The Pursuit of Happiness part 1

On watching the film I certainly found myself thinking pretty deeply about it. Incidentally I was also interested to learn the US constitutions grants the right to the pursuit of happiness to people. And like the character of Will Smith in the film I was interested to notice the use of the word "pursuit". Everyone is indeed in a pursuit of happiness. We all work to live. And work harder to live happily. Some people find happiness in money, some find happiness in other things. But everybody tries to be happy. It is incidentally happiness as a phrase that interests me. What is happiness ? Is it different from satisfaction? Is different from achievement and security ? the other things that we all hunt for in life ? It's certainly something to think about. Life is a challenge but a challenge to achieve what ? happiness ? If so then why do we deliberately make decisions that will bring neither us or others happiness ? The though of happiness has seriously got me thinking very hard about life. Once I have more thoughts on the subject I''ll update this blog with a part 2 of this entry. In the meantime try and be happy

The Indian Presidential Race

Irrespective of whoever actually rises to that office there seems to be one common consensus amongst all sensible Indians, that Mr Kalam is without doubt the best candidate. No one can deny this one obvious fact. The most educated and the least political person one could ever find in the Indian Political system. He is a man of honour and ethics . His contributions to our Nation as a scientist are in it's self admirable. Unfortunately during his tenure he has come under criticism most notable over the Afzal Execution case. However it is important we understand that in our country a President truly doesn't have the kind of power that many people claim he does. They are a number of panels to whom he must refer before making any decision who in turn do nothing better than bind him. His ability to bring about a reform is restricted due to the fact that he is nothing more than a tool of our government. Despite being considered the highest office in India there is little he can actually do. Our nation doesn't deserve a man like Mr Kalam as President. By staying in office he would merely allow himself to be used as a pawn in the dirty politics that have infiltrated our government at the highest level. Politics is not the place for an honest honourable and patriotic man. Being president would only leave him vulnerable to undeserved criticism. He would be wasted if he were President. His contributions to our nation would be of far greater value if he were in a less politicized position. Our nation is in need of men like him. But until we can remove the filthy elements who find ways to bind him and suppress his efforts to bring about an improvement in our nation we do not deserve him. By appointing him president and then obstructing him we make a mockery of our presidential system and we demean one of our nation's finest contributors. Mr Kalam come back to a cleaner profession. The entire nation stands behind you. Unfortunately by joining politics you join a brand of people who do not deserve to be called Indians. Come back to us who honour you and value you. Come back and be an Indian again

Random ( and not very cheerfull) update

Well it's been a while since my last post....not that long, but I figured an update would do no one any harm. Things have of late been going rather badly, with the culmination of badness occuring with my SAT scores being worse than horrible ( and no I'm not going to post them up here ) Once again I find myself in that same irritating being pressurized from different directions kind of situation which is totally not welcome. It doesn't help now that it's high time I got started on that pile of homework that's as usual as big as it can get. Plus now I'm starting to get a bit more realistic about my writing ambitions. My beautiful plot doesn't seem so great now so I'm already trying to think of something else which isn't working. I guess Inspiration for a story truly can't hit a person from the blue. You've got to get your back side down on a chair and think Unfortunately there is already an avalanche of things I need to think about and I can't give a fictional story that may never get published a priority. I'm definately not going to give up. But maybe I'm going to have to give the idea of being a published author a backseat for the moment and focus on more immediate problems that I'm up against.
Well that is all for the moment...I'll be back with more interesting stuff as soon as possible In the meantime I hope you're having a better week than me!

War !

yeah...I'm at war. I'm at war with a massive ton load of homework that's been dumped on my shoulders. I'm currently engaged in an insane war to somehow finish these crazy assignments and have them ready by the time school reopens. Unfortunately my army has been infiltrated by the enemy. Their secret agents have taken control and my army is now plagued by them. They are known by the name of procrastination. A dangerous force that obstructs me at every point when I'm trying to finish my work. Until I manage to safeguard myself from this deadly weapon of the enemy I will remain horribly vulnerable. For the enemy strikes by throwing at me ridiculous amounts if work, and only if I complete this work can I win the war. Procrastination ( The secret spies of the enemy ) will try and stop me. I must win!. I'll be back...hopefully with news of some victories.

Religion and Faith

For years now Religion and faith has been an immensely controversial topic for mankind. People have died and killed over the topic. Religion has been used by many both as an opium and as propoganda. Even today We find ourselves immersed in the same controversy. For this reason I ask myself what is religion and what is faith? Religion is a way of life. It is a collection of doctrines that instruct us how to live our lives. It is a path to enlightenment and acheivment of the inner self. Faith is our beleif. It is a beleif in a force superior to us. Some call it god.
Unfortunately not everyone follows religion the way it is meant to be followed. We misinterpret and exploit religion to suit our own needs. People die on the name of spreading their religion, which is clearly something the founders of the religion never wanted them to do. We forget the sacrifices made by those who created the religion in hope of betterment. We lose our sense of right and wrong and good or bad. We lose our compassion and our ethics. We become senseless beings
Let us not forget the purpose of any religion or any faith. Whether there is a god or not, whether any particular religion is true or not is probably not a question to which any of us can ever know the answer. Atleast not in this life. But we can learn to respect others, their faith and still mantain our own. We can abolish our personal egos and respect those who sacrificed their lives to improve the lives of others. We can live peacefully without discrimination. We are humas. For Thousands of years we have evolved from senseless beasts to kind and civilized human beings. We must not allow Religion to be our undoing. We must make Religion our strenght not our weekness. We must make faith the candle not the darkness. We must rise above senseless conflicts and develop compassion for our fellow humans. We must live, and let live....

A Review of A Thousand Splendid Suns

Around 2 years back as a part of our School Annual at our school we did a play on the novel The Kite Runner. At that time I simply followed the script given to us. 1 year later I actually picked up the novel and was swept away at it's breath taking power and spell binding narrative. When I heard his second novel was due this May I was both excited and yet skeptical as to whether he would be able to deliver as powerful a story. He proved that he could. His Second novel is about the lives of 2 girls namely Mariam and Laila in Afghanistan who both undergo highly strenous and trying times in life. Their lives intersect when Laila the younger of the two marries Rasheed who is also Mariams Husband. Although they initially look at each other as adversaries Rasheed's cruelty soon forces them to unite, and they forge a strong friend ship. A sister like relation. As the story proceeds their endurance is tested to it's limits as the political sitauation in Afghanistan continously deteriorates with more and more conflict. Finally they find in each other the strenght to live.Hosseini charts this new story with exceptional skill. The Story in it's self is heart breaking, but the narrative is powerfull enought to make you wince with pain yet remained glued to the story. Hosseini ruthlessly provides the reader with the cruelest of scenes, which effectively strenghten his message and enhance the story telling by creating a repulsive realism. The story serves effectively as an eye opener to the hard ships faced by the citizens of Afghanistan and the various aspects of life that we tend to take for granted. The story is powerful enough to melt the hardest hearts and to open the stiffest of eyes. There is alot we owe Mr Hosseini for both his outstanding contributions to literature and his ability to potray the suffering of our fellow humans. His book inspires compassion and thankfullness. If books can be imposed for mandatory reading then this one certainly tops the list.

A Day in the Life of an IB student

1. Wake up
2. Go back to sleep again
3. Wake up again…this time with a more determined attitude
4. Finish breakfast ( you definitely have coffee as well)
5. Leave for School
6. Greet your fellow IBers…and share you’re most recent agonies
7. Sit through classes go to the lab as well
8. Wince as with every passing class your hw workload steadily increases
9. Give that Math test
10. As school ends stay back for the numerous CAS activities. Curse the CAS programe
11. Curse the IB
12. Feel a familiar sense of panic as you realize there is no way you can finish all you’re work.
13. Make a mental list of all the work you have. Reorganize that list in your mind giving priority to subjects with harder teachers and the amount of credit that homework holds.
14. Once you finally get home log onto MSN and facebook. You have had a tiring day at school after all….and you have all night to do you’re homework anyway.
15. Eat dinner
16. Start studying.
17. Keep getting up to check MSN and Facebook
18. Phone one of you’re friends to check the progress they have made.
19. Take encouragement in the fact that they haven’t finished too much either.
20. Go back to you’re desk and stare at you’re work
21. Start talking to yourself about how important it is that you finish that work
22. Realize it’s past 3’ o clock in the night
23. Do a bit of you’re homework.
24. Think of excuses for the assignments that you couldn’t finish
25. Sleep 26. Repeat for the next day

Freedom

Looking back at the few years I have lived I have been forced to come to conclusion nothing I have done has been entirely my own decision. It maybe my life but what I have done has always been based on what I have been told to do . Or been expected to do. my others. My life has been decided by others, The fact that I have to study get a bunch of degrees and the rest of that stuff is something that is happening against my will. Entirely against my will. I want to break free. I want some control. I want to have the guts to get up and tell the world to go fuck it's self and let me live my life the way I want to. True I dont have an aim in life. I dont have any goals or any target that I want to acheive. I have no idea where the hell I'm headed. Maybe Its just self pity. Maybe its just...I dont know. All I know is that I want to

A life of shortness

Well as pretty much anyone who has seen me knows I am waaay to small for my age...short and skinny more like a 10 year old than a 16 year old. Well I am now pretty much used to watching people exclaim in in surprise when I tell them my age....and am also used to people teasing the crap out of me for my size ( not that I mind ) but there is a lesson to be learnt from this ( I am not preaching ) There are things which a large part of people take for granted and it's only those who dont have that who realize it. Having to carry to your passport to prove your 18 to the watchman when you go for an A rated film is not somethin everyone will have to do. I will, and obviously there is a point when the humour gets overtaken by frustration. So basically be happy that your are tall....It may not seem as anything great but imagine how bad it would seem to look like your girlfriends younger brother on a date....so be happy with what yo have got thats impotant!

About Me

Well to get started of I may as well write a bit of an intro to who I exactly am...I am a 16 year old High School/Junior College student....Laid back easy going although I have a reputation of cribbing alot...By and large I am a good guy who has his drawbacks and strong points....I come across as antisocial and rude to some although thats not true I just am not very comfortable interacting with people and stuff like that....I hope to improve that. I have absolutely NO idea what I am going to do in life.....I guess I just need to wait and watch !