Describe yourself

Problem:How to fill the “About Me” section in Facebook/Orkut and other networking sites!
What do I like to do, what are my strengths, my weaknesses, my dreams, my ideologies…I keep thinking and nothing comes to my mind. It’s not that I can’t make up something...but just to fill up an about me section on a social networking site, why would I go through all the pain of thinking and making up stuff that not only describes me, but its witty enough for a networking site. I would never read the “About me” of a person if it went on and on, without providing me with any kind of entertainment.
So, I mostly leave it blank….and I know for a fact that I am not the only one to suffer from this predicament! Some would fill it up with things like “I am fun loving”, or “I love to hang out with friends” or “I am a party animal”. Again this goes to show that the person is filling it up just for the heck of it. At the same time, there would be a select few, who would conjure up a paragraph about themselves at the same time making it lively enough to keep the reader’s attention. I would often think of just copying it, tweaking it a bit, and pasting it in my about me…but plagiarism in social networking sites can be detrimental…especially with the growing number of mutual friends!
However, this was not such a big problem to worry about till I heard someone telling me that only ignorant sould don’t know much about themselves. “IF you don’t know yourself, how in the world do you think you will survive in your life, job, society etc. Who would listen to a person who doesn’t even know about herself?” …Now that really got me thinking as to what all did I actually know about myself. Yes, I do have hobbies, I do know that I am short tempered, little introvert, I know that I love my family, Delhi, my friends. I do know that I like to go for trips, read books, watch movies, listen to music, eat out….but there wasn’t anything significant in knowing all that.
Some of the significant question still remained unanswered…I don’t know what would I actually do 5 years from now, I don’t have any dreams per se, I don’t have any political views, no religious views, I don’t know what kind of philosophy I follow in life..so much so that when people ask me what kind of music I like, I normally say anything that pleases my ears. I never follow any genre of movies, music, books! I read if I find the first 50 pages of a book interesting enough, I listen to music if I find the beats catchy enough, I like watching movies that keep me engrossed till the end. And sometimes, I read when I don’t find the book interesting enough, I listen to music even when I don’t like it that much, and I finish a movie just coz I started it in the first place!
I realized that I actually knew very less about myself.
Solution:I made a slight change in my about me, to take care of the friend who had pointed out that nothing can be worse than not knowing oneself ! Now it reads, “Only shallow people know themselves –courtesy Oscar Wilde”!

Interview

"School bunk..college bunk....and finally office bunk! ", said Buv excitedly!

Yes like three teenagers, we twenty somethings were running away from the eyes of our colleagues and boss to bunk office! I am sure, had we simply gone and asked our boss for some time off, he would never have refused...but who doesnt look for some thrill!

Told the auto wala to take us to Lajpat Nagar Market. The ride would have been really tiresome on the hot afternoon, had it not been for the 2 chirpy girls beside me! Non stop banter was our speciality.

On reaching there, it was more of hogging that shopping. All kinds of chaat from alu tikki, to gol gappas to chinese chaat..nothing evaded out eyes..or should I say mouths..

Suddenly Neha screamed excitedly, pointing out somethign in the distance. " Neha, don't u think our tummies would burst if we even looked that way?", I said looking at the golas she was pointing at.

"ummm nnnnnoooo", Neha managed to say with the golgappa in her mouth, at the same time shaking her head vehemently. She gulped the rest of it down and finally said, "Look there you idiot, the camera..".
I could see Buv already jumping with excitement."This is our only chance to fame", she was heard saying! Both of them were talking about TV cameras and one female interviewing the public. Looked like a public opinion kinda thing to me.
The two of them were bubbling with so much excitement, that there was no way that I could be standing there feeling nothing at all.
"Here's the plan", said Neha, pulling us all together in a huddle, "Let's all causally walk upto the gola stall and smile politely at them, so that they are bound to interview us".
We all casually strolled up to the golas stall, and despite our tummies being full, we ordered a gola. "They are coming towards us", whispered Neha, trying to keep a straight face!
"Hi!", said the voice from behind. We all turned around as if we never expected anyone to intervene when we were blissfully engrossed in the gola. Buv stylishly removed her gogs with a riased eyebrow, "Yes?", she asked in the same tone she used on her juniors in the office.
"Well, we are from Delhi Aajtak, and we are doing a show on different types of ice-creams, kulfis, golas etc that keeps Delhi going even in the hot summers", completed the voice, " Would you all please give us your views too?"
"Ah well, you see we are in a bit of a hurry...", Neha chipped in, stetching the act a bit too much.
"Ok no problem", said the voice and began to turn around. Buv stomped Neha's foot and with the sweetest smile pasted on her lips quicky explained, "But that's ok dear, we can always spare some time".
Neha was still recovering from the foot attack, when the voice asked the cameraman to focus on us.
One by one, we all told her how much we loved golas. Neha even went on to explain how we had bunked office just to have golas!
All in all, the "interview" went well. With staisfied grins, we returned back to office, to realize that noone had really missed us. Our boss was still in the meeting, and the rest of the colleagues were busy in their projects.
"One of the best days of my life", Buv said when we were leaving office. And we all agreed!

The next morning we were deciding where to go for our next outing when our boss entered. "Good show gals! Didn't know you love golas so much", he said casually passing by our seats.

Years Gone By

From far away, I caught her glimpse
And suddenly felt my heart wince
Years evaporated before my eyes
I could not believe-how time flies!

I saw her approaching towards me
A faint smile on her lips, I could see
The place was the same, so were we
And yet, so much distance
Seperated her from me

I remember those days
Those carefree and joyful ways
How we used to roam about
Aimless, having fun, day in day out

Happy days are not for ever
And it was evident
When we were no longer together
She had her own life
I had my own
Memories of the past, were now gone

Suddenly, she was very near
I didnt know what would i say
Or what would i hear
Stepping towards her, I realized
That the smile was not for me
But for someone behind

When she went past me
I knew that it was the end
I had only tried,
After all only a few years ago
She was my best friend!

One Shove and All Went Away

To make my window pane look its best
I cleaned it with all my might
But to my awe, I found a bird's nest
Resting in a corner, well out of my sight.

The nest was half formed
And the pigeon that had made it
Was not around
Thats when i decided to clean up every bit.

I shoved all of it away
And sat down relaxed and gay
"Well done", I said to myself
And went off to sleep
Thats when i realized
What a mess i had been

So many hours, so many days
So much pain, all in vain
One shove and all went away
Just to make my window pane
Look pretty all the way!

Reading

I remember when i was a small kid...all of 8 or 9, dad thought he should try and develop reading habit in me. So, he would ask me to read the newspaper daily. Just imagine the plight of a small kid, who has just about learnt how to read, trying to read a newspaper everyday! I couldn't make head or tail out of anything, and i started avoiding it like plague!
Thankfully, he soon realised that i was too young to comprehend whats there in the newspapers everyday. But to make the matter worse, he asked me to read the comic strips that are published in the newspapers. As far as my memory goes, one was "Mandrake the magician' and the other was"Phantom". To say the truth, i still dont know how to read comic strips...horizontally or vertically.So, it was back to square one, dad just could not make me read anything. So much so, that i would run away at the very sight of newspapers. I would wake up only when the newpaper had served its purpose and was stacked away in a loft.
But that was not the end of the story.
Summer vacations arrived, and i was loaded with holiday homework. And to my dismay, one of the holiday homeworks was to read three novels and summarise them in my own words. So, began the task of buying books(not to mention-abridged versions). And we finally got three of them: "Around the world in 80 days", "Treasure Island" and "The great Expectations".
Everyday dad and i would sit and read page by page of each book. I have to admit that dad is a great storyteller, he would explain it so nicely to me...that i just fell in love with those books and their characters and the locations. It was so wonderful. They would take me to an entirely differend world...a world of imagination.After that there was no looking back...i would not need any holiday homework to read novels....
So finally my dad's wish had come true.And even now i have those 3 small abridged versions with me as my most prized possessions.
Later..after many years , when i met my standard 3 class teacher at a school re-union, she told me that it was my dad's idea in the first place to have that kind of a holiday homework for the summer vacations...