अब तो आगे बढ़ना होगा......

क्यों ना सब मिलकर हाथ बढायें,
क्यों ना एक लहर बनकर उठ जाएँ,
आओ हम सब मिलकर हर बच्चे को पढाएं,
आओ हम अपने देश को उन्नति की ओर ले जाएँ।

52 Kilometers Of Traveling Everyday...

Its 7:00 AM, at any moment there can be a missed call and I will have to rush to the cab waiting outside. Oh!! Why do these people leave so early? Can’t they come at 7:05…just 5 minutes won’t make a difference? For the past 6 months I have been eating my breakfast in the cab itself. After the breakfast, its time to adjust my shirt collar, tie up the shoelaces, check my bag for the ID card and a final sigh of relief if everything is in place.

The first person boarding the cab holds an implicit responsibility to make a missed call to the rest who are coming for the day. Now, this is not an easy job. “What Shiekh, I Informed you yesterday that I wont be coming…Man!! You have disturbed my sleep…I came so late last night…Shucks!!”.

A gang of 6 in the cab, we follow the rule of seat rotation, or else, the people sitting at the rear of the cab everyday will break up some of their bones…damn to these craters on the road…seems as if some comet has hit this part of the globe. It takes around 90 minutes to reach office, which is around 52 kilometers from my place. In the morning hours, we escape the heavy traffic. Of Course…5 minutes makes a difference and I realize this when I am late for the meeting having left at 7:05 that morning.

“How many people are they hiring this year”? “What about the appraisal, bonus and promotions”? “Any new projects coming up?” As usual a normal chitchat floats and even the non-participating ones come up with a suggestion or two in between. Within minutes, I could sense an environment building up, where we all gather on a common platform of discussions irrespective of our age differences, designations in the office, the work we do and the knowledge we hold. It has almost become a trend to trap someone each day for pulling his or her leg throughout the way. Roars of laughter and comments keep coming from every seat of the cab ;)

“Red FM par ab band bajega…” and almost immediately, there is a silence and the driver increases the volume of the stereo. This 2-minute effort is what I would call as a laughter therapy better than the one introduced by anyone ever (if any).

Rahul had his birthday last month…. Wow!! Treat…where are we going today in the evening? You know guys, Megha has been praised by her manager…. gr8…where’s the party Megha? Well, these are just two in a set of 100 fake reasons we can come up with, any day we want to go out for some snacks before reaching home in the evening. The whole plan is decided in the morning itself.

Still, half way to go and I could see people yawning. In another 5 minutes, Amit falls to the left, Rajiv is down to his right and I hang up in the middle. I can never ever go for ‘a short sleep’ while traveling. It’s makes my head heavy. I like to look out of the window, with trees on both sides of the road, people going for a jog, school kids waiting on the bus stands, hustle and bustle on the roads. Poor people at the back seat just keep balancing themselves after every 5 minutes…Gosh!! It’s my turn tomorrow.

Finally, we are on the ramp in front of the office and the cab moves away dropping us at side. A goodbye, and we enter the office building, quite aware that we all would not be traveling back together in the evening. Friends, you know what…all our planned parties and treats are still waiting for a day, when we would be traveling back together.

Cheers,

That one hour of the day, made my Sunday……….

It was Sunday, and if dad is at home, I just can’t think to lie in bed and dream till afternoon. He is already familiar with my “Oh, please half an hour more, please-please, I slept late, I was studying………….I feel, I am not well, my head is heavy…………Yesterday, I strained my back, aahh!! It pains”, and all such kind of excuses. As usual, the list was called out and I had to get the tires of my scooter filled with air as the first job of the day.

I usually don’t prefer to carry my wallet if I am wearing loose lowers or pajamas, because of the fear of slipping it out of the pocket. It was by chance that I carried it that day. I was waiting for my turn at a nearby cycle/scooter repairing shop, when I noticed two small kids who had come to get their bicycles repaired, bargaining with the mechanic over the money he was charging.

I don’t know what made me think that the boys didn’t belong to a financially good family. Perhaps, their argument, their clothes, their faces, their bicycles, their body language caught my eye and made me think about this. My turn came, as I saw the boys moving towards the side still discussing something with each other in a dull voice. I tried to overhear their discussion, when some words like chocolate, cycle, 20Rs, managed to reach my ears. It didn’t take a minute more for me then to understand their point of discussion.

“Hey, do you go to school boys”, I asked. Interrupted, they looked towards me in some confusion, as if to confirm that my question was to them. “Yes, I am in 3^rd standard, and he is in 2^nd” replied one of the boys. I smiled back and said “Don’t worry, get your cycles repaired and I will pay for them”. The confusion remained on their faces, but the discussion ended. “Is this guy actually going to pay for us”, the best I could read in their curious eyes. I asked the mechanic to get their cycles repaired first. With some amount of reluctance, they handed over their bicycles to him, as if they were not ready for the obligation.

Both were standing silently in a corner, perhaps, to avoid any more query from my side. Half an hour passed and I was waiting for my turn. Finally, their cycles were done. “Is everything done, just check them”, I asked, as the boys picked up their bicycles. One of them just shook his head, as if to say ‘yes’.

“Ok then, study well. And buy 2 chocolates only, not more”, I said, as they moved out of the shop. I saw them turn and look back several times, perhaps, to check, if the mechanic is not running behind them for his money. Finally, they thanked me with a pleasant smile and rode away swaying their bicycles.

It was about an hour, by the time I was done with my job as well. Driving back, I knew, I will have a good scolding from dad, as it was hardly a 5 minute thing to get the tires filled with air and come back. But the satisfaction of doing something good overrode my any other fear. As expected, I found dad waiting. Later, when he learned about my last one hour, he held my shoulder like a proud father does. A feeling of happiness kept me active throughout the day.

Finally, at the end of the day, as i lay on my bed, i realized, it was that one hour of the day that actually made my Sunday……….

I mean to say...

Never regret for something you do not have,
Regret for what you have and still it is not yours.


- Happy Himanshu Gupta

My Definition Of Love...

Do you know a four letter word,
Residing in every corner of the world,
As white and pure as ‘dove’,
Yes, it is the word called ‘love’.

Like a soothing breeze it flows,
Like a morning sun it glows,
Like a glass, transparent and clear,
Shines in your eyes, or falls like a tear.

The bond between a mother and a child,
The bond between a patriot and his nation,
The bond which the nature shares with mankind,
Nothing, but the forms of love in each relation.

Love never teaches you to lie,
Love never asks you to die,
Love never teaches you to split,
Go ahead, it never asks to quit.

Love is not a slave,
It is strong and brave,
Love is something you cannot cage,
It is blessed with an endless age.

Love is silent and sincere,
Invisible to eyes and dumb to hear,
Love is the most precious jewel,
Core of the heart, is where it dwell.

The air I breathe for you, is a form of love to me,
The heart that beats for you, is a part of love to me,
The god whom I pray for you, is an idol of love to me,
The life I live for you, is a gift of love to me.

- HAPPY HIMANSHU GUPTA

Photoshop Revisited...

It was rather unexpected, when i was asked by one of my friends to work upon Photoshop, the tool i learned during the second semester of my B.Tech. Its been 3 years, and i never used Photoshop during this time for more than just cropping a few images or using the brightness and contrast features.

She asked me to work upon a web template and try for some better color combinations. The very first thought that came to me was, "Oh God !! Aaj to gaye". I am sure, boys can imagine the situation when a beautiful female friend of yours ask for a favor and you are unsure of doing the task as expected.

But, i held my nerves, and said "Ok, i will see to that" in as much confidence as i can at that time. So, the task of the day was to design a perfect web template to impress a 'beauty with the brains'. I started installing Photoshop on my machine, still unsure of what would i do when i will struggle with the varied features of Photoshop.

Finally, i opened the file in photoshop. The page opened with a number of dark shaded frames, some text on the page , a few pics here and there, colourful lines and margins drawn. As a first reaction, my hand moved away from the mouse like a shot, as i have touched some hot plate on a boiling water can. "What the hell is this....where should i start from......where are the options to edit the image.....what are all these pop up windows for??....bla bla bla..." were the questions that formed a whirlpool in my mind in less than a second, until i came across the only familiar thing, and that was the window showing the various layers with some marking on each layer. I remembered the concept of layers, but that was not the only thing that would help when something has to been done with colours, textures, patterns and styles.

My mind was still under the covers, when i decided to ping her ask for the very first doubt in my mind which was "Where to find the option for changing the color of a particular region?" It was better to ask it now than to avoid replying to her charming ping "hey happy..how r u ?" later in the evening. I was still thinking for some other option, when i heard a ding dong. Oh! it was my messenger window with a sound that said "Are you able to make some changes..?"
Now, that was the question i least expected,after just 5 minutes of task allocation. That was the first moment when i cursed myself for not being a perfectionist on Photoshop. "Ah!! now what should be the reply...".

My mind still engaged, the fingers took a step forward and typed "Well, i am not able to find the option to change the color of a selected region". It was after i had typed the message, i realized that i could have asked that in a different way. There was a long pause while a hundred of thoughts kept creeping in my mind, "what is she thinking..??......Its ok happy, not a problem, i will do it myself......Will, she explain me, how to get this option..?? " when there was a sound again, and the messenger window had the answer to all my innocent thoughts.

Finally, the nerves settled, the blood flow unaccelerated as she replied with a proper answer explaining each step. I tried my first touch and wow..!!, it worked. Finally, i saw something new on the page, something that i tried and visualized. Later she slept , perhaps, with some expectations set with me. But this time, i found myself much more confident and ready for the goal. I spent around 5-6 hours that day, engrossed in filters, textures, tranfomations, swatches, styles, images, colour bucket, shapes, sizes, borders, layers etc etc. and came up with 4 new templates later in the evening. I was totally exhausted, my eyes red with wild rays shooting out of the computer monitor. But, my satisfaction weighed much more than my heavy head. It was the time to mail her all the templates with a sweet message and wait for a reply.

I will not remember most of the things as i move on, perhaps even today, i do not remember all that i have learned till date. But, the revision of this tool has left an ever lasting impression on my mind. Do you think, i revised something and learned something not for me, but for someone else? Well, as an audience you can only see what is being played on the stage and not behind the curtains... ;)

My Learnings from Life

Give space to each and everything in your life. But there is always a ripe time to pluck the fruit. The taste would be the best if you get it at the right time.

We all cannot take a step forward at the same time. After all the space is limited. If some of us are taking a step ahead, then mind it, we are holding the shoulders of a few and pushing them behind. You all might not agree with me on this because I know it’s just a way of thinking and a different perspective towards life.

It’s a universal truth that there is no end to satisfaction. This is why, I believe in self satisfaction. It’s up to us to decide how high we want to fly before getting steady and reach a state of stability. After all isn’t happiness that golden ball in this game of Quidditch that decides the winner.

We all are on the earth for a common cause. It is the cause of nobility and humanity. If you have more then help others to grow.