Up with the Birds

15^th August, 2010, Mumbai, India - I started journey to achieve something, something which gives satisfaction, to fly high, up with the birds, by leaving comfortable nest behind. And after one and half year later, on 16^th December, 2011, Washington DC, US, I was running behind DC to NY bus to catch it. My entire luggage was in that bus and I had got down to get some food for next 5 hour journey. If somehow I miss that bus, I am not sure whether I should make my trip back to India possible or not. (Missing bus during exam is still one of the most haunting nightmares I ever have.) 

15^th December, 2011 – Fairfax, VA (2 days before going back to India) I thought why it’s necessary to go back, I have more responsibility, work, fun-stuff to do in here at Fairfax than back in India. If I give reasons such as to meet my family n friends, then how can it be different than talking on Skype, which I do every weekend? I knew that it’s necessary to go back and meet family. But I didn’t felt that excitement what should be there for any one going back home after this long duration. I felt much more attached to my current life than going back to life which I left behind. I got answer to that question next day in New Jersey. I don’t want to keep it suspense whether I got that bus or not till the end of this article. I got that bus for sure; otherwise this story will remain unfinished. 

I have planned to reach NY a day before the flight for safety. To enjoy that stay at NY, I told my friend to hang out at dance club for that night. If I say truth, I don’t have so many friends, very few, if I count then I doubt I can make it to 10 or not. If I evaluate this friendship then it’s kind of different. I don’t remember we both have ever spent any quality time, in my word one on one talk before. But still we have good understanding. Maybe his friendly nature is responsible for that. He has kind of magic which compel people to trust him, to believe in him. I had met him in India for hardly 3-4 times, then during my visit to NY twice and when he visited DC. 

Other part of his story is quite unusual from my point of view. When he come to DC, he was with some girl and they were behaving like couple. I asked just for curiosity that how much he is serious about that relationship. He told me that it’s just friendship; they are enjoying each other’s company. After few days I come across that that girl has different religion. And that may be the reason for their decision. And anyway who cares about all this old stuff, if they really love each other then all this religion, cast, regions doesn’t matter. But I haven’t discussed that topic further as I thought it’s their decision and let them deal with it as they want. And as far as I know that girl she is quite intelligent and smart, not some dumbo who takes this kind of decisions just for excitement.

16^th December, 2011, Hoboken, NJ – me and my friend went for dinner at some Italian restaurant. And it was the talk which is one of my greatest one-on-one talks. He told me that that girl’s parents has found groom for her and she knew him very well, she is ready for that marriage. My friend was complaining why she lied to him about that. He told me that he was ready to fight for her with his family or anyone but she doesn’t want. I told him that I knew that this will happen someday, he also knew that but he thought that it’s normal routine for him to move on. But he was unable to move on this time. He told me “why we trust people, we care for people even when we know they are cheating us, lying to us.” I was really confused with his this question, I thought whether it’s our stupidity that we have blind faith in some people. But no, it’s not true. I never have blind faith in any one, but still I have cared for people even when they don’t bother about it anymore. Then what’s reason behind this. Then suddenly I remember philosophy behind one of my favorite character - batman. Actually we are not fool to care for people but we have certain moral values and we don’t want to give up those values even other people give up very easily. At the end of the day only thing matter is you should be able to look in your own eyes in front of mirror. You shouldn’t be ashamed of your any of act or letting go too easily. At that moment he told me, “Why there are very less people like you around me, I really miss you. I can’t be open like this in front of anyone.” Those words left me with tears hanging from corner of my eyes. I never thought that he can think about me this way. 

If I evaluate myself, I am very selfish person; I don’t care about people more. Still lots of people are there who care for me, who need me more than what I expect. In my spare time I write letters to friends and family. I have seen people being more open after receiving my letter. I was thinking while traveling that what I earned during this stay at US. I have earned trust, care, faith which I never get from my close ones previously. My roomies gave me farewell day before I leave, like some family member. It’s really cherishble treat for me, (thanks to everyone, if any of you reading.) I believe in getting best out of me, and I succeeded lots of time during my stay. I was just normal curios person who wanted to explore so many things. One of which is photography, through my endless enthusiasm I learned photography, actually I never learned it, it comes naturally from me and I won national cherry blossom competition because of that. I always try to explore bioinformatics - my study field, to my level best, and because of that I got internship at NIH, one of the dream jobs for any bioinfromatician. I have expanded my curiosity in various fields which are far from imagination for me before 3-4 years. I cook many dishes very well; I won pumpkin carving competition, which according to native people over here at my job, one of the most fantastic pumpkins they have ever seen. I have made those friends who are always ready to accompany me in every crazy idea. When I left home on 15^th August, 2010, I had lot of dreams, and when now I am going back on 18^th December, 2011, I am going as achiever. And still I have entire life to expand my enthusiasm with my unlimited energy. And I am sure one day while flying with birds, going back to home like this I will have one more achievement, one more fulfilled dream of making difference to world, better world for everyone.                   

~Jaimin (18th December, on flight from London to Dubai)

Lights Will Guide You

Do you believe in magic? Miracles? Not kind of magic you see performed by magician on stage. Actually they are not magician, they are illusionist. Illusion means seeing something which is not real. You might have seen magician pulling out rabbit from empty hat. Actually rabbit already exist in hat. But the empty hat which magician shows us is illusion. I am not talking about this kind of illusion. I am talking about Magic. Pure magic, which can’t be explained by science, like seeing dead person standing in front of you. Generally these kind of things are called paranormal things or sometime ghost stories.   

 So, do I believe in Miracles? I do, but to which extent, I don’t know. I have felt this kind of paranormal things happening with me, but should I give this experiences name of miracles or not, I am not sure. I have experienced certain kind of external forces guiding, helping or warning me ahead of something really happen. I want to share 2 of my experiences which have compelled me to think about these supernatural forces.

On a pleasant evening I was passing through highway. I was looking out of window and enjoying cool breeze. Suddenly truck passed by me honking loudly and stirred me from my thoughts. I noticed letters scribbled on that truck. It was nick name of my friend and I was the only person who calls her through that name. It reminded me about old memories. I thought sometime these kinds of honks are necessary to forget busy life and remember old golden days. When I entered city, I saw real name of that friend on Church. I thought what a coincidence. After few miles, I stopped at shopping center to buy some routine stuff and when I was checking out from that store, I noticed a movie star on cover page of magazine. I was often telling her that she looks like that movie star. What the hell was that??!! How can this kind of coincidences happened within less than 2 hours. Wasn’t that indication that something is going to happen? And you will not believe but I found that friend online that night and we talked. Strange thing about this experience is that I haven’t talked with that person from last 2 years and I have never seen her online anytime. 

Now this second experience is very recent and that actually has triggered my urge to write article on this topic. Last week on Sunday evening when I was returning from fun filled picnic, for a moment I felt that there was something special next day, but I was not able to recall it. I thought whatever it is, if it’s really important then it would come to my mind otherwise go-to-hell, I didn’t want to ruin my mood my stressing me out. Next day when I was doing work out, I thought how bad I am in remembering dates. Only dates I remember are birthdays of my family members and 2-3 friends. I thought for remaining people facebook is there, I can surely blame technology for my bad memory. (Whatever, I don’t care at all to wish people for birthday excluding close ones.) Suddenly I remember about one of my close friends who is not on facebook and I don’t remember his birthday. So, what’s big deal, I will ask my other friends. (It’s really bad to ask someone “hey dude, what’s ur birthday, I forgot, as we haven’t celebrated from long… ;) ) And suddenly my phone rang and it was “reminder note” of that same friend’s birthday. I might have noted down his birthday almost 4-5 years before when we were doing bachelors. I called him immediately and wished him; to be truthful I was the last person to wish him that day.  

Like these, there are many experiences in my life which insist me to believe in paranormal forces around us. Sometime when I really need someone’s help or want to talk with someone I found them on my way – either in bus, somewhere in college or in shopping mall. On some unusual moments, I have found people coming to my work place or calling me, which is quite opposite to what should have happened. Strange!!! Weird!!! Bizarre!!! What other words can define this??? Many people don’t believe in this, as they argue that there is no scientific proof to define these supernatural forces. They are just coincidences, which combine with emotions and results into these kind of superstitions.

 But I believe that “All those things which science can’t explain are not necessary to be considered as superstitions. Those may be science which we haven’t still discovered.”  

P.S. This is kind of weird topic but if you want to share your thoughts or experiences regarding supernatural things, feel free to share it through comment. I will really appreciate your participation. 


                                                                                                               ~Jaimin

                                                                                                                         

Angel of Dreams

Everyone has an angel. A guardian who watches over us. We can deny our angels exist, convince ourselves they can’t be real. But they show up anyway, at strange places and at strange times. They can speak through any character we can imagine. We can’t know what form they’ll take. One day, old man. Next Day, little girl. But don’t let appearances fool you, they can be as fierce as any dragon. They’ll shout through demons if they have to. Daring us, challenging us to fight. Yet they’re not here to fight our battles. But to whisper from our heart, reminding that it’s you.

Who whisper “Who honors those we love for the very life we live? Who sends monsters to kill us and at the same time sings that we’ll never die? Who teaches us what’s real and how to laugh at lies? Who decides why we live and what we’ll die to defend? Who chains us and who holds the key that can set us free? It’s YOU. It’s you who holds the power over the worlds you create. You have all the weapons you need. Now fight!”

~ Sucker Punch

3 monkeys vs a python

“If you accept that you have done cheating in assignment then sign here, or if you disagree with your professor’s claims then we will proceed with documents of hearing of honor court.” Mrs. Alice told me for last time. I replied, “I accept all claims.” And I took pen from Mrs. Alice and put my hand on paper in position to sign, and then something pulled my hand back. It was my inner voice, it was telling me “you are not cheater, you haven’t done anything wrong.”

This is my real story, and all characters are real. But I am not using real names of people, otherwise they will kill me. You will ask who are 3 monkeys; first one is me, second is Hari and third is Lalu. And you may think that python is that professor, but python is our course, its computer language, and Dr. Anaconda is that professor who is teaching that course.

The story started somewhat like this, we were sitting in cafeteria before few minutes of lecture and Hari told me he got 0/100 for assignment, I told him it will be some mistake, tell Anaconda he will correct it. And we continued eating and gazing at girls around us. When lecture started I was checking “TOP NEWS” on facebook that someone is feeling :( today (it’s breaking news and most liked news of that day), then I heard something like honor code violation and cheating. I looked up and professor was showing 2 same programming codes side by side. Anaconda said “I told in first lecture that don’t test me with this. Now be ready for consequences.” I looked at Hari and he approved that those codes belongs to his and Lalu’s assignment. What I understood from that scenario is that these 2 guys are in trouble and it will be good lesson for them for not doing work on time and copying from other’s work. When lecture ended those 2 guys went to meet professor and I was discussing that issue with other students. They told me professor mentioned about 3 codes but showing only 2. They suggest me to check my grades. And it was 0/100. When I had checked in cafeteria it was 85, so, I was relaxed throughout lecture.

As we are masters students we have evening lectures, and this lecture is from 7:30 to 10:00 PM and then 1 n half hr traveling from campus to home, so it was almost 12 when I reached home. While coming home Hari approached me once and apologized. I was worried but not panicked at that time, I thought if I told professor whole story, at least I will not get suffered because of those guys. Before going to bed I checked my mail and there was a mail form Lalu, it was something like this….

Hi,
I am really sorry for wat happened and never thought this would happen. I know you do work sincerely and becoz of me you have to face this.
well I having huge guilty feeling so could not talk to you directly.
I ask you only one thing, If you want to scold me please do but just, don't hate me.
Thats all I can tell you now though i want to speak many things.

sincerely,
Lalu.

I replied him…..

Hi...
Don't take this incident seriously. Even I m not much worrying about it. But we should be happy that we got warning sign at right time.
We will manage this. And I don't have any bad feeling for you or Hari. And don't worry about my grades, I really don't care about it. I don't need someone's approval for my qualification.
I also know u r also trying to study and understand these tough subjects. N don't worry, we will study together but take enough precaution form next time, and will do assignments separately.
OK. GOOD NIGHT.
TAKE CARE.

I had written some filmy dialogs in excitement to make him feel good. Next day I met Peof. Anaconda and told him the whole story that I had done my assignment by myself. They both had some work during those days so they started assignment on last day of submission. And Hari’s laptop had crashed on that day so, he had used mine as we need python installed on laptop to do assignment. In hesitation of submitting it before dead line they copied some of my work and we get caught. Anaconda told me that he didn’t want to bring this case to honor code, but if I want my grades then he has to go. Otherwise accept no grading for your work. He told me to inform him with my final decision.

Honor code is a type of small court in university. They handle this kind of forgery and cheating cases. They also have hearing committee who decided penalty depending upon severity of crime. So, another war started in my mind whether to go for honor code or not. If I go then these two guys will go through sever consequences and if I don’t go then I will get penalized for mistake that I haven’t done. I called one of my best friend in India to help me as I wasn’t able to take any firm decision. He explained me beautifully that don’t feel guilty because you are not cheating your friends; you are going there for justification. Forgive someone for their mistake but never compromise with things what you feel right. I agreed with him and informed prof to go for honor code.

After 2 months, when semester was about to end we get reply and as procedure we took individual appointment with Mrs. Alice on 3 consecutive days. Mrs. Alice is member of honor code committee and handling our case. I had first appointment so, I thought that I had advantage of knowing the whole scenario and taking any other decision if needed. But Mrs. Alice had some urgency so, she postponed my appointment for next week. Next day Lalu went and he called me from there that they gave him 2 options, “Either accept claims and penalty for that is ‘no grading’ for assignment as mentioned by prof. or if you think that professor is wrong then go for hearing but after hearing, committee will decide whether to increase penalty or decrease, there are equal chances for both.” At that time he didn’t know what will be penalty for me and Hari if we accept it. I thought that as professor knows that I had done my work I will get score for that assignment even if we three accept it. I told him to accept it. Hari did same next day.

During that 1 week period, we got final grading for that course, me and Hari got ‘B’ and Lalu got ‘B-’. If I get grade for that assignment then my grade will increase to ‘A-’. So, I was happy with my grade. Next was my turn, I went to honor code office with positivity and meet Mrs. Alice. She gave me documents of claims by professor, I was reading and I shocked. What is this, according to professor I am lying about giving my laptop and he is penalizing me with “no grading” for that work. So, only way that I can prove myself innocent is to go for hearing. I asked Mrs. Alice for 1 hr time to decide. I was angry with professor at that time, I am determined for hearing. But again those ‘shoulder angels’. Funny thing about these angels is that you never know which one is good and which is bad. I thought that I am not only person who will go to hearing; I am bringing these two guys also. If by chance penalty get sever then Lalu’s grade will decrease below ‘B-’ and as per rule he has to repeat this course. I told Mrs. Alice to give document to sign. Before signing I heard voice “you are not cheater, you haven’t done anything wrong.” It wasn’t my inner voice, it was Mrs. Alice. I told her “I am not cheater, but I am also not that much selfish.” And case dismissed.

I still don’t know whether it was virtue of mine of not being selfish and thinking about others or excuse for running away from situation where I has to take firm decision. It may be possible that to hide my cowardliness I am depicting myself as protagonist. But because of this incident I have seen that part of myself that I have never seen before. Sorry Dr. Anaconda for compelling you to write that 6 page claim latter and at the end I ended up at same option which you offered at beginning, but journey to this point from different route has taught me lot, may be more than your lectures. And sorry to Lalu and Hari for bringing this story to public, but let people know about our roller coaster ride of python.

“I was standing at point few feet away from the peak of Mount Everest, I could have reached at the top by cutting rope and let my fellow fall in valley or return back from that point. I choose second one.”


~Jaimin

Cat-Fish

How was the life of people living in America? Full of advanced technology, great sky-scrapers, neat-clean place like heaven on earth. This is thought of any Indian who has seen US only on TV and photos. And people from other world get curious that how 100,000 people can live per sq km of Mumbai.

We never thought that what other people thought about us. Most of the people think that their life is boring, monotonous, same routine every day. But our this monotonous life may be great interest for someone. This is not true only for people from opposite world, but also true for me, you and most of the people around us also. We just get glimpse of someone’s life and we get curious to know what will happened with that person. Let me tell you a story. Some day you found mails piling in mailbox of home next to yours. No one is living there for years. And just for curiosity you pick up one letter and its love letter to a girl. You just get curious and you read 5-6 more letters. Then you come across that the guy who is writing her is suffering from cancer. And one more tragedy is that you don’t know where that girl has shifted. The letters don’t have address of sender also. On the other side that guy has left that girl for his career and now when he know that he has cancer, he realized what was important for him. Just some glimpse of someone’s life become part of your life. I am not continuing this story anymore because YOU are part of this story. Now it’s up to you what to do. Either find that guy and girl anyhow, help them to meet or just read letters like watching some show on TV, or something else. This is just example how simple normal behavior of some other person becomes your prime interest.

I watched “Dhobi-Ghat” Movie and it shows just exactly that how peeping in someone’s life which is supposed to be boring life, fuels your curiosity. First you get glance of that life, then it stimulate to know more about it and at the end you found that some stranger’s life is now strongly connected with you own life. That’s beauty of human curiosity. In our daily routine boring life we try to find some interesting things and that things spice up our life and make our life interesting. Let me share my own experience. I met a girl on social networking site, who was with me during school 10 yrs before. We talked a lot, but it was only through mails. I come across that she had gone through some tough time during those years. But now she is fine, living perfectly normal life. Still remembering those tough time makes her uneasy so, she avoided to tell me exactly what had happened. I get curious and we mailed lot after that also. And after few days she became most interesting person I ever met. May be for her that normal routine life is out of interest of anyone, but it’s not for me.

One more incident of my life. My mom got promotion and obviously transfers to farther place a year back. She and other lady was traveling to that place by bus. That lady likes to write and she gave my mom her articles to read. Mom was impressed and brought few of those articles to me. She made me read at least one as I was skeptic that what will be in article written by bank employee. And in my amazement it was fabulous. Afterward I read all of them. And I asked my mom what she is doing, she should be writer for newspaper or should write book. My mom told me she has two small children and had to manage everything, still she had ambition to be professional writer. After a month or something my mom went to her home. She was expecting that as she is great thinker, her home would be beautifully decorated. And in her surprise it was so simple small home. My mom explained me that they are not earning much; they spend most of their money for daily expenses. I felt too sorry for her, how will she manage to fulfill her ambition. I also felt sorry for myself that I wasn’t able to help her anyhow. And that way story of that lady whom I have never met affected my perspective towards life to certain extent.

Now title of this article, Cat-fish. Cat-fish? What is that? A Merchant was selling his fishes from Alaska to China. But when it reaches to its destination, fishes become mush and taste-less. So, that guy come up with idea that if you put catfish in those carts, then catfish keeps moving and keep dead fishes fresh. Some people are like cat-fish in our life. Glimpse of their life make us curios and keep us thinking all the time. Watch this “Cat-fish” movie also. It’s about relationship developed between 2 people through facebook. It will become part of your thoughts for days.

Life is full of stories, but not like stories in the book. You never know where is first page and where is last one, and who is author and who is reader.

~Jaimin Patel