Regarding the future, just go with the flow.

Nobody knows where they’ll be the next moment. It’s still that uncertainty that drives us. It’s kind of scary, but exciting at the same time.

It’s the final few months of the final year of A Levels, the final frontier before University, which is the final step before entry into practical life. As of now, I’ve applied to a total of five universities. Out of which, I’ve gotten one complete rejection. Two alternate options and two I’m still waiting for. I have no idea where I’m going to university. The possibilities are endless. It’s kind of stressing me out right now, but then I think to myself, “Whatever happens, it will be good for me.” Whatever happens in life, good or bad, there is always good in it for us. We either never realize it, realize it later or right then and there. What we should do is, be patient and go with the flow. I’m kind of excited and nervous as to where I will continue my higher education, but whatever the end result, I am ready to embrace it. Endless possibilities.:)

The Boastful Entrepreneur and other fail stories…

Okay so anyway, as you know, entrepreneurial presence is everywhere. Before, whenever you heard the word ‘entrepreneur’, something huge would come to mind. A multi-millionaire business tycoon who owns a huge company. These days, you can find an entrepreneur at every corner. An entrepreneur is someone with a real substantial idea or mission. Creative also.

I’m not taking any names here, but I’ve come across a certain individual who’s…different. In what sense? Well, it’s what you call ‘pride’ and ‘arrogance’. Bragging about how much revenue their online business generates a month. (Honestly, it’s pretty good for a startup and for a student also). So I asked, what all do you do with it? Save it? (Which is the smart choice). So this person says to me, “Oh yeah, I buy some nice things. Plus I mostly eat out, so majority of it goes there.” We were just discussing monthly expenses and he was pretty surprised as to how low maintenance I was due to my small streams of income. He was pretty shocked. He’s like, “Oh that’s sad and blah blah blah.” Dude, just because somebody doesn’t have a side hobby/business with an okayish revenue doesn’t mean you should talk down to him. The superiority complex comes into play when ‘dough’ is involved. That’s not cool man. You’re constantly bragging about how you’re going to change your phone pretty soon and implying that you can buy the ‘good stuff’. A little too much. Now what’s the fail side of this individual? Well, class starts and this person doesn’t even have a pen to write with. Sad, whatever happened to all your disposable income that you couldn’t afford a measly 5 RUPEE pen?! It’s about time people should put their feet back on the ground and get their heads out of the clouds. Focus on NEEDS later, then fulfill all the WANTS.

Another fail story, big shot preppy guy in Math class. Hair spiked up, designer specs, sneakers, the work. Not to mention the BlackBerry (jump on the bandwagon society), in white! What do you know, another stationery dilemma! “Hey man, do you have a pencil?” “Oh yeah sure, just return it after class.” *bell rings* “Hey man, can I have my pencil back?” *he frantically fidgets and checks his pockets, drama of course. Just moments before, he snuck the pencil in his pocket. Shakes his head, “No man, I probably gave it to you.” And I just thought to myself, “Who is this guy kidding? He thinks I was born yesterday? How cheap and low, seriously.” So I just went away. I never saw that pencil again.

The thing is, buying stationery isn’t an issue. The main issue is, people BORROW it, but never return it. It’s against general ethics. Not returning something after borrowing, you defaulter. Oh well, all I can say is, as the words of Mr. T go:

“I pity the fool.” 😛

The Naysayer

Naysayer (n): one who denies, refuses, opposes, or is skeptical or cynical about something. (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)

Ah, yes. We’ve all come across naysayers at some point in our lives. In fact, even some people we consider close friends happen to be the biggest naysayers out there. One thing’s for sure, we shouldn’t give in to these naysayers. Constant talks about “be practical” or “don’t keep so many expectations” and baloney of that sort. It really annoys me. I mean, it’s not my fault you’re not an optimist. According to some people, naysayers are those people lurking in the shadows trying to pull you down from all the good things you happen to be experiencing. The troll at the bottom of the bridge so to speak. “Hey man, I don’t have any dreams of my own. I like to be so negative all the time. I don’t like other people being so happy and content with their lives so I love to give them my negative energy.” Now that’s what I think a naysayer is. On the outside, a smug kind of guy who’s indifferent to other’s dreams and aspirations. On the inside however, an insecure little child who never even tried to have good solid goals in life or even strong passion for a subject. A smarty pants Mr. Know-It-All, a rocket scientist. A naysayer always thinks he knows it all. Dreams don’t come true huh? Well, they do. If you work hard enough. Naysayers are just plain old, boring. Steer away.

I say, if you have passion for something, you WILL find a way to fulfill it. Take cars for example. There are A LOT of people who just LOVE cars. Cars is their passion. Now, you probably see on TV the different people with their Porsche’s, Lambo’s, Maserati’s and what not. You think to yourself, “Hey, if they achieved their dreams and passions, so can I.” Once you’ve made that mindset, there isn’t a naysayer in the world that can tell you otherwise. If there’s a will, there’s a way. Optimism is the key weapon to be used in the battle against Naysayer-ism. Don’t be demotivated or lose hope. So what if somebody says it can’t be done, do it anyway and prove that….basket, wrong. 😉

 

My Sanctuary by First State

One of those epic relaxing songs. I just love it..

Ten Seconds Before Sunrise

On my way back home this summer, I saw something so beautiful that I regret not taking pictures of it. On the flight from Dallas to Frankfurt, when there were only a few hours away from landing, it was morning time. The sun was on the verge of rising. The sky was filled with shades of orange, red and hints of blue. The sun was slowly ascending above the horizon. It was actually at a stage where you could look at it without your eyes hurting. As the sun was rising, you could see the rays widening. There was this galvanizing aura surrounding the sun and the rays seemed to give off a mystical energy. The whole scene was just captivating. When one sees the sunrise, he goes into contemplation. Just thinking about how the Sun can be so destructive with its heat and UV rays, at the same time, it can be so peaceful and soothing to look at in the morning. There was also the sea of clouds in the sky. From the airplane window, it seemed like another world on top of the world we live in. This scene reminded me of the track “Ten Seconds Before Sunrise” by Tiesto. Now I realize what he was trying to portray with it.

Summer

So it was the Summer of 2010. Right after exams finished, there were only a few days left before my trip to the US as always. It was pretty hard to believe that my exams were over. Non-stop studying, day and night. I had gotten used to it all. All of a sudden, exams were finished and it was sort of like a shock. Anyway, the time to travel finally came. First stop was Bahrain, instead of the usual Dubai. It was a pretty small airport..not much to do except a few restaurants and duty free. We had a 17 hour layover in Bahrain, pretty long so we couldn’t really stay at the airport. We got a transit visa, the hotel vouchers and finally headed out. I was hungry. There were many fast food options. Papa John’s, Dairy Queen, Cinnabon and a lot of others. I decided to get Dairy Queen. I ordered a double cheeseburger meal, a chili cheese hot dog and a chicken wrap. The only things which were good were the fries and the chicken wrap. We went to the hotel. Had meal vouchers. We were dead tired, I decided to take a shower then dosed off for a bit. I woke up, freshened up. Then, my sister and I called up a cab and went to the Bahrain City Center.

As we were cruising around the city, we got to see the sites. The architecture seemed to be inspired by marine life and fauna. Fish and what not. We reached the mall, and man, it was HUGE. All the international brands; Nautica, Ferrari, Next, etc. We walked around. Soon, we were hungry. We went to the food court, that was huge also. So many choices. I felt like buying soemthing from every single place. Eventually, I settled for this one Persian kabab dish with rice, can’t forget a small cheese pizza from Little Caesar’s. :p

We walked around a bit more , then it was time to go. We got in a cab and headed back for the hotel. On our way back, the city looked beautiful with the lighting. We reached the hotel and rested for a bit. Then we left for the airport.

Thus our Bahrain adventure came to an end. It was a different experience altogether. That’s one more country on the list of countries visited.

Next stop was Frankfurt. It was a pretty long flight. We finally reached. Frankfurt International Airport was a different experience compared to London Heathrow. It was really bland and boring to be honest. Not much to do. I was hungry. I looked around..nothing but sausages and frankfurters and wieners and what not! ugggggh..finally..we came across a sandwich and pretzel stall. I got sandwich which had mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes along with some rocket leaves. It was different, but it was good.

Finally, the trip to Dallas commenced. We finally reached there. We had to sign the declaration form as usual. We waited in line for immigration. We didn’t go through much trouble this time around..I am so glad. We got out and went home. We got some groceries on the way. From then on, it was a normal home routine. We did our own laundry, made our own beds, cooked and what not. My sister and I would go for walks to shopping centers nearby since neither of us have a license. It was good exercise actually. Marshall’s, Super Target, Walmart, Walgreen’s, Family Dollar, all were walking distance.

This summer was a whole new experience for us overall. I found out some interesting things about my family’s history and the truth about why some people are the way they are. It’s sad, but we can’t do anything about it now can we? Everyday, we had to deal with new drama and stories, but hey, it’s all a part of life.

We didn’t do much this summer except for sit around at home and watch tv. I finally started to have Taco Bell after a long hiatus. Ah, the joy. Another favorite place of mine, Jack in the Box. The stuffed jalapenos, the curly fries, all worth putting those extra pounds on. :D. I went to the movies a couple of times..5 to be exact. Grown Ups- the most hilarious comedy movie of the summer. Killers was alright. Predators was okayish. Sorcerer’s Apprentice was nice. Inception, however, was the best summer movie yet. It was simply amazing. In the last few weeks of my trip, my cousins from Houston came to get us. We chilled for like 2 days in Dallas..went to downtown and the major sites..snapped a few pics and were headed back for Houston. We went to the Kemah Boardwalk. Got an all day pass. First we went to the stingray’s. We fed them..it was a cool experience..we even got to touch them. Next, we went on the Roller coaster. I had never been on one. As I was sitting on it, I had no idea what I was going to endure in the next two minutes of my life. The ride started. We slowly started to move and went down. The ride caught some momentum and the madness started. I actually felt the resistive G-forces. In the end my bottom was sore, I pulled a couple of muscles here and there and I felt a ticklish feeling in my stomach. It was a cool experience..then we went on the other rides..all G-force related. Again, the zero gravity was felt. We roamed around the boardwalk till evening and then we head back for Houston. On our way, we stopped at this Persian restaurant. I ordered this beef kabab dish. Man! It was so soft and tender. Melted in my mouth, literally! The next day, we checked out the Museum in the Museum District. Really cool stuff they had there, but the gift shop was damn expensive. The next day, we head out for the beach for a few hours, came back and got ready to head for Dallas. The next 9 days went by like anything.

The time to travel came again. We said our goodbye’s to everyone. Our trip began. We reached Pakistan.

It was as if the summer was a dream. All the fun, all the mental pressure we had to deal with. All over. A very eventful summer, memorable indeed.

The Lab

15th of April, 2010:

The last mock, Chemistry practical. It was quite a different experience as compared to the normal practical. Thrice as many questions and twice the time of a standard lab. All in all, six times the magnitude. As a kid, I always wondered what it would be like to actually be doing these experiments with test tubes, beakers and flasks. I was pretty fascinated with all those cartoons and informative shows depicting labs and research in the field of chemistry.

Throughout the year, I’ve been going to the lab. One hour every time which was only enough time for one experiment. As the days progressed, I started getting better. I was improving my time management skills and I was increasing my ability to comprehend the experiment quicker. Practice does make perfect. Anyway, the time for the final mock was finally here. We were placed in a quarantine room, no cell phones or any form of communication with the outside world whatsoever. We went to the lab, it was pretty cluttered and crowded. I thought it was going to be difficult to work in such conditions but I managed eventually. The exam began. I was pretty confused for the first few minutes, but I read the paper carefully and began. I shifted some of the things around so I can make a proper working environment.

Working in the lab felt so professional, the type of stuff they show in movies. It was a pretty exciting experience. There came a time where the lights kept on going. Imagine, about 20 bunsen burners and no air-conditioning. We were melting and sweating heavily. It seemed as though we were working in a glass factory with a furnace or a Naan shop. It was like a typical action movie, like The Matrix. People were wiping the sweat off their foreheads. Now imagine that scene, slow it down. Now imagine people trying to dodge those drops of sweat and the sweat falling into the different solutions in the beakers and test tubes. What a shame, the solutions got diluted! *Gasp* It was a very funny and amusing sight. Most of us managed to finish about 90% of the practical, which is average.

In the end, it was an awesome experience. There should have been a video camera on hand. It would have made things less stressful.

Nice Guys Finish Last

In this modern age, there are civilized and uncivilized people. We are in an age of ignorance.  Good people are hard to come by. It’s sad, people that are nice, caring and wonderful get pushed around because they aren’t corrupt like others. People with insight know when something wrong is happening. They can make a distinction. Today’s corrupt people have been disorientated from the concept of right and wrong, distorted, if you will. When one speaks of something good, people make faces and object with baseless excuses. When some evil indulgence is mentioned, they take pride in participating it with full heart without hesitation. They may be happy and hyper, jumping around here and there, but deep inside, their hearts are cold and dead. If one doesn’t conform to their corrupt standards and objects to all the wrong-doings they take part in, the majority degrades the individual and makes a disgrace out of him.

The righteous one, however, has nothing to fear. Why? Because he is gifted with nobility, not to take such slanders and rumours to heart. If somebody isn’t guilty, these “insults” wouldn’t make a speck of a difference. The person should be strong and cut himself off from such people. Just becuase people sit in a certain group, it doesn’t mean that they should consider themselves as a bunch of elites. They shouldn’t think that people need them. People don’t. They survived without them before, they can survive without them again. In three months, I observed this phenomena. A group of friends. They seemed to be nice, caring, sweet and all goody two-shoes. As time progressed and spent time with them, I started to observe things. Disturbing things, sad yet true at the same time.

Height of barbarism and immorality. They were always busy in creating fights amongst each other and pulling each other’s legs. They had nothing better to do. When good things were spoken of, nasty faces would be made and mean looks given. In the absence of some, the ones present would criticize and backbite about the ones who were absent. As they say, “Birds of a feather flock together.” They all possess the same qualities, the most significant one, IMMORALITY. Lying on the face, making stories, accusing the innocent. The social boycott of the innocent, projected as guilty in the group. A major injustice indeed. As I watched people cut themselves off, they were the topic of discussion for a couple of days. I analyzed why. The ones who cut themselves off, WERE innocent. They had realized that they had fallen into a social deathtrap. They escaped before any further damage could take place. Soon, it was my best friend’s turn. He was talked about harshly in his absence. Upfront, the group acted all sweet and nice. Selfish people, used the innocent for their own purposes. When he couldn’t do anymore, he thought he would still be accepted as a friend. No. In fact, the opposite happened. Rejection. When things with my friend were getting bad, I had already known that my time was nearing. Why? I saw the corruption manifesting itself in the group. Every single person, selfish. Finally, the time came. Rumours and false allegations were at their peak. I decided, it’s time to cut off. It’s sad. All the people who are nice, caring and actually have rational feelings are blacklisted. That’s the mistake us nice guys make. We give in to society to easily. We care for people with all our heart, give them our best. Every effort and endeavor, down the drain. Nobody can be trusted. Everything you may say can be distorted through corruption and thrown back at you with greater magnitude. It’s no point reasoning with such people. Things will be used against you.

No matter how much these people think they’ve understood how we nice people are, they’ve misunderstood. There aren’t very many nice guys left in the world, a very small population is left. Alone, a nice guy will be overwhelmed and socially destroyed by the corrupt ones. The best tactic is for all the nice guys to unite and fight corruption with full force. Destroy the hatred using kindness. I hope you don’t fall into this trap. If you do, I hope you have the strength to tackle it with full will-power. I did. I am glad I am out of the corrupt group of individuals. Dedicated to all my mates who are victims of such injustice and to everyone else who’ve been through this.

Sentiments

People come and go throughout the course of our lives. We hate some, we love some, we like some, we admire some and there are those who we deeply and truly love.

It so happens that there are only certain individuals who can make a change in our lives. Make us truly happy at heart. Just the sight of them makes us feel as if there is a display of fireworks in our core. The problem these days is, people don’t take others seriously when they express their feelings. The person having such feelings is doubted and goes through a real mess. The person for whom the feelings are, thinks its all a joke and doesn’t trust the other person. This in turn causes a lot of friction. The one with the sentiments is lost and confused. Always in a state of constant euphoria, yet finding it hard to convince the other. The one who doesn’t trust the other cannot be blamed, as it is a popular trend in the mainstream society. Therefore, the non-seriousness. The person with the feelings is going through a lot of inner doubt and self conflict. Always thinking of ways to truly convince the other how much he cares. He knows his ability, its really hard to persuade the other. If someone didn’t really care for someone, they wouldn’t waste their time trying to make the other believe everything they say. Simple common sense. All the arguments, fights and silent treatments are done with the one you care for. You wouldn’t dare argue with a stranger nor fight with them on something so small. Well small to a common person, but something of great sentimental value to the one involved. When you have feelings for someone, that person usually tests you in very brutal ways to see how much endurance you have, it may seem cruel at first, but you need patience.

Then there are those special words. If these are used all the time, their value diminishes. It won’t be of such great magnitude. If one must use them, use them with full heart and if they truly mean it. There are only few mature people these days among the many immature. It’s difficult to find such mature and refined people in society where there are irrational and inconsiderate morons running around everywhere. You really need to get to know a person to see if they truly are from the refined class or crude class.

It truly hurts to be underestimated, but you can’t always give up because of a few mean words. The better tactic is to fix yourself and keep on trying harder and harder each time. Patience is a real help and eventually, victory will be yours.

The Seeker

There are many different types of people in society. Some attract everybody, some don’t even attract a fly. The inability to attract results in a psychological complex in that person’s mind.

How do you think the person overcomes this complex tactfully? Well, seeking attention. There are various kinds of attention seekers. Some just WANT attention and some that genuinely deserve it. As for the ones who want more attention, despite  having it already, they will use any means necessary to achieve their goal. Do stupid things, tell dramatic stories, etc. As they say, “Drastic times call for drastic measures.” It’s funny just to sit there and analyse the legitimacy of the stories told. Most of them turn out to be out of the ordinary, something out of a child’s storybook or even an imaginary story. These stories may be positive in nature or negative, depending on the seeker’s intention and present circumstances. Once the attention is given to the seeker by the crowd, the seeker begins to drift off, break away. A downright show of attitude is exhibited by the seeker. This behavior in turn, has adverse effects for the attention seeker such as a social boycott and shunning. You can’t forget the endless mockeries.

Once the tables have been turned on the seeker, he begins to regret it all. This can only happen if he has a living conscience inside of him. The guilt builds up inside, haunting him for the rest of his life. “Why did I want attention? What good has it done?! I’ve taken it all for granted and now I’m being mocked.” A serious epic fail.

“Don’t run after the world is search of prestige and glory, the world will run farther away. Stay indifferent to all the attention, eventually;  it will come knocking at your door.”