Project semicolon: why your story is not yet over

Recently I came across a pic in a social networking site, and it really moved me!!

The pic was of person’s wrist having a semicolon tattoo. That really intrigued me. I followed the hashtag and found out that it was about a certain project semicolon. The Google bug bit me and soon I was reading about this wonderful project which was started by Amy Bleuel. Project semicolon is a help group which motivates people who are struggling from depression, suicidal thoughts, self harming habits, anxiety and other mental illness. A little history about the project from its website.

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 This began in the spring of 2013, when Project Semicolon Founder, Amy Bleuel wanted to honor her father whom she lost to suicide. Through the semicolon symbol many related to the struggle of depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide and their will to continue on. The title, “Project Semicolon,” also represented a goal – to believe that this is not the end but a new beginning. “

image source

Now for all of you who is wondering why the symbol “;” , i.e of a semicolon. Well, when a writer doesn’t want to end a sentence, they use a semicolon. Similarly, here the hope is to reassure the victim that their story is not yet over. And that’s such a great hope they are giving out.

Many of us can’t even understand the pain a depression patient goes through. The saddest part is that they don’t come out to people about their suffering because we all know that mental illness has some stigma attached to it. Also the patients are afraid to confront with themselves and admit that they are suffering from it.  A survey says about 5% of total world population suffer from some sort of depression related illness.  That accounts for the people who admit to it, but there are many other who are living their lives in a dark shadow.

These are the people who need reassurance and help from us. You may never know, but someone in your family can be suffering from it! A simple request to all of you… if you fail to realize their pain, then please at least don’t make them a subject of mockery!  

I really appreciate what this project is doing. I would request you all to go their website once and understand the concept in much better way. You can read about the website here

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Those who suffer from such problem and are reading this article … I wanna give you a BIG virtual hug!!!

But wait,,, this article is NOT YET OVER!

I will continue this part soon where I will talk about addressing the inner demons;

Finally

Three cheers for project semicolon!!

7 types of irritating passengers you will meet while travelling in Indian railway

The summer vacation ended in India recently and I am sure most of you would have taken a vacation to either meet your relatives or simply to explore new destinations.

Being one of the largest railway networks in the world, the Indian railway carries more than 23 million passengers every day. With so many people travelling from the train, we are bound to meet every type of passenger during the journey. While every person has some bad traits, these traits get highlighted during the train journey. Here is my list of the types of irritating persons you will find in Indian Railways.

1. Gossiping Aunts.

These are the army of middle aged ladies who gather around two opposite seats and cramp up together to gossip about each and every person living on this planet. And you know what is the worst part, subconsciously you get involved in their conversation and thus you get know some amazing facts such as someone’s daughter eloping and someone’s son being sent to prison!!

While the ladies are not the only persons who are the chatterbox, it’s the gentlemen as well!!!

This brings me to my next point.

2. Political Uncles.

These are the breed of men who survive on newspaper. If you listen to their conversation properly, you will get to know that the government is responsible for everything bad happening in our country. They would blame government for each and every step they take and act as if they have all solutions to the world’s gravest political issues. They pretend to be the greatest diplomats, having the answer to problems such as world hunger or even alien invasion!!  But gets tongue tied when you tell them to elaborate their ideas…..

3. Wailing babies.

We got men and we got women… then who is missing? Babies! Now, I don’t want to sound rude, but babies have tough time travelling in the train. They feel claustrophobic and really uneasy thus they cry a lot. Now having full sympathies with them, I would like to highlight the plight of fellow travellers . Nothing gets on nerves as bad as wailing babies. Worst case scenario: a baby wailing during night!!! Last May I was travelling with my aunt and my darling god daughter on a train from Ahmadabad to Mumbai. She was only four months old and she was really uncomfortable during the journey. She was very fussy and the only thing which soothed her? The lullaby “hush little baby”. I and my aunt sang almost half of the journey, making the fellow passengers learning the lines of the lullaby by heart!!!!

4. Mr. /Ms. Theater

They carry with them their latest tab/laptop/mobile/phablet (did I miss something?). But they intentionally leave behind their head phones, because their sole intention is to entertain the whole compartment. They put on the latest Bollywood movie they have (which they got by illegally downloading from internet or from a friend who illegally downloads them) and enjoys it shamelessly. While you try a lot to distract yourself from the corny lines said by one of the Khans of Bollywood, you still get involved in the movie, glancing on the screen from time to time. Then Mr./Ms.  Theater suddenly gets tired and all sleepy and without any warning, turn off their gizmos and goes to sleep, leaving you wondering about the climax of the movie!!!

Oh and wait until they wake up and put on some Honey Singh’s rap.

5. The chit chat initiators.

They are people who get easily bored and long distance journey is sort of nightmare for them. Though they do not qualify as gossip mongers, but they are still interested in knowing all the mundane details of their fellow passengers. I don’t know want to sound rude, a friendly banter in a long journey is ok I guess, but introverts like me don’t like it at all!!  And yeah! Wait until they bore you to death by the story of their own miserable life!!

6. The litterers.

These are the people who are solely responsible for keeping our trains so dirty. Almost everyone have come across a compartment which is littered by peanuts shells, wafer’s packets etc. they are lazy morons who don’t even think before throwing the garbage inside the compartment. According to me, this people should be arrested immediately and sent to do community service which involves picking up garbage from the trains. These are the idiots who are responsible to make our country dirty and thus we are striving so hard to make our country clean or “swacch”…..

7. The newspaper stealer.

They sit beside you or opposite to you. And then, you commit the biggest mistake of your life. You start reading a newspaper. Even though they own one paper , they are still interested to read yours as if it has map of hidden treasure island. So while you are reading, they move their head in such an angle in order to read articles, which may even put a gymnast to shame. When you get irritated by all those movements and you decide to put down your own newspaper, they go back to reading the one they own or worst, ask you give the paper to them as you are not reading “at the moment”!!!

So this was my list of irritating passengers found on Indian railways….

Have you encountered any such passengers or am I missing someone?

Do let me know !! 

All gifs sourced from here