Accidental Writers.

(Loosely based on a true incident) Let me tell you about a boy. He is an orphan. Nobody is born an orphan. He wasn’t either. But I feel that he should have been. Shocked? Angry? Or feel like “how disgusting this writer is!”? I’d still say the same words. That boy was left by his parents on the doorsteps of an orphanage when he was around 10–11 years old. He was told to live in that orphanage forever and was given a goodbye kiss. 4 eyes must have filled with tears. And 2 innocent ones must be trying to grasp what’s happening. I don’t know if you can classify an 11-year boy as young or old, but I guess, he was just old enough. Too young to be left on his own. But old enough to know that he has been left. Too young to leave his own house forever, but perhaps old enough to know that he won’t see that roof again. Too young to leave those two hands, but perhaps old enough to know that he might not hold them again. One can only imagine the storm that small heart must have gon...

A night is the best to have some deep and meaningful conversations. A night gives you a serene and calm environment to explore the ocean of another person's mind without being disturbed by anyone and anything. All you can do is dive in that ocean and reach it's depth (and oxygen is not a necessity here).  I explored an ocean last night. Sitting on a chair in my hostel room, while looking at a friend and still not looking at her, all I was trying to do is to comprehend what she was speaking. Subject to my limited thinking capacity, I couldn't understand that deep conversation, though I tried my best to collect as many pearls as I could. "I had also thought that I will start my company, but I couldn't. Maybe I didn't have enough guts, or maybe I got a bit scared. But now, after working for in a corporate world and joining this institute, it seems like I have somehow lost my will to do it. Somehow, I have lost the appetite to do that." I don't ...

Okay, I get it. The title makes you nauseous. Have some patience and it’d make some sense. I’m sure something relatable could be found in this small effort of mine. So hua kuch yun tha…… I was beginning with my half-MBA (another story :p) and we were supposed to give a presentation on some topic in Marketing. It was all new and chaotic. We were being taught how corporates work( they failed I must say ) and for that purpose, we were working alone, in groups of 3 and 5 and doing yoga and what not. Anyway, the professor, the great professor who had already gained the notoriety of making you question your very useless existence was waiting for us to begin. The class was full. Eagerly waiting for the massacre to commence. For some reason, I was the one who was supposed to take the first bullet. I still do not remember why did I agree to do it. But nevertheless, I was ready to begin.  There was a pin drop silence. Everybody was waiting to for...

I am always known for less work and big talks. And today I am going to do that only. Today, I found something in my heart. I found a torch. A torch lit up by sparks generated because of the friction between my mind and heart, and as finally, my heart emerged victoriously, the torch was handed to it. And as I stepped out of darkness, and glanced at the horizon, I found someone waiting there for me. From a distance so far, I couldn’t clearly reckon that figure. But I was so curious that I couldn’t hold myself back. I started walking towards it. But after a short while, I found that there is a direct path leading to the horizon. All I could see were paths filled with obstacles and stymies. Thrones and fires. Mountains and precipices. All I could see was darkness. Afraid to step into the darkness again, I decided to stand and only gaze at that figure. I decided to give up. But then suddenly that figure disappeared from the horizon and appeared in front of me. It was wearing a s...

Why do we even care? Is it because we want to understand each other or indulge in the futile exercise of ‘talking’ ? Recently, I have started visiting a close friend of mine in Mumbai and we have been discussing everything from the state of relationships to Games of Thrones to why only successful people should dish out wisdom.  And since we were talking, I wondered why were we discussing all that, is it because we wanted to come to a conclusion or augment the conversation. My friend tells me that I am an optimist who believes in the good in people but, more often than not, get disappointed. I have never been more offended. I couldn't have been more surprised for I have always maintained my social awkwardness with utmost sincerity and lived like a pessimist. So, in order to understand why he was being rude to me, we started talking while taking a stroll on Marine Drive at 12:30 AM. It all started with our personal lives. We both are strong headed ...

Another old post. Another lesson learned :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 4-08-2015 I loved the internship at Visteon. But now it is causing me some pain in the back. Not because I had to sit for 9-10 hours in front of a PC, brainstorm and debug problems. I actually loved that. But because of this internship, I missed two weeks of my college and now I have to complete a lot of work within a couple of days. I have to complete two notebooks (oh yeah, I am that old-school boy who still makes a separate notebook for every subject and completes that notebook if he misses a lecture. And no need to make fun of me, there are a dozen more students like me in my class), have to complete 2 tutorials, one lab and a project as well. And before ramming this keyboard hard, I managed to complete a notebook. From a very messy notebook. I had borrowed ECD’s notebook from a friend of...

Dear young chubby kid, “It’s not your fault.” Yes, my dear friend, it’s not your fault. I know you failed to appear for IIT-JEE and couldn’t convert your dream colleges, but don’t worry. It’s not your fault, cause you did a great job after that terrible road accident, which had wasted more than half of your preparation time and nearly left you brain-dead. Stop cursing yourself and crying endlessly. You don’t know it now, but things are going to be completely all right. I know you are too obese. You are trying your best to lose your weight but aren’t observing any results. Stop hating yourself. Don’t worry, it’s not your fault, coz you are suffering from Thyroid (which you’ll come to know after a long period of time). Don't worry about your specs too. They are not going to obstruct your vision, they'll enhance it. You don’t know it now, but things are going to be completely all right. I know you think that you have a huge crush on that girl and she is giving you a hard ...

Date:  20-07-2015 This is again an old post. But I hope you will like it. I was lucky to get a PMT going to Upper. I was damn lucky. A day is never a problem at Visteon. I usually enter the office at 9, start working on my Megatron (my Ubuntu 14.04 virtual machine), and then spend my entire day in playing with some of the new frameworks, developing test cases, attending planning meeting and discussing interesting things with Saurabh sir (read as, “Having some fun”). But at the time of leaving, generally 7 pm, I start worrying about my tiring journey to home and pray to get an Upper bus. Well, Upper is a place where I stay (actually, near it) it is around 20-25 km’s away from Vallabhnagar, the place where I am doing my internship. And my only way to commute is by PMT, the most unpredictable city bus service. If I don’t get a bus to Upper, then I have to change at least 3 PMT’s to reach to my place. And then I have to walk for 10-15 minutes more. So as I said, I was luc...

It's a bit late to post this. This should have been the first post of this blog. Perhaps, the zeroth (being an Electronics engineer, I start everything from zero ;). Nevertheless, I am posting it today, just to make sure that I give 'that day' it actually deserves. 2015-07-19: The day of breaking traditions                           Generally, people start writing a diary from the first day of a year. I certainly don’t have a very good memory, but as per I remember, a year does not start from 19 th of July. It starts from 1 st of Jan. And today is not 1 st of Jan. But still, I am starting my diary from today. Strange, right? Maybe I shouldn’t start from today. Maybe today is not the right day. People don't start writing a diary from 19 th of July. 19 th of July is certainly for starting something like this. Something so important. But, is it impo...

Twisted time has brought me near another twist, where I feel that sand is slipping through my hands, and now I should write my will, and inherit you my belongings. Don't have much in store, but few memories sweet and sour, they are to be passed on, to be kept alive, so I pass them to you. I inherit you some questions raised, and few dreams chased, till the midway point, but then left alone as my feet started to bleed. I leave you some ignored choices and vague voices, failed to make an impact, failed to keep the pact, with the destiny, and the faded fortune. I also inherit you some broken promises, which I couldn't keep, cause I had to survive the crashing calamity, but the calculations I made, couldn't add happiness to my kitty. So, I, the mighty mind, inherit all these things to you, my counterpart, the small, fragile heart, as mind can't solve a few problems, and a heart is the only solution. You don't have any intelligence, and you use the weirdest of lo...

I came across the above question on Quora, and couldn't stop myself from answering it. I am reproducing that answer here: I would miss a simple thing which I always ignored,  the life. My little, precious life. Its been 22 years now, and I have done so many things with it. I played with it, twisted it, looked at it with stern eyes like it's my biggest nemesis, cursed it for being so tough on me, cried on it, tossed and turned it like a piece of paper, tried to burn it with my very own hands and almost gave it up by having a brief affair with its counterpart, the death. Just one thing is remaining, I didn't ' live'  it properly (and I bet, you also didn't). I failed to do so. In the darkness of big problems, I couldn't see emeralds and rubies of small joys. In the cries of pain and sorrow, I couldn't see smiles of happiness. I always missed small moments while running behind those big dreams. Yes, I failed to live my life like I should have. ...

I feel that I have wasted my life. Yes, I do. I couldn't get appear for IIT-JEE. I couldn't score well in MHT-CET. I couldn't get any top engineering college. And I didn't do any wonders in engineering as well (man, if only I could go back). I let go of several opportunities. I couldn't get any patent for several good projects. I couldn't convert great internship into a PPO. I couldn't start my own company (and I tried a lot for this, but failed every time). Couldn't even lose my weight (and that is so embarrassing). And this is not all. I failed to convert interviews of some of the really great companies. I failed to crack CAT 2015. Couldn't convert IIM A in 2016. And the list goes on and on and on...... I have a thousand failures and a million regrets. But, who hasn't? Thanks to those several B-school interviews, I got an opportunity to interact with the some of the brilliant students of this country. And got to know their stories. A...

A CBSE student scoring north of 99% reminded me of a couple of friends of mine. One boy and one girl. I know them for past several years. Both are immensely talented, creative and hard-working ones. Both are one of the most intelligent people I have ever met in my life. Both went to the same college, shared the same stream and also shared a class for a couple of years. But, their decision-making skills are not similar. Not at all. The girl, who had also scored north of 99 in her 10th standard, is a keen yet populist decision maker. If you go by the public opinion, then she has hardly made a wrong decision in her life. The boy, on the other hand, is more of an outlaw. He prefers to consult his conscience while taking his decisions and is known for taking anti-populist decisions in his life. If you go by the public opinion, then he has taken several wrong decisions in his life. Though I don't have any right to, I'll still compare both of them (coz, you know...