Dull face of Fresh face ??

    It was the beginning of a new life for me as I joined college, the aura was totally different when compared to that I had at school. School life was totally different, I was asked, forced and compelled to study and there was not time for me to excel in my interest which included mimicry and acting. College was different, and everything was new, a new aura, a new set of friends as I set up to move towards my dream.

     

     The first few months of my college life went in adjusting to my daily life, where travelling took a toll on me and having to satisfy my parents in terms of results was top of the to do list. The turn of the semester was probably the best part, a decent set of results and a chance to be a part of the drama team that would act on world theater day, where I was selected to play the role of an mafia. I enjoyed my rehearsals during which I happened to grow my beard and long hair for the character, which was well appreciated by everyone.

A CLEAN SHAVE CAN BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE #WillYouShave Activity

      Rohan was one amongst the brightest student of his batch, and was able to ace in his examinations. It was his final semester and he was busy working all alone on a disaster management project. In the last couple of months he dedicated his everything and everything towards his project and it was nearing completion.

     One fine day after presenting his project, impressed by Rohan's talents, his HOD forwarded an interview letter to him wanting his betterment and an MNC firm.

As per his HOD's orders he approached the firm for his interview. The whole interview was two day long, where the first day would be a group discussion to see leadership qualities and the second day would include personal interviews to sieve through the candidates as per their requirements.

    Rohan, had a little fear as he appeared for the group discussion round with his ill groomed beard, he was a little nervous as well when he was asked to start the group discussion. He started the discussion (scratching his beard) and was competed point to point by a pretty looking girl in knee length skirt and a red blazer over a white shirt, named Kamini. who was trying to divert everyones attention. The discussion went well and a small group of job seekers including Rohan and Kamini were asked to come on the second day for their scores and results. The talk over everyone's lips was "that (Kameeni) Kamini is gonna win".

SILENCE MUST BE SPOKEN: A CRY TO END POLLUTING OUR RAILWAY STATIONS

Ab Montu Bolega - Strepsils India Campaign
P.C - Strepsils India Fb page

     Chennai, A city where one of the first Railway system was started in this country under the British rule. Its been more than a decade and a half since services have begun and evolved. From those days of Diesel locomotive to electric engines a lot of development has taken place. To add more we also have local sub urban trains shuttling in and out of the city and the very recent addition to Chennai would be the upcoming of Chennai Metro Rail which would begin its services after the turn of new year...

   Chennai, as many know is also the hub of Southern Railways and also the nucleus for train and locomotive construction ( At ICF) for the entire country. Chennai Central Railway station or Madras Central station is a decade old as well, but still serves its purpose with 15 platforms and over 3,50,000 passengers commuting to almost every part of the country. Similarly Chennai's Sub urban railway manages to help passengers move in and out of the city for their work. On an average 14,60,000 people use the Sub urban railway on daily basis.

    Despite peak hour rush and round the clock work, Indian Railways (Southern Railways - as a part) is doing a tremendous job in keeping the worlds largest railway network intact bearing the safety of passengers. But, amidst all these achievements and milestones in railway transporting, only one thing , according to me has been lagging and needs utmost importance- Clean Railway stations.

     A survey done to assess the cleanliness of Chennai Central Railway station, saw that the station got only 183 points out of possible 300 points for grab. The study was not done at other sub urban stations, which would definitely be less. The untidiness that is usually seen is from fecal matter, that drops down from the bogies or tea cups, biscuit and chips wrapper thrown by commutators. Most of the times these pollutants are usually burn alongside the station.

    The major issue lies with the dropping of human fecal matter, which serves as a breeding ground to a variety of infectious diseases. Though passengers have been warned not to use the lavatories during the train halt at a station, many passengers don't give a ear to it. To worsen these conditions are pits and drains are usually blocked and its not common to find water stagnate there. Sub-Urban stations aren't far behind, except for the fact that these local trains don't have lavatories and no fecal matter pollution is seen in these stations.

A TOUCH OF LOVE CAN LAST FOREVER (SHORT STORY)

Sunday 9th Nov 2014,

8:00 am;

     It was long since sunup and Rhea just enters her home, exhausted after a night long posting at the ICU. She collects the newspaper and a couple of milk packets kept at her grill gate. Keeping them on the table she moves towards the room to take a look at her husband Rajesh and her 5 year old daughter Rasha.

Rasha rubs her eyes as she sees her mother enter into the room, while Rajesh was sleeping unaware.

"Morning Beautiful, did you have nice sleep... ?? Did you miss Mamma ??"

Rasha nods her head as she comes and hugs her...

Rajesh wakes up by then and starts yelling "Shit! Its 8:15"

Rhea calmly says "Relax dear, its Sunday, your usual post duty off"

He holds her by her shoulders, shakes her and in a loud tone he replies "No......, Not today, my manager has asked me meet a client from US at 9, quick get my things ready, I gotta rush..."

Sense of touch
Pic credits : PABL(screenshot from the video below)

In a state of disarray, she picks up the milk packets and moves to the kitchen to make some coffee for both. She poured the milk into the milk cooker and lights the stove. As the vessel heated, her mind went back to those days when Rajesh used to dedicate time for her, those days when she had just completed her graduation and he used to spend evenings with her, those movies they went together, those romantic nights in each others arms, the care he took when she was pregnant.. Those moments, became a part of her past as things had gone a little sleazy after the birth of Rasha, after which Rajesh had also got a number of promotions, and there has been success at every step for him.

She could smell the milk boil, quickly takes it off the stove and pours it into a couple of coffee mugs and adds enough coffee powder and sugar to make the coffee strong. She then pours the remaining milk in a tumbler with Bournvita for Rasha. She toasts a couple of bread on the pop up toaster and rushes to the table with breakfast. Rajesh sandwiches the bread with a slice of cheese as he munches it glazing at the headlines from the paper kept on the table. He completes his coffee and leaves in a hurry without a proper goodbye. Rhea completes her daily work, and decides to crash on the bed.

Evening 4:30 pm,

Rasha wakes up her mom saying"mama mama, pappa bula rahe hain" in her baby tone.

Rhea feels the grunt, as all these things had taken a toll on her, and she decides to continue her nap, while Rajesh enters into the room.

Toilet for Babli - A cry to end open defecation in India [poem]

     Open defecation has been a long standing problem in India with its ever expanding population. WHO's 2014 report on "progress on Drinking water and sanitation 2014 (click here) says over a billion people defecate openly, and India is the country with the highest population of people defecating openly (597 million ). Even today railway tracks and bushes remain the commonest place for many who openly defecate.

    Open defecation is going on in our country since ages, cause of poor drainage / sewage systems in villages, lack of funds to provide lavatories and ideologies/mindset of the people who defecate openly. Defecating openly has also been a leading cause for the spread of enteric fever (typhoid), malaria, hepatitis and other infectious diseases. A large number of children have fallen prey to these infections as open defecation becomes a breeding ground for insect to multiply rapidly. In villages it is very difficult for women to defecate in public, and they end up waiting till dark to find a safe place to defecate.

      Having closed toilets/ lavatories would be an ideal solution to these, but it shouldn't only stop here, if the collections are not discarded properly they can spread endemics, hence proper drainage channels or deep pits would be a right choice. Its high time we decide to act against this and save the future of our county

     So, to be a part of this social cause and to put an end open defecation in India, I have written this poem (below) in my own poetic style....