21

Once again, it's the 7th of January, and besides the 21st death anniversary of Emperor Hirohito of Japan and another Eastern Orthodox Christmas... some friends and family are also celebrating the fact that I was born, celebrating for the 21st time (22nd if you count the time I was actually born). All this while I pace alone at the midnight hour on the 2.2 kilometre long circular stretch around the campus, very creatively named "the 2.2".

So basically, I'm congratulated for not dying for another 12 months ... But then, I guess there may be more to it.

As a child, one sees elders running around fulfilling elderly social obligations, acting all mature and responsible, and then there is all the excitement about it. I'll be 18 someday, and then 20, and then 21, and suddenly I'll stop eating chocolates, and realise that I've matured. As if a moment will come and go, and I'll stop (or rather start) talking funny, and start about career and meaning of life stuff, and worrying about my Provident Fund, and that'll be it. Now that I'm 21, I know that's not true. Just because other 21 year olds have started pretending to be mature, for they're expected to be, doesn't mean I have to. There, I said it. Not only do I have Peter Pan's syndrome, I'm actually proud of it. And like last time, I must ask you to bear with me, it's my Birthday!

And frankly, I have always talked funny stuff. Meaning of life. The Universe. Indian Mentality. Politics. The I-am-God attitude (of the IITian who simultaneously has the I've-got-no-balls-on-me mentality). Education System. Ever since I can remember. So what does this 21st Birthday bring to me.

It gives me harder questions to answer, decisions to make. It gives me a chance to observe how much I've changed, how much the way I look at things has changed, and another opportunity for "stock-taking" of my life (Just an extension of the New Year's dawn, in my case). To acknowledge that I only have so many days on this earth. To see how much more can I enjoy the passage of time, how much can I be closer to the state of ultimate Peace...

A Birthday is one day of the year one gets to themselves. To really enjoy all that's going on around oneself, and to ignore some of it too. For everyone they know to deceive them and to make them feel like the most special person in the world. For them to celebrate, sleep in, take the day off of class or work, watch movies, party, do something... anything but ignore it. Come on, it's just one day, one whole day that belongs to the person, and they only get one per year. And today, is mine.

So - quoting Clint Eastwood (as Harry Callahan) from Sudden Impact - Go ahead, make my day!

And a bit of maturity at the end of it all, with my experiences in the past year summed up beautifully, by the great philosopher Jagger, in one song:



Peace...

Twenty-Ten

Hello there...

As Wolfram|Alpha tells me, it's been 5 months and 14 days since my last entry, just managing to keep my resolve of keeping consecutive entries less than 6 months apart from each other. I'd say it's the 11th month syndrome; the first major gap (6 months) in my personal Diary occurred around 11 months after I began with it, similar to what happened here.

I suppose Barger's "Inverse Law of Usenet Bandwidth" holds to some extent: "The more interesting your life becomes, the less you post... and vice versa". The past 6 months, coinciding with my academic semester at the Institute, have been, undoubtedly, the busiest and most significant six months of my life, till date (on an absolute scale of course). This only means that my next six may perhaps be even more momentous, but that doesn't give me any reason to be a lazy hog when it comes to blogging - the "vice-versa" of the law need not hold. I shall hopefully be spending a few entries after my next one discussing events left behind, and completing my drafted blog entries.

I have a lot to do, to restart the engines around here. Dysfunctional apps and outdated add-ons need to be weeded out, blogger's new features to be added, the blogroll has to be updated... It surprises me that I still have over 3/4ths of my earlier subscribers left, and that I have been receiving a steady stream of comments on my older entries. Hopefully the rest of my twenty-ten entries shall give you more Food for Thought than this one... but then, something's better than nothing.

And before I forget, thanks to Jenelia Watson for providing me with my new banner. You can check out her other designs from "Designs by..." in the right column.

Peace...