Dear MOM and DAD

                                     This week for me was full of ups and downs, having updated my FB status to "Failed in almost everything this sem" to watching 2 movies back to back to celebrate the only quiz I performed moderately well this sem. Many of your inboxes and Fb notifications were filled with something like "Student-Parent Interaction" survey. The week went on worrying about the number of responses for the survey to diversifying my thought with the responses given. Here's the Integration of it.

                                                            When Kshitij presented to me the idea of survey, I felt very excited about this. Firstly, it was my first survey and I myself felt as "Karta Karma Kriya " (credit to Kshitij) of it and secondly, it was a question that was troubling me over many days. I am not being able to interact with my mom the way I used to do it in my JEE days or before. Is it same for many of others like me in IIT's or students living in hostels. I used to open up everything to my mom (except girlfreind issues) and used to share my feelings, problems. But, here I feel alienated from them. I feel they don't understand the things going over here, as they call it "generation gap" resurfacing in this context. These reasons amplified the importance of this survey to me.

                     Infi Publicity machaya, around 680 responses recoreded and Data put before my eyes (Thanks to GOOGLE!). Shock! Just 39% said the interaction with their parents decreasing over time, 51% said there's no change in it and 10% actually said it was increasing. This was contrary to my thinking, my perception was that people feel more distant from their family as years proceed. I was proved wrong here. If this was a simple mistake, see this, 28% feel comfortable to share their feelings with parents when compared to 39% with friends(bf/gf 12% and siblings 10%), that's quite comparable. This is a puncture to my Zeppelin of thought. I reconciled to my initial thinking.

                    One question asked was "Where you been on a trip with your family?", A very good question which brings many people to think. A trip with your family is a boost for our interactions with them, where we get to know more of each other even after many years of separation. I found many people telling that they are thinking of going on a trip with their family.We asked "Have you ever ditched a quiz to attend a family ceremony?" 21% said yes, they ditched a quiz. There might be many factors behind this like distance from insti, time it takes, importance of it,has there ever been an ocassion for it? blah blah blah. No one can understand everything by a simple survey with this kind of diversity but once again the purpose of question is achieved, there are many people who value them.

                                       I might have showed you the pomp of my stats. But let's get back to the debate of " Is it necessary?". If anyone understands more of us, they are our family, though we might underestimate their view of us. If anyone has a solution to every problem that we face, they are our family. They don't 'Give up' so easily like our friends do. They always add a word of love and caution. Some might argue that parents have demands which are to be met by us, say acads or  CPI or job etc and so we gradually move away from them. But from their view it is their right to expect something from their children, which they have been dreaming for many years and it is equally right for you to convince them of your plans, goals, wishes. Instead of alienating yourself from them due to differences and in the end take a step that might seriously go against their wishes. I would say interact with them and convince them gradually.

                                                 Thanks to technology and competitive telecom market for the opportunities it provided. Say low call rates, online video chatting etc there are ample of opportunities for us to interact with them. How happy your dad would feel when you say you got AA in a course, a cup in sports, an award in a cult event (may be not be true in all cases! :P), think how happy your mom would be when you say I met him, i went to diner with him, we went there, I learned this,i learned that. Think about these things.

        Well, this was an opportunity(survey) for many of us to shout out loud on this issue. So, one of them suggested he would improve interaction with parents ,in his own words " Shift IIT Bombay to Delhi "  and someone suggesting "to buy a house in powai" and many people telling the need for "insem break after mid-sems or during festival", last one seems to be a workable idea. I personally felt satisfied by this survey, it improved my confidence to increase my interactions with family, trying to be open with them and also that many people actually thought of this issue for a while(while filling survey atleast). So work on whatever that convinces you but with a sound judgement.

IDEA, INNOVATION AND NONSENSE

              It was a tough week for me. Lots of lectures, night-outs and thought provoking talk's by famous entrepreneurs. This would be a compilation of all that happened this week.

                       Firstly I am very much irritated by the fact that I am very poor in basic grammar. Whenever my roomie corrects me, I remind myself of my carelessness to English in school days. Anyway moving on, here it starts.

                                              IDEA is whatever is before the mind when  you think. You think when there is a need. And a need arises when you interact and respond to your surroundings. Some of us even me have an Idea which has a potential to change a lot around us, may get us a billion dollars or change the way of life or anything that one can think of. Even I felt few of my Ideas were radical and worth many things, but this week proved otherwise. One can be sure that with increased exposure the 'idea' that you have is the roots of a hundred other's brain cells. The only difference is the execution of the thought that matters. To be true not just execution, the rigor in which you execute your idea is most important. As you sit and think, think, think and pen down you will be left with textbooks of ideas. What matters is the way you respond to your ideas.

                                                            So folks out there just don't sit around waiting for a path breaking Idea to strike you, just start implementing those simple ones and you would know the joy and pain of it. May be one day with your hands-on experience you might have an idea and be the next Zuckerberg.

                                            Innovation- getting out something new. What does new mean here in this context? It definitely shouldn't mean  material objects like a machine or  a method to improve productivity of something as it's often perceived. It can be an idea, it can be a character in you or it can be a feeling you have. So innovating yourself gets a shape by this. It means discovering more of yourself, getting a change in way you think, the way you behave or have feelings. So guys(gals) when do you innovate? when there's is a idea. When do you get an idea? When you think and respond to your surroundings and the argument proceeds. So let's not just live without caring about anything, you are makers of your destiny. Who knows what is awaiting us.

                                          and Nonsense,     hmm.... well it is because few of you might feel what I wrote is nonsense :P. This is like "Never judge a book by it's cover" or " Never decide anything by the way they look "

THE SECRETS OF EGYPT

                     I loved reading about this in INDIAN EXPRESS, so I thought of presenting it to you all in my own way.

                                 Protest: What does it signify? How it happens? What happens ?  Political parties gather people to fight on a cause. Firstly they call for a bandh, stalling the economy for the day, send few people to shutdown the city by force if necessary, protest near the government offices or ruling party houses, holiday for children, tension for someone who has to attend an event, worry for someone about his closed means of livelihood and a festive season to loot for a theif.
                                           But, there are things which come from the people, trying to show their grievances, protesting for greater good, voluntarily calling for a non-cooperation like recent Egypt protests. What all I saw about that in news headlines was 'Thousands march to tahrir square to protest and oust the corrupt Mubarak government'     '27 killed and scores injured in protests'       ' India in an awkward situation on Egypt crisis' etc and in contrast to this I read a live account in the editorial page which describes it like this:-

                                                     It is not an ordinary protest, a diehard supporter of Mubarak, with a stone cold heart would be convinced once he speaks with the people and understands their contribution and sense of belonging to it. An Old man was bringing food and water to the supporters, shopkeeper's getting vinegar, coca-cola bottles and cloth to reduce the effect of tear gas shelves bombarded on them, police signalling their inability for action, youth trying to spread the message with social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, rich, old and households  caring the needs of the protestors.

                            And the strange part is, Hundreds of volunteers guarding the National Museum from Looting, an obvious outcome of a protest of this scale. Hundreds of them putting up checkposts and guarding them day and night to curb this menace. All this happening from the people, to the people. An old woman was weeping on the road, when asked, her reply was, her son was shot by the police in his throat and he is now in coma. She also adds that, the blood spilled here shouldn't go for waste. See the emotion in her words.


           A striking point of these protests is, It can be arguably said that it started by the youth, getting the message of reform spread across length and breadth of country by Facebook and Twitter being inspired by Tunisian protests. Let's hope the welfare of these people would follow the protests.