Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Give it any word. It won't matter much

I tasted petrol today. It gave a burning pain on my lips and it's taste lasted in my mouth for more than two hours even after I brushed my teeth and washed my mouth with a toothpaste like Glister. There was an air-lock in the tube that takes fuel from the tank and pours it into the filter in the car's engine. The problem surfaced when the battery turned weak and made me do several things that lead to the emptying of fuel from the tank. I had to get the battery recharged first and then call a mechanic.

I considered doing the mechanic's part by myself. I remembered seeing such a thing being done before. I removed the two nuts holding the air-filter on top of the engine, dislocated two tubes, and sucked out petrol from one of them. I tried to start the car after this but couldn't. I tried sucking again; this time more than before, and it worked. I spat whatever liquid that went into my mouth back into the filter's opening. I had seen the mechanic do such a thing.

It gave me a sense of victory when I heard the engine roaring like normal. But when I was fixing the filter back again, a nut slipped and rolled somewhere inside the engine. It was dark and searching didn't prove effective. I had to put some other nut there and close the bonet. It was the petrol that made me write all this here. Petrol has alcohol content in it. It's raining now and that relieves me of cleaning the vehicle.

I stayed home all day again. I had no reason to go to the college. I finished reading the book "Get A Life". I had kept it unfinished for long and finally today a bookmark went back into it's stack. There are three more such bookmarks, fixed in three more books, waiting to go back to their friends. I will free one in a day or two. The other two will have to wait longer. I am looking for a book named "Business At The Speed Of Thought".

I had been thinking of the idea of puppy love for some time and that reminded me of the song -

"And they called it puppy love
Oh, I guess they'll never know
How a young heart really feels
And why I love her so

And they called it puppy love
Just because we're in our teens
Tell them all it isn't fair
To take away my only dream

I cry each night my tears for you
My tears are all in vain
I'll hope and I'll pray that maybe someday
You'll be back in my arms once again

Someone, help me, help me, help me please
Is the answer up above
How can I, how can I tell them
This is not a puppy love"

Monday, August 27, 2007

There will be a time sometime again

Yesterday around 1 pm I lay myself in the drawing room and fell asleep when I felt my father holding my hand. He was sitting close to me rubbing my palm and asking me to wake up in a soft voice. That reminded me of my childhood days when I used to sleep with him hugging him, when I would greet him every evening with a hug, when we would go for a walk late in the night and I would hold his warm hand feeling security in the touch. We go for walks even now but it's different. Allah has blessed me with wonderful parents.

Yesterday around 7:3o pm I began to feel something very heavy in my heart. I began to feel myself afraid of something, very uncomfortable, something very terribly sad. I spent more than 30 minutes trying to understand the reason. I spent an equal amount of time working to figure out what action would make me feel better. I considered talking to some friend, I sat with my parents, tried writing a poem, tried updating the blog - came out with just one paragraph, I even tried to cry thinking it would pour the fear - or whatever it was - out. Nothing worked.

Then a friend called up and we spoke for about 10 minutes. It wasn't of much help but still it was good. Then I had a very short conversation with another friend through SMS and it was then that I began to feel better. Late in the night I had an online chat with another friend and that polished the relief. All the time I was afraid that I wouldn't get sleep and that an execrable night awaited for me. Alhamdulillah I went to bed contended and painless.

When trying to soothe myself I even listened some music. I somehow felt that loud music was a bit pacifying. Immediately I was hearing to some big beats and fast songs. For a second I felt I should dance. I was instantly reminded of the song "Hotel California" where there in a stanza - "some dance to remember, some dance to forget". Perhaps there was something I wanted to forget desperately that made me feel so. I understood that line much better yesterday.

I was even reminded of the speech I had written for the farewell party given to our seniors in April. I had skipped that function for several reasons I am not in a mood to get into now. In the inaugural talk which I had penned sitting at 2:30 am two days before that party, I had mentioned this line thinking that it would be understood there at the feast. But yesterday, I myself realized it. But I didn't dance. Maybe I can dance to help forgetting, but I have been barred from my religion to do such a thing even if it is for remembering.

In the afternoon a friend came to my house and stayed till late evening. Another friend arrived around 8:30 pm and stayed till 1 am. We watched the movie "Pursuit of Happiness" starring Wills Smith and his own son Christopher Smith. It was one of the best movies I have even seen. The movie is a true story of Chris Gardner who right now - in the real world - is a millionaire. He owns a firm named Gardner Rich.

Six of my very good friends got selected in Accenture.Two of them are still going to join Infosys. So many people, on Saturday, asked me why I was not trying for this particular company and my only reply to each of them was: "Why should I try when I am already placed in Infosys?" Nobody gave a reply to that. I wanted at least one person to give a fitting answer and get me to thinking and possibly even make me regret not trying. I have my own reasons for not trying. They were telling that Accenture was the "dream company". I just thought to myself, "yes of course, Accenture is a dream company. Are they giving away the company?" Two of my selected friends spent two days while getting selected. But yesterday evening when I saw one of them having his status message on Yahoo messenger as "Infosys Rocks", I just said silently "yes, that's the spirit". Acenture (ACN) is definitely a good company - on NASDAQ it's value per share was $40 today. INFY is worth more than $45 per share. Investment is my "dream idea" - more important.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Some Battles are Fought for Victory; Some even for a loss; I never had a Choice

I have a deep cut on the right side of my tongue now and I thank Allah that I am used to chewing food in the left side of my mouth. I bit myself hard when I was having my lunch. It brought tears in my eyes and I made a tissue absorb so much blood of mine I never saw before. I considered preserving that soft paper so red in color, smiled at myself, and trashed it.

Friday, August 24, 2007

You are a fact. I am the truth.

I finalized my final year project today evening and the next most important thing is the acceptance of it's abstract. I am doing it with two of my friends and we have named it as EBSD - Electronic Banking using Scrambled Data. I will put my best to keep in lines with what all the name suggests. We are implementing Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in an online banking application and I took up this application after considering online billing and generation of medical transcription reports. These two couldn't convince me.

I already have the algorithm and coding for AES but I have no idea how we are going to have the banking application working. I have hardly worked on Java and whatever I saw on .NET was too less to even think about it as the technology to be used. I am hoping that the maximum part could be done using web-based programing. I will put the modeling part of the documentation on my other two friends.

I didn't do much today apart from thinking what to do. I don't know how time went by. I am still feeling strange that I am not going to try for Accenture given that a few days back I was so excited about it. I don't want to think about it. I just want to realize deeply how important CAT is for me; that it has given me sleepless nights and how important it is for me to study at a premier institute.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

comfort in the truth?

I had a friend here at home today till around 9:30 pm. He came in the afternoon after attending an off-campus placement program where he waited for the test till late afternoon and left when it was getting unbearable for him to wait. We spent a lot of time on the computer testing some new softwares. We even spent some time on talking about the companies coming to colleges for recruitments. That's what everybody is talking of now days.

We have Accenture coming to our college on 25th, the coming Saturday. As of yet I have no motivation to attend. I might be having a good chance of getting selected there and maybe if I am confident I will definitely get through but I am falling short of reasons to try. I am already there in Infosys which was a part of failing my objective. I just went there for my mother and just to have something in my hands. That has already derailed me and I am trying hard to come back.

I am doing fine these days, having good sleep and enjoying. If by any chance I end up not getting selected, it would hurt me a lot. I also don't believe in the notion that participation is important. I believe that winning is not an option but the only thing. I don't want to play cards when I risk losing my happiness. It would rather be gambling. Initially I did think of going full-throttle for Accenture, but some wisdom has brought me down.

I was home all day today and wasted a lot of time. Everyday I waste time, I spend the evening in heavy guilt and pathos. I know there are so many productive things I could have done, but it just chits me out that I couldn't make use of the time. I did spend a lot of time thinking today, but I need to look for something that has material.

I did a thorough check of all the background process running on my computer. I found so many that were safe but useless - eating away a lot of memory. I learned how intelligent softwares are and how they could use our computer for their owner's benefit. I find getting into the technical details pointless here. For me the only point is that my computer is safe and still unaffected.

Yesterday I reached home after 8 pm after attending a friend's birthday party at KFC. It was the traffic that caused me to reach home late. I was so tired I slept on the carpet in the drawing room. I was talking to my father sitting there when I felt like snoozing off. I woke up only for dinner after 10 pm and slept again after 2 am.

I know I write a little too much about myself that anybody if interested can learn me and use my blog for exploiting me. I knew this as a possibility since long but a few days back a friend made me realize that again. Perhaps I can continue as long as I keep gaining something out of this. A loss would definitely be less in measure if I compare it to what all I am gaining from writing.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Where is the context? Not in the alphabets

After college hours - where I had two tests today - along with four friends, I went to Lifestyle, then had "chaat" at Whitehouse beside that, and then to Abids where I stood outside Softyden waiting to see if there could be some table found to sit, but then finally had pizza and coke at John's. Tomorrow again I have two more tests.

I have no particular reason for myself to be at Lifestyle. I just went there to accompany a friend. But when I am out, I know I must enjoy. That's what I did; it just left me tired. It was 8 pm when I reached home. Mother had been calling me daily while I am at college, so I had already informed her. But I found a missed call from my father when I reached home. Though nobody asked me where I had bee, I just said about the Abids part - nobody was interested in knowing much. Not because they were uninterested in me, but only because they know they need not take all the information about all that I do.

There isn't anything interesting for me to write - I just started typing hoping for something to come out. I have been feeling great since the time I wrote my last post. But yesterday night I realized there was in fact something I should have thought before publishing that post. I didn't feel anything for the post, but for the guilt - it was bad. I have been thinking a lot if there is really something that could prove me bad or prove me as a person with bad character. I need to find something within me that can sweep me off my feet. That guilt couldn't answer this.

Bad character is a continuation. It never stops unless made to stop. If I write an obscene word, it wouldn't prove me bad. Some might even take that word as normal. I won't write anything bad here - I need to keep this space clean. But if there was some really bad word or an idea written in the past, I don't think anybody would end up calling me bad for that mistake I had done. I just hope so. Context does make a lot of vibration.

I saw television today for sometime - with keen interest. I was watching a series on Star One. I don't remember when it was the last time I saw something with so much interest. It was a comedy show and I could relate some of friends with it. Today's show had it's theme as valentines Day! I had my brother and father watching with me and we enjoyed. I was also told that my father watches that show daily.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Here is a challenge

Just some time back I spoke to a cousin on phone. I had been wanting to talk to him since long and today finally he called me up. He is doing his DNB in a corporate hospital here in Hyderabad; he is the best in class in the whole state of AP - he had secured the first rank in the entrance some months back. I have always looked up at him as my inspiration and also a person in whom I can put my trust blindly. He is in no way a book worm or a nerd; he is intelligent, a genius and pure wisdom. His support is what I needed.

I just updated him about me and he showed how I shouldn’t care for what others say behind me or even think. Though he told me things I already knew, his words do made a difference to me. Terming some people as dumb and foolish he made me realize that I don’t become bad just because somebody has said so. I listened to every word he said. I am waiting for next Sunday to come when InshAllah we would be meeting.

I had mixed emotions today since the time I woke up. I have been seeing my weekends go grey now days. It has the backing of all my previous experiences and I see this as a consequence of every word said and heard these 20 years. I don’t live an average life. I don’t know how others live theirs, but on my side it’s totally a fiction. Everything looks so perfect, even when it is foolishness, lies, betrayal or even dumbness. I learn so much even while hating some of these teachers.

There are only a few selected people I am willing to talk to. I am avoiding much talk with my parents. I want to keep away from my relatives but today my cousin told me that it would make them feel as if I am showing some kind of pride and avoiding them because I feel myself superior to them. He asked me to be proud of what I am and what I can do but be friendly with others. All this can’t be made lucid as long as I don’t put the context here. It would be a sin to give a form in words.

I also understand that if someday I explain something to a person and if that person understands something else or takes my words in some other way than what I was trying to tell, I would be the first one to be held responsible because it was me who couldn’t explain it well. I cannot blame that person for not understanding me. I can’t tell him that he understood only what he preferred understanding. It’s my fault if I am not clear with what I am saying. It’s my fault if I am not direct. Alhamdulillah I have always kept myself clear.

I have always tried to write things clearly in my blogs. Though I never used any names, I was more or less direct. Even when there were faint ideas, they had some backing of some previous knowledge any person knowing me is expected to be aware of. I don’t know how many people know me in my college but in now way can anybody tell me that I appear like a person of bad character. No rational person can ever point a finger to something I did or am doing telling that it is bad for the society or is against some ethics.

My cousin told me that people only know how to talk about others and they don’t understand what it means to talk the truth. He told me I never did anything that was unIslamic and that even if somebody questions me, I must ignore that person. Here again it is the context that makes the difference.

I am keeping my mouth shut only because I don’t want to comment on others. If I start that, I know how reason and Islam can prove them wrong and how much it can hurt their character. I still support them. There is an idea that I term as exception making and it is still alive. If I kill that, it would be time for chaos. My words might look big and absurd. I know how I can be called ridiculous. I know how I can be called immature. I have done that already with myself and I am prepared to fight.

I hardly have 10 more months in Hyderabad. Whether it is an MBA or Infosys, I will be out of this place. I am looking ahead for that. I won’t care of how much damage I do before leaving. All I will care is that I follow my religion well and don’t end up causing pain to people who matter to me. I am starting to draw lines and prepare a list of who is going to matter to me and who must be taken for granted. I am not afraid of this list. It just hurts me to do it. But it’s an emotional baggage and I must get rid of it. I pray that Allah gives me more wisdom and makes me do the right things.

So having said all this I openly challenge any person interested in showing hell to me to prove that I am not a good person and that I have a bad character. I openly warn everybody against any illicit or unpleasant action towards me. I don’t say that I can do big things. I warn reminding that Allah is looking and I still don’t find any of my prayers not being accepted. I have always tried to measure my words and actions with what I find as lawful and wise. I don’t like people who talk and shout with no knowledge of themselves.

I like the way sometimes I can show my anger and frustration on my blogs. I love the way it feels to exhilarate power that comes out of pride and anger. I love myself more than anybody else. I will never cause any harm to anybody. I only have faith in Allah.