At 4 in the morning, I am in a mood that can only be termed as surrealist - a light headed feeling borne not out of any stimulants, but by the actualities dominating this life instance of mine.
2 months of peace to look forward to. And possibly the only topic that I can talk of on this dormant blog of mine at this juncture is of the past semester.
It has been an excellent time. And possibly one, in the manner of my earlier semesters, one of increasing experiences - delightful and exciting. The odd semester supposedly vanishes in the blink of an eye. Not so this time round.
August dragged on slowly with the placement season. Each rejection somehow seems to elongate one's notion of time. I remember my time in August, when my parents were out of station, and sitting in the hostel, I would be contemplating how to crack the next job on offer, handling the butterflies on my own. For a day scholar and quasi-hosteller like me, who has had emotional support his whole life, it was a new experience, and quite an enriching one at that.Thankfully, I got a job with Deloitte at the very start of September.
My second experience was surviving the whole sem without buying or issuing the textbooks of any of the course. My recourse was finding slides and lectures of the relevant course material on the net. It was fun, for it gave me a much more natural interest in all the subjects of the sem as well as much of extra domain knowledge. Sadly, it doesnt really cater much to exam specific study , which is why I see no reason why my results might improve.
My Third Experience was of finally trying alcohol as well as cigarettes. I cant claim I enjoyed either. My body seemed impervious to alcohol and I found cigarettes really irritating, literally. I dont see any reason to continue either of them. But I find that personal experience is liberating, to the extent that you do the right things because you have gained an understanding on why they are right, as opposed to having had a theoretical knowledge of why it is right.
In between these were many smatterings of wisdom and experience that hostel life continually teaches you. I'll sign off with one extremely profound one -
When you enter a no-footwear-common room filled with 100 odd hostellers to watch Sachin Tendulkar play one of the greatest knocks of his career, be sure to remove your slippers in a uniquely identifiable position.
Bakchodi Samaapt.
8 comments:
Trying cigarettes and alcohol is not cool, what if the practical knowledge had contradicted your theoretical knowledge ?
the above comment was by me and not an anonymous
Just to reaffirm, the experience wasnt bad :) But I believe that I shall desist alcohol for what it is, and not because of societal pressure.
This way, I shall hold my own even if my social circle consisted majorly of alcoholics. The evolution of the individual should be from smaller to greater maturity and responsibility, and experiences , I believe are an essential part of it.Avoiding experiences by labelling them 'not cool' is a rather dangerous idea, because if these ideas were to become cool, you wouldnt mind them.
By not cool, i didnt mean the socially acceptable or unacceptable cool, I meant that you know as well as I do that alcohol is not good for the body and/or the mind. Then why try it ? societal pressure is both ways, from what I see you have given into the peer pressure to try alcohol, in trying to not to succumb to the pressure of not trying alcohol, you did just that and succumbed to the other side.
@tikna
I beg to differ. One should always fight the demons on his own. I, in no way support or disapprove one's habit but can surely justify my own stand. We always judge society by our own standards. Maybe we should keep our acts in our side and let the other guy make his own balance.:)
@ Tikna : By your twisted logic, every act can be seen as succumbing. Walking on the footpath is succumbing to the idea of not getting hit by a moving vehicle; Staying a virgin is succumbing to the idea that sex is overrated; being a fan of proprietary software is succumbing to the idea that open source sucks and so on....
None of the above are , in my view, correct forms of reasoning to use. When we think out the pros and cons of an action and go ahead with it knowing that we shall gracefully accept the consequences, whatever they might be, that act is not called succumbing.
When such a thought process goes into each act , then one can say that man is possessed of sound reason and discrimination.
@prez - true, but he is my friend also, my personal belief is that alcohol is not good for you, hence if I see my friend doing something which in my opinion is wrong, the least I can do is make an effort to bring it to his attention, after that its his choice entirely.
@sharat- your examples are totally irrelevant to the discussion at hand.
My inference about succumbing to pressure was made after having observed quite a few people going to the hostel , being asked to try 1 glass and then making it a habit(can name countless names). But lets not go down that road, because you will deny that you were coaxed and made a free choice, but did you ?
I was just imposing my personal moral standards onto you which I know isn't right, but doesn't hurt also if my constant pestering can make you quit.
Anyway, you are the best judge for your body, I can only give you my opinion about stuff which like all humans you are free to reject or accept, but I will say this that it is a universally accepted truth that alcohol is bad for the body and the mind, alcohol in moderation might not induce the kind of symptoms it does in heavy drinkers but even in moderation it is addictive like any drug. I strongly condemn drinking alcohol (not alcohol drinkers).
"But lets not go down that road, because you will deny that you were coaxed and made a free choice, but did you ?"
Yes I did. Please accept that.
I do condemn alcoholism too. But as prez says, we must fight the demons ourselves.
Post a Comment