The Journey called MBA

25^th March 2010, A day when my academic student life came to a full stop,  although I would remain a student forever as I strongly believe in Steve jobs famous  statement, “ Stay Hungry stay foolish” and moreover the wise men have always said that Life is the greatest teacher J Yet my student life has come to an end in the sense there shall be no more of the students privileges like

No more bunking classes

No more partying whole night almost every day (especially semester 4)

No more sleeping the whole day, knowing that someone would have marked my attendance

No more carefree attitude

No more No accountability ... 

During the thirty four hours journey from Pune to Howrah , the past two years reflected in my mind like thoe flash back movies often seen in Bollywood. I was bound to notice the transition in me during the last two years . The tenure  of MBA has definitely transformed me into a much better person  professionally and personally.This blog is about those leanings . No don’t worry this is not about the academic learning one has but it’s about the other learning’s which are not to be found in books aka tacit knowledge :D

The best  part of these two years was the interaction with a varied mix of people , we had students  who were right out of college and also students who had up to four years of rich corporate experience.Students were from varied backgrounds ranging from psychology to engineering- medicine to fine arts. This fine blend of a varied background helped us understand  varied perspectives, it made us realized that each one us has a unique talent . We need to focus on each other’s talent and learn from them and absorb their rich experience and at the same time share the unique talent which we have.

I being a fresher was new to a lot of things one among them was working “efficiently “ in a team. During Engineering there were very few group assignments  hence I was not used to working in a group. Whereas during MBA most of the assignments  were to be done in a group, whose team members were selected by the professor. Such teams seldom had homogeneous members and as such one had to deal with issues like the ignorance of a fresher , the attitude of a experienced  among other things J It was truly very painful initially to work in sync with other team members. It is only at the end of these two years I realized that working in a team actually is more efficient resulting in achieving goals in a shorter period of time with high efficiency. A team can do a lot of things which one single professional cannot do ever, this is something which I took a lot of time to imbibe. Moreover  I am told that in organizations all projects are done in a team which always have people whose mind is completely out of sync with us.Thus this habit of working in new varied teams has prepared me be a efficient team member in future. Moreover I have had the best of memories  while working in such colorful groups and it is during such group activities I have found friends which made my stay @ SIMS full of fun .

In MBA we learned to prepare presentation at very short notice, in life we do not always get a lot of time to win an opportunity  and MBA has taught me to do any kind of assignment at short notice and at minimal given time. This was realized specially in the fourth semester when although we were given sufficient time to prepare but we always prepared  important presentations only a night before J - which led to this eureka moment. Initially I found it extremely difficult to make a presentation if I was not given all the relevant data but today I am confident that I can deliver an hour presentation based only on a few words of data, rest I have learned can be safely assumed :) 

Professional life is to be kept separate from personal life this was told to me during my  engineering days , but its actual importance has been learned only in the last two years. This lesson was learnt when I had to complete assignments in a team whose members I did not like personally yet I had to professionally acknowledge him/her and work in sync with that person.  This taught me that one needs to learn to work with team members whom we may  loath personally yet who is our professional  partner. This is one of the major learnings and now I am confident to work  with any kind of team members without having a grin on my face .

The last two years also has changed my thinking perspective. During my graduation days I used to look at any business/professional situation from an employee’s perspective but today given any such situation I think from the management’s perspective , I think about the benefit of the organization and how  the shareholders wealth can be maximized. The basic functionalities  of an organization as taught in  MBA, namely  Finance, Marketing and Human Resource are as important and applicable to our own life as they are to an organization 

Let me elucidate –

Finance –The basic concepts of Finance like cash management and asset liability match if applied to our own personal  finance would enable us to manage our own finances more efficiently. Concepts of Balance sheet, P & L account  and Cash flow analysis can be applied to our own life and would enable us to manage our finance in the most optimal way.

Marketing -  This is something which attracts and retains customers which are the blood line of any firm. Similarly if such marketing concepts are utilized by us it would enable us to attract and retain the figurative customers  of our life . For e.g. when we appear for an interview we need to know how to sell our personality and retain the job .  Similarly our reputation is similar to the brand of a product.  We need to know how to manage our reputation similar to managing the brand equity of a product or a firm.

Human Resource – This is to acquire and retain the right talent in an organization and ensure that its employees are satisfied.  Similarly we need  to identify the right people as good friends and we need to retain them forever. A poorly performed HR could result in having the wrong people in an organization leading to increased dissatisfaction among employees and would be detrimental to an organization  the same can be applied to personal life also .

Most importantly MBA has equipped me  to face the unexpected with a smile on my face. 

The last two years were the most fruitful time of my life till now and at the same time has given be memories which would bring a smile on my face always.....

Confession of a victim

Flat number E 43/1 , Dream Homes, Kolkata - The ambiance of the Flat spoke volumes about the owner , the floor of the drawing room was decorated with carefully chosen colorful tiles, those along with the vibrant sofa set oozed warmness , and the same reflected the vibrancy of the owner . The Flat had a huge Balcony which faced North, thus the entire house was always breezy, and this was the reason why Harsh had paid a whooping 75 lakhs for the flat , within 1 year of completing his MBA(Finance) from IIM(A)

The Door bell rang, Harsh looked at himself for a long time, The time had come, or has it not? the next few hours would stand a witness to a untold story or perhaps it would be just another evening with purva.
The bell rang again,Harsh rushed to open the door , Purva hugged him, and kissed him, they stood like one, for quite a while. Their relation dated back to the IIM days, a week back they got engaged to each other, it was a grand ceremony , a day which would be in the minds of all those who attended, and specially in the mind of the couple for time immemorial . There were snapshots of the grand day hung at drawing room. As the couple entered the drawing room, clanged to each other , both of them looked at the pics and kissed each other passionately and proceeded towards the balcony .
"what happened? harsh ! think something is disturbing you .. " Purva looked at Harsh, he looked really worried, his forehead had the lines which she last saw when he had proposed her , but today she could not find any reason for him to be upset .
She went and sat near him and put her head in his shoulder, " what happen , is there something you want to tell me.. ".
Harsh hugged her, " I love you a lot.. Do you think we should know everything about each others past..? " . Purva was not expecting such a question, she could not understand what was going on in his mind," why do you ask that harsh."
Harsh looked into her eyes, " I need to know the answer, please do not think I am doing anything that will hurt you, I am not, but " . "Harsh what's wrong ? I do not care about your past , All I know is that you love me and that is enough .."
Harsh, couldn't help but smile , he kissed her forehead, " I love you too. but I think I really need to tell you something , something .." .
A conglomeration of thoughts raced through his mind, his entire life flashed back in a couple of seconds, he had to tell her everything , he just had too, but he was not sure where to start from . This was one of the most precious moments for him, his love in his arms, he had all the time, he wanted, the weather was perfect, it was dusk, the sky had shades of red,birds were flying home, it was picture perfect. He took out his phone and clicked a photo of both them hugging each other sitting in the balcony . He was not sure of her reaction, and hence wanted to enjoy every moment prior to the second he told her his mistake.
Harsh got up and brought 2 beer cans, he took Purva's hand in his, " Sweetheart , I am going to tell you something, which is not pleasant , things which may make you angry, things which may make you hate me , but I really have to tell you else I would not be honest with you ." Purva was not sure what this meant, All this while she thought she knew him in and out, but what was this ? She was getting uncomfortable now, she picked up the bottle of beer had few sips , and sat sown on a chair in the balcony .
Harsh knew he had to start, he walked some distance away from her , turned his face the other side , "You know when i was a kid, both my parents used to work , and they had to ensure that I was safe alone at house , so they had hired a guy whose primary duty was to "keep me safe " , We used to live in Alipore then . I was the kinda kid who wanted to be pampered, and somehow ,my parents never did have the time to do so. This guy's name was Nikhil." All this while Purva was trying to understand each minutiae detail . "Purva ,He that Bastard abused me - in the pretext of showing affection , he used me as a object to fulfill his hidden desires" . Harsh paused, he was getting agitated, whenever in the past 20 years, he thought about that it infuriated him, he used to lose his peace of the mind , he recollected the countless nights he had spend crying.
Purva was dumbstruck , this was something she did not expect . She walked up to harsh, hugged him , "Sweetie you don't have to continue, You don't have to tell about your past , you just don't have to . It all over ." She could feel him getting restless, his breathing had increased , he had started perspiring .
Harsh stood still , looking at the open sky he said , " I didn't realize what he did to me, till i was in adolescent . I actually enjoyed those ghastly acts, All my childhood I kept thinking what Nikhil did to me was normal, and it happened to everyone else too. I hate myself for being ignorant. He was there in my mind long after we shifted from alipore - I used to crave for him. Now I realize that all I wanted was affection and care and I had only one source to get that- Nikhil. He ruined the innocence of my childhood". Harsh was having trouble continuing what he had started, he was stammering , he was shivering .. He freed himself from Purva's arms, and went towards the open space, He wanted to be free, he wanted to turn back time and erase those ghastly acts. He was cursing himself for allowing him to go through the pain of remembering everything, but he had to, he had to tell her everything, he had to tell her the impact of Nikhil on an innocent mind.
"Purva, Now I realize that when all the other kids were busy with cricket, I was left to crave for a hug, small bit of affection from anyone, and this came only in the form of Nikhil. For a long long time I adored Nikhil , I used to wait for him. When my parents put me in a boarding school 2 years after Nikhil came into my life , I used to actually miss him . ". Purva did not want to hear further, tears were coming out from her eyes , this was not how she had planned the evening. She went to the side where Harsh was there, and just stood by him . and said ," its OK Harsh , everything is over . I am there for you, you don't have to think about it , you really don't " .
Harsh ignored all that he heard, " The impact of Nikhil was such that , my entire childhood and adolescence was spend thinking about sex , I was exposed to it , without my fault a bit too early, and I found it so curious that , it was all that went in my mind. When I was 12, I though men are suppose to have sex with men , this thought occupied my mind long enough to push me into homosexuality." He sighed for what he had just said, He had though he would never tell it to anyone but purva was an exception . Purva had already lost her peace of mind after what he said about his childhood, but this was not what she though her to be husband would be , this was not her Fiance, She was not sure how she should react , she wanted to yell at him and hug him at same time .She drank the bear in one go , and was staring at Harsh, "then why did you propose me? why did you get engaged to me ? why I have nothing in my mind against sexual preferences ,its a personal choice, but why me? why did you have to make me feel special ?" .
Harsh knew this was coming, " Purva I really do love you, and please No I have not broken you trust , I really have not". Purva did not let him complete, the lady who till minutes back , was feeling sorry for him , now was angry at the same person, " Loyal - Do you know the meaning of it ? You had been sleeping around with other men and you call yourself loyal ."
Harsh took her in his arms , she resisted , he looked into her eyes , " whatever I told you , was before I met you, yes I did sleep around with men , but that was before I met you . I sway to god, ever since I met you at IIM, I have not betrayed your trust. I love you purva , I really do ." Purva freed herself , " How do I believe you , I mean , I am sorry about your childhood I really am , but that does not give you a license to sleep with men, for heaven's sake . How am I to know that you would be loyal and not get swayed by another man . ", she could not believe herself what she had just said , she was pacing in and out the balcony. " I am sorry harsh I really did not meant to be so rude. " She went inside the flat to the bedroom, harsh was not sure if he did the right thing . He had asked himself umpteen number of time before finally deciding to tell her everything . The evening had changed colors petty fast , it started with a romantic note, all was red then , soon after the mention of his childhood , it had shades of sympathy and love, and amidst these anger in his eyes , but now he was lost , everything seemed dark to him . The evening had transformed now to a dark night, even the lights were stitched off , he wanted it to be dark. He sat amidst all the dark moments of his life, he wandered what went wrong , was it his fault to seek affection when he was a child , or was it his fault that instead of his parents cuddling him , Nikhil played with his innocence , or perhaps his fault was that he gave in to his desires when in school, it seemed perfectly fine then but ,yes this could be his fault , but then why did he have to meet purva, He was living a great life- being happy and gay before she came. Purva had transformed his entire life, He had fallen in love with her , the moment he met her and from that moment he did not feel the urge to do anything else but love her . He was questioning all his actions , perhaps he shouldn't have told her everything , all was going fine after all, he need not have told her , but he though she loved him, and she should know everything , perhaps he was being too naive or maybe he was totally in love with her .He was not sure of what would happen next, he did not really plan her reaction. Suddenly his phone rang.It was a SMS, from Purva, " Harsh , I am not prepared for this, I still love you, and I know you love me too, but some doubts have been raised in my mind , and I need to seek answers for them before I decide about anything, I am going back to my apartment, please don't call me now .. "

Harsh, certainly did not expect this before, but as he sat there in darkness, he realized she was not wrong , she had every right to complain. A strange fear captured him , he was shivering , he questioned his sanity , his love , his very existence .
Purva was not sure of anything she was still distant from accepting what she had come to know . She was not sure of anything ,life seemed dark in front of her . Harsh realized he was not made for the happy things in life , he assured himself that he had to fight his entire life , just like he fought his sexuality when he fell in love with purva, but he was happy that he discovered his true self . he had realized years back that the divine happiness he experienced with purva was something he did not experience, any time else. He realized the damage Nikhil had done to him, he realized NIkhil was the reason he had been living a life of duality , a life into which he was forced into, a life which sadly he was beginning to enjoy , but when Purva came he realized he had been living a false life , and in no time he had transformed completely .
Harsh picked up his cell and typed , " Purva, I just wanted you to know that I have never betrayed you except for the fact that I did not tell you my past, but today I am telling you my past, and trust me I regret it completely, you are the best thing that happened to me, I know you did not except this in you wildest dreams, but that's how it is .. If you decide to come back I can assure of nothing else but love and in case you decide that you would not be able to live with me because of my past, I totally understand, and I would be happy for whatever you do ..." . He send it to her . He was sure that she was not coming back, after all why would anyone in their right senses want to marry a guy who had a homosexual past . He decided to spend some more time in the balcony looking at the stars, the stars reminded him of his childhood , in hostel, there were days when he used to go to terrace and sleep there, he missed his ma there, and at times he also missed nikhil. This flashback of his hostel days always made him melancholic . He got up and was simply walking to and fro the drawing room, he was not sure of what he should do now . If this was the case before he met purva, he would simply log on to social networking sites , find a local guy and go for a one night stand, but today was different, he did not want to do that anymore, he had decided that was not the real him .He decided to go back to the balcony , and win over his fear - the stars , just like he fought the other horrors .

Purva was lying on her bed unable to sleep for the past 5 hours, last four years flashed back in her mind like a short movie trailer,. She recollected how on more than one occasion he had displayed his love for her, in the most romantic way .He had supported her in all her decisions, she knew that she loved him, and that's what made her sad, she wanted to help him ,but was not sure if she still wanted to marry him . What if he still continues to live his dual life after they got married . The mobile rang ,it was a SMS, She wanted it to be from harsh, she wanted him to help her with the decision just like he helped her for the past many years .The SMS made her smile, but she was till confused, she did know what to do . She just had one thought in mind , Harsh.
It was 3 am, Purva went off to sleep , with a snap of Harsh in her hand, suddenly the phone rang ..
Purva picked up the phone ,
"Hi Purva Di, lipika here .."
"Hi Lipi how are you? What happen its 3 am .. is everything OK .." , Purva could sense something was wrong , Lipika was sobbing , her voice was heavy .
"Di, I am coming back to kolkata, I am catching the first flight out of Mumbai , I really cant take it anymore, not anymore.."
Purva, knew that Lipika was having a troubled marriage , but the exact reasons were not known to her , by the stress in lipika's voice she could sense something must have been terribly wrong.
"Lipi where exactly are you now ? and what happen??" . Lipika,"was having difficulty speaking ,"DI i am on my way to the airport, Amar is not how he used to be.. all has changed, he has changed .."
In the next half hour, Lipika narrated the horrifying things which she was subjected to . Lipika had got married to her sweetheart Amar a year back . The problem started soon after the marriage, He started beating her , and started having a series of extra marital affairs , and at times he used to bring his mistress home, and would disgrace lipika in front of everyone.

Purvi was already distressed with her own life , all she could say to Lipi, is " come back dear, I am there, we would teach him a lesson, you just be safe and come back ." The moment Purva she kept phone , she was left wandering what had gone wrong , lipika knew Amar for 5 years before they got married, the family seemed nice , he had a handsome job , what else could one verify. She soon came to the conclusion that at the end its all destiny . Before Lipika's marriage all seemed perfect, but now everything has turned sour, who is to be blamed, whose mistake was it?
She had no answer , but she soon realize that there are certain thing which humans cannot control ,and simply have to bear them. She wandered what if Harsh did not have the horrifying past, what if he had a normal childhood just like she had. She wandered, what was the probability if he was not what he was, that he would be loyal. was there any assurance then ? that he would not betray her in future ?
She realized in all the best of circumstances she had to go by her instincts and the love she had for him . It was 5 am, and she just realize how stupid it was for her to leave harsh alone in the depressing state he was in . She rushed out her flat with the same pace in which she had left Harsh's place .
She had a duplicate key, once inside she went straight to the bedroom , she did not find him there. She didn't search for him anywhere else , she knew him well enough to know that if at the odd hour of 5 am , he was not sleeping in the bedroom he must be in the balcony.
He had gone asleep there, with his body on the floor and torso resting on the chair. She saw his phone lying next to him, she picked it up, It had their picture . The one harsh took just before he broke the news, was selected as wallpaper , it looked all so beautiful, ironically moments after the beautiful picture was taken things had turned sour .
She looked at harsh, he had that amazing smile on his face which always enchanted her , she sat down on the floor beside him , and was admiring him , for what he had done, it definitely required courage to share the darkest corner of one's past.
Harsh opened his eyes soon , only to find Purva staring at him. He looked at those amazing pair of eyes, eyes which captivated him , eyes whose shine reinforced their love , eyes which he adored.
He realized that she had come back to him, she had not uttered a word, but he knew his love was back to him. A tear dropped from the corner of Purva's eyes, Harsh went close to her , kissed her , and then hugged her and said , " Thanks a lot , purva, I love you ."
All Purva could say was , "I love you too ".

The courage to continue

ShubbuLakshmi or Amma as she was known in her entire community had just dropped her son Arjun to the airport, he had got placed in a premier IT company and was flying to Delhi for his first Job. This was the day for which she had waited for decades .
The apartment was on the 25th Floor, she walked across the posh apartment, a sense of accomplishment graced her face , the balcony was her favorite place in the entire house, a place where the cool breeze touching her cheeks reminded her of Amar . As soon as she started feeling the breeze she used to close her eyes and felt independent and chained at the same time and the feeling made her feel complete - a feeling which she never had anywhere else .
............................................................................................................................

ShubbuLakshmi was born in Sonargachi a red light area in kolkata . Her childhood was spend amidst sex workers and their children . As a child she always wandered why her amma went to work at night but there was no one to answer her questions . Often she would find amma bruised after a night's job , but she was too scared to ask anyone what happened ? She wanted to go to school and much against the will of the community she started going to the government school . All went well till she turned 14 . One incident prevented her from going back to school and denied her an access to a Future in fact it changed the entire course of her life . The school was mere 2 kms away from her house. One day she was returning from school, as usual, but there was a difference - she was happy- her teacher had said that she could see a doctor in shubbu . She even bought Laddos for her amma. It was around 6 pm , suddenly she saw Ravi and Raju her school friends in the nearby Pan shop . She went towards them , she wanted to share her happiness with them. But the moment she went near them , she realized something was wrong , they were not the guys , she considered as friends , they were staring at her at places where she was not comfortable , their eyes reflected lust. She could not bear the strange look, and decided to walk back, but fate had planned it differently . The guys followed her and started touching her . Shubbu protested and started shouting for help. When the guys saw people coming , they started abusing shubbu started addressing her as a prostitute and started disgracing her amidst the crowd . Shubbu was shocked the people who had initially come to help her , now ridiculed her , they also now started looking at her with lust, she was too young to understand the impact the word "prostitute " had on people's mind . . She could not bear the ridicule anymore, she ran and did not stop till she reached the place which she called her home, the place where her amma used to work, the place where she had seen her amma bruised emotionally and physically, now she lay in the same place hurt.
This incident took everything away from her . Her amma was too scared to let her go to school again , and this marked the end of her happiness.
Shubbu now spent her time in daily chores and learning arts from people whom she called "mashi" (Aunty). She was Happy that she was learning something new , yet somewhere deep down she wanted to study . She had just turned 15 and "MEN" there had started showing interest in paying her for work which her amma did, her amma was not attracting enough clients to sustain the expenses and thus the problem started. One day a client did come to her ammu, and offered a whooping 6ooo INR , but ammu was not OK with the deal, and the other members were forcing her to go ahead, else they threaten that they would give shubbu away , these were the same people whom shubbu called mashi, and now the hunger of money had changed everything even their love for shubbu .All this happen when shubbu was fast asleep . When shubbu woke the next morning she found her ammu bleeding beside her , she had bruises all over her faces , the marks seemed like those of a knife, as if someone had deliberately scratched her face with knife , her arms were red , and her back had marks of belt , and she held a bunch of Indian rupees in her fist . Shubbu cried for help, few women came and started helping shubbu clean the bruises .
This incident continued over the next few months, till one morning amma was found dead .
Shubbu had lost everything , she was shattered and before she could recover from the loss , her maushi had started demanding that she should started working or leave the place. The love in her mashi's eyes had turned into greed for money . They knew that at the age of 17 she would attract a price of not less than 50,000 INR .
Shubbu could not sleep for the next few days , she had to find a way out , this was not what she had thought for herself . Soon the community was offered 50000 INR for Shubbu , now she was not even given the choice to run away, hence now she was kept in custody . Soon she had to succumb to the greed of her mashi's and was sold for a handsome amount She was taken away to a posh area - Ballygunj in kolkata , by her "owner", who used her as a domestic help in the day time and raped her at night, sometimes he brought along friends. who behaved more like animals then humans, She soon found her in the same bruised state as she had seen her amma .
There was still something which subbhu thought was bettar than sonargachi , at least there were no double standards , unlike her mashi's who displayed false affection these men had no affection at all. She had accepted her fate, and was waiting for the day where she too would die. But she soon realized that she was also the centre of attraction for the other male residents of the same colony , who offered her as much as 2000 INR for the job which her owner forced her to do every night .
Then she made a plan , a plan to escape from the torture , a plan to smile, a plan to dignity .
She spent the next 5 years , meeting those "lustful men" and earning at least 2000 INR , per person and at the end of five years she had 1 Lakh INR , and all this without her owner coming to know of it .She was 23 and one day realized that she was pregnant , her owner thrashed her that night on hearing this, and started making plans for abortion , but shubbu had other plans .
During these 5 years she also had made a friend , "neha" , she used to work in one of the resident's flat. Neha was from chennai and she had her family still living there . Though subbu's amma was from the state of tamil nadu , but she never heard anything from ammu as much as she heard from neha. She started understanding the meaning of culture , life, education .
The day after Shubbu got thrashed , she booked a ticket to chennai , and with the help of neha boarded her train to happiness.
The journey was a special one, she was free for the first time since 23 years. She looked around the sleeper class , people of all kinds were there,she was a bit scared as she was traveling for the first time, but it did not matter as she was happy, She kept the money in a bag and kept it close with her always . Life had taught her one thing that she could not trust anyone . She stood at the door of the train , and enjoyed the breeze , the breeze touching her cheeks, titillated her . Though she was alone , she felt the satisfaction of being independent. She knew that now she had to sustain her self , in chennai and had to find a way out .The best part of the journey was that no one knew that she was from Sonargachi, and that she traded lust. She had a great feeling of confidence. In chennai Neha's brother Amar came to receive her. she stayed with neha's family till she gave birth to Arjun .
In those 9 months she made a plan, she knew that the child will not bear hardships as she did , he/she would have a future which she did not have, most importantly he/she would have education . Amar helped her in making a plan , a plan to live. He helped her with the money, she had brought from kolkata. Something in Amar told Shubbu that she could trust him with not only money but with everything else. Neha had told her family that Shubbu was a widow. Hence she attracted a lot of pity and at the same time enough help to seek a road to salvation . She had begin liking amar, he was not like the other men who looked at her as a mean to satisfy their lust ,instead he used to look at her with eyes full of a admiration , the shine in his eyes reminded her of amma .
With help of Amar she had opened a small shop selling bedsheets which were beautifully embroidered by her ,an art which she had learnt when she dropped from school . She bought the materials required and started working on them during her pregnancy with the help of amar.
She had fallen in love with him . Amar saw a strange shine of confidence in her eyes and this is why he was attracted to her . He often used to hold her close and his breath used to make her cheeks red. This was the only moment when their bodies were close enough to feel each other .
Arjun had turned 3 and shubbu had expanded her business , she now had a grocery store in addition to her embroidery store , she rented her own one room row house . Till one day when they both went out to beach , the evening was pleasant, breeze blew shubbu hair in such a way that it touched Amar's Cheeks, who was enjoying the romantic environment . The sky looked heavenly, the environment was warmer than usual, and both of them were blushing, both their eyes had the shine of a newly wed couple. That day , Amar proposed her and said he wanted to marry her . Shubbu was happy ,She was at the zenith of happiness. the evening which was already romantic, made her blush, she realized the sky too was pink in color, there were couples all around them , birds were on their way home . but there was something which took away the romance from the environment , her past was something she had not told anyone, this made her uncomfortable .The romance in the air had started fading as she recalled her past, right from her school to ammu to her "owner", she told him everything but she also knew that he may not marry her after he heard the entire story, and she did not expect him to either. As she knew it is difficult for everyone to fight the society. Amar was deeply shocked and hurt to hear all these, the roses which he had brought for shubbu fell down from his hand . All these while Arjun was building castles from sand on the beach .Suddenly Amar walked towards Arjun picked him kissed his forehead and said "stay well ". He turned towards shubbu , his eyes were misty, he could not stay a word, he just picked up those roses and gave it to her .
Shubbu knew that he will not come back, she knew this was the last time she saw him. A sense of grief enclosed both of them
She enrolled herself into a school for adults, and accomplished her dream to get education, and she also ensured that Arjun got the best of education.
She never felt for anyone like she felt for Amar, She always felt the vacuum created after Amar left , but she made her life so busy that she never felt the need to look for him . She soon created a chain of embroidery stores. As she started getting grey hair, she felt the need to help thouasands of subbulakhsmi in the country. She realized that the best way to create awareness was by making her story public. This was not going to be easy , as she now lived in a posh areas in chennai , the society knew her as a business women and not as a girl from Sonargachi . Most importantly she had to tell Arjun everything .
Arjun had just turned 20 and was in his second year of Computer Science & Engineering . He had come home for new year . It was around 6 pm , the sun was about to set. An apartment at the 25th floor guranteed an amazing veiw of the sunset, both of them sat in the balcony. Subbha had to gather a lot of courage to tell him , she had a debate with herself , since 2 week prior to his arrival, she was scared that like Amar he may also desert her, but she soon realize that she had to tell him, as if he comes to know of it from some one else he would be utterly devasted and their relation could turn out to be worst than she expected .
Arjun did not expect this kind a story of her ma , he was not devasted but angry, his eyes were getting red , as she was telling her story . Shubbu was scared , her eyes were moist, tear drops were coming out from the corner of her eyes . She could not complete, when Arjun stood up and left the flat .
This was something for which she was not prepared , she knew he would take time to accept this piece of hard truth ,but she thought he would also appreciate her courage and her desire to live . She sat their in the balcony for the entire night, looking at the empty dark sky, she had nothing left now , she felt empty. Staring at the dark sky she remembered her amma , She remembered the last few weeks when she was alive, flashes of her bruises came to her mind ,she remembered the 6000 INR her amma earned for all the blood she lost. She wanted to find her amidst the clouds and hug her , she wanted to cry, she wanted to to hold someone , just anyone, but alas there she was on a posh apartment, without anyone to share her pain with ,she felt lost for the first time since she came to chennai .
She had fallen asleep in the chair , suddenly she felt someone hugging her, she opened her eyes to find Arjun sobbing. She kissed his forehead. His eyes were red and it looked he did not sleep the entire night, " Ma , I love you ma , you always have been my guru , but today i not only look at you as a Teacher but i look at you as a god, you have done so much for me ma, If you did not decide to run to Chennai , I would have been living a completely different life , Thank you ma,." . Shubbu could not control her emotions either , " beta I though I lost you , just like I Lost Amar , I felt so lonely , so left out , so deprived ." Arjun," Ma I will never Leave you, never.." . Soon She also took his permission to go public with her story , and his response was more than positive , he helped her with writing her autobiography , and also ensured that the books marketing was done in an effective manner . His efforts bore fruits soon and Subbulakhshmi soon became a nation figure. She was everywhere from business magazines to Femina ,

Today he left Chennai to start his own life , Shubbu was proud of Arjun , she felt her life was complete as not only did she managed to provide education to arjun but she herself evolved from a sex worker to a successful business women to an author. She often thought that whatever happened to her , happened for a reason, she was able to connect all the incidents of her life today. Even if one incident did not happen then today she wouldn't have been what she was, the success which she achieved may have only been a dream . Since she discontinued from school , she knew fine arts and could transform that skill set to a profitable business .She realized the importance of all the incidents in her life sour or sweet, all of those incidents together made her persona as she was and today as usual she was beautiful.

Today she was independent as she had accomplished all her dreams yet she was chained as there were still lakhs of subbu's throughout the country . There she stood at her favorite balcony , and as the breeze touched her cheeks, she remembered Amar, without whom today she would have been incomplete, she looked at the sky , it had shades of blue and orange, it was going to be dark soon, the day was coming to an end but for shubbu life never stood still, the day never came to an end, but today , she looked up at the sky and saw birds making there way back to their nests she realized her day was also coming to an end, but she had no regrets , the journey had been beautiful, she had achieved all she wanted to and she ensured that other subbu's realize that "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts"..

Hum bhi insaan hain !!!

The Room was dimly lighted and was painted white, patches of paint were peeling off giving the feel that the room had not been painted for at least 2 years, The furniture complimented this dull look. Arjun and Amar were about 23 years, they were first cousins . Arjun's parents were not in the house and were about to come back anytime.

Arjun, "Amar this was the best day I ever had, but dear I will miss you ," , Arjun took Amar's hand in his , and said,"Bhai nothing can change what we feel for each other, and that is what is important , I wish I could go with you to New York , but its ok, I am glad you made it... but please do not forget me ." Arjun hugged amar, and suddenly the bell rang . Arjun opened the door , His parents had returned. Mr and Mrs Gokhale were looking for a bride for Arjun , strangely they kept Arjun out of this. Mrs.Gokale hugged Arjun, "Beta I am very happy for you , I am sure you will like Shreya". Arjun smiled as he had first thought that accolades was for the admission he had got in an esteemed University in New Delhi, but then he couldn't quite understand where Shreya came into the picture."who shreya?". Mrs.Gokale had a smile , "beta we have found the girl for you, shreya is one in a million, we have just met her family, ". Arjun was shocked ,"What are you talking about ma? You should have asked me once.." He walked towards amar, tried to say something but turned towards his dad and said, "Dad you should have at least asked me once before taking an step..". Mrs.Gokhale did anticipate that Arjun would not take this easily but then she thought she knew everything about her son, " Beta I know you, she is the perfect girl for you, She likes Jazz just like you do, She is also an computer engineer , take a look at her picture, I am sure you would like her.".
Arjun looked at Amar, and spoke to him without uttering a word, Amar simply nodded his head in negative. Arjun wanted to tell something to his parents from a long time , however he never gathered the courage to do so. He felt this was the moment to tell his parents else he would have to be a prisoner of his own body like many others throughout his life but he wanted to be free.
"ma... papa I wanted to tell you something , which I know You both will not take it in the right spirits but I can't live with this duality any more, I need a life, I am fed up of this hypocrisy.. " . Mrs.Gokale looked worried she had never seen her son so tensed.
Amar was pale white, he knew what was coming up but did not know how to react. He walked towards Arjun ,"Bhai whatever you say please think it over again ." Arjun was stern." I know what I have to say, something I should have said long long ago .
I can't marry shreya because I am a homosexual. " Mrs.Gokale couldnt believe her ears she sat down on the nearest chair available. Mr.Gokale went across the room to Arjun and slapped him hard,"Do you even know what you are talking about? Beta Amar what is he saying ? were you aware of all these??", his eyes reflected anger and his face was like a stone.
Amar was speechless he was more like a statue. Tears were flowing out of Arjun's eyes. Arjun walked towards his mother, and sat near her feet, he kept his head on her lap and said , "ma please understand me, I have been living in hell for 22 years, I feel like I am trapped in my own body, Ma please understand I cant marry shreya.." Mrs.Gokale got up, and moved towards her husband, "what is happening, what will we say to the society ".
Mr.Gokahle said with a stern voice,"Arjun you have said enough, Now listen you will marry shreya . whatever has happened , forget it . If you speak like this outside this house the entire society would shun us." Ajun looked at his father,"Dad can you please think about this situation from my side, I don't love her, I would not be attracted towards her, still we would have to live together, it would be a living hell.please understand your son, Amar please say something , bhai do not stand there like a statue tell them.. the dilemma we face , tell them it would be equally painful for shreya".He turned towards his ma, " ma you are a woman , ask yourself how would you react if your husband was not straight , what would you do if you come to know that he married you for the society".
Amar spoke with a tensed tone,"Arjun uncle is right, whatever has happened is history you should get married to shreya. "
Arjun could not believe his ears, "bhai at least you don't speak like this, you know how much I love you, I need you by my side now bhai do not desert me please .." . Amar could not believe what he had just heard, he knew he was being a coward , but he did not have a choice , he had to go to New York for pursuing MS, and if he gets caught in this trouble then his parents would refuse to fund him, he went towards Arjun and slapped him with such anger that Arjun fell down to the floor, blood was oozing out from his mouth. He knew this anger was not for Arjun but for himself as he lacked the courage to face the society. Amar said,"What the hell are you saying. I do not love you, I am straight, Do not drag me into this. You are just jealous of me , as you cannot go to New York you are defaming me, you are a shameful perjurer and nothing else . "
Arjun was in a state of shock , he watched helplessly as amar walked out of the house. "ma I am not lying please at least you understand me , you always said that you understood me completely please now I need you ma ." He could not complete what he was saying, Mr.Gokale caught Arjun by the arm and dragged him out of the house,"You shameless brat , how can you play with the family image and Amar that lovely boy you can't even appreciate the hard work he had put in to get a seat for MS. Now you dare not show me your face till you decide to marry shreya. If you want to live a life against the society please don't call me you father think we are no longer there go wherever you want to go just get out "
Arjun was left helpless in the footpath in front of his house, the house where he was born , the house which he thought belonged to him , to his family, the house where he was raped when he was 12 years by the same man whom he called MAMA, the man who did not even spare Amar, and now again he was helpless, bleeding and hurt. He wanted to scream his lungs out , feebly he said," ma please don't do this to me, your beloved brother on whom you have so much pride had snatched away my innocence when I was 12, then you did not help me, because I did not tell you, today I am telling you please ma don't leave me. Help me ma "

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The road in front of the cemetery was empty but for arjun who was sitting at the foots of the great peepal tree,he resembled a dead body , he had no expression, the breeze which was blowing failed to absorb his pain. Sukhmani the local eunuch, was passing by, she was 40 years old, and was proud of what she was. She saw arjun , she knew by experience that this man was in trouble but she also knew that like everyone else he would also insult her . She walked towards Arjun, she could see by his attire that he was from a middle class family. She saw his face had no expression , his eyes were like stone, he was staring into infinity. She walked right up to Arjun and demanded money in the traditional style of local eunachs where the dialogue was accompanied by atleast a dozen claps and laced with abuses, and threats to expose her private parts. Arjun looked at her with indifference , "I do not have anything to give you ,as a matter of fact I don't have anything to give me either. please leave me ..".
He said this with a dead tone, Sukhmani felt that this guy needed help. His voice and his tone had a feminine touch to it.
20 years ago there was someone else in the same place where he is now. His pain reminded her of what he has gone through . She just hoped that his was not the same case .
Sukhmani was also shunned by the society because she (then he) was more feminine then the normal society , and finally she had to leave her house to join the eunachs because there at least she could behave the way she wanted to, among them she found friends who understood how she felt as they also felt the same. That one incident changed the entire course of her life.
Her intution was telling her that the guy sitting in front of her had similar problems.Perhaps he also had no where to go, but how could she help? She was afraid to ask directly as her help was generally not taken in the right spirits. That one incident always made her shiver, it was the day when she was expected to die by everybody in her colony including her father . But now she wanted to desperately help this young man and not get lost in those bad memories.
Arjun's mind had a conglomeration of thoughts ,he was not sure of what to do. If he went back to his house he would have to marry shreya, which he could not do,as he knew that he would not be able to give her the love of a husband, and he had no right to spoil an innocent person's life. He was still not able to hate amar for what he had done, he loved him so much, they had been together from child hood and right when he wanted his support ,amar dumped him ! , how could he do this , that was the only question in him mind. Arjun's phone was ringing from a long time, it was his ma, but he did not recieve the call because he knew that she would not understand him, for her the social image was more important than happiness of her son.He picked up the phone to switch it off but this time amar was calling him.
Arjun had to speak to him, he had to ask what made his love changed to indifference. What made him abandon the person whom he called bhai..
"Amar why did you do this to me ??" he couldn't complete, tears were flowing out of his eyes.
"Arjun why are you being impractical? i still love you.. but I cannot accept this in front of the society. Uncle and aunty are still not able to cope up with the news, where the hell are you come back, your parents need you.."
"you of all the people you are telling me this. If i go back I would have to mary shreya, I cannot live a life of duality, I just cant, I feel like I am prisonor in my own body.I cannot go back, I dont know where I would go but I cant go back home.I cannot be a hypocrite like you."
Arjun saw the eunuch looking at him with eyes full of tears , he didn't know what to do, he realized that he had been screaming..
Amar, " enough of your nonsence come back home now, where is the problem, come back get married,you have to do it,you call me a hypocrite , I don't care. at least this way everyone is happy , my parents are proud of me... I am having fun.. what's wrong in this.... "
Arjun suddenly felt that he was speaking to a stranger... He kept the phone down..
Sukhmani came close to Arjun ,and sat down beside him, " Beta do you need any help.. You remind me of my past. . I was your age when I left home and decided to go my way... I had no where to go "
Arjun had read about the lives of Eunuchs, He knew that many of the eunuchs are not born that way instead they were men like him who feel like women and hence decide to live life that way. Her eyes were watery by now,they reflected the trauma she must have gone through.
Sukhmani thought loudly ," If lakshmi mai was not there I would have not been there today,She protected me like a mother protects her child, That one night changed everything my life. " She wiped off her tears and looked at Arjun with a warm smile, " Beta Do you need help " . He couldn't help but ask himself, If it was him who needed help or was it her?
He smiled back , trying best not to look helpless ," No I am doing fine , just a bit of normal fight with family..." .
Sukhmani got up, " Ok then as you wish, ", She knew although that he would need her help sooner or later.
He lied there quite helpless. He realized that he had no where to go now , because of Amar's possessiveness he never could make another friend and thats what he needed now a friend who could help him.

1 month later :

Arjun now lived with sukhmani , he was now among one of them . Sukhmani had got him there after she found him in the same place day after day without food or shelter , He had refused to go with her initially but when he suffered from high fever and he had no control over himself, she bought him to her house with the help of her friends. Later he CHOSE to stay as there he felt there he could be how he always wanted to be - he was a WOMAN now, he called himself Sarah.
Later he was told by other friends the horrendous incident which Sukhmani always referred to.
It was when she was 22 years of age , and lived her parents in a remote town in Tamil Nadu, her name then was Sagar than. Few of her college mates had spread the news in her community that she ( then he) was a gay, and that was the end of his happiness the entire community shunned his family and his family cursed him day and night ,He bore it all as his family meant the world to him and he simply could not leave till one night , when around 10 pm he had gone to buy milk in the neighborhood shop , when on the way 3 guys, started assaulting him ,they thrashed him because he was a gay . In front of his own house where he was born and brought up now he was being beaten up by drunkards, he kept shouting for help but nobody came to save him not even his father. Things were going a bit too far , the guys were now poking him with a knife , all over the body . Blood was oozing out from each part of his body, He was numb then. He felt nothing , his life would have ended that night but for lakshmi mai. When the entire neighborhood had lost its conscience , a group of 6 Eunuchs came to his rescue , they saved him and were taking him back to his house , but his own father refused him shelter when his own son was bleeding to death. lakshmi mai took sagar to her house , and healed his wounds , and thus Sukhmani was born from Sagar.Arjun now realized why , Sukhmani had been so protective about him right from the starting.

As days passed by Arjun soon started to learn how their community worked , and was soon a part of it all as Sarah .
They now went together to the houses where a baby was born , Initially Sarah felt humiliated to beg for money but soon realized she had no other choice.

It was 11 pm , she was with Sukhmani , both of them were returning from work , and were happy as they had earned quite a lot for that day . Sarah was walking on the same road where she had spent her childhood. She was telling Sukhmani excerpts from her childhood. Sarah wandered if her parents searched for her , if Amar still loved her . She was contemplating that amar must have gone to USA and her parents must have taken her to be dead. A Strange feeling made her shiver . The road was darker than usual , they realized that the Street Lamps were not functioning . Most of shops had closed , the only shop opened was the medical shop nearby. Suddenly a bike came near sarah and started passing obscene comments. This was the first time sarah was facing such a situation , but Sukhmani was used to this , she started abusing back, But those guys were not affected by her threats. Sarah just kept numb she did not knew how to react .She grasped Sukhmani's hand and held it tightly. One of them got down and started snatching Sarah 's jewelry and her purse , Sukhmani tried to intervene , when the guy who was on the bike grasped her hair and started the bike, he dragged Sukhmani into darkness. Sarah shouted for help, but there was no one around . She wanted to go and save Sukhmani, but now her own life was at stake. The scream of Sukhmani was echoing in her ears . The guy had already snatched away all her jewelry , and was now trying to snatch her purse. The purse which had all the money they had earned for the day. Sarah protested, she knew it was going to be a tough fight.The man called her unfit for the society, started kicking her , she still hold her purse as tightly, it was not a fight for the money ,it was the fight against her dignity.She soon realized that Sukhmani could be in greater danger perhaps. She gave away her purse, but the man's agitation did not stop, he started slapping her , she had started bleeding ,her protest was in vain.
As soon as the hooligan walked away from Sarah , she got up and started running in the direction where Sukhmani was dragged into . She suddenly saw her lying on the road, people crossing her simply chose to ignore her. Sarah ran towards her, only to find that she was in immense pain . Sarah shouted for help, people simply gave her a sorry look and kept walking. Some people laughed at them and said that they deserved it as they were the curse for the society. Sarah looked at Sukhmani , she needed immediate medical help ,but she was not in a position to walk . Sarah realized that she had seen a medical shop nearby. She ran towards the shop. Little did she know that a Eunuch has no civil rights in our civil society.
She went to the shopkeeper told her that she had no money , but she would return the money the next day. She pledged him to come and see Sukhumani once. She was in tears , but all she got from him was curses , he simply refuse to help her.
Sarah was shocked the same medical shopkeeper who was helpful and courteous to Arjun , was now abusive to Sarah, She wanted to scream , she kept pledging but soon realized that it was of no help.
She now ran like a mad woman amidst the few people who were there at that late an hour . She somehow managed to get a bottle of water .She went to Sukhmani washed her face. Sukhmani mumbled, " There is no point seeking help , no one would help,us" .
Sarah had realized that she would not get help there. She alone could not pick Sukhmani up either. She knew if they did not return by morning , their friends in the clan would come searching for them and would find them . She had no other choice but to wait , she sat down beside Sukhmani , held her hand , and waited for the darkness to get over. Suddenly someone dropped a 50 INR beside Sarah, she looked up and was transfixed. A lady had taken pity on them and had donated the amount, The lady was about to leave when , Sarah held he feet and whispered ,"sorry ". The lady at first did not realize what was happening , but the moment she looked into sarah eyes, she couldn't move either. She glanced at Sarah's neck and found a mole- it was her birthmark. Tears started flowing out of both her and Sarah's eyes. She wanted to speak so much but couldn't utter a word, She wanted to help , but she knew her husband would never allow her to do so. She took out another 500 INR and placed it on Sarahs hand. Her Husband stood few meters away , he was asking her to come fast as it was well past midnight.
She started walking towards her husband , away from Sarah. Sarah kept looking at the empty road where the couple vanished into darkness .
Sarah eyes were red, hew face was white, she resembled a dead body, she was questioning the sanity of the society in her mind, she was questioning those beliefs that forbid a mother to help her own son, those conventions which made a father forget his son . Soon the red eyes gave in and tears started flowing out from her eyes and she howled like a mad, all that came out from her mouth was "MA".

The unforeseen

It was around 10 p.m, Mr Vivek Mukherjee had just finished his first peg of whiskey,the next day was suppose to be Ayesha's birth day .Ayesha was the reason why he still smiled, she was his 12 years old daughter and was the only reason why he still lived with Rama-his wife. He was planning a grand part the next day , when suddenly the phone rang and everything was changed. He picked up the phone in a lethargic manner assuming it to be for Rama, but the phone came from Mrs Bhaduri. He was told of the horrifying incident in which his Ayesha was raped by the very teacher whom he had assigned .
Vivek could not believe his ears, the glass of whiskey slipped from his hand, pieces of glass pierced through the photograph of Ayesha. The photograph was taken on the occasion of Ayesha's 5th B'day party . He removed the glass from the photograph, and asked himself, "will I ever be able to take out the pain from her soul". The cell phone rang this time and he realized that in a state of shock he forgot to replace the receiver of his land line phone hence the call in his cell phone. It was Mrs Bhaduri again, she asked him to come to mangeshakar hospital immediately.
He went to his bedroom. The very look of Rama disgusted him , she had applied a face pack on her face and was combing her hair when he entered the room , he wanted to blame her for everything . Suddenly he saw Ayesha's doll beside Rama and he could not hold back his tears , he fell down on the ground .
Rama looked at him indifferently and said, " honey, please don't come to my room when you are drunk, it affects my peace of mind, please leave".
Vivek looked at rama with anger , and was about to reply with an equal sarcasm but the doll beside her reminded him of Ayesha. She always said with,"papa please you don't fight with mummy, at least you keep you cool", and Vivek always had to obey. He got up and walked towards rama and picked up the doll and cried profusely. Rama was not sure if it was the alcohol's affect or was something seriously wrong. She took Vivek's hand in hers and asked him what happened. This touch was made after a long time, she was confused as she had never seen Vivek in this state of mind. Vivek got conscious of the touch and walked towards the cupboard away from Rama.
He opened the cupboard and threw the ipod he had bought for Ayesha and screamed, " Rama, my Ayesha, our daughter our life , has been raped." saying this he started howling like mad .
Rama ran towards Vivek and slapped him and said, " Vivek please at least don't say nasty things about our daughter".
He placed his hand on her shoulders and looked into her eyes ,"Rama how I wish this was a lie, how I wish I was under the influence of alcohol , but the fact remains. Mrs Bhaduri had called , that devil, Anand , the man whom I had chosen to teach Ayesha, raped her". He could not say a word more, he hugged her and wept.
Rama was still in a state of shock , she could not believe what she had just heard, but the pain in Vivek's eyes authenticated the information.
Vivek said, " We have to leave immediately , she is admitted in maneshkar hospital and she needs us both now."

Are we NUMB???

Today was suppose to be just another day for hema, a 5 year girl living in the slums of Mumbai. Unlike the privileged children, she had no time to play. All she had to do during the day was to take care of her siblings and do the daily chores of the house. But today was not going to be as she had presumed,today was suppose to be the day when she would lose herself to the evils of the society. She had gone to nearby shop to buy biscuits. But she could not reach the shop because her beloved uncle called her inside his house and RAPED her. He Raped his own niece. She went through it all and went back with her soul crying, she went back to her ma, but was told " forget it... he gives us money to strive forget it", she was told this when all she pleaded for was justice and was told that she was to go through this for some time. .. how long ? nobody really knows, but I know for sure that she would hate EVERYONE around her, she would be ashamed of the entire world including herself, without any fault of her.
There a are thousand of other Hema's who's future is painted RED by their own relatives . Children are suppose to be avatars of god, they are suppose to be innocent, But there are some psycho's who seek lust in these gifts of god.

Today was also suppose to be another holiday for sunny a 10 year old boy living in one of the posh areas of kolkata with his parents.He was suppose to visit his cousin today . He did meet his cousin and would meet him many more times in days to come. His cousin vivek loved him so much that more often than not he touched sunny in ways and places which are not morally acceptable. But sunny was not even aware of what was happening. Had he been aware maybe his ma and papa would help him get justice. But sunny was an innocent child, he grew up thinking that vivek was a very caring brother and what they shared was normal. But future would stand witness to the dilemma sunny would have to face about his orientation when he comes to know about the actual norms of the society.He would have to pay the price for vivek's affection , he would have to fight not only with the society but with his OWN soul seeking answers to quetions which are not answered by anyone..
These epitome of innocence loose their entire life for one MAN who took the liberty of destroying their innocence.

Today was also suppose to be another day of celebration for ramadevi, since last 4 months her house is celebrating every moment as ramadevi had conceived But today all this was suppose to come to an end . Today she was going to be ashamed of having a human life inside her. Three Teenage broke into her house tied her husband and GANG RAPED her. The same boys whom ramadevi had taught , the same boys whom she considered as a member of her own family. Today under the influence of ALCOHOL they lost sanity.
In India a pregnant woman is suppose to be respected and worshipped, but here ramadevi was raped by three minors. Her future which seemed to be full of happiness till yesterday was now in utter darkness. She would probably not conceive in years to come and then this same SOCIETY of ours would blame her- For what? for being a woman.

SAD !! very SAD!!! but FACT
What do educated people like you and me do? we simply read an article about this, probably have an discussion about how the society is degrading and get back to our routine !!
I also would finished writing this blog and get back to studies..
But don't you think it is high time we start doing something about this else everyday you and I would be mere witnesses to hema's cry , suny's innocence and ramadevi's tears, or maybe our children and sisters would have to pay the price of our numbness

Pushing one to the limits

The last two weeks of my orientation classes has taught me a hell lot of things. I have never been this busy in my life, nor did I ever imagine in my wildest dream that I would be slogging for 17-18 hours, and the best part even on Sundays, while the rest of the world is having a lazy day I am running around to give presentation and attend classes :-)
Well life for the past two weeks has been tough, but the experience I had would be cherished always and has taught me lessons which I would not have had otherwise. The most important lesson it taught me is that I realized that if I want I can achieve anything but I just have to make an effort to do push myself beyond my usual limits.
All through the past two weeks I have been pushing myself to the limits. When my orientation period started on 16th June 2008, I was expected to follow a routine which seemed like an impossible task to achieve, and was not quite sure of how I was going to adjust and perform in such a competitive environment. Today exactly 14 days into my orientation ,I have realized that with little time management , one can achieve miracles. During my graduation days I attended classes for around hardly 7 hours, moreover weekends were off and still I always complaint about not having time, I always wanted to do so many things , but as usual I was always short of time .
Now I realize what a fool I had been I had so much of free time then and had I utilized that then, I would have a completely different person now with a lot of assets, but I wasted all the valuable time I had. Now that I have realized this I hope I make the most of my time.
The problem with students like me is that we don't push ourselves to the limits, now I am sure many of us would say that “who says I don't, I do push myself o the limits”, but the fact is many of us are not aware of what this”limit” actually is, for e.g.:As I have already said that during my graduation days I used to work hardly for 7 hours, and I had thought that was my limit, as a result I never tried pushing myself to the actual limit. But now I have realized the my true potential is much more than I had thought, and sill I believe I can improve upon my efficiency because I feel I am doing he same mistake again, I am stuck wit the same thought - “ I cannot work more”. Each day of our life has 24 hours, and that's a LOT of time, but we do not realize it,and end up being frustrated and winning about not having enough time to do what we want to, so people just push yourself to your limits everyday and you would find that we actually have a lot more time than we actually need.

Look beyond the horizon!!

 Why are we pursuing B.Tech??
 Why do some of us want to do MBA/M.S??
 Why do we react to situations the way we do??

Many of us would simply say we are doing what we want to do.. But HOLD IT!! Give it some thought ,are we really doing what we want to or are we merely following the crowd.
4 out of ten people in any engineering college would say they are doing B.tech because their family wanted them to do so; 3 of them would say they are doing B.tech because it assures a job; 2 would say it was the most happening thing to do, and they did not want to be the odd ones… and if we are lucky we wound find 1 (the odd one) who says he is doing B.Tech because he wanted to, because he loves computers/machines…
It is actually very rare that we do what we want to and that is why we end up being frustrated or are labeled mediocre. What do you think made people like Steve jobs, Richard Stallman,Linus torvalds, Sharukh khan, Amitabh bachan the celebrities that they are today, some would say luck, some hard work, but I think the most important thing which they have is ATTITUDE , which made them pursue their dreams. Man would have remained a hunter , had the entire mankind refused to think beyond the horizon. It is the crazy belief that we should not go against the flow., which kills the singer/painter/architect/sportsman in us. It deprives us of the fame which we could have achieved had we followed our dreams. Some would quote “its all about money, honey!” , but trust me if you pursue your dream , money would pursue you, be it the mega star Amitabh Bachan or Steve jobs, CEO of Apple ,all are living testimonies to this. When we leave this college , some of us would want to pursue MBA, MS , or some would simply like to work, but just think, if you really want to do what you are planning to do….. Else the entire life you would be a slave of your own job, you would dread going to office everyday, you would be stuck in prison which you would choose yourself. We always have a choice but we should choose what our heart desires and not what the people around us decide. Give it some thought and you would soon realize that the fear of being rejected by the society, makes us go against our dreams. Actually a lot more things are decided by the society, the very definitions of good and bad, are framed by it. The manner in which we should behave, the people with whom we should stay is actually all decided by the society.
It is paradoxical that man who claims to be superior to other animals on the basis of his intellectuality, fails to show it when his fellow human needs it the most. We always believe our ears more than our intellect. I am sure if you look around you would find people branded as malicious because they are either not in terms with the so called elite or perhaps they are going against the flow .Strangely people who are not associated with them even remotely, behave in a fashion which is impertinent to them. If you ask those people the reason for their awkward behavior, you would realize they do so just because they have heard ghastly things about the person and on that basis they now believe that the person is malevolent. Though the person may actually be amiable, and just because he went against the flow, he had to face such atrocious consequences. Little do they realize the effect of their brutality, perhaps if they would have taken the pain of finding the truth, instead of solely believing their ears, they would have regretted their behavior.
Just imagine if every human would have been a coward and would have gone with the flow, then our society would still have been a primitive one and we would have been still practicing evil customs like sati, human sacrifices etc.. But luckily we do have the odd ones in our society who have the courage to rise against the tide. If even some of us give a thought about what we are doing, if we start seeking the reason to everything, not only would we dignify the lives of fellow humans , but would also be able to pursue our own dreams, and live the life which we always wanted to do. So start thinking beyond the horizon , look for a reason behind everything and you would see how beautiful life actually is. 

WAKE UP INDIA!

It is that time of the year when media is flooded with India’s achievements over the past half a century. However that is just one side of the coin .A couple of days back there was a shocking story of Hina Fatima, who was not only attacked with acid but also forced to consume the lethal liquid and the culprit was her husband, who also took the liberty of burning her eyes with cigarette butts. There are thousand other Hina’s across the country, but their voice is not heard, sadly they succumb to the torture and often end up committing suicide, few others however mange to escape and take shelter in women’s rehabilitation centers.
Today every one of us is not only talking about the economic growth of India but is also actively contributing to it. We however don’t bother about bringing justice to the society. We fail to understand that economic growth without social justice and equality would eventually be fatal for India. We have to do something right now else there would be a Hina in every family which would be detrimental to India’s growth. We have always been proud of our culture and heritage, which is laced with tradition like Rakhi, where a brother pledges to protect his sister even in the darkest of situation, a culture in which parents are the highest priority for their children. Ironically today this is reflected only in books and movies. The man today has gone astray.
A popular website quotes that three out of every ten girls are molested by their own brother; a fortnight before a newspaper quoted “Bigamous man tortures spouses for male offspring”, in the same month of July there was a depressing article about female fetus being found at Nayagarh, Orissa; Rajasthan has a women chief minister, and it’s ex-governor was also a women, yet it has one of the lowest sex ratios in the country. Such is the plight of India today.
I believe “rolling stones gathers no moss “, but I also know that rolling stones do wear out. This is exactly what is happening to India today. In order to win the race of Technology and Economy, we keep changing with time; India of 2007 is completely different from India of 1957. This desire to change has eventually resulted in the degradation of India’s culture and Heritage. Wise men have always advised us to be a part of the solution and not the problem, hence I feel that it is up to us to bring justice in society and prevent incidents like that of Hina.
We may not be able to change the ill fate of Hina Fatima, who is in a critical state, but if each one of us takes a conscious step to give respect to our sister, mother and wife then I am sure thousands of Hina would be able to live a life of dignity. It is solely our responsibility that we inculcate into the next generation our culture and heritage. We may not be able to change the past but we can at least make a better tomorrow, by teaching our sons and brothers to treat women with respect, and our daughters and sisters to fight for dignity and respect. Only then will India reach the peril of success and we can heartily celebrate India’s independence.