5 life moments when my heart skipped a beat

The title in itself is a prelude to what's gonna come by. I'm sure there are certain moments in all of our lives where we feel our hearts just stopped beating for a second. It maybe special for some, regrettable for some and just a feel good factor for the others. I hope you can relate to some or all of them.

Numero Uno :  Your crush smiles back at you

Oh yeah, that's right. This is probably the first real-time heart beat skipping moment. You'd have pined for this one moment for your entire life and when she does it, feels as if everything around you is surreal. You would've dreamt of this a million times, but when it does happen you just can't help going on cloud nine.

Numero Dos : The bitter taste of failure

Being an average performer at both academics and sports, I never really thought how real failure felt like. The first time I saw a 0/100 was in my 11th grade. When the test scores were put up on the pin-up board, I thought it was just some joke but when the truth dawned on me, all hell broke loose. I guess just like your first success, you can never forget your first failures, maybe harder. New school, new people and high on fun! Thank god, there was no negative marking.

Numero Tres : When your bike falls into the ditch

Trust me, "pain" in any form is painful. That night, though ages ago, is plain-sight in my head. I finally learned how to ride my bicycle and it was one of the proudest moments of life! So this was like a daily schedule, after I got back from school. I'd get on my "bike" and go on rounds to see what's happening around my locality and make that idiotic bell sound. So one evening, when I was returning I just had this weird idea of riding it without using my hands.. as in my hands were just outstretched. I didn't know what overtook me, but to add to that I closed my eyes! It was a sloping lane with no vehicles on it and I thought at that moment, "biggest stunt master on Earth!". Well it was just for a moment and then my brain went blank. Next time I open my eyes, I can feel numbness all over my body. There were gashes all over my legs. And yes, for a moment my heart skipped a beat. "I'd landed myself in the ditch!" 

Numero Cuatro : My first *kiss*

Well the picture has nothing to do with my first kiss. It was at a cinema. I don't even know what the name of the movie was! Who cares? There was a lot of  hand-holding, sweat beads on both of our fore-heads. Although we were seated in the last row, I was freaked out like a chicken. My thoughts kept me busy, 'To do it or not do it?' 'When to go for the kill?' 'What if she hates me for this?'. And then something magical happened. She tilted her head towards me, the faint light of the screen illuminating her beautiful face and marvelous eyes. When I looked into her eyes, I perfectly knew what she wanted then. I leaned my face towards hers, she did the same and that one moment before I closed my eyes for the very first kiss of my life, my heart skipped a beat. A huge one at that! ;)

Numero Cinco : Splash!


 

There was this day when we were supposed to learn diving from a great height. It seemed all super cool and exciting when everybody went up the ladder and jumped. Finally, it was my turn. I started climbing and that's when the fear kicked in. It was very high. To me, if anybody had whispered into my ears that it was 30 feet, I would have believed them, without a second thought. I had  left my common sense on the ground. So when I finally reached the tip of the diving board, I only wanted to go back the way I came. I'm not a person afraid of heights. It was the jumping part . And with my heart beating like a drumbeat, so loud, it was me and the water, with only the air separating us. The rest of the world had disappeared. And I made up my mind and sat on the diving board. And then, I could hear my coach and seniors and a few juniors asking me to get up and jump. I wasn't going to, of course. Until this one senior sneaked behind me threw a stone at me from the ladder. I was startled and my balance wavered and I jumped. The journey would have been for three to four seconds, but to me, it was blissful eternity. That one moment when my fingers I touched the cold water, my heart truly skipped a *beat* and I felt invincible. After that, there was eternal bliss. I was pulled inside it by the force and I realized I'd never felt that alive and free.

A *spark* has ignited!

My first association with open-source software, though unknown was in the summer of my 7th grade. I was spending my summer holidays in my cousin's place. At a time when smart phones weren't so popular and Pokemon cartoons were still a rage, my knowledge of the computers was minimal. My cousin, who was doing his engineering at that point had this archaic desktop at home and I wanted to catch up on my favorite songs over the internet. So I thought it's just another PC and powered ON the system. Well, what happened next was the shock of my life!

Kubuntu
Courtesy: KLab

Instead of the traditional Windows symbol and its trademark start up sound, there was some weird purple color text saying "Kubuntu". And on the desktop, there was nothing. No icons, no task bar, literally nothing. Most importantly, no start button either. I had no idea what it was ! Moreover I thought I had messed up with the system and entered my panic mode. I didn't know what to do, whether to tell my cousin about this or just let it go. Like most of us in our pressure situations, I took a deep breath, switched OFF the mains and returned to my room. Later in the night, I peeked into my cousin's room. The comp geek was coding away. I was relieved that I hadn't messed up with his PC! Well that was my very first peep into the world of FOSS. though I didn't know it then.

Ubuntu
Courtesy: wikiUbuntu

Time passed and I never bothered to ask my cousin about what Kubuntu was or to look it up on the net. On the third day of my 2nd semester at college, I was in for a huge shock. It was my C language lab session and I was expecting the blue Borland Turbo C compiler in my lab which I was very fond of! I power on the my PC and it gave me 5 versions of Ubuntu to boot up with. I was completely lost. Then started the barrage of terminal commands, vi editor commands and the like which mostly went over my head. Even then I didn't understand the essence of open-source software and took it as another bag of load to learn! I wanted Ubuntu on my laptop and was very apprehensive that Windows7 might take a beating if I didn't install it properly. Then there came up the *Ubuntu Installation Fest* in my college, organized by Plug-In. Trust me, before that I hadn't even heard of the glug in my college. It was the day when I was exposed to Free Software Movement Karnataka and about FOSS in general.  The event was a huge success and Ubuntu 12.04 was finally up and running on my system. So far, so good! That day was just the start for many more good days to come!

I was curious to know more about the FSMK and free software technologies in general. The opportunity presented itself in the form of Swataha - 13 (a national level fest) in the month of April this year. I attended the inaugural sessions where people spoke with passion and I could see their commitment to the cause. They were truly inspirational I should say. And the activities undertaken by the GLUG-PESCE within 3-4 months was remarkable and surely deserves an applause. The Drupal workshop I had registered for was my first software related workshop and it was really interesting and inspiring to work on. Well, we don't really like to do the hard work do we? After the workshop, I wanted to set up Drupal on my laptop but failed to do it. And thus my experiments with free software were shelved for two months. Nevertheless I was still using Ubuntu, exploring and compiling my lab programs.

FOSS
Credits : LinuxForum

One fine day I got an update from FSMK saying there was a Summer Industry Orientation Workshop during the last week of my second semester holidays. Since I didn’t have any plans and was genuinely interested to learn something, I signed up for it! This was before the exams began. During the exams I got a reminder call from Raghuram saying that I’m yet to pay the fee.  All my friends were making vacation plans – tours, movies, sleepovers what not! I called up a few of my friends to see if they’d be interested in attending and thank god, one of them readily agreed. I needn’t really tell what happened at the workshop cause some of my new-found friends have illustrated that very well on their own blogs. But I will say this one thing for sure – The 9-day session literally changed my perception of life! I learnt what it means to share, to help and contribute to something worthy not just because you gain money out of it. There are more important things than money, and I’m pretty sure money can’t buy you that. Credit, selfless service and recognition are some of those. I needn’t mention the dedication of the core members and the volunteers over there. The energy they bring into the movement deserves a standing ovation. When I look into each of them, they give me hope to achieve something worthwhile in life. Moving further, I’ve become an integral part of Plug-In GLUG in my college. Meeting like-minded people, putting forth your ideas, sharing them, and in the whole process, learning again! The start to this journey has been incredible!

Yes, the *spark* in me has ignited and this time I'm very sure it won’t die.   

 

Adiós maestras

Namaste everyone!

It feels great seeing all the "akkas" (that's the way teachers are addressed at TVSA) together after almost a month and a half. And friends, though we keep seeing each other and having fun every other day, its always a pleasure to be midst you. Well, today the roles have been reversed. For a change the akkas are listening to me and I am here facing everyone. This doesn't happen very often and so, let me tell you something interesting. (Smiles)

TVS Academy, Hosur
Photo courtesy : Vidya akka

It was June 2010 when I was formally inducted in the 11^th Grade of our school. The 10 years before that, all of our school education had fun and studies in equal proportion but the two years after that, I knew that school life would be more purposeful and focused. For a change, all extra and co-curricular activities had to take a back seat and studies would eat up a major portion of time, both at school and home. Though the change was for our own good, we seldom realize that fact then. We've all heard such phrases, “Crucial Point of life”, “Career-defining point”, “Turning point of life” so many times over the past year and a half that they have become more monotonous than the cliches of our English books. (Smiles)

With all the peer pressure and sweet distractions mounting high on our backs, we somehow did pull ourselves through. The journey wasn't a bed of roses neither was it an epic struggle. Let me just say that there were some tough times which were complemented by some happy ones, which made it al the more special!

During this journey, we almost spent 6-8 hours a day with you. Its another story if we listened to you or not. 'Physically present, but mentally absent' was the usual trend most of the times. Despite all the pranks we were up to and the troubles we got into, we always had you to scold us, support us and finally get us out of the trouble-spot. Well, its just sad to realize that from now on we are on our own. Not entirely though. If need may come, I'm sure you'll lend a helping hand to whoever asks for it. Its really been a pleasure getting tutored, not only about academics but also about the more important lessons of life from all of you. "Thank you" is too small a word to express our gratitude. 

Now to my friends, I would like to dedicate this quote by George Elliot.

"Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love." 

We may have fought over petty things, had our share of misunderstandings and ego issues, but out there in the huge world there's one bond that unites all of us and that is "TVS Academy". On the contrary, we could have made our best friends here, grown fond of one-another and who knows? May have even found the love of our lives too ! These bonds are those which make memories and memories make up a lifetime. I do hope that, we will surely be rewarded for whatever effort we have put in. And almost every one of us will be relieved that the all important exams have ended, or in my words, “The Tornado has subsided!” From now on, we may take up different paths or may end up in the same college & in the same hostel room. Either ways, one thing is more or less sure – Life will be way different from the school life we've been having for the past 14 years.

Farewell !

On a concluding note, to all my friends I say this – “There are means, other than Facebook and Twitter to keep in touch” (which is meeting, personally )  and to all my Akkas here, “I will always remain Yours Obediently ..!” (inspired by the many leave letters written).

WE PART, ONLY TO MEET AGAIN . . . 

Namaste!

Author's note: Now that you've read this you might be wondering this. I had written this down for the farewell party of my 12th Grade ( Pre-University). Well, I wasn't able to make it on that day. Reliving it here ! 

More Pain, Mightier Gain ...

More Pain, Mightier Gain…

Mickey with his Bandages !

To help a person in need is believed to be the noblest deed that a person can perform in his/her life time .The tendency to help a person is inborn for a few while the others inculcate it by way of experience. 

To substantiate, a twelve-year-old boy was traveling in a bus back home. This boy was enlivened by the fact that the bus he boarded was a new of its kind and something novel to him. His fascination and amusement made him forget to enquire if the bus he boarded would stop at his destination, despite the bus running on the same route. His journey was pretty uneventful. He gazed at things outside the bus. He got ready to alight from the bus as his destination approached. 

To his surprise, it did not show any signs of slowing down! Soon the bus over-shot his destination. The boy felt his stomach tingling in fright. In his bewildered state, he didn’t know how to act. With anxiety and confusion clouding his mind, he jumped out of the bus! 

Newton's law of Inertia sure came true.

Flying out, he  landed on the pavement with a thud, in one piece, but badly injured. His knees were profusely bleeding, his elbows bore scratches all over and there were mild bruises on his forehead. As can be imagined, people soon gathered around him in no time. They started to watch like something very entertaining was taking place. The boy was groaning in pain - still in a trance, unsure of what just had happened. That’s when he felt a gentle pat on his back. 

There stood two school going kids who were about the same age as he. Well you know what they say, "Help always comes in its own attire- leaving behind in our thoughts a lesson, a memory, an inspiration, worthy of a lifetime."  The kids, unlike others, washed his bleeding wounds. They then bound his knees with their kerchiefs. The "audience" looked on. Were they touched? Were they moved? What were they thinking and feeling? Did this act of the kids' make the encircled crowd ashamed that they never volunteered to help that kid, but rather whiled their time watching the kid groan in agony? Yes, it did. Realization struck the minds of people; soon they took the boy to the hospital.

The lucky boy was I. Yes, lucky. Though I got physically weak, my heart grew larger and mind- stronger. This incident also embarked an unforgettable scar in my heart. I felt sorry for that innocent crowd who couldn’t understand that their help, however trivial would have been a great deed. Getting hurt and lying there without any first-aid or help, I had felt dejected and isolated though surrounded by many. A very insignificant issue maybe, yet, it taught me a valuable lesson in life. The spark in me was ignited then. That’s when I realized that helping others never went out of fashion, it was just that everyone is so caught up with their own lives that they have forgotten to look around themselves. 

The most beautiful things in life cannot be bought, sensed, seen or touched - they must be felt with the heart. Those kids will stay etched in my heart forever. The dictionary does give the meaning of the word "help", but I owe my gratitude to those kids who made me truly understand it. "Vague is the pain I then experienced, but overwhelming is the inspiration that rose from it." This inspiration is what keeps me going each day. As time passed by I became aware that there were many people who were in desperate need of help, hence I resolved that I would not be ignorant to those who seek my help. 

Kids are the world's best gifts !

I also inferred from my helping experience that --

“Life is not how happy we are with ourselves, but how much happiness we can create among others”. 

It has given me the power to help and regard everyone as an individual for who they are and not for what they do. I feel proud to say, I learnt the lesson of a lifetime, and never forgot it. It has made me stronger and more sensitive. 

Thank you kids, "audience", and yeah - the novel bus I got into!

The stresssss..

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience,
raised a glass of water and asked, 'How heavy is this glass of water?'

Answers called out  ranged from 20g to 500g.

The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter.
It depends on how long you try to hold it.
If I hold it for a minute, it's not a problem..
If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.
If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.
In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.'

He continued,
'And that's the way it is with stress management.
If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later,
the burden will become increasingly heavy:
and we won't be able to carry on. '

'As with the glass of water,
you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again..
When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.
So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down: don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow.
Whatever burdens you're carrying now,
let them down for a moment if you can.'