Moonlit Sky

She stood there, almost numb, as she saw the dark clouds gather over the moon. But she was looking for something else. Something which she thought, would haunt her for the rest of her life.

He went down on his knees that day as he proposed to her...
Do you mind spending the rest of your life with me, Anita? The room went silent. She didn’t know how to react. Obviously she was happy, but a part of her heart wasn’t quite sure. The crowd of 5 people inside the room including Rishi awaited with bated breadth. “Yes!” came her reply and everybody in the room got what they wanted to hear. But was it a wholehearted yes, Rishi Wondered.

“What’s the matter Ani?”

“I don’t know Rish, I just don’t know!”

“Have you found someone else in these last 2 years?”

“No that’s not the case Rish, it’s just that 2 years ago you were not a captain in the Indian Army”

“I see, you have a problem of me being in the army?”

“No Rish, I am worried about you…they have posted you in the north-west frontier.”

“Your concerns are uncalled for Ani, there is very little infiltration now-a-days”

“Still …Anything could happen”

“What do you want me to do Ani, Make sacrifices??

“Well somebody has to rish…ain’t it?

“I have made enough sacrifices to get into where I am now Ani…I am sorry I can’t leave that.”

She thought long and hard that night and had made her decision. I am sorry rish I can’t marry you.

He was heart-broken.

Can I have your number, she asked almost embarrassed

What’s the use Ani…Just incase I die…just look up in the sky and I will be right up there as a shining star, he bid her a goodbye.

And there she was, looking towards the sky that night, but she couldn’t see any star…All she saw were dark clouds covering the moonlit sky.

Engineered, But...

So, I am done with my engineering finally. I managed to get a distinction in my final year. But now, I ask myself this, Was it all worth it? Does Er. Anurag make me all proud? Have I achieved anything except may be graduating from an AICTE Approved University? Well the answer to all of the above is obviously a Big NO!

You know, now that I have graduated and am ready to make that transition into an office kind of an environment, I am kinda starting to understand the difference here. Why on earth do companies come and take fresh graduates like us? What is it that separates us from any other guy on the Street? It’s the quality of education one would say! Naa… I think they expect something much more from us. And that “Much more” thingy sadly is not taught inside colleges. The Professor who teaches us inside the classroom just imparts his knowledge and goes away. But frankly is that of any use? Last 10 days of exams…Put in as much of stuff as you can in your squeaky little mouth and once you reach the exam hall and the bell sounds, just vomit or puke it out…Or then dress up properly during Viva time and plant a nice li’l smile in front of a zombie who would either try to grin at you or try to terrorize you blabbering all sorts of things like ”I will fail you” or “You know absolutely nothing, why don’t you go and do a bsc?” Ironically some girls even shed tears coming out of the viva room. Noobs don’t even realize that these things won’t have any effect on their viva marks. They ultimately lie with the internal. So it’s the subject teacher's wrath that they should be scared about and not of any zombie who’s job is to mock and ridicule you… All these are disappointing realities in our education system.

But sadly this reality doesn’t quite work in a private office environment. Here one has to have a know-how of various things. One has to practice what one has preached…But sadly no one has done that…All one has done so far is puked…puked out knowledge. The one’s responsible for this i.e. exams…they are gonna continue…I don’t think anybody will scrap that and may be it shouldn’t… But one could do with some kind of accountability. That yes I understand this. I don’t wanna puke if I know this! Eventually the onus is on us. How can we ourselves enhance our own skills and come out trumps! Perhaps the old man’s saying is applicable even today… Self Help is the best help one can do for himself. :)