GUEST BLOG

Dear Readers – BY NEHA

Today I am extremely pleased to introduce our first guest blogger, my dear friend, Shashi. Yaay!!!

Shashi is a Law postgraduate and is currently teaching Legal Studies. Shashi and I know each other since 2011 and he is among the most innovative thinkers and doers I have ever come across. In fact, Shashi’s zeal for accomplishing what he wants is quite infectious. When he has a passion for something, he goes all out to live it. Apart from being a voracious reader, Shashi is passionate about environment conservation and, with a bunch of his close mates, has started an NGO named ‘People Canvas’. Through its flagship programme ‘Teens for Green’, People Canvas has educated around 3000 students all over India on energy conservation and waste management related issues. The programme is registered with UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and was also included in a survey by BBC Media.

Shashi is a firm believer of the power of words and this is the reason his first post is titled ‘The Conversation’. Readers will notice that his style of writing and expressing his thoughts are quite different from Priyanka and mine, and this is the reason why I wanted him to be our first guest blogger. So without further ado, here is presenting Shashi’s first ever blog post:

The Conversation

- BY SHASHI KANT YADAV

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”

                                                                  - Jack Kerouac, On the Road

One day, in the midst of a casual conversation, a friend asked me, “What is your source of inspiration?” I contemplated for a while and then answered, “It’s people around me.”

As an avid reader, I live in a world of my own which is inspired by people I meet and greet. Every person I have ever met and every book I have read, all form a part of me in some way or the other. Being a keen observer and vivid imaginer, I am vastly influenced by the myriad complexities and behaviors of people around me, including the characters of a book I read. Many writers and thinkers talk about ‘extraordinary’ people and their stories, but what stimulate me are ‘common’ stories and their simplicity. I draw inspiration from the struggle of an ‘average’ man to be ‘perfectly average’. Be it a 9 to 5 job or a struggle to be part of the rat race, the common man is always finding a way to fulfill his own aspirations and hopes.

Being tagged as a ‘Spoiled Brat’, I may not be able to understand the nuances of the struggle and hardships of a common man but through this write-up I wish to thank everyone I have ever met for contributing to my thought process.

At times I have walked alone in random cafés with an appetite for listening to people’s conversations and often I have overheard conversations between idealistic lovers hoping for their togetherness; or listened to a bunch of aspirational youth talk about their dreams of conquering the world; or heard the views of Pseudo Intellectuals on world peace. What makes these conversations utterly interesting is the unconditional hope they all behold. Being a default pessimistic, I understand the kind of courage it takes to be hopeful in a world where every second, dreams are murdered by reality.

As a school student, one hopes to enter in his/her dream University; as a University scholar one dreams to make it big in their workplace; as a new employee one hopes to make big money in their desired work profile and thereafter build an ideal family & so on and so forth. The story of hope is like a vicious circle, but irrespective of whether the person is bruised or healed, he/she always keeps their hopes and dreams intact. To me, it is the conversation and daily efforts of common people to accomplish their simple hopes & dreams that make this world go round.

I was thrilled and excited when my dear friend asked me to guest blog for her. I first began writing on existentialism and then on impostor syndrome but somehow I felt that through these topics I will not be able to engage in a conversation with the readers of this post, as a true conversation demands submissiveness to each other’s thoughts. I thus left my writing in between and just waited for the right time. Today while coming back from a party, I had a conversation with my cab driver about his hopes of owning a house and sending his children to an international school so that his children can dream bigger than him. The conversation was just another ordinary exchange of words but it certainly was illustrative of the fact that this world is full of dreamers; it’s just how much one chooses to learn and gain from their conversations with others. As Guy de Maupassant said  “Conversation. What is it? A Mystery! It's the art of never seeming bored, of touching everything with interest, of pleasing with trifles, of being fascinating with nothing at all.”

You may be wondering the conclusion I am inching towards. Well, I live and think only in abstract. Being conclusive at times kills the conversation and for me to keep the conversation alive, I request all those who are reading this to write about their hopes/ dreams in the comment section below (or email them HERE) so that I can initiate a conversation with you all and keep getting inspired!