Being a Volunteer

While being a volunteer for the International Management Conclave '09 conducted by Indore Management Association, I learnt a few lessons for free (well not exactly free, I paid 552 bucks to be a volunteer and work like crazy for two weeks only to get a certificate which I don't even want). Here is a brief list of things I learnt:
1. Think twice before going for a coffee machine. You never know what kind of water they use and how many rats have made it their home..
2. Click photographs whenever you get time. "Later" usually never happens.
3. You cannot 'pretend' to be working if you are into marketing. They actually ask for results.
4. Even a driver can be extremely interesting and intelligent when it comes to life skills.
5. Don't gorge like its your last meal at a party that you didn't pay for, you will get a stomach ache.
6. If eating, swallow food before speaking to a distinguished guest. You don't want stuff half-chewed to land on the poor fellow's Armani suit..
7. Make sure seniors are not around before laughing madly at a stupid joke you cracked about them.
8. Don't get all excited about working hard and being responsible, specially when you know you are not getting payed
9. You can never be fully prepared. No matter how much you research or how many times you rehearse, there will always be unexpected complications. Murphy said it.
10. Last but not the least, a smile (however sheepish) will invariably help you out of most complications :)

Cold Water

Standing in the bathroom with a half-washed shirt in one hand, a scrubber in the other, looking at a bucket half filled with soapy water and another full of clothes starting to smell like dung because they were soaked two days ago, I was cursing the guard for locking the switch which turns the geyser on. You see, there was this rule in the hostel where I used to stay, that the geyser can be used only between 6:30 to 8:30 in the morning and then between 5:30 to 7:30 in the evening. The guard used to lock the wooden box in which the switch to the geyser was located.

So that particular Sunday morning at 10:30 I had tried everything from safety pins to hammer, to open the lock that blocked me from getting the blessed hot water I wanted to wash my clothes which I had soaked on friday but was too lazy to wash them right away.

So there I was, shivering in the cold water and still cursing the guard when I realised that I had only three days left for my almost monthly trip home. Then I started cursing myself because I need not have taken the trouble to wash clothes since I could have just put them in the machine at home and relaxed. But there was no way out. I had to finish washing, and then had to take a cold water shower (brrrrr..). What a way to begin a sunday!

Well I did finish off with washing the truckload of clothes and took the much dreaded shower. Even though the experience did not teach me to live without hot water, but it did give me the confidence that I could manage to live a clean life in the absence of it. Come to think of it, cold water did feel good, and it does have its merits.

I wouldn't die for a glass of hot water when I'm thirsty, afterall...

Sunsets...

I was upset. Just the general depression times. Nothing particular. I was off, and I didn't feel like doing anything. I was bored of the James Hadley Chase I was reading to divert my mind from my grievous non-existence, and since I had nothing to do, I reluctantly logged on to my computer and signed in a chat room. It is an unavoidable habit. The first thing that I do when I start my computer is to sign in to gtalk. Like how some people pray before meals, I dutifully sign in before starting to do anything else.

So as I was signing in, I was still brooding over the miserable life that I was living. Being passionate about my misery, I set my status message (A very interesting tool for telling people what one is thinking, whether they give a damn or not) to "world isn't fit to live in", hoping to attract sympathy.

Well, I couldn't attract sympathy, but I did get a temporary solution to my mood swing. As I was logging in to my mail account, a window popped up. It was an old friend. Well, not that old. We were in the same class in college. Though we didn't really talk too much and were not very close friends, we knew each other and had occasional conversations. He was one of the guys who used to be quiet and happy with his own circle of friends, not mingling around too much, not trying to be with the "in" people. And he had brains. I mean, he still has them, of course.

So we started chatting. It went something like this:
him: that bad huh?

me: lol.. wassup??

him: nothing... so whats wrong with the world?

me: whats right?

him: well.. i like the sunsets out here.

me: well.. yeah..

him: u get the same on ur planet?

me: umm.... not really...

him: thought so...

me: hmm nice... sunsets...

him: every time im down i go take a look at them... works fine for me..

And so it went. It struck me that I really was missing on the more delightful things in life, and as I remembered my precious moments at Marine Drive, I felt a smile creep across my face. Truly, sunsets are amazing........

Things I wish I had known earlier…

Well there have been a lot of times in my life that I wished someone had told me this could happen, and I would have avoided such situations. Here I make a list of a few things that might help you know what happens when you dont know what would happen. So here goes-

1. If people are staring at you more that usual, it doesnt necessarily mean there is something wrong with your face/dress/shoes/hair. But then, there probably is something wrong.

2. Your friends will NOT tell you there is something stuck on your front teeth. And by the time you realize it, it would be too late.

3. Dont drink water with a polo in your mouth. You probably would not like the taste.

4. Always make sure the person you are mimicking would not drop by during your act. Specially if that person happens to be your warden/teacher/principal or the likes.

5. It doesnt matter if you are not liked by everyone around you. You dont have to please everyone.

6. Spitballs are fun only when you are the shooter. The fun vanishes if you are the target.

7. Dont pull people’s hair unless you are sure they are not wearing a wig. It might embarass them. Saying sorry might not help.

8. Not all teachers are your enemies. Some might actually be wanting to help you. Listening to them once in a while isnt a bad option.

9. Dont sing songs in public unless you are sure of the lyrics.

10. Dont sing songs in public if someone has told you earlier that you cant sing.

11. Dont believe if someone tells you that you sing well, if he/she is the only one who ever told you that.

12. If your mom says you should wear that dress to a party, wear it. You would look better than what you look like wearing your own selection.

13. Complimenting without thinking might amount to flirting. Be prepared for unexpected reactions.

14. When you spot a familiar looking person at the mall, dont go ahead and slap their backs and say a loud “hi”. Check the front first. It might not be someone familiar.

15. Crying in front of a police officer after being caught driving without a licence, insurance and a number-plate will probably not be in your favour. Specially if you are a male.

16. Going home after drinking 250 ml whiskey and expecting your parents wont find out is sheer stupidity. Well, your mind is probably not working after the alcohol, so dont drink.

I will be adding more, but right now I gotta study for an exam tomorrow.

tata.

Friendship's Day

We were successfully avoiding each other since the past 10 minutes. I was pretending to be engrossed in my rather non-engrossing macro economics textbook for the lack of anything more interesting to engross myself in. She was doing stuff on the computer. The fact that she was the one working on the computer while I was unsuccessfully trying to focus on the quantity theory of money really had my temperature soaring.

Just as I was preparing to start cursing everything and everyone I could think of for the unfairness of it all, she turned to me and said “See ya around!”

Well, then she left. I had the pc to myself and I didn’t have to put up with a nosy snob anymore. I even had a choice of ignoring my textbook now. It was one of those “granted” moments, like how you wish for something and then God or somebody says “granted!” and poof!- your wish comes true. Only this time I wished I had wished for more. Like her head blowing up due to the straw filled in her head catching fire. Like her realizing that I am the only perfect person in the world and she is just a lesser mortal seeking guidance from the enlightened soul (me, of course). Like her hair being caught in the table fan she was sitting next to and her screaming for help while I point and laugh (evil grin).

But still, something is better than nothing. And so I got up, turned off the computer (who wants to use what “she” uses), and got back to my feeble unsuccessful attempts at understanding the quantity theory of money. I had an exam after all, and I was determined to show “her” that I don’t give in to temptation (logging in to facebook is a temptation when you have an economics exam the next day).

However, my stubborn mind was still devising ways to murder her without being caught. My heart tried to reason that I don’t even know why I hate her so much, but then the intellectually efficient brain was going through the plots it had been fed through the scores of detective novels I had read.

Some half hour passed, and lo, here she came again. Oh no oh no oh no oh no. A long list of exclusive swearing was running through my head. She sat back in front of the pc, gave me a why-the-hell-did-you-turn-it-off look, and switched it back on. The temporary good mood vanished like stains from a shirt washed with surf excel. Why me?

I realized that the only option I had of maintaining my sanity was to move to some other place. But then that was the only AC room, and the room temperature outside must have been sahara-ish. But the heat in my head was intolerable anyways. So I started to gather up my stuff. Just as I leaned to pick up a pencil that had rolled down the table, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was her with a cake. I couldn’t figure out where she had got that from suddenly, and was contemplating witchcraft, when she said “Hey before you go, there is something I want you to have. This cake I baked for all my friends, and I would like to start with you. I know we are not exactly friends right now, but I would like to be your friend. You seem to be so cool and smart. Will you be me friend?”

I was speechless. Of all the possibilities I had thought of regarding a so-called first conversation between us, this was nowhere near even the “least possible” probable outcome. “uh… yeah sure… umm… you are cool and smart too…”. What was I saying? I had gone mad. The shock had addled my so-far-intellectually-efficient brain! But she was smiling and offering me a piece of the mouth-watering sinfully- delicious chocolate-dripping cake. Well the cake had not done anything wrong, so I accepted, and tried to smile back. It must have not looked like a smile because she asked “are you alright?” and looked concerned. I made a genuine effort to smile and even said thanks for the cake.

Then something lighted up in me, and I realized that she wasn’t the villain of my life, she was just another girl like me, feeling alone and lost (not that I was feeling alone or lost), and wanted some friends. She wasn’t the snob, she was the introvert. I was suddenly feeling guilty. To help myself feel better, I gorged on the cake. It didn’t help. All this time she was telling me how she had always wanted to be a friend but I always looked too busy with myself, and how she never gathered up the courage to talk to me, and how I seemed to be cold-shouldering her. I gorged some more.

After an eternity, the piece of cake was over, and so were her indirect allegations of me being the snob. I was going through a major paradigm shift. Well, all’s well that ends well. I wished her a happy friendship’s day. She wished me back. And we actually became good friends (not right away, it took almost a week before I would talk to her without feeling guilty).

All in all, it is a friendship that would probably last long, and I am grateful to her for coming forward.

I only wish I wasn’t too judging. I would probably have gotten a good friend a lot earlier.