What Matters and What Doesn't...

Mount Everest can be put to shame easily by the heights reached by the peaks created out of wayward issues by the very respectable Indian Media. There seems to be no limit on what they conduct debates on - "What's your take on Tharoor's tweet?" is the current topper, with all channels flashing ads asking people to voice their opinions on the issue. Then there is this bunch of people clad in formals, with some title or the other attached to their names discussing the issue with such fervency that it seems like no other work can go on in the nation unless a solution is found. Political debates should be responsibly based on issues that actually affect the countrymen and should aim at finding sensible solutions to them. Whether Tharoor has called the commoners "cattle" (which by the way, he did not mean to) or not is not going to affect us in any way. When there are so many pressing problems all around us, why waste valuable time blowing up trivial issues. Infact there was even one channel flashing "Are we making a big issue of of this?" and making a big issue out of even that. Come such an occasion and the leaders from the opposition parties are ready to come out with wonderful statements affirming their purity and describing how uncouth the ruling party is.
Visual media is undoubtedly the most effective means of reaching out to the people- a fact that was proved recently by the shock-induced deaths of commoners after viewing news reports of YSR's tragic death. The people who wield such a great influence on the masses should be more responsible about how they use the power.
Forget tweets. Think development and progress. Show us how efficient the policies of the government are. Point out the loop-holes. Expose corruption. Be the media for the masses to know and to be known and heard.

ON CLOUD NINE.. LITERALLY!!!

I'm still amazed at last sunday's events. It seemed implausible till the very last moment. But, there it was- our plan that worked out smoothly and took us into the clouds actually and virtually..
Well, I got up on friday, glad at having crossed the second hurdle (read internals) this semester satisfactorily and went to college. Being granted with a forenoon full of free hours, we started making plans for the weekend.. "Ninaithaaley Inikum" or "Kandasamy", "A2B" or other hotels-- the stereotyped venues for hanging out were thrown into the discussion. Then came a sudden idea. The credit goes to Veena. "Why not a one-day trip?? Ooty maybe??", she said. Initially hesitant and doubtful, our conversation gathered an enthusiastic momentum gradually and we got excited about the possible execution of the plan successfully. After a lunch-hour filled with phone calls and getting parents' permissions and arranging for the two lovely moms (of the twins and Arch) to accompany us, we went home hopefully on Friday to meet on Sunday morning.
Then came the vital part in the plan that was implemented by Kiruba- arranging the bus through her contacts. It was smoothly executed and we were provided with a new and comfortable mini-bus that was fantastically coloured in fluorescent green and pink :) Also, we had the adorable Thangaraj anna accompany us on the trip, solely due to Kiruba :) .
Saturday- a day full of plans of what lunch to take with us and what DVDs and CDs to play in the bus. There came a phone call from PR around four in the evening- There was a problem, quite a critical one- they were not given permission to go out for more than five hours!!! "Goodness Gracious!! We can only visit VOC park in that time" I thought. Then fervent alternate plans were being thought of- Aliyar Dam, Monkey Falls etc were considered. Even as I was losing any hope of the tour plan working out, there came the message- "Success." The chief warden had allowed them to come, on the pretext of going home, provided their parents called up and told the hostel authorities so. It seems the authorities had not heard of such an event at all in the past. It looked like we were the first batch of girls, going alone on such a trip. Usually girls went together to attend family functions of friends in other towns but never has any batch gone on this kind of a trip before. WOW!!! We were extremely proud and happy to know that and as expected there was an extra "O" that we dedicated to ourselves..
Sunday morning- I woke up early for the first time in more than two years on a sunday. Reached our boarding point at 6:30 a.m. The bus was delayed. We had breakfast at Cbe itself rather than waiting to go to Mettupalayam for it. The bus arrived; we got into it and......it started..... yeah :) :) there could have been nothing else to make us so happy at that instant... What we had been dreaming about, what was a plan that was formed suddenly in a Transmission Lines class, was being implemented successfully!!!
Arch's kid sis Bharathi who accompanied us, added cheer to our entire lot with her enthusiastic dancing. We danced and sang our way up the hill and then settled to watch "Villu", the ultimate comedy-killer-flop, so as to tease Dr. Vijay and irritate his only fans in our class- PR and Kir :)
Sim's Park was our first destination where we created the adage-"Wherever there is a tree, there will be our girls posing for a photo on its branches" :) Hot-steamed and buttered corn was relished and we then continued on our way to Ooty. The next stop was a view point from where several key locations on the hill station were shown to us through a telescope. Then followed lunch on a vast beautiful grassland where all the hostelers enjoyed the tasty varieties of rice brought by the day scholars. Our next stop was at Pykara falls where the girls stood on icy running water and did not pose properly for my cam :(. The long walk to and from the river made us hungry again and we gorged upon the snacks brought by the hostelers. Next followed an enjoyable boat-ride (accompanied by eating ice-creams sponsored by anna) at Pykara Lake..
We then proceeded to the Botanical Garden but had to alter our plans due to heavy rainfall.. We halted at Charring Cross for shopping and stayed there for nearly two hours! We started on our way home around 6:45 p.m. and had fun teasing each other and eating snacks (well, again!!)
As the bus descended, so did our spirits descend a wee bit due to the sudden bouts of puking among many of us. Well, that was also a part of the wholesome trip :)
Back Home- at 9:30 p.m... Inspite of the growing tiredness, I found time to brag about the day to my parents and sis before starting to sleep like a log..
Ah!!! What a wonderful trip!! How Much Fun!!! We feel like we have achieved something great!!! (which by the way happens to be somewhat true because we are GIRLS of ECE G1!!!!) All the students are simply amazed!! We shall no longer be branded as "Padips" or any other such thing :)
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL!!! WE SHALL KEEP ROCKING!!

United We Worked!