ROA Zindagi!

Posted on April 21, 2022 by kushsrivastava

Have you ever wondered about the kind of life we are leading,

The decisions we are making,

the basis of the same,

The actions that we are performing,

on what premise?

More often than not,

Whether we are conscious of it at all or not,

These actions evolve from some tendency to benefit from the same,

Be it becoming friends with a guy who might be able to help us in the future,

Be it go on compromising over and accepting things which we might not like at all,

It’s always ROA = return on actions

which we are trying to focus upon,

That’s another issue if our analysis goes all wrong 🙂

But how long can we go on living like this?

Have you ever given it a calm and composed thought?

If not,

and

If you are reading this,

Might be a good time to start!

Source for the Image: https://divethru.com/feeling-selfish-a-guide-to-your-emotions/

Believe it or not!

Posted on March 19, 2022 by kushsrivastava

What do you do when you meet friends?

Chit-chat,

Get involved in some fun activities,

Discuss cardinal issues of life 🙂

And at times,

You tend to delve into discussing

Perceptions

and

Belief systems

Realizing that we all come from

Different backgrounds,

have had different kinds of upbringing,

and

might have experienced life in different ways altogether,

which in turn

shapes our thoughts,

opinions,

openness towards treating things contrary to our biases,

and

willingness to go beyond our bubble,

Believe it or not,

It’s extremely difficult for each one of us to do so,

Be it

accepting different point of views,

trying new things out,

make an attempt to re-shape our opinions,

easier being

to remain in our respective comfort zones,

for

we tend to block anything and everything

which seems contradictory to the same,

But does it help us in any manner?

Does it make our lives better in some sense?

Does it make us human beings after all?

Well,

Believe it or not,

Experiencing things for oneself and deciding

whether it’s worth it to be incorporated as part of self

might be a way out.

Choice is of course ours at the end of the day!

Source for the Image: http://sujaypaul.com/power-of-positivity-strong-belief/

Love 2022!

Posted on January 19, 2022 by kushsrivastava

One of the most talked about emotions possibly is love,

The moment I utter the word,

What comes to mind,

The love that one might have for his gf/bf/spouse,

The love that a mother/father might have for their kids,

The love that one might have for friends,

But the kind of love that is most relevant and most important is love for self,

Which we practice day-in-day-out,

For every act of love that we demonstrate is intended to bring about a pleasantness in oneself,

Though,

We claim to be doing it for others,

Yet,

The sole purpose is to have that feel good factor which makes our day,

Which,

Inspires us to invest our time and effort,

Which

Gives this very life a purpose,

2022 is no different in that sense,

If we were to focus on this very essential of love,

There won’t be any question about what’s right or wrong,

For what makes our life feel good in the true sense will in itself make others happy!

Agree?

Source for the Image: https://www.scripps.org/news_items/4743-how-love-affects-your-heart

G for!

Posted on June 26, 2021 by kushsrivastava

For those who are reading this:

Most of us might have felt at some point of time in our lives that we could have been or could be doing much more.

Might have felt that the true potential has not been realized.

Might have had been haunted by thoughts and questions: what if I would have taken some other course?

But

A thing that we don’t realize is:

After all, whatever we have achieved is nothing short of a feat.

What we have in our possession is not that everyone has a privilege of claiming.

Be it the:

Job,

Family,

Friends,

Other material possessions,

Why then:

This feeling of disappointment,

This frustration,

This temperament,

This constant need to prove to the world,

And

This inability of being able to appreciate and praise others for so called small things in life.

Does it even register:

Just few words of genuine praise can change or even save someone’s life,

Just few words of courtesy can make someone’s day,

Jadoo ki jhappi (an affectionate hug) of Munna Bhai does work,

Considering we are maintaining social distancing in these times,

And

Considering people are getting depressed for so many reasons,

What’s stopping us from offering something that doesn’t take a lot of effort and could indeed impact lives in the real sense!

So, my dear friends, please don’t stop yourself from offering this genuine praise,

Whosoever comes in contact with you in these challenging times.

Might even act as a life saving fresh breath of air to the affected and the depressed.

Wondering what this G is for?

Grateful for:

To begin with alive in these times,

Getting those all important meals,

The health of our loved ones, family and friends,

There is still hope,

Enabling us to take a break from mindless and senseless lives,

and

Being able to connect and communicate, courtesy social medial platforms and calling apps,

If these are not enough for one to be grateful,

I wonder what will be!

Source for the Image: https://leadx.org/articles/we-know-we-ought-to-be-grateful-but/, https://steemit.com/writing/@doitvoluntarily/the-pursuit-of-wanting-more, https://www.amazon.in/initial-Alphabet-Monograme-Notebook-monogramend/dp/B083XVYVY3

Willing Chance!

Posted on June 23, 2021 by kushsrivastava

Have you ever wondered what’s it’s come down to?

Expecting from others to behave in a certain manner, contingent to our own limited liking,

Be it:

Colleagues,

Relatives,

Friends,

Kids,

Servants,

Any Passerby,

And what purpose does it serve apart from making us more:

Angry,

Emotional,

Depressed,

Hateful,

Primarily unstable,

Possibly making us a member of a tribe which is lost but never to be found.

Eventually ending up all lonely,

for:

None would want to be in our company,

None would aspire to keep arguing till eternity,

And

More importantly, all would expect the unexpected.

Choice is ours to be a party to the much-much group or be a worthy member of the much expected tribe:

One who puts himself/herself in other’s shoes before judging or criticizing,

And

One who provides that all important ear to listen and not comment when it matters the most,

At such challenging times , why not bring a little change in the way we:

Observe,

Perceive,

Comment

and

Behave

Only question being:

Are we ready to give this transformation a willing chance?

Source for the Image: https://www.business2community.com/strategy/change-to-have-a-chance-02283260, https://www.earth.com/news/right-ear-listening-ability/

Taken for a Ride?

Posted on January 17, 2017 by kushsrivastava

The moment we all hear the phrase, “taken for a ride”, a negative image of some incident, more often than not, comes to our mind, where we find ourselves living the same and developing negative emotions because of who so ever or what so ever caused us to be taken for a ride.

We tend to think, how stupid in time we were, how bad the world was, or for that matter, how could one not see something coming, trying to calm ourselves at the same time, that is was an anomaly in the entire scheme of things that we happen to go through each day of our lives and that we are too intellectual to have been taken for a ride.

We go on to convince ourselves of the goodness in ourselves, which enabled us to bring out qualities like trust, faith etc etc and which made us believe what was on offer. Having said the above, taken for a ride, doesn’t necessarily mean bad things.

images

After all, when we were kids, our parents also took us for a ride ;), by making us eat all the nutritious food that we were supposed to consume at that point of time in our lives.

Our teachers, by hook or crook, made us learn the valuable lessons, which made us a better individual (supposedly ;)).

Our siblings, who taught us the very essence of togetherness and love, our friends who made us understand, what the dynamics of a society was.

As we grow old, we somehow tend to start having interpretations and perceptions which tend to swing towards the negative side of things.

We forget that our mind, which was supposed to see the positive side, has got conditioned into a dreaded monster of sorts, where we have developed a tendency to burn ourselves in the wrath of our perceptions and negative emotions and thoughts evolving out of the same.

What’s needed is for you to revisit your your younger self, and start enjoying the very nature that taken for a ride was supposed to bring to you.

The only thing you need to convince yourself, per say, is that after all taken for a ride was how it was supposed to be, if it were not so, you would not be, who you are meant to be :).

Source for the Image: https://www.youtube.com/user/RIDEChannel

A Night to Remember!

Posted on December 28, 2013 by kushsrivastava

It is not often that you get a chance to explore your city on a bicycle at 2’o clock in the night, especially when you are living with your family and assuming that you don’t lie to them regarding your whereabouts.

But yesterday, 3 of my friends along with me decided to do the unthinkable. The biggest impediment though was how to arrange for 4 bicycles at that point of time, considering that we all had given up the habit of possessing the same since our IIT days.

It is said when the going gets tough, the tough gets going and so did Birju who made every possible effort that he could to arrange for the bicycles, which seemed to have been the most luxurious of vehicles that all four of us would have loved to have that very moment. And at last he succeeded.

And there we were riding our bicycles on the famous streets of Lucknow which appeared much wider and broader than what they look like during the daytime because of the traffic that tend to demean the very character of the broad roads during daytime.

With no plans as such in our minds, we just rode our bicycles to every nook and corner of the city, some known to us and some totally unknown and unexplored, taking short breaks at times to fulfill our appetite with a kulhad of tea accompanied by a well baked band-makkhan and at times to pose for a photograph on the weirdest of locations.

As if this was not enough and as if we wanted to relive the college days once more, we decided to bring some happiness to the faces of a couple of our batch mates who had by then already hit the bed and were sound asleep in their respective houses.

We rode all the way from Hazratganj to Gomtinagar, which is around 8-9 km in distance in order to bring some excitement into the life of a person who had been too busy for the past couple of days by any stretch of imagination.

One thing that we all can do and take great pride in doing is to take at least some amount of liberty when it comes to playing pranks with our batch mates and friends or when it comes to willingly or unwillingly include someone close to us in our ad hoc plans.

And the good thing is that our friends or batch mates never ever seem to play spoil sport, instead are more than happy to join the brigade, if not in reality but definitely on paper 😉 as if replicating the policy implementation measures taken by our government at times.

After having a wonderfully prepared tea with a couple of biscuits at a 24-hour tea stall, we all decided to play dumb charades with Naidu offering himself voluntarily to become the soft target for all of us when it came to giving Bollywood movies to a guy who, considering that he belongs to Hyderabad and expecting him to flounder on every occasion, did a wonderful job of making each one of us burst into laughter.

The time flew by and we could hear the birds chirping amidst the cold and foggy morning. It was already 7 a.m. and we all decided that it was time to head back to our respective nests , where we knew that we were in for a bombardment of questions from our respective family members.

As Saty drove on his scooter with me sitting on the backseat, the vivid scenes from the night that had just gone by, flashed in front of my eyes and I could see Birju dancing to the tunes of Rang De Basanti, I could see Naidu going nuts with his explanation for the movies and I could see Saty chipping in with his witty and hilarious remarks.

It is said that nothing lasts forever, but one thing that stays with you are the moments and the memories that you tend to cherish even when it’s long gone by and this night will find its place right up there amongst the wonderful nights that I have had the fortune of experiencing in my entire lifetime ;).

Source for Image: http://blametheblogger.wordpress.com/2013/09/07/a-fun-night-in/

Ad-Hoc Disaster!

Posted on December 27, 2012 by kushsrivastava

I have been quite voiceferous about the ad-hoc decisions in life to the point of me becoming a die-hard fan of the same. But sometimes ad-hoc decisions can lead to consequences which you might have never thought about.

Indeed, it was Christmas eve and indeed me and a couple of friends were all too excited about the occassion. We had to do something on the day. With this uncertain thought in mind, we decided to do a bon-fire at a place which is not very far from my city.

The journey soon turned out to be a trip to IIT Kanpur, which, over time, has become our default destination whenever we are deprived of alternate places to go to. Following suit, we were on the highway driving at around 100kph and all too happy about the future that lied ahead. Somehow, God had other plans for us.

15kms from the campus, Sattu decided to explore the heater in the car, for it was becoming cold. Little did we know, that the heater in the car, which is supposed to provide us with some comfort would end up giving us nightmares.

Soon after putting on the heater, we could smell something burning. Thinking that it might be coming from a dumpyard closeby, we decided to ignore the same and continued with our journey.

As soon as we entered the IIT campus, the car decided to stop on its own, as if it had been bestowed Artificial Intelligence by someone sitting up there. The more we tried to move it using the accelerator, the more it demonstrated its stubborn nature.

It was already 2 a.m. at night, and we decided to have some fun with the thought that we would be needing the services of a mechanic, who would only be available in the morning, leaving the car on its own.

What followed was a nite-out with a couple of friends in Kanpur and a campus tour which is supposed to be the sought-for thing that we do whenever we are in the campus. And yes, we managed to find some time out to play Badminton, which has been my favourite of sports since times immemorial.

The Christmas eve went really well, though we had doubts about what was going to happen just a couple of hours after we had decided to throw ourselves on the beds in the hostel room.

The morning brought with itself some bad news. The mechanic told us that the clutch-plate had been malfunctioning and that it needed to be replaced. The car would have to be towed to the service centre and it would take a whole day to repair the same.

With no alternatives, in sight, and due to unavailability of the loader that day, we decided that we would be taking our car to the service centre the day after. Pretending to forget as to what had happened we managed to have some more fun with one of the guys cooking and the rest enjoying some deliciously cooked food, which I would like to refer to as Nayak (the guy who cooked) special night.

The night was again one of those to remember for a life time. Getting up in the morning was a tedious affair with the loader waiting for us at the IIT gate, all set to tow us along with the car to the place where the car was supposed to find some salvation.

The service centre staff was kind enough to recognize the fact that we were IITians and that the service was to be provided the very day itself. Soon, we saw our car being lifted by one of the pulley-systems installed in one of the workshops of the service centre at a place called Rumi.

It was only in the evening around 7p.m. that the car could be finally repaired with efforts from the laborious staff. 7:30p.m., we were found driving on the famous Lucknow-Kanpur highway after having bargained hard (due to lack of financial resources that we happen to possess) and after having completed all the formalities with respect to the car.

It was only around 10p.m. that I could finally reach home after dropping back Sattu. As I was having dinner, a couple of thoughts disturbed the peace of mind that I was trying to seek after a tedious and hectic day:

“Overall, not a bad trip! We were lucky enough to have reached the campus, where everything could be arranged. We could even bargain on the price and get the best deal, which otherwise would have gone into thousands. And over and above all this was the fact that it took us only a day to get out of the situation that we were in.”

It is amazing, how if we chose to think in a positive manner with a totally contrasting perspective, we can still laugh about what happened and still stay focused on the ad-hoc thinking that we are so proud of ;).

Of course, we would wish that such a thing doesn’t happen to us in the future, when we would be ready once again to hit the road wearing our traveling shoes and wanting to experience a new thing everytime we do the same. :).

Source for Image: http://perezdesign.com/2008/09/ad-hoc/, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ricleichtung/ad-hoc

School Time!

Posted on December 19, 2012 by kushsrivastava

I am sure you all have some very fond memories of your respective schools and the time that you spent with your school friends. Though, it is not very often when you get a chance to meet your friends from that era, yet whenever a get together of sorts happens, it is extremely enjoyable and it is one of the things that you really look forward to.

And yesterday was one such occassion when I met a very dear friend of mine. Somehow, with school comes back the old memories and we decided to revisit some of the same.

Residency, which is quite famous in Lucknow for the role that it played during the revolt of 1857, is known to us for entirely different reasons. It, in some way, became our bunk place, whenever we could manage to sneek out of the school premises.

To tell you a little more about the place, it has become really famous for a couple hideout. With not many places for love birds to visit in the city, this historical place seemed to have given them the hope of their life.

Couples can be found sitting underneath the trees and amongst the reminiscents of the war times. A real get away for some, the place is proving out to be a blessing in disguise for the love birds to come together and spend some quality time in a secure environment such as this.

We decided to revisit the days when few amongst us were brave enough to bunk the school and could manage to reach the destination of our times.

Nothing seemed to have changed and the magnificent structures seemed to remind us of the immortality of the same. Numerous couples could be seen inside the premises holding hands and walking together or sitting and talking underneath the beautiful trees and in the gardens.

On entering, my friend decided to find out whether the chimney, that we used to climb, is still there and in a similar condition or not. Every structure seemed familiar and a couple of places which were in all senses of the word, our adda, were still there and seemed to be welcoming us both with open arms.

After a long chat and a tour of the historical place, we decided to treat our stomachs with the delicacies of Lucknow, which are quite famous for some reason or the other all over India.

And one such destination that seems to be a must go whenever you are in Lucknow, is Tunde Kebabs. Deliciously prepared kebabs coupled with some paranthas along with Biriyani is what you long for whenever you are here.

It was indeed a treat to all senses that we can possibly think of ranging from the sight of the food to its smell. While we were munching uponthe same, we were joined by a couple of my college friends, who had no hesitation what so ever to help us in our efforts to finish the delicious cuisine.

Thereafter, it was but natural for us, to take a stroll in the all so famous streets of Hazratganj and the Parivartan Chowk, where we couldn’t but help eat the famous gajar ka halwa and rabri from one of the most famous shops in Lucknow by the name of Chanakya.

Sitting outside the same, we could see the traffic pass by, which reminded me of how many more cars have been added to the city’s kitty since the time when we all were kids and used to avail the service of public transport in the city.

Somehow, one of the favourite topics that seem to have become so common amongst all my friends and which becomes an instant hit whenever someone mentions about the same is life.

And there we were expressing our specialist views on the same. After a round of the all so important discussion, we decided to head back to our respective safe havens.

As I was driving back home after dropping my friend, the sweet memories seemed to resonate in my mind, reminiscing about the all so wonderful stress free days of our life, which one can only relive through his/her child’s eyes now.

Source for Image: http://howtodraw.123peppy.com/how-to-draw-school-friends/605

Bhaiji Ki Shaadi!

Posted on December 11, 2012 by kushsrivastava

Day before yesterday, around 5 in the evening, there was this one phone call which was all set to change the nature of my weekend which was about to follow.

“Whats up, kush?”—-Prem“Nm yaar, just time pass. “—Me “Ok! then you should come over to Bhaiji’s wedding scheduled to take place tomorrow.”—Prem “Cool! Not a bad idea yaar! Let me convince Maa, who has been, of late, quite upset with my ad hoc expeditions 😉 and you are suggesting me to do the same now. So, let me try and see if its possible.”—Me

2 hours down the line, there I was, treading the path towards IIT Kanpur, where the marriage was supposed to take place. It brought back the memories of times when I was about to join the B.Tech programme in the same.

With some good music again to break the silence and a wonderful road lying ahead, I was all too excited to be going to the place of my life which had been so instrumental in making me what I am today.

It took me around 2 hours to reach the campus, where the party was all set to begin with my badminton gang preparing for the same. They had plans and I was eagerly waiting to become a part of the same.

Where there are plans there is daaru, though our ex-baddy coach would have got really very upset at the idea, yet he wouldn’t have mind, at least now. For those who aren’t aware of what goes on in our campus, let me tell you that the favourite pass time of the maximum junta in college is to have a bottle in hand and talk about all the topics in the World which you won’t otherwise and the kind of lingo that goes along, is in true senses, like the icing on a cake.

With some good food from one of my favourite canteens in the IIT campus and some great booze, we all greatfully availed this opportunity of revisiting our college days with open arms.

The room party lasted till around 4 in the morning, after which few amongst the lot decided to take a short nap, where as others including me decided to take a biking tour to Bithur, a place, around 14 kms from the IIT campus and for some hold great religious significance.

It was indeed a beautiful morning to have witnessed the rising sun right in front of our eyes, sitting alongside the banks of the all so famous river Ganga. After having another round of bulla on what not, we thought of tasting the delicacies which our state is famous for all over the World.

Delicious and hot jalebis coupled with garam samosas were what was served in the morning platter and we sat there amidst the woods, munching upon one of my favourite food items in sweets.

After spending a couple of hours in the arms of mother Nature, we headed back to our rooms in the campus. Somehow, if you are on a nite out, you tend to feel tired, but here we were, feeling as fresh as ever. May be, the joy of returning to a place was so overwhelming that we couldn’t help but coming under the influence of the same.

Normally, after returning from a so called hectic tour, one would want to rest and relax in one’s room, but Prem had plans for us. How could he have afforded the ex-baddy team members to have not played a couple of games in the all so wonderfully built new sports complex in the campus, and there we were, taking a shot, literally, once again at the game which we all loved, for sure.

Tired like hell, we decided to throw ourselves on the beds after a 2-hour long sports session. Little did we realize that 3 hours had already passed by, and it was already 5 in the evening, when we got up.

Till this time, we hadn’t even thought about the reason as to why we were there. We were all very delighted to be back amongst the group of our life. To break this wonderful thought was, who else, but Prem once again, who reminded us all of bhaiji’s marriage which was scheduled to take place in a couple of hours from then.

Those who are very found of looking super cool in all these social functions decided to get ready for the same, and for persons like Prem and myself, the campus was calling us once again and was all set to demonstrate the ever-increasing exuberence that it has always tried to maintain since its inception in the 1960s.

We happened to visit all our favourite spots in the campus and managed to meet a couple of juniors all too excited and preparing for the upcoming Inter-IIT Sports meet, scheduled to take place in a couple of days from now, in IIT Roorkee.

Around 7’o clock in the evening, our campus tour was interrupted by a call from those who had by then done all the make-up etc. and were all set to charm the ladies in the baraat.

And we were given the ultimatum of around half an hour to get ready, which was, trust me, more than what we would ever required in our life times.

The baraat was a typical Indian wedding style kinds with a couple of people dancing in front of the car of the dulha and expressing their happiness over their relative all set to get an opportunity to taste the shaadi ka ladoo.

The event for the two amongst the lot lasted till around 2’o clock, when we both decided to take a leave from the campus and from our friend who was about to join the pundit in conducting the series of rasamein without which an Indian wedding remains so incomplete.

With one of the guys all set to catch his flight at 7 in the morning from the Lucknow airport, and me wanting to come back to Lucknow because of some of the things that I needed to take care of, we both decided to head back together to Lucknow at 4’o clock in the morning, from Kanpur.

After dropping my friend at the airport, I had none, but myself to reminisce upon the wonderful time that I had just spent with my gang.

With these wonderful memories, I wrung the bell of my house and my mother opened the door, who was all too happy to see me standing outside. I decided to settle down in the cosy comforts of my room.

As I closed my eyes, I wondered as to whether I will ever get such an opportunity to spend such wonderful time again in my lifetime with my gang.

Source for Image: http://204.58.204.52/bkshelf/gangalrt/gangalrt.htm, http://www.pennmasti.com/

Road to Discovery

रूबरू एक एहसास

Tag Archives: Friends