One turn too fast

As the Magazine Board Secretary of my college I am responsible for the college magaine 'Srijan'. This is a sneak preview for my blog readers of my main article for the magazine

One turn too fast

One error of judgment, one stroke of misfortune , a momentarily loss of control, one turn too fast.

And it’s all over!

Yes it just takes one moment on the road to change everything. It takes just one moment to turn a pleasure ride into a horror journey to a hell of pain and suffering. Death is sometimes a relief.

40,000 people die in road accidents in India each year. Maybe you might be laughing at the statistic but it means every five minutes a life is cut short on just another indistinguishable stretch of road. Each of those 40,000 people had to die a personal ,painful death. And yet the horror never hits us. The day we hear about an acquaintance or a close friend being killed or injured in a road accident I am sure most of us slow down a bit except a fool or an optimist of the top grade. I know because I vividly remember the day in 12^th class when a class mate was crushed by a bus while on his scooter. I never knew the guy even remotely but I can assure you that day I just pushed my scooter a little less hard and so did the rest of us.

You could wonder why the moral lecture? What has another death forgotten in the sands of time got to do with you? I say everything! Because YOU would probably be driving today or tomorrow. And when you get behind the wheel you ought to know the mortal danger you are in.

People talk of speeds as if it is a joke. They swap stories of 100 km/h and even faster escapades. But 100 km/h is 28 m/sec and its an obscenely high speed. 28 metres! Measure it and walk down the distance. Then try to imagine covering the distance in a second on foot. You cant. Its an impossible feat. And yet behind an engine burning fuel at a searing 700 degree centigrade we seldom think twice before using the accelerator.

Maybe some of that callousness would disappear if you were to see the results of rash driving first-hand. Because no description can fully describe the horror of being there. That one moment which seems to just go on, the sound of metal twisting, the wails of the wounded , the moans of the barely conscious, the horror of the onlookers and pain that is unimaginable. Of course there are people who can boast about walking away unhurt from the wreckage of vehicles unhurt. But they were just lucky. Death was just enjoying being irrational. Think about it is the five year old kid who survived unhurt in an accident which killed both his parent really lucky. Ask around and you will hear tales that will make your heart go cold.

Lets go through a scenario of an accident. Some one is driving, and suddenly he collides with another vehicle at high speeds. Maybe it was not his fault. Maybe the other driver was rash and drunk. But maybe he could have gone a little slower.

And now suppose that person is you. After that one moment you wake up to find your leg bent at an impossible angle. But your mind is too addled to comprehend that both your feet are broken and you just wonder what has come to pass. With the impact to your chest maybe your ribs have cracked ,impacting your lungs which are now filling up with blood. You are literally drowning in your own blood and there is nothing you can do. I wonder if anyone would like a scenario like this,' to wake up from an accident only to realize you are dying'. There are injuries that doctors can do nothing about other than just move on to the next patient who could probably saved . Also this is India, where you would probably be bundled by bystanders in a rickshaw and sent to a hospital which will probably refuse to accept you for the fear of a police case. Or you could be like my friend who was hit by a truck six in the wee hours on a national highway.

No one stopped to help and she lay there in a ditch, for over two hours, dying just 200 meters from the comfort of her home on a chilly morning. It turned out to be a beautiful December day. It was just not so bright for her.

Of course initially ,because of shock you will not feel any pain. You can stare at your mangled hands with indifference. But then if you can just survive for some time ,then the shock will wear out and you will start feeling pain that you never knew was possible . God forbid,if you had been driving recklessly before the accident then at that moment you are lying there hating yourself. You would probably do anything to go back and set it right. But this is life my friend, whats done can never be undone.

Of course if you are banking on surviving you could be in for a shock. A compound fracture could have you restrained on a bed for two months. In case skin and flesh got damage I can assure its another long long stay at the hospital. And a damaged spine could doom you to a life of dependency on others.

But if you can have the chutzpah to drive fast ,you should also have the ability to take the cure if and when the times come. Is not that only fair? But the cure could be anything -from long lonely months of recuperation, the guilt of having caused the death of innocents, a crippled life ,or even death.

So was my intention only to scare you? No, there is a message and its about driving safe. There are only two self -evident truths which I know of and they are that mixing drinking with driving kills and helmets save lives. Only a fool can deny these. So drive knowing the risks. Because the problem is not driving but bad driving. Bike bans are an unpractical solution to a never ending problem. The truth is that in this modern world we cannot eschew automobiles, because if we are not driving ,we are being driven. Because tragically a crash does not discriminate between the driver and the passengers. Being in a bus or riding a bike , hitting a vehicle or getting hit by another vehicle is not really different. The injuries pain equally bad. The tolls are tragically equally high both sides of the line.

There is a simple reason why I wrote this article, the way it is. Because if you can imagine the pain after a crash or even better see yourself lying unattended on a stretcher still, very still; then maybe you will just be a little easy on the accelerator next time.

Syed Ashraf Husain

T.E. Computers

Love this song, especially the part where she says why she fell for him. Has that classic feel.

Hands Clean by ALANIS MORISSETTE

If it weren't for your maturity none of this would have happened
If you weren't so wise beyond your years I would've been able to control myself
If it weren't for my attention you wouldn't have been successful and
If it weren't for me you would never have amounted to very much

Ooh this could be messy
But you don't seem to mind
Ooh don't go telling everybody
And overlook this supposed crime

We'll fast forward to a few years later
And no one knows except the both of us
And I have honored your request for silence
And you've washed your hands clean of this

You're essentially an employee and I like you having to depend on me
You're kind of my prot¨¦g¨¦ and one day you'll say you learned all you know from me
I know you depend on me like a young thing would to a guardian
I know you sexualize me like a young thing would and I think I like it

Ooh this could get messy
But you don't seem to mind
Ooh don't go telling everybody
And overlook this supposed crime

We'll fast forward to a few years later
And no one knows except the both of us
And I have honored your request for silence
And you've washed your hands clean of this

what part of our history's reinvented and under rug swept?
what part of your memory is selective and tends to forget?
what with this distance it seems so obvious?

Just make sure you don't tell on me especially to members of your family
We best keep this to ourselves and not tell any members of our inner posse
I wish I could tell the world cuz you're such a pretty thing when you're done up properly
I might want to marry you one day if you watch that weight and keep your firm body

Ooh this could be messy and
Ooh I don't seem to mind
Ooh don't go telling everybody
And overlook this supposed crime

Happy Holi

Happy Holi to everyone.

Hey everyone happy holi. Hope u got drenched in colours. As for me I got drenched in freezing water at two at night. Brrrr

Anyway sadly I don't much like the colour business especially the hidden dark layer where guys rub colour on girls mostly as to 'feel' them. And I assure you this is true. To me the whole act is far too perverted for comfort and the whole day I remained in my hostel room and consciously did not go to the basketball field where many of my college gals did come for holi in the morning.

The act has been more of a moral quandry than anything else. An acquaintance gave me an interesting perspective 'the gals also enjoy it, else why would they come'. I am not sure where I stand. I only know one thing that I choose not to go today.

Women may have invented weapons

THE survival techniques of West African chimpanzees have revealed that the first human weapons may have been developed by women.

The use of spears and axes to hunt and kill is commonly thought to have been pioneered among humanity's ancestors by males, but research has indicated weapons may have been a female invention that compensated for their lesser size and strength.

The findings are the first evidence of the systematic use of weapons in a species other than humans - and they are intriguing because all but one of the chimps using the spears were females or immature males.

This gender imbalance has led scientists to theorize that female chimps pioneered hunting with weapons as the only way in which they could compete with the physically stronger males to add animal protein to their diets.

While males can hunt with their bare hands, females need weapons to help them.

"Females have to come up with creative ways at getting at a problem, whereas males have brawn," said Jill Pruetz, of Iowa State University, who led the research.

Chimps have long been known to use tools such as stones, to crack nuts, but this is the first evidence for the systematic use of tools as weapons.

In other regions, male chimps hunt red colobus monkeys and tend to share any meat with females, often in return for sex.

The Fongoli males, however, kept bushbaby meat for themselves, because it was scarce. This may have led the females and immature males to adopt weapons as a way of obtaining meat.

There is only one other observed instance of any animal using a tool to hunt - a female chimp that used a stick to rouse a squirrel from a branch.

INTERESTING IDEA AIN'T IT?

Egg Halwa

One of the myths about men is that they do not like to cook,considering it unmanly especially in the Indian scenario. I dont know about others but I personally have a great fascination for cooking. My dad of course is also a good cook too.
Below is one of my favourite recipes. Learnt to cook it this december. Now before I begin let me warn you this aint low fat.

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 cup(medium sized) sugar
3 elaichi's grounded
1 cup khoya
1/2 cup pure desi ghee
A mixture of various dry-fruits finely chopped(esp raisins,cashew-nuts)

How To-
Crack the eggs,pour them into a bowl ,mix together with all the ingredients except ghee and beat them together well.
Now once its all finely beat, pour the ghee in a pan(kadhai to be more precise) and put it on a flame. Once the ghee has melted, pour the whole mixture and cook over slow flame.
Keep stirring for about ten minutes by which time, the whole mixture would have turned solid. Because of constant stirring the whole thing would be in small lumps. Also a lovely aroma should be filling the whole kitchen.

The egg-halwa tastes like magic. It melts in our mouths. Thats why maybe I like it so much. Enjoy it and in case someone tries it lemme know what you think

VOICE OF THE PRINCE TURNED PAUPER

VOICE OF THE PRINCE TURNED PAUPER

A thousand lights, a thousands hues
I saw my shadows through a hazy light
I questioned things as they were,
I took on life as it came.

Now all that is enshrined in the past,
The lights have long burnt out ,
The hues have all merged with the mud,
But I still think of those times.

It was a beautiful time ,
And I was the king of my Castle,
As i had nothing to look up to,
For the stars had descended from the skies.

No one knows what fun I had,
No one knows what luck I had,
All they see is the way I live,
Not realising how I once lived.

The past is stuffed to the brim,
With things that have long been dead,
And now I am the beggar in my castle,
For I have lived with things that never changed.

I am a stranger to all those around ,
A mystery to all those close to me,
But in my dreams, all through the night ,
I see a thousand lights, a thousand hues .

BY- SYED ASHRAF HUSAIN

This is another of my poems from the past. Its pretty dated so dont jump to conclusions....

50 OF THE MOST ROMANTIC THINGS POSSIBLE

Despite having had my heart broken numerous times, I guess the poet in me still refuses to learn. He still searches for that fabled land called true love not knowing that the age of fairytales is long over.

These are not original but then again I thought more people ought to enjoy this list. I love em all ,but the ones I consider best are in bold. Of course its easy way to pen a post.So ladies and gentlemen, here it goes.

50 most romantic things to do with your Girlfriend/Boyfriend
1. Watch the sunset together(i)

2. Whisper to each other.

3. Cook for each other(ps. more precisely cook for her).

4. Walk in the rain.

5. Hold hands.

6. Buy gifts for each other.

7. Roses.

8. Find out their favorite cologne/perfume and wear it every time
you're together.

9. Go for a long walk down the beach at midnight.

10. Write poetry for each other

11. Hugs are the universal medicine.

12. Say I love you, only when you mean it and make sure they know you
mean it.

13. Give random gifts of flowers/candy/poetry etc.

14. Tell her that she's the only girl you ever want. Do not lie.

15. Spend every second possible together .

16. Look into each other's eyes.

17. Very lightly push up her chin, look into her eyes, tell her you
love her, and kiss her lightly.

18. When in public, don't flirt with each other.

19. Put love notes in their pockets when they aren't looking.

20. Buy her a ring.

21. Sing to each other.

22. Always hold her around her hips/sides.

23. Take her to dinner and do the dinner for two deal.

24. Spaghetti? (Ever see Lady and the Tramp?)

25. Hold her hand, stare into her eyes, kiss her hand and then put it
over your heart.

26. Dance together.

27. Let your girl fall asleep with her head in your lap.

(It looks real cute)

28. Do cute things like write I love you in a note so that they have
to look in a mirror to read it.

29. Make excuses to call them every 5 minutes

30. Even if you are really busy doing something, go out of your way to call and say I love you.

31. Call from your vacation spot to tell them you were thinking about them.

32. Remember your dreams and tell her about them.

33. Always tell her how pretty she looks.

34. Tell each other your most sacred secrets/fears.

35. Be Prince Charming to her parents.(Brownie Points)

36. Brush her hair out of her face for her.

37. Hang out with his/her friends. (more brownie points)

38. Go to church/pray/worship together (mosque... not really. The imam would have fits).

39. Take her to see a romantic movie and remember the parts she liked.

40. Learn from each other and don't make the same mistake twice.

41. Describe the joy you feel just to be with him/her.

42. Make sacrifices for each other.

43. Really love each other, or don't stay together.

44. Let there never be a second during any given day that you aren't
thinking about them, and make sure they know it.

45. Love yourself before you love anyone else.

46. Learn to say sweet things in foreign languages.

47. Dedicate songs to them on the radio.

48. Fall asleep on the phone with each other.

49. Stand up for them when someone talks trash.

50. Never forget the kiss goodnight. And always remember to say, "Sweet dreams."

AGE ISSUES

Finally a big mystery has been solved. The other day I did what I seldom do-check my own profile on blogger.

Even though I have seen a lot of strange things on the net ,I was not prepared for what I got. In my age on the profile I was listed as 251 years old. Now first thing on my mind was that this is some joke because the server should see the age as invalid.

But I was in a hurry with no time to search around as to how to correct it, so I let it be. After all if I was 251 year old for some months ,I could probably be 251 years for some more weeks.

However being able to vaguely remember seeing my profile on some now lost date in the past ,I was curious as to when and how did I get such an unbelievable age.

So as the faithful engineering student I put it up on my list of things to do. And procrastination set in.
Finally the other day while I was tinkering around with the blog I decided to correct the error. First of all took me ages to find the correct location. Was wandering around blog settings while profile was a tiny link on the dash-board.

I had initially assumed that perhaps age was a fixed value in the profile but imagine my surprise when I found it was a derived attribute with Date of Birth as source. And ladies and gentlemen I had a d.o.b. of 1 JULY 1756.

Initially I was tempted to let it be. After all I was probably the oldest person in the history of mankind (humankind to be more politically correct) according to blogger and google. But then all those efforts for nothing would have been a waste, so tragically now I am again 21 years old.

On an autopsy of the problem I realized that most probably the error crept in when I switched to blogger beta and since I had never entered my date of birth it was automatically initialized to 1756. But I still think the server should have been intelligent. Anyway thats all for now.

Signing off