I was whining to my father, the other day, about how college life isn't what I expected it to be. How we've been dealt blows that we really don't want to learn how to parry. How my head seems alien to me suddenly. How cynicism abounds. How even the happiest moments have some uncertainty about them. And he said, "Yes, so? That's life, baba. Get used to it. It'll have ups and terrible downs. You're feeling horrible now, you'll feel elated some days later."
I scoffed at his philosophical, don't-fight-with-the-current,-flow-with-it outlook. It annoyed me, frankly. Then, while talking to Dhanda I said something remarkably pointless and she went off about how if one wants to breast-beat one can go ahead and do it but she doesn't care to listen to all that tosh, might as well do something about the problem in the same amount of time. That angered me too: I'd listened to people chest-beating, why wasn't I entitled to the same right?
They were both right. I am quite happy now and I've realised that doing is better than ranting. Which makes me quite glad that I know the people I know. =) They're brutally honest but so very sensible.
So, what makes me happy currently? A lot of things. For one, while fighting against a system that's so damn rotten, we've found unlikely allies in Principal Secretaries, criminal law teachers, seniors, peons and what-not. Random people who're willing to make a tiny effort to make our fight possible.
Then there is love. The loss of a person makes you willing to consider your relationships much more seriously. I've started talking to people; last semester's apathy has given way, very suddenly, to a desire to care and make it known to the people I care about. It has also thrown into sharp relief the superfluous nature of some relationships. It has made a touch mean the world and a cart-load of words mean nothing.
The last month was hell for many of those I am close to, but through that hell something quite beautiful has emerged. For some of us, this month has helped us loosen up and live without needing to do the 'right' thing, conventionally. For some, it has brought in the importance of being earnest. For us all, it has reinforced the necessity to place people and relationships much above anything else on our priority lists.
A lot has been said of Mahesh Gopan after he left us. I wondered why I hadn't blogged about him, given that this blog was one of the first reasons we had to converse, but something Swaraj said made things clear: perhaps there was just too much to say. Despite our grief at his demise, in death as in life, Mahesh has managed to make people happy; bring people together.
His legacy lives on.
I scoffed at his philosophical, don't-fight-with-the-current,-flow-with-it outlook. It annoyed me, frankly. Then, while talking to Dhanda I said something remarkably pointless and she went off about how if one wants to breast-beat one can go ahead and do it but she doesn't care to listen to all that tosh, might as well do something about the problem in the same amount of time. That angered me too: I'd listened to people chest-beating, why wasn't I entitled to the same right?
They were both right. I am quite happy now and I've realised that doing is better than ranting. Which makes me quite glad that I know the people I know. =) They're brutally honest but so very sensible.
So, what makes me happy currently? A lot of things. For one, while fighting against a system that's so damn rotten, we've found unlikely allies in Principal Secretaries, criminal law teachers, seniors, peons and what-not. Random people who're willing to make a tiny effort to make our fight possible.
Then there is love. The loss of a person makes you willing to consider your relationships much more seriously. I've started talking to people; last semester's apathy has given way, very suddenly, to a desire to care and make it known to the people I care about. It has also thrown into sharp relief the superfluous nature of some relationships. It has made a touch mean the world and a cart-load of words mean nothing.
The last month was hell for many of those I am close to, but through that hell something quite beautiful has emerged. For some of us, this month has helped us loosen up and live without needing to do the 'right' thing, conventionally. For some, it has brought in the importance of being earnest. For us all, it has reinforced the necessity to place people and relationships much above anything else on our priority lists.
A lot has been said of Mahesh Gopan after he left us. I wondered why I hadn't blogged about him, given that this blog was one of the first reasons we had to converse, but something Swaraj said made things clear: perhaps there was just too much to say. Despite our grief at his demise, in death as in life, Mahesh has managed to make people happy; bring people together.
His legacy lives on.
