Poems

The following are a set of poems written by our friend, Pratik. We thought we should share them. Happy reading.

The cold wind from the north blows,
yet the warmth from your heart flows.

Although the world has propelled into darkness,
I see nothing but u and our happiness.

The love we share has no bounds,
for even god has no control over it.

Come my love let us dance in this moon lit night,

for undoubtedly it is our eternal right.

(2^nd December 2013)

…..

The passion within me is slowly dying,
yet the thought of you is always mystifying.

The mind tries to reconcile with reality, 
but the heart tries to run away from human mortality. 

My dreams shall never see the light of day,

even during the warm May,
for they have left their dwelling place

(2^nd December 2013)

…..

The mind is a land of desolation,
wandering hopelessly for redemption.

It is filled with memories we made,
that have slowly begun to fade.

Your voice that echoes in the mind,
has slowly pierced the soul.

The merciless turbulence has wrecked my boat,

ceasing my chances to float.

(1^st December 2013)

…..

…..

Humanity has stepped into darkness,

propelling the future into an unfathomable wickedness.

Yet the moon shines bright at night, 
to give peace to those in flight.

Love now may seem to be a broken fragment
or a fleeting moment,
yet it gives the heart the elixir,

to the eternal torment.

(3^rd December 2013)

…..

The cold winter slowly approaches,

while the warmth of the sun steadily diminishes.

The heart waits in anticipation,

while the mind is full of contemplation.

Yet the homeless celebrate their happiness,

and birds sing their melodies.

Peace seems omnipresent,

while pain seems absent.

Sweet is the night air,

for it has the God's holy flair.

As the moon stares down at the empty night,

 all it sees is humanity's daily plight.

It shines its soothing light on the shoulders,

 only to find that they are burdened with heavy boulders

Dreams now seem to be a hopeless fancy

and love an idealist's incomprehensible lunacy.

Darkness seems to be the only light that prevails and hope,

 a goal, that has an unprecedented trail. 

…..

The sun shines its light to show humanity the way,
yet the confusion in the mind and the heart leads us astray.

Peace now is a piece of history,
tormenting an idealist's mind that tries to solve the forgotten mystery.

Now, humanity resides in a reality filled with wickedness,
devoid of souls that were once filled with impregnable righteousness.

(22^nd December 2013)

…..

Real Talk #2 - Peer Pressure

As a teenager, we have all come to a point in our lives when we have faced peer pressure. Some fall for it while a few manage to stick to their ideals. When we hear the word 'peer pressure' we automatically get the notion that it is negative and yes, it is in many ways negative. Majority of the teen smokers answer that peer pressure was the biggest influence. Teens do it to feel less alienated and part of the group. During our adolescents when our bodies are raging with hormones and our minds are confused, we are constantly trying to fit into society and create an identity for ourselves. This search for a unique identity ultimately leads to us being part of a certain group of people who eventually become our peers.

What we do have to realize though is that peer pressure does not have to always be bad. It can be good to depending on the context in which you see it. Now if we see peer pressure as just a term that is used to imply the behavioral change in an individual due to the actions of his/her peers, the negative aspect is completely eliminated and thus can be viewed neutrally. How can peer pressure be good you ask? Well it is simple really. You are compelled to smoke because your peers smoke likewise would you not be compelled to get higher marks in your tests because your peers are getting such scores? It goes both ways and it should go both ways. Pick the guy who tops the class and aim even higher than his scores. Nobody is born stupid, it's your mentality that ultimately decides how smart you really are. If you really do not have friends who score well then it is up to you to be that friend. You will be the stimulus, the peer pressure that causes your friends to become better. Do not try to make excuses.

If you really want to be cool, top the class. That's how you're going to be cool.

The Gift - A Short Story

Huh What?! What is this? Bloody hell I can't move...

My body feels so numb, what the hell? Did they like drug me? What is going on? 

Oh wait, here comes a guy. Middle-aged, wears a black leather jacket, checkered shirt and blue jeans. Whoa whoa what? Where is he carrying me? Where in the hell am I? Trying to get some blood flowing through my hands... Still can't feel jack squat!! Am I being kidnapped? Oh God, he is carrying me over to his car. He's smiling, bloody heartless criminal. No no not the trunk please! I would easily fit in the back. Please not the trunk!!

It stinks in here and it is so dark. Not used to tight spaces, I think I'm claustrophobic... Not sure how long I've been in here. Probably in the highway, I hear the engines of lots of cars whizzing by. Turning right now. Where is he taking me?

Okay, we are pulling up. I can hear him pull the e-break and the click of the seat belt. That's the door being shut. This is your last chance! When he opens the trunk, RUN. Better get some kind of feeling in my legs. Please God help! Argh! Any sensible person would tie up his victim right? Despite me being drugged and what not? I should have been tied up but I'm not... I still cannot make sense of any of this. I don't even know who I am or where I was before this. Damn the trunk is being unlocked. Now!

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not even a single muscle moved. God I would kick something in anger if I could move my legs. It seems like he brought me to his own house. He's not going through his front door though... He's going around the back. Why? What else does he have in there? Or rather who else does he have in there? Somebody who he doesn't want to see me obviously. Partner? Wife? Kids? Oh Lord, kids??
We are in the kitchen now and he is walking right past it. Okay, he is taking me upstairs, probably to his bedroom? There seems to be nobody else in the house. I want to call for help but my throat is so dry i can't make a sound.

Whatever drug he used it's very strong. I don't feel sedated yet I'm paralyzed. He's wrapping me up now. I can't see through this material. I'm hoping to God I don't suffocate. Is this how I die? Drugged and suffocated to death without even knowing who I am. I don't know what's going to happen now...

Huh, I hear a sound! Don't know how long I went to sleep but the drug doesn't seem have worn off. Then again it may not have been a drug this whole time, maybe I'm actually paralyzed. Blow to the neck? Thanking God I haven't died. Maybe I have one last fight in me... But wait that sound. That is laughter. That is a kid. Oh my God they use kids? Sick bastards, how dare they? Kids! For God's sake. This is absolutely disgusting...

She's tearing through it. I hear her tearing through the wrapping. I really don't know what is going to happen. The bright light; it hurts my eyes. I manage to adjust to the lighting. I'm face to face with the child. Her eyes widen. Surprise? Joy? I cannot decipher.

"It's a dolly!!" she screams...

Real Talk #1 - Stress

Starting this week, we will have a segment called Real Talk. This will mainly focus in issues that come about in our day to day life. This week's topic is one we all are well acquainted with; stress. 

I don't think I need to define stress, we're all too familiar with it. I will although talk about how it happens and some methods on how to deal with it.

Stress can be brought about when: 

1.We experience a emotionally scarring event.

2.We have a workload piling up on top of us.

3.We constantly fail at something.
The reasons mentioned above can be found on pretty much all the websites related to stress. So let's look at it differently. Stress can also be caused due to over-thinking. When we start thinking about negative things, they tend to occupy most of our thoughts, we start getting stressed over hypothetical situations. Stress can also be caused due to procrastination. Why does all the work load seem to pile up? We may not realise it, but all of the deadlines only seem like deadlines when we start approaching them. Till the, we usually tend to neglect the work thinking that there's still time left. Certain forms of stress are unavoidable, but the effects of most stress types can be reduced if not prevented.
These methods may help counter stress:
1. Do not over think or over analyse things, but be prepared for the unexpected to prevent severe disappointment.
2. Superstitions and horoscopes are nonsensical and they should not dictate the way you live your life. 
3. When you're stressed out, talk to someone close to you, they may be able to relate to you. Not just that, it feels good to let stuff out once in a while. 
4. Make time to do the things you love, that should get your mind off the little things. 
5. Do not get influenced by people who don't matter to you.
6. Do not give up.

Lastly, have fun with whatever you do, even if its work, make it seem like fun, or think of the things you can do after you're done with it. This should act as a motivation. I hope this helps. 

Double Rainbow

Imagination allows us to create new ideas, it is believed that our imagination is strongest during our formative years i.e when we're kids. It's not surprising either because that's the time we learn the most; we are inquisitive creatures by nature. We're always willing to learn more about things we're interested in. Though, why is it that most of us lose our curiosity as we grow older and thus limiting our imagination?

Here is a theory to why our imagination narrows down:

When we are kids, we are usually given the freedom to try out whatever we want; from touching things, to hiding them and eventually receiving a reward, usually in the form of a scolding from those above us (literally). Either way we aren't stopped from being curious, we are just told not to do something if it's bad for us. We learnt things in this manner; by trial and error. We were truly free at that point, free to think, free to behave the way we wanted without the fear of being judged. 

As we grow older, we certainly learn more, but our scope of learning is rather restricted once we're sent out into the world. The things we learn, the way behave are all dependent on those around us. At this point we do sort of lose our freedom of thought. This may be a factor that affects our capability to create new, original ideas.
Again this may not be true in all cases, there are people (adults) who are able to think and express freely. We see them; artists, writers, musicians, scientists and chefs who come up with new ideas all the time. In conclusion, nothing can actually stop us from imagining or thinking out loud. It's up to us to create new ideas, everyone is innovative in their own ways. It may not be an 'in your face idea' it may be masked or hidden in something that you saw, heard or felt. So go out, explore, and idea might stare you in the face and you probably won'
t even realize it. Stay young.   

W.A.R

We Are Responsible

Come hear and see what is in store for you,
The land is green and the water is sky blue,
Yet the world is at war, we cannot find peace,
Crime clings to humanity like a disease.

Be born, live then struggle and die,
Here! Have another lie,
We draw our borders based on religion,
Up in arms with weapons of destruction.

The calls of Nature are drowned,
There is no life to be found,
Families spend the night in fear,
Come tomorrow will we be here?

Women and children hide yourselves,
For this is the sound of hell's bells,
This to ourselves, we have done,
Fear it child, you better run!

Freedom is Slavery

Our thoughts and ideas are shaped by nurture and nature i.e how we are raised and how we adapt and learn from our experiences. If we do think or do something out of the ordinary it gets embedded in our memory and thus has become an experience and will be added to our list of thoughts  and actions that are available to us. This adaptation means you grow in knowledge of things around you, so in that sense your mind has a sort of map or a flow chart to go to for every single act you do and everything you think about. Then of course there is the media that shapes majority of our knowledge of the world around us. Everything that you know has been taught to you by something or somebody else when you were young.

 2+2 = 4 because that is what you were taught. Which makes us wonder how much of our thoughts are truly free? How free are we really? We have a list of laws to abide by no matter which corner of the globe you're in. You can't do this, you can't do that. Even atoms and particles behave in a specific manner that makes them predictable meaning even they are not free. Since everything is made up of atoms, then does that not mean that there truly is no freedom? We all want to be free from certain things yet freedom comes with responsibilities. There is the matter of impeding another person's freedom by exerting your free will or free speech on them. Thereby resulting in the taking away of the freedom of another person. For example: If a person takes the liberty of commenting on another person's religious choices then that person is impeding the free will of the person who chose to make those religious choices. So if one had freedom then he is bound to impede the freedom of another at some point in time and so not everybody will have the right to freedom. This is always going to be the case considering the 7 billion people we have on Earth. The truth of the matter is that if we did have; true freedom, the world would be plunged into chaos. Everyone exerting their freedom on everything with no order whatsoever. This would ultimately result in our own demise and collapse as a society. Our thoughts and actions will never be free as we will always be influenced by one thing or another and if they were completely free it will result in our own desolation. Thus we are made to walk a fine line between complete freedom and slavery every single day of our lives from when we are born till the very day we die. if it existed, true freedom exists in the first few minutes immediately after we emerge from the wombs of our mothers, that is the moment we are truly free. The moment you breathe in the air of the Earth we are enslaved by forces and factors we do not know or understand and spend the rest of our lives trying to understand these forces and factors. True freedom though desirable is in many ways the forbidden fruit that will enslave us...