Born Cursed....

When I need someone I find none. Its not that I don't have anybody just that I am born cursed.

Kanpur to Calicut

It was summer 2008. Summer means holidays and holidays mean traveling families. On such a summer I was called to IIT Kanpur to attend an interview. The interview went off well and i was free to go by the noon. Only that I didn't know how to reach my home town of Calicut.

Kanpur is an industrial city on the banks of the Ganges in the middle of Uttar Pradesh. It boasts of an airport where all the planes fly to Delhi for 40 times the price of a train ticket. People traveling to Kerala are left at the mercy of the Gorakpur express. With holidaying at its peak its mercy was well into a long waiting list.

All direct routes were now closed. My attempt to find seat on a train from major cities and junctions around Kanpur failed miserably. The Indian Railways was out of the equation. I switched to plan B : Get to somewhere in south India and catch a bus home. The affordable alternative was to catch a plane from Delhi to Hydrabad and then travel further south by bus. Checked the net and found that there are more than a dozen planes flying to Hydrabad from Delhi and the ticket cost was about Rs.2800. I had no idea when I will reach Delhi airport so decided against booking a ticket.

Now I focused on the task at hand; getting to the Delhi airport. It was a friday evening and the temperature was about 43 degree. I was far outside my comfort zone facing the heat and was dehydrated and sleepless. All trains to Delhi was full and traveling by general compartment would take a hefty toll on me. The search led to UPSRTC website. I found a bus that would take me to Delhi.

Drank lot of water and got out of IITK embarking on an unknown journey. Stopped in front of an ATM to financially prepare for the flight on saturday. Wow it was fabulous, two tries to guess the PIN has failed. But the third time I was confident. My confidence got my card locked. Yes I was in Kanpur without a ticket, planning to come to Calicut with hardly Rs.1000 in my pocket.

This is the part I get lucky. A friend accompanying me offered to help. The ATM belonging to his bank was far away and there was a fair chance that we would miss our respective modes of transport. We started walking to catch an auto. And there it was in front of us a mobile ATM. We developed strategy to cover the whole screen from public view with our bodies and bags. This was done to cover his bank balance and therefore from probable future kidnappings maybe.I had asked him for only Rs.3000 but he forcefully handed me Rs.4000. This gesture was to be a life saver

Finally I took a UPSRTC bus to Delhi and a distance trains covered in 6 hours was covered in just 12 hours. I didn't care; I was in Delhi. The capital of India with enormous connectivity to all parts of the nation. My confidence grew. But I failed to realize that I was underestimating the population of India and their enormous buying power these days.

Hungry and dehydrated I stepped out of the bus. Last meal I had was the lunch from Kanpur. Whatever be it I will rush to the airport I thought. So with information from reliable sources that the airport was only 10 km from where I was, I set out to bargain with the autowallas. The bargain was purely one sided. I was awe struck by calls of 250's and 300's. I was too tired to bargain. I got into an auto who asked for Rs.200. After the journey I realized that it was OK to pay that much for a journey that took about an hour and may be about 30 km.

The airport had two terminals. Terminal A where Indian Airlines and Kingfisher flights took off and terminal B from where all other flights took off. I made a percentage call for terminal B. Approached the Jet lite counter and they said they were full. The spice flight didn't leave until the afternoon. The Air India counter said the Indian Airlines flight would cost Rs.5000. There was no food around. My only chance to get food was to get inside the terminal which was impossible without a ticket. Now I noticed that the battery level on my mobile was deep into the reds. With my mobile dead I didn't stand a chance to contact anyone.

I decided to wait till noon and try to find a hotel around. Things couldn't be worser than this so I decided to take it cool. I planned to roam around and find the cheapest flight. I found a bus that took me to Terminal A. Inquired at the Kingfisher terminal. The ticket was for Rs.5000. I said it was 3000 yesterday. Prompt came the reply "That was yesterday". Now I had run out of options. It felt great; I really felt free.

It was around 9.00 AM in the morning. To check for other flights I approached the Indian airlines counter. They said they had only a flight at 9.45 and that would cost me Rs.3600. I said I didn't get you. He said it would cost me Rs.3600. I paid and grabbed the ticket. Finally I got in the terminal. Freed my bladder, washed my face, had a coffee and sandwich. Went through the security checks and finally I was on a plane to Hydrabad.

My flight landed in Hydrabad. It was the newly inaugurated airport. The work was still going on in many parts of the airport. But the airport looked good; something of international standards. The new airport was about 30 Km from the city. I took a bus to the city. My friend picked me up in the city. Took a bath and had food. I was too tired to leave on saturday evening. So decided to book tickets to Mysore on sunday evening. The holiday buzz and software professionals made sure I was not going to get a seat even in a bus. Some how got hold of a ticket on a bus running on monday evening.

The weekend in Hydrabad was great. I had to leave the joy behind for the bus monday evening. 10km or so from Hydrabad the driver realizes that the headlights were not working. After lots of stops and dramas I was in Mysore on tuesday morning. Had breakfast and a great cofee and decided to take a bus at 1.30 P.M. I had time till then. So I decided to explore the palace city of Mysore. I roamed around and enjoyed it enormously but I was late. Had lots of water and little food. Was in the bus station by 3.30 PM. Couple of bus passed by full of passengers. I decided to play it safe and booked a ticket on the 5.45 bus to Cochin and got in. The bus crawled its way to Calicut. It stopped in an arrogant hotel to have dinner. I satisfied my hunger with a couple of Good days and coke.

The journey took me 7 hrs. I took an auto home. It took me a couple of more days to get over the hangover. It was fun I really enjoyed my journey. Thanks to my friends I was home in 4 days and 10 hours. Thinking back it was the best trip I ever had

In Case Of Emergency : ICE

It's fairly simple. The concept is about turning your mobile into your life saver. Your phone contains 100's of contacts but only you know which ones are the dear and near ones. Whom to contact during an emergency?

For this reason we must have one or more telephone numbers stored under the name ICE

In case of emergency hospital staff or anyone would be able to quicly contact your kin, by simply dialing the number stored under ICE

For more than one contact simply enter ICE1. ICE2 etc.

Please make sure you do it now. IMMEDIATELY.

The Power of Words

One man calls another a fool, and at this the other stands up and clenches his fists and lands a blow on his nose. Look at the power of words! There is a women weeping and miserable; another women comes along and speaks to her a few gentle words, the doubled up frame of the weeping women becomes straightened at once, her sorrow is gone and she already begins to smile. Think of the power of words! If simple words can pull a few tricks up its sleeve what about the words from the divine scriptures? So believe in the power of words and use it wisely.

The Candle and Candela

You must have all heard of the usual metaphor “I burn like the wick of a candle”. Simply put, I am sacrificing my life and burning and dying; suffering a lot. By doing so I provide light or happiness to others. I am sacrificing my life for others.

Everyone's life is a candle. As in 'Dream Theatres' song 'Pull me under' lyrics “Every breath takes me one less to my last”. So we are all burning our time and dying with every moment from the moment we are born. But that does not mean we are born to die, does it? Now can someone tell me from your life experience that you had only sorrows whole life. You cant have a life without sorrows. Take sorrows as the price you have to pay to keep yourself happy.

Now lets talk about old dreams hunting. Yes old dreams do hunt, no denying that. But doesn't it diminish? Time is the best healer. Every sorrow fades away and yes new ones take their place. So we will always find means to keep our mind in grief. So sorrow will always be there. There will always be something bothering you. But its you who decide how much time you have to give to it. I feel its cowardice to keep feeding your mind with old griefs.

The world is full of opportunities. When you switch your brain to sad thoughts you miss a lot of knocks. For people who still cant keep away their mountain like sorrows there is a very simple technique. I picked it from 'The Zahir' by 'Paulo Coelho'. It really worked for me and few of my friends. It asks you to keep repeating your sorrows in all its details with others. Why do you fear to share? We are all humans and everyone can understand a co-being. When population is so great you can't sit on the excuse that you can't find a person to share. Talk to as many as you can.

Now lets get to the sacrifice part. Whom are you sacrificing for? The world, the society, parents. The whole world to some degree deep beneath is an ophthalmologist. Ha ophthalmologist : “I specialist” or simply egoistic. No one is worth your sacrifice. Even if you sacrifice do keep in mind that no one will come to share your suffering. The person you sacrificed for is least interested. Later he/she will only blame you for not adjusting.

Don't try to become the silent ever suffering loyal 'Hassan' of 'Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner'. Trust yourself and believe that it's you who make the society. Let the bright kites fly high and into the breeze.

Ones sacrifices are means to escape from responsibility, so when things go wrong you always have someone to point finger at. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; . . . who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat”__ Theodore Roosevelt. Keep your thoughts simple and live. The world does not appreciate a silent sufferer, it always appreciate a man who has struggled to victory even if he does not win.

We have to see the world through our eyes not through the eye of the world. We have to believe in ourself and trust the supreme being who has created us so perfectly. So if you believe in him how can you think he went wrong? For those who don't believe in the supreme being don't you believe sorrows and happiness are of our own making.

So still burning like a candle? And still speaking of sacrifices. Be sure whom you are trying to please. You may not become who you want to be but you always have the choice to die trying.

When all doors are shut...

When all doors are shut break the wall and make your way. But I am far too lazy. I like to sit in this dark enclosure and brood. Its a nice place. You are totally alone; not even your shadow bothers to follow.

An Ordeal Into Self

When I look back what I miss most are the weekend trips. Lots of trekking and lots of sight seeing in the motherly comforts of nature. The memories of the last and the best trek to Raigad fort is still fresh. Just the thoughts of it reckons smiles.

Life should really be like a adventurous trek, purely driven by instincts. There are no big decisions only quick ones. No time to sit and think over across a table and shuttle between 'may be' and 'may be not'. Just follow your split second instincts. That too in the arms of nature you are pretty much relaxed.

Instincts are Gods means to communicate because they lack the human thoughts and fear. Fear of loosing, fear of pleasing and all sorts of fears. Instincts are pure and raw. It's what your true heart says is right.

What we all forget in our lives is to live the true heart. Like a child. We adults look into lots of factors before acting. We live for these factors not for ourselves.

At this juncture when most of my friends are entering or are in the threshold of entering married life, I would suggest you to live life for yourself. Don't live to please your better half. It will be too late when you realize that you have lost yourself. Greater pain will be inflicted when your spouse leaves you too; for when you loose yourself you turn into an object devoid of value much like gold to king Midas.

Bring out the adventurer in you and try to live life for yourself than to go around trying to live convincing the society.