Its 3 months since i moved to this new place. There is a school near by and today morning i happened to hear the assembly. I was taken back in time.

Its years since i attended the assembly in school but still the memories are fresh... I used to be in the choir and we used to sing everyday in the assembly. It used to be quite a long assembly. First the song, then the prayer, then pledge, then newspaper, thirukural, then one of the faculty used to give messages everyday. Finally back to classes with the music on. :)

Then we would be called by our music teacher for practice for the next assembly. :) As i reached class 12 we had to choose SPL for the year. I was one of the candidates. Of course lost the election. :) but i had the opportunity of conducting the assembly when the SPL was not available.

So my day started with the memories of my school.. What a great time i had..:)

Meaningless lives

There was a news about a boy of class 12 committing suicide a couple of days ago. Reason being, he had met a girl of class 10, 2 months back in a dance class and had befriended her. They made plans of going for a movie and the girl's father saw them and warned the boy to stay away. Immediately, the boy returned to his house and committed suicide. The paper claims the girls father instigated him by his talks.

What nonsense???? What kind of a responsible individual will this boy turn out to be???? He seems to be such an emotional person. This boy could have committed the same mistake even if anyone else had scolded him. Say for instance his father or mother scolds him. If his teacher scolds him, else if his boss scolds him.

I would say the parents are also at fault. I can feel their grief but

Children must be taught to differentiate between good and bad. They must be taught to be responsible. They must be taught to be rational. 

What I fail to understand is they are big enough to know that they need to make a life first. How else will they support someone who comes into their lives? Why to rush things? You have all your life ahead you..

Recently I also came across another case where the son in a family committed suicide due to love failure. The girl denied saying he is not settled. This family has two daughters who are bread winners alongside their mother who worked in construction sites and is now a flower seller due to age. This guy is an irresponsible guy who used to take hard earned money by force from family just to drink. Steal things from home. The two daughters are not married yet due to family constraints. Now do we really have to mourn for his death? 

I don't see any strong cause behind their extreme steps.

When one can't handle rejection how will you survive? Everyone dreams of success.. Works for success but only after rejections do we taste success. 

I would call such people not weak hearted but people with a weak mind and weakly principled. They are people you can never count on.

How easy was it for them to end their lives? Did they think about their families? How devastated they would be? About the parents who would have spent sleepless nights from the time you were born? What about their dreams regarding you? All you have done is gift them sleepless nights till their end. 

I despise such characters and find them so selfish. 

Children should be taught the value of life right from a very small age. They should be guided at every step in life. They should be given right focus/goals in life.

On a second thought, why would they take such steps? What would be running in their minds in the final moments? Would they have liked to change their decision by any chance? Dint they speak to anyone about their problem? Dint they have any support system? Dint they talk him out of his problem? Where did things fall short? 

This only shows how important it is to have a support system... A support system that acts not biased and can knock some sense when it is most needed. A support system which can just extend those hands and pull you back from an abyss...

A visit to Agra

It was the 6th of July... my dad's birthday.. So the day started well with a birthday cake..yum!!!!We had to celebrate early as we had planned to leave to agra that day..

So at 6 in the morning we started our journey to Agra. The Palwal roads were pathetic. it took some time till we reached some proper roads. It was a nice journey as it had rained the previous day and the chill breeze hitting your face. It was almost 10 when we reached Agra. As we neared Agra the roads were so bad. It has a world wonder and is a very famous tourist place yet the approach roads and the surroundings are not maintained well. Its sad to see such a plight.. Finally we reached Taj Mahal. We finally got down in the parking area.

The Taj Mahal is almost 1 to 2 kms from here. You have battery cars and also jatkas (carts pulled by horses), hand rickshaws and camel rides. The rates are very very minimal.

So after a long journey we wanted to use the rest room and asked for one. The guy whom we hired to take us till the taj mahal showed us one. Man i would never step into it again if i was asked to do it. It was so damn pathetic. Absolutely nothing near to even 2 % of sanitation. The agony is the guy charges you for such pathetically maintained rest rooms. I wouldn't mind paying even more if it was kept clean. No proper buckets, mugs, lights, mirrors, wash basin, taps... yuck!!!!!

Then we got back into our hired battery car. The driver was busy giving information about the place. He said as there is a danger of the taj turning black because of pollution, the govt. has ordered that in a radius of about 1 km you cant drive any vehicles. Only pollution free vehicles can run that too only till the entrance. There is no industries here it seems. People have small cottage industry like handicraft work or the hand rickshaw type of vehicles. The govt. has given them free battery car for which they charge very minimal charges for their expense otherwise its free.

The Taj is closed from 10.30 am till 11.30 pm for cleaning. As we were there by 11 the driver took us to the meena bazaar there nearby. We got to see sarees made out of bamboo, banana which would just pass through a small finger ring with no difficulty. They are crease free... Quilts which can be folded into very small package. They are very light and thin too. You can really pick up some nice stuffs from there. All these are made by residents of the Agra jail. Best part is you can return them once you want to discard them too as these materials are re-usable. You get a 50% return value too. Shoes made from camel leather.

Finally its 11.30 and we are all set to go visit the Taj Mahal. There are 3 gates and finally we are at the Taj. Man its a sight to see... I loved the vast expanse.. There was nothing that could hinder your view. Shah Jahan definitely must have been a man with taste. hehehehe.. Lovely environment... beautiful gardens... You almost have to walk to the Taj for about 5 mins... As you enter you have guides and photographers mobbing you to engage them.. I tell you its worth having one. They get you some nice pictures. :) In fact there is a special place allocated for photgraphers. :) They charge you about 50 to 60 rupees(sorry i dont have the symbol downloaded yet :)) per photo and they deliver it in 45 minutes.. We also had few photo sessions done..

Then we strolled towards the Taj hogging as much as we can through our eyes. :) It was drizzling then... Lovely experience... Taj looks beautiful with its blue background (sky)... Everything about the Taj is so artistic... Let me add a few pictures...

As you enter the gates....

Wah Taj Boliye!!!!!!

I loved the flooring.... Symmetry is something you will notice everywhere in Taj...

Each colour semi precious stones were brought from different countries of the world. If you throw light you will notice its hollow and it gleams in the light. You can find this work everywhere in the Taj... Such beautiful designs.. I was touched by his love for his wife...

Such beautiful patterns are done through out..

The Yamuna....

Even the drain were given such attention and done tastefully..

A window

Parapet in front of the Taj

Taj through my eyes.

Camel rides available outside the Taj. They ply from the Taj to the parking area.

Horse carts...

It was noon by the time we came out and then we headed to the Agra Fort. You can see the Taj from the Agra fort and vice versa. It was a great feeling being inside the Fort. Though many rooms were not for public view still we can get hold of the life style of the Moghuls.

I was busy capturing them in my camera and finally my battery got exhaushted.. :P My parents and husband were then happy as i was worrying them to pose for the pics and was delaying by taking pics.. :) Typical me... but its a must see place

Other places which you can visit is the Sikandra; Akbar's tomb... Also if you have time you can touch Vrindavan...

It was such a memorable day in my life.... A day with history....