Frozen in time, with words unsaid, and voices unheard,
Frozen, like the icicles on trees, that only melt in due time,
Frozen with love hidden inside, and unexpressed,
Frozen, because nature is too harsh and unbearable,
Frozen and paused, while slow tears stream down the eyes,
Frozen in cold chains, with no space to fly.
Ruqaiya Lokhand
It was New Year 2016 that brought a sudden flood of thoughts to my mind – last year of college, getting into university, good percentage, being responsible and so on. However, the most effecting thought was “Second Year Examinations”.
The word exam itself ran adrenaline in my body, awakening me, tantalizing me on a bit, and finally pushing me hard towards the lone books, kept in the corner of my room. As I turned the cover page of my Physics book, I found out, that the variables, numbers and exponents are dancing in front of my eyes (metaphorically), just like in Ishant Avasti’s notebooks (Taare Zameen Par).
At first, giving CIE in school, and coming to Intermediate Board, I learnt one major thing about myself; I never touched a book until I knew I had to give the paper the next day and always learnt everything on the 11th hour. But, that doesn’t work every time right?
Have you heard about conditioned reflexes? They are those habits which we incorporate with an experience. For example, the sight of strawberry was nothing to me, but a red, cone-shaped fruit with spots all over it, before I had tasted it. But once, the taste of strawberries melted on my taste buds, I was awed by its flavor and texture. And then, the mere thought of strawberries, excited me and made me happy.
You must be thinking what connection do strawberries have with examinations, right? Literally there’s nothing to it, but, as a matter of fact, when talking about habits, there is. I was mistaken that I could do everything in the last moment until I got C in my Add Math paper. It changed everything, just like strawberries were unknown to me before, so was the consequence of bad result, until, I experienced it.
Now, I deal with it like a good hand job to be done every day. One of my college-mate tells me, ‘I always bear in my mind that I shouldn’t waste one single day, even if it’s learning 4 lines of, any law of heredity or refining of a metal’. Her words were simple but so inspiring that for a moment I was zoned-out from the conversation.
So, for me and you, the ‘EXAM-O-FLIES’, are coming to bite us once again (my school friend used to say this). Be prepared with your rackets at hand and give it the best shot you can aim for!
Ruqaiya Lokhand.
On the run… Sounds like a race, in which all the athletes are racing to the finish line to win the title of Olympics. But, in real life all the humans are athletes, who are racing against ‘time’, to fulfill their needs, to survive in this huge world. Though, it seems that everything is going well with everyone, but, on the inside, each person is racing in life with each other, for wealth, for superiority, for getting famous, for getting a better living, and sometimes, this race becomes so nasty, that it takes the face of greed, and then, these athletes try to hurt one another, and at one point it reaches to an extent that one is also disqualified from this race (death).
Let us discuss, ‘why one gets on the run?’ Some people join this race for wealth, so that they can have comfortable lives with their families, but then, while on the chase they forget their families and friends in the search of accumulating wealth. They don’t have time to enjoy their lives and don’t give a care about their own life either.
The race among the superstars is quite common these days, as we are all familiar that they all try to act in different ways to earn awards.
On the other end, the race even ends in a disastrous way, where people become greedy and only consider themselves, without caring about the people around them. They try to push the other person out of the race to earn the title, which makes them a winner but even makes them a murderer. This is totally absurd, when we know that ‘slow and steady wins the race’ and each person gets his victory, and it isn’t necessary that he’ll get it immediately, so, why not try our best in the right manner and then, win the race of life?
So, off you go! On the run…
P.S: This article has been published in Student’s Digest of April 2014.
Hussain Muslim.
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