Snippets of the mind by Gagansvaid

What a better way to learn to break stereotypes from the people who broke it? #ConvergeNow — Karan Sharma (@DarpokKiller) December 12, 2015 Sofia Ashraf at Converge 2015 Converge 2015 , an event brought up by the Youth Ki Awaaz (YKA)  and Unicef , saw discussions streaming amongst the youngsters on various themes and concerns. From giving goosebumps, to describing how important service to the community was –  Converge 2015, will always be remembered for its diversity in reaching out to the youth of today and questioning the stereotypes prevailing in the society. The panel brought distinguished speakers, who not only enraptured and brought a clearer picture of what they experienced happening around them; but also kept to the particular theme of the event #RaiseYourVoice. Sofia Ashraf of the  "Kodaikanal Won't" fame; said that, it was very important for her to feel strongly about some issue, that she would push her artistic abilities, to make music b

I wish to read, I wish to write, just the many facets cling to me of life; I wish to speak, my confidence lacks, I feel amiss, Incomplete, yet some work fills me. I stare you in the face, I find an innocent look, Fulfilling me with thoughts of love, There is kindness, while we find  in ourselves our home. I and you find ourselves through our light, reflecting each other! -- Gagandeep Singh Vaid

It is a matter of great prestige to site a fact that, the largest literature festival in terms of its scale is the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF). I had been hearing for a long while about the OYO Rooms, thanks to its massive publicity. This time I chose to stay at OYO Rooms, and the nearest one to the venue of JLF was  DRS 8586 Haveli, in Adinath Nagar  on the JLN Marg. I was satisfied to hear the price to stay there for a day, which was a nominal Rs. 999.  The room which I got was clean, with all requirements which a decent hotel would provide to its customer, plus its location was very posh.  I liked the idea of the dining at its terrace, where I ate my breakfast daily! Students d o not miss the free meals, mind you. Haha!! The fresh chilly breeze of winters added to the excitement to visit the Festival venue as soon as possible every day.  The best part was that there were choices the hotel gave us at 8am in the morning, starting from Poha, Maggie, Butter/Jam Bread with tea/c

Life, I see you grey, Life, I see a ray. Life, you wisdom personified, Life, you a plight! Many moments I wait, Look at stars, I find myself amongst them, Shining, yet blinking! I find myself so complete, I find myself incomplete. You, my hero, My guardian angels! I hope you know, That everyday, I look up to you. That everyday, I smile, I weep, I gaze at you, And finally I settle, I embrace myself. I know one day, I shall meet you. Dearest stars, You who give me, My identity, I am definite, I shall see you, Very soon! I cannot hide, That I wish to be one of you. Not only on this land, From where I look at you. But I want to stand, Just next to you! Your light, Shall show me my path, That I am to rightfully follow. I promise, I shall never, Never leave you, hollow. I shall spring as much joy, I shall spring as much grief, I shall try, to circumscribe, To you the reality! As the world is, And you see it, I promise you, I shall make it,

The heart sank deeper than the conclaves of her reach deeply rooted to herself she felt dispatched from the world Now all it was she alone at one side and the entire world at the other unwrapping herself from the cultures she withdrew for those days and spent time with herself the much needed break needed for her to settle herself in her new life -- Gagandeep~

Mind is at unrest, I do not know what is the right path for me. There are many thoughts rolling past, flashing by but I am stuck somewhere in a land unknown, trying to get out of it—yet I say, mind is at unrest. There are situations which are easy to counter and which are difficult to counter, this situation of mine is difficult at the moment. I wish to breathe easy, and be like the dew in the morning and evening breeze. Now how cooler and satisfactory it would be I wonder and keep liking the very idea. It just makes me feel strong and yet again gives me flashbacks of how chiller the morning would be—when I would wait for my school bus at the bus stop. How the thought of cold water in the morning would send goosebumps, but I had to take a bath in the morning nevertheless. The very tinging memory of the winters is itself so victorious, as it also warms me up and cools me down. I remember my friend Arjun, who would spend hours with me in the tennis courts—not playing tennis but disc

Image Source: Wikipedia There are some positive and negative forces holding this world together.   Forces that can't be seen but only felt. And that is what people refer as GOD. Different religion, different names, but for me it's one's CONSCIENCE . It's the only thing that lets you choose between the choices and the following consequences. For the following two things are the only close ones to this God Particle.  1. Work Ethics - either working selflessly or selfishly because your work represents you, your personality, your thoughts, your perspective. It represents your inner voice, the true you, the hidden face. 2. Music - This is a bit difficult to explain, but let me try. Time , as we know, a physical quantity that we (humans, highest on the intellectual chart) can't control. Though we have qualified ourselves enough to prove that time moves on constantly and keeps going on and on endlessly. We can't store it, can't play, pause forw

This moment, brings peace to me of greatest order. This moment, lifts up a smile on my face. When I look at my picture in the mirror, I reflect back to the wonderful day I spent today. There were few questions which I had been asking myself, which eventually got answered. Few people come to our lives, as alchemists. They are the pathfinders, who show us what is right for us. Not that they tell us, they just give us a hint, and with it we get towards our road of symphony. After many darker nights, there is a pleasant night. A night when you would sleep with peace, oh how long did it take for this day to appear for me. I opened up with myself, and I opened up somewhere with my dream. "Do what you wanna live for," said the voice from my heart. "Take your time, to decide what you want out of your life. Well, I took my time—I spent sometime doing my MA, while I was exploring, discovering, what was right for me." He said, while I listened. While on the coffee table ne

World, oh my world, Why you set apart! These ammunitions burst, taking several lives! Commotion stays, and penury stands. Oh peace, oh peace, do you exist? If yes, then show us, your face. Where are you hidden, in this phase, when guns clash, against each other. Oh, irony, to bring peace, this tragedy sets, what has this world, come up to. Whose victory is it, I stand here, my hands on my face, as the war gets going, souls get pierced, well literally, the meaning of life, is a torn out paper, which could otherwise, have imbedded poetry, of love, compassion, care and regard. Oh where is that land, whom we regard our mother, has she drown her appearance, embarrassed by the outcomes? Can't we just, draw a line now, and give way to light, and not darkness, to write out past, present and future? -- Gagandeep Singh Vaid World stands still, oh to what state have we come?

Your eyes hateful, My heart 'dreamful', Your pride, your ego, My life, my smile. When did we clash, Why did we clash? Questions range, and hit my wisdom. When I thought, you a friend, you proved me wrong, my feelings, amounting less. I still came by you, to tell you, we were friends, you asked me not to be, around you. I left. One day, you called me, you wanted to meet me. I was overjoyed, burdened less- at last I was to meet my friend. You came, and the time I saw you, the next moment I was ridden of sight. It was an acid attack, my friend, and again, you proved me wrong. Today memories arise in mind, those of the times we spent. Until the day, you expected, and I had to decline. After that things changed, we were not the same. Eyes yet again look at the moon, the stars greet me, no one is here to praise my smile, my looks are dampened, and the light falls upon me. Yet again, I remember us, and the next thought of you, gives me rea

Why? Why do I not work properly when being in a team that I start expecting way too much from everyone. In this manner, there is no need to work with anyone if one's attitude is like this. Like mine! I think I work fine when I work under someone, and not when I lead. Leading is difficult when the work does not go, the way you had planned and that is actually when the need of a leader steps in. A leader who has the ability to contain oneself and one's frustrations and outbursts would only be able to manage a team. I think these qualities of a leader lack in me. So I like it better, when I can do things my way; it is better to lead your company than an institution or someone else's company for me. The day hasn't been that sweet to me, but it is how it was meant to be it seems. To be in this tight spot, where I am both stuck and afloat. Well writing eases me, gives me a sigh of relief. Good night. Take care and thanks for being there for me, dear diary.

Picture credits: Aishwarya Anand Your name is 'angel', my name is 'stranger'. I have, certain likes, you have certain likes. We see around the land, there is length, and breath. We see within ourselves, there is much to balance. Something breaks, yet something builds. Oh, how this time, moves further and rhymes. But the wonder is, it never stops. Not for me, or you, or for anyone, it just knows how to walk. While today, we have carried, those images, across the horizon, can we sit and think, where we are going, and what we are doing, with ourselves! This in itself is a self, flourishing factor. That we witness the sound, the blaze of the light, when we peek within, and outward of our being! It is this time when we grow, another year, in that moment, when we self reflect, about who we are.

It was very easy, to mock at someone's sentimentality. It is also easy, to call a person a madman, when one is speaking logic! More annoying it is, that a person has to explain oneself, to the people who are themselves the culprits. Very easy it is to frame situations, and paste them on faces of others, who are trying to present the reality! To make a person fall and accept defeat, you might call it your win but really? peek into your heart, yes even deeper within you, and ask if it is your victory or your fall on others' fall? Whereas the other's fall is not the fall, because some people don't fall by your thinking so, they rise when you think they fall. And as the phrase goes aptly, "What goes around, comes around." Lead your path, and justify yourself, what you think is right and actually, your path!

Image Source: Solo-Tuder Festival as the name suggests, describes about a social gathering or celebration of or any kind of religious reasons at any particular day or at a period of time. Although some of us are at this stage that we have kind of blurred out the actual concept and meaning of the word ‘Festival’ from our vocabulary. Even though there are more such words and terms that connect us to the world that have been forgotten down our timeline, yet we will be only talking about the word ‘Festival’ for now. Some of us might think what’s the need to know and read about such a word which we already know the meaning of? But I’ll bring this into the limelight. Did anyone know where the word ‘Festival’ came from? I bet no one, although some might take a guess and say it must have been derived from some Latin word and yes it has. As a matter of fact in early 1300’s in Latin it was called ‘Feast’ but before that it was called ‘Festus’. Now as the word ‘Feast’ tells us, it means

Intolerance is the trending word these days. Everyone is talking about intolerance. It is in the electronic and print media and in everyone’s mind. Writers, Filmmakers, Scientists are returning their awards. Marches are being held by politicians and actors. Intolerance is in the air. This whole intolerance wave started when people started killing people because they eat beef or if they have certain thoughts. Yes I’m talking about the late Mr. MM Kalburgi and Mohammad Akhlaq. All that is fine and it is good that people are coming out and protesting. But I think that people are not protesting much on Pollution.This is a topic that I think is not getting much attention. All that I see in the news is intolerance about beef and writers returning there awards and people commenting that returning awards is not the right way to protest against something. Well my question is why people are not protesting against pollution. Sure there are articles in the newspapers and discussions but I think i

The path is right, the path is wrong, You never know, where you belong. Is it in the bushes, that you feel good, or is it, in the tall buildings, that you feel harmony and comfort. You never know, but you want to know. The human tryst to seek more, continues way far and beyond. Is it about learning,  what is right for you? Isn't it already felt, in your heart of hearts? Why do you wait to paint the stars, when you can do it, in a moment- Why do you wait to guide others, when you know, you can do it now? Why do you feel lost, when you can win over yourself? Why does your mind ache, when there is no soothing wake. Why do you bend in front of others, just to bring happiness to them, hence forgoing your comfort and peace? Depends whether those people, give you joy, satisfaction and shower smiles, that you give yourself fully to them.

Flowers that form garlands,or which are used to decorate homes,leave a lingering essence,of celebration and of utmost... Posted by Artist Address on  Tuesday, 10 November 2015

I meet him, his eyes smile. A cracker in hand, he crosses a mile. Implants the 'rocket', into its stand, and runs. In the next moment, the rocket guns, high in the sky! It bursts, spreading, into many sparks, oh, what a life lied, in the rocket, that warred. "Pollution, pollution!", I cry, I leave, I am not surprised. He laughs, and says, "You did the same, it's my turn now." I return, comfort myself inside, my home. It has been a mile, of a time that I fired- crackers, It was late, that I realised- it was not soothing, it hurt me, the air- that forms me. Pitying myself, of my past deeds- I went back to the kid, and cautioned him- "Do you want to be, at a place where you see me?" He replied, "I don't care, you're just afraid, of firecrackers."

When one sits for placement in a company, one makes sure that one has good knowledge about the respective company. This knowledge can be in the form of analysis of it's functioning or a general idea of how it works and what it specialises in. This is more important when the company is not that known or famous.  It is what happened with me, when I got to know that AdviceAdda.com was coming to my college for placements. I had not heard about any such company, but when I visited its web link I felt that it was something what I had never seen before. AdviceAdda.com is one spot where all questions asked by people are answered in less than one week's time. It might sound to you that it is something very usual. The same can be done on Google or Yahoo Answers and these days Quora is a hit amongst youngsters, who go with their question to these websites where random people answer them. But AdviceAdda.com is not one of them, that was what interested me head over heels. I might soun