It is year-end already?!

And I am actually asking this question ... where did the year 2k15 go away? Its like years have stolen shoes from Usain Bolt and are in race with each other to see who finishes first!

Okay that maybe an exaggerated analogy... but my today’s topic is going to revolve around the year end.

I still remember the day when I jotted down the last blog entry for the year 2014. It was about New Year and nostalgia. But I am not feeling nostalgic this time. In fact, I am having a hard time in digesting the fact that year 2015 is about to end. Year end is always special for me, as I look forward for some sort of new start, every year! And this fact is eating me up.

I don’t have that special excitement in me anymore. But is the reason behind my dullness is that  I don’t have anything to look forward the coming year? Wrong! Next year is going to be really crucial as I am going to move to a new city.

So, does that mean year-end has no significance for me anymore?

Maybe! Well, to be honest, it is just the change of date and calendar. The first two months will simply pass wishing each other “happy new year” (even though we don’t mean it) and then the monotony will continue. Of course, we all are going to commit the mistake like this  “20156“ or the artistic one are going to overwrite the 5 with 6. Oh and how can I forgot the habit of checking out number of holidays we will be getting this year (btw 2016 has many long weekends). And please don’t get me started over resolution.

That is it! Nothing else! Then why do we all go gaga over new years? Is it because of holidays? New Year’s party? Hope of getting lucky when the clock struck 12 during new year’s night?(yup, I am a rom-com fan).

I guess I am slowly entering the mundane adult life, where there is no much hope left and even New Year means just the change of calendar! But then, while writing this whiny post, I have decided that I am not going to lose to my lethargic and complaining nature! I have to revamp myself and thus be more optimistic. Somehow I got my lost passion back, just with this little introspection.

New Year  remains charming as ever!

Dear Santa!

Dear Santa,

Here is the list of things I really want for Christmas!

·        Good health for my near and dear one (including myself!).

·        Inner peace for everyone who needs it.

·        Every person in this world should get the gift of expressing empathy.

·        Less interaction with gadget and more with people!

·        Eradication of hunger.

·        End of various wars.

·        Smile over everyone’s face!

So here’s my list...I know you would be thinking that I am being “Mr. Horribly Good”. But let me tell you one thing, I could have easily jotted down few things like a Ferrari or I-phone and what not. Obviously those things would have been materialistic. First of all, being materialistic in the world is not an issue, even I am! But never on Christmas!

For me, Christmas is all about giving to the needy and miracles! Those things which I want could be bought in near future if I really work hard and earn tons of money! But what about giving back to the humanity? If everyone would wish for the above list, I am sure Santa is going to grant them.

I would be waiting this Christmas, for Rudolf to drag that sleigh so that Santa can make my wish come true! And I really hope it will come true because it’s Christmas and miracles are always waiting to happen!

Dear readers, I wish you all a merry Christmas and happy holidays! Hope the coming year brings all the joy in the world for you!

Confession of an introvert...

Today I am going to continue my whining streak, by updating another post where I complain about my current life. If you read my last posts, you would be knowing that I have joined my first job on 16^th. The people are good and very co-operative in my workplace. Even my colleagues are really friendly and fun-loving, with no sign of arrogance or ego (yet!). After reading this, you would definitely like to ask me that why I am creating a big drama and constantly whining about this new phase of life. And my answer is, I am an introvert!

 

image source 

Okay, now if you go through the definition of this word through a dictionary, you will come across words such as keeping to themselves, quiet, shy etc. Today I would to like to present how it feels to be an introvert and how hard things are for us at times. There are many misconception about us and I want to clarify them, by giving reference to my scenario.

People often say that introverts don’t talk much or keep to themselves, because they lack communication skills. To be honest, most of them are really confident people and they don’t lack any skills to communicate. We know a lot of them as great leaders also. The thing is that, we are mostly preoccupied with our thoughts and imagination. It’s kind of our own imaginary world in which we are busy and thus we forget to interact with others!!  We have a group of 36 people in my learning group, abbreviated as L.G. So while everyone was busy interacting with each other, I could only talk the guys and girls sitting around me, as I was busy with my own world most of the times. On the second day, I was asked this expected question from L.G mates, “why are you so silent?”

Now as we are engrossed in our own thoughts, and as we are usually silent, we may come across as rude person. Not even that, you would be accused of being snobbish and arrogant and what not. And all this while, you would be thinking that how well-mannered I am as I am giving everyone their personal space!!

Don’t think that introverts are not chatty or talkative! When we get comfortable around someone then there is no way we are going to shut up!

Another thing which I have heard a lot about introverts is that, we don’t know how to have fun. And on my defence, I would like to say that the definition of fun may vary from people to people! Fun doesn’t mean you have to go to a pub, get drunk and dance wildly! Fun can also mean, shut off your cell phone, make your favourite coffee and sit with your favourite novel! Most of you may call it boring, but then again, it is my idea of fun!

Introverts are also not lonely people. They may have only a small group of friends, but they are not lonely people. We love the “alone” time though. Every day, I need some “me” time. Here I want to emphasize the difference between being alone and being lonely. I don’t know about others, but I choose to remain alone at times so that all that millions thoughts which constantly race through my mind, get some time of their own. It kind of soothes me.

The mates in my L.G are quite jovial and fun loving, and me as an introvert, is having a tough time dealing with that. It is not that I am rebuffing their warm gestures, but I am also not too comfortable with it. But this time I have decided to do what is not expected from me. I am saying yes to group dinners or group hangout. I want to come out of the shell, in which I have limited myself. Even I want to live that crazy wild life of extrovert once!

 While people always complain to have bad colleague, here I am complaining about having friendly colleague. I guess a man can never be happy!

With all this revamping going on in my personality, I can surely tell that I will never become an extrovert but I can surely qualify in being called an ambivert!

Finally,

Three cheers for introverts!

It is because of us, that you extroverts are called fun people!

23 !

Hello Hello!
So I have turned 23 this week, that was on 17th. First of all a very happy birthday to all of you who celebrated their birthday on 17Th of November! This week was actually very prominent one for me! I joined my first job after graduation. It was a very hectic week. But by the end of the week I'm kind of enjoying this job. The environment was scary in first , but now I have accustomed to the culture. People say that we should love what we do, and it's been only a week and I could say that i'm loving it for now!
But the big thing to happen this week is me turning 23.
I won't lie, but I'm freaking out turning older year by year. I know it sounds very outrageous but I'm seriously acting like Joey from the series F.R.I.E.N.D.S, where he was very upset of turning old. I am the same. But the thing to ponder about is why am I feeling so ?
Am I afraid of loosing my youth? ... No
Am I afraid of the responsibility that comes with the adult life? ... No
But what is it that is eating me up?
I guess I am afraid of loosing the carefree days. I know that my loved one are also growing older as I grow older each other. We all have to leave this land and head for heaven one day, so maybe it's the fear that the day when I loose those loved ones are also approaching.
Let's talk about vanity. Yes! I used to look younger for my age . But in this last 6 months , I have seen significant change in my feature and body weight! People say that I have started looking like an adult, and that came as a shock for me because for past years I have been listening that I look young for my age! So I guess these comments came as a fuel to my ageing worries!
So while I embark on my new journey to responsible,independent and working individual, I keep on sulking for turning 23!
Just answer me one thing, am I overreacting? or is this a phase every early 20 something goes through! Whatever be the answer, the fact remains that I'm 23 :(
Finally,
three cheers for Adult life!

Happy Diwali !! And Happy 1st birthday to my blog !

Today is Diwali!! Happy Diwali people... But wait.. Today is also the first birthday of my blog... I thought a lot that how to celebrate this occasion and then I decided to post a personal message through this video. Yes, I am finally speaking in my blog! So when I was in my traditional attire( cause of diwali) , I arranged my mobile's camera on a never used tripod , and finally after 5 takes , here is my personal message... "TADA"

Thanks again to all of you for being a part of my blogging journey!

Three cheers for the every day me blog!!!

Busy !!!!

So I really want to update my blog but i got no time to do so. as I am busy preparing joining for my first job. This month is going to be very  important for me.First of all... this blog will turn one on 11th of this. The author of this blog will also turn a year older this month. Apart from that , we also have diwali on 11th!! (isn't it great, my blog's birthday and diwali is falling on same day)! I am in love with November and I have written many post about it!

As I don't have much time, I will give you a flashback of my previous post regarding November.
First... my reasons on why I think November is the best month...you can read it here

I have also written my post about Movember or No shave November

And I have shared my favourite recipe of cupcakes ,, so that you can delight your taste buds!

This blog is completing it's first year, and you guys don't know how much pleasure it gives me to see that someone has viewed my posts even if it remains dormant for most times!
Thanks for the support!

Sex Education: why we need it ASAP

India has always been land of education. From Taxila University to IITs, it has been home to some of the most prestigious institute in the world. But unfortunately we have been lagging in providing quality education to the poor. The government schools are in desperate need of help.

Along with that, the curriculum provided in all the school is really very outdated. Majority of the class room are still under equipped and please don’t get me started on the unavailability of computers. But today, I would like to talk about sex education.

Now in India, even mentioning the word “sex” aloud is a taboo. It is something which has been discussed by the last benchers of classroom, often giggling when the biology teacher draws a weird looking vagina. Back in my days, young boys get to know about birds and bees via some really shady magazine or by a “bhaiya”( an elder and “experienced” boy of the neighbourhood). Taking notes from those guys is the worst thing any curious mind can get, but hey this is how the cookie crumbles in most parts of India. Things which I’m talking about are of course pre-smartphone and pre-easy internet era. And how can I forget those times, when our peers used to exchange those shiny discs of *ahem*, never mind. My point is that sex education is not available to the young mind and that it should be introduced as soon as possible.

I was shocked to read an article today, which was about a 9 year old boy who raped a 6 year old girl. This news is hard to digest but the incident was confirmed with help of medical examination. Now to be honest, these sorts of incidents are bound to happen. Young minds are not sure of the change happening in their body and because of exposure to pornographic material so easily, they tend to commit mistake. Now the boy have to spend time at juvenile remedial centre, but it could had been easily avoided if he knew that what he was experimenting was wrong.

 Sex ed curriculum around the world starts from a young age of 6-7 . They discuss about private parts and how it is inappropriate to be touched by strangers or others. This is the best way to keep a child safe from paedophile and save him/her from being targeted by those predators. Imagine the trauma a child will go through, when he will grow up and remember those horrific incidents. It would be only then, when he will realise that he was molested and by that time it would be too late to punish those demons of society.

Sex education is also necessary to preach young minds about safe and healthy sex. Even if they try experimenting from young age, proper guidelines will keep them safe from any Sexually transmitted disease as well as unplanned pregnancy.

When a child is given proper knowledge from a young age, he would have clear idea about maintaining his sexual health. It would also help him in family planning later in his life, and this is the most urgent need of India at the moment. Things are definitely changing and we are moving forward. Sex education has been included in some school boards but only a small aspect of it has been discussed. Sex is a hush-hush topic in major part of the country but it is now finding a place in many healthy debates

Time has come when talking about”birds and bees” will actually mean talking about birds and bees! Oh and yes, I have no shame in saying my thoughts aloud. And before we Indians gasp at this word one more time, let me spell it out to you again... S-E-X, SEX!

Making India Swacch:

Now days there is a huge cry in our nation about staying swachh or clean! And why not...

Staying clean is one step closer to being healthy. I am actually very happy that the government has started this program. I’m not sure whether the government could fulfil its promise of handing over a clean India to the Indians on 2^nd October 2019, which would mark the 150^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi ji always propagated the idea of keeping our surroundings as well as our mind & soul clean.

 Even though government may fail in its project ( I sincerely hope they don’t), a good thing which has come out of this program is that everyone is talking about it. The media is airing about this mission almost every day. Many people have conducted cleanliness drive in a hope to get 30 second of fame in the Indian media. I think people who conduct such drives should definitely get this appreciation as it would encourage them to continue doing this work as well as ignite passion in mind of other people.

Now conducting these cleanliness programs are obviously necessary, but I think along with that we have to also educate people about its benefits. India is a country where majority of people suffer from NIMBY syndrome. NIMBY stands for “Not In My Back Yard” syndrome. It means that the citizen don’t care about the disposal of garbage until and unless it is not dumped in their own backyard. They will keep their own home clean but wouldn’t care about the cleanliness of the streets or neighbourhood. Now, how to combat with this syndrome? Well, we have to wake up our inner conscience. We need to realize that the society where we live is also part of our home. So next time, when we go through the cleaning spree of Diwali or any other major festival, please make sure to clean the path outside your doorsteps along with your home!

One of my major arguments of today would be the availability (or rather unavailability)  of toilets. Unfortunately, 53% of population still used to defecate in open in 2014. This unavailability of toilets not only spread disease but also plays a major social role in rural India. Girls refuse to attend school because they don’t prefer to urinate in open during school hours. 30% percentage of Rape crime against women could have been avoided if they were not forced to defecate in open. So construction of toilet is a must in many areas.

Answer me this please. How many times where you forced to urinate in woods while travelling on road, because the next closest toilet was at least 50km far and that too was in an old and dilapidated petrol pump??!! I’m not only accusing lack of facility. We Indian men are notorious enough to pee in almost every public place. Construction of the toilet is not the only solution. Report says that even after toilets where made in their home, some people still prefer to defecate in open because it provides them an opportunity to take a morning walk, see their fields, and take in the fresh air. They obviously have no idea that it would in turn affect their health. We need to educate them about its pros and cons before mindlessly conducting these “safai abhiyaans”.

Swacch Bharat program is hands down the best initiative taken by the Modi government and we, the citizen of India should make sure we contribute to this program by keeping us and our neighbourhood clean. Because the sweepers can’t clean every paan stains from the walls or collect those plastic bags which we throw away in streets without giving a second thought.

A big salute to those hardworking sweepers, who strive hard to keep our country clean.

With warm wishes of Gandhi and Shastri jayanti , I hope we will definitely succed in our mission of Clean India. 

Update about my new blog

Hello everyone....
First of all thank you for reading the Every day me blog. It feels really good when you all take out time and read my views on different topics. Who knew I would gain readers from all over the world, stretching as far from Indonesia to USA. And of course Hola to my readers from Spain, who makes 
second most readers of my blog after my own country people!
with such a warm response, I would request you all to also catch on my article on another blog, where I share it with one of my closest friend. here's the link
http://thatmakesallsense.blogspot.in/
And no, i'm not going to stop writing Everyday me blog!
Thanks for your consistent support
Finally
Three cheers for my readers!

Do you like to dislike?

We all have our taste, opinion, preference and views over each and everything thing present in the world. Some let their choices known to the world pretty boldly, while other just nod along with crowd and don’t let their likes known. We all have likes and dislikes, but when it gets contradicted with someone else’s opinion, two things happen... either we let go off the scenario by saying “to each his own” or we fight with other persons to convince them about our choices.

So why am I imposing these “opinion” over you.. ?

Well, earlier this month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that his company is trying to introduce a new button in FB which would help the user to let them express empathy. He discarded the idea about launching the much demanded “dislike “button along with the “like” button. Now, how this new button will work, I don’t know. But I would surely like to imagine the consequences of the infamous “dislike” button.

As I said earlier, every person has got their own taste. So if we want to get something reviewed by our friend in Facebook, we have to solely depend upon the comment section to read its review or count the number of “likes” it get. If we compare it with Youtube, it has got a dislike feature. There are times when we definitely want constructive criticism from people to let us know whether our work is good or bad. Now imagine there is an artist who publishes his work in Facebook. He definitely got some like, but he is unaware of people who didn’t like his work. He is a busy man so doesn’t get time to read all the comment posted in it. Thus he is not able to receive feedback properly. Now if he post the same thing in Youtube , with just a glance he would come to know how many views he got, how many people liked it and of course how many disliked it.

You all have to understand here that it is just a minuscule aspect that I’m talking about. But it is true that receiving honest review is hard without the “dislike” button. Let’s talk about the other side of the coin. What if the “Dislike” feature is actually introduced in it? I don’t know how much havoc it will create, but some things which I think that would definitely happen are....

“like” if you are Indian and “dislike” for Pakistani or vice versa

“like” if you are Hindu and “dislike” for Muslim or vice versa

 “like” if you are straight and “dislike” for LGBT or vice versa

“like” for Clinton and “dislike” for Trump or vice versa

Let me get myself clear first.. I don’t dislike any of the eight community/people mentioned above. I’m just using it as an example to explain about what could be the possible outcome of the dislike button. I’m sure all of you must have come across such post which spread hatred amongst a particular group of religion/race/creed/nationality or even paint a person in wrong light.

At the time when cyber bullying is at its peak, introduction of the “dislike” button will give more fuel to hate. Social media is filled with those people and thankfully they don’t have access to this mischievous button yet !!!

In the end, I want to conclude that, it is for good that we don’t have “dislike” button in most social media. I can’t imagine how bad I will feel if someone dislike my post and expresses it openly over social media via the count of the number of dislikes I have got. Having said that, I always welcome criticism and feedback from all my readers around the world!

So, while Prime minister of India, Narendra Modi ,gets interrogated by the Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook,

 Do you still “like” to “dislike”??     

Why social media is bringing the old days back:

Today’s generation finds themselves lucky because they have access to one of the most powerful tool , i.e. the internet! With the advancement of the technology, we can access internet on almost every platform and it is always available on our finger tip. Sounds like a quite progressive society right? Well , I disagree.

Remember the early eras?? Those dark olden days, where the judgement was given by the group of kangaroo courts or a group of mobs. People were falsely accused of crimes but still they were executed without any proof. The practise of witch hunting?? Does it ring any bell in your mind?

You must have watched movies in which mob armed with torches and forks, surrounds a criminal and then banish him from the village or execute him. Can you believe those days are back? But this time, virtually.

  Facebook created history few days back, when a billion users logged in on one day. This shows how people are more present on the social media these days. But it have given rise to new set of so called activist who have spread their web on the internet. These are called the slacktivist!

Admit it, we all have come across some online petition “Which would save the world” or something as ridiculous on various social media. And I guess you all know who are responsible for them. But forget about slacktivists, even the regular man is influenced to teach lesson to a wrong doer in social media.

image source

But this online passing of judgement has actually turned into cyber bullying, often psychologically disturbing the person targeted.

Few days ago, a student of Delhi university snapped a pic of a guy in a traffic signal and posted it on Facebook, stating that she was molested, abused and intimated by this guy. She even filed a police complaint against the guy. Guess what happened? The girl’s post went viral and she was lauded everywhere in the Indian social media. She even got cash reward from the chief minister of Delhi. Meanwhile, the guy was arrested, he was declared “national pervert” by one of the leading news channel in India, and was made poster boy of chauvinist Indian male.

Let’s forward to next day, the guy got out from the jail and told his version of the story which implied that the girl was at fault. Even an eye witness said the similar story. And thus the attention shifted back to the girl. As fast as she was raised to  pedestal, it took no time for the netizen to throw her from her throne. She was ridiculed, made fun of, and it was concluded by the netizen that she did all this drama to shoot into limelight. The great Indian media also somehow found a “fact” that she has some political aspiration!!! The guy was treated with sympathy and was even apologised by one of the most famous Indian actress on twitter.

Did you find one thing missing in the above story? The judgement by the law!!! The court judgement is still not out and police too has not confirmed who is at fault. But the great Indian netizen and even the media had already passed the judgement!!  And this is what needs to be stopped. According to me the girl did the right thing by snapping the pic of the guy and filing a complaint in the police, if she felt that she was abused. But her step to post the pic in the social media was a very bad, immature and horrible idea. She should have waited for the court verdict. And even if the guy is at fault, I still feel sorry for him. He went through a lot of cyber bullying and was even declared a “national pervert” by a news channel. Of course coming from a middle class family, he doesn’t have the resource to sue such a huge media channel.

The moral of the story?? The netizen have turned into group of lawmakers who pass judgement based on emotions and allegations. They don’t care about the victim’s psychological condition and give their verdict without caring about the law. And if this doesn’t seem similar to you like the old age practise of witch hunting or execution, then I’m sorry to hurt your feeling :-/

We all have got right to share our views, opinion on social media. But we also need to be cautious that we don’t overstep our right by indulging in bullying, harassing someone or worst, passing judgement on some cases!

Now, if you want an online petition to be signed by me, it should be of barring these buffoons who misuse the power of social media...

Finally,

Three cheers for Social media!!

Fighting with inner demon!!

My last post ended with a semicolon,, so this is the final part which I was supposed to talk about. In my last post I talked about project semicolon and the ordeals through which people with problem such as depression has to go through.

I have titled my post as “Fighting with the inner demon”. The demon which I am talking about is not some mythical creature. It is in fact something which exists in our brain. It is something which pushes us towards the darker side of our soul. The demon could be anything: it could be stress, a problem, a memory, an incident… it could be anything. But the most difficult part comes when we can’t understand what this demon is or we can’t recognize this demon of ours.

But it isn’t that difficult. When you are completely honest with yourself and introspect yourself thoroughly you are definitely going to find this demon, which is actually the root cause of your entire problem.

                                                               image source

Many times, finding the demon is easy. It is there only, inside us. But when the matter comes about accepting it, many of us get the cold feet. It is a true fact. We don’t want to believe that this demon is eating us up. We then live in a complete state of denial. But you know what does being in denial leads to?? The growth of your demon!! So acceptance plays a huge role in fighting that demon away.

Next step is coming out of the closet. Now this phrase is usually used with discussing or rather revealing someone’s sexual orientation. But here I’m using this phrase collectively for all people who had been hiding something from the world because of the stigma attached to it. We all know that telling the world that we have some mental stress or ailment is usually frowned upon and hushed down in many societies. But I want to request you, please come out of your closet. There is nothing to be ashamed of. But, choose wisely about the people to whom you want to pour your heart out. My suggestion is to confide to your immediate family member. If you think that is not safe, then tell it your closest friend. If none of this is suitable for you, then go and search for the support group in your city. If you come from a remote corner of the world, then find some online support group. If even that is not possible, then maintain a journal and write all these feelings down. I bet you… if you follow one of the above options, you would feel some weight has been lifted from your heart!!

My last step is fighting and killing that demon!

There are many ways in which you can shut out that demon forever in your life.  One of them would be making peace with your inner self. If something wrong happened in past, correct it. If your life is not the way it was meant to be, then make it your way or deal with it!!

Some demons are just scars which can’t be corrected or dealt with. For that the solution is to simply avoid them. Avoid the scenario in which you get low or depressed. Keep yourself busy.. Channelize your negative energy into something constructive. Workouts, meditate, paint, draw, sing, dance, write, or watch a movie!! Do whatever you like!!  These steps are surely going to kill that filthy demon away or send it back to faraway lands!!

So this is my way of fighting with the inner demon… if you have any more suggestion…then please do let me know!!