The Transition

I am not sure about the title.. but lets see !! ;as I tread along probably i will figure out ( at least that is what i am good at - figuring out the unknowns).
As it is said - "Follow your heart, but be quiet for a while first. Ask questions, then feel the answer. Learn to trust your heart." Probably the very notion helped me in securing my project.
whoa whoa... kk..!! let me get you some background..

Okk!! as my profile states i am a final year computer science undergraduate student. We are required to work on some project which the university popularly tags as "BE project" ; while a major lot considers it as a pass on activity I had decided i will make sure this runs smooth and serious for me.

I had a written test before the "Filthy post" Click here to view. As i had mentioned there; I was selected for project trainee by TCS Talent Acquisition Group ( The name makes the credential sounds volumnious .. lol ) for TRDDC ( Tata Research Design and Development Centre). Its the first R&D organization of INDIA which is owned by TCS. Click here to read about TRDDC . Last friday we were called for Project allocation. Though i had opted for OS & Networking Domain Project..[These two subjects had allured me quite a lot during my course of engineering] we were alloted a project on Agile framework on Ruby on rails.. by some pattern matching algorithmic software (at least that is what the authorities had stated).
And today was my first day at TRDDC.

My very first day at office began with quite a bit of pro-active events. We had planned to meet ( we refers to my project partners) at a common place at 9:30. But as it is said " Sleep and Anshu is difficult to get past."...
"Anshu anshu .. get up".. "Urgh !!!! " i replied , and i saw Ankit (My project mate) staring at me standing beside my bed.. " Fuck " i uttered, "whats the time.." i flashed up my cell. It was 9:30 and i had 9 missed calls. 7 belonged to Ankit and 2 belonged to Tejal (she is my second project mate) "Oh god.. i am dead"..i was scared to speak any word.. but God was kind.. Ankit didnt seem to be in a ruffled mood as he didnt say anything .. i got up quickly made the necessary ammendments to my stature and set off. I realized i was quick at getting ready.(Agile - i suppose) Later Ankit told me on the way how hard he tried to contact me at early hours. I wasnt receiving my cell and my roommates were too busy sleeping. I realized my mistake.. apologised and everything was settled.

We reached office by 10:30. Two things were evident..
1. It was no college.. The place was dead silent. i thought how even they get up here by 09:00 hrs.
2. The place and people were AGILE.

I was amazed at their capablity. No tresspasses no unusual roam. No unwanted noise. I thought where have i landed. We were escorted by a TCS personnae to a conference room where we were intoduced to our Project guide. The conversation lasted about 90 mins. The experience was good and too technical to be mentioned here. Later some formalities popped up. We got our access card soon. By the end of the day I have quite a list of things to prepare for my next day.

Things are not gonna be easy. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music. And i do not belong to those genreics. I know i have to work and i am looking forward to exploit this opportunity.. For all the rest there is someone watching me. And as a matter of fact I believe him.

Btw i have a title for the post.[I said i am good at figuring out unknowns] "The Transition" suits well.


Thats all for now

Anshu Kumar

ABSTRACT --- !!!

Life hasnt been easy for anyone ; nor it can be; does it supposedly expected to be ?? The later question is for you out there. Its a bunch of abstracts; a group of coherent events; a bundle of emotions. But then why i am scribbling here?? Only for the oblivious reason coz i believe in abstracts of life.

02:30 am in the morning and i am talking about abstracts of life. 09:30 i have a meeting with my mentor at TRDDC and i am writing about abstract of life. Perfectly fine with me. The only reason I started blogging was out of the fact that i needed my space; My space to pour out; my space to express my anger; my space to express my excitement; my space to get deep down with my passion; My own space. Let me get back to cynosure of this blog.[Remember i have to go to TRDDC to meet my mentor :P].

The abstracts of life :

The first abstract of life that i ever sensed after i was left abreast to the naked world was Love. Probably only after a week i joined college i found most of the personnaes circumscribing me was in love. I pondered is it easy to be in love or chicks here are too forthcoming. Every third person i met was in love. I thought..i decided.. even i would love. As if it was an action to be done.. The next step was ineeded to find a girl to love.. i started my hunt.. weeks went by and by the end of semester i realized what a fool i was; i realized you cant emote an emotion; I realized you cant make it sound like an action; you cant plan it; you cant realize it;you cant execute it. But the definition of love was still blunt for me.

My search for love taught me three important things:

1. Love is abstract
2. Love is more of a comprehensive feeling than what we expect it to be
3. Half of the person in love actually are unaware about it true meaning.

I do expect someone might say "Look Who is talking" A person never in love is defining its content. But this post is in direct co-ordination to what i sensed.

what i felt about Love was

People expect in love whereas you cant expect love in return. Love more than a mutual concern is an emote of individual glory.

People grow possesive in Love; they forget tighter they grip easily it slips out of heart.The worst thing is holding on to someone who doesn’t want to be held on to.

I have seen people who claim they are in love; But simultaneously if they receive a call waiting on the counterpart's cell even for more than few minutes they get flared up. They cant withstand their partners moving with someone else; talking wd someone else. while some percentage of people actually do not exhibit their insecurity quite a large lot show it up. But then Love wasnt about Insecurity. It was about Understanding and Individual Glory as i had said. When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.

Not everytime we love someone we get Love back in return. But then shall we stop loving ?? The question is again of individual concern. !! Some things are constant in this environment and one of them i your first love. However hard we try we cant push aside those first memories; the first glimpse; the first conversation; the first feel of concern; the first emote;

Man has such a predilection for systems and abstract deductions that he is ready to distort the truth intentionally, he is ready to deny the evidence of his senses only to justify his logic; and i dont wanna be one of those. Spiritual superiority only sees the individual. But alas, ordinarily we human beings are sensual and, therefore, as soon as it is a gathering, the impression changes -- we see something abstract, the crowd, and we become different despite of godliness consequences.

I do not now if i am in love ... To be precise its of least concern to me. All i know i wanna see her bright face; i wanna see her glory; i wanna see her sailing past the difficult times; i wanna see her prosperous; I wanna listen her crankling sound every time she speaks. This is what matters for me the most .


The only fact that i can decide for myself is that I can feel the ABSTRACT beyond logics and reductions.

Anshu Kumar

The man that never was

Probably we never realise about the man the never was .. He is always there .. Omnipotent .. OmniPresent ..
We feel Him .. We can hear him but we dont want to visualise him.
he is there wether you play basket ball; wether you involve yourself in toughest of computational problem ; wether you shop; wether you date .. irrespective of our actions.
He is always there ..
He is the one who keeps pushing our limits beyond pre-defined norms and bars.. !! He is the one always ringing in the mind.
We listen to him ; we talk to him ; we respond to his suggestions ; we know him
but we dont wanna accept him as if he never was ;
we are hesitant ; we are ductile ; the only oblivious reason is that coz we are human .. the mean and selfish humans ; we always tend to ignore the fact and rely more on our assumptions. Only because we are Humans ..
Some one said we are rational ; the other said we are social but personally speaking i have to redefine the textual meaning of "social" && "rational"

We often see him ; we know him but we pretend; he is the one who gives the courage to young college guy to go out propose the first gal of his eyes ; he is the one that bruises a broken heart; he is the one who encourages one before his most important result ; he is the one who drives so called "self-motivation". He is the one who makes us passionate about our desires.
He is decorous ; he is coherent; he is in sync ?? but then we never accept him . we tend to decimate our choice to accept. coz we are humans ..

But once on a life we have always heard that voice ; the voice of

"THE MAN THAT NEVER WAS"

The Beginning Of the End

" Everything that has a beginning has an end " , Perhaps Agent Smith was true.

whoa whoa whoa ... Agent Smith - you don't remember..huh cmon guys!!! The famous Matrix character. And so did Neo realised soon; and that probably aided him to evade the consequences.
This one was one of the point of our discussion yesterday. What was the discussion all about; who i was discussing; why when. Probably if you are a computer science undergraduate; you would by now realise these questions formulate the fundamentals of Software Engineering.

So why I am speaking about the Beginning of the end ?
Cmon i wouldnt like you to grope and find you way.

I am speaking of my final year of college. Yes Final year of my Engineering.
Probably it has begun; and I can feel the end; the end of 4 beautiful years; the end of 4 charismatic years; the end of 4 accounting years.

But then what i have learnt - here lies the fundamental ques; the crux ..

have i learnt some strong database concept[i may be speaking of normalization or parallel databases]

have i learnt some strong 3GL and 4GL languages ?

have i learnt the functionalities of some strong Operating system like LINUX

have i learnt to design a compiler?

have i learnt some strong modelling techniques?

can we answer those.. as for me i am not sure of what i have learnt among the tech list i provided above. i am not sure as of how many of you [ i take into account computer science undergraduates ] have learnt among list.

but then we are reqd to learn things from our environment; from things happening; from thing along the courses of life.
So are we reqd to learn these..[keep aside the semester examinations]
means cmon' where in life you need to implement a YACC design on UNIX system. where in life you need to find a java program to represent a Schrodinger wave Equation and find out the reqd roots. How long we gonna need this type of knowledge in particular.

But then i realised something else
College makes a man out of you.
it make you feel you have balls under you . As far as Engineering courses are considered[ at least that is what i have pursued] three years for me have been phenomenal.

I learnt how to prepare an assignment 30 mins before dead-line and end up getting a A or B+ grade

I learnt how to slog nights and sleep late and more importantly yet emerge in college next day on time [on time means a grant of one lecture off]

I learnt how to "jugaad"; the important of all activity; the essentials of all. Had I not attained this in particular i would be so screwed. Jugaad specifically means a source hand on all that you can .. ranging from lab journals to assignments to exam papers[if you can [:)])

I learnt how to prepare for exams only in prep leave and not wasting the entire sem for it (even then you have a difference of 3-5 % [: P])

I learnt to flip through 500 pages in a night for an exam next morning.

I learnt to write an internal test with less than 1 hrs of preparation.

I learnt to celebrate every little event we can. even a beer for a day well spent serves the purpose.

I learnt to watch 18 episodes of a season at a stretch and then sleep all day.

I learnt to find brilliant excuses.

I learnt using slangs every now and then.

I learnt to ignore eventually everything that is of least concern to me.

I learnt how to get away with uneasy and unhealthy situations.

I learnt to Lie and fake circumtances

That is what college taught me.

And i think more importantly these attributes are more pertaining to a practical view life. By this i dont mean shunning of your courses. Obviously one need the first set of items but the technical knowledge doesnt lives all your age. We forget more than we learn.But we do always have an option to look up;the teachings i Listed second are in more proximity to practical Life situation.

Some wise and idealist men have said we shouldnt lie. we shouldn't fake. But then every one cannot be as wise as them or else Wisdom got to be redefined; and morover Life is no bunch of idealism - its just a simple computational result of causes permuted with combinations of effects.

So what helps more ??
3 nf Normalization of tables or ability to take control of events?
70% throughout aggregate or the thought process ?
Stack and Queue machines or the Prioritising actions [ i do not intend to use priority queue [:)] ]
Deterministic and non deterministic automata or ability to decide for essentials ?

The very notion of college was to prepare individual for the challenges of life and not make him mug every possible filthy item he can.
Its a very personal feeling of mine that the youngsters are detracting from the primary aim of college life. I do not advocate shunning and discarding courses but i only mean to take into consideration the second list; which do become a part of abstract curriculum.
This abstract curriculum/culture of Engineering courses makes it one of the most distinguished course in itself.

If College makeths a man
i would like to quote it more properly
"Engineering maketh a proper man"

and this is probably what i will miss when i leave college. this is in exact that makes me feel low when i think of beginning of the end.

but as said

"Everything that has a beginning has an end"

Love and wishes
Anshu

The G fever - CHROME OS

Google has earned more than a name for itself in the market.
Chrome OS is Google’s first attempt at a desktop operating system. Due to be released in the second half of next year, the Chrome OS has many people baffled as to what it is exactly. What possessed Google to directly take on Microsoft in this way? Is Google getting too big for its boots? And how did this all kick off in the first place?

We are pretty aware with the MICROSOFT vs APPLE fight; some people put it as BILL GATE vs STEVE JOB . Microsoft a name which is in very much sync with the word "Monopoly"; as a matter of fact it has monopolize a major bulk of market. Apple realised no matter what they did, it could never hold the monopoly over Windows so the moved onto better things. The iPod was a punch in the stomach to Microsoft, which never thought it would take off. Since then, Bill Gates has banned Apple products in his house and Microsoft set up an “iPod amnesty”, where employees with an iPod could bin it and replace it with a Zune, Microsoft’s iPod equivalent. Due to the recession, this effort was cut short and Apple still dominates the Zune.

Google’s plans to roll out a desktop operating system hasn’t been a decision made lightly or taken on a very short notice of time. After playing with Android, Google’s operating system designed for mobile devices, isn’t bad for a first attempt. But I reckon they have been planning this for a good number of years at least.
Via ReadWriteWeb, Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, wrote an article for the Economist:
“In 2007 we’ll witness the increasing dominance of open Internet standards. As web access via mobile phones grows, these standards will sweep aside the proprietary protocols promoted by individual companies striving for technical monopoly. Today’s desktop software will be overtaken by Internet-based services that enable users to choose the document formats, search tools and editing capability that best suit their needs.”






While the potential to delve into conspiracy and “read between the lines” syndrome could be easy in this case, the above quote indicates they had been conspiring to get the market out of the shackles of Monopoly.
Chrome, the name of Google’s already quite popular browser, is put forward as the name of their operating system. This could well be a significant step towards the future of operating systems. The name has earned quite a promotion of the product. TechCrunch believes a web browser is all you will need when using a computer in the near future. We see this with online office suites, online email, online social communication and online messaging. Why not the OS too? Definitely Google is thinking on the line of making an OS more light weighted and robust.

Who could ever believe that an organization which started up as a lowly search engine would take the world by storm. They came out with the most comprehensive search Engine. Nobody expected it to do this well, probably not even the initial team. But with the revenues made, the breadth and depth of the service, the brand and everything else involved, they realised how powerful they were. There product one after the another gained immense popularity as well as respect for the only reason of its chastity. Say it gmail, gtalk. Google, in this respect, will be the next Microsoft.

Considering Google has only just taken off the beta tags of it’s most popular non-search services, GMail and Apps, some may believe that Chrome OS will be in a public forum soon. But as we have seen with Android, beta testing an operating system isn’t as easy as a web service. There are hitches which are to be taken care of.

But over the course of Google’s life, it has increasingly been moving in on Microsoft’s turf. With many Google services on the web, this ties is in nicely with this operating system. As a relatively bare-bones OS designed for netbooks, based on the Linux kernel, it will be similar to Android in that it will be open source and community driven. What’s more, as a result, it will be free.

People doubt whether this will detract much of the market share away from Microsoft with the upcoming Windows 7 release, but on the non-software front, this will be an interesting couple of years in front of us. Years which may change people's perception; their insights; their hindsights.

Operating systems are the next battle ground and a Web based operating system is an ultimate possibility. Google has a chance. Still, either way, with the mysterious project, codename “Midori”, the next generation of Microsoft’s operating systems could well sweep the floor with other projects on the go at present. who knows ; after all Microsoft has answered the challenges well.

For now, all we can really do is wait and see. It is us, the people, the next generation of techies which will decide.

Placement update

Placements certainly one of the most covetous entity of every individual..undertaking a degree course.
as such NASSCOM authorities it was decided that a major chunk of companies would visit the campus for recruitment, by the end of 7th sem. The idea was to get certainty from employers; thereby preserving the integrity of employers as well as of that of employee.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/slowdown-effect-campus-recruitment-takes-a-sixmonth-hit/440934/
[click here for details]

Though it perfectly make sense to me. The so called "REGRET LETTERS" makes no sense to employers as well as employee. So full point to NASSCOM on their stand.

Still 4 companies made its way to campus for recruitment.

Thoughtworks
S- ONE Services
Nvidia
Inigo Architect

I manged to clear entrance test for thoughtworks and S-ONE services.

Thoughtworks was a flat organization to work;
http://www.thoughtworks.co.in/
an organisation with open work culture but definitely a firm where one can discover substantiate amount of growth. I cleared written , Group Activity and den coding; but guess that was all in store for me that particular day; couldn't get past it for tech interview.

S-one was a descent enough organisation ; even for this i managed to clear the written test. The interview was fine. I do not know what went wrong;I wasn't called for HR

Nvidia and Indigo Architect . I didn't opt for these two organisation as Nvidia despite being a reputed firm were offering for Q/A engineers and Indigo too new to start.

So this is all for now.
Hope this page comes up with a descent news next December when the placement season catches up with full swing.

This is all from placement corner.
signing off

Anshu

The Run - Part one

Where do i begin .. hmmm .. k !! i got it ..
Many of my friends said that the previous post was one of the most filthy note i ever wrote. Perhaps true; When you have a TCS test next day on the queue[ Note i am speaking of a priority queue :P ] where some A.H are gonna ask you English; the post to be filthy is bound to be happening. The other side is that it was all my frustration that found its way on the blog page. And on the lighter note i felt good [:x]

TCS test..huh !! cmon guys its no placement test.. so stay still; just a test for the project. But two things that went different about this test
1. TCS is not an A.H.
2. They changed their questions this tym [all new.. so guys appearing for TCS ; make a note that you do Data Sufficiency well enough; as for verbal Sux all the time].
Lets close this chapter here and try abating the consequences.


I had this thought as I was in bathroom, What next; What next am i gonna do with my life. [These thoughts are at its best when you are in bathroom :P]. This questions did away my idea of watching a movie.[:x]. I pondered and said to myself "Good question Dude.. & .. in fact a relevant one "... taking into current external circumstantial evidence...
"Do i need to think.. means still, i have a year to go...", i said to myself.
"Obv .. you need to think.. and in fact early you begin is better for you", the person standing right in front of me stated. The person whom i never met, the person whom i can feel as omnipresent.
"Fuck !! means why the phase of thinking becomes cyclic...3 years before i thought and once again i need to again.. cmon' why Humans cant Live a life that was meant to be lived..??".
We wanted to live and just have a look at yourself .. are you living or running, running for all petty things that have circumstantially become an stringent and importantly commodity of human life ...
We took birth and the first thing that we adapted was to run.. run for every fucking thing. Run came out the embryo of Expectations.
We Expect and and to quench the expectation we run .. holding our breath..

I am not questioning the very process of Life .. and i cannot coz i have been a part of that f***ing system for 22 long years. but its a feeling that i couldnt get rid of since many days, years whatever ... we want , we work hard and we get .. Time again we want more , we work harder, and we get .. the more we work the meaner we become. The idea which keeps hunting me is when this big want meets its destiny.. when do we start enjoying the basic happiness of world.. !!!
Well cut it loose.. and let me get straight to the basic question what am i gonna do

Where most of my friend have started their CAT Preparations..i am still looming large at the different Multiple choice available on my OMR sheet of life. Pursuing a MBA is the least thing i wanna do now. So "Belling tha CAT" as they say is not so evident in my mind.. as for now..
2nd option GRE.. some of my friends have taken their GRE and believe me they are into US lifestyle well before a year..huh !!! as far as i am concerned GRE is still 2 yrs from now..
3rd option GATE .. this is one option that i am looking forward with an interest more than any of the previous two; and every sip of coffee from my mug strengthens this idea..
4th and the most probable idea that i am thinking is to work...means cmon Dude you studied all the crap for 4 fucking long years. you had slogged night before every semester exam...taste it what its all about...?? [this idea is the strongest in my mind]...
and as i think of a job the word EXPECTATION/RUN starts ringing in my mind again.. and here begins what i think is one of the most sucking, thematic and critical attribute of Humany Psychology...

Sucking - coz its sux for the only obvious reason that it decimates most of the inner desires of human being.
Thematic - coz its one of the Guidelines that factually makes life decorous.
Critical - because we often confuse if its thematic or sucking

.... to be continued

I know not who am I

I know not who am I
I know not who am I

Nor am I the one who believes in Mosque
Nor am I in the rituals of the infidel
Nor am I the pure in impure
Nor am I inherent in the vedas
Nor am i Present in the intoxicants.
Nor am I lost, nor the corrupt
Nor am I union , nor the grief
Nor am I intrinsic in the pure/impure
Nor am I water, nor the land
Nor am I fire nor the air

I know not who am I
I know not who am I

Nor am I from lahore, nor an Indian
Nor a hindu, nor a peshawri turk
Nor did i create the difference of faith
Nor did i create adam eve
nor did i name myself.. !!
Beginning or the end i just know the self do not acknowledge duality
there's none wiser than I.

Who is this ??
I know not who am I
I know not who am I

I am not the moses or the pharaoh
I am not sleep or wakefullness
I am not fire or the wind
I am not inertia or travel

who is this
I know not who am I
I know not who am I

Thoughts of dawn

Just managed to get a new theme for the blog page.
Well that was never an easy task.
03:15 hrs and managing blog themes.. huh !! sounds crazy :P
But yeah actually it does..

An couple of hours before i, was thinking what success actually mean..
Whoa !!! All of a sudden i am thinking about success - definitely i have met a failure very recently .. Its quite natural ..
ahem ahem !!! to a certain extent yeah ...

As a young lad of 12 years old, success meant to me score a 90 + in mathematics ( that was only the subject that kept luring me !)
As i grew, moved to my higher classes , the definition of success changed drastically. Until 8th standard , i was academically 4th or 5th best guy in the class; when i stood second for the first time.
The definition of success changed again.

Now it was to be proficient among the class. As time passed by the definition adapted itself, though most of the time it seemed quixotic; but who has ever surpassed Human desire; By now i was in Xth standard; Xth exams always carry an air (Its only 3 years down the line you realize that the whole of hype was a futile)
Success now meant to me scoring good in boards.. a six pointer..
[Six pointer - huh !! the concept carries a big air if you are an ICSE student ..]

After i passed my boards, the succcess had pushed itself to clearing JEE. I realized then i was growing and so was the limits of success; Every time i reached it ; it slided away a step ahead ; Though JEE wasnt a tractable event; i managed to get into a descent enough institute.

years have passed by since i first realized success; i am still hovering and groping for the exact definiton of success; some says its to reach out our desire; some says to have a content life. Though i have brought a lot of equanimity in my life ; from an active to a docile creature [probably that is the effect of an engineering course in INDIA], m still figuring out what success actually means.

Get good marks ; get fucking good percentage; get fucking good Junior college; get a fucking good college ; get a fucking good job .....bla bla bla bla bla .... ..

Perhaps i think is SUCCESS is what you never get. its something that we always crave for; its an illusionary .
What the fuck .. i think i should go back to memorizing my word list; that will do a lil good to my test 2moro.. for the rest have a thought ...

Love and Wishes ..Anshu !!

CTRL + Z

There was this forwarded mail by one of less know friend, and I thought may be I could put it here. Looks more coherent than embedded images on a mail. As I was reading through this mail it occurred to me. Lets sail back through the time and remember some old facets that used to be backbone then. So I thought I will publish it.

And I guess by the end some of you will find at least a percent of truth in my point. I am not making any kind of assurances or trying to re-enforce my idea, it’s just what I discovered after a score of minutes that I devoted to that mail.

Tell me if you didn’t have your laptop or  your cell phone, how many of you will survive? Answer that honestly. As of speaking of me I definitely would have landed myself in some kind of asylum. 10 hours of the allotted 24 by the creator are spent on these gadgets. (I am addressing to the community that I relate to)

I remember one of my professor remarked “We are addicted to technology”. And I guess she was true. Laptops were no less and now we have iPods and iPhone and other smart stuff. These entities are making life more like it was ever imagine. No doubt they are easing out the entire process of living. But aren’t these taking away the genuine essence of life. Or am I mistaken. I guess the definition of life’s essence is changing discreetly. May be I need to reconsider my statement.

For example how many of us get carried away by the soothing, cold breeze in the evening. How many feel like chasing around the wind.

Cricket is still the craziest thing that ever happened to India. Though it still continues to make people mad, Counter Strike is another asset that has inflicted people. Head shot is no less than Dhoni  hitting a six over the mid-wicket region. (I do not intend to defame the game. It’s just a feeling)

Well the mail remembered me some of the old things of my own life. World has changes and we also changed for the world

Are you missing those days? And I promise you as you wheel your mouse you will smile.

 

Remember this. India’s national channel there was no cable Tv then as it is in abundance today. The most famous Screensaver of Doordarshan. I remember it had a beep sound in the back ground.

Surely there was no 'Prison Break' then and surely no one knew 'How I Met your Mother', I made sure I watched at least above two, until the reason for missing them was a power cut. Yes we had power cuts then too.A couple of them like above are still cherished till date.

As the title goes World Most viewed Mythological series. I remember it was 90’s when this series was aired. The Sundays were days to be awaited for. “mile sur mera tumhara". A song aired on DD to strengthen national Integrity. Though we have some hip version of it today, I still prefer the older one and the original one. Did I say that 'Original'. That's a rare word these days.

The classic advertisement of Indian television. Though the recent version has some more 'names' to it.

Sometimes I wonder how someone grew up in 70’s, 80’s. We had no cell phones in abundance. We had no seatbelts and no airbags. Cycling was like a breath of fresh air. No safety helmets, knee pads or elbow pads, with plenty of cardboards between spokes to make it sound like a motorbike.

When we were thirsty we drank only tap water; bottled water was still a mystery.

We kept busy collecting bits & pieces, all sort of trivial things, thrashes that practically were illogical; so that we could build all sort of things … and we were fearless on our bicycles even when the brakes failed going downhill. We were showing off how tough we are, by how high we could climb trees & then jumping down. It was great fun.

We could stay out to play for hours, as long as we got back before dark, in time for dinner. We used to bicycle to our schools and no one ever feared. Neither the parents, nor did we. It was so much fun to enjoy the restricted liberty.

We had no mobile phones, no Gmail accounts, no chat programs but we always managed to find each other.

We lost teeth, broke arms & legs, we got cuts and bruises and bloody noses. Nobody complained as we had so much fun, it wasn't anybody's fault, only ours. No one else’s. We ate everything in sight, cakes, bread, chocolate, ice-cream, sweet sugary drinks, fruits; all kind of junks yet, we stayed skinny by fooling around. And if one of us was lucky to find a 1 litre coca cola bottle we all had a swig from it & guess what? Nobody picked up any germs, no infections.

We did not have Play Stations, Xbox MP3, Nintendo's, I-Pods, Video games, 299 Cable TV channels on Tata Sky, DVD's, Home Theatres’, Personal Computers, Laptops. We heard about internet and thought it to be a free world on a dial up connection.

We called on friends to come out to play, never rang the doorbell, and just went around the backdoor, and no one ever complained.

We played with cricket bats, sticks and stones, played cowboys and Indians, doctors and nurses, hide and seek soccer games, cricket run over places we never knew ... over and over again … and still we were never bored. When we failed our exams we were given a second chance by simply repeating the same grade … without visiting psychiatrists, psychologists or counselors. Such were the days, reckless. We had freedom, success, disappointments and responsibilities.

And above all we loved to respect.

The only purpose of me writing this to bring out a curve on the faces, forget the stress that surrounds us these days, and just for a few moments puts a smile to the faces as we remember what life was really like in the good old days.

Hope we all could make a CTRL + Z to life editor.

(Adapted from a forwarded mail)