what's in a number ?

Recently, a kid came up to me in a library hands tied behind his back, and said “HI! I am Jigar. What’s your name? “Before I could come up with a reply (my name)... I was stunned by the way he spoke... so seemingly confident with himself and the way he went up to each and every person there to introduce himself and chat with them with an ease and charm that I m sorry to say even some of my batch mates find hard to exude. It is then that it struck me that how we conduct ourselves, how we interact and how we think is not a reflection of what our age is but it is actually vice versa. Ok, how do we define age? The number of years since we are born... Right?? It is just simple mathematics and a tool to keep track of the time of our existence. It’s just a number. Shakespeare said what’s in a name? I say what’s in a number? That is one kind of age. The other kind, which is actually overlooked (a lot) in our society, is the mental age or the social age. These two terms are interchangeable as one affects the other. This is actually based on our journey since our birth... How much we know, how much do we understand and how do we carry ourselves. There are people who are still kids at heart not because they like having fun but because most of the times they are unaware of what is actually going on around them and how it is going to affect them. Similarly, there are people who might be considered kids because of their “age” but know and understand a lot than their peers. My point being that just because it’s been twenty five years since somebody was born doesn’t make them an adult and just because somebody was born a bit late they don’t have to remain a kid for a longer time just to suit the norms of the society and the people around them. We age when we take decisions and stick to them, we age whenever we learn new things, have new experiences! In other words, we grow up when we face the world on our own; understand what who we are and what we want. It is time now that this age starts deciding who is a kid and who is not and our society enjoys seeing the kids growing up in this way.

Seeing is believing

Sun is a heavenly body. Ok..when i said "sun" didn't you automatically picture a giant yellow round thing..??! But many of us know that IT is not how the sun looks like..but still our mind generates that image because our mind or our brain works on a very ancient but true idiom "seeing is believing.." ! It is the same reason why we have been taught that "actions speak louder than words" from our very own childhood. Seeing is believing..this idiom has caught my attention for quite some time now. As many of my friends might know..i love to dabble and experiment in a very interesting and mysterious science called "psychology" and this idiom i think explains a lot of human behaviour. When we hear a person saying "I helped an old lady cross a street yesterday.." most of the time, the skeptic in us would go.."yeah!right..*rolling eyes*" but when you see a person actually do that thing..we immediately believe that person to be kind , thoughtful etc etc irrespective of that fact we know nothing about him/her ! In malls, when we see couple holding hands..we go"aw w..cute" but when a person in love comes upto you and starts talking to you about how they feel..you will probably think "yeah..OK i believe you! (sarcastically)" so here's the bottom line ..what i want to say is you think somebody is judging you wrongly..don't go and talk ! Just be yourself for them to see and believe..! Your loved ones doesn't really trust your words..stop explaining..show them and make them believe..! The basic key to gaining a person's trust is to make them see what you really want to project and let them make their won decisions..because those are the decisions that are gonna stick for life !!
So this is my "eureka! kind of discovery.." agree or disagree ??

Women at the bottom of the ladder

An article titled the same as above was published in “THE HINDU” which left me very disturbed after reading it. It gave out statistics about even though women play an equally important role in the civil engineering field in the mason level they are terribly underpaid and usually not treated properly in the site. According to studies, women though preferred for the job by site engineers since they come regularly and do not cause any problems in the site are paid almost half of what men masons earn the exact pay being around Rs.165 for women and Rs.306 for men per day. Moreover this doesn’t mean they do any less work in the site. Right from carrying heavy materials to the top of the buildings from the ground and to passing the bricks from top to bottom in the scorching sun... You name it and they do it! Usually girls and boys are enrolled at the same age to work as labours but unlike boys who graduate to being masons girls do not carry their jobs into the future as they get married. When they return to work they have to start again as labours taking them a step back. Even when some girls were gathered and provided an internship of onsite training following the post tsunami period , at the end of their training almost all of them preferred to take up designing or other desk jobs since they knew they had no future in the field work. So, I now would like appeal to my fellow civil engineers especially women to stop this trend. Atleast we should provide equal opportunity to those women who are talented and competent enough to work as masons and earn their equal pay just as men earn it. Having women as masons have numerous advantages and they should not be discriminated just because they are women. The way we carve a niche for us in this patriarch field its time for us to let the other women also to be given the place we know they deserve.

What is going on.. ????????

OK..so the title sounds and looks stupid..totally out of place but that is EXACTLY how I feel after sitting through my "so-called" university examinations and even worse after seeing the goddamn results a week back! Sorry let me start from the beginning..two years before some very very very "wise.." thought he is gonna create some kind of revolution by dividing the stable smooth running and extremely comfortable Anna University of Chennai into some technical universities! Well, the idea might have been good but its execution happened to be so flawed that now the future (read career..) of many students under these universities look as ambiguous as our question papers! Only 26.87% students could secure an all clear..! And as if it wasn't enough now the authorities are blaming everybody from faculty to students for this um..lets say fiasco..for the lack of a better word ! But i guess they are so tensed that they are not seeing the flaws in this too..for example if the faculties are at wrong how is that our seniors fared far far better in their examination held during the same time taught by the same faculty..??? And if the students are at fault how is that the same batch fared well in the 1st and 2nd semester examination??? SO..pls sirs and madam we don't expect you to justify your blunders..just do something about this so that next time you don't have to search some new person to blame another fiasco on..!!
Already our education system is like we see what is happening,read what is supposed to happen but the minute we want to make something happen we are immediately shunted aside telling.."this aint the time for it.., right now concentrate on scoring well and getting a job" ...but with one more semester exam like the previous one..i don't think even that is gonna be possible!! So..going back to the title.."What is going on???"

My new found passion..!! :)

So,my last post was about my oldest and the most prized passion of my life..DANCE!
Dance has always been an eternal part of my personality..usually evrybody who knws me..would agree with this ! Especially, my friends..! Now,suddenly i am very keenly intersted me in another activity which excites me, challenges me or brings so much joy in me almost like dance did in my childhood ! That new thing in my life is none other than..COOKING !! :) :) I know i know..many of you are rolling your eyes as you are reading this as this new "passion" of mine comes at a risk of harming the environment (my home) :P and/or any good souls that happen to be at the receiving end of it..! But rest assured i would cook only what i want to eat and would eat it myself! :) I dont know why this cooking frenzy has caught hold of me maybe its because i am tired of asking my mum to make me the dishes that i want from the "sanjeeevkapoor.com" website or it might also be the result of the shear boredom caused by my so-called hectic engineering. Or it might be as simple as that..Engineering is driving me nuts ! :) i request my friends to share if they have also been prey to any such "craziness" recently..because if they had then it would give m a great sense of comfort..!! :) I just hope that this adventure of mine doesnt result in anybody ending up hospitalised..thats enough! :) so..any takers for my cooking??? any such good soul reading this?? :)

To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak..!!

Dance for me is a way of expression,a sense of freedom, an outlet for my feelings - a way to define myself.! i luv dancing...it makes me feel good,,special and happy ! There is one eternal feeling about dance that almost evrybody who dances knows..had felt..!! it is that its just like talking..letting out wat u feel..!! :) and the best kind of dancing is the one you do for yourself..because it is self theraphy..! people who dance dont need anybody else to sort their emotions out..their art does it for them..!!! well..for me..anybbody who is alive must dance..because u cant express that "alive" feeling any better than that..!! like somebody very wisely said.."a day that i dint dance..is a day that i dint live..!" so..my friends..dance and let know the world that you are alive..!!! :) :) :) :)

possessiveness ... !

POSSESSIVNESS..i doubt if any teen's life hasnt been involved with it.. atleast even if not directly..we all have been impacted by this strange and undefined feeling sometime or the other..! now, due to my past experiences..i am going to define exactly the "possessiveness" am gna talk about..! Its "Having or manifesting a desire to control or dominate another, especially in order to limit that person's relationships with others". Now, we all might have had a possesive parent, friend, sis, bro or even a lover. Though many think that the last one is the very common one actually it is not true. our parents, siblings, friends also are possessive sometimes..and I am telling this is in accordance with how i defined possessiveness. How many times have we abruptly severed ties with someone jus cuz ur friend dsnt like u talking ot them? or cuz ur parents/siblings aren't okay with ur relationship with somebody ? Loads of times right?? But usually we dont mind that..because we are jus kinda used to them being with us in our life that we sometimes let them make our decisions and abide by it subconsciously.Bbut in the case of a lover..We expect it to be different because mostly they are new in our life and we want them to understand our completely and be as we wish completely. But i feel possessiveness is healthy in small proportions in all relationships because it let the person know somebody needs you in their life more than anything, when our frnz or anybody is possessive about us it sometimes knowigly or unknowingly makes her feel a bit good ! But having said that, too much of control/dominance might make the relationship a bit suffocating. People might feel the other person thinks that they are unfit to make their own decisions or that their choices / feelings dont matter anymore. a clear communication might stop this from happening..! Let me end by saying this.. "holding onto your loved ones is good and special only till the grip doesnt start hurting them..if it does try loosening it up a bit with your trust and faith in them" !! :)