Of ends and big-innings

Of ends and big-innings

The dark tunnel has

Been left behind; the spring calls

Butterflies to swing

Do great universities produce “great” students?

It’s really interesting how some universities acquire the stature and respect among the many millions of others spread across the world. We all know what makes a particular university “respectable” and of “repute” in comparison to others. Students while “hunting” for a university forget the toll the process of learning shall take on them if and if they choose that particular university.

This also makes me wonder how important it is as a senior of ‘that’ particular university to state the crude blunt facts of the ‘learning, living and surviving process’ to the curious juniors. As a junior, I was informed in an abstract and vague manner than in a concrete and crude manner. I still recall my Senior telling me “You don’t realize the value of this place as long as you are here. However once finished you shall realize the value of the name”. While I’m yet to reach at that decision, the current termination phase has bestowed on me a myriad of thoughts to think about.

As I began this blogpost I was expecting to lash out with anger and frustration. Well, these are the two primary emotions one ends up feeling due to the strenuous course work and expectations ‘these’ universities welcome you with. However, here I’m, reflecting on the strength that this course gifted me with. I still remember telling myself umpteen number of times “What doesn't kills you makes you stronger”. I believe it really does. Universities or academic institutions of great repute don’t just admit any students. Furthermore, they set the standard so high that a student pushes himself or herself to great lengths to meet the bar (read: pass examinations). Some might be of the view that what matters is who could persevere and who couldn't. I opine that even those who couldn't should not be judged and those who could should not ‘always’ be expected to meet everyone’s expectations.  If you ask a why, here is the answer: I do not know about Ivy League colleges for I haven’t been there nor am I aware of the IITs or the IIMs, however my experience of being in ‘one of the country’s best institution’ tells me that these universities shake you until you have dusted your older self only to have been born with a tough hard skin. They literally in every sense of the word take you for- granted! They forget that you are w(hu) man! They expect the work to be done regardless of you being lacerated inside your heart or being tortured by your thoughts in your head. If you are lucky you might find a soul or two to confide in. If you are very lucky then you might even find a group of good friends with whom you can sail through the sea till the end. However, like they say “As you go up the ladder, you make colleagues and not friends”. It’s less of a saying and more of a fact.

Coming back to the question I raised in the title, I believe that great universities don’t just leave their students till they finish the course, in fact, they never leave their students! They make an impact in their minds so great that students remember and learn from it. The students ( I would like to include myself as well) think of their struggles and how they succumbed through them, they think of the critical moments where their insides were broken yet they continued. It is these lessons, among the little highs and the abundant lows that saw through sunlight, that make great students. If this is what makes a great institution great, so be it! 

Refuge

To those who find a comfort in the words at this space and to those who have never been here too,

Hi.

Life away from home has indeed been a gift in these one and a half years. It's not been less than a rollercoaster or a tornado. There have been subtle highs and deep lows, the kinds where you don't see any light and your 'troublesome' thoughts take a toll on you to the extent that begin to question the 'meaning in life'. Nonetheless the light seeped through the tunnel and caught the girl who was willing to fight!

Hoping and wishing you all very well Vanilla lovers. How have you been?:)

I'm back with a haiku at haiku horizons....Ah! poetry I missed you...and words I was yearning to hug you...come here you two!:)

Refuge

In love I found you

In you I found refuge; the

Light to my tunnel

Love Tunnel ,Ukraine. A beauty, ain't it?:)

Aakriti

Before Sunrise

Not many people get to have meaningful conversations these days. Just yesterday I read a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt. It said “Great mind discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people”. Ah! Now I get why I have always stayed away from people who gossip and bitch about others. Doesn't it give negative vibes? I won’t say I've never talked about people. Sometimes, it is the difference that makes all the difference.

So yes, my dear, when did you say we were going for a midnight to dawn walk? Ah! I hear the unspoken words, they ring a jingle in this heart of mine. You being an owl won’t find it too difficult. I might need plenty of caffeine to keep me walking through the art, architecture and the conversations. Or maybe, if the fountain of your words keeps pouring in the silence of the cool breeze, I’ll stay amazed and awake, both at the same time. Oh! how I yearn for a day filled with words and a night soaked with the silence of a full moon, the street lights and two hearts absorbing and pondering over words exchanged, with hands not willing to leave each other. Then, who knows as we walk by the lovely Danube, we come across a man who asks for money in exchange of a poem he would write for us. What word would you give him to write the poem with? What? Don’t you look at me, I’ll be the silent one, filling my mind and heart with the wisdom you always offer.

You, dear Love, would be expected to read the eyes and the thoughts, in case my gestures don’t give away to the thoughts I would be thinking. I would take your hand by surprise and glide through the stones of the walkway, doing a ball dance with a music that only my ears would hear. I bet the dance would be a suave one, for your grace would add a touché of giggles and laughter.

The beauty of the Renaissance won’t let me sleep and

The music of the moments shall continue to seep

 One conversation leading to another, if you may?

Not a mundane chatter, but lessons to keep.

The silence of the musings would glitter through the stars

Questions after questions, with no answers asked

The swimming of the time across the tides of dark

Into the dawn of hope with rays being basked

Memories amidst the nature

With words to float by

We started there, didn’t we?

That’s where the hearts got tied!

P.S: Do I even need to say that this movie "adds meaning to your life?":) For those who know what I mean and those who might want to watch to know what it means.

Love~ Aakriti

Looking Forward to the future

Then I thought, afraid of the ‘un’ that the certainty was

The fears lurked like shadows of the past and future merged

The hope shrank, melted like an ice cream amidst the cold winds

The bon fire shook by the blizzards of terror

The external silence

Disguised the internal chaos

Not a moment of peace

Not a moment of calm

The ravage spoke for itself

And then the notes of tabla were heard

Dissolved amidst violin, sitar and a shehnai

The notes hummed a hope

With lyrics that entered the soul

Like magic I rose

Beckoning the future

To open the wings

Which gained strength in this endurance

The heart, the mind joined hands and head

Embracing that which was there……peace

The lamp became warmer………..hope

The path still has the ‘un’ in the clear

Yet the spring doesn’t looks far away

What kept these words alive in this poem…the song SwadesJ

Happy New Year 2015 pals!

Love~ Aakriti