MY FIRST DAY IN COLLEGE

Today is my first day at college. I was ridiculously tensed about it. One reason is, I don't know where to go since the college is a huge one, and another reason is I am almost tensed at anything remotely terrifying. By the time I had my dinner the previous day, I had butterflies flying madly in my stomach, and by the the time I was ready to go I was close to tears.

My father drove me to college. At the entrance I was told that someone will be waiting to receive the first years, like I was a prime minister or something, but I did not find anyone. So, shaking like the idiot I was, I went to a couple of men who looked like they know something. I told them I was a first year, and asked them where to go. They looked around confusedly and showed me exactly opposite directions like the fat boys in Alice in Wonderland. God, these people know as much as I know. I started to panic. Everywhere around me there were seniors all staring at me. There was not a single first year. I stared around with an expression of utmost fear giving away my stupidity. Where now? After a little more of panicking and almost crying I got the directions. We were supposed to gather in the pharmacy block which is a short distance away. We drove up to it and then when I reached the block there were already some students seated in chairs. I caught sight of a girl I seemed to know. Then I breathed properly for the first time in the whole day. After we were seated, it took almost one hour for the people to start the meeting.

When the meeting did start, it was a bore. Everybody of almost some ten to twenty people said the same thing. I started to yawn and almost fell into my sleep full of dreams when some sudden microphone disturbance jerked me awake. Again it was the same old speeches. Attend the classes regularly. Don't think it's all settled. Nothing's settled. Work hard. Develop communication skills. Don't bunk classes. If it is said by one person one time, it is sort of okay. God but no, everyone of the ten to twenty people found nothing else to rant about. One professor, who's dropped out of IIT Karaghpur and is now teaching here, talked endlessly about nothing in particular. And it was worse because it was the last speech and my longing for the end was greater. He did not look like bit of a professor (let alone an IIT professor) except that he had hair like Einstein. He talked freely, made some occasional rotten jokes, and honestly I don't remember anything what he said.

So the my first day of college ended like that, uneventful. But it's a relief because I finally attended it and it is a known college now.

GO ANNA!!

Lets catch a glimpse of the person who we call Anna Hazare, the social activist, the man fighting against corruption, the initiator of the second Indian Struggle for Freedom.

Anna Hazare was born in Bhingar, Maharashtra on June 15th, 1937. Anna was recruited for indian army when he was 25 years old in Mumbai. In the Indo- Pakistani all the comrades except Anna Hazare were killed. Even Anna narrowly missed death when a bullet just went over his head. After that incident he began to think about meaning of life and death. He started reading works of Swami Vivekananda,and Gandhi. some years later he survived another road accident while driving in a truck. Then he took an oath to dedicate his life to the service of humanity at the age of 38. In 1975, as soon as he became eligible for pension, he retired voluntarily. He returned to his village, Ralegaon Siddhi, and transformed the whole village.

Before Anna went to the village, the people of the village were ignorant, had irregular water supply and the men of the village were alcoholics. Anna transformed the village by building water sheds, creating a youth assocication, Tarun Mandal and made the people take oaths to transform the village in the temple. As the oath was taken in the temple, it had a sort of religious feeling attached to it and the people who took the oath were unmistakably bound by it. Thus the liquor shop owners voluntarily closed their shops as Anna showed them another way of living. The village underwent tremendous economic and social development. For this great achievement, Anna received Padma Bhushan award from our government.

Untill now we have seen movies on corruption and we have, at some point given money as corruption to get our work done. In 2011 all good things seem to be happening. The arrest of Kanimozhi, sacking of people caught in 2G scam, CBI investigation of YS Jagan, accusations on YSR's property at last and  now, the "second struggle for freedom" began.

Untlil now, people talked of corruption like it's an inevitable thing and kept saying that we cannot do without it. Even if someone raised their voices they were soon shut down as they faced little support and greater humiliation. Now that Anna raised his voice against it, started a fast unto death for it, somehow it stirred the whole nation into protests and action. Untill now we have seen useless bunds and dharnas and fasts, now we are seeing a real fast, a real struggle for freedom, witnessed in India more than 70 years ago. People now call him a Gandhi, and some say our next gen wil be reading about this as a part of Indian history. Now people no longer call these protests as nuisense or political stunt. every one in this country lazy or active, in some way or the other is supporting Anna. This is getting close the craze of the world cup. the movement is getting a rage in SMS's and cell phones and TVs. It's become a fashion to wear shirts with Anna name written on it.

That's not all. We have seen internet popping with Anna Hazare. in Facebook, thousands of people have changed their profile picture to Anna Hazares picture. Twitter is tweeting madly about it. Everywhere support Anna campaign runs.For the first time after Independence, something useful is happening. Even common folks, looking at 74 year old Anna fasting in the open to save the country, joined in the protest, giving this the real look of a Gandhian movement. People, after finding a leader to protest against corruption, are ready to leave their jobs and work for the sake of Anna. The local TV chans likeTV9 etc need not give useless news about two headed snakes anymore. Every news channels is happily giving update information about Anna.


I think Anna is what precisely called the one man army. He's moving the nation like no one else moved it since independence. He's the most influential person now. Everyone, irrespective of religion, political views, status, region, any difference you can find is supporting him. So I think I can say, in some ways he is greater than Gandhi. So since I cant do anything to support sitting here preparing for college, I really felt bad about it. He's not touching even a small grain at 74, and with a young body, I'm having all the pleasures of food. So in some way or the other, I felt I had to support him. so here's is my article supporting him. GO ANNA!

STOP ABUSE OF ANIMALS!!

In the past decade there has been a notable increase in the number of people claiming to be vegetarians in our world. For now, statistics say that 20-40% of the people of India are vegetarians while from 1993 to 2007 there has been an increase of 1% in the number of people claiming to be vegetarians in the US. This implies an increase in the consciousness towards animals, and our environment. Among the people who have been "converted" into vegetarians, the majority of them cite the reason as health consciousness and environmental consciousness. The minor reasons include religious reasons and a soft corner for animals.

But non-vegetarianism is not something that has sprung up recently. It has been in practice since the days of our ancestors and may be right from the days of the beginning of mankind. Now, non-vegetarianism can hardly be cited as the cause that kills animals. Our new gen can hardly do without animals. On an average can you imagine the number of animals that are tortured to make this world as it is now? Here's an idea:

• MEDICINES, that save your life. Many of them are tested on cats, dogs, monkeys, rats, guinea pigs and various other small insignificant animals, before they are declared safe for humans. More than half of them die in the process and many are euthanized (mercy killing).
• COSMETICS that we use contain animal products and some of them contain shocking things like hormones from a pregnant horse. Cosmetics are even tested on animals. It has been banned in the European Union (EU). France, which contains the largest cosmetic industry, L'Oreal, strongly opposed this ban. Many cosmetics in the US contain the tag, "not tested on animals". But the almost all products at some stage of manufacture undergo animal testing. A list of animals used for by products as well as for testing : humble bee, beaver, birds, cat, cow, crab, fish, goat, insect, deer, ox, otter, pig, silkworm, shark, shrimp, sheep, sperm whale and many more. Some of these are used for clothing while some are used for cosmetics.
• CLOTHES. A lot of clothes contain animal by products like fur and skin. There are various other alternatives for this. We can use synthetic products, and plant products instead of killing animals for that purpose.
• FOOD. I know many will say its impossible to stop eating food. Ice creams are tasty right? But what you think as purely lacto-vegetarian actually contains capric acid derived from animal fats. It is also used in baked foods, chewing gum, liquor, candy and often not specified on ingredient lists. Calcium stearate derived from cows is used in garlic salt, vanilla, meat tenderisers and salad dressing mixtures. The list is unending. Many foods which we think are purely vegan actually contain many animal products. For this also alternative is synthetic products.
• COLOURING. Sugar is given its white colour by crushed bone charcoal obtained from bones of animals.

So on an average how many animals are we killing per day? The majority of torture comes from the Research department and the cosmetic industry. On an average per year around one million non- human creatures are used for animal experimentation or, to use a more appropriate word, vivisection. Here is an idea on the variety of animals used for research.

That is not all. Animals are not only tortured in the labs and industries. They are tortured even in the places where they are kept. Just have a look on stables, sties and cattle sheds. It is almost horrifying to describe their life. The confinement, the squalor, the racket, the starvation, the exposure to extreme climatic conditions- we almost treat animals as a part of walls and buildings. Many of the animals don't even make it to the slaughter. They die of suffering. And what about dogs in some cities that are killed to keep the pretty cities clean? Well, we don't even think its an issue, even if it is  our favorite friend, dog.

So the question that really arises here is WHY do we have to save animals? Here are two answers.

• We shouldn't go on killing animals because, by common sense, fundamental rights apply to them also. We are living beings and they are living beings. Just because we have got the power to kill them it doesn't mean we've go the right to kill them. If that's the case, then there should be no punishment for murder. But there is, which clearly shows our selfishness.

So, now we have shamelessly agreed that we're selfish, let's go for a selfish reason to stop killing animals.

• Its because animals provide BALANCE. Herbivores control plant population and carnivores control herbivore population. And we? We control all their population to the point of extinction. Animals do our work for us. We, as species with "higher intelligence" are supposed to protect our earth. But we are so intelligent that we have even polluted our outer space with our intelligence. Animals protect our earth by living in harmony with it. They do not ride cars and buses. You don't need to protect nature to conserve. If you just don't destroy it, its enough.

So, since it is agreed that we cant stop eating animals, let us even try to oppose animal experimentation and animal by products in almost everything we come by. We have to oppose animal cannibalism and the terrible conditions in which they are made to live in, animal based food products, animals based clothes, animal based footwear, animal based medicines and animal based-anything. It is not the sole job of PETA or such organisations. Change will come only when majority oppose the existing one. So, for the sake of animals, or at least for the selfish reason of saving our earth, stop abuse of animals.

THREE WAYS IN WHICH YOU CAN KILL YOUR TIME DURING HOLS

Did u get so many holidays ever that u felt really bored? I got. It was after my competitive exams after my schooling and so I got almost three months of hols to sit at home and waste time. I really shouldn't have wasted time. I should have done something. but of course I didn't. So after all the hols are over, now, I figured out the ways in which we can successfully kill time, that is, not make at least one use out of it.
If u are looking for ways to kill time here they go.

• Log in to Facebook. I know that the majority of us don't agree over here but its true. May be for once, u log in to just check, but u start doing it again and again, and u end up doing useless, utterly useless things like chatting about nothing in particular, playing games, checking out apps, checking out mutual friends, etc... Facebook is addictive so beware of it.
• Sleeping during day. You absolutely gain nothing from it (except fat of course). So don't ever sleep during day.
• Watching TV. On a normal day its not so bad, because we do it to relax or to check out news or whatever. But on holidays, trust me, its the most idiotic thing to do. Its because we don't watch news or Nat Geo on hols. We watch Star Movies, HBO, other movie channels. May be once in every 24 hours we watch the discovery and other channels. And I can be pretty sure that even that will happen accidentally, while scrolling through channels.

So just because I said all these things kill your time, doesn't mean I did all that. I did a little of all that. So that's how I get to know the hazards. So next time I get many hols I will avoid all this, if i can...

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 MOVIE REVIEW

                                         

This year saw the epic conclusion "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in July. The books are, of course, unbeatable and I'm a huge fan of the books. Especially the last part. The last book is a most appropriate ending to the great epic which entertained millions for a decade. But coming to the movie, I would hate to say I disliked it, but I did dislike it. And all the promos and craziness that's buzzing the theaters,well, that's nothing more than hype. I could bet my EAMCET rank ( coz i really cant lose it if I'm wrong!) that anyone who really read the books, liked them and loved them can barely appreciate the last movie. the reasons go here:

FIRST: why in world were Harry and Voldemort fighting like a pair of muggles , clutching their heads and crawling on the ground and jumping from a high storey building together when both of them  were wizards?

SECOND: What happened to the talk that harry gives in the end to Voldemort telling him about the mistakes he made about how Dumbledore's plan backfired and all that? we see nothing of it. there is an incident when harry tries to tell Voldemort all that. it looked as if someone was rushing harry on and he had limited time to tell it.

THIRD: Voldemort is, no doubt, a great wizard and he would definitely wonder how harry lived when harry finally revealed himself. But in the movie Voldemort just started attacking again like his life ambition is to shoot sparks at harry. he didn't even stop to wonder what happened this time. like a stupid obsessive killer he started to hit harry with curses again.

FOURTH: i don't know if I'm wrong this time , coz, like hell, i watched in Telugu. while harry and the rest are saying goodbye to their children we hear a voice frm one  of the parents sending their children saying, " don't forget to call on phone!". phone? What the hell was THAT??? of course it could be a mistake in the hideous dubbing.so pardon me if I'm wrong.

FIFTH: Dumbledore's story has not been done justice. He deserves more I'm sure. may be the Yates felt that people would clear their doubts from the book. If that's the case why the hell take a movie?

So these are the main reasons why I didn't like the movie. Of course I'm in no position to criticize but, as a huge fan I still have the right to comment on it. Yet, the rest of  the movie was ultimate. And I know its not an easy task to take a movie like harry potter but i was dissatisfied after watching it. May be I had  expectations too high. The majority of the movie was  a spectacle to watch. The last part was totally crap, there should have been more detail in it. It gave a terrible ending to a spectacular movie. It reversed my idea of the movie as a whole.