human being...

The light vanished and I was back in my room.I just have to handle my own life and what about God??He handles so many lives!!truely His job is definitely more complex and tough.

The last page of my notebook

While undergoing a self introspection,many things flow across my mind.A few things I have become addicted to in these years which some find weird and some funny yet interesting.One such habits of mine (infact many must have had this)is scribbling down everything on the last pages of my notebook.

Whenever any thought comes to my mind,
I write it on the last page of my notebook.

Whenever I find the lectures boring,
I play games,whether its bingo or housie,
draw pictures,whether cartoons or designing my own fashion wardrobe,
plan my hangouts or any idiotic crap with friends,
Just everything on the last page of my notebook.

When I am hurt or heartbroken,
the last page of my notebook patiently absorbs my tears.

When I feel like falling for him,
I share my feelings with the last page of my notebook.

When I am angry with someone and want to flood my anger,
I use the last page of my notebook.

When I am really wrong and need to confess,
I confess to the last page of my notebook.

When I want to remember a few things told by my teacher,
I discuss it with the last page of my notebook.

When I solve any puzzles riddles or mathematical calculations,
the last page of my notebook helps me with it.

Whenever I plan to study,
the last page of my notebook reminds me my study schedule.

Whenever I wish upon the stars,
I share it with the last page of my notebook.

Between calculus questions,test dates,English quotes,
so many baffled calculations,so much of funny hogwash conversations,
the last page of my notebook reveals a few personal lessons taught by life,
a few dark secrets,a few funny incidents,a few sleepless nights,
a few childish pranks,a few dreams,a few nightmares and lots more….

Unknowingly and silently perhaps it has become my dearest buddy
Listens to me unquestioningly.
Absorbs my tears without grumbling.
Understands me silently.
Strongly believes in my dreams,
no matter how silly they may seem.
The last page of my notebook
accepts me the way I am....