P for Police and Police for Public!

Public and Police, when written in English have only a few letters' difference - which indirectly (which in fact is direct and is very clear for people with common sense) shows that police and public are 'almost' the same.

Being an ordinary citizen of this country, when I hear about police or if I need to go to a police station for something, I panic - and this very same feeling is the one that I'd love to avoid. I'd love to feel safe inside a police station or I need to feel happy and relaxed after seeing a police man. But unfortunately from what I understand - it's the other way around; people would love to handle their issues on their own instead of taking the extra 'burden' of the police.

We all have an opinion or say an impression about the 'word' police - it brings out different pictures in your mind. Unfortunately (or fortunately) most of these pics that come to your mind are not from the real life, instead they're from some random movies we have watched in the past.

So in my life if I have watched 100 movies with 75 of them showing bad cops and 25 showing good cops - it's almost certain that I'd tend to believe that most of the police men are bad. Likewise if the majority of the movies I've watched are of good cops, this opinion would be different. My point is, public's opinion about Police is directly related to the movies they watch, because most of us have never been to a police station or 'interacted' with a police man.

HOWEVER, I'm not trying to tell you that you're completely wrong. Sadly, the only few police men we have seen in real life, including the traffic police, weren't acting much differently from the characters we have seen in the movies. Most of the cops I had seen in my life are traffic police and unfortunately all of them are corrupted - looting the common man in the name of a few law violations when they themselves commit bigger ones (who said looting isn't a crime?)

The characters in the movies act/behave as per the director of that movie. If the director wants to portray someone good, he can easily do that. Same is the case if he wants to portray someone bad too. So in a movie, if the hero is a cop (even if he is little corrupted), the audience, which in larger terms, the public would enjoy it, because he is the hero of the show. However, in another movie, let's say, of the same director and hero, if the villain is a cop (acting exactly as the hero's character in the previous movie), people would hate him because the director wants them to hate him. Hope you get what I mean!

However in real life, there are no directors. I'm the actor/director/everyone in my life. So the people and their characters I see in my life will be from my view point and it is not influenced by any director. If I see a police man taking bribe from someone, I know that he is the bad cop (even if he is the hero in his life). This is exactly where our police department should behave themselves and keep their names clean. Again, when I say they should behave properly, I say that based on what I read from different articles on new papers or what I have seen in TV (which I assume are true).

As we mentioned about movies, we have to talk about the other side too. I've (we all have) watched quite a few Hollywood movies and how do you feel about a US cop? Is it the same feeling you get when you think of an Indian cop? I assume no, because they've portrayed their police in a much better way in their movies (We don't have to deal with them in real life anyways though). From what we have seen from their movies (I mean most of the movies), police is the angel that comes to the rescue of public when they are in trouble.

Just to quote a video I watched the other day - 2 men were trying to rob a stationary store somewhere in Middle East. They had a gun in their hand and was threatening the shopkeeper and the other customers. However, when I was expecting them to run away with the money, they were shot dead by the police who came from I-don't-know-where at the right time. FYI - that seemed to a real life footage from a CCTV - not a reel life video.

We have had numerous reel-life police officers who would go to any extend to protect and safeguard the public. But does it matter? Even after watching 100s of such brave reel-life heroes, if you're to face ONE corrupted cop in your real life, I'd tend to believe my real life is more real than the reel life.

Of course, we do hear a lot of stories about real-life heroes too. The latest ones we heard with moist eyes, were the brave souls who fought with the terrorists without caring much about their own lives at Gurdaspur. They fought bravely (way better than those imaginary reel life heroes) without much safety precautions, because for them, their duty and the nation stood first - not heroism, not their own lives. Salute you brave men, and sorry for the ones spoiling the name of the entire police force - I pity them!

Life of a Navodayan - Part 2

Woops, forgot to tell you - this post is now shifted to: https://vipinwrites.wordpress.com/2015/03/23/life-of-a-navodayan-part-2/

A Dream that connected the dots!

It was a dream that connected everything so well like a nice movie. People say, that our dreams have connections with our activities on that day; the things which get registered in our brain will come as dreams. Uff..enough of scientific explanation! But once you read through this dream, you will get to know the reason why I explained this theory.

It was like any other Saturdays where I sleep through the day after the night shift and then eat and watch movies throughout the night. [Yes, night shift on weekends too.] Somewhere in the middle of that sleep, the dream has started flowing out of its hidden camp.

Not sure who informed me that, I got selected to Navodaya to do my M Sc Electronics. [Don't ask me when did they start PG courses in JNVs]. So as always, my mom took me to the school, sorry I meant Navodaya college and got the admission. Right after the office works my mom disappeared and I appeared in my dormitory [Appearing/disappearing is simple in dreams you know!]. I was so excited to be in the same exact hostel where spent my school years. People who know Pathanamthitta Navodaya would know Shivaji house or SANU 3. This is the exact same place where we spent our golden years of hostel life - class 9th to 12th and Joseph sir was our hostel master. But I'm not sure who is our hostel master this time.

So it was getting dark outside already and we all were hungry. When I say 'We', I don't remember seeing any of those faces before but they all had the same names as my friends Prabhu, Jai, Anoop, Biby etc. Again twist in the story, one big full bowl of rice with curries [don't ask me if it tasted like the JNV mess hall food - no comments] and we all sat together and had that. It was 8-9pm (I think so) and I had to sleep. I saw Biby's bed that was neatly kept with one of the same bedsheets he used in the school [Don't think that I have crazy memory, but there are few pages in memory wherein you'll remember each and every line].

I went to the other side of the dormitory where I had my bed. It was dark inside but I found the bed in a corner. I went near to my bed and I found my bag. But then I remembered me, I don't have a college bag [or is it a school bag?] or notebooks to attend the classes from the next day. But then I saw my old bag lying in the corner. Again, please don't ask me how did that bag managed to stay there for these many years. I took that bag and saw HCL logo on that. Oh this is Atul's bag..!! See its crazier now; Atul is my colleague and I haven't even met him in my dreams when I was in school but he gave me a bag..that's a wow!

I arranged my bed and sat on that hoping to have a nice sleep. I was already missing my home. I just took my phone and answered few watsapp messages. Oh crap! We weren't supposed to use mobile phones in this campus, but I saw a smiling face through the window of a building next to the road. I could easily recognize him - Joseph sir. I knew he was on his way to get my phone, I was sacred! I couldn't afford to lose my phone for 2yrs and I decided to hide it.

For all Navodayans, the best place to hide something is at the shelves in our wing [each dormitory has 4 segments of rooms called wings]. I was shivering while I was searching for a safe place to keep my mobile. Then, I felt somebody's presence behind and I knew I was caught. I just turned back expecting an angry face, BUT I saw my friend standing there saying Hi. He had his dad with him and his dad was leaving after getting my friend's admission done. I took a deep breath and said Hi to both of them. His dad said, 'I have an urgent task at home and I'm leaving'. My friend interrupted his dad and told me, 'no urgent task, be has his matriculation exam today'. I smiled and wished him all the best. [It was 8-9PM already and I don't know how many schools conduct exam at that time. If my guess is correct, that uncle is above 50 and he was writing his matriculation, so no wonder the exam had such odd timings.]

Suddenly my phone rang and it was a watsapp message. [I know..the phone was switched off but it still rang.] It was Narayan, my collegue at Infosys and I read his message "Dude, when will u guys wake up?". [Don't worry about the plural form there, he included my room mate in his question too]. I started typing the reply and I realized that I was not at my hostel anymore..I was lying on my bed here at Hyderabad. That was the end of that dream.

Now you know how deep rooted is Navodaya and its memories in all of us and not sure if Science can explain this.

Life of a Navodayan - Part 1

It's at a new place now - check out: https://vipinwrites.wordpress.com/2012/12/18/life-of-a-navodayan-part-1/

Mouli - on the blog!

Shyam was running to Mouli's room. Mouli is staying at the 1st floor of an apartment which is hardly 200 mtrs away from Shyam's room. Shyam ran to the door and stated knocking the door. He started with just knocking, then he changed the "mode" to kicking. At this time Mr. Mouli was performing his rituals to his all time favorite Kumbhakarna. Mouli had no clue about what was happening at his door, he kept sleeping..oops performing the ritual. Shyam got pissed off. He moved to the window and started hitting the window glasses. This time Mouli jumped from his bed thinking that the whole building was crashing down. It took 2-3 minutes for him to realize that everything was normal except someone knocking (kicking) the door. He asked himself "Who the hell is this, that too this early morning. Above all that was a Sunday and Mouli was really pissed off because he usually perform his "kumbhakarna seva" comfortably on Sunday mornings without any disturbances  (when he says "this early morning" what do you think? It was 11AM already then).

Mouli had decided to finish him off, whoever was there outside, he was killing him. The moment he opened the door, before he could even open his mouth, he had to close his ears. That "nice" were the words coming out from Shyam. What a way to start the day? Mouli was blessed. Shyam's words were so powerful that Mouli only asked "dude, whats up?". But Shyam realized that he was over acting. He felt little bad for Mouli. But he didn't show that. If he had shown that, Mouli would have said what Shyam did.

Mouli asked, "Why the hell did you scream like that, *(&;;%$^#@..? Shyam just said only one sentence, "that RASCAL is writing a blog and you're his main character". Mouli didn't have to think twice. From the word 'writing" that too Rascal, he got to know. He screamed, where is that *#$@;;^%%$^? Shyam was happy. He was smiling. His mission was accomplished. Mouli didn't even brush his teeth; he was storming towards my apartment.

And at this time, without knowing all those dramas, I was performing my version of Kumbhakarna Seva. They both reached near my gate and luckily the sound of they opening the gate was loud enough and Brooz started barking. (Brooz is my house owner's pet dog and we are friends.) I woke up and saw them entering the apartment. I suddenly had few 100s of butterflies in my stomach. I could sense the reason behind Mouli's "early" morning visit.

I shouldn't have given my laptop to Shyam without logging off from my FB account. That pig might have seen my posts. Whenever I posted something about my blog, I set the privacy that Mouli or Shyam does't see it. Moreover these  morons had no interest in FB those days. But anyways, I had no options but to get my ass kicked. As expected I heard the knocking (or say kicking) sounds at the door. I opened the door though I didn't want to, and trust me everything was really quick after that. In another few seconds I was on the floor and Mouli was performing all his "martial arts" skills on me. That "game" continued for 4-5 minutes. You may think that it was too short for a game, but Mouli knew better that I had plans for my future.

All these while that *&%$@# Shyam was taking all these as a video in his mobile with a smile. I wanted to crush that ****** like an ant. But Mouli did a great job and I couldn't even walk properly. I was murmuring, "I'll get your a** kicked someday soon"! Mouli was tired after the fighting session. Shyam was watching the video again and again, and was laughing his stomach out. He liked my expressions it seems.

I took my laptop out and connected to internet. I opened my blog and asked Mouli to take a look, because I knew that by then he also would've developed an interest in reading the post about him. Mouli took the laptop as if he was not interested . Seeing him looking at the screen, Shyam switched on the TV and I went to bathroom. For some reason, I did't want to be there in front of him when he was reading the blog (yeah...what if he start the martial art session all over again).

When I came out of the bathroom,, Shyam wasn't there. I asked Mouli where did he go, but he didn't respond. Mouli was keeping his head down and my laptop was there on the bed. I went to him, kept my hands on his shoulder and said, "I'm sorry buddy. I didn't mean to offend you but...". He got up and looked at me. His eyes were wet I saw. He said, "I'm sorry for hurting you. When Shyam told me that you wrote about me and that too on a blog, I thought you wrote something else. Something like our college life..or about my "friends" (I knew what he meant by friends there). You write well. Keep it up and I like your blog."

I took a deep breath as he stopped. I told him thanks and he left the room. I knew that he was going to continue his Kumbhakarna seva. I felt better. I even expected Mouli to take it seriously, but everything went well. As Mouli was crossing the road, I called him from my window and asked- "dude, do you know what would be next post?". He smiled and said, "about Shyam?". I laughed and said, "No, your college life and friends".

He who believed!

He was born like any other baby with a cry. Now don't ask me who that baby is, not me for sure! Let me tell you why did he cry. When he was being created, Mr.God told him- "Dear, I'm sending you to earth in a while and the moment you are 'unpacked', make the world feel your presence with a cry". He asked. "huh, you want me to cry? but why?".

God replied: "Dear, that's the 'custom' we follow and that's the only point when your mom feels better seeing you cry and I'd try to keep you smiling thereafter". He believed his creator and he cried when he was unpacked but he didn't know.

He was growing up (yeah naughty as expected) and he started eating "solid" food as well. One day  his mom was feeding him and when he refused to eat she said, "Dear, if you eat this last mouth of bread, I'll get you that "Uncle Moon". He felt happy and had that bread. Soon he realized that there were more pieces waiting to be stuffed that too for the same Uncle-moon-reason. He believed his mom but he didn't know.

He was walking with his dad on the side of the road. For a moment he wanted to feel the power of freedom (great thought huh..?). He left his dad's finger which he had been holding since they started. But the moment he left the finger he was holding, his dad carried him in his hand and said: "Dear, don't leave my hand and go. All the vehicles you see out there are to hit you". He believed his dad, but he didn't know.

He was in his teenage and that was his first day in 10th class. He heard his teacher telling, "Dear Children, you are here to study, study and study. The only thing you do in your life is studying and scoring marks in exams". He believed his teacher but he didn't know.

He did score well and got into a reputed college. On the first day, he heard the same thing again, "Guys, your only responsibility is to study and score high". But he heard something new as well; from the principal, "Guys, if you don't score high, no one is going to give you a job". He even heard his HOD preaching: "getting a job and earning money is everything". He believed his principal as well as his HOD, but he didn't know.

I told you, he was in his teenage and it was obvious that he fell in love (age problem huh?). His girl friend (he was blushing..) told him, by taking his hand in hers, "Dear, I hear people saying that the world is going to end in 2012, but I swear I'll be with you at least till the world ends". He believed her but he didn't know.

It was his joining day in a BIG company, a company which he had seen only in news and dreams before. He was on cloud nine. He called his mom and he could imagine her happy tears. Everything was new to him, he did his best in training (people call it honey moon period..). It was his first day on the floor; there came his manager to address all the new-hires  The manager said: "Guys, welcome to the corporate world (huh..will this world also end in 2012..?). Here client is the God. If you can make the client happy, you are safe..blah blah blah...and finally the ultimate aim of each one is to have a  career goal and grow accordingly. All the best". He believed his manager but he didn't know.

That day, he was exhausted after a long session in office (he was impressing his clients I believe) and was walking to his room. He was feeling lonely and called almost everyone in his contact list. All were either busy or "out of reach". He called his mom ( ironically he dialed her at the last) and she picked the call at the very moment asking him "I was waiting for your call! How are you my son, why do you sound little different, are you fine?". He didn't say anything, instead just disconnected the call. He was completely moved (anything can happen over a call..).  He just started walking out of his room, not knowing where exactly he was heading to. 

Soon he found himself in a park. He sat under a tree. (Note: He is not Mr.Buddha and the tree he chose to sit under is not the Bodhi tree.) He started recollecting all those faces that passed through his life, starting from the nurse who "unpacked" him, till the cab driver who dropped him in room on that day. Though he couldn't recollect the face of Mr.God, he could remember what God told him when was being created about the "custom" of first cry. Did He say that it would be the last cry? No, He didn't. My bad, for expecting life to be fair always", he thought. Yes, he definitely had missed the smile on Mr.God's face thinking- "Dear, its a practice more than a custom".

"My mom, how can she even tell a  lie (or a false promise?) just to make me eat?" he asked himself. He has learnt that few guys have even managed to go to uncle-moon but never heard any mom getting it for her kid. He smiled and remembered Gita (not a girl huh..Bhagavat Gita) which says, "if telling a lie saves a valuable life, one should not tell the truth". Yes my life was valuable to her and she did lie to me!

He was not bothered much about the time. It was 7 PM and usually he would've been in front of the TV or with his laptop by then. But he was not interested in anything except recollecting the faces. But the loud shrilling sounds of weird horns brought him back to his senses (was he senseless till then .? yeah I guess so). Seeing a car being parked near the park he remembered his dad's words, "..all vehicles are to hit you". Was he true? Was that true only in 90s? He was wondering. He owned a bike but he had never hit anyone with that. He heard so many news about accidents which made him believe his dad's words. But still was that true for all vehicles on the road. Gita came again: "if telling a lie saves a valuable life, one should not tell the truth".

Now it was his mobile that brought him back to senses. He saw his mom calling. She should be worried for hanging up the call without answering her questions. He said himself, looking at the phone, "I love you mom". Talking to her for sometime brought a sense of relief to him. He realized that he is not alone when he has his mom around. 

His eyes were wet. He got up from the park from where he got the "enlightenment". On the way back to room, he was thinking about his work life. He is doing a decent but routine job in a Multi National Company. He is getting paid enough to enjoy his life and he is happy (crazy guy huh..how can someone be happy with their salary?)! He remembered his teachers telling about the importance of exams and marks. "Yes they did help me, but when did someone ask me my percentages?", he thought. He couldn't recollect any instances where the HR was bothered more about his percentages than his "skill set". But they were true (they didn't have an option either way). "Karma could be both the activities of the body or the mind, irrespective of the consideration whether the performance brings fruition immediately or at a later stage", Gita says and he knew that his 'decent' job is the fruit of his schooling and college days.

The word college that flashed in his memory brought a smiling face in his mind. It was of his love (crush..people say). She was beautiful like a princess (as if he had seen many princesses before..). He remembered the days they spent together, the conversations they had, above all, the promises they exchanged. She was promised to be with him till the end. But she left him for a better reason; she was a better daughter than a lover. She decided to see him crying instead of her parents doing it. He thought his world would end well before 2012, but he had no option but to move on and he did. They are good friends now and she calls him every once in a while to complaint about anything that happens in her day! He is happy for what ever happened. Gita says, "Learn to be detached and to take joy in renunciation. Do not get angry or harm any living creature, but be compassionate and gentle; show good will to all. Cultivate vigor, patience, will, purity; avoid malice and pride. Then, you will achieve your destiny". Here is his destiny.

He reached his room after his dinner which he had on the way from the park. The first thing he did was to call his mom. He dialed her number which was just edited to ".Mom" so that it will show up at the top, and it started ringing on the other side. As always, she picked the call immediately and said hello. He didn't know what to tell her, and kept quite for a while. He felt his tears running down his cheeks; he said with so much of love and regret (huh..regret?): "Mom, I love you!". He didn't want to imagine her feelings at that moment because he knew that she would be in tears..happy tears! He was indeed talking to his creator - God could not be everywhere and therefore He made mothers. 

Now, at the last, let me tell you, he is Chandra Mouli and he loves his Mom more than anyone else!