Lost...

I am pretty sure, that all of us, at some point or the other have a discussion… well more of an argument actually… where we vehemently defend our generation from the rather snide perspective of the one preceding us.

Blame it on the ‘generation gap’ as much as you like… but there always seems to be a grain of truth in whatever we say and hear at these conversations….

Typical...

I love to think of myself as a typical teenager.

I feel I have the same worries as my compatriots, similar tastes like my peers’… and even a comparable lifestyle.

In short, I consider myself to be just like every other nineteen year old out there….

So, sitting all alone and marveling at the resemblance of our society to a school of fish… yeah, I think high (read weird) thoughts when I am drunk… I was just listing factors that somehow connect all of us individuals… into a unit.

Parent Payback...

It has been a while since I last discoursed on the fine art of bugging, hasn’t it? Well… I’m back with more… and guess who our poor unsuspecting victims are this time….

They are the ones who have annoyed and angered each of us the most… they are the ones who we have always played pranks on since we were kids… they are the ones who have time and again cut our allowances and put us under curfew….

Outcast-1

Lying on the grass in the shade of one of the many trees, the boy seemed totally at ease.

The gentle breeze that blew from over the lake ruffled his hair, and sent a shiver along the blades of grass all around him. It seemed so natural that he was to lie here, that the scene might have almost been incomplete if he were missing. His body languid and at ease… with a reckless abandon that might have made passersby frown.

Outcast-2

Siddharth was an engineering student… one of the fifty thousand in his city alone. Becoming an engineer was pretty much in vogue… even though students subsequently went off to study unrelated subjects, or worked in jobs totally unconnected from the field, it was still the thing that most of the intelligent students did.

For Siddharth, the situation was a bit different.

Outcast-3

As he walked home a short while later, Siddharth thought about the contest. He didn’t know any of his teammates but assumed they were good coders. The possibility that they might not be exceptional didn’t even enter his thoughts.

He was weird in this way. He expected that everyone was outstanding in what they did… he could not understand why anyone should want to endorse mediocrity.

Outcast-4

Siddharth gazed out of the window as he waited.

He had been introduced to his fellow teammates a while back… and now they were all waiting for their HOD to show up so that it could be made official.

They had been waiting for the better part of an hour.

As they all sat in silence… the four students and Mr. Dubey… Siddharth dwelt on his first meeting with the other three.

Outcast-5

Over the next few days, Siddharth’s routine changed dramatically.

Gone was the blankness and lethargy that had apparently been his trademark. Gone was the immense boredom that one could almost taste… pouring off him. Gone was the simple and uncaring manner he had always put on.

Outcast-6

The scene was almost identical to the one two months ago.

Only this time Prashant had shifted to Siddharth’s side of Dubey instead of Suraj’s…. It was symbolic… well… sort of.

Siddharth was gazing listlessly out of the window again. The warm and overcast day’s grey light somehow made the grass on the lawn outside seem greener… more appealing. He watched a few students stretched out on it… enjoying a rare free period. He wished he were out there too….

Outcast-7

Siddharth sat perfectly still.

A blue folder rested across his knees as he stared into nothing. He looked different… on account of the suit he had donned. He was about to be called in for an interview… for a job….

The interview was for a position in IBM. It was very lucrative job with a tough screening process. Siddharth was one of only two people to have reached the interview.

Sunset...

Unmoving and still every single leaf,

Each hushed as if frozen in place,

Yet there was a breeze steadily blowing,

 For I felt it… felt it upon my face.