I had laughed then...

Back in school days, my Amma would act as if our exams were end of the world. If she would see us standing or sitting idle, hell would be bought on us. We would read and read and read. She was persistent about us studying well. She would always tell that she wanted us to be independent and self reliant. Same was the case with my dad. But he was different in handling it. He did always mention how important being educated was. How important logical thinking and decision making was. We were bought up saying ethics & principles were far more important than money. What others think don't matter as much as what you think about yourself.

Back then Papa always repeated that what we are seeing now is not life. Real life begins after you step out of home and college, and real exam begins there. How well you perform there is all that matters, not all these exams. And we were like huh!! like really? Papa stop kidding. You have no idea what a hell it is , how much we have to study and slog. Nothing can be more difficult than this. If we can handle this stress, all other stress of life will be like a cake walk.

Really. To read and understand things that simply did not make any sense; the Geographies* the Physics the Chemistries* the Histories* the Maths and the list goes on. It is kind of a big deal. We always felt life of the grown ups was so easy. They dint have to worry about exams, about the "out of syllabus" questions, the competitions between classmates, the homeworks and so on. They dint have to wake up 6 days a week and go to school. I and my sister could simply not agree with Dad that life after school/college would be more difficult than what we were going through then.

Honestly, now when I look back; I can trade anything to get those school/college days back. Papa was right. The exams of life are so tricky that there are always atleast 95% of the questions out of the syllabus; the least that you expect; and you learn it afterwards adding to your what all call "experience".

I had laughed then, but walking the path of life, stumbling over pebbles or sometimes stone or sometimes rock, falling, getting hurt, cursing, crying, then getting up, dusting off and continuing to walk; I learnt that he was right. Life teaches what books don't. And everyone has a different experience, a different taste of life.

Today as I was driving back from office, I laughed again, thinking how innocent and stupid we were to laugh and argue with Papa then.

-Sarita
Dated - 7th September 2016

*(out of dictionary incorrect plural form usage was intended)

Comments

Zindagi Gulzar Hai - A feast to ones eyes!

Today I am here to make a much interesting comparison of our current Indian TV industry with our neighboring country’s television industry. Interesting because I never thought I would ever engage in watching any of the Pakistan TV series/movies or listening to their music. My disinterest in Pakistan entertainment was not because of the tensed relationship with the country. But I myself am not a big fan of TV serials. The kind of drama that is filled in Indian TV Channels today is just exhausting and tiring to watch. I hardly follow any Indian TV series. When I visit home on vacation, I join my family in watching the program they watch and that’s how I keep myself updated with what is trending in the TV industry. I love listening to music and I listen to all genres of music. I did start listening to Pakistani music since last few years and have admired their music. Strings, Fuzon, Kaavish, Jal, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Ghulam Ali, Parveen Abida, Quratulain Baloch and many ...

My Favorite Read - 6 - The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev (and Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer)

So, now that I want to get into some serious mountaineering activities, I started with reading books on mountains. When you check for top few books on mountains the one that comes up is " Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer " followed by “ The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev" ; both based on the 1996 Everest disaster which was made quite controversial. I started with "Into Thin Air' and while I was reading, I was continuously in conflict with Jon's views. Mind you, my memory is pretty weak when it comes to remembering details of any story - whether its books or movies. I had watched few documentaries and the Everest movie based on this topic; but that was a while ago. when I started reading this book 2 weeks back, I had no background; you can say I was totally new to this story. And yet, it was difficult for me to understand some of Jon's accusations or feelings. But nevertheless, Jon's style of writing was amazing; he knew how to keep reader's...

The Year That Quietly Reset My Life.

A lot has happened this year and a lot went unaccomplished. 2025 once again reminded me of how unpredictable life is, how life happens when we are busy making other plans. Life surprises us and life shocks us. There were many good things this year - backpacking entire Central America for a month and half, meeting new people, reconnecting with old school friends, learning Japanese and many other such memorable moments. But earlier this year while training for dragon boat race competition, I was diagnosed with a idiopathic health condition, that threw a wrench in my lifestyle. All those lab tests, scans for a person who rarely saw a doctor for years was stressful. Although it got diagnosed early because of my attention to health stats; not knowing the root cause for the illness nor being able to determine the length of the treatment plan disheartened me. At the time, I kind of understood a non-smoker’s reaction to being diagnosed with cancer; that reaction of “But I never smoked onc...

Ahamasmi Yodha - My First Tattoo

I finally did it. It isn’t a great achievement to show off, but for me it’s one more item on my bucket list getting fulfilled. So I am very happy about it. What did I do? Oh like I said nothing great – I just got my FIRST Tattoo :) My first Tattoo Artist I had done a lot of research on it since last couple of months. I wanted to get it done on my birthday, but it somehow dint work out. For all the first timers, I wanted to list out my personal experience, just in case it helps :) First of all, I felt it will be very helpful if you have some friends who would have got it done already. But I dint have that privilege. So I went through lot of blogs and articles in About.com, Wikihow, YahooAnswers etc… Well Google, the new lord of knowledge :) has all that you need to know. So, in summary, what I got from all these sites were First decide on what you want to get tattooed and where. Go over it again and again, since it is permanent, you will have to live ...

Life... A Blank Page!

Whenever I open a notebook and come across the set of blank pages; my mind goes blank. For some reason, it always reminds me of my life. It forces me to start thinking about my life; about the past and the future. Being part of the age of computers and belonging to the IT industry, I hardly get an opportunity to actually pick a pen and write in the notebook. I write lot of blogs, poems etc… but I write them on the webpage or in Microsoft word in my laptop. Once in a while I like to go back to traditional form of writing; using the actual pen and paper. And in last few years; I noticed that every time I try doing that for some reason the blank paper gets me all philosophical. Although I never have that thought while opening the book; but whenever I see those blank pages; I just go blank. I always feel that my life is staring back at me with all those unanswered silenced questions, doubts, thoughts…forcing me to think – What does my lif...

Why "Wake Up Sid" movie is my favorite :)

I am very selective about the Bollywood movies that I choose to watch. I don’t like the typical commercial, masaledar movies without any storyline, characters, screenplay and acting. Most of them are ruled out just by looking at the Name of the movie, its banner, its actors and director. And some which pass these filter criteria get eliminated when I watch their trailers. Very few end up in my watch list. And some movies I end up watching forcibly with my family or friends. Wake up Sid was one such movie, that I came across because my friends chose to watch that movie over tea 4 yrs back. We never completed watching that movie; couple of them found it boring and we got deviated from watching the movie into some other matargashti . I think 2 years back, when I was finding something to watch, I picked up this movie – just because I wasn’t finding anything appealing to watch. And I simply fell in love with this movie despite of its weak story. Konkana Sen is a talented actress ...

Don't let the tamed ones tell you how to LIVE!

I came across this image on someone’s Facebook wall; and I couldn’t resist it. It triggered various thoughts in me that I was compelled to write a blog. I spent major part of my last decade trying to get things settled in; to plan for a backup with a backup so I could do something seriously adventurous. But it was not until late last year that I realized I should no longer wait for a timeline to stabilize professionally, financially, personally to pursue my interests. I don't need to follow a linear approach. I don't think I can ever have enough savings to quit the job and pursue hiking/travelling/painting full time (and well, I am not a lottery person either). And I don't think I want to quit the job in the first place, I want to continue supporting my needs. One thing that I did, last few years was try and pursue my interest whenever I got a chance. But what I started doing since last 6 months is, to create those opportunities to pursue my interests; and align...

My Brightest Star

You were very different from the others. The way you spoke about stars and universe, it was like you were part of them. I never understood your language, but I always enjoyed listening to you. It was so romantic when you spoke with such passion about universe. That friend of yours, Hubble, the way you discussed it's findings with so much excitement, I used to fall in love with you over and over again. The way you waited like a child outside the tent in freezing nights, to get the glimpse of milkyway, would always make me hug and kiss you. The nebulae, constellations, meteor showers, comets and so many such words, that I never knew before I met you; I started learning about them from you. For me everything was just a twinkling star in the dark night sky. You introduced me to them with names, like they were your friends, like they all were talking to you, like they all had some purpose. I thought you were crazy, but then I understood why you were so crazy about them. I still s...

5 Things to Learn from a Child

I spent last 3 days of my long weekend with 3 different kids of slight different ages but all under the age of 5 yrs. One 8 months, another almost 3 yrs and the last almost 5 yrs. I am always fascinated by kids, their outlook towards life and their definition of happiness. And I have written more than once about how they impact my thought process. But here’s few new take aways from my weekend spent with these kids. What’s on the inside is what’s outside. You cannot train or force the babies/kids less than 5 years, to like or dislike someone. You can try, but they will hardly follow your instructions. They will smile at you if they want to. Else they will just walk past you never caring for any consequences. They are selfish, and they don’t hide it. They will love you, because you will play with them. Or because you will give them goodies. They will do what you say if they want something you are offering, and they aren’t ashamed of displaying selfishness openly. For th...

That night and This morning.

He woke up to the constant buzzing of his doorbell. A sound that’s almost disgusting for a saturday morning. He knew it wasn’t any of his usual suspects; the maid, the cook, the delivery boy or his crazy friends. His saturday morning was going to be uneventful. Precisely why he was up until 3 AM previous night, binge watching a Netflix series that was long due. And when he had finally gone to bed, after cleaning a bowl of instant noodles and beer, he had no intentions of moving any part of his body till late that afternoon. So this constant buzzing was not just a mild discomfort but a breach of code, an unforgivable act of crime. He thought to himself... The person was either foolish or sadistic. No one in their right mind would think of waking up an office going guy on a saturday early morning 8 AM without prior notice. As though the damn corporate finance job was not enough to squeeze the life out of my soul, here comes Lucifer, the devil himself to wreck my weekend...

When Silence Speaks...

Search This Blog