After a not so long hiatus from writing, I am back. Yes, I shall always refer to this as writing. The word "blogging" somehow takes away the old world charm that "writing" has.
Never mind.
I'd gone to Calcutta a few days back with some friends. After a disastrous mid-semester examination, there was little else to do in good ol' kharagpur. We came close to missing two trains in less than 12 hours; one of the trains we actually did miss! It was a fun trip; decent weather, good food, a great movie, amazing company and for everything else there was Mastercard.
One thing that I've always noticed in Calcutta and back home as well; or for that matter in every moderately big city, is the amalgamation of people- varied fashions, cars(!!), trams, buses and taxis jostling for space with the teeming populace. There are big shots and then there are the lesser mortals. There are pricey malls aplenty, so are footpath stalls and the flea-markets, big,small and non-existent labels. More importantly, there is this divide in society, to put it crudely, between the classes and the masses, which is very apparent.
Cut to present day Kharagpur, or most fully residential campuses anywhere in the world. Wear anything you wish and go anywhere you want to. Share your room with a millionaire's son. Hang out with people from uptown bangalore, mumbai suburbs, old calcutta or deep down south. Get a new wardrobe becomes a function of the number of friends you have. Develop an accent which is a difficult-to-place mix of all the people you come in contact with. Cultivate weird tastes in music, movies and tv shows. Be best friends with the future CEO of some multinational company. Be privileged to have known the next Nobel laureate from India. Relish the fact that the price difference between the priciest and cheapest grub on offer won't ever be more than a hundred bucks. Karl Marx would have loved this.
Not that there are no shortcomings of living in a campus far away from a city. With no airport. Or a proper theatre, a multi-speciality hospital or n number of things that i could mention right now.
But the people, they make up for it all.
After all we remember only the good things, right?

This is something i wrote in school.A tad childish( and cliched) i must say...but i liked it a lot when i wrote it.

The Tale of a Tree
The tree stands tall,majestic,strong.
Forever growing; helping people all along.
Oh look at the branches, the lush, green leaves.
The weaver bird perched on the branches, how wonderfully it weaves.
With roots extending to infinity.
It paints a picture of soothing serenity.
In in the distance, it glimpses a tiny shimmer.
Ah, thinks the tree, tis but another weary traveller.
In search of shade, rest and shelter.
Up close, the sheen of the axe blinds the tree.
Pray, don't cut my branches, let me be free.
Remember all the times when I was of use to you.
Maybe he does understand the tree's cue.
Ever obliged, the tree heaves a sigh.
Thankful and relieved, the birds on it fly high.
A searing pain makes the tree look down.
The axe embedded there speaks a story of its own.
The tree reflects on a life well spent.
Sorry ozone, the greenhouse effect I can no longer prevent.
One last chop, and it lies on the ground.
The stillness of death echoes all around.
All that is left is a mere stump of a tree.
That once stood tall, magnificent and free.

I had two exams tomorrow. Pardon the apparently wrong grammar in that sentence. Because it makes perfect sense. One of the two got shifted. That, probably explains why I am online at 2 in the night, and writing a blog; of all things!!!
I am a firm believer in the fact that everybody has a special talent . Something, that is reason enough for him to soar above the clouds of mediocrity surrounding his daily, mundane activities.
Something at which he is better at than most other people. Something for which he is really passionate about. Something far removed from the general perception of talent. Like being nice to people or animals or to the environment for that matter. Like solving crosswords. Like forming the perfect one-liners to go with every situation. Like being an inspiration to a whole lot of people. Like making perfectly round chappatis. The last one i had to add, because of a very special person :)
Thoughts.
Random....Discrete...Continuous.
Mine, more discrete than continuous.
Halfway through my blog, I want to write something about the woman who drove though the suburbs into her blues ( courtesy- The doors). Didn't she have friends? Or were her friends the high-flying kind? The kind of people who were slaves to designer labels, cocktail parties and charity auctions. The ones who blew a thousand kisses in the air when they met...
Friends.
Good...better...best.
" ..you win some, you lose some..".
Is it really the cool thing to do to be rude to people...to pass comments ranging from the mean to those bordering on the obscene, to gain acceptance into the so-called elite group? Life isn't very different now, from what it was in pre-school. But then again, this isn't pre-school. Its not about getting bullied. Its about not keeping quiet and having fun watching someone get bullied.
But then again, chances are, you get bullied in their place. At the end of the day, all one wants is love, respect and some appreciation. The brickbats come free with the bargain; which is difficult to come to terms with at times. Thats what friends are for. To remind you, in the words of forrest gump, that "shit happens". Egjactly.
Ahh..crap. Random musings of a thoroughly confused mind.
Exams do this to people i guess.