TEEN SUICIDES!!

You know what the cover strory of this month’s India Today is……
TEEN SUICIDES….and the study says that the percentage has dangerously increased by a very huge amount during the recent years.

India tops the charts in TEEN SUICIDES…….I was suddenly taken aback…..what the hell!!…..India tops the charts!!!...How surprising was that??…….Previously , it was the US that has topped in teen suicides and crime. Is this called as “being cool” or “westernizing” ?? Where is India heading to in the near future?? It is a real big question mark…..

The main causes for teen suicide as in the survey conducted are :
1) Parental pressure to perform well in the acads.
2) Inability to cope with disappointments and failures.

And above all, parents don’t have an inkling or the slightest clue about their children’s depression or suicidal tendencies…………SIXER!!!

90% of the suicide notes have their childrem apologizing to their parents for not being able to perform well….”sorry baba, I let you down”…..”Sorry appa,I failed in the exam.I cant show my face to you again”……….”amma I am not able to take any more pressure”……”I QUIT”.

Can anyone understand how depressing and helpless these notes are !!!

Why doesnt the parents give their children breathing space?Why cant they just leave them alone?Why does every parent in the world want their child to get the number ONE mark always? As said in Taree Zameen par……..Har maa baap ko avval number kaa bacchaa hi kyon chaahiyeee??… bakee ke bacchhon kaa kyaa haal hoga?

It is very very annoying that the parents don’t have the slightest clue that their children are under such mental pressure. Why doesn’t a father speak like a friend to his son and find out what his son’s actual thoughts are? Why don’t the children have the right to think innovatively?If all the people become software engineers and doctors , who will take up a career in other fields.

Adolescence is such a delicate stage of life for any human-being.Why doesn’t the parents feel the responsibility to handle their children with care and counsel them properly. Do they have to dictate their children’s future just because they have given birth to them?Why cant they guide their children properly when they need it the most?Why is there such a huge gap between a child and a parent that the child would find “DYING” easier than confronting their parents………..

I have the greatest fear that all these questions will remain un-answered.!!

Love is Universal!!

Recently , I happened to watch a wonderful movie…. Gamyam…..Though I feel that the director was only 70% percent successful in conveying what the story writer wanted to express , the story, dialogues and what was wanted to be conveyed were simple SUPERB!!

There is particular scene in the movie which I loved and it brought tears into my eyes.
The hero is always at the back of a girl who is a medico and keeps moving in various camps from one place to another providing medical help to the common people.I should say that she works at the grass root level , SERVING people.

The hero is a rich kid who was brought with only the riches in the world and nothing else.
He is always at the back of the girl roaming to whatever place she goes claiming that he loves her very much and he is wanting the same from her.

One day when both of them were walking on the road, a lady comes up to them along with her new born baby thanking the heroine for her medical help during her delivery and asks the hero who was beside her to bless her baby showing lots of love and gratitude towards them. This arrogant guy shoos her off rudely and says that he is sick of such an cheap and a poor environment. For that, the girl asks him only one question.

Heroine( to the hero): Can you really take love if it is given??
Hero : Of course and it is the only reason I am behind you from so many days( wanting your love).
Heroine : That lady tried to give love to you. But you had hurt her feelings by shooing her off rudely. Can you really take love if it is given??
Hero : Don’t be silly. I don’t need that lady’s love. I need your love. That lady does not mean anything to me. I don’t need to show her love.
Heroine : That’s the biggest mistake you are making. Love is universal . How can you love me when you are not able to reciprocate to the love that the lady has expressed??

HOW TRUE!! I was completely bowled over by this. Really , Love is universal. How can you love a particular person when you are not able to love the people around you. Is the love that you show to your family different from the love you show to a neighbor? Though you might not know that person , atleast you could reciprocate wishing her good luck which would have been so good to her .

Who says that movies don’t teach us anything. It is such a powerful medium. As long as we have the right people who could built up such superb movies , there is so much that could be shown on the silver screen which could influence the thought process of thousands of people.

Sphoorti-A Way of living!!

Recently I visited a home for the orphan kids…Sphoorti foundation.It was really the most thought provoking and joyful day of my life.

I joined a community called Santhwana in orkut and through this found out that there is an organization which takes up the responsibility of the abandoned kids.When asked whom should we give more importance for the development of the country , I would definitely say that the concentration should be on children because they are the future of our country. Every child is special and has the full right of studying and going to greater heights in their lives. What an opportunity it would be to help an organization that takes up the responsibility of abandoned and orphan kids like a mother.

Initially I was hesitant about how to approach the organization without knowing anybody there and all that.But better late than never , Santhwana had organized a meal for those kids and spending half a day with them.And believe me , the response from the kids was amazing.Though they don’t know you, they coming running to you and welcome you into their small world with utmost love. How haeartless are those parents who did not care to think a moment before leaving their children!! And that too, these lovely kids who are the fresh buds ready to blossom. What a blessing it would be to be a part of such and organization and help small children.

Here is an introduction of the organization
SPHOORTI is a simple grassroots organization working for underprivileged children - homeless, orphaned, abandoned and other at-risk groups.
Children at SPHOORTI are in our complete care and custody and we are committed to impacting their lives 24x7, 365 days a year.
SPHOORTI was established in Aug 2006 with 3 children. We are currently supporting 45 children at our Home in Hyderabad and in addition, we sponsor education of 9 other children.

For more information you can visit its site.
http://www.sphoorti.org/
(Its founder is Srivyal Vuyyuri who did his masters in Economics and came back to fulfill his dream) .

The Kids are really lovely.I went with one of my friends on Republic day and took small flags along with me to pin them up on people who are interested.
Jab maine poochaa ki kis kis ko flags chaahiye…..sab doudke chalee aayee meree pas….and the most surprising and the lovliest part was that they systematically stood in a line while I and my friend were pinning them up.After finishing their turn , they are concerned whether their other friends also have them or not.There were many kids coming back to me with some of their other friends who were shy to come to me.Such unity!! I tneee nanhee nanhee bacchon mein who pyaar aur apnaapan deekhke to mujhe to ronaa hi aayaaa……You will have to experience it to feel it.

And by the time it was time for me to leave, there were many of them who said…. “akka appudee velipotunnaavaaa” . What relation do they have with me to persuade me not to leave. Kyaa sahee maayineee mein pyaar yaheen hai??

At that point , I felt that, if I can be of any use to make a life of atleast one among them , that would be enough.This visit to Sphoorti was really an eye opener. Many of them feel that if they donate money , they are DONE with it. But its not done.I agree that yes,without money we can do nothing. But apart from that , there is a lot more that can be done. There is every need to make the depressed feel wanted.There is every need to spend time with them and love them. I am sure they wont disappoint us.

LOVE!!!

LOVE….the four lettered word. What meaning does it have….What do you mean by love….many people have tried to define love in their own words and have a perspective of their own about it….but many people have also failed to identify love and have not found any definitions for it…it remains a puzzle for them…

In my opinion….it is wrong to define love…because I don’t think that love has any particular form or definition….Love is the hope with which we live and it is not only the kind of relationship that exists between a male and a female….it has many forms….even friendship is a kind of love….and any kind of a positive feeling can be called as love may be….it is the kind of relationship that exists between a child and a mother…a father and a mother…a brother and a sister and even owner and a servant….

LOVE is a HOPE with which we move forward in LIFE.

The most important and the most difficult weekend of my life till now!!

(Almost 4 months back from now…..suddenly remembered it)
It was one week before I was officially going to complete my training and report at Hyderabad. The study mood has already taken a back seat and everyone had their own plans for the last weekend some of them were going to spend in Bangalore(after which they had report at their base locations).Some of them like me were just sitting day dreaming in the classes. Just the thought of coming back home felt so good.
After a week, there would not be anymore queuing up at the bathroom of the PG , there would not be anymore eating of that oily tasteless breakfast and dinner without a curd , there would not be anymore of spending time alone roaming about the streets of Bangalore with a constant fear of getting lost……
Then came a mail on the eve of Friday(supposedly the most joyful day of the week) which took of the breath of all of us present there.
It said…..that there is going to another re-exam.…..what the hell….how could we get back to the previous syllabus and revise the portions in just 2 damn days…….HEIGHTS OF STUPIDITY…..
Nobody could digest this fact for about an hour……some of them wanted to protest and try to convince the authorities……but all in vain……they had confirmed that come what may…there will be a test and all those who would not clear it are OUT………..wah!!
Now begins the weekend…….
After a lot of convincing from my near and dear…..I finally convinced myself that I indeed had to give up all the excitement that was planned for the weekend and study HARD for the test that is ahead. I cared a damn whether I was IN or OUT…….but just did not want to study that weekend…..that too…..the hell a lot of portion……it was nearly impossible to revise the whole stuff again…..

Saturday:
Morning: I got up early with an intention of settling down to study early……..I went into the bathroom and Volia! NO WATER……..There was no water coming out from the tap.
This fact didn’t disturb me much at that point of the time as I had a HOPE that it will be normal in an hour or soo…I started studying…
It was actually Vinaya chaturthi that day. What a day to start with….huhhhh……All the girls in the PG kept waiting and the water didn’t turn up till 11 . Then I had to pack up and go to my cousin sister’s house atleast to take a damn bath that day( Actually I didn’t go to her place for the pooja as I wanted to study for the test)…..But finally ganapati pappa wanted me there……By the time I went to my sis’s place and a had a bath it was 1 in the afternoon. Almost half a day was over and I had not moved a bit in my preparation for the most important exam I had to take…….ramjaaneeee

After lunch….my sister had some work and the whole family left the house all by myself. Finally, I began my serious preparation and didn’t look up at the watch till 6 in the evening. At that time , my sis called up and asked me to light the diya at the ganesh as they were getting late. Again I looked up at the watch at 8 and this time the doorbell rang. My sis told me that we had to go for dinner to another relatives’ home and by the time we were back..it was past 11.
That’s it of the day………..
Sunday…

I got up early and read for sometime and then I realized that I needed internet for sometime to refer some other material and take some mock tests. I came back to my PG at around 12(God….The clock ticks soooo fast….huhhh) and then had to take a Xerox for some material for a friend of mine who was not well and asked me for a favour. By the time I was done with the Xerox it was already 2:30(delay at the Xerox shop….as usual).So I requested another friend of mine to give off the Xerox .I packed my bags and left for another family friend of ours. I started studying again after 4 in the evening…

I just did not understand whether that preparation was sufficient or not but could not do anything about it. The most hectic weekend of my life which I thought would be the most joyful weekend in Bangalore.

ALVIDA 2007!!!

We are coming to the fag end of a fantastic year…….may be it is time for us to think about what has happened to us this year….and learn from our experiences…..keeping the process of learning going on……

One of my greatest achievements this year is MY BLOG…. And the inspiration for me to create it is one of my friends(Revanth)….I started it in February .Its only a month away from its birthday…. J .I have already celebrated the first birthday of my cell in november……whenever you get time to party…just do it….because you can never get back these days…make the most out of it…..


But the saddest part of this year is…that many of my friends are not with me….its a great feeling to complete our engg this year……but it feels equally bad to part with some of my best friends who have always been with me through my thick and thin…..not that they wont be there now…but life has to go on….we keep meeting new people and our interests keep transitioning….…..It feels nostalgic when I remember the numerous moments we spent together…..those happy days…..which can never come back….

But I made three great(new) friends this year and I will treasure the moments I spent with them during my training days in Wipro Bangalore.Its a very nostalgic feeling. This year, I also bid bye bye to the traditional class room lectures and entered into an “EMPLOYEE” phase of my life and became a member of the “SALARIED CLASS”. In the second half of the year, every day was a new challenge ahead of me and every day made me learn some of the very important lessons of life. The time I spent in Bangalore(for my training) is really very very valuable I should say. Though I will term it as the most difficult phase of my life till now , I got an opportunity to realize how comfortably I led the previous phase of my life. Got an opportunity to realize the importance of “parents” whom we generally tend to take as very very obvious. Realised the huge amount of role they play in our lives and with this I also realized my responsibility towards them.

Finally, a lovely GOOD BYE to a great , fantastic and a very crucial year of my life- 2007!! (with the HOPE of another fabulous year ahead :-) ).