Season New

I am not bothered by the fact that I am unknown. I am bothered when I do not know others.
- Confucius, The Analects

Among all the posts on blogs I have read till now and the ones I have written I have never come across a one like I saw on my friend's blog just a few days back. There were pictures in it and I can't explain enough how deep they could penetrate into my heart and spread happiness there. Though writing the old Chinese saying which was something similar to "a picture is worth more than thousand words" would sound dull and appear like a cliche, I was flattered by how my friend managed to give that much appreciated human touch. Never the memories of these moments will be forgotten by me.

It is always desirable to write sweet words in praise of friends, appreciate their companionship, write how we feel for them and when we are with them, write some refreshingly new quotes by young writers, present a few old adages on life, love and friendship and give gleam and perfume to our feelings in text. But they never suffice. To have the people right beside us, to be able to see them, to be able to hear them whenever we want to, to hear them when we don't know what we are looking for in our lives, and to hear them telling us that they love us, will always be by our side regardless of what we turn ourselves into...

Lines of similar kinds can go on for the reason that we all feel nice reading what touches our hearts. It is difficult to take the facts, accept them and live with them wholeheartedly. I salute all those who have stayed this way, never allowed their emotions to interfere with their intellect and never showed any signs of biased behaviour. I could never become that. I always had preferences and priorities. Some of these betrayed me, some became a lot more important than I had earlier thought of them as and some just remained as mere priorities. I didn't think much when I saw my friend's blog-post. The thinking had already been done and the result was there. There was no realization either - it wasn't required. There was a smile, extended gloss in the eyes and there were words "it's unfair that it has to end". Allah decides.

I Could Give Up Chocolate But I'm Not A Quitter

Perhaps it is good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to discover a beautiful heart.
- John Nash, A Beautiful Mind

I had a wonderful time in conversation with my mother for about 15 minutes. I could have asked her for anything told or her anything. But I preferred letting her enjoy teasing me and my brother as she went on talking about my friends, then my brother getting married and then about I getting married. She asked me what would I would give my wife to eat. I didn't think of answering but she continued "pizza, burger and shawarma". I replied with "chocolate". But I didn't let that word come out of my mouth. It's too sacred and must be mentioned at the right times. But I asked her if there was any chocolate in the fridge right then. She said "no". I had been missing it for sometime now.

She had previously asked me why I didn't do the final project by myself and why I needed two people with me. Fortunately I had a friend there who explained her that it's not possible for a person to do a project alone and everybody has two people with them for it. After my friend left and took took time with me, she also asked why I had to do that project with only girls. She was laughing and so I took the freedom to give any illogical answer. I see that my parents and my brother leave no chance of creating fun of me. The only thing I don't like about them teasing me is when they use the words "Govinda" and "Himesh Reshamiya". I could have as well put today's title as 'A Beautiful Chocolate' but I don't want the movie to take any glory more than chocolate herself!

I finished watching 'A Beautiful Mind'. I liked it to recommend others to watch it. But it's I feel a matter of taste that one would like watching such movies. It's not always nice to see the hero impaired or helpless. I have a few more movies yet to be watched on my computer and a lot more with friends. It at times looks like a commitment to sit and watch even when it entertains and I like what it does to me. I am reluctant with almost everything but that's how it must be - we need to take time before we show any form of commitment. It's better that I don't get much into 'commitments' in this post.

Say Chocolate

Ah, how good it feels! The hand of an old friend.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Today was an expectedly unusual day for me. I woke up several times in the morning before finally getting out of the bed and each time woke up I tried to think of one good reason why I need to be wake. Putting myself to sleep seemed to be the best option. I went out of the house just a couple of times, finished reading a rook which had 43 pages left and started reading another book I had bought last month. Also not to forget the 40 minutes of 'A Beautiful Mind' I watched. I received no calls except the one from my mother, made no calls and read two messages including the one which was from my father intended to mock at my late mornings. These kind of expectedly unusual days is what I expect in the weeks to come. They sound not even remotely exciting.

It was fun watching all my elders playing and laughing the last Saturday when we were some good number of miles away from the city dining under the dark sky. They were playing some game for which I too was asked to participate. I refused giving no reason but smiles. It was my father who eventually won and my uncle seemed to be the happiest person for that. I was with my cousins looking at elders and their adulthood. It was peaceful and satisfying. I am the generation next to their's. The drive to that place and back home was my first experience with the car on highway streets with no lighting. It was nice but I found it a bit difficult in controlling my instincts to keep the vehicle's speed inside the limits.

Nothing makes us tired the way doing nothing makes. Nothing is more heavy than having nothing to carry. It is not easy to do things for the sake of doing them just because nothing else interests. I could have as well opened the books for the examinations that are due to start from the coming Monday but that didn't excited me. It found that very idea as dull. I knew what I wanted to do with a disbelief that there is not a way to do it. It doesn't seem to be a possibility even tomorrow or even the day after. I wonder with what motivation I am going to hit the bed today and with what reason I will pull out of it. Allah knows best.

Pretty Chocolate

Love me and the world is mine.
-David Reed

After the last Saturday's dinner with all my relatives, I have been thinking how much at times it can cost to be with the people we want to be and those we love. And as long as it only costs money it is still attainable. Though money can keep us busy and maybe even make us forget who we are, someday we all have to miss somebody and there is nothing we can do about it. Crying is not doing something; it is only crying even if it helps. Time wipes away the tears but these lunches and dinners remain forever.

When I told my father today that I tasted crab he made a face showing disgusted reactions. He even asked if I tried frog. I wanted to tell him that they don't serve frogs at Barbecue Nation but before I could tell him that my mind was busy recollecting the time I had spent today with my friends in that restaurant. We ate as much as we could and we laughed. Only that now I wish I never had to have bitter things within me for the person sitting on the left side of me when I was there. I don't regret but he continues to hurt me.

Things have now come down to what Allah wants me to get when I go to the US consulate. Of course that day doesn't decide my life, but it surely will make a lot of difference. It can bring a major set-back to my living or just simply put me into the next gear of life. Allah knows best what's good for me. He decided that I should get admissions to University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) and I received admission letters from both these university within days after my application. InshAllah I will receive my I 20 in the next few days.

UTD is one of the very good universities in the United States. Though it is not a part of the Ivy League, it is respected a lot for the research work that is carried out there and the industry interface it has to offer. It is probably better than all the IITs of India. UTA is good too but not as good as UTD. Alhamdulillah things have been going very easy for me. InshAllah they will continue to be so and even better. I pray to Allah that I don't do anything which He has dislikes for.

I spent a lot of time at a book store today with my friends. Whenever I am at such places I get an urge to buy all the books there and take them home. It remains a different thing how much I read or how little I read, but I have always had this love for books and a wish to have read them all. There are apparently some good books I have read, but they don't constitute even a fraction of all the good that are there. There was a book in the shop about chocolates and love. I don't know why but I can't stop thinking about it and what that book might have to tell. But I don't wish to read it. There are better books and people around!

Chocolate Smiles

Like everybody who is not in love, he thought one chose the person to be loved after endless deliberations and on the basis of particular qualities or advantages.
-Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past: Cities of the Plain, 1922

If maturity is what that can put us on the right path, then I wonder why so many men and women spend their whole lives in foolishness and why they never achieve maturity even when they reach old age. If maturity is such an important thing - so necessary that a person has to wait for it tell he is on his own, till he can be called an adult or till he can get married and have a family of his own - why is only age a requirement to be declared as an adult?

I see human beings killing each other, cheating each other, committing sins as if it's their duty, waging wars and killing innocent children, having pride even when they walk on a land created by Allah and wear clothes given to them by Allah; I see men hating men. Are these people mature? Even if they are millionaires, have families of their own, running big businesses or designing war-strategies? Maturity at times seems a myth. It's in the best of our interests to do what Allah asks us and the way He wants us to do it. Allah's book defines everything for us. We don't need maturity to go to heaven.

Some times I get worried about how blessed I am and how easy and perfect things have been made for me. I can never thank Allah enough. I am worried that I will get all the bounties in this world and burn in the rest of eternity. I have always asked Him for peace in both the worlds. All the good I see here is the acceptance of my prayers. Allah Himself will decide where I be once I am dead.

Death By Chocolate

It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place.
-Henry Louis Mencken, A Little Book in C Major, 1916

Imagine a box for chocolates with hardly any chocolates in it - filled with wafers, hard walnuts, black salt, some pieces of chocolate, some live pieces of coal, a few grams of black tar, a bit of confusion, a dash of disregard, a twist of excitement and the rest of the space as anger. That is what a part of my heart is right now. But I glad that I would only do what I find correct. I don't see that I have a right to be wrong but I see others who have a contention over that right. The rest of the part of course is chocolate.

I had a long and lovely time with two of my friends in the college today. We spoke, spoke and spoke. Then in the evening we went to Ohri's. It's kind of a meeting place for us - though we have many such places including college. I went to college today because I found it much better than staying home and sitting in front of some screens downloaded from the Internet. It's nice to have people around who are going to listen to us and to whom we find peace in listening.

It's many days now since I slept in the evenings. Once I spend some time on the computer, think about for a while, have some snacks and food in the evening I get fresh enough to keep myself going well till early morning. Yesterday I spelt after 3 am and while on the bed I was still wondering how much time it's going to take before the sun rises. It's ironic that I felt that because by the time I finally woke up it was 11 am. But there are bigger ironies - like the one I mentioned yesterday.

My Chocolate

It's all a game to you isn't it? You roam from town to town, bedding merchants' wives and temple maids and you think you know something about love? What about your father's love? You spat on him when you brought her onto this ship! What about the love for your country!? You'd let Troy burn for this woman!? I won't let you start a war for her.
- Hector, Troy

The evening of Sunday was all spent with friends. A blurred plan to study was made almost a week back when a friend called me. I confirmed it and asked other friends too if they could come over. We studied for a while executing some programs and left for a ride when it was all dark outside. We went past many places before having biryaani and fruit juice and returned home to finish only one more program. I could see a change in one of my friends who was beating me with silly ignorable reasons all the while. I too tried keeping it silly by letting my actions remain devoid of annoyance.

I somehow felt that I knew why he was behaving that way imagining a simulation of how I would be if I were in his place - if I were him completely, growing up the way he grew, having the kind of people he has around him, and keeping a psychology he keeps. I hoped that I was being prejudiced and I was myself - I am so happy about this always, I don't have to keep any masks and neither do I have to call anybody as a liar. Just sometime back I pondering on how a habituated liar would always think of others as liars!

Yesterday evening I was trying to run some programs when my father said that my brother, mother and he were going out for a walk. I asked him if I could join them. He was fine with it but also pointed that I had to study. I didn't like him telling that but I knew he was right and I asked him to go without me. Sometime later after I finished some time with the programs I called up my father and the first thing he asked me was to come over to Softy Den for having ice creams. He had just reached that place walking and I joined them within minutes. I had chaat and chocolate ice creams till my stomach could let in no more. We had a walk back home taking a longer route. I had my dinner after 1 am.

And that was for the first time in the four years of my undergraduate studies that I practiced programs at home. With a friend's help some days back, I had installed the .NET environment of Visual Studio 2005. Sunday the same friend had taught me a few programs. Yesterday I ran them myself and tried to perfect them. For the first time I was all happy to the reach the college with seven out of ten programs finding me comfortable. The test today went like an almost cakewalk with viva being the fastest section.

Once again when I was with all my friends, I had this particular friend irritating me. He was throwing water on me with no reason I could judge - not even prejudice caught me and gave any help - and I was just taking him as a friend who was probably trying to have some fun. Later in the evening when he came to my home with others, he continued his weirdness. And it was when he said that he seriously wanted to talk to me that I understood what he had in his mind. In fact it was the same thing I thought I had speculated on Sunday. He was aggressive and said that he wanted to talk to my mother.

He said that I will have to prove my seriousness before he does. I simply couldn't help myself from thinking how he was still not 21 years in age - I found no reason to stop laughing the way he was talking but I was clear with what was happening. Then he said that he wanted to ask my father if I had really spoken to him about something serious a few days back. I immediately started dialing my father's number but stopped it. If I had called my father, if I had let my friend talk to my father, I wouldn't have been writing all this here. Instead it could have been a story of how I made a friend and how I lost him.

I could easily recollect a day almost a year-and-a-half ago when he came to my house in the evening, all red, angry, heated up and ready to fight me. I am sure that day his heart-beat was a lot above normal and there was an uncontrollable burst of anger within him for me. He had come to ask me something direct and scold me, or perhaps even beat me up, but after some initial conversations he had calmed down. That day he had come to a friend's house to fight him for being a good friend of another person.

Today he wanted to beat me, and he did it several times, he was angry with me, frustrated, he had no belief in what I was saying and he wanted proofs for what I had done and what I feel. Later when I thought about his behavior I wondered what on earth made him think that I would be lying about my talk with my father. I couldn't believe he wanted to talk to my mother and ask her to take care of her son. I have nothing much to talk to others about why he was like that, I am feeling pathetic that he - this very friend - was saying all this. I know tomorrow will be a new day for him and he will be fresh again. For me the next day starts in 20 minutes from now when the clock shows 12 and it hardly makes any difference to me.

I have always believed that when I have to fight a person, I need to fight what he has done and not what he is. It is easy to dig out all about people, bring their lives in front of them and even make them belief what they never were, it is easy to show others what people are just by using truth in its most humble form. I can do that with myself. All I need to do is paste some already written text here and my self-defamation would be done. But that won't help anybody. It would help me instead for I know how self-vilification works the opposite. But it is always bad to criticise a person for what he is; it is better that we go for what that person does.

But what if that person is a friend? What if I know that that person has been trying to fool me all these days? What if I know that he is somehow the only one of all my friends who cannot be trusted? I am not writing all this to tackle him. I love him, he is my friend. I am just in awe of these kinds of complex human behaviors - not just of my friend but of myself too. It's interesting how we respond to changes around us, to the people around us and most importantly, the change within us. I just need to learn to carry all this with me without letting it effect my objective.

I find myself so happy always that I am clear with my objectives and I do things that are compatible and in coherence with them. There is nothing I am into right now that would effect the course I plan to take to pursue and to get to my objective and forward it. There are my ideas and my logics and I appreciate all those who have their own. I respect all those who know what they want; and even those who don't know because that is simple human behaviour. I believe that not everything can be learnt from experiencing - we can't experience everything, or by the time we get to learn from them, it is already too late. I am my best teacher and my teaching tools are the people around me and the books written by wonderful men and women and the great book given to us by Allah. I really don't have to worry about what others ask me to prove.