The Metropolitan Saga

The stupendous nights at DLF Promenade, the PVR Gold Class, the luscious luxury chocolates, road rash cocktails, laughter mocktails, the spontaneous drools and slurps, the delightful Espresso from Qahwa to Barista, the Van Heusen, the Moet’s and Stone’s and Gola’s, the Olay sunscreens, the Poker Mania, the astounded flow of wealth …………..

And then, the Bacardi blasts, those Tequila shots, the Marlboro lights, those adrenaline dark hours at Polka, Discs at highest decibels, the Death Metals, the 3-G spectrum, those mascara eyeliners which have become a routine boring affair of DU gals, the Kohinoors and Moods, those condom-vending machines ……………

Metropolitans are far becoming out of reach of the middle class; or is India’s middle class finally ready to enter the coveted world of leisure, luxury and exorbitance? What I see in my lovely city Delhi is perhaps both ways true. The ‘Middle Class’ in itself is such a disguising term, it is actually difficult to figure out. Sometimes, the Middle Class seems to have come out of all traditional hitherto taboos. The next moment, it seems to pretend as the same conservative chunk of the Indian society. Lets come out of this rubbish ‘Class’ discussion. Bottom line remains – The city has become far more rapid, inherits far more euphoria and incorporates a mysterious twilight of noise and violent colours.

The seduction of flying currency is definitely something which we desire for. Material success is always welcome, but to what extent? Surely materialistic pursuits give comfort, ease and satisfaction, but Delhi is getting more hungry man ..!! The city still engulfs in what we may call the ‘true picture of India’, poorer, naked people crawling across the streets. May be I am able to witness in my surrounding areas like South Delhi, the hugely widening gap between the rich and poor. Between the sabbatical zone and the destitute. Is it really a problem or is it just a whiff of nervousness which will pass the same way as many previous issues have got erased unnoticed in the past? Is it really something to ponder upon? Can’t we be satisfied with the achieved level of poverty reduction and welcome the new exuberant boom in India’s metropolitan life? Don’t know why I wrote this post …………. Just a way of time pass I guess. Hope it invites a few thoughtful comments.

Next blog soon.

Snehil Basoya

 

Uttar Pradesh Parivahan

I travel not that frequently in the buses of Uttar Pradesh Parivahan, but whenever I do, it leaves me nostalgic. Few people like me rush to grab the corner-most back seat of this shattered mode of transport, carrying 70 people, broken glasses, rugged up seats, scintillating fragrance of the local common man sweat, mixed up infact. Sitting at the corner gives me 3 hours of proper dreaming and introspection, something I relish the most.

There is definitely something which lures my mind to think that way whenever I sit there. For my past two years, when I dreamt, I dreamt about

The transformations me and my life saw after coming to IIT-D.

My friends and friendships.

My academics.

My Drams group.

My ‘missing home’ feeling.

And everything which a fresher like me would like to dream of and think of. Today, when I read the blogs of freshers of today, I see in them a glimpse of my own …….. foolish, childish and naughty.

But yesterday was something different. It took me 4 hours in a traffic-laden journey from Delhi to Meerut after a long gap of 50 days. Surprisingly, when I should have been once again driven into the charisma of dreams, I was rather thoughtless! In simple words, BLANK! I was no more interested in earphones, traffic didn’t bother me, neither I was listening to rubbish nonsense of neighbouring people on Indian Economics, nor was I dreaming. No introspection, nothing at all. It was all moving like a vacuum.

A queer sense of strange satisfaction engulfs me from within. Had I not become rich enough in diverse experiences?

In my two years at IIT, I have been through phases when I was dragged by attention-seeking behaviours of mine, which finally I was successful in curbing.

I have been through phases when I worked blindly into something just because others were doing it the same way. I finally understood that too.

I have been through a whole lot of time when despite so many efforts, marks were not in destiny. I improved on that too.

The major chunk of my life was spent loving a girl passionately for a year and coming out of the after-effects of a not-to-be-made relationship. I have finally come out of that too, and helped a few others come out of theirs.

Most importantly, my two years went in achieving a different level of acting, thinking and living in the world of Dramatics, something which I am proud to state in front of this world.

Do these diverse successes, failures and experiences make a person blank from thoughts? Thoughts should have been more of a sort of flooded, but yesterday, it was completely different. 4 hours went without a single thought, no old memories, no future plannings, just enjoying the present.

Life, I understand now during the course of writing, is at its best when it is lived in the present. When it is not lived by the thoughts, but by our actions.

Work, Energy and Power is an appropriate sequence. When we work with passion, energy itself comes from within, followed by a power which then radiates from us to the outside world.

Am leaving for back journey to Delhi in a few minutes, once again, in U.P.Parivahan!

Next Blog Soon.

Snehil Basoya.

 

Luminous Intensity

My 4th Semester at IIT Delhi

It always feels nice to experience the ‘saundhi sugandh’ of the first summer rains.

To have a sound sleep of 8 hours.

To feel the seducing morning breeze of Jia Sarai.

To breathe vitalizing coolness of Delhi Metro left gaping in front of a hot girl.

To become an Earphone Addict and finding Shreya Ghosal the most suitable bride in this world.

To eat ice-cream scoops worth Rs. 510 in a single go.

To watch horror movies in poignant darkness at the stroke of midnight with bombarding speakers.

To follow a cycle of 3-hour books and 1-hour sleep for a consecutive week during majors.

To refrain from studying in R-2 and Library and performing exile in the hostel itself.

To compere in variety of events at IIT-D ranging from Independence Day Hoisting to BSA awards.

To spend consecutive nights in the Seminar Hall for Institute Dance Production as well as Institute Play Production without doing anything !

To call Cultural and House Secretaries during House Days of different hostels to get ice-creams and chaat-pakode backdoor without standing in a queue.

To be a mentor and provide “sound” piece of advice to the incoming DnD reps.

To be a part of 7 different treats throughout a week.

To learn the definitions of right and wrong.

To discover loopholes in my decision-making and analysing my wrong small decisions.

To accept the challenge of proving the genuineness of each of my 500 Facebook friends to Aakash Kushwaha.

To win 100 bucks in IPL final.

To go bald!

To bath daily.

To wear formal shirts.

To attend morning classes and making notes after sitting the whole night watching Parth and Ritwik dance in the hostel practice room.

To come out of a broken heart on emotional terms.

To understand the negative dimensions of girls, their erratic nature, their moods which affect boys and their lives instead, their compromises and their personality disorders.

To experience friendships getting diluted and finally broken and forgotten.

To have a newer lot of friends occupying an integral part of your lives.

To experience 15 crushes in the same semester!

To discover that the concept of Banda-Bandi is a big fraud (with a few exceptions of course)

Friendships are more delicate.

……….. and Friendships defined my latest time at IIT-D, my best semester ever, Semester Four.

As time passes, we find it easy to differentiate between short term pleasures and long term priorities. We ponder upon where our infinite hyper energy is getting wasted and where it needs to be focussed upon. Once our daily priorities are set and we get to know what we ACTUALLY got to do at every small stage of our life, life becomes easy. It starts flowing with peace. We speak less, do more. When we do more, with eyes open, we achieve more.

When we plan things with a well-defined aim, what matters is the end result or success. It really doesn’t matter HOW the end-result was obtained, be it with correct or wrong means, since everyone has its own definition of right and wrong. What matters is work and what you yourself think about your work, success and failures, not what the others think of you.

You know, we often take the help of emotions to prove ourselves, they just cover up for our weaknesses, nothing else. Emotions always fall ahead of logical reasoning. What I have learnt is – never allow your emotions alone to take your OWN decisions, which will affect YOUR life. Life is practical, there is a race going on at every stage here. The world is an inferno of heaving, it requires us to become rude at times, to be bad for others at times to fulfil our own aims. But then again, what matters is the end result, and what is required is simply patience and confidence in the self.

This semester gave me infinite opportunities and infinite things to learn. I can feel the focus returning in my life after so many months. So many things achieved, so many mature steps taken, not to forget equally numerous foolish decisions.

Four semesters gone, four more to come. Bring them on !!!!!

My first sem without a girl in my life, the most peaceful, eventful and silent one – Semester 4.

Snehil Basoya.

 

Snehil Calling Snehil – II

Why do I get afraid?

Afraid of what?

Afraid of myself.

You aren’t afraid of yourself.

A hysteria compells me into a dungeon of my own acts. I am often afraid of consequences of my own decisions.

Hmmm …

I fear my future which in itself is going to be a product of my erratic past. I overestimate myself, sometimes when I realize it, I start underestimating. I feel insecure in every step I put forward in life. Where I should make efforts, I somehow don’t. Where things can automatically flow inwards, I waste my energy unaware of the easiness of the scenario.

Firstly, your “erratic” past isn’t giving rise to your future. It is, actually the father of your present which you are already ruining blaming your past for everything. Secondly, your thoughts are quite exotic.

It is me who is speaking, I am a synonym of my own thoughts.

You know what, all your apprehensions and fears arise from your thoughts. Your thoughts come from your mind which is no more yours, it is constantly inducing thoughts of the outside world. The thoughts which you call your OWN are actually draining away with a rate you cant even imagine !

What do you want to say?

Tell me honestly, when was the last time you achieved something without anyone else knowing in this world?

[Silence]

This is where your OWN gets drained out. You perceive yourself in the eyes of the world. Something which the world should do, why are you doing it for themselves? Worrying about how those meekly deserved “others” will build their prejudices about you, why do you loose your own identity in your own eyes?

You cant live a sole planet on this earth.

I don’t disagree. But you cant be driven solely by the world which doesn’t know what you think, what you can think and what you CAN do, but you don’t. The Conceptions and Prejudices which you make for yourself in your life are actually what your surroundings have made up for you.

You didn’t answer my question.

Which one?

Why do I fear from myself?

Just because someone else has defined what success and failure are, you take these two as granted. Never dared to re-define them with your own thoughts, keeping in mind your own individuality. You create problems for yourself in an ecstacy to succeed.

I am still not convinced.

The whole lot of  problems you face in your life may not be problems at all ! One day, they may perturb you, the other day, you may not think of them at all ! This clearly proves that all anxieties are not actually anxieties, they are in fact just a temporary state of mind.

I got it. You mean to say, all my thoughts are mere hallucinations.

Not exactly, there are infact mind games, which your mind plays with itself! Let me leave now.

When will I get the next call?

It’s not in my hands, Snehil