Life As We Know It

Sometimes the world seems like a horrible place. A place full of nothing but misfortune and unfairness and you seem like an insignificant object somewhere in the depths of it. Your life is treating you badly and your world seems to be falling apart. What you had planned when you were 10 years old as your life's goal seems impossible now. You realise that something you were once the best at, there's now someone better. Hardly a day goes by where you don't feel like digging a hole and jumping into it, only resurfacing when the world outside is perfect. This metaphor has been used so many times by so many people and has been heard so many times. But those people don't realised what it is that they are actually saying... When the world outside is perfect? How is it going to become perfect? How is it going t become what you want it to be? But then these are the questions and answers that they are running away from. This is why they want to dig a hole and hide in it. If you think about it though, is it the right thing? Running away? Is the the best solution? Or is it just a temporary one where we can smile for an hour and then end up with a creased forehead, worrying about it for the rest of the day. Maybe the best thing to do is face it; look it straight in the eye and deal with it. This of course, is easier said than done no doubt, but our minds are mentally capable of pulling off any feat currently known to man; it is only a question of how badly we want it, and what lengths we're willing to go to get it.

Twilight

Nestled in the midst of a large evergreen forest in the hills of Uttaranchal was a stone grey cittage with floor to ceiling glass windows and a wooden interior. The curtains that could be pulled over the windows were moss green and reflected the view outisde in a subtle way. The forest outside the cottage was alive with activity and if I shut my eyes and focused on nothing in particular, I could hear the soft sounds of nature. Chirping of crickets, croaking of toads and the piercing calls of birds as they flew to their nests before the sun set. The sun itself was another stunning sight. The orange ball of fire spreading it vast and still radiant glow across the sky as if engaging in a fight with the sky but losing valiantly; and finally giving up and bidding the world farewell. The dying cinders of it lit up the sky later in the form of tiny pinpricks of silver scattered across the now dark blue sky. It looked as though Micah (the local stone found in the state) had been ground and just thrown up into the air. As the sky changed from blue to black, the moon came out too casting its silver light on the trees and changing the world from a vibrant to a soft silver one.

A Tapestry of Leaves

The steady drumming of rain on the tin roof acted as background music as I sat reading my book on a sofa curled under a blanket. As I flipped the pages, I would occasionally look up at the glass windows behind which were some of the most amazing views I had ever seen. Behind the window that was directly opposite my sofa, was a tapestry of leaves that strongly reminded me of pictures of the Amazon rain forest that I had only seen in pictures. The leaves were in shades of green and shapes I didn't even know existed and the beauty of it all was that it wasn't a messy clump of misshapen green; the leaves grew together and formed a tumultuous sight of what looked like a beautifully painted canvas of an infamous artist. This however did not mean that all the leaves grew in a systematic manner; for those who have been to or seen the Amazon know that the leaves grow in a wild and beautiful way. They take their own bizarre twists and turns, grow in their own way but end up in such a symbiotic fashion that they astound the watching eye. The unruly-ness and the wild manner in which the leaves grew was another that caught my eye. There are some people in this world who think that anything that is not neat and systematic is bad and ugly and therefore not worth giving a damn about. The view outside this window proves them wrong. The un-systemaic way in which the leaves grow is what makes them amazing. The variety and unknown numbers and colours that form this tapestry is what makes it eye-catching.
As my mind sinks back into the warped and eventful world of my book, this blissful picture moves to the back of my head, waiting patiently and silently for me to lift my head again.

What I Read and Why

As a fairly avid reader, I often ask myself what the definition of a 'good author' is. The truth is, that the answer I've come up varies on different occasions. It all depends on the book I've just read. If I liked the book, the sentiments that were brought out while I was reading makes the author good and if I didn't like it, which is thankfully rare, the genre of the book will be forever dead to me in terms of ever reading it again. When I read however, the things I look for in a book and subsequently a good author are that the book doesn't too many complex characters whose story lines are only revealed half way through the book; this characteristic puts me off because of my shockingly low attention span. When I don't know what's happening even though I've read up to 75 to 80 pages of the book, I render it a part of the fore mentioned genre and respectfully put it aside, thinking that I will probably never touch it again. If a book doesn't have any exciting plots and it just droning on and on about some one's uneventful life, the book is a no-go. One of the most important things I look for in a book, is that my vocabulary should have been enhanced by the time I am finished with it. Superficial as it may seem, I love using big words. And yes, I do find out their meaning before I use them. Other than that, books with elicit characters, powerful story lines and a thorough plot are welcomed by me. Classics, as well as modern stories that have that beckoning, promised excitement have always been my favourites. Authors who are able to use their words to create new worlds and unimaginable situations are my influences. Authors who bring their life onto paper and make it interesting be with it with humour or mystery are the people I admire. Most of all, I love reading stories; sagas, novels, accounts and anecdotes which fall under the genre of fantasy. Not the children's kind, with dragons and warlocks, no, I'm talking about the other not subtle but more "grown up" fantasy, which just lures me away from the stressful and boring world I live in. Putting humour in writing, is very difficult to do. The few authors that have been able to do successfully are therefore extremely famous. P.G Wodehouse and Douglas Adams are legends in the literary world. Coming back to the topic; to understand whether you like a book or not, you must wait till the last chapter, for if your dreading to read it, it is classified as a good book. As for words, a very wise person once expressed the power of them in an interesting and sightful manner; "There is a wonder in reading Braille that the sighted will never know; to touch words and to have them touch you back."

Rising Stars

There are a lot of topics that can be used as conversation starters. One of the most frequently used ones are "have you heard (name of a song)". More often than not, the answer will be yeah, I love that song or at least, yes, I've heard it. Further investigation into this conversation will inform you that the person who answered the question would have either heard the song on the radio, at a party, or on YouTube; the last of which is the most probable. For those members of the oblivious population of the world, YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share and view videos. Being the most popular website in it's field, YouTube has over 100 billion videos varying across different topics. There is hardly one topic that you'll be able to think of which will not have a related video on YouTube. YouTube has also been the source of popularity for a lot of people who are currently earning a million dollars a year, Justin Bieber and recently popularized Rebecca Black being among them. These teens uploaded their videos on their accounts and were watched by some viewers who then through blogging and social networking, spread the videos and they were soon being watched at a rapid rate and increasing the number of views by hundreds in an hour. This inevitably drew the attention of record producers who are majorly responsible for the fame on whose shoulders these rising stars ride today. Every child now aspires to be them by the time they are their age. Everywhere they go, people flock in large numbers to see them and get autographs. They are photographed at random places by paparazzi and are invitees to elite black tie dinners hosted by fellow celebrities. Who wouldn't give anything for a life like that? But is their life really what it seems like? Is it really all that glamorous as we think it to be?

Power of Serenity

In the diversity of the world, you will always meet people who have different interests and hobbies. Mine for example, is trekking. The joy I get when I trek in the mountains can mostly never be compared with the happiness offered by the city. The serenity and peace which is so difficult to obtain, yet very necessary can be found abundantly high in the hills. The feeling of being on top of the world; literally, walking through mist and emerging just like in the movies when you wish so hard you could do that, taking in the scenery that never fails to stun and feeling the pride when your on the summit when you realise you made it all the way. The mountains also have their own sense of mystery, the towering pines, the barely visible paths, the sounds of animals at random intervals and the smell of different wild flowers and berries that surround you as you trek. For some, the mountains are a place of sanctity, for others it is a place of refuge from the competitive and dirty world of the cities, and yet for some others it is home.
Just ask me. I recently summited a mountain of 12,500ft which doesn't actually happen to be a lot but gave me a hint of how those avid trekkers felt hiking in these natural wonders. After 5 days of motivation, draining us of our physical strength and mentality and using or willpower to its maximum, we reached the summit. That's when I realized what effort is. What it meant to excel. That's when I realised that the mountains didn't just want respect, no, they commanded it. For this. The feeling, the view, everything.
I've always wanted to climb Mt. Everest, as a secret dream, ever since I heard about the 16 year old Delhi boy who did last year. This year, summiting this comparatively tiny peak made me feel like I can. With unimaginable hard work and dedication, I hope that I will.