You are depressed and demoralised. All the things that bothers you are accumulating inside your head and you are so tired that you don’t know the solution anymore.In fact you are so god damn tired that you are asking yourself, why the hell I am here? Why am I alive? What am I doing? Why am I so ugly? oh god I don’t deserve this. I am a good human being why this is happening to me? Why do people hate me?
If you are asking yourself these questions then I would say you are stupid , just go back to sleep and stop disturbing people. But if you are actually depressed and if someone is asking you what happened?why are you so sad? and you are saying “oh nothing I am fine!” then I would say you are lunatic, go get yourself tested.You wanna know why because my dear, you are not fine you are fantastic and if you are unable to see that just slap yourself hard from my side .
Just stop. Stop hating yourself . You are more beautiful and talented than you think. Stop trying to fix your flaws and start appreciating the good around you. I know count your blessings sound like a cliche but honestly it is not. If someone hates you than that is there bloody problem. If you are failing in one subject It is okay just don’t stop working towards it. If you have lost your friend and are unable to find love, don’t worry cause you don’t need to find it , it will happen on it’s own.
I have finally found the solution to every problem in the world and that is SMILE .If you are going to fall, fall with a smile. If something bothers you put it in a box and then put a lid on it and get back to the work you were suppose to do. I know the bed is too comfortable and you are sleepy and the class is going to be boring but still don’t dare press that snooze button in your alarm. Wake up .
After reading all this, if you are still feeling bad about yourself than you have two options first one is -’Agra ka pagal khana’ and the second one is to find a mirror and say to yourself “It is just a bad day not a bad life”.
Living at a hostel, I did expect it to be every way that it is over here. Administration problems, Late nights, surprise checks and what not. As a realist, I also expected it to be a little insecure with respect to your belongings.
The former is there in plenty. thanks to our ever superb "Life on Campus". What I did not expect was the level of insecurity I (perhaps, only me) would get to see over here. Which gets me to my current topic.
Over the last 6 months that I've been here, about 50 grand worth of electronics have been stolen from my room. Yes, I mean it when I say 50 grand and there is no exaggeration of the same. Thefts have become a secondary adaptation of my lifestyle here and I don't know why it had to be that way.
For example, when my first phone, worth 10 grand was stolen. I was horrified. I tried every route, approached every authority possible but to no avail and, all in all, there was no action whatsoever. The same happened when my music player worth 20 grand disappeared in thin air from my room. I reached my saturation when another phone was stolen from my room today in the morning, when I was, hey, just in the damned toilet.
Don't take me as a person, who doesn't give a shit about security or locking my room or other such small details. I follow all that as diligently as you all. But, that did not prevent the thief (student or staff, whoever) from stealing and the administration, the wardens, who run to rooms if they suspect you for illicit activities (read booze and cigarettes) but frankly, do not give a damn when your stuff is stolen, or for that matter, when your sinks have been broken for months.
And for the person who's done this, if you're reading it. you're a piece of shit. What caused you to commit such acts (and to do so only to me) is beyond my comprehension, but you are a good-for-nothing moron. And the curses of me and my parents (the people buying me the stuff) will follow you as you rot through the gates of hell.
To the others, please beware. You're lucky I was caught in the middle, not once, not twice but thrice. But it really won't take more than 5 minutes in the loo on your part for your stuff to disappear as well. Let the guy who's done it know he's a worthless piece of crap.
*FOUND AN ARTICLE WORTH A READ !
Your stomach is in knots. You wish you could turn back the clock and have a do-over. Your mind doesn't stop asking, "What the heck were you thinking?!"
Unfortunately, what's done is done. The truth is you screwed up. You made a MISTAKE. And now you've to apologies.
An apology is an admission that you've wronged others and that you are actually sorry for it. This is of course why it's difficult for people to apologize.
No one likes to admit they are wrong or that they screwed up. No one likes the complicated, defeated feelings that come with being wrong and screwing up. No one likes having to go to other people, publicly or privately, and admit to them they've been wrong and have screwed up.
It is, literally, humiliating, since apologizing almost always requires humility and a willingness to put the needs of those you have wronged over your own. For ego-bound creatures, and we are all ego-bound, this is a hard thing to do.
"A true apology entails two essential components: regret and responsibility," according to Ryan Fehr, a professor at the University of Washington who has done extensive research on apologies and forgiveness. "The offender must admit responsibility over what happened, and express regret for his or her actions. These 'full' apologies are psychologically difficult."
Why complicate things when they can be done easily or why take the longer path when there’s a shortcut for everything? Why cook at home or even go out to a restaurant when the food can be ordered online? Why walk to the market in the colony when the car is parked outside with no purpose? Barring a few, our world today consists of people who have similar thoughts about everything we go through in our daily lives. But were we like this always?
One of the most interesting subjects that are relevant today is evolution. It is always happening, gradually and significantly, yet negligibly. Most of the times, evolution is due to drastic changes in the environment that are due to natural phenomenons. But not all the times; sometimes it occurs according to the lifestyle we adopt. Studies say that if a human swims its whole life, and then gives birth in the water, teaching its offspring to swim and continuing with the progeny in the same way, the limbs will disappear and fins will appear in a few thousands of years. This is an example of backward evolution. It is in our hands; whether we choose to move ahead or go back.
Years ago, the human race lived in jungles. They had no access to the wide variety of luxuries we have today. No phones, cars, TVs, restaurants, hotels, 4-BHK apartments and so on. This made their bodies more solid, more enduring. They ate food which did not cause diabetes or atherosclerosis. Even if they ate something fatty, they used to hunt and run and walk for kilometers that used to compensate for the bad diet. But humans have a very bad habit of never getting satisfied. They want more and more. So thus came the advancement in technologies, newer innovations, better facilities and a more improved lifestyle. No, wait! An improved lifestyle? Not really.
Diseases like cancer and diabetes have always been there. They just didn’t have any diagnosis. People used to believe there was some evil spirit behind the hair fall and mole inflammation in cancer. But the point it, the reasons and excuses for these diseases have increased due to the changed lifestyle. That is why such diseases have been given the name lifestyle diseases. Increasing heart attacks have also been a concern in the last 10 years.
So the question is, has the advancement in technology and more access to luxuries been ruining our lives? Is it time to disown every property, gold, facilities we have and go back to the jungle days to become healthier. The answer is a resounding NO.
The solution lies in the thinking. Yes, think about it. Change the perspective, and everything changes. Why keep blaming science, education, technology, amenities for everything? We shouldn’t forget that there has been advancement in medical facilities too, that has helped to increase the lifespan.
The point is, why can’t we spend some part of lives indulging in healthy activities? Try going for a walk, eating good food, having a good night’s sleep or walking to work some day. Simply laugh, take less tension and enjoy the effects of positive thinking. It is easier said than done, agreed. I myself have been online for the last 3 hours on Facebook. Then I really got fed up and went outside to experience a natural phenomenon called sunlight. I really enjoyed it and thus thought about writing this piece. I hope you get my point.
Let’s not misuse man’s efforts to improve facilities. Let’s not misuse the luxury we can afford. Let’s keep everything in check and limits. I’d like to share this piece of gem as I sign off..
Okay before you start reading, I want to apologise if there had been any grammatical error throughout this post. Secondly, the poem that follows this write-up is kind of depressing, so all those people who don’t want their mood being spoiled, stop reading this post immediately. You may like to read some other good posts, or else you would be wasting the rest of your day (by no means am I saying that I have written a very touching poem, only by chance if it…).
I would also like to share how I ended up writing this poem.
I had been to walk with my friends after a devastating System and Signal paper (oh yes, I am a second year student), and we were just discussing about it. That discussion made us to talk of our past woes and future worries and all off a sudden one of my friend made a comment “ऐसा लगता हे कि इन काले बादलों का बोझ कभी कम नहीं होगा” and the rest of us started wondering about it! And out of the blues Mr. Amir Khusrow inside me woke up (lol… yes, I do laugh at my own jokes sometime!) and the result was first stanza.The rest of the poem was the aftermath of DLC paper, whose effect was such that it took me less than half an hour to complete it!
Sorry yaar, ab kuch jyaada hi paka diya tum logon ko… bas ek last choti si request hai, I had shared this poem with two or three of my friends and it is a humble request to them – “It is for the first time that I have written anything of this sort and I don’t people making inferences out of it. Generally I am a happy go round kid and I don’t write such depressing stuffs, but my inner urge made me to share
One would think that living in the largest democracy
One would think that living in the largest democracy, citizens of our country would have developed an innate sense of respect and trust towards individuals. What one does NOT think is that blocking online shopping sites is a way to ensure better performance/ concentration on academics. What one CERTAINLY does not think of is ending up in a college where the tech division lives by this motto.
So, today I wanted to buy an X-box controller for my brother. It was one of those moments when you feel sudden pangs of affection towards your younger sibling while reflecting on the times you haven’t done such a good job of being an older brother/ sister. But of course, I wasn’t really surprised to find that e-bay is blocked. Since I seem to have ended up in a college where any form of relaxation is nothing short of a sin, my disappointment was dominated mainly by amusement. Come on, e-bay? That’s exactly what I thought.
It seems that we are to live a “life on campus” where we are left to amuse ourselves with the very limited number of accessible sites on the internet. I do understand that such steps were taken keeping in mind the greater good of the student population but how, just how, is trying to watch a season of How I Met Your Mother online harmful in any way? I don’t know about everyone else, but sometimes I would just like to come to my room, kick my shoes off, put my feet up and play a level of Candy Crush after a long day. But I suppose that is a sin since I am a student and my primary focus should be to excel in academics and of course, wander aimlessly on Facebook.
My batchmates (geniuses they are) know all kinds of nooks and crooks to work around this problem. What I would like to ask is why would a University force its students to avail such means? Why is relaxation of any kind forbidden here? All work and no play seems to have turned Jack into a weed smoking, alcohol consuming, tobacco addict insomniac.
I’m not trying to start a rebellion here, all I am saying is, we want to relax sometimes. Watching a movie online is not a bad thing. Buying things off e-bay is definitely not a sin. Our end of the deal is to be a responsible adult. We’ll do that as long as they hold up their end of the deal and actually treat us like adults.
Why women feel disgusted when a guy stares at them, while we don't
In lieu of that Ad from Whistling Woods International,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDYFqQZEdRA
It got me really thinking, as to why women hate being stared at.
(Disclaimer :I am not a sexist douche bag from the medieval age who's judging women, I am simply trying to comprehend the situation here.)
And so, I visited a few forums where this was mentioned. And mostly, the words 'violated' and 'disgusted' came up. What's even more perplexing, is the fact that this is considered as an issue primarily in the third world countries. Women from the first world countries don't seem to bat an eye on it. Neither do men worry about it when a group of women stare at him.
Now, I am not a woman, and I can't possibly understand one. Now what does a CS student do when he's unable to comprehend a situation physically?
He uses an abstraction to emulate the situation. So, I am drawing a hypothetical situation here. (This is for guys to draw an analogy. All the women who are reading this, are free to comment on how accurate it really is)
Let's say you are living in a world where no credit or debit cards exist. All the cash you earn must be carried with you, at all times. And for some reason, you HAVE to carry the cash alongside you. It cannot be kept at home, or in a bank. The society deems losing 'cash' a very sensitive situation that has to be done only for transactions with a certain person.
Put this person in an environment where cash robberies happen frequently. He has these wads of cash. Now, the person may decide to hide them up, for his safety. But even so, these wads will continue to protrude. It's not the person's fault here.
When someone stares at his wad of cash for an unnaturally long time, it makes him uncomfortable on many levels.
The person may feel paranoid. He may wonder as to what that person's intentions are. Given the number of robberies that happened, who knows what he intends to do?
And if he gets robbed, he will lose all respect from the society. So, all that's left with the person is fear. He despises the person who's staring at him for some reason. While it's rarely a misunderstanding, it's mostly because he fantasizes about having that money with him.
What's worse, is the contrast of his workplace and the locality he lives in. The workplace expects him to reveal an X amount of cash at all times, while the locality expects him to conceal it.
Somehow, this man manages his life, juggling everything alongside it.
But he continues to lives in a perpetual state of confusion.
So, I come back to women. The stark contrast between environments puts women into a puzzling situation. They are expected to look beautiful or wish to look beautiful for xyz reasons(Can't list them all here).
When we stare at them, they feel violated. Underneath all of those emotions, lies fear.
Although they may never say it, I think they are afraid as to what the other person's intentions really are.
And it evolves into a downward spiral of negative emotions. Mostly, they have learnt to live with it, but they still feel disgusted when someone stares at their "wad".
It's not a problem in the first world countries because sexual relationships are a lot more free there. In the hypothetical world, they are free to give their cash away without being doomed by the society. So it's toned down on several levels.
To the guys who are reading this :
While I understand the natural 'urge',nothing is worth making a person feel like shit. Do you want some person to feel violated because of you? I understand that these aren't your true intentions, but they have no way of knowing that. A part of being a man is to make sure the ones around you feel safe in your presence. Live upto that part, will you?
(If you must,
Keep it down to a glance, will you? Anything beyond that can be considered creepy)
Waking up in the morning, we always see right out of the window and have a scene right outside. It may be a small bazaar, a busy road, a garden with chirping birds and early risers. But, I feel, what I witness every morning surpasses all the above. Imagine waking up to the scenic hills, and not just any range of hills, the ones that are oldest in the world. Imagine the Sun peeking through the crests of the hills, as though playing peek-a-boo with your lazy self. And then He rises, in all his greatness, the life giver of everything we know.
Thus begins my day at my university, the Greenest Campus in the country and for good reason. Our campus is no less lush and greener than the Aravalis behind us. The hills slowly roll into the campus, with thick undergrowth which gives the scene a strangely protective touch. These hills are met by the Mobius Ring, which always shines out due to its brilliance (of idea and illumination!) What follows is our beautiful football field, again surrounded by mud mounds and undergrowth and the grounds, green with grass and dotted with trees and small hills which were left according to the natural slope of the land to make the campus feel more natural. What stands out is the bowl of the campus, with its large dimensions and charming look, this doubles up as a natural auditorium and groundwater recharge system. Truly ingenious! All this comes teamed up with greenery and immense beauty and that brings me to my point.
Most colleges will make you engineers or scholars. Some will make you a good one. What we have to understand is that being an engineer is not everything. What completes it is being a compassionate one. Just one course on ecology or environment cannot change your perspective. You need to live with the greenery, feel the leaves rustling not just on trees, but inside you. You need to feel what every plant, every seed has to say to you. You need to walk down a road on a fine cool evening, with the Aravalis on one side and a beautiful green field on the other to really appreciate all what nature has to offer. You need to trek up to the highest peak around college and feel the strong breeze embrace you up there to know nature’s secret. You need to bruise yourselves with some shrubs to know nature’s way.
We’re not the Greenest Campus in the country because we planted more trees than anyone else could. We’re the Greenest Campus because living around nature for years, which helps us realize what we’ve missed in the concrete jungle. We missed the quiet, the calm, the peace of being at one with ourselves. We never knew we did, but after coming here, we didn’t quite enjoy anything more than this.
I could give you all sorts of reasons and statistics to show how unique my university is, how we’re placed in the country, what we have achieved, etc. But, there are some things that no award or graph can describe to you. And this is one of them.
Hi, I am back with my silly theories and wacky approach towards life. My last article was appreciated by everyone and apparently a lot of people decided not to study after reading it (:P). Some thought that an article like that during mid sems was an attempt to motivate others not to study and get them at par with my own CGPA (it’s all relative :D ).
Well, making tea is just an example of a profession which is considered small in our society just like many other professions, but if implemented correctly, such professions can result to monetary yields which are un-imaginable and far more profitable than an average engineer’s salary.
I suck at maths but here is a lil mathematics which I was doing today evening and ultimately motivated myself to write this article.
Money spent on engineering: 12,00000/4 years (I’m not considering 4+ year cases)
If you are an average student and your college has a great placement cell, then monthly salary you can expect: 50,000/month
Time taken to recover money spent on engineering: 1200000/50000 = 2 years.
Total number of years spent in entire spending/recovering money: 18-24 year: 6 years.
So let’s say you followed the bhed chaal and decided to do MBA, that is:
Money invested: 1000000/2 years.
I’ve talked to a couple of people who have done MBA from decent colleges and were average students and average package which has been offered is 75000/month.
Time taken to recover money spent on MBA: ~1 year+
So, to get an Engineering plus MBA degree and recover the amount invested, person spent 9 years of his life. The 9 years which were spent were from 18-27 years of age. Now, all I want to ask is do these most precious years of your life deserve to be spent this way? Don’t you think discovering your interests, perfecting them and then building a career on them would have been a better option rather than just following the trend! (p.s. All the costs were exclusive of overhead costs which for sure are to be incurred in these 9 years like transportation, mess fees, gf/bf pe kharcha n all)
Now let’s talk about a tea vendor who runs a famous tea shop in a crowded area surrounded by a number of offices. If this person sets a rate of 5INR a cup and mange around 400 sales.
5x400=2000
His daily income comes to 2000 INR a day. Now let’s calculate the daily income of that average student who became an engineer:
50000/30 = 1666.66
^LOL !
Now, don’t you feel like re-accessing your career choice? Or still you will go with typical Indian psychology according to which being an engineer gains you respect, knowledge, better marriage proposals and what not. Or you will for once not care about this society and do something you actually want to do and earn more than an average engineer!
but they, with daggers, cut my wings.
I am taught to live freely
but they form rules set in stone.
I am taught to think out of the box
but they simply draw me back in.
I am taught to believe in justice
but the corrupt form the laws.
I am taught to make a change for the better
but when I do, they laugh at me.
I am taught to give love and affection
but they tell me to remember all the pain.
I am taught that death is inevitable,
Alas, even in death I can't be....
Hey! You've probably noticed a section called Envisage on aveNUes. Previously, it was meant for everyone to give their artwork/photographs/video. But we figured, Facebook is good for propagating that and it's quiet redundant to compete with such a service.
Also, an idea had striked us. We know how frustrated we are when we look at our "professors"/teachers and they can't understand our genuine curiosity when we ask them questions. Some of us look it up online and find that there's plenty of cool content online just waiting to be shared among the masses and deep intellectual discussions waiting to happen. So we decided to reincarnate "Envisage" and give it a new life. Here's what it will be about:
Sharing "intellectually mindblowing content" or "amazingly simplistic explanation of concepts" on the internet.
It can be anything- engineering, philosophy, physics, math, etc. but it has to be deserving of those two words. But not all content will be accepted. It has to prove itself worthy.
Hello! I don’t have a horror story, a personal experience or some words of wisdom to write about this time. This time, I want to talk about something that is both fascinating and mysterious. It is also the only thing which requires itself to understand it properly. That was confusing, I agree. But I couldn't have expressed it in a better way. Anyways, I am talking about the Brain (read that sentence again, it will make sense).
I’d like to start by dividing our brain into 3 states. The first one is with which you do all the daily chores and stuff, that is the conscious state. The second state is when you don’t know what is happening to you; you aren't aware of yourself (think of it as sleeping or maybe fainting after inhaling chloroform), that is the unconscious state. Now here is where things get very interesting. There is a third state, which is called the sub-conscious state. I would like to talk about this state in a little more detail.
Those of you who have watched inception may know about what I have to say. Those of you who haven’t watched it must pay a little more attention and then go watch the movie!
When you look at any object, or are listening to a sound, you know you are doing it because you are paying attention to it. This is your conscious state. But at the same time, you are seeing everything your eyes can capture and hearing everything that is audible (notice the difference between listen and hear, and look and see). All these unnoticed sights and sounds that the subconscious notices are stored somewhere in the brain where you cannot reach. You do not have any control over these memories. They can show up anytime; in your dreams or even when you are wide awake. It suddenly feels as if you knew that this was going to happen, not realizing that you have already been through it. In common terms we call this effect Déjà vu.
There’s a well known fact that the brain cannot create anything on its own. This implies that the ‘new faces’ you see in your dreams are not new; in fact they are among the thousands of people you see every day but obviously do not remember. They are all stored by your subconscious in that restricted area.
So the conclusion is, if a person by any chance gets control over his subconscious and can gain access to the restricted section, he isn't just another person then. He is the ultimate super human, who can remember anything and everything.
Another important question that has baffled people for centuries is that whether time travel is a possibility or not. Time is progressive. It can never go back. Even if you rotated the earth in the opposite direction, only the seasons would change their order, the sun would rise in the west, mountains would start rumbling and lava would start flowing out of the volcanoes. In short, chaos will take place. But sorry superman fans, time will not go back.
But we time travel daily. Well, not literally. But virtually and inside our brains, yes. Whatever we do every day, our thoughts, actions etc. are all affected by memories. A new born will not get happy at the thought of a free trip to USA because he doesn’t have any idea what that is.
So think about yesterday’s dinner. You can visualize it perfectly in your head. You can even do some minor changes like imagining chicken tikka instead of dum aloo. So in a way, you are time travelling inside your brains. Now all we have to do is project our brains’ images in a real time world. Then we can live inside the memories created by us, thus time travelling. About travelling into the future, it all depends about how you imagine the future (if you can understand what I mean to say).
Brain mapping has already begun and brain-computer interfaces are starting to get developed. It won’t be long before we can ‘travel’ back inside our memories.
Long story short, we have to research about the brain to know the answers to some of the most interesting questions man has been pondering since ever. Our brain even has an uncanny resemblance to the Universe. Who knows, we are inside someone else’s brain. It is too far-fetched I agree, but there lies the beauty. Things that cannot be answered immediately are the most interesting subjects. Who knows after you die, you just wake up, the death being the kick? Who knows, you are living in a dream right now. All the things could well be projections from your subconscious? Very inceptionesque, but possible in a way (I again request the people who haven’t watched it to go and watch it now!)
That’s all folks. If you have something interesting to add or contradict, do share it in the comments. And about the kick thing, don’t kill yourself to try it out. Because who knows if you are heavily sedated in your sleep, you might just end up in limbo?
The Educational Technological Innovation Centre at NU is organizing its first intra University competition 'Techno-Waste-Can U Innovate?'
The participants have to create something useful from e-Waste. The aim of this competition is to “Create a new vision to use e-waste as a raw material rather than Waste.”
Pause! Re-Analyze and Re-Access….or Immunity which I have developed
2:05 a.m.
I was in my bed and trying to sleep and suddenly this thought which always stays around in my head came up again. I had been thinking about making a contribution to Vividha and this sudden urge to pen my thoughts made me wake up and write this.
I’m having my DLC and Java exam tomorrow and everyone here in UG is busy studying. Some people are giving tuitions (I took a class from Shetty about an hour ago, sharp guy he is!) and some are busy cramming stuff. One thing which I always wonder is why do people study for marks? Why no one worries about the knowledge? (There might be exceptions for sure).
I remember people telling me “Study hard and get good marks in 10th, career ban jayega!” Same thing was told when I was in 12th and for the college too! But till now I do not see my career building on the marks I got till now. Marks do not decide your fate rather no one can apart from you. It’s not about marks people, knowledge is all what matters. If you are studying just a day before the exam just to score well, trust me you will not remember a single thing of that stuff in your life. It’s not about being a well trained engineer but a well educated one!
This is my 3rd semester here at NU and I used to be scared before giving the exams in 1st sem and did most of the things which I see people doing now like cramming stuff, studying last day without understanding sh#t. But now I am proud to tell you that I have developed immunity to exams fear. Neither I worry about grades, neither do I care about placements n all this stuff about which one should not worry about but sadly does. Trust me people this feeling is too awesome!
Some people study to save their scholarships, fair reason to study indeed and you are able to save your parents money plus getting a good cgpa too. But in all this have you ever asked yourself what your interests are? What do you exactly want from life? What do you want to do in life? What if after studying so much of engineering stuff, cramming things, getting cgpa you realize that you loved adventure sports. But sadly, when you realize this you will be 30 years old and will not dare to take the risk to leave your 10 lack/yr. job just because you are too afraid to do that. It’s not only that you are too afraid to do that but being afraid has become a trait of yours because you are practicing it since you were 15 years old. So, you will mask actual reason of being afraid behind a lame reason that leaving a highly paid job for adventure sports is not worth it or you have a family to support. This brings me to another point which is “Be perfect in whatever you do”. Being jack of all trades is good but it’s the masters who steal the show. Be so good at something that your name becomes synonymous to that thing (For me Coder=Deepanker, whenever someone says the word “good coder”, immediately Deepanker’s name comes to my mind). You might be having your favorite pani puri shop, tv show, actor etc. Have you ever thought what did that pani puri guy do that he managed to be on top of your list? Simple answer is he is awesome in the work he does. The point I want to make here is if you want to leave a mark in this world you will have to stop being average in at least One thing you do. Make it a point to be top class in at least one thing you do and you will surely be remembered for it! “You can't control the economy. But you can control your devotion to Mastery.” –Robin Sharma
What I think is that life is not about following people but making your own path. Yes, some people inspire us and we want to be like them but that’s not how it should be. When people read biographies of great people they tend to DO what those great people did but that’s not correct according to me. When you follow some other person you lose the most important person: yourself. When reading biographies we should get inspired from ideology and traits of great people. Let’s take example of Steve Jobs, after reading about him my tendency should not be to start a company which gives competition to Apple or maybe build a new product which takes tech world by storm like Jobs did. But what I should infer is what his ideology was like a always wanted perfection in his work, futuristic vision, passion and madness combo of his etc.
So, with this I rest my case with a little quote and a video:
“Start to move towards fearless”
“The thing that distinguishes us from people with extraordinary character is the way we react when life sends its inevitable curves.”
My name is Fred Higten. I don’t like to believe in any supernatural, but I am scared; scared that this disbelief could someday bring mishappenings to my life. And it did.
My life changed completely since I announced publicly that I don’t believe in ghosts and shit. I was with my friends on a camping trip. We were all sitting around the bonfire and everybody was telling hair-raising accounts and stories and things were starting to get spooked up. I was very skeptical about everything and even started arguing that the idea of horror was absurd and stupid. The rest of the trip was pretty much normal and now I was back at my house.
Monday
7:00 am
It was a regular working day. I had arrived from the trip the night before. I checked my cell phone for any messages. But it was something else that interested me. The phone had no lock on, and the gallery was open. The first picture was of me sleeping. The thing is, I live alone.
I still didn’t make any connection between this and the bonfire night. The picture was clicked at 3:33 am, when I was really fast asleep. There was no logical sense as to how it came there. But it had shaken me up a bit. I couldn’t help but see that picture again and again. Every time I saw it, a shiver ran down my spine.
But with some effort, I carried on with my daily routine. I took my bike out and went to work
6:30 pm
The day passed away rather quickly. Because it was December, it was already very dark. I was sleepy and decided to head back to my house. I was on my bike again, riding slowly. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I quickly turned, lost control of my bike and fell down. My arm rubbed against the road and I was in a pain. But that was not what concerned me. There was no one behind, or nearby me. I pinched myself for being so careless. But the sensation had felt so real that I couldn’t really blame myself. I just thought to myself that it had been a bad day and wanted to reach my room quickly. But I could have never imagined that this was just the beginning.
Tuesday
2:45 am
I was very sleepy but I did not want to sleep. I wanted to find out what had happened the night before. But it was now getting very unbearable. My eyes were almost red, thirsty for sleep. Therefore I decided to put a recorder on to check if something suspicious could be captured. I then locked my mobile and kept it in the drawer. In less than thirty seconds of closing my eyes, I was fast asleep.
7:15 am
I finally had to get up because the alarm was getting very irritating. I suddenly remembered the recorder and was now fully awake. I looked around and checked for my mobile. It was there in my drawer, locked. I checked the gallery, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. I then turned on the recording.
It started with my usual tossing and turning in the bed. There was no other sound but the fan and my breathing. I forwarded it to 3:30, a little nervously. As soon as it was 3:33, I could hear my door open. My heart skipped a bit and I turned towards the door. It was open. I couldn’t believe it as I always ensure to lock it from inside. I listened more to the recording, but there was nothing else.
The events that had occurred in the last 48 hours had made me feel insecure and scared. I got up and checked my door. My keys were on the table, and the door had not been messed with in any way. It was almost as if someone had just opened it normally. Or something.
3:00 pm
I told all the occurrences to my friend who was with me at the bonfire. He looked bemused. After thinking for a while, he told me to sleep at his apartment. I agreed almost instantaneously.
Wednesday
2:50 am
When we got to his apartment, it was already dark so we decided to play video games and ended up sleeping soon after. At around 2:50 am, I got up to use the washroom when I saw a scary painting of a face in the hallway. The eyes felt locked onto mine, and felt really scared. I came back to the bed and slept.
No more than five minutes had passed when I started hearing gasping sounds. There were coming from inside the room. I wanted to wake up my friend who was just sleeping beside me but I was too scared to even open my eyes. I forced myself to turn away and sleep.
7:00 am
As soon as I got up, I looked at my friend to wake him up. But he was already awake, and he was looking at me with frightened eyes.
“Did you hear those gasping sounds too? They were horrible and I was too scared man!” I spoke with a broken voice.
“Th-that was me who was gasping when I saw you levitating from your bed.”
8:30 am
I was too shocked to do anything. I didn’t go to work that day. My friend was also not in the mood, but he had an important project to complete and had to leave, rather hastily. I got up from my bed and walked towards the washroom. I almost absent-mindedly walked past the painting with the scary face when I suddenly realized that only this time, there was no face. Because it wasn’t a painting, it was a window. And my friend lived on the 13th floor.
9:00 am
My body had turned numb. I couldn’t speak, I had lost my appetite and I was too scared to go outside. My friend called me up and told me that he would be coming late as the project wasn’t finished. I cursed my luck and made myself a cup of tea.
I sat down to watch television as I needed something to distract myself. There was a window right behind the t.v and I could see a figure outside it. The figure was the same person from the painting. It was floating in mid-air and I was suddenly very scared. Paranoia gripped me and I slowly walked towards the window only to realize that the face was just a reflection.
I turned around in a flurry but the lights went off at the same instance. There was total darkness now. It started to rain outside. There was lightning every few seconds. In the white flash of the lightning I saw the same scary face from the window right in the corner of the room.
I crouched below and covered my face with my hands. I started crying and praying. A strange whispering sound started coming from the corner. I tried to listen to it. It was making just one sound repeatedly. It became louder as it was coming closer and closer. I remained in the same position, not knowing what to do. The sound stopped for a second, and then echoed right next to me. It was ‘Believe’.
12:15 am
My friend finally returned. The front door was open, and he was very angry about it. He started to say something but stopped when he saw me. I was lying on the floor in a pool of my own blood. His face turned white. He helped me get up and applied some ointments to my wound. Nobody spoke a word. The tv was still on. My friend got up to switch it off but stopped midway. The news was about a man who had been found dead in his apartment because of reasons unknown. His name was Fred Higten.
He turned towards me. I looked back at him and smiled.
****
I closed the diary. There was nothing else written. I was confused. Fred Higten had died at around 9:30 on Wednesday, yet there was a complete description of his last few days in his diary. This could’ve been a prank, but it all seemed so realistic. I just couldn’t believe any of this. My colleagues all argued that some supernatural had to be involved, but I denied all such explanations.
“Detective Jones, anything yet?”
I turned around. It was my assistant, Hanna.
“No, nothing. But there has to be some explanation. What I don’t understand is how this diary describes everything so accurately!” I said.
“It is because Higten himself wrote it, didn’t he?”
“Oh come on. Now don’t tell me you too believe in this shit?”
“But I have no choice. Can you explain how that diary just landed up from nowhere?”
“Umm…. Didn’t you keep it? Wasn’t this note signed by you?” I showed her the note.
“What does the note say?” she asked me.
“Oh now you don’t remember, huh? Here, ‘Primary Evidence, please read carefully… H-H-Higten?’”
I stared at the note in disbelief. I had myself seen it earlier that it was Hanna who had signed it.
Hanna looked at me, smiled and said, “Sometimes you just need to believe, darling.”
This post is intended to be funny and a little gross. Please refrain if you don't like such stuff.
Based on a real life incident. :)
***
I was sitting in the toilet, while my stomach was growling violently, making me curse myself for the greed of more chicken from yesterday. Wish I hadn’t eaten so much. Never again. A sudden rapid knock on the door broke away all my chicken sufferings.
“Dude, get out fast. Rahul’s down with something.”
“What? What the hell?”
“He just collapsed onto the bed, and can’t breathe properly.”
“Are you serious? Wait up..”
A million thoughts crossed my mind as I stumbled for the hand shower. What happened to him? Yes, he didn’t keep well, but this? Shit. Nothing could happen to him, we had shared so many moments together and so many were to come in the next 4 years. I pulled up my pants and opened the gate to the cubicle simultaneously, to see the tensed face of Gaurav in front of me.
“Come on fast man, we can’t afford to lose time.”
“Let me wash my hands..”
“Are you kidding me? Leave this shit and come over fast.”
He’ll be alright, he’ll be alright was all I could tell to myself as I ran to his room. I’m an anxious guy, I was already halfway to what’d happen if we lost him. The times we’d danced in the room to the music of Honey Singh and shared a coke whisky were more vivid than ever now. As Gaurav and I rushed back to his room, I slipped twice, but neither one was enough to stop me. I’d save my friend no matter what!
I opened the gate with a bang. On the bed he lay with his head turned down, with a few more friends around him. He seemed to be gasping for breath, shaking like a fish pulled out of the water. What the hell could’ve gone wrong? He didn’t keep well, but this? No! I went onto the bed and sat down beside him, trying in desperation to talk to him, while thinking hard as to what could be done. When it happened..
One of the people grabbed me from behind and Rahul turned his face to reveal a smile. Another shout of “Maaro saale ko!” and I realized I was in for deep trouble. The four people in the room laughed jubilantly as slippers were drawn and I was hit from all possible directions on all possible body parts with all the force the four could muster. And this happened so fast, I couldn’t resist or try to fight back. The slippers kept hitting against my skin, turning the area red in an instant. A few more, and I thought they were done, but they weren’t. They kept coming in like a volley of bullets in the Kargil war!
Finally, after what felt like eternity, they were done. I don’t know what I did harder, laugh, cry or curse them! So, what actually felt would be a trip to the hospital ended up being red scars all over my legs and hands. And we all shared a good laugh over it!
-“Me? I have been known to stand by the entrance to the county fair, dressed in full jester regalia, juggling tomatoes while a crowd gathered around me in amazement. Some days, I teach myself how to breathe fire and after many a failed attempts I have finally mastered the art! On Mondays, I ride my unicycle to the market and make my weekly purchase of three brown hats and one black shoe which I later die pink and yellow respectively. Why not buy pink hats and yellow shoes, you ask? Why not ride a horse instead of a unicycle, I would answer. On Tuesdays, I arrange and rearrange every piece of furniture in my house often building castles out of toothpaste caps (which are no less than masterpieces, mind you) and then spend the afternoon playing Dungeons and Dragons with the cat. Wednesdays are spent cooking French food while learning Russian. Why, you ask? Because I can. I spend the rest of the week parasailing from the roof, hunting down the purple bunny that lives in my backyard and writing letters to the Lady on The Moon for being most kind as to offer me some excellent Swiss cheese the last time I was up there.
Last summer, they exhibited a real life replica of the Eiffel Tower which I had built out of playing cards, in France. I have been told it’s far better than the original. Of course, I made a note of such foolish compliments in the small pocketbook I keep in my bag- my pockets are too full and I detest going by stereotypes. Hence, the bag is where my pocketbook belongs. This week I must make time to travel Down Under for they require my expert opinion in order to decide which peeled fruit the Opera House resembles most closely. To think that the original architect even suggested it looked like a peeled orange! Outrageous! The only fruit I think it resembles is a pear. Yes, pears can be peeled and peeled pears are excellent for baking pies. You should try it sometime.
I have held the earth on my shoulders. It is a simple matter of travelling to the South Pole and performing a hand-stand. I have managed to drown myself in the Dead Sea and still live to tell the tale. I insist on drinking coffee at tea and my scones are not buttered- they are smeared in mustard. I have humbly turned down the offer of having my own star on the Walk of Fame. All this, in a day’s work. Who am I, you ask? I am everything I can be.”
