ThatWorld.

This post is not going to be a passionate outflow of words against most of our “systems”. I will adhere to the sweet part of me, instead of the spunky one. I want to write about books. I even want to write books, but I wouldn’t know what to write about. I will probably end up writing about the Pythagoras Theorem or Bohr’s postulates.

    I generally read all those books typically suited for teenagers, fantasy/fiction sorts. My love for these is very obvious from the fact that I haven’t missed a single word in the Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, Divergent, etc. series. I have read and reread every single bit of every single book. And I am a voracious reader. Not boasting, but I finished The Fault In Our Stars in 6 hours, which could have been bettered if mom didn’t disturb me for snack, milk, dinner and eye-rest. While the effective reading time is short in my case, the total involvement with a story lasts for weeks. When I am reading, I am simultaneously imagining, creating the scene in my mind palace. And then when I think about that book in bed, I recreate those scenes and wish that I dream of the book. But these wishes have conditions. The protagonist or the next-to-protagonist is replaced by me. Earlier, I used to take the female lead’s position. But after my feminist ideals evolved, I take the lead, whatever the gender. And I have all kinds of stupid, horror, serious, action, drama dreams, but only ONCE did I actually dream of a book (I stood in the middle of 12 Greek gods after some heroic battle). Guess my brain gets so overdosed that it doesn’t want to think about it anymore. Recently, I have been resisting all urges to read a book because I know that if I do, I will get lost. Get lost in the world of fiction, fighting every moment to get out of it.

        My older friends ask me to read non-fiction or very-realistic-fiction novels. And it’s a straight no from my side. Because according to me the whole point of reading a novel is escaping from reality. Don’t we live in the real world all the time already? Yes, but books could be misleading too. People say that they give you a sugar-coated version of most things, cherry-topped with a happy ending. I believe that is why most authors these days make sure that they kill our favorite characters in the end. Unnecessary reality checks. Or maybe we would not like those books so much if the end was not impactful and un-cliche(accent). If we didn’t feel like strings were detached and pleasure stolen. Maybe that is what leaves us wanting for more. For a sequel. It is probably a strategy to leave the readers wondering, hence wanting more explanation from the author.

    I wish to make a cliff-hanger statement but

MYD

RelSystem

Belated Happy Diwali!

     A lot of our lives revolve around festivals. And well, they are very welcome. Welcome because I think they give a good break. A good excuse to skip homework ("There was a puja yesterday"). And some good fun with the guests. But to think of the underlying hypocrisy...
    The altruists, the business men, the police men, the criminals, the thieves- all celebrate the same festivals the same way. Now, festivals are supposed to be those days when something grand happened in mythology or just a day charted out by the constellations (or whatever astrology goes behind it) when we worship more than we do normally. But then it is surprising that all kinds of people pray for the same thing, regardless of their deeds. Now now there is another topic that I do not want to touch here. But to make the understanding of my thoughts clearer, I would say this. I not going to start speaking of karma nor am I going to talk of Godly existence. But I just wanna say that the supreme power that governs the universe must not be blind to the deed record of someone. And that is clear in most situations. Now I should return to the hypocrisy or else my creepy-over-age-philosophy will... become creepy.
   So yeah, even the most corrupt of ministers and the most brutal of murderers pray for more money or I don't know ...more victims?? And I don't think that the God they are worshiping fulfills their wishes based on the sweets they offer or the money they give in the temples(which finally goes God DOESN'T know where).
God does not want people to fight in her name. God does not want the destruction of her creations unnecessarily. If only we understood.

MYD

EdSystem

A little late? Yeah. Busy with what we call education.
After my last post, I received mostly positive feedback. I could not think that anyone would not agree with my overflowing expressions on such a pressing issue. But some actually did not like it. It is called "unnecessary" or "not exactly true". And I realized they were right. If I were to be defined in one word, it would be- complicated. So sometimes my complicated thoughts don't come out uncomplicated (mostly *emoticon*). And I accept and understand the meaning and importance of what is called an 'opinion'. Nothing is right and nothing is wrong. Yet we spend all our lives trying to do 'what we feel is right'. That is it. Rightness is FELT. Not DEFINED. But if we all give up trying to do something just because there anyways isn't any RIGHT, what will be the point? So I must, you must, we must: DO. More on this later.

Where was I?
      Education.
My life has basically followed this pattern: Study. Play. Fun. Exam. Result. Post-ResultReaction (which can vary from celebration [which further varies from watching a movie to going swimming/shopping] to tears[the same old variety always *failed attempt at funny*]). It has been particularly affected by the exams. For me, exams are always unwanted(that goes for most people I guess). I have always thought that 'exams do not test one's true potential', 'they are the worst performance days', 'not the right way of assessment' and the most cliche(e with the weird slash on the top) of all- 'Did not prepare'. But the sad truth is that while I curse exams, I celebrate like crazy everytime they go well( I actually do, to all those who know me).
     Drifted again.
Now to speak of the SYSTEM. The system goes beyond schools and teachers and exams. It starts at home. And very often, education is associated with career. There are many families where a particular career is favored. It is mostly engineer/doctor here. And oh that phrase- "Lucrative job offers". (I am glad my parents support me in what I do. <3 ) The entire matter is: Job. Most people do not really bother to explore. They stick to the norm. And they end up being happy sometimes. They end up killing themselves sometimes.

Here in India, you see more advertisements of 'Coaching Institutes' than you do of smartphones and refrigerators. [Coaching rhymes with poaching( In all ways.).] Rigorous classes for students wishing to grab high ranks in the most prestigious competitive examinations. (My whole post needs to be in quotes.) Every other day its the institutes advertising their numbers-of the selected, the qualified and I wonder why not: The Killed. Let me tell you already that I myself go to a coaching institute. If my mum and dad told me to sit at home and never go to coaching again, I would never agree. I cannot tolerate the absence of exciting knowledge. I cannot tolerate not learning. I love to attend the classes more than anyone else. I love the teachers. But the part of coaching I do not like is how they(whoever are the masterminds) ruin the joy of knowledge with the stress of 'consistent GOOD performance'. How all the awesomeness math and numbers is destroyed by the other numbers. The growing suicide incidents are obviously not liked by the institutes. They do not mean to kill. But they must still understand that without intending to to do so, this is happening. And so a solution must be found.
     And the masterminds are not the only ones who need to work. The folks need to too. The society needs to. No child will kill herself because she is doing something she likes. There is a serious misconception ingrained in us: Good job. Good life. Comes from HARD work.
1. If you are working HARD, you are actually doing something that is difficult. But if you did something you enjoyed, well then it would be FUN work.
2. Straight from a super-hit movie: First Excellence. Then Success.
3. Good Life follows. (Thanks Dad for all the counseling.)

We must do what we like. We must learn for the pleasure of learning.

P.S. Wrote this one in mid-sleep. Because I really wanted to. So, disconnected thoughts.

MYD