The real happiness

A typical placement scenario in a highly reputed institute.

"Hey Ramesh what happened dude, why you looking so sad"

(in a sad tone) "Na nothing yaar, just didn't get the company I wanted"

"But I thought they offered you 6 lac per annum. That is a good salary buddy."

"Yeah that's right...but 6 lac per annum is too low. All others got better salaries than me"

Scene shifts to a nearby slum

"Hey Muthu you look so happy"

Muthu replies in a very ecstatic manner, " O yes I am so happy today...a kind man gave me a packet of biscuits to eat....whew they are soo tasty...especially after being hungry for last two days. Here you too take some."

How many of us can say that a packet of biscuit can brighten up our day. I don't think many among us. But for Muthu, it was a gift straight from heaven. If a packet of biscuit can bring a smile to Muthu, why does having a 6 lac per annum not make Ramesh happy. Why is that we have forgotten to smile? We are so busy running after making more and more money and other material comforts that we have forgotten to enjoy this beautiful creation of nature called life.

Have we ever realized how lucky we are? Well to know that, all we need to do is go for an evening stroll on the beach. You will find atleast 10 children, barely aged around 8 or 9, walking around selling balloons or some food items. Did we do anything even remotely close to this when we were around this age? No. Our parents took us to the beach to enjoy the sunset...not to sell balloons. Then why is that these children have to toil the whole day to barely have 2 square meals a day while we had the luxury to go to school and enjoy a good upbringing?

Has anyone ever tried calculating the probability of a child being born into a family which can barely sustain itself? Well, don't. It will scare the shit out of you. You will realize just how high your chances were to have been another one of those kids selling balloons. But yet here we are having 3 meals a day, enjoying a tension free sleep in our own house, living a life free from all worries such as how to feed the family the next day, what to do when the rain washes off the mud house, how to get some clothes to protect us from the harsh winter and so on.

Why is that inspite of all these luxuries we enjoy, we are still not happy?

Why are we not happy that we got a decent job instead of worrying over the salary. There are millions out there without a job.

Why are we not happy that we live in a rented home rather than keep worrying about owning a bungalow. There are millions out there who doesn't have a roof above their heads.

Why are we not happy for the fact that we are able to afford 3 meals a day rather than worrying over ways to live a King's life. There are millions out there who rarely gets one proper meal a day.

It's because we never had to endure how it feels to be without these luxuries. It's just like an old saying

"You never realise the value of your eyes until you have lost them"

This is not to say that dreaming of a better job, or a better lifestyle is a bad thing. Just that it is not worth sacrificing one's happiness to achieve those dreams. Chase those dreams by all means, just make sure you don't lose your happiness on the way.

To me, real happiness does not lie in trying to worry about how to make more than what we really need, but it lies in bringing a smile to those who are not fortunate enough to lead a life like ours. It need not be spending millions of dollars on charity work. A small act of giving your old clothes to a child, who can ill afford to buy one, is more than enough. The smile this brings on to that face is worth much more than all the money in the world put together. That, for me, is the true meaning of life. Like someone said

"With great power comes great responsibilities"

If we have the power to change something, then let it be to bring a smile to those who never had a reason to smile.

Comedy of errors

Disclaimer : Conversations below are mostly imaginary though the incident is real

It's been one week since I have been lazing around in Trivandrum with nothing much to do other than eat, sleep, sleep, eat...not that it was much different when I was in campus, but somehow the eating factor has increased exponentially high, ever since I came home, and still going strong without showing any signs of stabilization. Maybe the thought that after one more week I have to face the hostel mess again, must be acting as a catalyst(and a very strong one) to gulp down whatever good stuffs are available at home. Once I return, it's back to the mess torture once again for the next 6 months.

2 days back my uncle Hari mama had paid me a visit. During the casual talk that we were having, he told me about a funny incident that happened to Kannan, his son and my cousin, recently. Kannan is a first year engineering student.

Hari mama is the district magistrate in a place called Attingal. Being a magistrate, he gets calls from all important people like politicians, bureaucrats, police officers etc. The call he got 2 days back was just another such call. Or so he thought.

Caller : "Hello"

Hari Mama : "Hello, who is this"

Caller : "Good morning sir, this is sub inspector Prasad"

Hari Mama : "O hi Prasad, how are you"

Prasad : "I am fine sir"

Hari Mama : "And how is your daughter"

Prasad : "She is also fine. She is now doing her first year engineering"
.
.
.
.
.
.
After talking for sometime

Hari Mama : "So is this your mobile number"

Prasad : "Yeah"

Hari Mama : "O great, just hold on a second".

Then shouting to Kannan,

" Kanna, bring your mobile, I need to note a number down".

Kannan bought his mobile.

Hari Mama : "Aah yes Prasad tell me the number"

Hari mama typed in the number into Kannan's mobile and pressed "OK". In his hurry to save the number he didn't read the message for which he pressed "OK". The message was

"There is already a name called Prasad. Do you want to overwrite"

As luck would have it, Prasad, whose number got overwritten by our inspector Prasad's number, was Kannan's good friend.

After sometime Kannan messaged his "friend" Prasad in typical college student lingo.

[in malayalam] "Enthonada chette ravile pani. Choriyum kuthi irupano"
(Wassup idiot? As usual nothing to do other than scratch your back?)

But today, he didn't get any reply

[in malayalam] "Ninte naavu enthada erangi poya pullae. Marupadi ayakkan enthada ninakoru madi"
(Bloody rascal, has someone plucked out your toungue that you can't sent any replies)

Still no reply.
[in malayalam] "Ninte appante cash kondu ala nan ente phone bill adakunne. Ente paisa kalayathe reply cheyada parikki"

(Your dad doesn't pay my phone bill. So stop wasting my money and sent a reply good for nothing country fellow)

Well now we all know, the golden rule in indian democracy is come what may, but never ever insult a police officer's father. Needless to say, Kannan got a call on his mobile the very next instant. Kannan looked at his mobile.

"Aha Prasad calling"

Kannan (Picking up the phone) : "Enthada potta reply cheythudei"
[Can't you sent a reply you dumbass]

Prasad : "aara ithu"
(who is this)

Kannan : "Ninte thantha. Sound maatiyal enikku manasilakulla ennu karuthiyo. Manda"
(Your father. You think you can fool me if you talk to me in a different voice. Foolish fellow)

Now this was more than what an average kerala police officer could take in. He opened up the floodgates of the police dictionary filled with police vocabulary.

Hari mama was sitting nearby reading a newspaper. As he looked at Kannan, he could see a lot of emotions passing through Kannan's face...

It had started with a smile when the mobile rang....2 seconds into the call the smile vanished....then eyes widened....jaws dropped....sweat started dripping down the neck....big gulps of saliva...

Hari Mama looked at Kannan curiously. Kannan was looking scared, with his mobile on his left ear and one finger inside his right ear, as if he didn't want to hear what the guy at the other end was saying. Poor Kannan was repeatedly blabbering some phrases.

"Sheri Sir" [Yes Sir]
...
...
...
"Maapakanam Sir" [Forgive me Sir]
...
...
"Ini avarthikila Sir" [Won't repeat it sir]
...
...

Hari Mama went to Kannan and took his mobile and brought it to his left ear. But the intensity of the vocabulary from the other end was so high that even the hard core magistrate had to remove the mobile from his ear and then clean his ear just after 5 seconds of "knowledge transfer".

Finally Hari Mama talked to Prasad and later on the full cause of miscommunication came to light. Only after Mama told Kannan that everything has been cleared up, did our hero start breathing properly again.

Skit wits

Disclaimer : High dose of imagination added to real life incidents

We had our dept valfi (ie, validaetory function) for the passing out Mtech and Btech students a couple of weeks back. As a part of valfi, some of us :- Neha, Akash, Akshat, Krishna, Aaditya, Ladha and me, had decided to perform a short skit. The skit's theme was

"What would have been the first day in IIT for some of our seniors".

We had handpicked some seniors, on whom we could make a skit on. Now the director of our skit was Neha. She's one tough director I must say. One growling look from her is enough to get everyone's attention. She had the prepared script in her hand and was telling each of our actors what they have to do.

Neha (to Akash) : "Your character is a music loving guy and has been in IITB for one year now. So when he enters the class, he sees many new students and starts singing 'Aao naye panchiyo' "

Akash : "Magar panchi kaha hei"

Neha : "Oye bhudhu in musical sense, students are equated to birds..uff...am I the only intellect here"

Akash : "Yeah right"

Neha : "Start cameraaaaaaa...action"

Akash walks in singing "aao naye panchiyo"

Neha : "Cut cut cut"

Akash : "Kya hua"

Neha : "Ye kya tha"

Akash : "Naye panchiya"

Neha : "Woh tho teek hei....Magar scene mei entry karthe waqt amul ad ki ladkiyom jaise kamar hilake kyu aa raha hei...seedhe aana"

Akash : "Maine socha thoda sa improvise karoonga"

Neha : "tu improvise math kar re, tu sirf acting kar"

Take 2
Akash walks in singing "aao naye panchiyo"

Neha : "Cut cut cut"

Akash : "Ab kya hua"

Neha : "Robot ki tarah expressionless kyu hei"

Akash : "Aree dono tu hi bol rehi hei. Pehele bolti hei expression zyada ho gaya. Ab bolti hei expression nehi hei. Tu abhi decide kar, tuche amul chahiye ya robot chahiye"

Neha : "In dono ke beech mei kuch nehi milega kya?"

Akash : "Tho improvise karna padega"

Neha : "Tu kuch bhi karle mere baap...bas teek se kar"

Akash improvised. Neha happy. Everyone relieved.

Next was Krishna's entry.

Neha : "Krishna, u have to look at Akash and then tell the dialogue 'Hi, I am Yogi Yogasan'...teek hei?"

Krishna is a Telugu guy, and his hindi is sometimes hard to understand

Krishna : "Bas, itna hi...fikar mathao karao, mei hei nei"

Neha : "Kya"

Krishna : "Bola na mei hei nei"

Neha (looking at others) : "Ye kya bol raha hei"

Sheiku, my roomie, and also a telugu guy, who was standing there watching our practise, clarified "He means 'main hoon na' "

Neha : "Ok good good. Now let's get started. Start cameraaaaa....action"

Take 1
Krishna walks in, takes his seat,looks at Akash

"Hi, I am Yoga Yogasan"

Neha : "Cut cut cut...oye Yoga Yogasan nehi, Yogi Yogasan"

Krishna : "Acha teek hei...mei hei nei, don't worry"

Take 2
Krishna walks in, takes his seat,looks at Akash

"Hi, I am Yogi Yogiasan"

Neha (cheeks turning red) : "Yogi Yogasaaaaaaaaan"

Krishna : "mei hei nei...mei hei nei"

Take 3
Krishna walks in, takes his seat,looks at Akash

"Hi, I am Asan Yogasan"

Neha could take it no more. She starts pulling out Krishna's hair

Neha : "Saale teek se dialogue bol, teek se dialogue bollllllll"

Krishna : "AAAAAAHHHHHHH Yoga Yogasan....no no...sorry.....Asan Yogasan..AAAHHHHHH...no no sorry sorry..AAAAAHHHHHH...Yogi Yogiasan...aree woh bhi nehi...AAAAHHHHHHHH.....Rogi Rogasan...AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Poor guy started losing his hair count exponentially, till he got the name right. By the time he did perfect his dialogue, he was looking almost bald.

He thought, "Why in the heaven's name did I go to the barber shop yesterday for the hair cut. I got one for free today"

Krishna (to Akshat, making sure Neha is out of earshot) : "Ye ladki hei ya kuch aur hei. Kaise kundhal kundhalke maara re mereko"

Next was Ladha's entry.
Neha : "Ladha, after you make your entry and take your seat, you will ask Aaditya a doubt in data mining. He will tell a jumbo mumbo answer. So when you hear that, your face should show an expression which tells the audience that you are not understanding Aaditya's answer. Got it?"

Ladha : "Fine, no probs."

Neha : "Start cameraaaaaa.....action"

Ladha walks in, sits on his chair and asks his doubt. Aadi starts giving the answer. Neha closely watching Ladha's face.

Neha : "Ladha expressionnnnn"

Ladha narrows his eyes

Neha : "More expression"

Ladha raises his eyebrows also

Neha : "more more"

Ladha now holds his breath. His cheeks turn red.

Neha : "moreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"

Ladha's widens his eyes as much as possible.

Neha : "MOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

Ladha's cheeks were getting more and more red. Tears falling down his cheeks. Eyes almost popping out. Steam flowing out from both his ears.

Neha : "MOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE MOREEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

Ladha looked as if he will burst any moment.

Neha : "Cutttttt. Cool Ladha, that was great acting. It looked so natural"

Ladha (after catching his breath) : "O it was nothing. Err I will come back in a moment"

As Ladha was going out, Krishna asked him "How did you do so naturally"

Ladha : "Well, don't tell her. It looked natural because it was natural. Can't hold it any longer. Need to visit the loo."

And the poor guy just ran off.

PS: Though most of the dialogues and actions mentioned above are imaginary, we guys had a blast making the skit. The main credit for making skit a wonderful success goes to Neha. Though she has been demonised in this post, she's actually a very sweet girl. But then sweet girls seldom make for good blog posts, thus the character assasination . Sorry neha ji :). I would like to dedicate this blog to all the guys/gals involved in the skit. Thx one and all, u guys rock