From shadows to the stars

The other day, when I was in class, the lecturer (or Professor) was asking us, the students, questions from what he had taught us in that hour. I guess he must have asked about 8 people and none of them could answer any of the questions he had asked. Then the lecturer called out my name. Unfortunately, I happen to have the bad habit of paying attention in class (well, at least most of the time). I knew the answer. The first word of the answer was out of my mouth. Then I heard someone, one of the guys who hadn't answered the question, saying, “Not fair”. I was surprised. I thought, “He couldn't possibly be talking to me”. I turned towards him, just to be sure. Wrong. He was looking at me, repeating those two words again. Not fair?! I had so many retorts that were building up in my head. But the very stupidity of this statement caught me dumbfounded. I stared at him for a couple of seconds. “What wasn't fair?”, I kept asking myself. Was it that he happened to be...

Almost every sitcom or even drama show that I have watched contains an episode or subplot about one of the characters worrying about being on either end of the apparently dreaded phrase, "I love you". Seinfeld, FRIENDS, Two and half men and The Newsroom  are few that I can remember at this point. Although I can understand, though not through personal experience, the fear of blurting the L word and not the other person not reciprocating, is it really that big a deal? I see people in India throwing those three words ever so often. Is it really that different in the West? Do people really hesitate to say "I love you", just because they fear that they might say it "too early"? I can't help but wonder.

I'm sure quite a lot of (Indian) people remember the nursery rhyme, "Ring a Ring o' Rosies". Here's how we were taught the rhyme.  Ringa Ringa Rosies A pocket full of posies Hasha Busha We all fall down Right about now, you must be wondering what the eff "Hasha Busha" means. I tell you, I wondered the same for many a year. It was just recently that I finally came across the right lyrics, while reading Dan Brown's "Inferno". "Hasha Busha" is actually "Ashes, Ashes". The book continues to explain that the rhyme is actually a reference to the Black Plague that ravaged Europe in the Middle Ages. Then I thought, "Wow. Why are they teaching that to kids?". I tried to recollect some other rhymes. Many that I remember seem to have somewhat a sinister mood to them. Jack and Jill went to get some water, but ended up breaking their heads. Jack certainly did. Maybe Jill survived. P...

There are about a million colleges in Hyderabad alone. These million colleges have about ten million advertisement hoardings and billboards, etc. Though the colleges do not offer the same courses and streams, there is something common in almost all the advertisements. There is always the picture of an attractive girl on them (mostly, though not exclusively, Indian). A photo of their infrastructure MAY be included. The obvious reasoning behind this advertisement is to attract male students. It is a very cunning tactic. Successful/ effective too, I might add. It is as if to say, "Come to our college, feast your eyes on beautiful girls". Forget the academic purposes. This tactic is debatable and questionable in many aspects. Male chauvinism, objectification of women, etc, etc. I leave this task to other, better people. In my own nihilistic way, I would like to question this tactic. The colleges have the audacity and/ or stupidity to advertise themselves as a sort of ...