The 'cloth' man

As I read about Anshu Gupta being awarded the Magsaysay award, a memory from a few years ago flashed clearly before me. This was in my sophomore year. I used to be a part of the Entrepreneurship Cell then, and we did an annual festival that we called 'E-summit' where we invited inspiring entrepreneurs to come and talk to the students at IIT Roorkee in the hope of inspiring some entrepreneurs of our own. Anshu Gupta was one of our invited speakers. He didn't really speak about entrepreneurship. Actually, he didn't speak about entrepreneurship at all.  However, his talk was without doubt one of the most inspiring talks I have ever heard. He spoke with real examples. He gave a chilling example of how in the Delhi winters, the people who work at cemeteries often sleep clutching dead bodies as it gives warmth. That story shook me then and thinking of it shakes me now. He spoke about the culture of giving and the importance of giving something that the beneficiaries actually need. He spoke about how people are always eager to give what 'they don't need' rather than giving what the less privileged might actually need. He spoke from his heart and he touched a cord. There was something he believed needed to change and he was passionate about it. What great spirit and what a great man. I feel privileged I had the opportunity to hear him. 

My take-aways from Farhan Live

Okay, I have to agree, this is not what people typically take away from concerts, so please, bear with me. 

1.       I hate concerts. There, I said it. I know it’s an absolutely blasphemous thing to say, especially considering I am a 22 year old college student. But I truly hate concerts. I hate the crowd, I hate having sweaty people all around me. I hate the blaring speakers which cause your ears to stop functioning for the next 4 hours. I hate waiting in the neverending queue to get in, and then standing on the 0.5 sq feet of space one gets for two hours till the concert actually begins. And since the music, which is supposed to make it all worth it and probably even does to some, somehow gets drowned below all of those annoying things  and when I recall the 3-4 concerts I’ve attended all I remember is the crowd, the humidity and my aching legs, I think it’s time I accept I hate concerts.

2.       Apologies are not redundant. I have often felt that once the act is done, you can’t take it back and so no matter how profuse or genuine the apology is, it’s useless. But that’s not how we humans work. Even though the words don’t actually make a tangible difference, they make us feel better. The consideration of the other person somehow ameliorates the irritation. So whether it is Farhan Akhtar apologizing for starting the show late or the girl standing behind you who just elbowed you saying she was sorry, they are necessary and they make a difference. 

Happiness is ephemeral and meant to be so. This realization is mostly due to the lines of this beautiful song - Chaahat ke do pal bhi mil paaye duniya mein yeh bhi kam hai kya. The idea of what exactly is happiness has always eluded me. I have never been able to decide how exactly you decide whether you’re happy but at some level always believed it had to be something lasting, with some quality of permanence attached to it. And hearing those lines, with this cool breeze blowing into my face for the fraction of a minute, it dawned on me that I had got it all wrong. Because for those thirty seconds, I was happy, in spite of the crowd around, the humidity, and the pain in my legs and I remember that moment. So it’s not as ephemeral as it seems after all. And this one's probably a tad too profound to be based on one line and a whiff of breeze, but such things just come to you, don't they? 

I just smiled

“IIT ka naam aap ke saath lag gaya uske baad toh accha package milega hi”, said the man sitting next to me. I just smiled in reply.

I was coming back to Roorkee on the jan shatabdi, the train that I have taken more times than any other. Sitting next to me, was this man from the army, posted in Roorkee. His son had just taken a drop after 12^th to prepare for JEE. Once he found out, I was a student at IIT Roorkee, he started talking and that is when the above comment came up. Rather innocent and apparent.

I didn’t know what he meant by “accha package”. I didn’t bother asking. Neither did I bother clarifying on the stark difference in the starry ideas outsiders often have about the placements at IIT and the humble reality. Too much trouble. It was easier to just smile.

And then we wonder where those starry ides come from. 

A morning captured

I love words, actually I love them more than most people would have liked me to, but anyway, even then there are some things that can only be experienced. An early morning walk is one of those.  I happened to surprise myself by actually dragging myself out of my cosy blanket today morning and going on the clicking spree that I had been meaning to go for the entire semester. And though I find myself perfectly incapable of expressing the charm that lies in an early morning stroll I thought I’d share a few pictures.