Philosophy.. Cup o' coffee???

Few of the oldest and most frequent questions I remember asking dad are "Where does god live?' or 'What happens after death?" or something related to reincarnation. Sadly... Instead of  pondering upon the genuine cliche ideas or asking questions like "why is the sky blue daddy?' or 'why is grass green?' , I was always into unraveling mythical mysteries. Though he would have definitely been more delighted to answer questions like "What is radioactivity?", he never felt more debonair answering the intense ones.  I was/am exceptionally curious about a lot of creepy stuff kids of my age never talked about. I was a faithful listener owing to the fact that I still remember the first story my dad had narrated to me ( well he has probably narrated more than a 1000 stories till now. not a single one repeated) The story of  madhumalati and her three suitors. Yeah.. I still make him gape in awe at my ability to remember most of my childhood vividly leaving aside the fact that I forget the most basic things on my daily routine.
One fine morning (when I was 7 years old), I threw a tantrum! A massive tantrum indeed! "I want to go and sit and fly on a big birdie! NOW! NOW! NOW!" Mum as usual did not react much. She was used to my occasional outbursts of "I want a pink rabbit!" or " I want a boo-boo (that's what I would call a bey-blade)" or "I want a Scooby Doo". She was all "Go drink complan now! We'll talk about it later!"
But daddy, got all worked up! He actually thought that I was on the brink of insanity! "Why on earth do you want to do that?", he asked, eyeing me anxiously. "I want to say namaskaram to umaachi (god)! He'll smile at me and a big bulb will glow behind him and then, he'll show me his hand! And I'll get full marks in Maths test tomorrow!", I said grinning with excitement. Daddy let out a sigh of relief and then tried to distract me few other stories. I can't blame him though, for thinking that I could have hopped on to the next pigeon I would see in the park.
After growing up a bit more, I started linking science with religion and with my beliefs. I wanted to prove the existence of god because I believed in him. Instead of the big bang theory, I trusted and preferred the "God made the world in 7 days". A million "why's" were swimming in my mind. Do planetary positions really affect the future of an individual? How do people with the same zodiac sign possess similar nature? What happens after death?
"Death is a form of sleep. When you wake up, you are in the womb of a mother, asleep, regretting your wrongs deeds in your past life, kicking in exasperation, about the inevitable fact that nothing in the world can make you go back and correct those mistakes. As the first bout of air gushes in your lungs, you forget your past life and start a new life full of new prospects, leaving behind your past." This is what I like to believe now. It seems more logical. I mean, can you imagine not existing in this world? Atleast mentally? Just a mere cardiac arrest cannot stop you from existing in this universe!
So, people often think, why such unnecessary thoughts at this tender age.. There are better social and political matters demanding a dispute.. But, I say, every thing else has a nonnegotiable solution. Philosophy never has.. Whether it is culture, tradition or beliefs, everything bears its own baggage of controversies. And if you value your own philosophy, are flexible towards others' opinions and if the thirst and search for answers never cease, then, you are indeed a philosopher... 

That school girl...

13 years! From the day I'd barely started lisping words from my mouth, till the day I was clad gracefully in a saree, I've been in AECS-1. As the head-girl, I was supposed to speak on the farewell day. As soon as I scribbled the first word on the blank sheet, tears glided down my cheeks, making the paper moist. Tearing it off, I began typing afresh in the computer...

Good morning one and all! Respected principal mam, vice principal sir, headmaster sir, beloved teachers and all my dearest friends! Ahh! Shoot! This is probably the last time I am saying these words standing on this stage! It makes me utterly nostalgic..  Anyways, I feel very glad to have been given this opportunity to speak a few words on behalf of the whole 2014 batch! So, I would like to briefly narrate our entire journey, our own stages of metamorphosis! We were slash are a really naughty batch. Starting from prep, where we wrote all our B’s and D’s the wrong way, till junior college, where we solve brainstorming equations, nothing has changed at all. We started out as little kids, crying our heads off yelling “I don’t want to go to school!” and now..look how time has brought us to the stage where we don’t feel like leaving it at all.

It feels like it was just yesterday when we were being scolded for losing our pencils, sharpeners and erasers. When abha mam n nirmala mam taught us ka, kha, ga..whenkondra mam taught us how to count, and minakshi mam taught us to add.. 4 in mind 2 in hand 4-5-6!! So I would like to salute all our primary teachers  who worked soo hard to fit stuff into our rock minds. Rock minds indeed. Since most of us still carelessly scribble  3+2=6 sometimes! Wonder how reddy sir deals with that now! Then, nextly, came the secondary stage.. We were grown up and we felt big indeed. It was time we got exposed to the social and scientific world waiting for our contribution. Not only did our teachers teach us lessons from the textbook, but they also inculcated values within us, and taught us what’s right and what’s wrong. We can never forget  Ramchandran sir’s cheerful humor, sridevi mam’s stern yet encouraging words, the amazing stories yadav madam narrated, the love and affection pandaley mam showered upon us,dharmadhikari  sir’s dedication,poonambhatt mam’s soft and sweet words, the fascinating facts rajalakshmi mam shared with us and her eagerness in spreading knowledge, dale madam’s valuable support, wadhone mam’s enthusisam and kanappan sir’s amusing style .. All of them played a major role in building the base of our education, making us ready for the battle we were going to face.. JUNIOR COLLEGE, ladies and gentlemen! Geared off with the guidance from excellent teachers we began our ultimate battle of education.  Every concept they teach is crystal clear and I am sure we all are very relieved knowing that we made the right choice coming here. Even though we failed at the first attempt, they never let us give up and boosted our confidence in every way possible. Also Vice principal sir and headmaster sir, we thank you very much for having so much faith in us, trusting that we have the potential to reach phenomenal heights. And last but not the least principal mam, along with us, these are your last days at this school as well, so I would like to thank you for being so open with all of us, giving us loads of opportunities to express our wishes, making these two years of us  extremely eventful . 

This school has gifted all of us with the most dependable friends, and tons of lovely memories we can cling on to till the end of our lives. This is where I was born, my Alma mater. No matter where I go, my umbilical cord will still be attached to this school because it has made me who I am today. We promise to achieve great success in life making this school and our teachers proud.  And studying under this roof , has always given us the confidence that (This is where I started singing)  “ ham honge kamiyaab,,hum honge kamiyaab ek din.. oho mann mein hai vishwas, pura hai vishwas, ham honge kamyaab ek din! Thank you so much.. 

 I don't know whether it was the applause or the smiling faces of my teachers, my voice shook due to the tears I was trying to hold at the last line... And only few days are gonna change my "school girl" status..no more double braids, no more grey, no more badges to pin up..