Rising from the Ashes

This is a post which was long overdue. My last post was in last summer and I almost forgot that I even had a paltry blog of any kind. I had predicted long back that this would happen. I always knew that I would never keep up blogging! But, somehow again, miraculously, I have the zeal back in place. 

To be honest, two things triggered this "Rise from the Ashes". One, an Indian victory in cricket! Yes, that too can happen! You, read it right! India, after 16 matches finally won an International match! I know, its not a big deal. It was a T20 after all. But, sometimes, it is important to come back to winning ways. As Anita Bhogle and Harsha Bhogle point out in their book "The Winning Way", winning is a habit which is inculcated by winning teams. I remember a cricket match described in the same book, pertaining to this same phenomenon. It was a test match in 2006 between Aussies and Bangladesh. Bangladesh was staring into victory because Australia were tottering at 145/6 at end of Day 2 after Bangladesh scored 427. But, then Gilchrist, led from the front and scored a marvelous century. Still, the odds were in favor of Bangladesh. And, after that century of Gilchrist, Bangladesh just collapsed like a house of cards in their second innings. It was disastrous and Australia won the match by 3 wickets. This happened because when you lose strings of matches, you don't know how to react when you are in a winning position. Hence, the importance is rise from the ashes. Rather, to be precise, it is to know how to rise from the ashes. To be mathematically sound (which I am not!), India had a good probability to win one game out of 17 matches! But, the important thing is they grabbed it with both hands, when it arrived.    

The second thing today which taught me the importance of rising from the ashes is an interactive lecture by Sunil Handa. He is an IIM-A professor. You can read about him in the chapter called "The Alchemist" is Rashmi Bansal's Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish. In short, he is a successful entrepreneur who gives entrepreneurial motivation and lectures to students. His mantra in life is simple: "Fight, Fall down, Get up, Fight, Fall down. Get up, Fight......." For him, his 7th idea struck gold. So, he rose from the ashes 7 times before taking a plunge into the limitless sky. You can savour the sweetness of success only if you have worked your ass off! You can't just sit around waiting for the right opportunity. You need to keep fighting till you win!
Something which I feel is most important in keeping the fighting spirit going is Perseverance. In sports, they call it "stamina". If you would have seen the recently concluded Australian Open final, you would have understood what stamina actually means! If there was one parameter in which Djokovic was way ahead of Nadal, it was STAMINA! In a high-octane tennis grand slam final, which lasted almost a record 6 hours, it is safe to say that the only thing which drove it Djoker's way was his perseverance. It is similar in entrepreneurship, as Mr. Handa points out. You need to "Be Stubborn". Yes, you need to be nagging wife to be a good entrepreneur! 

For me, this lecture was more about knowing things which one always knows. Its all common sense, but again in the complexities of life, the simplicity gets lost somewhere. Hence, I would just like to jot down a few points which I felt that it would help me in life, not only in entrepreneurship.

1. Fight for yourself:  In life, you would only fight for things which belong to you. No one else would come to fight your war because its your money, your company, your baby. Your life is at stake and hence it is logical that you would do anything to win the war. No one is going to play Jesus, so stand for yourself.
2. Inspire Yourself: You are your own teacher. Why is it that in a class of 100, only 1 or 2 people turn their start ups into successful companies. The teaching is same for everybody. It is on the concerned person how he actually inspires himself by the sermons!  Even if you are down, keep inspiring yourself. Keep looking at the positive side.
3. Have Faith: If you keep running in the race, there is good enough probability that you would strike gold. Just have faith in yourself, your idea, your belief, your strengths. No one knows you better than you yourself. Have faith on your winning spirit.
4. Carve your own path: You would not learn on how to run your own company from other's experiences. Every one carves their own path. That is law of nature. So, keep experimenting, keep an open mind, keep questioning others and steadily move about carving your own path. You have to solve your problems on your own. People can advice, suggest, give consultations. But, it is you who needs to solve it!
5. Be Inquisitive: You need to ask questions, if you want to make it big. You won't get the answers immediately, you would need to strive for it. Keep questioning status-quo, else you would never attain innovation.    
6. Be Stubborn: You need to act like a persistent kind to become a successful entrepreneur. You need to be have that tenacity to stay steadfast when there is a strong wind on your way. You need to stick to your words, your vision, your dream how much ever people scorn at you. Because, one day, that contempt would turn into solid respect.
7. Passion doesn't come on its own: People spend their lives searching for their passion. But, in reality, they don't actually search. They just sit there in their normal vicious lives and keep waiting for their passion to arrive at their doorsteps one fine day. That's not gonna happen, mate! So, its time you pick your lazy ass up and start working. You don' find passion; you develop passion! And, that would happen only if you start something! 
8. If you don't know something, Learn it: This is one of the best advices I have ever got in recent time. In every strata of life, people keep complaining, "I don't know about this. How will I do it?" The answer is simple. Learn it! Yes, there is no other way. If you have no freaking clue about something, you need to learn about it!
9. Invest in people: After a start up takes off, the most important thing is people. Learn a bitter truth. You would never ever get the best people for your company. Because, the best people are already working in bigger companies with fatter salaries. So, you need to take something raw and then make an asset out of it. You need to shower love, affection and trust on these people. Because, then they would remain loyal to you. There would be a few people, who would not change even after 3-4 years. But, there would a few people, who would stay close to you and multiply your turnover multiple times! 
10. Lose the safety net: Mr. Handa's logic was simple. If you feel that your value is worth a lakh per month, then stick to your 'safe' job. But, if you feel that no one can put a price on you, then lose the safety net immediately. Having the IIT / IIM tag does not guarantee safety. People can be sacked anytime. According to Mr. Handa, the safest job is in your own company. 

I know that most of you won't reach till the end of this post. Frankly, even I would not have. I have written this for myself more than anybody else. Sometimes, when I am down, when I feel clean bowled, be it any situation, I would just read this post and know that you need to be a phoenix to rise from the ashes! As of now, I can just hope that my blog has finally risen after such a long hiatus! 

Vent It Out

A lot has been talked and discussed about the recent incidents at IIT Madras. I won’t be delving deep into these unfortunate suicides, because I believe that these are now in the past, and no one can change it. What we can do instead, is take steps to make sure these incidents don’t happen in future.

But, the reality remains that these things will happen in the future. After all, we all are humans. Sometimes, we may just snap and take a poor decision! And, it could happen to anyone. Suicide is primarily an impulsive moment, when one just feels that the only action one can take, is to end all the sufferings. So, why does one do it? Don’t they think about their families, friends, relatives, cousins? Yes, they do! They think, but everything is overshadowed by that single suffering which triggers that suicidal emotion. In that spur of moment, people just go blank, and they take the plunge into the abyss.

There might be times in your life, when nothing is going right and everything seems dark. In that scenario, it has been seen that people keep fighting. They want to get out of that darkness. So, when does the mind shift from an emotion of struggle to an act of self-annihilation? I feel that the trigger happens when the vestigial hopes are shattered. When they see a streak of light at the end of the tunnel, their hopes increase exponentially and reach a maximum point. But, when this glimmer of light also vanishes, their minds just snap. That scene of the light vanishing into darkness just keeps repeating itself before one’s eyes, and the person just thinks that it is better to give up and get out of this darkness once and for all.

So, how the hell do we change this? More primarily, how the hell do we ensure that our near and dear ones don’t tread this path? And more importantly, how do we save ourselves from this momentary lapse of reason? No, I am not being suicidal! I am just making a point!

Incidents like these happen when the person feels that he/she can’t take anymore pressure. Many have criticized saying, “If you can’t take in the pressure, you are not worthy of being an IITian”. Many have sympathized saying, “The pressure to perform is too much to handle, and sometimes, people just cannot take it”. But, no one has told that how to handle this pressure? Who the hell says only IITians commit suicides? Only these incidents come up to the surface of national media recognition. And, what does media do? It conducts few special shows, few talk shows, and writes some editorial articles. Counselors pour in their viewpoints after the damage has been done. And, every blame is just put blankly on the system. Everyone gets united about “changing the system”. Few IIT alumni have started suggesting that increasing the number of females on IIT campuses would help. Every wants to change the system! What I feel is that the approach is altogether wrong. System will always have some flaws, some discrepancies. Even six-sigma approach has tolerance for defects in the system.

I personally feel that these incidents have to dealt personally. We need to train ourselves to start letting out the anger, pain, self-pity which we develop over the years. Suicide happens due to an impulsive decision. But, the suffering is not impulsive. The pain and remorse keeps building over a time period, like pressure keeps building in a pressure cooker.  What happens in a pressure cooker when the pressure reaches the maximum level? No, it does not go “BOOM”! It has a pressure regulator / vent pipe which releases the excess steam. We too need an internal pressure regulator in our minds. Everything can be sorted out, if people show their suffering, if people just let out that excess steam. They can let it out by pouring out everything to someone close, by crying out with their heart out or may be by doing something which keeps them happy. The venting out mechanisms depend on the person and can be anything, which makes the person feel that the weight has been lifted upon him. The main motive here is to realize that better things can happen in life. Many people even let out their frustration by breaking furniture, throwing things, etc. Even that is fine until no one is hurt in this process.

It is more of a man to cry your heart out in front of few friends than taking away your own precious life. It is better to be mocked for your emotional outburst at a later stage in life, than having no later stage in life! Many people might have different opinions, but this is what I feel. Hence, developing an intrinsic vent out mechanism is the key to overcome one’s depressions.

I am still clueless about what goes in the mind of person before self-destructing himself. And frankly, I want to remain a clueless spirit in that matter for the rest of my life!

P.S: This post does not intend to denigrate the persons involved in the recent incidents. May their souls rest in peace. I offer my deep condolences to their families and friends.

If I Knew the FUTURE

It seldom happens that when you watch a sci-fi flick, you kind of get sucked into the whole idea of aliens, parallel universes and time travel. And, so it happened with me. I was just thinking about the "Time Machine" and for a fleeting second, one question crossed my mind; "What if I knew the Future?". What kind of effect will it have on me and whether knowing the future will be actually good or will it be just a bad omen? Juxtaposed with these questions, I wrote this poem. What I personally feel is that life should be lived in the present, neither in past nor in future.

IF I KNEW THE FUTURE

Life is a like running clock.
But with surprises and shocks,
You can’t predict the next minute,
Nor to the future, can you commute.

But, if the future was known to me,
And I could alter anything, let it be.
Would that be the ultimate boon?
Or a horrid curse like a menacing goon?

If I saw a future engulfed with darkness,
Would in a delirium, I go, with madness?
Or call for actions to set the present right?
Thence making everything crystals in plain sight.

If I saw a halcyon future sloshed with success,
Would I become complacent, seeing all the excess?
Or would I strive hardest to achieve the symphony?
Like a consummate Beethoven after the harmony.

At times, I wonder if Notradamus foresaw the future
Or were his prognoses like weatherman in a caricature?
Did he try to change the present course of history?
Or did he just lay back and start penning a great story?

If knowing the future gave bitter insomnia?
Or perhaps slowly inducted in paramnesia?
Innumerable questions cross my nous,
Countless doubts mired in an obscure cross.

But, above all, life would become insipid,
For all surprises and shocks would be pushed off the lid,
Gone would be life’s every quest, every adventure,
If somehow, just somehow, I got to know the future!

In HIGH Spirits

I wrote this poem around 3 weeks ago, but I did not post this on the blog, only because I thought that the mood wasn't right. Tonight, after completing a tedious 13 page assignment on "Spray Forming", a metallurgical process, it felt right to post this poem on the blog. I am hell tired and right now, I am looking forward to the next day to loosen up my entangled nerves. So, the setting is almost perfect. The poem is titled "In HIGH Spirits" and it captures the emotions when you enjoy a drink after a day of hard work.

IN HIGH SPIRITS

A long day and parched lips,

Mind shattered in shredded strips,

Longing for the colourless drink;

A world unravels in a blink.

The feeling is beyond any curse;

Brain becomes numb in a pulse. 

A new perspective, profound;

Not a single buzz or sound.

The deepest secrets come out,

Emotions cleared from fog of doubt,

Thence, the soul becomes feather light;

Like a hummingbird in its maiden flight.

A pitcher of Long Island, cold;

New virgin dimensions unfold,

On an altitude of twenty storey,

Sixth sense augmented by Bloody Mary.

Bygone memories rewind in a flash,

Success and failure stacked in a stash.

Myriad shades explored in vodka shots, 

The mind begins to connect the dots.

Let your psyche run wild;

As if a canvass painted by a child.

Leave all your worries behind,

Since it is your turn to unwind.

*CHEERS!!!*

Phoenix

It has been quite some time since my last post. More than 3 months have passed since I last wrote. The 5th semester has started and there have been a lot of new things happening. There have been many incidents worth writing, but because of some constraint or other, those posts did not materialize.
This time, I have come up with something different. It is my first attempt at poetry. The poem is titled 'Phoenix', and is about one's determination to rise from a failure.
I wrote this poem in the class, after getting screwed in a quiz. Though, its not a new feeling of getting royally screwed in quizzes, but maybe the build up of average performance in all the previous quizzes just got to me and I had to let it off.

So, here is the poem.

PHOENIX

A story unsaid,
A page unread,
At the hind of my sight,
Memories come to light.

Life became a bloody witch,
Took all desires away from my reach
Cornered in a vicious loop,
Hopes were left to a merciless stoop

Deserted by Lady Luck in a deep abyss,
Dreams in the boulevard became amiss
A cloud of darkness dwelt upon
The nectar of life was long gone.

I closed my eyes in disdain
But, saw a ray at end of a lane
There, I found a new 'ME'
Full of hope, warmth and glee

Past for me was a plight
But, darkness within has tasted a new light
On the pyre which had heard my cries,
The beast would now rise.

Out from the inferno strain,
A charred Phoenix born again
Feel its pulse, Feel its heat
It would live life in every beat.


I would be writing soon and would try to give all of you something refreshing and new to chew on for days.
But, as far this post is concerned, it is about Phoenix, my first poem....
If you want to share your views / comments, then send your bouquets and brickbats by leaving a comment on the post...

Adios

The Wedding Crashers

10th of June started as a regular day. It was a Thursday and most importantly a weekday, so I had to pull myself out of deep slumber, or rather had to be pulled out, at 7 am. I had to rush to the station to catch the 8 am passenger train which would take me to a small town, called Muri located on the banks of Subarnarekha river lying on the border of Jharkhand and West Bengal. The place has a beauty of its own because it is bounded by small hillocks on all sides. Also, the place has a bridge which stands testimony to the plight of government in Jharkhand. The bridge is over the river Subarnarekha, which has dried to a small millimetre width stream of water. The bridge connects Jharkhand with Bengal. One half of the bridge which lies in Bengal is made of concrete and is newly constructed. The other half lies in Jharkhand and is still made of tin and iron scraps from the yesteryears. It has not been renovated since the 50s and the Jharkhand administration doesn’t even give a damn about it though it is one of the main routes connecting Bengal. Why will it give a damn? It has better work to do. Its politicians are mostly interested in the tug-of-war for the position of official leech who can suck the most blood from the state. Who can pull off a greater scam is the only thing on their mind.
Anyway, I guess I got swept by the emotion of neglect and corruption in the state. This is not a post about the rascals. This is about 3 characters- My mom, my dad and me. I would rather call 3 idiots(Sorry Mom & Dad, but even you won’t argue with me that we didn’t come out as fools on this day). So, where was I??? Hmmm. After learning how Alumina hydrate gets calcined at my summer intern in Hindalco, I came back to home by 7 pm. Dad was already home which was unusual, since he never comes back from office before 8 pm. I was at once ordered by Mom to get ready. I replied, “For what?”. Mom answered, “Didn’t I tell you that we have to attend a wedding reception of son of your dad’s colleague?”. I replied in negative. She told me, “I have told you atleast 10 times before, but you hardly remember a thing. Do you even care to listen?”. Most guys or girls of my age would know that by this age its of no use arguing to the Sonia Gandhi of household. If argued upon, you would end up just like Shashi Tharoor who couldn’t control his twittering mouth. I just tried to hold up the last flag of protest saying that I didn’t know anyone at the wedding and that I would get bored as hell, but all in vain.
I went to take a bath after the hot and humid journey and was ready by around 7.30 pm. But, as is always the case with ladies, they would take atleast 2 hours to dress up. And trust me, the dressing time doesn’t decline with age. It’s the same with every sister, friend, aunt, cousin of mine. All the ladies would take atleast 30 mins to decide the dress. I don’t think guys even take that long to decide what they are going to wear in their own wedding!!! But, that’s not all. The fairer sex would ask someone in vicinity that which dress would suit them better, as if the person would care. The truth is however that by that time the ladies have zeroed upon the dress, but they just need to get someone’s approval to go ahead with it. If you choose the dress which they haven’t picked, you would find a small frown forming on their make-up laden face.Atlast,by hook or crook, they would force you to pick the dress chosen by them and will get falsely satisfied on their own choice. Then half an hour goes for matching jewellery, half an hour for some damn accessories and make up, and the last half hour for dressing up. After that, all of them have a final glance of satisfacton in the mirror as if God himself was at work. I firmly believe God would have committed suicides so many times after seeing his gifted natural beauty distorted with artificial chemicals and cosmetics and being transformed into such a ghastly figure, that by now if some woman goes out without any make up God gets a jolt of surprise and thinks, “Is it some new make-up Lakme has come up with?”
I guess today I am deviating from the topic too much, only because these are topics on which one can go on and on. So, by 9 pm, we leave for the wedding with the gift on which was written “ Best Wishes To Noopur and Saibal From K.P.Roy & Family”. The venue was written “MECON hall” on the invitation card. We knew only one MECON hall in Ranchi, so Dad thought it won’t be necessary to contact his dear colleague enquiring about the venue. We reached the place in some 15 minutes and went inside the reception hall.There was no nameboard outside showing the names of the bride and the groom. My parents proceeded to the reception stage where the bride and the groom were standing while I preferred to stay back in the seating area. They all smiled and shook hands and then Mom handed over the wedding gift and the bride accepted with a huge grin. I am sure her face muscles would get cramps after the all time smiling exercise undertaken at the reception. The photographers requested for a photograph and all four of them stood smiling side by side as if they had known each other for decades. When my parents were returning to the place I sat, my dad looked around in search of his colleague but couldn’t find him or any of his colleagues. I suggested that its already 9.30, so either most of them would have left or they would be in the main dining area.
We advanced to the snacks/starters area, and helped ourselves with some snacks and starters. But, there was no one to be seen from dad’s office. My dad’s colleague is a Bengali, so we expected some Bengalis around. But, we could only hear Hindi and some Marwari being spoken. Dad felt suspicious because there was not a single soul whom we knew. Then, Mom transformed into Sherlock Holmes and made a startling revelation that the groom’s mother had told my mom that the groom was rather tall, atleast 6 feet. But, the groom with whom my parents had shared photospace with their Close-Up smile was rather short. We advanced to the main dining area, and to our disappointment saw that the whole wedding was a Marwari wedding and there was no one whom my parents knew. We had obviously made a huge mistake, we had come to some other reception, had even gifted the couple and my dear parents had themselves photographed with complete strangers. Then I realised that what the Indian weddings have become. No one knows anyone , but still smile as if they are long lost relatives. I suggested that we just have dinner here itself as not a soul would care and mainly because I was dying of hunger. But, my parents still had their ideals intact. For them, it would have been shameful. For me, the only difference between both weddings was the change in cuisine, since I didn’t know anyone in both weddings. We followed a hasty retreat from the place and my dad asked a passerby about where was MECON community hall situated. He answered that it was on the next right turn and that this was MECON reception hall. A mistaken identity of place can screw your whole evening.
At that instant, my eyes went to a small rectangular LED screen, similar to the ones found in railway stations. The LED was displaying a moving message, “Thank You for coming. AtoZ caterers.” And then came the final stamp on your idiocracy. The LED displayed “Welcome to reception of Rajeev with Alka”, which solved the mystery and raised the curtains from this mistaken identity crisis of ours.
The story doesn’t end here. After this, Dad suggested that we just give the concerned Bengali couple,cash as Aashirwaad since their gift was already given to the mistaken Marwari couple and obviously we were not going to ask them to return it. Hence, I have to go in search of a stationery shop at 9.45 at night to buy an envelope.Now, I don’t think anything like this has happened to any of you before. But, I swear you just want to get out of this as soon as possible when you get to know what fauxpas you have committed. Also, you would never find the shop you want at the most crucial time.We found everything from tailoring shop to grocrery shop to mobile recharge to medicals to even cycle repairing shop. But, it was not before some 15 minutes search of the colony that we found a small stationery shop that was going to get closed. At least, God favoured us here because we were just in nick of time. So, Dad slid some cash into the envelope and then we proceeded to the right destination. There we rechecked 3 times before entering and asked 2 passers-by that whether we were at the right wedding or not.
So, in nutshell guys,

• Recheck the venue before going to any reception/wedding/house-warming or any social gathering of this genre.
• Firstly, meet the person who has invited you rather than rushing to part away with the gift.
• Carry extra cash and extra envelopes with you in case of emergency.
• Check for the nameboard or signpost outside the venue.
• Lastly, Don’t write the name of the recipent of the gift. I still wonder what will the mistaken couple (Rajeev & Alka) think when they see the giftcard shouting Noopur & Saibal in bright, red calligraphic letters.
• And if you fail miserably in all of the above, just have your dinner silently in the wrong ceremony and then steathily get out of sight before someone spots you!!!

The Nuisance I was

Each one of us has special memories as a kid. It is basically accompanied with lots of loud cries, incessant tantrums and scolding. But, still its one time of life when you did not have to worry about the world and life was simple.

Few will disagree with me that they did not have a fascination for trains when they were kid. And like most of these Anytime “Poo and Pee Producing” Machines(APM’s), even I was hell bent on getting one of these trains to our home.

I guess it was one of my first journeys on this enthralling invention of James Watt that I had undertaken to see my relatives in Patna. I was accompanied by my mom, dad and my elder sister who is around 7 years older to me and hence was in mid school. On the other hand, I was in pre-nursery and on that night was debating with my dad that an Elephant is stronger than a Tiger and hence can’t be defeated as my father had tried to cook up some African Safari story to make me go to sleep. But, as is evident from my case above that I could not swallow this underestimation of elephant’s strength and as a result of which my dad had to replace the elephant with a jackal after his futile attempts at making me sleep. After enjoying my 8 hours of sleep, I was considering the train as a nice alternate home as it had no finger wagging teachers and no semi-Medusa like principal whom most of the infant crying specimens never dared to look into eye. However, when we had almost reached our destination, my mom broke my daydreaming and brought forward this stark reality that I had to go back to school and we are in this train only for half an hour more.

And as you can guess, I immediately resorted to the golden last option “The incessant sobbing and loud crying”. This is only what 3-4 year olds can do and it generally works well for attaining short time goals. My mom thought I was hungry, as most parent think when kids cry. So, my boohooing rewarded me in form of a Cadbury Dairy Milk and I was more than happy to go to school afterwards. But, some drama of mine was still left and that came out in form of me wanting to take this train to our home and then wanting to use it as a ride to go to school. When my dad reminded me of the Fiat Padmini we had at home, I came out with the agreement that the Padmini had no toilets and the train had. Also, we can sleep in the train and not in the car. You can see that I was generally good at coming up with reasons which had no counter argument and I can tell you that I am still good at that. Anyway, my dad told me that the train did not belong to us and we cannot take it home. But, I think I did not receive his statement well because I responded with the golden resort again. This time, I was just distracted with another story of some tiger’s heroics. I guess it was one of the topics with which you can distract kids who are dumb enough to think that a train could be used as ride for going to school.

After successfully parting from the train which was miraculously just 1 hour late and not one day late, we four proceeded to our relatives’ home in Patna. I was too happy to meet my cousins, both elder sisters, one 7 years older and the other 5 years older and this happiness was mostly derived out of the Uncle Chipps packet they gave me (Lays and Kurkure had not arrived, guys). I may sound like a kid whose liking and love for others were based on the presents they gave, but what do you expect more from a 3 year old who can’t even spell “LOVE” .My life revolved on toys, cars, chocolates , stories and playing with the other good-for -nothing devils. To top it all, my mornings generally kick-started with using my tear glands more than any other organ of the body since I had to go to the structure of brick and concrete, my parents referred to as “School”. I just hated going to school since it looked more like a prison than a second home. Also, I think I did that just to attract more attention towards myself than my sister. Yeah, I agree I was a self centred, selfish piece of Anytime “Poo and Pee Producing” Machine (APM), but which kid isn’t. Hmmm, so I was happy to meet with a big packet of Uncle Chipps rather my sweet doting cousins but they were too busy in pulling my cheeks and then meeting my parents and my sister. So, I thought with my peanut sized mind that lets not break the news to them that my bladder was inflating with the cold drink they had just offered me. I guessed that my interference in their Utopian world would break this perfect image of happy faces around. So, I let my bladder take over my brain and I felt the bed beneath me becoming wet and cold like the glass I had in hand. The next thing I remember is Mom’s big eyes looking at me and scolding me that why did not I speak. So much for thinking about their Utopian world, Huh!!!

Anyway, this unexpected pee episode didn’t do much damage to much of my reputation as a very obedient and sweet kid. Seriously, adults don’t have any idea what the child is thinking. They just see the big innocent eyes but don’t see the devil which just wants to extract more and more advantage of adults. They didn’t come to know of my secret pee breaks which nourished the flowers in my aunt’s garden. One day, I was caught gardening these plants with my special care which came more from the bladder than the heart. I was scolded and slapped but again I scored with my relentless power of lachrymal glands.

The next few days were generally spent on eating, playing, watching TV , sleeping and innumerable repetitions of this routine. There was no more abrupt leakages from me neither on the bed nor in the garden, hence my mom was at peace. There was more action, but I guess I would leave these for the later posts.

Signing Off...