July, The Third

On a humid sunny morning following a broken night's sleep, eyes opening to 6 on the clock is not quite pleasant a feeling. Not, until the mobile screen flashes today's date: July, 3rd.

Fond beautiful remembrances this day holds, which flash one after another in
rapid succession inculcating glee and nostalgia.

The last day of the summer holidays it used to be, at my alma-mater. Kinda weird it was to always start on a 3rd July instead of the usual ritual of 1st. But, the content of your vacations lasting while that of others' don't, is a sweet feeling. ;-)

The dusks of July 2nd always held an element of mysterious eagerness. Was it the pride of writing the Class V on the labels by a barely-two-month-back Class IV student; or was it the thrill of getting to meet a new set of teachers and sitting in the new classrooms? All was blissful.

Come evenings, and Mummy would get to covering the notebooks with the brown papers, and make us do the stapling and label-sticking. Labels were the ones we used to choose for ourselves, when Dad used to take us for pre-school-shopping on his Bajaj scooter in the lanes of the congested city area. I usually selected some cartoons, once I got barbies...and younger brother always got cars, if not pokemons. =) With the labels in place, we used to get Dad's pens. They meant quite much when WE wrote only with pencils till Vth Stdd. And, such an achievement it was, when Dad purchased me my first Ink Pen. I even got a Chinese Pen along with it for good performance in the fourth standard. B-)

Google Images

So...

Quitely, in a disciplined fasion, we arranged ourselves in the room with our covered-book-sets with us. Writing the labels was the only one task where our jubiliation was expressed in silence and not dis-order. Mummy used to supervise each one of us, and kept us reminding to mention the 'higher' class and not the one we had studied the last year on the labels. The best of handwriting was to be inked, which once done with were the reason of another uproar, for we ran around the house, behind Mummy Daddy Granpa Granma...and asked them to judge and name one winner for the best scribbles.

Neat stack of books, notebooks, new HB Nataraj pencils, new pencil box, with the scented bright-colored apple-mango-teddy shaped rubbers, or the Non-dust erasers which took the former's place as we grew. The new tiffin boxes, the water-bottles, and the new bags!!

Sometimes, merely having a new thing in life injects the 'enthusiasm' shot which even the drip of already-having-things-that-interest-you can't infuse.

Nights of 2nd July were dreamy. And early. Eyes wide open imagined the coming day, which came too early, too bright being too energetic as well.
The bathroom area bustled, shouts of 'Towel' 'Comb' 'Paste' echoed. The pressed uniforms that had been distanced and ignored the previous months, tempted; the polished black-shoes attracted. Bubbling bus trip to school, meeting old friends, prayer time in the lawns...'Where the mind is without fear, and the head is held high!'

The introductions that happened in every period on Day 1 and the first recess of the academic year...truly, words were taken in, more than the food. New classmates were befriended, seats were alloted. Every activity had higher energy levels than the previous one.

Those days of innocence, sincerity, zeal and selfless intent... July 3rd makes me remember all.

=)

On an analytical note, Kiddy me usually lives more in me than the grown up me.

Enough a reason to jive...Isn't it?? ;-)

D.K.Bose

Had this title been slated for an April post, the readers would have had lost motivation to read further, for it would have implied a personality sketch. It could still have gathered some readership, had the sketch been a hilarious, skewed, cartoonic character; but any-which-way,it would've been way less than today, when an instant connect exists between Mr. D K Bose and us.

The song's been a rage- rage amongst the youth and a reason for rage amongst the elders.

How we define the limits to creativity and how we define the insults to societal morality is a long ranging endless debate.
With the wide spectrum of development that exists in a society like ours, it is impossible that a unanimous consensus can be reached.

Majority will have no reactions, for they lack opinions on-the-whole; Some will applaud and some will, however, be offended.

The solution of finding a middle path is easy but accepting it is difficult.

Having said that, I still believe that a clear delineation must exist between freedom in creative expression and breech to social mannerisms.
 

For me, the embarrassment of having a skimpily clad Rakhi Sawant bootiliciously dancing in the trailors and the embarrassment of having a lipstick-eaten Dolly Bindra conversing in beeps, is equal. And so is the embarrassment of having a just-into-college younger brother scolding me for singing a song 'Bhaag Bhaag DK Bose' in tune.

Not having been exposed to such swear words, for me it was just another lip-addictive musical number;until the L'il Brother interrupted.

Language abuse is one thing which is the most derogatory and absolutely unacceptable a social norm. (for me and many others!)

The fact that it exists in the practical world doesn't logically substantiate its use in the mainstream entertainment industry which has a wide distribution and mass following.

Atleast, I would not want my kids or even my younger cousins to have such an early exposure to the greys of the world. There's a time for everything and I believe it should very well be adhered to.

All I can optimize is that the kids of tomorrow do find a conducive environment for their innocence to bubble; and not be prematurely bursted by the needles of this-alleged-creatively-free-world.

All seriousness apart, my slang vocabulary; one which was conceived in the 4th-5th Semester and has found no usage till today; had a new addition thanks to Delhi Belly (although I still don't know what does that 'DK Bose' swear word means.)


PS: I don't intend to know its meaning, so kindly DO NOT care to share on the comments page! I would be obliged. =)

A new lease to life, and a new breeze to breathe.

Two months it has been since I left my abode of decades, my home-town, and set foot in this hush-a-hush, 'metro' city,the capital- Delhi.

Had today day been the start of January 2011, you would have been reading a post with lots of Yippies, Yays and Hurrays; for I intended to leave the usual pathway of pursuing medicine as a specialization, and foray into the field of research by taking up a degree course in it, and juggle it with a part-time clinical junior residency. And, Delhi was the dream's wonderland.

But, today is not January, but a June. Mere difference of 6 months in the time frame, but a giant leap in the action frame...a leap across a wrapped, locked closet.

In the action frame, Now: Pre-PG!

The societal Ohhhs-Awwws did get the better of my parents' patience and my ego. They were offended and I was furious.

Taking the step next; leaving all the plans to bin, and shifting to Delhi with a completely different purpose, I now prepare for the Post Graduation Entrance Examination.
Yes, the one path which I did not even turn my heads to look at, in the past; the one path which all my peers run and tumble and succeed on; the one path which is like the storyline of a Bollywood flick- boring, usual and predictable.
Period.

These 60 days have not been exactly the way either my Mum-Dad or I would have wanted them to be.
Yes, somewhere I realize I am not strong to have dropped my dreams for something as volatile as prestige; for I know, one moment, people ridicule you for taking a useless path, and the other they quote you, when success is achieved.

Yes, somewhere I know I am not doing justice by forcing myself to try and do something where my heart doesn't lie.

Yes, somewhere I understand I am not only cheating my parents but also myself.

But, as they say: Your wish is my command!
Such is the motto of my life: To fulfill all my parents' wishes, all which I can, in my capacity.

Even beside this no-so-pleasant turn of events, I do have a new lease to life.

It is the presence of the breeze that I breathe here. It is the fragrance derived from the completeness of my soul.
It is the innocence and the naughtiness of this beautiful phase.

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God ought to be thanked and simultaneously be bribed for blessing me with even more grit and courage and determination to fulfill their dreams, of which I have taken charge; and the stamina to fulfill mine too, later in the course of time.