Life Unpacked

It has been a really long time since I poured my heart out here. And honestly, my day feels incomplete if I don't blog or even attempt to blog. Heck, I am not even able to align my thoughts in a straight fashion now after all these months of idleness in writing department. Still, I am trying to push through because I have lots to tell, yes, lots ! I have been reading a few books, doing quite some things. Yet, as strange as it may seem; the only thing coming to my mind, which finds a mention in my lots lists, is something that happened very recently, that is, last Saturday. What happened, you'd ask. Well, Kamathipura happened. Most of you must be acquaint with this little infamous pocket of Mumbai, if not, then all you should know is this place is a 'no-go'. I went there as a part of my college's AICUF unit for a social outreach program whose focus was interaction with the children of the women who work there. Frankly, I wasn't expecting much out of this ...

I had been itching to go on a photowalk and do some street photography as soon as summer hit Mumbai. But honestly, my love-hate relationship with street photography paired with the soaring temperature (harsh enough to give a friend of mine a sunstroke!) kept me pushing the plan to another day. Finally I managed it last Monday.  As I said, I have a love-hate relationship with street-photography, mostly because I think people will dismiss me as a freak or a media student and I don't want to offend anyone by clicking their pictures discreetly. On my Monday's photowalk, I did coax myself into taking some pictures with human element in it but frankly, it was hard! Primarily because women wouldn't stop staring at my camera (might be concerned).    About the final edits part; I actually didn't find any picture good except these two, basically because they lacked that drawing in factor. Also, this is the first time I've used photoshop to edit the pictures. So yeah...

Just like every Sunday morning; it was a battle she had to endure to crawl out of the comforts of her bed, the worn-in cotton sheet rubbing softly across her cheek made her drop back on it after a few seconds every time she attempted waking up. A long struggle and a growling tummy finally did the trick, and there she was grabbing her breakfast, or as she put it, her Sunday "brunch" along with the thick stack of Sunday newspaper. She settled down on the giant flower-printed maroon carpet spread in the center of the living room and quickly fished out the copy of "Brunch", the weekly magazine that came with the newspaper every Sunday. It was the year 2008.... That Sunday's "Brunch" was abnormally thick, hence she decided to check whether it were just more advertisements or there was some real content inside. Instead of the glossy colourful pages, a huge portion of the magazine was plain white with long lengthy paragraphs on it, and that too without an...

Being born in a Brahmin household, I was bought up within the rigid barricades of "religion". I grew up listening to the mythological tales and was constantly reminded that those events in the stories have actually occurred. I was made to "believe" that there is a God, who is the master of fate, that if you ask anything from him with a pure heart and good intentions, God would grant it to you. I never asked questions, just followed what I was asked to do, not because I truly believed in it but because, I didn't have a definite reason not to . Perceptions started changing when I reached the age of fourteen, two year ago. As I got out from the cocoon of protected life, I encountered people with different mindsets and beliefs. I understood correctly how the world isn't just black or white. But due to the lack of a concrete reason for not believing, I continued assuming that there might be a God. But, as an avid ponderer, I always questioned God's exis...

This week has passed rather quickly! With the admission thingy and the whole running-back-and-forth (because of the admission process of course) I haven't been getting sufficient time for updating my blog. Anyways, after a long gap, 'Random things from my mind' is back. Basically, because I figured out that it might turn out the best way to get back onto writing posts.  A lot has happened in the past two weeks, literally, a lot ! I won a Lumia 520 phone, Judas Priest's British steel album, attended a bunch of blogger's meets, gave too many tests (one more to go and then I'll be freeee!!!), travelled many times to SoBo (to buy college application forms), ate in an Irani Cafe (yay! one thing off my list), and so much more. I've arranged the photos below in the sequence of their occurrence, enjoy! Blogger's meet no.1 at Leela, Andheri (E) Blogger's meet no.2 at Chitrakoot Ground, Andheri (W) A cloudy sky, shot from Station's Sk...

After a long wait, I bought a camera yesterday. And to test it, I was all up for an adventure today. Yes, I had one too and that involved travelling for 4.5 hours approximately, but all I realize is; I wasted that opportunity. How, you would wonder? Well, the story goes like this.... "A me, after a day out crashed on the sofa to watch reruns of one of her favourite shows, One Tree Hill. This day's rerun had that episode where Brook Davis realizes that the carefree-phase of a person's life is short-lived and is soon replaced by the responsibility-shouldering adult life. She skips an opportunity of getting her designer label showcased and instead goes to attends her last cheer-leading tournament, which she enjoys to the fullest. Discontent with the day's event, I quickly absorbed that message in and started analyzing: Why didn't I enjoy to my fullest? Soon I got the answer to this nagging question and that is; I was busy clicking, so busy that I didn't even s...

A city where millions come to realize their dreams, Mumbai technically acts as a mother to all of them. Theoretically, if we break down the name of the city, it means mother too; 'Mum' an English word means mother and so does the Marathi word "bai". Hence, we can safely conclude that Mumbai is a female figure. But is the female populace in this metropolis safe? According to the statistics, Mumbai is the safest city in India. Still, the pages of the daily newspaper is filled with all sort of wrong-doing against women! Yes, I agree Mumbai's women related crime-rate is lower than other townships in India but it still is not completely safe for women here. Being called names, passed lewd comments at and touched in a wrong manner are few of the misdeeds that females here have to go through on a daily basis! I don't blame this city, I can't as I am a born and bought up Mumbaikar who has considered this metro home  since the time I opened my eyes, sixte...

Finally, my preliminary exams got over today but, according to teachers and alike, this doesn't gives me a permit to chill out, instead it is just a reminder of boards lurking around like a blood-hound. Geez, all this stuff is too intense, eh? Keeping all of that aside, I'm utilizing today to take a break from all this boards humdrum. And this break comes in the form of listening to Led Zeppelin. I assume Led Zeppelin needs no introduction still, for people who aren't acquaint with rock; Led Zeppelin is one of the greatest rock band of all time and, along with Deep Purple and Black Sabbath forms the basis of the metal genre. Led Zeppelin is one of my favourite and usually after a hard or long or a really tiring day, I prefer unwinding myself by listening to them, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple and some Metallica. It's not that I don't listen to other bands, but I find myself going back again and again to these bands. Well, I suppose that is why we call certain thi...

Lately I have been MIA, well, the entire blame for my absence goes to my ongoing exams. Yeah, this nightmare called exams began from 3rd January; a day on which most people were still coping with a 2012-hangover. Anyways, this post is just a quick one, intended to give all due credit behind the awesome new theme and layout of my blog to Ashwin, a programming wizard and blogger (I suggest you checkout his blog, which features a lot of information on computers and programming). Changing my blog's template and layout had been on my mind from a long time (Honestly, I didn't like the previous layout in the least bit!) and due to Ashwin, my blog got a makeover. I'm actually brimming with joy because this look of my blog is something I had been craving for since, the inception of Life Unpacked! On a totally opposite note, I need to go now as I have an Economic exam tomorrow and I'm severely under-prepared for it. But do tell me, how is this new year treating you, folks?...

It has been quite a long time since I wrote anything sensible. Now-a-days my post usually describe "What-I-did". This time, unlike 2011, I didn't do a wrap up post for the year 2012 because of two reasons- First, I was sick last week and second, everything is already documented here by the way of blog-posts, so I felt no need to write an another post describing my 2012. But this doesn't mean I'm not grateful for the lovely year; 2012 happens to be among the best years of my life (well, you can certainly figure out by the stuff I did last year!). Today is the first day of new year 2013 and rather than reviving the glorious 2012, I want to remind myself of a few guidelines that helped me enjoy the past year completely: #1. Day-dream and make realistic plans   Unless you dream of something, you won't think of making that thing happen! But again, dreaming of unrealistic things will get you nowhere. To be frank, I day-dreamed of being a pat of a fl...

There are certain situations in which a person lose the control over self, takes rash decisions and does things which is later realized as as mistake. I'm talking about anger here. Different people react in a different manner when they lose their temper- some abuse other, whereas some break-down and some end-up doing things which they regret later. Of what I experience last week; one should never let anger dominate their behavior and turn into some sort-of monster! Because this emotion called "anger" doesn't do anything good but only cause destruction- of relationships, of character, of morals and values. I do agree that a person can never fully have control over anger and the ability to suppress it completely. And this is where channelizing the negative energy comes into play; doing something which calms and relaxes you is a sure way to achieve that goal. To be frank with you all, I too have anger issues. Anger has the ability to shatter my otherwise ha...

So it was my birthday last Sunday (11/11/2012) and I'm updating about it today, after a week to be exact! I'm no longer employing my procrastination as a reason, just lack of some motivation. You know how these vacations are; you have time and that's why you tend to procrastinate, and the problem with working days is; you don't have time still you want to write! Now back to the birthday update thing, this birthday of mine wasn't exactly my best birthday ever but at the same time it didn't turn out to be the worst. No nothing bad happened, despite of that I didn't feel the 'happy-happy' Birthday spirit this time around. Everyone was joyous that day, tonnes of wishes for the day pouring in at every moment, yet I felt that the day wasn't an exception, just like a normal Sunday day to be precise. As this time around my birthday happened to be on a Sunday, I tried to turn the weekend into a 'Birthday weekend' by starting doing things that a...

You keep listening that time flies by quickly, but I say it goes in a flash! Today in college I realized that I'd be facing my boards again in just a time-span of roughly 3 months when I was handed a dummy Board form. Also, my junior college years too are coming to a close! But the thing that is daunting me actually is a ill-prepared me for my Boards; there are barely a few months and I'm not even half done, my journals are incomplete and I'm screwed for my Practicals attendance. Yikes! To be frank with you, I'm stressed out. This time is nothing like my tenth standard boards; they were far better as I had tonnes of time, minus the efforts that I have to put now while travelling daily. I'm utterly confused too because in school my friends were forever ready to help me out with studies and we studied in groups but the people I hang out with in college are not interested in group studies or helping me out either! Though teachers are damn approachable there isn'...

She looked to the left then to the right, when suddenly my gaze met her sight. She pointed towards something and giggled, and I felt as if my childhood had returned. The pure feeling of joy radiating from her face, took me back to the time where there was no race. The time when kids were kids and were free to explore, but now they don't even have time to listen to a lore. It pains me to see how childhood is wasted these days, as it has become a ritual for parents to restrict a child's ways. For once upon a time childhood was all about discovering, today its just a phase where the kids are forced to do rote learning. **** Any thoughts? Suggestion and criticism welcomed. (This is my entry for the #SoakNoMore contest organized by Indiblogger .)

Woah, it has been too long since I wrote! I'm super sorry about that fact, actually I was busy finishing up the book about which I talked in my last post. Updates? Okay, even after devoting a good slice of my free time into reading it, I have managed to complete only 3/4th of the book. I hope it gets done by the next week. Anyways, I have something to share, a story and it goes like this... "A milkman, deeply influenced by Gautama Buddha insisted that Buddha visit him and share his nuggets of wisdom. In lieu of this, this milkman offered to present milk to Buddha. Buddha agreed. In the evening when Buddha set out to visit the milkman, he took with a the container in which he intentionally put some mud. The milkman took the container but just as he was about to pour milk into it, he realized that the container had some impurity in it. So he cleansed it and removed all the impurities. He then Poured the milk into it and gave it to the Buddha. Upon receiving the container,...

#1. Do not let an opportunity pass by When I was around 11years old,  I read a story in Tinkle; about a boy who always complaint that life is mean to him, that he didn't get any chance to prove his mettle and worth but actually, he never utilized the opportunity life always present before him. The point I'm trying to make here is, don't turn a blind-eye to a chance! Because some are once-in-a-lifetime kinda and you can't do anything except agonize after it has slipped away from your clutches. So take my advice folks, grab the opportunities that you come across. #2. It's okay to attempt something by yourself Sometimes what interests you might not tempt your friends or companions, you might be super-keen onto doing it but they might not even give a damn about it! Here, just because your friends aren't there to back you shouldn't mean that you need to give upon the thing you have your heart set on. I learnt this on Saturday; I desperately wanted to attend M...

Okay, the news of our I.T. teacher resigning came out unexpectedly as a huge shock! It felt as if we were stuck by a bolt of lightening; all of us were numb, not knowing how to react to the unforeseen outbreak of the news. At first we didn't believed our ears, but then all of us slowly digested the fact and started planning for 'The Goodbye'. We contributed, bought a cake, made cards and wrote goodbye notes in it. Eventually tonnes of class pictures were taken and tears were shed too. Yeah, goodbyes are never sweet. To many the entire concept of throwing a farewell party for a teacher may sound cliche, you'd argue that teachers change every academic year, but folks we I.T. batch people share a special bond with our teacher because along with being a teacher; she has been a guide, a motivator and a friend to us (yeah, she is a youth and not the regular old teacher you generally encounter in a college). And bidding a farewell to her didn't come easily to us. But as...

It was exactly this day last week, Friday. Anticipating a quick end to the long instructional day at college, I sprung up from my seat as soon as the news of the day wrapping up early entered my ears. Later did I discover the reason; Motorman strike! You expect a normal person to panic in a situation like this, but me, I was overjoyed because this made me feel like a true Mumbaikar. The idea of witnessing and making my way  through a troublesome situation seemed a great adventure. The grave situation at Churchgate Station Coolly, I reached station and the scene hit hard my day-dream; there were hardly any trains and the trains which plied were terribly jam-packed! I was willing to spend some more time at the station and figure out the best suited plan which would help me over come the catastrophe. Alas! I was deprived of this pleasure by the group of people I sit with at college. Their rush lead me to board a bus, till Borivali, which is two stations before my...

Just yesterday I landed upon an article on Time Of India website mentioning a claim by the Chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar which clearly comes off as a political gimmick to garner votes. I didn't take that article too serious and scrolled down the page to see the comments made by the masses on that article. To my horror, what I came across stunned me; People were disgracing Biharis and talked about throwing them out of their respective states! What made it worse was it were 'educated' people who talked such rubbish.  As mentioned in the constitution of India; India is a secular country granting the freedom of movement to it's citizens. But the way in which my country fellows were bad mouthing their own countrymen made me furious. Racism prevailing towards Indians in another nation can be understood, however, racism amongst Indians itself is a fact which actually makes me ashamed of my country and that too just because of some stupid politician's politic...

Well, I deactivated my Facebook account on Thursday for a simple reason; I need to unplug myself from the social networking frenzy for a few days. Yeah, don't you remember the golden times before these social networking sites arrived? We still connected with our friends and relationships were more concrete than what they are today! Being a total Facebook addict it seemed a tough challenge to resist myself from logging on Facebook in an another tab while I fend my other browsing habits. It's the fourth day and I'm on the verge of completing the challenge into which I forced myself. Now straight to the point, after unplugging myself from the popular menace called "Facebook" I actually enjoyed myself and did some stuff which I had on my wish list since, too long. I had mentioned once that I eagerly want to complete the book "Unaccustomed Earth" which I bought for myself last November and hey, I completed a story in an hours. Technically, I'm again go...