अन्तर्मुख

A letter from 27 years old me to 25 years old me about.. marriage. I was in Gurgaon with a college senior who is also one of my best friend, Vikas Saini. We were talking about marriages. We tried to cover all the possible aspects for us to think about and tried to know why there is a problem. In the end, Vikas sir asked me how old I was. I answered 24 and a half, will be 25 in a couple of months. Then Vikas sir won the discussion by saying, “Joshi Ji, you are 25, and I’m 27 and believe me that a 27-year-old thinks a lot different than 25.” Later he told me that he used to think as I did at 25 but for some reason, it changes over the years. The very first question was why should one get married? There are many benefits to that if you come to think of them. First, there is peace of mind. Then it’s costly to live alone. Society functions in groups. Things are cheaper per head if there are more people. Akin to any distribution curve, there is a peak in a...

It was the title of my Business Management course presentation during 3rd year of college. It focused on how schools and society, together, are killing creativity. I just had a thought that the most common hobby among kids is to “Dance”. Why? Probably because parents don’t [want to] spend on other hobbies much. Kids can learn to dance on television, and they don’t have to go outside for that. Parents being overprotective is not better for kids, and the impact is not yet clearly visible to many people. Kids compelled to grow in a particular predetermined environment can’t blossom as much as they can in a free atmosphere. The positives and negatives of this are known to almost everyone thus it doesn’t need any explanation. The thing is what the impacts are. This constrained growth has not taught kids to accept failures. They become depress and get anxious when they fail. Kids expected to get full marks are doing well in that but they d...

It's not about Game of Thrones, apologies to disappoint you.   "'I don't know." That's a big deal to accept. When I was taking the coaching, many a time happened that students asked doubts just out of fun, not of curiosity. Teachers, on the other hand, most of the times find it hard to accept that they don't know the answer. Then they try to answer that thing as good as they can but might not be correct.  Well, it's not only that teacher but many teachers, or I should say most of the teachers, or most of the people or most of anything that answers something, be it cultures or religions or religious scriptures, find it hard to accept that they don't know. Though the sacred texts are said to contain everything we need, they don't actually. They don't have information about Newton's law. Albeit there is some vague knowledge of anything close to Newton's law. There is absolutely no information regarding the generation of electricity, co...

It’s not about Game of Thrones, apologies to disappoint you.   “I don’t know.” That’s a big deal to accept. When I was taking the coaching, many a time happened that students asked doubts just out of fun, not of curiosity. Teachers, on the other hand, most of the times find it hard to accept that they don’t know the answer. Then they try to answer that thing as good as they can but might not be correct.    Well, it’s not only that teacher but many teachers, or I should say most of the teachers, or most of the people or most of anything that answers something, be it cultures or religions or religious scriptures, find it hard to accept that they don’t know. Though the sacred texts are said to contain everything we need, they don’t actually. They don’t have information about Newton’s law. Albeit there is some vague knowledge of anything close to Newton’s law. There is absolutely no information regarding the genera...

Years ago I bought a seed Invested in that watered to feed. While growing I took care He grew good As investment was fair. Making his own food For a greater good Raised a joyful chant Now he was a plant. I sat near him We used to talk As he was a plant He couldn’t walk. One day he grew up He became a tree Both of us were busy No one was free. Whenever we crossed path Now a days it was hard to talk I used to waive my hand He moved branches and bend. We were far Not on talking terms Growing together, we had Some knots and burns. I took good care I did not lack He gave me fruits Just to pay me back. He was a big tree now Took a lot of space to spread I also protected him from Those who were a threat. I don’t know how but One day it changed its colour He thought he was a phenom But his trunk got venom. He was glad As he looked different Unaware that he got poisoned And others weren’t. Colour had some shine Though he looked fine He reacted as wi...

As a kid many a time you must have encountered the question where do you want to go? Heaven or Hell. To me, the very first time this question arose in my classroom and almost everyone wanted to go to heaven, we chose heaven with much confidence and happiness while imagining it. Though we have a very limited image of it. Later as I grew up, I changed my answer to “Hell” as none of my friends would go to heaven. My friends were still asking for heaven but I was damn sure that they will end up in hell, so I can wait for them there if I get to go first. Like I said, we had a very confined image of heaven as a kid. Though we still have no idea what it looks like. While writing this I recalled a story. A primary school teacher asked her students to draw the image of God. After some time, the teacher visited every table in the class just to check what they are drawing. Every student was drawing kind of god as they have seen on the TV or in posters at home or anywhere else. But one student h...

From the beginning when I was in school, I always had lesser friends, and this is something someone told me a week ago. Then I realised I was trying to fit in the wrong mould. I was somewhat introvert from the beginning and some extrovert people sold me that extroverts are the best people around the world, and I was fool enough to buy that. Being what I am, after getting into my comfort zone I had a lot of time from the people around. When I started discovering things, I was amazed to know how good it feels when you spend time just for yourself and no one interrupts you. You can just watch a movie. I enjoyed being alone so much that I almost started avoiding people. Though the time I spent alone, not lonely, had taught me a lot. I still don’t know what I can do, but sure as hell know what I cannot do. I know I over-think; I could not decide between two, but now I can; I lost some great friends so I know that we should respond instead of reacting; and many more. One of the things I m...