ANNOYANCES

I have been pondering over the topic on which I should pen down my thoughts (by which I mean, I thought over it for two minutes in a shower two days before submission.). And then I concluded, the best topic would be the one which annoys me (or in general, people of my age group) the most.

1). Cheesy posts on facebook.
Yes, facebook. Right from the milkman who gives us 2 litres of milk everyday (which he claims is the best in the entire world) to the super cool- self assumed stud –biker on VIP road to all the educated people, everyone is engrossed on this website. What people don’t understand is : 
I am not interested in your pout faced pose with an irrelevant googled quote as the description of your DP !
And we all know that, a picture which is an epitome of editing through 5 softwares can not be a RANDOM CLICK. So please, stop this baloney. The most common description being,
“I was smiling yesterday, I am smiling today and I will smile tomorrow simply because life is too short for anything.”
Yes. We all get that. And trust me facebook user, if you leave this website, you will put a smile to all the people in your friend list. Kindly consider that fact! 
Also, we are not interested in your weather reports and cricket updates every nanosecond! We may seem urchins to you, but we have a TV at home. And yes, it has NEWS channels.
For instance,
“ OMG! OMG!!!!!!! Such a luvleeeeeeeee wether!!! Woooooowwwieee !! I luvvvvv rainsssssss.”
“ Finalllllllllyyyyyyyyy SExyyyyy MAUsammmmm ! Osssssum mausam.”
“MS Dhoni! yOu ArE AwEsOmE...CSK mahhh favie team.”
Awesome. 
This is the only word left in the positive vocabulary of English language.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Please. Do not. Decimate. English.

                                      
2.) Dating is not a synonym for marriage.

So. Mrs. Patel , a lady in her late 40s visited our home one fine evening. She’s a resident of our colony. I reflected, the woman is here for a little chitchat and would leave decorously. I was wrong. She started the conversation by mentioning a girl who is the daughter of her neighbour’s elder sister’s brother-in-law’s cousin’s relative’s son or so she meant. Yes, our Mrs. Patel is quite talented. She will never, even by the slightest of memory slip, forget such momentous relations. Cutting the crap, the lady had a problem that the girl in reference has already dated 2 guys and she is not even engaged to one of them!
Excuse me, Mrs. Patel, did you mean she should marry these 2 guys simply because she “dated” them?  Importantly, how does that the matter even concern you? I mean, knowing the fact that you are a happy homemaker, I’m sure your maid’s leaves have nothing to do with this poor girl in discussion! So get a life and stop being judgemental! *Nahi bhai. Hum to bolenge hi! Hamara adhikaar hai! Chahe kuch bhi bolein. Bolenge zaroor.*

What most of the people in our nation need to understand is, dating is a common thing among the youth today. It simply means that we are trying to find people who match our intellectual and emotional quotient, people who can understand us and would be compatible with our lives. Dating doesn’t mean that it is an INVISIBLE ENGAGEMENT RING which we have fastidiously given to the other person. Take a break. Think indubitably. The last thing we need is a set of “ Hey bhagwan! Isko dekho zara !” and “ Haye Allah! Dimaag toh theek hai is ladke ka?” Stop being a hypocrite.


3.) THE QUORA CRAZE FOR IITians.
IITians are hot. They are demi-gods. They are real life X men. They have direct connection to the destiny creators. They can change your life by just a minute touch of their fore finger. They are going to be Mark Zuckerburg right after graduation.
ONLY BECAUSE THEY CRACKED IIT JEE AND YOU DID NOT.

Yes. No matter if you follow the topic IITs or not, your home page will be flooded with news like, XYZ upvoted an answer:
“How does it feel to have an IITian boyfriend?”
“How does it feel to be a sibling to an IITian?”
“How does it feel to be married to an IITian?”
“Do IITians consider non IITians as dumb and stupid?”
“How do I become friends with an IITian?”

“Are the people crazy for IITians?”

                                                                                                                                                                   

 But my all time favourite is this one :
3834  votes.  I’m not the only one who feels that way !
People, take a break. Stop overrating IITians so much. The ones who didn’t crack JEE aren’t dumb. What society doesn’t understand is the fact engineering is not the only education! A person can be a graduate in literature or commerce or journalism and be equally smart as an IITian. No doubt IITJEE is the hardest exam at the +2 level across the world. But there are colleges which are excelling too ! Like BITS . Not all the IITians walk away with a handsome package of 36 lakhs per annum in an Indian job. Not everyone invents something new. There are students who strive very hard and yet are jobless, because their field of specialisation doesn’t need much of employment. That doesn’t lower down their intellect in any manner possible! Stop pressurising your kids to be IITians . Instead, discover the best in them and let them pursue it. After all this, people complain as to why there are no Picassos, Michael Jacksons and P.T.Ushas. To all of them, the answer is, they are very much present but they are busy attending IITJEE coachings somewhere!

4.) The random crap crowd.
The Delhi gang rape case has just reduced to a CASE. We had countless furores, public debates, demonstrations and rallies. All of them zeroed to one thing: THE GIRL IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HER TRAGEDY. The saddest part of the conclusion is, that a lot of women consider the main factor for rape arousal as obscene attire. Yes, the 4 year girl looked so hot and sexy and arousing in her juvenile frock that three men brutally raped her. Exactly! It is her fault, right? She should have covered herself in a vile before stepping a foot out of her home! If the innocence of a child can instigate your hormones so much, YOU NEED A TREATMENT. 
To all the ladies out there, who believe that a girl is responsible for all that happens to her, think twice! Have some humanity! Your narrow-mindedness might be harbouring the rapist in your son!

I look forward to the day when all the girls and women in this nation will feel free to move out and continue with their lives. But seeing the present scenario, that seems to be surreal.


Such things annoy us to no end. But sometimes, all you can do is turn a deaf ear or a blind eye or write an article reaching out for more people like you!

DANIA FARUQUI

Chemical, 2nd year

From A Million Hearts To A Billion Wallets

Mahatma Gandhi- The Father of the Nation. 

The nation that we call India, lets stick to this only because calling it Bharat does not really help our cause. Some random thoughts began brewing in my mind as I took a hundred rupee note out of my pocket and handed it to the worker who knows me well and has been working in this ice-cream shop for some time. No, I don't even know his name, but a "Bhaiya" is more than sufficient to get my order placed quickly.

For some reasons, Gandhiji's photo has decreased in both its affluence and influence and has been limited to currency notes only. In primary classes there are essays that students have to mug and replicate in their exam copies. A nice holiday on 2nd October is always welcomed. A couple on minutes of silence on 30th January, well that gives a nice break from all the commotion around, doesn't it. A framed picture on the walls in government offices, with an inch-thick layer of dust. Yes he is still the father of our nation but the peon does not bother to wipe the dust now. The people do not remember him on days other than these two of course. Yet their was a time when this now forgotten man walked on the face of the earth, right where the British were on the peak of their atrocities and lead an entire country to freedom without even raising a stick. But then, Bharat turned into India, we came civilized and modern, Gandhism turned into Gandhigiri and all the noble deeds of this man ended up in our pockets, with his bespectacled face in our wallets.

However one would contradict with me in some regards, what with Anna Hazare and his revolution. His method, his fasting and the lathicharge on protesters in Delhi. For a moment, even for a bleak one, it felt as though the times had reversed- a nation going head-on against the incumbent government without any act of violence. But it did not last for the Jan Lokpal Bill is still under "consideration". The very root of the problem that it intended to cut off- corruption, has grown in its domain day by day. The movement which began as protest has turned into a political party, deprived of support and muscle. But what was it that really made the difference back then, during the struggle for independence, because the principals are more or less the same- but why are they ineffective in the present context?

I think we can narrow it down to a couple of simple facts. Firstly it was the man himself- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, for his charisma and intensity is yet unmatched. Perhaps it was far more convenient to forget the man, rather than following his principles he stood for. The social values and beliefs he stood for were and always will be easier to admire than to follow. While he was alive, he was impossible to ignore- the British tried to at their demise. And once when he was gone, he was impossible to imitate- which is quite apparent in the present scenario. Apart from this, the other thing which drove his engine forward was his pursuit of Truth. Truth with a capital T. For he believed in the the fact that if you are correct, and the Truth is on your side nothing can hold you back. Truth cannot be attained by unjust or violent means. For he said, "Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth." Such was his deep-lying belief in this philosophy. Its hard to break resistance of able bodied men, but for a man whose spirit is as indomitable as his, it was next to impossible.  

Secondly, and maybe this one holds the edge, it was the people who made Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi into Mahatma Gandhi- and not just in name. He was their leader, their saint walking in front of their eyes.They followed him and he lead them towards truth, towards light, towards freedom. Had they absconded his pursuit in the middle of this epic struggle, things could have shaped up very differently indeed. Those people did not sit back in their homes, waiting for things to happen. They did not flock to the cyberspace to extend their support via innumerable "shares" and "comments" on virtual "walls". They stepped out and wrote "Inqualab Zindabaad" with their blood on the walls of jails inside which they were beaten down to pulp. They did not walk away when the police drew lathis on a a couple of girls in Punjab. They did not walk away with indifference when a group of young men protested on the main square of the city. They stood there, abiding his command not raising their hands even once. They joined shoulders forgetting their petty differences- yes those very differences which have become the basis of communal politics.

They stood their by his side

I wonder how Gandhiji would have reacted when he would have seen what has happened to his beloved country. Maybe he would have asked for a bullet, and said "Hey Ram" (though this time in a very different sense) and put it inside his head. Probably saving another Nathuram Godse from the trouble, for he is our father, and he took this blame too upon himself.

Summer is here, I feel like an ice-cream now. The old man in my wallet needs some air too.

Bye.

Nishant Chaturvedi
Electrical
3rd Year