Secularism

This is something I wrote for our Civics project. I got full marks! Well, 5/5. Ha-Ha.

Stopping people from treating each other disrespectfully by
Ending all inhibitions they may feel.
Completely abolishing differences over religion
Using education and the media as tools.
Learning how all people feel differently about their deities
And using this knowledge as a way to spread love.
Realising that though we worship differently, God is one, and that
India will rise and soar if all of us understand this.
Seeing a new India, free of prejudice and ready to embrace success
Means secularism.

Yet another poem

One more exclusive poem from the poem factory in my head. This one for Teacher's Day. It's quite sentimental. I really had to refrain from insulting the teachers in this, and it has quite a large Maska Quotient, so hopefully I'll be scoring a lot of unnecessarily given marks in the terms! Nidhi was going to read hers too, but if you read her poem on her blog, you can see that it's possibly the meanest poem ever written! Here goes:

GRATITUDE

Today we been gathered here,

To thank the people we tend to fear.

They've taught us for years and watched us grow,

Their love for their students will always show.

These wonderful women taught us how to add,

And comforted us when we felt sad.

They did scold us when they thought it necessary,

And made scary subjects like math compulsory!

But now, we look back, and we thank them with zeal,

And let them see all of the respect we feel,

They've cried for us, shedded so many precious tears,

They take the most tension when the exams near!

Yes, we have troubled them to no end,

But our broken ties will always mend,

You've been with us right from the start,

You'll always have a place inside our hearts.

They sit up at night to correct our books,

They never complain about the pains they took,

They're ready to stay after school to explain,

And they never, ever let us get wet in the rain!

They are the school and the school is them,

Doesn't matter if they teach Biology or Chem,

We hope you've had fun, getting to know us all,

Cos' we've had a jolly good time overall.

And so, with pride, we'd all like to say,

Have a very, very happy Teacher's Day!

An Essay

I wrote an essay for the Commonwealth Youth Games Essay Competition. The topic was 'Save Our Mother Earth'. It has gotten selected to be sent to the CYG Games Officials. Here it is.

SAVE OUR MOTHER EARTH

Who is the person most precious to you? Of course, it is your mother. Our mother is the person we treasure the most. She gives us life, and then feeds us, cares for us and educates us. We love her more than anyone else. Suppose you saw your mother being murdered in front of your eyes. How would you feel and what would you do? You would seek revenge on the murderer.

In the same way, our mother earth protects us and gives us shelter. She too, is someone we should love. But unfortunately, she is also being killed, and that too by her own children! We are murdering our protector, and if she dies, then where will we go? It is like hacking at the branch that you are sitting on.

I fear that it is now too late to save our mother. But there are things that we can do to reduce the effects of humans' ravaging.

We should stop polluting, whether air or water. For example, to stop air pollution, we should try and carpool with our friends and family. Or, use buses and the local transport system. If using a car id unavoidable, remember to use unleaded petrol as it pollutes less than leaded petrol.

Water pollution can be stopped in your own home, without any fancy machinery or gadgets. Simply watch what you throw down the sink! We all tend to throw kitchen waste down the basin, but next time, put it in the dustbin. Also, when you take a bath, use minimal water. That translates into "DON'T TAKE A SHOWER EVERYDAY!!!!!". If possible, use a natural soap and avoid harsh shampoos.

Taking all of these precautions is in our hands now, because the youth has the most power. Don't expect your grandparents to break their habits! As we are the most adaptable to change, it is up to us to change our personal lifestyle for the benefit of our mother earth. It may seem difficult, but as we all know, where there is a will, there is a way.

Aboli

A new look at patriotism

The day finally came. India won her first gold Olympic medal in over a century. Strangely enough, the person responsible for winning it doesn't care. Abhinav Bindra doesn't give a damn. He's all calm, and quiet, and collected. In interviews, all he says is that it's just another medal, and he could have won it anytime. That's saying something, seeing as half of the world's population would have shouted themselves hoarse. I really admire his character. I mean, he's getting a hotel worth Rs. 200 crore from his father, and all of the Indian states are sponsoring huge prizes for him.

Point is, I shouldn't be happy about this. I should be cursing all Indians for eternity. Hell, I shouldn't attend my school's Independence Day ceremony. I'm an American citizen. And I was the happiest person when we got the news. My teacher got an SMS from her daughter telling her the good news, and then she told me. I spread it to the rest of the school. And guess what? When I told this to my friends, most of them just went, " Oh? How interesting, to be sure!" and that was the end of it. I mean, hello people, wake up, this is your country we're talking about here!

Funny, isn't it? I was jumping with glee. This just shows how you don't understand the value of a thing until you lose it. I never understood how much my country meant to me until I became an American citizen. It all changed then. And even though I have an OCI, it isn't the same. It's never the same after you've lived abroad. Some of my teachers (no names mentioned) do discriminate against me because I've lived in the USA. If I contradict them in any way, even make a casual remark, their first reaction is," Of course, abroad it will be different-" or," If you think so, then you'd better go back to the US-". And it hurts knowing that even if it was never your fault, you're being discriminated against for going to another country and living and learning there. Sometimes I even think that my parents might have made a mistake in going somewhere else in hope of better prospects.

Of course, there's the flip side. I'll get admission into a better college, faster. I'll be able to go to so many countries without a visa. And, I'll be able to live anywhere on earth with a guarantee that a country's lawyers will fight for me if I get arrested as a criminal (not that I will!). So if you think about it in the right way, I get the best of both worlds!

I also know that I am extremely lucky to have gotten a chance to have lived in a country like the USA. My memories of California and all of my friends there are priceless. But of course, the heart is where the home is. And even though I was very sulky at being forced to come back to India, I think that somewhere inside I am happy at being able to experience the culture and lifestyle of both the countries. And to put it truly, I do think that India is the perfect mix of heritage and modernity, and I hope that that fragile balance will be maintained in the future. And I also feel that we will be able to if we don't allow greed and corruption to pollute our country. I end on a patriotic note: Jai Hind!

My Debate Speech- 2008-2009

This year's debate was held in July. We came last, because I forgot my speech, and I cried, and I was ill, and a lot more. Long story, I'll write about it later. Anyways, here's the speech:

MODERN SPORTSPERSONS ARE POOR ROLE MODELS FOR THE YOUNGER GENERATION

Good Morning to one and all. Today I, Aboli Joshi, wholeheartedly support the motion 'Modern sportspersons are poor role models for the younger generation' on behalf of Grieshma house.

You may ask, who is a role model? A role model is a person whose behaviour, conduct and character are so good that others look up to them. Modern role models include Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Dr. Manmohan Singh. They are neither self-centred, nor do they attract unnecessary attention. They are patriots in the true sense of the word.

But I strongly feel that the same cannot be said about the sportspeople today.

Earlier, sportspersons were thorough gentlemen, who practised good sportsmanship, and a healthy competitive spirit. But now, be it any sport, all sportspeople are setting a most shocking example for the younger generation.

Take, for instance, the well-known cricketer Harbhajan Singh. From insulting Symonds, to slapping Sreesanth, he has broken countless laws of men's cricket. Would you really want the future of our nation to be influenced by a person who was banned from playing his game? Yet, as usual, wherever Singh goes, he is mobbed by a crowd of raving fans.

The ad companies know that people worship these sportspeople. Taking advantage of this, they pay them huge amounts to endorse their brands. So you see Sachin advertising for Boost and Sania promoting Sprite.

Naturally, the crowds go wild over these products. The people just don't understand that these stars have been paid in crores, and all of that just to toss a bottle in the air, catch it and then say one sentence. Boost is not the secret of Sachin's energy, and Dhoni has a fleet of cars at his house. Why does he need a motorcycle?

This might be fun for the media and ad companies, but the youth of our nation take it very seriously. And the moral values inculcated by these innocent-looking stars are far from perfect.

They're practically telling children to go ahead and beat up their team members! And don't be surprised if your 6-year-old brother starts reeking of deodorant.

The sportspeople don't know of the influence they have over the youth of the nation, and those who do aren't using this power wisely. Instead of telling kids to save the environment, they're telling them to use deodorant and drink Pepsi.

There is no solution to this problem except to wait. Unless some visionary decides to inject sense into the heads of the public, all we can do is hope that these sleeping and ignorant stars will begin to act sensibly. Thank you.

Jaane tu... ya Jaane na- Na Maanu!

This is too good to be true. Jaane tu... is the perfect movie. THE perfect movie. Simply put, it is ADORABLE!!!!!



I am speechless. The acting! The music! The emotional scenes! And most of all, IMRAN KHAN AND HIS HEART- MELTING EYES!!! I am trying to do justice to the movie, so I will put it simply:



Story- Imran- Genelia. Best friends. They are in love but they don't know!!! They both help the other find a match. Then they both find out that they love each other and they get together! The typical teeny-bopper, college campus love story.

Actors- Genelia is practically perfect. So is Imran. The rest of the gang is just as good. They can dance too (unlike Pappu!) and they handle emotional scenes incredibly.

Music- A.R. Rehman. The songs are totally different from what one would expect from him. There aren't his usual powerful songs with held-back tempos, but there are some incredibly adorable love songs like "Kabhi Kabhi Aditi" and "Jaane tu ya Jaane na". Then there are the full-out dance songs like "Pappu Can't Dance".



So overall, a good movie to go to with family and friends and have a lot of fun at!