Stories - Geet Vijayvergia

How Events Equal To Relations

May 31, 2020 | 7 comments

Share on:

You are shy, caught up in the daily grind and aren’t usually engaged in optional events or voluntary activities? Or maybe you know someone who is? Trust me, one should definitely go for the optional events and activities as enthusiastically as a kid on Christmas. I’ve been through it myself 🤷‍♀️ Many of my best friends are in my life because I went for those opportunities.

One such time was how I met one of my current best friends. I was in the 8th standard and I was in the student council. In an event, I had been given the responsibility of supervising the students who were escorting parents inside the venue. Apart from one or two, I knew most of the kids with whom I was supposed to deal with. So I had a new acquaintance or two now.

When I came in 9th grade the sections were shuffled and I landed with a whole new lot of people. (Though I was phenomenally fortunate to end up in the same class as my best friend 🍀) Guess who was the first person I got familiar with after the people from my previous class? Of course the acquaintance. (I definitely do feel bad about addressing my now best friend as an acquaintance🙃)

With the progress of time, we became more than acquaintances. For me, it was the time we spent doing stuff like decorating the display board of our class or organising the class cupboard, or better yet, finding the class smartboard keys😂😂 that enhanced and strengthened our friendship. (I can actually feel my best friends staring at me giving me the most annoying looks and mentally making some wicked plan 🙄)

Speaking of friendship, I had also met two of my friends, brothers rather (because that is the relationship I share with them) because of a school event. Teachers’ Day to be precise. I’d say we were brought together rather than the fact we met. By our teachers.

I had terribly goofed up on the stage.

But they had my back. They didn’t let even a single ill-intended comment reach me. If it hadn’t been for them, I think I would never be able to speak on a stage. They were my mentors, for the event and beyond the coach relationship too.

You know when you practice with people, spend a major chunk of your day with them, they become a part of your life and you become a part of their life. One day, when I was just hanging out with them, one of them said, “She’s a part of our gang now”. And honestly it meant the world to me at that point. I might not have said anything, but I was beaming ear to ear and was actually on the verge of crying. Now they’ll be one of the first people to know something important about me and I literally demand to know about them when they forget to tell me. All of their friends know me and all of mine know them.

I was definitely the one in the group who was naive, to whom everything had to be explained. But any of that never bothered them. (They’re not in the school anymore and I’m pretty sure i’ll have a hard time when schools actually open) It is weird for me to see them as anything apart from being my brother. I know I can count on them for advice. Like yesterday when I asked one of them for advice whether to go for another MUN or not.

Which reminds me of another friend I made through MUN (and technically I made it through MUN because of him 😅) He was my alliance, rather many delegates’ alliance because he was the delegate of the USA. I got to really appreciate and see how the brains of students outside my own school work. I must say I was really impressed by USA’s witty replies that always made it on time without openly offending anyone. And like he said, MUN’s entire purpose is for you to know new people and build a network. And I think I accomplished that even if it was only for a handful of people. I was helped a lot by him since I was a beginner. This made me realise that it doesn’t matter if events are online or live. What matters is the human connections you make and what you learn from that program.

You know everyone does the compulsory, mandatory things. What makes you different from me is the things we do by our choice, things that are not compulsory but we still do just because we want to. They make all the difference. If all of us did the same things, would the world still be so diverse and so unique in each of its parts?

Events and functions hold the immense power of pairing us with people who we have never met and otherwise would never be able to meet. It’s like a way of the universe of making you meet new people, but that cannot happen if you don’t go to that place or don’t participate in that event.

Imagine how many of your connections you might have missed because you didn’t attend that party or you missed the opportunity of making a close friend just because you passed up on that extra shift or dance practice in school.

Now you know why to go everywhere and anywhere. Just think of it as a surprise waiting to happen, like a new chapter of your life waiting to unfold. You never know who is waiting to befriend you. All, literally all, you have to do is reach that place and everything else will just flow. And before you know, you’ll have new people in your life that are so very important to you.

Send this to the friend who you think really needs to participate more so that the wonders in their life can take place too. And let me know if you met someone because of an event too.

Don’t Underestimate Me ‘cause I’m Young

May 24, 2020 | 8 comments

Share on:

“I don’t get it. First timers want one day?! Oh yeah. So that they could play pubg on Saturday. Dumb people.”

_____________________________________________

I participated in MUN, or Model United Nations. It allows you to get a sneak-peek in the lives of people representing countries in the UN or delegates, as we say in MUN. You get to learn skills such as diplomacy and debating how to answer questions in a way that you discretely answer them, and at the same time save your ass.

Enough of intro.

There was this one person about whom I literally did not know anything except for his or her assigned country. Right now, we are going to refer to that person as them or they.

Continuing further.

We were asked on our main WhatsApp group (where all the delegates were present), if we wanted a 1-day conference or a 2-day conference. Soon enough, we started discussing on our alliance group how to go about it and what we wished to do. Most people, including me, wanted a 1-day conference because of our classes. However, some of them were very adamant for a 2-day conference, the delegate of Indonesia being in the lead. Now, there was a full-on compelling going on to “convince” people to have a 2-day conference. As the dispute continued, Indonesia snapped, “I don’t get it. First timers want one day?! Oh yeah. So that they could play pubg on Saturday. Dumb people.”

And me, being someone who had never ever ever played pubg, and had no intention of doing so, was fuming. Literally all that was left was smoke coming out of my ear. How could they say it?! Were they even in their senses? And even if someone played pubg, they can’t be just declared dumb!🙄🙄

Barely keeping my calm and recalling that this is a group for a formal purpose, I responded “Let’s not assume. Not everyone’s worlds revolve around pubg.”

Though I received a pathetic response saying it was a joke. Yet it was better than nothing.

I let the grudge stay within my territory and chose not to let it impede our alliance’s performance. After all, Indonesia was my alliance’s part.

The conference carried on and the end of the meeting was coming to an end. (It was a 2-day conference ultimately, things worked out as my classes got canceled that day. So lucky. IKR.🤩)

The head of our committee asked all the delegates to turn on cameras (we all did a two day conference without seeing each other’s faces. Interesting 🤔)

Well so we turned on our cameras. And me being the eager me, I skimmed to see who looked like what. And guess who I found? Who else but our favorite, Indonesia.

After looking at them, it took me a moment to pick up my jaw off the floor.

Oh, why? Take a shot at it. Was he a 6’1, deep black eyes and a chiseled face wearing a white shirt with black blazer? Nope.

Instead, he was a middle school kid – definitely confident – but still a middle schooler. A kid 3 years younger than me. My self-esteem was undeniably wounded now, if not earlier.

After attending the conference, I gathered up the pieces of my ego and wondered. Why was I surprised, or rather shocked to find out that Indonesia was not my age, or older, but was 3 younger than me? Why was that comment bearable from a person the same age as me but twice as startling coming from someone not as much as me in age?

I settled upon one possible explanation for my reasoning. The comment was more bothersome because we perceive children or people younger than us for how old they are, not for what or who they are.

We make their age as the criteria for most of the things. Not their ability, or experience. Things that should be the actual criteria. It happens to a lot of people. Young people. They are people after all.

Since I was so annoyed by Indonesia’s comment, my attention went only to the kid’s audacity. Even then, he did so well, that his performance couldn’t be neglected.

I do not encourage children or kids to make unnecessary rude statements. I believe that it could have been something just said in the moment without much thought. Something that could have been done by anyone. However, I do encourage children to take part in activities, if possible and willing, that they are generally called too young for. Now, I’m not talking about driving or something like that.

I’m talking about times when the kid wasn’t allowed to help his parents, including the budgeting. Tell them to give him a chance.

People say that students my age are too young to work in offices but that’s not true. I have myself worked in a call center for a whole week. Not to mention it was draining. But I did work. So what if it was my dad’s office🤨? Being his office would only favor me to sit there. That wouldn’t help in calling the customers. But I did make some sales. And it wasn’t because of his office. It was because of me. And guess what? I am not too young to do it.

Whoever tells you, that you are too young to do it. Don’t tell them that you can. Show them that you can.

A Field Trip

May 17, 2020 | 5 comments

Share on:

Good ~~morning~~ whatever it is at the time you are reading this. We’ve been pretty restricted during this lockdown. So come, let’s look at a pretty forgotten profession . How? Through our imagination of course, how else 🤷‍♀️ Shall we start now?

We are standing outside a small wood plank gate that we slowly push open. Inside, a woman who is wearing an oversized shirt that has mud spots on it, greets us. She greets us with a warm smile and leads the way. After walking up to the verandah, you notice a wooden wheel and lots of clay.

Choosing the Right Potter's Wheel… — Kara Leigh Ford Ceramics

source: https://karaleighfordceramics.com/shed-diaries/2018/9/11/how-to-choose-a-potters-wheel

Oh! You get it now. She’s a potter and we are in a pottery class. Not Harry potter, but a real potter, the one that is a profession 😂 You realise that I have brought you to a potter. But why?

Have some patience dude, you’ll know soon enough.

After a little intro she decides to show us the entire process of pottery.

She begins by taking a lump of clay from a pile of clay, or play dough. Then, she makes her wheel move around its axis and throws the clay lump on the centre of the wheel. Afterwards, she moves the wheel faster with the help of a stick. She has now begun her pottery. It feels so good to see it that it beats the satisfying videos. Soon she is done with making the new pots. Her attention is now shifted to the half-made pots. She picks up one of them and starts hammering on the still-quite-soft pot with a rectangular piece of wood. You think what is she doing? This way the pot will break.

Almost as if reading your mind, the potter says that I’m doing this to give shape to the pots. This is very important. If the potters didn’t do this, most of us would get a weird looking pot. We leave the place and SNAP! We reach home.

So? How was this journey? I really hope it broke the monotony of the situation and was like a field trip or excursion. Now if it is a field trip, the teacher will definitely ask you to write what you have learnt from the trip, isn’t it?

No worries ‘cause I’ve got your back. I’ll write the feedback for you 😉

We saw that the potter had to hammer his pots, one of the things most dear to him, only to shape them. He also has to put them in the fire to make them dry so that they can be strong. The hotter the fire is, the stronger the pots are.

There is a similar pattern in our life too. Our teacher and parents scold us, not only because we err, but also to shape us, to make us stronger. And this can be done with wet pots only. That’s why we get most of our scolding during our childhood. It is so that we are well shaped and do not crack easily.

P.S.

This concept had been told to me by my 5th grade class teacher. I think the people who were with me in that section may remember it. I’d like to thank all my teachers, especially primary school teachers who have hammered when I was a half-made pot. I’m still not complete but the major part of the work has been done by you. So thanks again, even if I can’t thank you enough.

In case anyone wanted to actualise their imagination, here is the link to a video for them.

The Learning In Playing

May 10, 2020 | 6 comments

Share on:

How often have we heard that life is a game? But have you ever heard that game is a life? Let’s look at it this way: a game is a small period of time where if we play competently and honestly, we do well, and the moment we start cheating trouble occurs. And in almost all the games we get out or in the words of real life, we die.

So we can take our understanding another level up and be assured that life is a game and game is a life. This would mean that if life has taught so much, then surely even games would have taught us something. And it is absolutely safe to assume this.I believe that these games were not only made for our play, but also for teaching young children the rules of life.

Aankh Micholi (Blind Man’s Buff) and Stapu (Hopscotch)

Remember when we wanted to play this game, we would use almost anything as the blindfold ‘cause it’s so tough to find the ideal cloth to cover the eyes. All of the players would accuse the one who was blindfolded, of cheating if he or she caught someone pretty early. And when we were catching other players, we looked like we were doing Tango, except that we were doing it solo. This interesting game has made us realise the value of our visual sense. We are blindfolded for barely a few minutes, and we lose all the sense of direction and are utterly clueless.

We have all experienced the time while playing stapu where we were super stressed to throw the stone in the 3 box. We were so anxious about whether it would go inside or fall outside and we would have to wait for another turn. Besides the relief of landing on the 4th box and keeping both our feet on the ground, this game has given us a prized lesson. The lesson to be grateful for our ability to move around with both our feet.

I think sometimes, the lack of a thing is required to make us realise its value.

Statue

It’s almost impossible to not laugh when the person saying statue comes near you to make you move. Then there was this ambiguity if blinking and breathing would count as movement or not. But most of the times we managed to rest our overzealous bodies for quite some time. This game had the motive of making us practice a very important thing.

It wanted us to practice self control. When we became comfortable being a statue, we could then continue to be in the same state for a very long time. We could then control our body. It is like a meditation right in between the world, where we just freeze and observe. And we must learn to do so even now. We drive the body, and not the other way around. Our body should work when we want to. It shouldn’t be like we are working when our body feels like. Even though the latter takes place most of the time.

Ludo

Oh how much it hurts when the other person who was way far behind when you were in your house wins. A 6 on the dice, on the other hand, is always welcomed. And so is another truth. Even if you do not land on another person’s piece, they may land on your piece and you are sent back to your base. Similarly, if you are good to someone in life, it is not necessary that they too will be nice to you. This doesn’t mean that you should not be nice to someone. Instead it means that you should not expect somebody else to be nice to you. Though I do recommend to land on people’s pieces in ludo 😉 or it will be very difficult for you to win.

Gilli Danda (Tip-Cat)

Admittedly, I have never in my life played this game. But I sure have heard about it. And studied about it (I had to study about traditional sports in 4th or 5th grade) 😒 I learnt from my dad that the gilli, or the shorter stick is hit at one of the ends, and then struck again while it is still in the air. So sometimes, like the gilli, you need to be struck in life to fly high. The harder you are struck, the higher and farther you fly.

Keep playing and learning!

Lockdown – A Blessing In Disguise

May 1, 2020 | 7 comments

Share on:

When we get over with all of this? How long is the lockdown going to be extended? I can imagine your uneasiness ‘cause I’m just as restless for the lockdown to get over and go to eat chocobar 😉 and accomplish the (now fanciful) project of trying out numerous less-known restaurants, markets and cafés. Only for all of it to goin in vain, temporarily of course.

But like all of the universe’s conspiracies, there is a positive side to this pandemic lockdown (though positive may not be the best word to use in covid-19’s context). I mean, sure we are all a little too much bored sitting in the house all day. But, hey, isn’t this what we asked for after an overloaded Monday. Right now, we’d do anything to get that very Monday back. Look at the paradox of life, how much we yearn for even a single day off, and now that we have plenty of it, we yearn for our offices and schools.

Source: https://memezila.com/Quarantine-be-like-day-meme-1750

Well, for now we have many things lined up that make up for us being locked up in our houses like Rapunzel (if this lockdown goes on for too long, the boys will be a tough competition for Rapunzel though).

1.A whole new sense of reality for Gen z

People are getting to time travel. Literally. I didn’t realise this instantly. Like I knew something was different but didn’t understand it quite till my mom drew my attention to it.

Not that I knew about it. I was rather enlightened about it. About the life around 30 years ago. The age where no one went outside on sundays and people saw movies and Ramayan and Mahabharat at home with family, talked to each other standing in their balconies (not on Whatsapp), and youngsters were more concerned with what comic they would read next rather than choosing a pub or a lounge for their next hangout with friends.

If you are living a life, doing the mundane work of someone living in the 1980s, tell me what is it if not time travel. I may sound pretty antique but, believe me, I’m not that old-school, I just prefer people talking to my friends face-to-face instead of uploading insta stories for the same.

2.Chance to start or resume action

Remember the guitar you bought seeing your friend play, that is now making you guilty because it’s just collecting dust. Let me give a suggestion. Go and play it. And remember the book series you thought you’d start once you got the time for it? Go give it a read.

Go ahead and do that thing you’ve always wanted to. Look at the world we live in, everything just clicks away. So, there’s practically nothing that we can’t learn. Be a better person when this lockdown ends. Be someone you weren’t at the start of this. Be the chef you weren’t at the beginning of this. And let me know what you become. I became the blogger I wasn’t at the starting of this lockdown.

3.Time to learn life skills

By life skills, I don’t mean decision-making, creative thinking and problem-solving. Of course they are life skills. But I’m talking about a completely different, yet just as much important, if not more, set of skills. The skills you’ll require together at least once in your life.

They are *drumrolls* sweeping, moping, washing clothes and doing the dishes. Not the most interesting things to learn surely, but they will help you a lot. This lockdown is one such case as well as an opportunity to learn these things. Countries other than India rarely have the facility of maids. And let me tell you in case you are misinformed, that there’s nothing wrong or undignified in this. Absolutely nothing.

Sure thing it’s not easy or very fascinating but that’s the thing with important stuff. Even though I detest doing the dishes, I know that it’s important and since I ate in those dishes, I should be the one to clean them. You’ll be glad that you learned all of this.

4.Turn to go digital

The world’s taking their work online. Are you? This lockdown has pushed us towards a much needed change of including technology in our life. Willingly or unwillingly. But necessary anyways.

People who are working from home have to use apps like zoom and skype to manage the required interaction with colleagues, and students are going on with the studies with help of google classroom.

So if we are advancing anyways, why not utilise the change to its full advantage. Maybe you can get a website for your business if you don’t have one already, or increase your online presence by starting a blog, or earn a few extra bucks on top of your pocket money through affiliate marketing.

5.Excuse to take the break from life you have always been asking for

Look back on the day, before this lockdown,when you thought your boss couldn’t be more cruel and assign you the last minute project. And your best office buddy just did not understand that you were not ignoring him, but were just busy instead. Or maybe the day when your biology teacher told you that the last date to submit that 5 page essay was tomorrow and you had let out all the frustration of your pending work on your friend who was now extremely upset, all of which was making you tired and guilty. For sure you thought, “I could really need a break. I wish I could get one.”

Well, now’s your chance. Take that break now. Do that movie marathon you’ve been wanting to do for always. This is your chance. Grab it before it’s too late.

I just have two requests to all of you. Please, please help in your household work. You live there, so it’s your responsibility as much as anyone else to take care of that place and your family, for that matter. And, stay indoors. The more you’ll stay at home, the quicker the lockdown will be over.

Glossary :

Gen Z – (short for generation Z) Generation Z is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2010s as ending birth years.
Affiliate marketing – Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts.

The Fun They Imagined In 1951

Apr 26, 2020 | 9 comments

Share on:

You know when I was in class 9, there was this chapter called The Fun They Had by Isaac Asimov (students who have studied or are studying in class 9 after the 2018 session will know about it 😉). So, this chapter is set in the year 2155. For real.

It’s about two school age friends living in the 22nd century (the same century as Doraemon, can you believe it?) and having a conversation about an ordinary book (in today’s time) . They had TV screens which had books with moving words, mechanical teachers who came on their screens every weekday at the same time. The two of them and all the other children their age had to submit their homework and test papers written in a punch code into a slot.

They had never heard about the schools in the 21st century (the kind of where I go to) and were unaware about the concept of a school building,a human teacher, classroom or the children of the same age learning the same things together.

Okay, so now what’s unusual with a short fiction story written by one of the greatest science fiction authors, set in the 22nd century? There’s actually nothing wrong.

Except that there’s one quirk – It is not fiction. Trust me, it’s not.

I mean just consider the students around you. They have online classes everyday at the same time. They have to submit their homework on Google Classroom. They (in fact, most of us) use Google, YouTube, NCERT pdf books and Kindle to read and learn about something.

It’s not like they are unfamiliar with a school building or a human teacher or a classroom. Instead, they are familiar with both ends of rope. They know the joy of going to school for the sole intent of meeting their friends, the joy of laughing their hearts out and shouting in the school ground and going home together at the end of the day. They also had (not these days though) the advantage of helping each other with studies and homework (and occasionally, or maybe more than occasionally rewriting it).

My point being?

My point being that this short story was written 1951 as a fiction and it was supposed to be actualised somewhere around 2155 (if ever it was supposed to be actualised). But look at us now. We have actually accomplished this in 2020. Sure, there are no mechanical teachers or homework to be put into slots. But we are ahead of our envisioned fate. About a hundred and twenty years ahead. That’s the power of imagination.

You come up with things about a hundred years of you. People use gizmos, that someone who died about twenty five years ago would not believe could exist. It’s true. Necessity is the mother of invention.

P.S. At the time when we were reading this chapter in class, we had a discussion on the opinion of all the students whether they preferred the future school or the current, and whether they’d rather study from a mechanical teacher or a human teacher.

Well, I chose the current school and a human teacher, not only because I felt that there is no substitute for human interaction but also because a teacher by definition is a person who teaches, according to Oxford. So, a mechanical teacher wouldn’t exactly be a teacher 🤷‍♀️ If it were in my control, I’d stick to human teachers, no matter what. I would surely favor the numerous enhancements. I’m not saying that the human teachers are threatened. I’m just suggesting that if the situation came where one had to choose between a mechanical teacher and human teacher, I’d choose the latter.

P.P.S. I never thought I’d come back to study this chapter from class 9. But here I was studying the entire chapter all over again for this post. I guess that’s what life is. Coming back to things you never would.