Four Eyes and Two Lenses

Chennai has always been close to my heart. It has given me 6 years of memories, countless experiences, 2 educational degrees, and some very good friends for life. I remember the time when I stepped down at Chennai Central from Sanghmitra Express on a ‘not so very’ hot day in 2010. I was excited to jump into the Bay of Bengal at Marina Beach. At the same time, I was afraid of the language barrier that I might face in a city where I am coming for the very first time. Having a mixed feeling in my mind I moved forward to explore the city offerings. onn, rend, moon, naal, annj, aar became my new numerals. Idli-Vada-Dosa-Sambhar became my new staples. ‘ippdi irka?’, ‘saptiya?’, ‘inge vaa’, ‘evlo?’ , became my new daily phrases. It was fun exploring and experiencing the south-Indian culture. T.Nagar, Broadway, Spencer Plaza Mall were some of the places I frequently visited. 19B, 570 became my favorite bus numbers. Being a food lover, I got adjusted to the southern cuisine like a fish adju...

I remember the time when he used to draw snowcapped mountains, sun, birds, clouds, a river flowing out of it, a small hut with a tree beside it. The small kid wished to visit such a place someday. Little did he know that going to such a place would be a wish for him even after 20 years. He is now engulfed in city traffic. He now covers his face to get away from air pollution, puts on earphones to beat the noise pollution. Mere a sight of birds going back to their nests in the evening transports him back to his childhood. He gets sad when he remembers how plastic pollution is killing these beautiful birds. Pollution kills Dreams. Pollution kills Life.

Below was my response to a LinkedIn post where the author was asking people to pay $15 as an upfront cost to access the course only to get it refunded at the end of the course (If they cover at least 80% of the course). The author had an intention to get full participation from the ones who are accessing the course and not to leave the course in between. Though this strategy would certainly clear the junk participation unless the content is good, the strategy might backfire in the future. Below is my response. "1. Those who are interested in doing the course will only be applying for it. The junk will be out. (Though there is no guarantee of 100% participation) 2. Looking back at the earlier scenario, people must have their reasons for leaving the course midway. (The quality, of course, can be one among them.) 3. Now, even if those who are interested in the course, give $15, access the course but realize that the course is not worth investing the time, would lose $15. 4. So, ...

Lessons learned during Elections 2019* > KG students are better behaved than our politicians. > Politicians complaint more to EC than the KG student to CR. > The life of actor-turned-politicians outside their home is equal to the number of the election campaign days. > India is not a poor country. Thanks to the billionaire politicians. > The amount of money in your bank account has nothing to do with your educational/entrepreneurial qualifications (actually, it is inversely proportional). > We can see a lot of jumping jacks during election time. Jitendra (Bollywood actor) is not the only Jumping Jack. > Unpronounceable (and obviously uncountable) figures of money can be seen in this season as well. (after GATE season) > Criminals can be found using TikTok inside the jail to spread their love for the country (and for the people, of course). > News channel anchors grow a new pair of ears to listen to everyone politely proving his/her point during the...

It was one of those days when he came back to his office after a very long tiring day, visiting several constituencies, talking to the people in charge, and taking the status of several ongoing government schemes. He was trying very hard to make these government schemes reach the bottom of the society, to every single citizen of the country, and in doing so, he had also faced the brunt of the people. The government was criticized for poor planning and implementation of a few policies, due to which citizens suffered a lot. Though the clear and huge mandate by the people had given him an extra responsibility to do something better for the country and to improve the lives of his fellow countrymen, thoughts on not performing well in the coming Lok Sabha election often came to his mind. He rushed into his office only to find his friend sitting and patiently waiting for him. He received him with a hug and started to talk. Parmendra Modi : Mota Bhai! This time it is going to be tou...