Okay, so I know it’s been a while. And I would definitely be wrong if I say I had no time to write, because I did. But, the thing is, writing, for me, has got nothing to do with time. It is about the ‘feeling’ and ‘emotions’ and ‘experience’, and not the ‘time’. I write whenever I feel like. Period.

These past few weeks have been really hectic. Running all around the campus trying to finish all the assignments and projects. First, sitting with the laptop and try to find the content on the internet, or going the library and surfing books for the same. Next, standing in a long queue at the Xerox shop. And then finally, once you have it all properly stacked in a stick file, waiting for hours outside the faculty cabin. Phew. It was absolutely crazy, to say the least. Probably this was the first(or maybe second) time that all this happened. It did happen last semester as well, but then, this semester it was a whole new level.

Today is officially the first day of my vacations. And I left for Chennai yesterday night itself. While I was sitting in the train, I was thinking about everything that has changed over the course of this one year in college. And I realized, everything has changed, and yet, everything is still the same.

This one year has been a hell of an adventure. I learnt a lot of important things. The most important, according to me, is how to behave in front of different kinds of people. Or rather, how to treat different people. I hate to say this, but 90% of people out there care only about themselves. ‘Matlabi hai sab ke sab’. There are countless examples I can quote, but then, I guess we all know what I mean. So, let’s skip that part. Maybe next time. This was something I read on Facebook and it is perfect to sum this point up – “I don’t care where you are from and what religion you belong to, if you treat me nicely, I will treat you nicely.”

The second most important thing is staying in touch with your family. I don’t know how people treat their parents like this. One day, in the lift, this one guy said, “I rarely talk to my parents. Maybe twice or thrice a month. Yaar, jab next time phone aayega, to marks kaise btaunga. Itne gande aaye hai.” And I said, “I talk to my parents twice or thrice a day!” And he started laughing. That made me wonder, am I the foolish one? But then, I understood that isn’t true. My parents have always been very supportive, and I am proud to say that I talk to them daily. Also, they know exactly what I am doing and everything. Parents are the best friends we have. Because no matter what, they will always be there for us. So, stay in touch with them, at whatever cost!

Next, I came to know about the real ‘technology’ world. As in, about the various competitions held by the companies(like Code Jam), the various jobs they offer, and all that. Just yesterday, I was talking to a friend about the highest ‘packages’ the companies offer and stuff. And I realized that I have absolutely no interest in going and working in some foreign country for some MNC. I want to do my own thing. And that too, right here in India. That’s it. I hate the fact that most of the engineers who get their degrees in India go and work for some foreign company. It is like Sachin Tendulkar coaching the cricket team of, say, Australia. You get how weird that sounds, right?

Then comes the ‘true’ learning part. Obviously, we have to study our core syllabus(even if we do so at the last minute), but, apart from that, learning the new stuff is essential. Especially for a ‘software’ engineer. People are coming up with mind blowing things every other day. Keeping a track of whatever is happening is vital. Because the syllabus prescribed is almost a decade old. And in the IT industry, a decade is like a century. Almost every faculty has suggested we do this. And so, I found out about various online courses like edx.org, codecademy.com among others and I am going to learn whatever I love in these 50 or so days of vacation that I have.

The last point, and again a very very important point, is – “Aasan hai.” Yes, aasan hai. Everything is easy. There is no such thing as ‘difficult’.
I still remember, about a month ago, a friend of mine said this to me, “Why are you always so positive?”
Read it again. It is not “How”, but “Why”.
And I was like, “Why are you so negative?”
No one has an answer to that question, isn’t it?
The point I am trying to make here is that everyone is so busy doing whatever they are doing, that they have no time to sit for a moment and think why they are doing whatever they are doing. You get it, right? No? Let me rephrase it a bit.
Think about whether what you are doing is worth it. Think about why you are wherever you are right now. Think about why you are attending a particular seminar and why you are skipping a lunch with your friends for the same. Think about what you want to do in life. Think about who you were and who you are. There is only one thing that matters, “YOU”. As simple as that. Just one word.
The secret of success is being happy and content with yourself. Now, I do not mean that if you achieve something, you keep comforting yourself with it for years. Here’s what I do. If I accomplish something, I ‘celebrate’, and then, I forget about it and I move on. Celebration is very important. You get the ‘feel’ only when you celebrate.
‘Sharing’ is different from ‘celebrating’. Sharing is when your well-wishers feel proud of you. And celebrating, well, that is when you feel proud of your own self. And mind you, I am not saying celebrate with a whole bunch of people and spend your parent’s money. No, celebration is about the moment. It can be when you are alone in the room, or even alone in a lift. Celebration is about that smile which naturally comes when you think about whatever you have done. It is about that one moment. That one emotion, that one feeling, which can’t be described in words. I never celebrate with others, very rarely. People often say I am ‘kanjoos’ or whatever. But, that is not the point.
The point is, celebrate. And then, forget about it, and move on to achieve the next goal, the next big thing.
Keep going.
Keep doing what you love.
Everything else will fall into place.
Stay happy.
Be positive. Always.
Until next time.