NADA

An exam fiasco

     A write up by Samyak Shah 

Take it from a person who has amazing copying skills in the exam hall.

I’m not exactly talking about myself here though. Truth to be told, I suck at copying or helping others copy in the exams. But it’s only the most recent exam incident that has taken me to a whole different level in the world of people who’ve gotten caught for copying.

It was my last exam of the third semester of college. The subject was relatively easy and I had studied almost everything. I had taken efforts to get ready that morning because that was my last exam and it was a day that was meant to be special. I wore the best pair of track pants I had (because comfort trumps style when there is a special reason involved). I admit now, a few weeks later, that I made a terrible mistake wearing track pants to college for that exam.

The exam duration was around three hours. After a few minutes past half-time, I got up to go to the washroom. I did all the business in there lousily and was returning to the class in my own leisure when I noticed that the string (nada, as we call it in Hindi) was hanging outside. And I don’t see any reason why I need to explain why it is not considered such a good sign, so I stopped a few feet away from the classroom to tie the strings properly and tuck it in safely, so that they don’t come out so easily.

Just at that (dreaded) moment, a teacher was passing by (more like coming towards me from the opposite direction). I stopped whatever it is that I was doing and left even the track pant nada like that (evidence). The teacher (who was a very strict and up-tight lady) stood in front of me glaring angrily, thinking that I have the guts to copy in the exam (and the fact that I was coming from the washroom just added insult to the injury).

She immediately called the security guard who was sitting nearby, minding his own business and asked the bouncer to accompany him. The security guard was ordered to check whether I held any obvious suspicious material on me. After the primary check, nothing obvious yielded, so she asked me to lift up my t-shirt to see if there was something on the inside of it. Before I could do that, the security guard insisted that I had no material which I could misuse. (Again, I don’t think I need to explain how that can just cause suspicion to rise). The bouncer suddenly came forward, pushing the thin guard behind and lifted my shirt in an instant.

Obviously, I had nothing on me (I mean, who cheats in a subject like environment that has the same content since 7^th grade). The teacher, (finally) convinced that I had nothing on me, let me continue with my exam. (I can’t even express how dejected she was when she found out that I was completely innocent).

5 minutes later, she barged into the same room where I was giving my exam and stayed there till I finished the paper (which was precisely 25 minutes). I can’t even forget the look she gave me, that clearly said ‘I don’t know what method of cheating you’ve found out, but I’ll soon catch you red-handed’.

The frisking yielded nothing, ‘Nada’ as we call it.

Dastaan - E - Sutta

An original write up by Samyak Shah 

Edited by: Pratham Raina

Dear Reader,

While I am known for my writing, you don’t know me for my headlines. And there’s a reason behind it. Besides, who am I to choose for you? I mean, Aaj kal toh phone se leke uski ringtone tak mein bhi kitne choices hai, and so title mei kyu nahi bhai? (or behen. I don’t discriminate)

So choose on:

Barely Smoking

You, light me up!

I'll blow for you

Minute to smoke it

Smoke and Tell

Smoke me, you’re done

While I am no Confucius or Anonymous myself, so just like you, I also get inspired by quotes around. Here are some of my personal favourites:

“YOU DON’T KNOW ME, BUT YOU’RE ABOUT TO” – Deckard Shaw, FF7

“I AM NOT IN DANGER, I AM THE DANGER” – Walter Hartwell White, S4 E6

Just like Youmans, I too have more than one face.

The External. It is successful. Everyone sees and envies. The Smoke. Emraan Hashmi glorified it when he said, “dhue ki tarah upar uth jao,” however I would be quoting an incomplete dialogue as he did continue with “ya toh raakh banke niche,” and that brings us to my next face.

The Mental. Ash is that kid rockstar who before you know it, because of his one hit wonder, blows up to the top of the charts and is on the face of every magazine titled as the next big thing, before he eventually turns to yesterday’s news and is forgotten. Deceiving isn’t it? Yet necessary.

Before I talk about the other two, I want to add a little something. Because you’re obviously not going to want to listen to it afterwards. Besides, this is going a little dark so let’s light it up shall we?

Yes I have a short life. Yes I get breathed till all that can be squeezed out of me, is squeezed. People from both the sexes do this. No integrity left in anybody, I tell you! Yes I get used. Yes I get thrown on the ground afterwards. Yes, moments before I die, I get stamped on. But... (there’s always a cute butt now isn’t there?)

But that doesn’t mean that I’m not happy. Sometimes I get to see so many new places, notice so many new faces, and make some new friends. I am a total party pleaser, and because of that, you can also find me in a pack. And almost all the people who purchase me are of great stature and give me an opportunity to make them smile and relieve their anxiety. Although for a really short time, but I feel valued nonetheless.

Now that is the good thing about the people who use my services. Nobody likes to smoke alone and who doesn’t like company. The best part about my life is that I get to meet amazing lives, who light me up. Our meetings are very short, but no matter how long it lasts, I feel good to have met them. I am ignited by a lot of variety of lighters, varying from smoker to smoker, but every lighter I’ve met, has lit up with appreciation. (Quite literally!)

... and speaking of pros, sometimes if I am lucky enough to be with rich people, I get to meet celebrity lighters like Zippo, Dunhill, and other super stylish and modern beings that do the same thing, but do it in a way that I don’t even realise that they’ve done their job.

But it’s not always that I do get lit up by lighters, because life gives you lemons as well and at those times, I have to make do with match sticks. I’m not saying that they aren’t good, but they seem like old dudes who take so many human attempts to light a fire and not to mention the pain and annoyance they cause to my clients. You see I like to have them unharmed. Besides, if they really wanted a pin like burn, they could’ve just kissed me with their skin you know. These matchsticks are creepy beings. They aren’t willing to showcase their love for me in the open, they always need their privacy, AND somehow, they don’t seem to be too comfortable with the wind! (even though they’re quite easy going, if you know what I mean)

Confused? Shaken to your core? Two buts? Well there’s the conjunction “but” and then there’s mine.

The Physical. Butt. When all the stories end. And because of me, so does yours someday. I mean what goes around comes around, right?

You see, because I don’t care if you just use me for a few moments of happiness and then leave me, because by the time I die, I have already done my job. And unlike you guys, I don’t discriminate. If you made me feel fucked up, I won’t hold anything on me. I’ll just snap back at you and in such a way that not just you, but all of your loved ones AND your community weeps. 

Don’t underestimate me because mai nahi janti hoongi tera baap kaun hai, lekin tu nahi jaanta mera khaandan kaun hai. I have a network of many cancerous particles, and they're present everywhere. You’re so screwed anyways because we’re with you even in the air you breathe. So you can ban all the tobacco and nicotine you want (although that is not going to happen), you can’t stop pollution, and my good friend nitrogen who is possibly the most killer dude in my community, knows every harmful chemical in the air.

And I have to thank none other than you for all of this.

Initially I did not even have nuts for brains up there, I mean after all, I wasn’t made to function, right?

Just be of temporary service, and everything that you brought along be it your worries, fear, insecurity, they all went. But for some reason your testosterone anguished teenage rage that it all started with, stays and that’s all what I am now. 

I did not choose to exist, yet you created me. And in what short life I have, you seem to burn all of it too. And if we go down, then we go down together. By the time I’m dead, I’ve cremated you too. Just like me, you’re going to burn sooner and sadder rather than later and luscious.

And as I die, I bring it back full circle to where I started from.

Not from the moment you felt stressed, or the moment my services were made available, no. But from the moment you saw the warning and chose to ignore it nonetheless. So remember.

I may be short lived, but I am to be feared

SMOKING KILLS. Not just you, but everything and everyone around you as well.

SMOKING KILLS. Not that fast, but slowly starting from something inside you, to everything inside you.

Writer banna hai?

How many of us here want to become writers? Many of us, right? Writing is not as difficult as the people make it look. It is actually a simple process of putting words together and making a sensible story which can be provided to the fellow humans for reading.

Now, what I want to talk about in this piece is about the stereotyping that goes around the writer’s domain.

Quite specifically, I want to focus on the passion part behind writing.

Here’s the real problem: I belong in a country where, if there is a pattern noticed, that thing or person or concept will be stereotyped left, right and center. One such concept is becoming a writer.   

It feels as if this thing is the dot com of the day, because every other person is trying it. There is nothing wrong in doing that because such attempts have yielded great performers and platforms to showcase our abilities and get the world to know about us.

What my problem is how we have started stereotyping every art related person and every sad or oppressed person to be a writer; quite specifically: The ENGINEERS.

Just like writing, engineering has been the dot com for quite a long time now, and we have been mass producing engineers in an already over populated country, which has lack of proper job opportunities.

Over the time, what has happened is that people have started stereotyping engineers as well. Given how seriously the parents want their child to become an engineer, it is reflected in the student suicide rate in a year. Death is not the option chosen by many of the engineering aspirants because they know that they can come out of the problem if they just make an attempt to make their point come across.

This has given way to another popular stereotype: ENGINEER turned WRITER.

Why?

I know that writing is the best non-violent way of making your feelings and thoughts come across many people, but that doesn’t mean that we clog that stream as well. What I’ve seen over the years is a trend of engineers becoming writers. No issue with that because writing gives you a freedom that science can’t. What the main issue here is how we’ve started stereotyping and behaving that way. As soon as someone says that they’re doing engineering, we just automatically assume that it has been forced on them but their parents and they’re soon going to choose to do stand-up comedy, write or anything in the creative field.

Why?

Both of my cousin brothers are engineers and never once they make it seem that they wanted to do something else. They were genuinely happy with doing engineering.

When I tell this to people, they counter it by quoting examples of famous engineer turned artists, especially the Indian authors like Chetan Bhagat, Durjoy Dutta etc.

If you also belong to the category who’d oppose my views using these names, let me tell you: Chetan Bhagat didn’t directly become a popular writer, he did engineering, he did MBA, he worked in a bank for a long time and gathered enough money in his bank account and then he decided to explore the field of writing. He hasn’t succeeded in his first attempt itself. I’m not demotivating anyone from following their passion, I’m just showing you the mirror, that if you want to be successful, you should be willing to put in the time and effort because success takes time.

I’m not saying that you can’t become a successful writer like them, but you first need to do the stuff that these guys did.

Now, coming to the crux of the whole write-up: Not all engineers are sad, depressed and want to kill themselves. Some genuinely want to do something good for the world with their quality and level of education and YES, not all engineers have to strive out to become writers, and nor do you need to follow such silly stereotypes.  

Writer banna hai, toh bano. Kisi ne mana nahi kiya, lekin yahan pe bahot mehnat lagegi upar aane mein, toh agar iss ke liye taiyaar ho, toh badhaao aage apna kadam.

(If you want to be a writer, then become one. No one has stopped you, but here you need a lot of hard work to rise up, so if you’re ready to do that, then put your best foot forward).

Maa da laadla bigad gaya??

A blog by Samyak Shah

How many of us have been on the receiving end of our mom’s taunts? Don’t we just hate it when we have to hear earful from our mothers for doing something that we liked, but unfortunately that activity didn’t align well with our mothers.

What the problem of parents is that they want to give us the freedom of living our lives as we wish, but then, we all know the side effects of unsupervised freedom and if you are in your pre-teen years, or you’re a teenager or a young adult, then you’ll know that the struggle to stay quiet and listen to their side. Moms aren’t wrong on their side because they always want us protected; the place where it exceeds is when they start to behave like a dictator around us.  

I have many female friends whose mothers don’t easily allow them to go to a guy friend’s house, and for that, mothers are capable of coming up with any gory story and absurd logic (though if we go to an extreme extent with their logic, then it seems plausible). I don’t hate the mothers who have these sort of rules imposed on their children, it’s the way the rule is being treated which is the problem. 

Whenever I call one of my female friends who fall under this category, I automatically visualize her being tied by a leash toh the staircase support or the main door (because for protecting, moms can go to any extent. Maybe that’s why choker fashion is back as it works as a great attachment for a leash).

I understand the concern that moms have, of their daughters going to a guy’s place. My mom has personally explained all the things I need to see when any of my female friends are over because one wrong step, one wrong interpretation and one miscommunication and I’m the one who’ll be getting screwed by both sets of parents alike and (in extreme cases) cops as well.

So, to ensure that no other child gets angry on their mother for scolding them and that no mother overthinks everything and not everyone falls into the category of the bad child or as I affectionately like to call it “Maa da laadla bigad gaya”, I have taken the liberty to mention a few pointers for having a safe future.

This one’s for the kids:

1. Trust your parents when they tell you that they’re saying from personal experience, because it might be a white lie, but remember: EXPERIENCE TRUMPS INTELLIGENCE

2. Parents possess a seventh sense which identifies bullshit from miles away; make sure to believe them when they tell you to stay away from someone. TRUST GOES A LONG WAY

3. Their intentions are not bad, but unfortunately, not all parents are comfortable in calling a spade a spade. What I mean is; that not all parents are comfortable enough to talk to you in a direct manner, so they use your friend’s and all your life events as a practical example to explain their point. INTENTIONS AREN’T WRONG, THE METHOD OF EXPLAINING IS

4. Your friends whom you value so much may or may not be with you in your worst time, but your parents were, are and will be. FRIEND has ‘END’, but PARENT doesn’t

5. When parents inform you about the result of being with someone or doing something, believe me, they are way ahead of you. If you are on move number 2, they’ll already be on move number 13. Parents always analyze all sorts of aspects, triggers, responses, counter-responses, future consequences, financial aid requirements etc. when they tell you to stay away from someone. IT IS NOT THAT THEY DON’T TRUST YOU, IT’S THE OTHER ASSES WHO YOUR PARENTS HAVE FIGURED OUT

This one’s for the parents:

1. Your planning is accurate and you’ve put in your personal past experiences, but with a new generation, comes a new perspective and a new way of dealing with the same situation. DON’T IMPOSE PERSPECTIVE, ATTEMPT TO ENCULCATE NEW USEFUL ONES

2. The child, who you think is stupid, is certainly not. You may have shied away from educating them, but their friends haven’t and believe me, a little bit of bad influence is not bad for them because and I quote almost every parents’ dialogue “The world isn’t going to pamper you”. So, if you’ve said it, how about you decide to implement it, because there is a popular saying that supports it: IT IS BETTER TO BE A WARRIOR IN A GARDEN, THAN TO BE A GARDENER IN A WAR.

3. Pamper the child when needed. Over or Under pampering can shape the child very badly and can cause the rise of inferiority complex and self opposing views and self contradictory personality. There is an age for experiencing everything, so hold your horses for a moment and let the child live the moment while it has a meaning because recreating a lost moment is possibly the hardest and the worst thing you can do to someone who you’ve deprived off of the right age for the right thing. RIGHT TIME, RIGHT AGE, RIGHT ACT.

4. All children are different, so if you’re scolding your child for not scoring like how your acquaintances child scored, then maybe you shouldn’t be stopping them from doing something just because some kid of the same age did it. If you realise that your child is different and you trust that he/she cannot do that, then how about you go one step ahead and let your child believe that you’re not against them for doing something, but you’re against the fact that there is possibility that something might go wrong. IT IS NOT OUR ACTION THAT IS WRONG, IT IS OUR REACTION THAT IS  

Do not forget: TRUST IS A TWO WAY STREET

If you feel that your parents don’t trust you, maybe it is because you don’t trust them. Reciprocation is important in communication, especially in a sensitive component like family in everyone’s life.

Is TIME the answer?

A story by Samyak Shah

Whenever faced with a problem, wherein you're unable to find a solution at the moment, people often tell you that you need to 'give it time' and 'time will solve everything'. That somehow even made sense because acceptance of a particular situation takes time. What I do not understand is that why is there a need for a lot of time to get everything back to normal? I agree that it looks like I am the one who is a bit impatient, but then again, if everyone is saying that 'time is running out' then how do you explain the paradox of 'give it time'?

My brother explained it to me that there are some things which he is able to do at the age of 25 which I am able to do at the age of 19, while there are somethings which I am not able to do at 19 which he was doing at 19. Basically, what he meant was that everyone has a different learning ability curve, so it takes different time for every single individual to grasp the concepts that are going to be applied in the outside world. I asked him the same thing which I've asked to a lot of other people: When am I going to learn to behave the way in which you do because everyone takes you seriously and everyone wants to listen to you? and he replied with just one statement: It is going to take time bro. Enjoy life and it will teach you with time.

What he didn't see when I asked this question is the desperation of my attempt to be the normal 19 year old boy who does want to live how the other 19 year old guys live. I also desire to be that same cocky guy who can get his way with everything because of his persuasion abilities. But then, I am reminded that every individual is different and so am I.

So, I asked him straightaway: Why is it that I always have to give it time to improve? Why do I have to learn about how I'm supposed to behave with different people differently? 

He again answered in one statement: In today's world, your network is your net worth. 
He further went on to explain: "See, right now, you are smarter than you were at the age of 12. You have grown, why? because after turning 12, you moved around a lot, you won a few competitions, you learnt what it is like to have very small friend circle and how important it is to have a strong network or friends. You may not have a lot, but you know the worth of your friendship. There was a time when money and back account mattered the most, but now is time when you focus on building a network of people, who you know are going to help you come out situations and vice versa. Having close friends and friend circle is good, but you also need to have a network that has people who are willing to pull all sorts of strings if anyone from the circle is in trouble. You need to find someone who's willing to help you in situations where you feel that one person isn't enough. and vice versa. Today, I can say that I have a lot of friends, but then if you ask me how many are the sort of people who are willing to stand by you when the world is not? I'd still have a few names who will because we have a mutual understanding and we believe in the other person."


"If we just had to accept the fate and sit, then there would have been no chances given to us for improvement. Learn to accept and move on as quick as you can, time is running out. You may give it all the time needed, but if you're unable to move ahead even after devoting lot of time, it is time we go back to the basics and see where we went wrong. It is not wrong to be wrong, it is wrong to not correct it. You'll learn everything, but there is no fixed time when. It may happen that you wouldn't have learnt a certain thing because that event would've never occurred in your life till now, but wait for it to happen, meanwhile, focus on applying what you have learnt, maybe the next learning is waiting for you at the end of the next mistake."

Pehli Udaan

A story by Samyak Shah

The title loosely translates to “First flight”. A metaphorical indicator of new opportunities taking you to new heights, taking you to new destinations from the roads not explored. What prompted me to write this one is because of an anecdote my father shared with me recently. He is a frequent flyer and honestly speaking, when you do one activity for a long time, you’re bound to get bored. This is what the situation is with him because he has been doing this to and fro in aircrafts for almost 5 years now. And he has many amazing stories and incidents to share [if asked].

Today, he narrated an incident which took me back to the time to 2008 when I visited Mumbai for going through admission processes in many schools. That was the first time I sat in an aircraft and my excitement knew no bounds. Who isn’t excited about the fact that a carefully put together construction of a steel cage can lift you above thousands of feet in air and make you experience an ear blinding time. I was never the naughty or the mischievous child, but I sure was one for the airport security, because I decided to break the security check for seeing whether the washrooms in the airport were similar to the ones they showed in movies. YES. 2-3 ground level security personnel chased me on the washroom entrance. Ah what a first flight it was. The excitement the experience holds, waiting for the cage to lift you up from the ground, as your face gets stuck on the little rounded rectangle window as we slowly take off.

My dad booked an alpha or A seat [which is a window seat, for the ones who don’t know] and next to him, sat a girl who was around my age [17-19 years] and this was her first time sitting in a flight. Unfortunately, she was separated from her father as he sat on a beta or B seat in a seat number behind her. She constantly kept looking back from the left and the right, excitedly asking whether he saw how the flight was swiftly moving with those little radium flashy lights leaving them. This was the first flight for both of them, and honestly I understood how excited a person is experiencing something that is still considered to be some sort of a luxury service.

“She constantly kept looking behind to her father, then tried to look outside the window to see if there was anything worth seeing” my dad said, laughing lightly on the innocence of the girl “I was a bit agitated by a half an hour, so I asked her once I got an opportunity whether this was her first time sitting in an airplane, to which she gleefully replied a big, smiling YES”. The flight duration was around an hour and half. Dad checked how much travel time was remaining. When the pilot announced that the flight was right on time and within 20 minutes, he just got up from his seat and asked the girl whether she wanted to sit on the window seat, and like an innocent child, her eyes widened and she requested if that was possible, to which he smilingly nodded and what seemed like a golden moment came into her life as she shifted to the alpha seat.

“Till the time the flight reached the airport and the bus assembled on the ground, the girl didn’t move her eyes from the window, capturing every moment of this experience. We don’t exactly value this mode of transport because we’ve gotten used to it, but you will never understand how amazing it felt to see her smiling from ear to ear, breaking into little fits of giggles as she saw the flight have a touchdown on the runway. I’ll never forget how amazing it felt when her father thanked me on her behalf for allowing her to exchange seats”.

I have no clue who that girl is or what her name is, all I want to tell you is that may your life enrich you with more such amazing experiences and may you get people like my father who allow you to enjoy those moments to the fullest. This was her first flight, her pehli udaan and no matter how clichéd it may sound, but as I heard this tale and I decided to pen this down, I had light tears emerging because kindness is possibly the best thing you can gift someone.

  

 

The dog needs to die

A deleted excerpt from 

Life - Phase One by Samyak Shah 

So, I guess that we all have heard of a quote that relates to the elephant and the dog. For the ones who haven't, I'll just write it down for them: 

"You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks" 

- Winston Churchill 

I am a firm believer of this quote because I have personally seen the power that ignorance holds. The thing that this quote tells us, is that we need to stop focusing on everything and everyone who is trying to bring us down on our journey to achieve what we aimed for. We need to stop paying heed to the people who have nothing better to do in life then to criticize us on our every move. 

The reason why I believe in this quote is because I have been living my life the way my heart has been telling me to (you know how they show in movies that a person's life changes when they start doing what their heart is telling them to do, YEAH, that is pretty much what my life is up to nowadays). So, whatever it is that I do, I put my heart into it and see whether it makes me happy or not, I make sure that there is no shortcoming of efforts being put into a task. What the world seems to lack is the appreciation for somebody living to the fullest. 

Another quote fits here: "People want you to do good in life, but not better than them". 

A lot of people around me keep asking me: Why do you suddenly break into a little fit of giggles? Why do sit like this? Why do you not censor or manage what you say? 

Because, guess what: I have shed my previous inhibitions and I don't give a flying rat's ass if the other person doesn't seem pleased by my reply. He asked for a reply, not a pleasing statement. 

The point of the above paragraphs is that I have stopped focusing on the dogs that keep on barking because I know that the dogs that bark, do not have the capacity of biting, hell, they don't even have the capacity to come near me. 

But there still is a flipside to the story. 

The quote by Winston Churchill is great, is inspiring, but it still lacks the aspect that we as humans live for. 

What I want you all to take as a learning outcome from here is that you don't need to focus on the dogs that keep on barking, you don't need to stop and throw stones at the dogs that bark, because this is just going to deviate you from reaching your goals. 

The dogs are a representation of the various aspects in our life that can hold us down from achieving what we want, the dogs show what we or the world doesn't approve of which we need to ignore. 

What I am saying is that there are some dogs which are going to bark throughout your entire life, these are the representations that are going to trouble you everywhere and every stage of your life alike.  

What to do: 

Do not focus on them until you've reached the finish line and completed your task/goal. Take that dog and crush it under your elephant feet. If you're seen as an elephant, then make use of that metaphor and crush those goddamn dogs. Use some of your power. 

I am not saying that just after completing one task you start trampling those dogs or those aspects, but one by one, this way you have the added motivation of breaking the set norms and stereotypes which have the power of bringing down people after you're long gone. Help the ones behind you. They might see this gesture of yours as an inspiration and who knows when this might start becoming a trend. 

Not only will this start a chain of positive action, but it will prove that a little negative action along the path doesn't affect your way of achieving. 

We all are chanting the mantra of "Breaking the stereotypes", so guess what, let's make trampling of those aspects a trend as well. 

#BreakTheStereotype

There are some dogs that need to be eliminated. Some aspects that need to be out of our system and world. So, if we're christened as elephants, let's show them what damage and good are the elephants capable of. 

The most common dogs or aspects that will trouble you (and which need to be necessarily eliminated) include: 

1. Personal insecurities (can range from anything to anything)  

2. The need to be a part of a particular social groups (which involves throwing away your true self and taking up a personality which the social groups approve of)

3. Public shaming and lynching 

4. LOG KYA KAHENGE (What will the people say?/What will the society say?)

These and many more. They are the ones that I find that are common for us at every stage in life. Find out what's yours

Izzat karo

A poem by Samyak Shah

Bura unko mat bolo, 

kyunki tang tum aa gaye they 

Bura unke baare mein mat bolo,

kyunki tumhaare nakhre unhone bhi uthaaye they 

Izzat karlo unki jinko tumne chhoda hai, 

kyunki unki kuch baat tumhe sata rahi thi 

Izzat dedo unko bhi jo tumhe chhod ke gaye, 

kyunki khaas baat kuch tum mein bhi thi jo unko sata rahi thi 

Chahe jisne bhi juda hone ka elaan kiya, nuksaan isme kisi ka na hua 

Kyunki jeetey toh tum dono ek dusre ke bina bhi they,

Dukh sirf iss baat ka tha ki jab saath they tum tab ainvayi "JAAN BHI DE DENGE" bola karte they 

This poem is a shoutout to all the boyfriends and girlfriends who decided to hurl abuses and insult each other after breaking up. (involves calling names as well) 

This poem is a shoutout to all the people who (in the pursuit of becoming popular amongst their friend's circle) disrespected the other person's freedom and peace of life.  

This poem is a shoutout to all the couples who (despite deciding to break up mutually) blamed the other person for everything that had happened. 

Relationships and intimate affairs are a part and parcel of life, some work out and some don't, but this doesn't simply mean that people go on insulting the same person who they had proposed to just some time ago. 

I, myself, have just passed this phase where I had a fallout with a friend of mine, who I considered very close to me (for whatever little time we were together, or that's what I thought). I realised that feelings and respect were not being reciprocated from her side, and I decided that very moment, I am not going to put up with this. 

I broke off all ties with her, and there came a point where I literally wanted to hurl the worst of insults on her face, that's when my bestfriend came to the rescue and told me, that if she respected your decision of parting ways with you, maybe you should not disrespect it. I had never hurled abuses at any woman in these 18 years of my life, when I told this to him, he straightaway said and I quote  

"Good for you. If you haven't hurled abuses at any woman till now, do not let her become an exception. Let this little legacy of yours live for a longer period". 

That moment is when I thought that I should be respectful and thoughtful of all the decisions I've made till now that concerned and involved her. 

A stronger bond

A stronger bond 

                                                               A poem by Samyak Shah 

Like fevicol the glue,

The mission is too simple to be true.

I crave for a stronger bond,

Like the fishes have with the pond.

Sometimes your anger showers like a cavalry,

The love we have for each other seems like our rivalry.

A smile on your face is like a million dollars to me,

Although it costs but still to me it seems to be free.  

Stay with me like the sun and the moon,

I don’t really appreciate the people who leave too soon.

If  you say that I am the reason for your smile,

Then I wouldn’t mind going the extra mile.

Please be with me, you’re my inspiration

You are my oxygen, because I need you for respiration. 

Khatra hai mujhe, mujhi se

A poem by Samyak Shah

Khatra sa hai mujhe, darr iss baat ka hai 

Nuksaan mein main hu, lekin isme dosh bhi usi ka hai 

Itna kamzor hu main ki darta hu apne aap se 

Koshish yahi hai ki samajh na jaau main ke mujhe khatra hai mujhi se 

Jeevan mein kuch aata hai, toh bas ilzaam lagaana 

kyunki nahi chahta main khud ko bataana 

Kamzor woh nahi jiska maine naam liya zubaan se 

Kamzor woh hai jo darta hai apne aap se. 

Aankh khol ke dekho, toh samjhoge ki tumhaari khud ki asliyat kya hai 

Dusro ka naam lena chodoge, tab pata chalega, 

Yeh parinaam bhi khud ki hi galtiyon ka hai 

Most people do not know their true self and that is a leading reason why most people have developed the habit of blaming someone or the other for the things happening in their life (which might not have anything to do with the person they blamed). 

Because the person is not ready to accept his/her true self, how can we expect them to accept their flaws and mistakes. 

Your true self is like a wild animal which needs to be tamed. You'll be scared at first, looking at the way it behaves, but believe me; once you learn to accept it and love it, you'll see that you were scared for nothing. Accept yourself, and see how the world will start appearing much more simple to you. The one who is scared of meeting his/her own true self, is the one who'll be scared from the world, who'll be insecure about anything and everything in their life, but once you've met your inner self, the insecurities and problems will be reduced by a great extent.

Do not be scared of yourself.......  

Epiphany

Sometimes we forget to be thankful for what all we have received. We need a reality check to see that we all are living a luxurious life in certain aspects of our life. We don’t always gazillion dollars of money in our bank account, we don’t always need to have a security around us to reassure our celebrity status, and we don’t require big ass cars in the parking are to show how much we have earned because there are certain things that cannot be purchased or leased. These things just need to be experienced to make us realize that we are way more richer than we think we are.

The best place or situation that helps us in striking epiphanies and biggest life changing decisions is a place that not all people visit (those people are lost). This place is the Galla or the place where people go to buy cigarettes, paan and what not. The place is like a heaven in its own way, by just being there you are able to have conversations that you can’t even have in a natural surrounding or in an educational surrounding. The knowledge acquired and realized is way more valuable than some big ass company’s CEO’s monthly salary slip. The 2 best times that actually possess the ability to make you think about what you want to do, are: Late night talks and Galla talks. If had on a regular basis, you’ll be benefited in ways that you wouldn’t have thought of.  This blog is a result of one such epiphany inspiring galla talk.


I was just casually having maggi noodles with one of my friend and we were talking about school results and how we had gotten beating from either of our parents (if at all) and this brought us to a brink of a new topic of discussion. She started talking about how her parents had gotten divorced when she was at a very young age. We all have heard sad stories about how the kids whose parents get divorced turn out to have some or other sort of problems, but if you look at her and talk to her, you might not even realize that there is a problem (if at all there is). While she narrated all the funny incidents, I somewhere realized that despite having seen her parents getting divorced at young age (she might not even would’ve comprehended what it was, but still) she is still living like a champ, and honestly, I have never seen her complain or throw any sort of tantrums (not that I know of) and this made me realize that how neglectful I had been sometimes with my parents, or my friends and many more people for that matter.

I realized one thing after that conversation: I needed to be more thankful (and actually express it in words) to the people who have helped me in my life in whatsoever minor or major way possible because without any external influence and response, it is difficult for a person to develop normally.This is the day that I realized what ‘NOT TAKING THINGS FOR GRANTED’ meant. I realized that while I am on my journey to inspire someone to improve their life, I shouldn’t forget those who have inspired me and helped me whenever I was going through a bad phase (sometimes despite not having any personal gains by helping me).

I’m thankful to all those who have inspired me and I’m grateful to all those who have gotten inspired by me (if at all) and I’m thankful to my friend for making me realize what being rich actually meant.

“A simple act of caring creates an endless ripple, that comes back to you” 

(the people who have seen this commercial will know what value this statement holds and how is it related to this blog)


- Samyak Shah  

Know yourself

I am a second year Bachelor’s degree student who is (more or less) struggling to prove himself (because that’s what all our lives are about: What have you done?).

I frequently sit down with my brother and sister for talks (which we affectionately like to call counselling sessions) because I put forward all my doubts, troubles, problems and questions which then we together try and solve. For the first few times, it had been amazingly beneficial because I realized ke in what all places was I not giving my 100%. I slowly started moving towards improving myself and then slowly, I realized that I wasn’t actually improving, I was actually just trying to please my brother and sister (my whole family for that matter) because whatever I was working on was something that they had recommended. I hadn’t chosen what all I wanted to work on, they had advised that I CAN improve in these XYZ areas and I mistakenly had considered only those areas. Now, you all may have heard the saying ‘KNOW YOURSELF AND YOU SHALL KNOW THE WORLD’ and that’s when it hit me: I don’t necessarily need to talk to them if I can just ask myself certain questions, then it is quite possible that I can come up with a lot of answers.

Thus; I started to confront myself and I realized that I was capable of answering and revealing my deepest fears, regrets, dreams and goals to myself. I wasn’t afraid of myself anymore. I powered myself. Once I began to know myself, I realized what all I had been missing out on. I truly started enjoying life like an 19 year old boy should. And then I realized that I was indeed special because I was no more afraid to speak and act my heart out, I wasn’t afraid about the consequences, all I ever cared about is ‘whether I had given my 100% or not?’ and ‘whether I had enjoyed doing it or not?’. I shed all my previous masks and lives I had surrounded myself with. I finally became capable of doing what I wanted to and what I always thought of, and now I did it without a fear in this world (although in certain places and incidents I do need consent).

What I want you all to do is ask yourself certain questions:

1. Who am I? (answer this without using any examples of specific people in your life)

2. What do I want? (do not write: I want money or I want to get rich [that is a by-product], write what you’d like to do or what you’d like to possess when you have reached a certain age in life)

3. What are your triggers? (can be anything: what things you fear or what aspects make want to scream?)

4. List down all your achievements (anything that is notable enough, like: any national or state level competitions you’ve won etc.)

5. Who are THEY? (list down all sorts of aspects [including people or groups of people] who have an indirect control on how you behave)

6. What is it that I truly want for yourself in life?

7. What exactly do I want to do? (make a career or life from what you love to do. Example: Loving your S.O. is good but you can’t make a career out of it.)

8. What is it that makes me happy? (include the names of places, experiences, people etc. that make you happy)

Answer this questions, ask yourself all these questions and if done wholeheartedly and with complete honesty, you’ll realize that you’re actually happy and all the masks you carry will drop and you’ll meet your true self. Do not be afraid of anything that happens during this journey of self discovery. You may cry, you may want to kill someone, but remember that at the end of this journey is true happiness. Once you know yourself or start to get to know yourself, you’ll see what a beautiful life it is.

- Samyak Shah

     

Look forward

The ghosts do not haunt me,

My failures do not taunt me

Because now I am only looking forward,

It's time that they accept that I am not a coward

It took some time to realize that no one cares,

Because their fear is such, that no one dares

Moments like these make you feel empowered yet helpless,

You may know everything, but you'll still remain restless

Sometimes it's only about accepting the flow,

Because problems will be there, wherever you go.

These are the ghosts that will haunt you, no matter where you are

You'll make it out alive, with nothing but a scar

- Samyak Shah

Baah ko baah mein rehne de, 

lamha ye bhi guzar jaayega, 

Shaayad iske baad hum rahe na rahe, 

bas apna yeh lamha reh jaayega

Tootenge hum, aur ek ek tukda nazar ke saamne bikhar jaayega 

Kaanch ke tukde ki tarah hai ye

Yuhi rehne denge toh raah mein chubhega, 

Sametne ki koshish ki toh zakhm sa ban ke reh jaayega

- Samyak Shah

I don't know

I don’t know who I am

Whether I will be alive tomorrow or not.

People question my existence,

But still I am breathing.

Not knowing what will happen the next moment

I keep travelling

Not knowing what my destination is.

I never ask questions about my path

I blindly follow it.

I have an intuition that my goal is somewhere around,

Yet it seems nowhere to be found

I will go through all of it without giving a damn,

I don’t know who I am

- Samyak Shah

Beginning of Beginnings

I have taken some extra efforts to get ready, and I want to tonight to go the way I have planned. I check myself in the full size mirror stuck behind the room door. My hair looks awfully out of place, seems like the hair gel isn’t doing its job properly. I go inside the washroom and plop some more of that slimy liquid gel in my hair, and try to set the mess on my head. I am successful to some extent as I at least get my hair to move a bit, and blow-dry them. My clothes look appropriate according to the occasion. I think a casual shirt and jeans can be categorized as an outfit for going to a DJ night. I glance at my watch, 7:45pm. I hastily put on my sneakers and head out of my room. Tonight has to go the way I want; nobody can come between me and my dance. I have planned my dance moves and how I am going to impress everyone. I am thinking about that when I realize that I am finally standing outside their room. Before I knock, I re-check myself and once I am satisfied with the fact that there’s nothing I can do now, I knock on their door. No answer. I ring the bell, and after a short interval of about 20 seconds, she opens the door.

For a second, I’m taken aback by what I see. She is wearing a nice strappy black dress which ends just a few centimeters above her knees, with a circular pattern of golden design around the neck region. I am awestruck at seeing her. I still cannot believe that the girl who is standing in front of me is the same girl who I had told that “anything you wear, you look similar.” Today she looked different; and in an awesome way. She had left her perfect shoulder length hair open. And when I say perfect, I mean it. So many girls will be jealous of her hair; it is the combination which every girl desires. Straight from the tip towards the mid and curled at the ends. I could smell how amazing she smelled. Not just her, but even the other girl who was busy drying her hair in the background. She looked her usual best. The cutest of us three. Sheeri, we both call her by her family pet name. But today, the girl at the door had stolen the show.

I hugged her the instant I took a few steps inside their room. This was probably the first time I was hugging her, and it was the time when I didn’t want to release her. She looked so pretty. It was the first time that my feelings had rushed to my face, I couldn’t stop smiling and admiring how great she looked.

If it wasn’t for the socials tonight, I would have asked her to take a walk with me on the streets of the city. It was one of those nights of my life, when I wanted the moon to stay and the sun to not rise. I could have gone hours looking at her and nothing would have mattered to me. Unfortunately, I am a bit weak when it comes to showing affection physically, so I had to leave her after a few seconds.

           Deleted excerpt from 'Life - Phase One' by Samyak Shah

The girl with the magical eye lens

She stands right in front of me, looking quite the combination of beautiful and innocent. Her shoulder length, not-so straight yet smooth hair, dancing to the tune of the wind. Those big buggy eyes with a magical lens which casts an invisible spell on the onlookers, which nobody want to break. Her soft baby like fingers fiddling with the vehicle keys. Those pink lips of hers seem to be made out of candy, perfectly carved at all the right places and possibly the brightest shade of pink, god can ever manage to give.

 Little beads of sweat trickling down her soft and round cheeks is a visual treat, which she doesn't quite allow everyone to experience, wiping them out using her fingers and partially setting her hair strands behind her ear. She remembers something and laughs heartily, it sounds like a melody which is soothing with rough edges and a childish resemblance to it and her head cooperates with her laugh, jerking forward, giving an more child like innocence to her laugh. Her perfectly white teeth seem to move something inside my heart without actually moving, and almost instantly I fall for that cheeky childish laugh of hers, Her delicate hands move immediately to cover her open mouth and block my view. She stops laughing but not smiling, I wonder how the smile never leaves her face. I almost instantly envy that smile.                  Deleted Excerpt from "Life - Phase One" by Samyak Shah x
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