Don't Let Go...

You!

No, not you!

You! Yes, You!

Stop, okay? Stop this pity party you are throwing yourself or I will command Frizby (my neon green pet dragon) to burn it and all Its guests(uncertainty, Insecurity, fear, depression among others)to a crisp.

Look, I get it.
You hate the way your life is panning out. This is not in accordance with your plan. You can't even look at your reflection in the mirror. You can't talk to anyone about the things going on in your life (either they wouldn't understand or would make light of it or would end up landing you in trouble).

Okay, fine.

But you cannot go on this way. Don't lock yourself in, Don't shut everyone out. I know you feel trapped, like you're fighting a losing battle, like the walls are closing in on you and every time someone says it will get better you feel like ripping their face off. But that cliche is a cliche for a reason. 

IT'S TRUE (For the most part).
 The war will never stop raging on. You will just get better at fighting it. Now this can't happen if you sit in a corner with your head between your knees, rocking back and forth, counting down the seconds till it all ends so that you don't have to step out of this adamantium cage you have built around yourself because you are terrified of the possibility that you might make things worse.  Get up and do something- anything!
Why don't you let the worst case scenario pan out? At the very least you'll know that that's as bad as it can get.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back in the game. Because that is exactly what it is- a Game. It's a blinking game and you will not be the first to blink.

I can't tell you if this war will ever end because I don't know either (I am fighting my own battle, you see) what I can ask, is for you to fight(not survive) long enough to see for yourself, For you to be strong, not impervious.

Be selfish. Don't fight for the sake of your loved ones, fight for your sake. Fight for the future you. The wiser, stronger, faster, scarred (but better for it), happier Future You (who will be grateful everyday for the fact that you didn't give up.)

If you need someone to talk to then email us and we WILL reply. You don't know us, we don't know you, there is a virtually non-existent chance of us ever meeting. Do it, even if we can't help at least you'll get to vent.

- Abhilaasha Kaul

VARANASI

VARANASI 

By Akshaya Ramesh

Have you ever wondered what a day in Varanasi is like? Well, why would anyone trouble themselves by doing that? It isn't like you're going to move to this place - of all the places in the world - any time in the future, is it? 
That was exactly what I had been thinking (should've known better, given that Varanasi is my mother's hometown), until I had to move here.

I've lived in Varanasi for over a year and a half (believe me when I say this - that's a long time indeed). I don't fancy this place much, but Varanasi isn't the worst place in the world either. Varanasi, as we know it, is(for the lack of a better word) filthy; a place littered with omnipresent polythene bags; where 10% of the total population are stray dogs; here you find monkeys lining the walls of your terrace(if you do own a house here) and grabbing your favourite pair of jeans, almost every day; you may find (stubborn) cows sitting comfortably in the middle of the road, quaint, more so because they're immune to threats or persuasion - nudge or push them, they refuse to move ; neither is it complicated for you to adjust to the jolty, unmade roads and the vehicular traffic; I'm warning you - if you ever visit Varanasi, I bet each one of you will step on cow dung - at least one time (I hope you enjoy the experience! *Evil Laugh*); here you'll find religious, god-fearing people and most importantly, temples, at almost every turn you take.

In the beginning, you'd be amazed at the round-the-clock rush and traffic in the city, you're likely to bump into a lot of people, you'll be shocked at the sight of poor people without proper shelter or clothes especially in the winters, while on the contrary, in the summers, you'll be compelled to sympathise with the diligent rickshaw-walas, the looks on their faces will instill a sense of compassion in you. The uniqueness of Varanasi will dazzle you. 

If you ever get to buy a house a few feet away from any ghat (there are around 80 ghats), consider yourself incredibly lucky (especially if it's Assi/Hanuman Ghat. *let me just say I'm not being biased*), for you, my dear, get to take a walk by the river, watch the sunrise/sunset, or just sit there and observe the flow of the river or read a book for as long as you like (I'm one of the privileged ones too, but sadly, I've never done any of this before - except maybe walking). Not to mention, the river is a great place for you to learn to swim(maybe *was, it's a little too mucky now), but make sure you don't go too deep or unfortunately, you're going to drown. 

Every morning, from about 5 am, you'll find hundreds of people taking a dip in the R Ganges, praying to God, hoping that their sins will be pardoned. You'll see kids swimming, bewildered foreigners with cameras, tourists on boats, boys playing cricket in the ghats, while many fly kites. Not everyone has the privilege to witness all of this, not many people know of all the things treasured by the people who live here (oh, of course they do! I just wanted to be dramatic).

I guarantee that for the first couple months after settling in, you're bound to be immensely annoyed at the sight of cows, dogs and cow dung every where. You'll crave smooth, clean, wide roads. You'll definitely be taken aback by the auto and rickshaw-walas' not-so-jaunty demeanor. If you have no close relatives or friends who live here, you probably have no idea of how hard people try to trick you into doing things or how long it'll take to get banarasis (I don't mean to be offensive) to do something for you. If you have to survive in this place, you need to be assertive, patient, vigilant (maybe even ignorant), and of course, befriend people who have "contacts" so they can guide and help you during your stay. (I don't think people living in and around the BHU campus face any problem at all, except maybe foreigners).

Just a little something I'd like to mention - If you're 
1. Accustomed to talking to anyone, anywhere in English and,
2. If you're a student, 
remember that even the spirits of the other students in your school (referring to those who don't talk in English, who think you're "showing off") will haunt and taunt you forever.

So do yourself a favour and find awesome people (like the editor of this post and me, of course) asap!

- Credits of editing my first draft to Abhilaasha Kaul

P.S - She did nothing, really. 

Should Housewives Be Paid?

{This is from a debate competition I entered. It took me a while (and several drafts) to come up with a content not tethered just to emotions...}


A housewife, on an average works for about 366 hours a month. Now the minimum daily wage for skilled and semi-skilled labour is an average of rupees 360 per job, and as my worthy contemporaries have already established, a housewife fulfills at least six (and that’s on a slow day) which brings us to about rupees 65,000 a month - an amount set by the Government of India. And you say that a housewife doesn't need to be paid because she does the job willingly, because she does it out of love. Well, if that's the case, then let's put about half our population out of jobs because they don't need to be paid, they work because they like their jobs.

The new age woman straddles different roles with an unmatched elan – chef, launderer, accountant, manager, chauffeur  – and when she does all this selflessly , without expecting anything in return, should she not be entitled to a remuneration?I'm sure my worthy opponents would charge to say that this proposal is financially impractical, I would like to remind them that a 1- 5% hike in income tax for example would hardly affect any household.

Talking about the sanctity of relationships being demeaned, is the sanctity of our relationships so weak and hollow that a pecuniary value would make them crumble? On the contrary, would it not serve to fortify a sense of mutual respect and understanding.

These women do more than just cooking food and cleaning the house, they are the sole reason which enables others in their family to freely follow their dreams without having to worry about rudimentary tasks.It isn't just feminists or left-wing economists making this case, but also Nobel Prize Laureates like Amartya Sen and Gary Becker.

And for all of those who say that giving housewives pay packets would discourage them from aspiring to be more, that they will become confined to the four walls of their house, there is a system that most of the world’s leading nations follow - The Unemployment Benefits. If these people, despite getting paid for "nothing" manage to stay ambitious, what makes you think that women won't?

We are not trying to put a price to the love and affection the women hold for their families! We just want them to get their dues!

She gets up at 5 A.M and immediately starts working.He gets up a few hours later and is treated like a King.He complains about how exhausting his 9-5 job is and she listens while serving him food - silent and sympathetic,When he buys something, he is undisputed, he is, the bread winner after all, while she has to meticulously keep track of all expenses, because she doesn't understand the effort that has gone into earning that money.Is this fair?

- Abhilaasha Kaul

DEBATE - RELIGION SHOULD BE TAUGHT AT SCHOOLS (against).

AGAINST THE MOTION.

By Akshaya Ramesh

School is a place for attaining knowledge, not a battle ground for people to prove the superiority of their religion - which will eventually happen, if religion is taught at schools. Religion has already embarked upon Politics and the last thing we need is Educational Institutions associated with religion.

Religion is a highly sensitised issue. People identifying themselves by their religion are easily offended. No matter how hard we try to balance the study of each religion, their dissenting interpretation and values might be contradictory and the slightest error or negligence might be blown out of proportion! 

One religion alone has a myriad of details. Students don't just study religion at schools and feeding such a vast amount of information to youngsters is unacceptable and time-consuming.

I see no point in introducing religion study as a means to impart values and and morals, when we have parents and teachers to help us discern right and wrong, impart values and punish them for their misconducts - introducing religious studies will, in no way, encourage students to imbibe values. All they're ever going to do is take this as an insignificant subject, that they would attend for the sake of it and barely pay attention to what's happening in class.

My worthy opponents may put forth the argument that over the course of say about 12 years of schooling, it isn't impossible to cover the studies of all the religions, that it is possible to give the students a general idea of each - I absolutely agree. But what is the point in introducing "religious studies" just so they get a "general idea"? If a subject is introduced, it must be taught in detail - but obviously and unfortunately it would be virtually impossible to draft a generic curriculum that would #1 include all of the details, #2 succeed in pleasing everyone and #3 not offending anyone. The framers of the curriculum could definitely be motivated by political agenda and inevitably, the instructors will have a soft spot for their religion. There's no way we can stop them from being biased and winding up preaching their religion. Result? Children would grow up with partial knowledge and tend to be judgemental.

What will happen to atheists? We can't force them to take these classes and we can't exempt them. Will they even get a choice, in the first place? What are they to do while the believers study "religions"? Do we have to sit by and watch while the "believers" mock the "atheists" and alienate them like it's a sin for questioning the existence of God(which is probably what they'll be learning), for not believing in something that hasn't been proved yet. That's what they get for having different opinions.

Society is profoundly blemished by religious differences. It is an extremely impractical idea to introduce religious studies to facilitate tolerance and harmony among various religious groups. I do acknowledge the importance of it, but given that the aforementioned problems are more than just probable to occur, we need a more efficient and rational idea than this one.

If everyone is taught religion at school, it becomes a norm to believe. Gen Y deserves a chance to look within, choose to believe what they want and seek answers.

DEBATE - RELIGION SHOULD BE TAUGHT AT SCHOOLS (for).

FOR THE MOTION.

By Abhilaasha Kaul

In today’s society full of ever-aggressive secular policies, people who view themselves as open minded individuals, the self proclaimed/anointed defenders of reason per say view any attempt to impart religious education with a grimacing sneer. Religion is viewed by them as backward; the last remaining traces of Neanderthal teleology. But religion in civilised societies has come further along.

Religion is the very foundation of our society. Globalisation made us realise that there are myriads of religious orders and groups and although we might not see eye to eye with all of them, we still need to co- exist with them, respect them. How can you respect something you know nothing about?

Everyone has a religion, even atheists religiously practise no religion. If religion is that integral to our lives then how can we ignore the need to learn about it at school? 

Now I understand that my opponents will charge to say that there are too many religions to cover and picking which religion to teach and which not to would lead to controversies and arguments. to them I say, an average Indian school completes about 221 working days a year. Do you really believe that over the course of 12 years, we can’t give our students at least a working understanding of most religions? Emphasis being on most. Admittedly, teaching every nuance of every religion would not be possible but teaching at least a fundamental and basic knowledge is. If you’re worried about the students not paying attention or increasing their work load, then well by that logic please let us stop the moral science classes as well because students do not pay attention (which by the way they will because unlike the ever so preachy moral science classes the religious studies classes would teach them about the beliefs of the people around them) or stop teaching science and psychology because you can’t explain every concept in detail.

Besides how are religion studies any different from studying sociology or even history for that matter. When we are already studying the living and structural patterns of different societies then why shouldn’t we study about their belief system and faith as well?

When we are taught about Hitler and Nazism then should we not be taught about Judaism?

The concept is simple - teaching and preaching are not the same things. If religion studies are implemented in schools in an unbiased and objective way then what’s the harm? A broader curriculum would fulfil the purpose of the education system; Creating global citizens who are tolerant, understanding and open to different opinions. What the students would taught would not be stories that the teacher concocted but matter compiled by experts.

Even so, if a school doesn’t want to teach this subject then at least organise workshops or include it in the morning assembly as a theme- anything would suffice at this point of time.

Coming to the point that religion studies serve to magnify religious differences and strain relations between groups, well these strains and differences already exist and right now at the educational front we are just pretending that they don’t. Ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away! In fact understanding each other’s point of view will facilitate harmony among different groups. We have tried working around religion by making sure that no educational institution touches the subject with a fifty feet tall pole and it has not worked in our favour. Is it not time to try a different approach?