Viva la Freedom! Can I, Will I, Won't I.......?

"Freedom is not free, but the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your share." - Ned Dolan.

"RPG!!! RPG!! Move your butt outta there!!! Need back-up, heavy enemy firing!!" shouted my best pal Ninad. I was just fuddled with so-many bullets waiting to rip my throat off. Two enemy grenades pour cold water over my attempt to kill the hideous Arab dictator, who assassinated the Ukraine president. By the way, the pres was assassinated in public with other civilians being gunned down in groups by the militants. So much chaos in a country that has been nuked by their own country-men. What a disgrace!

No, this was not a dream. The quote that you see above got displayed after I was killed, in the game of course! I sat down playing Call of Duty 4 at my friend's place and the devout COD fan that I am, I just got absorbed in rescuing informants or annihilating terrorist's base and the like. Well, yeah, I was doing this in a very good ambiance with the pleasant air-conditioner blowing cold air above my head and and amidst fragrant air. Hats off to the game developers, the effects actually make you feel that you are part of the U.S. Marine Corps. But, I also dread their situation. So much of slaughtering ever since man came into existence, I do not want to pore over historical events now. Freedom has a price and the price has no monetary value, it defies all materialistic calculation and math, which no top-notch accountant can fathom.


In a world where people judge you by your bank accounts and material possession, we very easily tend to ignore the price of freedom. Be it every field, it is a constant fight to break away from the shackles of everyday life's problems. When we watch small toddlers and babies play and smile, we are elated and full of euphoria. And how we wish that we can swing back time and become kids. If only we could time-travel! Anyway, as a kid, we would eagerly waiting for the weekend to come by and after toiling hard for one full year, we tend to eagerly wait for our Diwali and summer vacations. Freedom is here to stay! Not exactly. Unknowingly or knowlingly, we have to invest all our zing, energy and monies too to be free. But are we really free? Well, we'll see.

I adore all those people who want to be the change they want to see, speaking of which, I am elated about all these people who make their own road. Be the master of your own destiny, come what may. Look at Abhinav Bindra, despite being ostentatiously rich, he decided to quench his thirst, the quench to find a meaning in life. Yes, in the process, he also earned India a gold medal in a solo category, which is commendable, I just hope the bozos operating the so-called "system" get a life and help other budding candidates. So, this incredible feat of his, which the media blared every second till we got really sick of it, had a heavy price of course. In terms of money, he indeed spent a heavy price for learning rifle-shooting and moreover, mastering it. What about time and other compromises that he must have made? I can only gawk. He did not rely on the system to make a headway to success. But, he did rely on his inner-self. The need to be somebody. This would really inspire people to get out of the box and carve a niche for themselves.

Similarly, many other noteworthy people have paid a heavy price to be what they are today. Ah, the sweet smell of success. Then, over-glorified stories follow suit. Good, I say. At least they inspire many a youth to rumble and work harder to do better than the rest. Look at the glorified history lessons, where freedom fighters are described as "the perfect men" sans any negative sides. In my opinion, the human being is like a stereo equalizer. Just like different settings are used for different genres of music, rock and metal sound heavy, pop sounds girlish and hence, their own identities. Similarly, we have different feelings amplified and de-amplified, and all of this collectively, gives shape to our true-character. I do not deny the negative side in me. I am sure you are wondering something about yourselves as well. Having said that, look at all the ex-Vietnamese soldiers. Most of them are into all the wrong stuff, drugs, psychotic killing and hence, we just fail to analyze and understand the events that led to their present situation. Obviously, the circulation of drugs began during the Vietnamese war to a great extent, and it is fraught with so many controversies.Terrorists blowing up places and zeroing in on targets every now and then have all their negative feelings amplified to the core, most of them are brainwashed.

And there is one event that really upsets my inner-self all the time. This one event just makes me feel, when I want to step out on I-day, can I really do so? Can I really express my own freedom of speech right without being shot in public or someplace. Can I really dress the way I want to without being overheard about my dressing sense [Take a bow, girls, this is just for you ;)], Can I really squeal about the "bad criminal guys" and expect not to get my guts blown all over the wall? Can I really touch base upon topics like Child Marriage and the choice to choose your own spouse in a place like Rajasthan? The answer is NO! We Indians and people of other nationalities give in to the hidden freedom barriers and live as though nothing as happened. Time to make waves and bring about change. Change is all about courage, courage and only courage. It takes intrepidity to face your fears and get over them, though it is always a bit lengthy than anticipated. But, hope keeps me alive and I am sure that one day will come sooner or later. The Joker might be strong and a maniac, and there are plenty out there, but, with a legion of white knights, we can move things for good and wipe them out. Easier said than done, but the power of youth is colossal in our nation with 65% accounting for people below 30 years of age. Phenomenal!

As for now, we have one freedom of expression, right. And that is, the right to take a dump on the railway tracks, sidewalks and pee in any suburban area. WOW! Indians sure are privileged in their own way. Long live the undying spirit and courage to show your genitals and then, we cuss all those sultry actresses showing off their assets with panache or even vulgarity though. There is no viewer's discretion here, you have to have a look at it, at least for a split second. Geez. Hypocrisy at its best! Jai [Dharam paa jee Style] :P Hind!

If only......

Another day just swoops by and the typical Leo that I am, I just master my skills at nothing productive but procrastinating. The constant fear of turning 21 always gripped me, ever since I turned an adult, around 3 years ago. Responsibilities and the hunt for a job just makes me grounded to reality that I have to spruce up my spirits and get going. Okay, back to the current situation. I get up early and it just seems like another day at the office. Well, yeah, not when you are up all night long, trying to finish half a season of HEROES, which was my latest addiction around a month back. So, the question of my getting up is out of the question, I was awake the entire night, watching episodes after episodes. With every ounce of energy and courage that I had running in my blood, I dare to face my accounts exam. It starts with me running behind the 385 that passes by my place every 15 minutes. I sprinted till the signal post, finally catching some breath and then, I finally make it to the college without sleeping the entire night. Sometimes, I feel that I am plain crazy, yes, this feeling sinks in as my mother often rebukes me for the same.

With the CCTV being installed lately, we feel very conscious to copy and so I just sat down, poring over my accounts book but in vain. I just sat down with my fellow classmate, talking about random things. I myself could not believe how nonchalantly I behaved at the eleventh hour.

The paper begins. Keith, our supervisor cum office clerk drops in with a weird smirk on his face. I knew he had a major plan to bamboozle us. And my gut feeling turns into reality. Apparently, we were so skilled at copying, given the small time frame to understand 17 complex chapters of Managerial Accounting in a span of 3 months, we had to resort to copying, obviously. The deal was simple, we would first access our e-mail account, download the darn ready-made answers and voila! the paper is done. We would then access our web ct account on the college portal and download the question paper and act as though nothing has happened at all. But, yes, copying is an art in itself. Some morons would save the answer paper on the desktop. Even though all computers are equipped with *document erasers, Keith spotted one of the answer papers right before the exam and hence the smart move by him. I cussed my fellow classmate left, right and center for his folly.

Yeah, morality goes for a toss when your marks are on the line, so do not try to harness nerdy thoughts as I thought copying is equivalent to a major crime of sorts. Not anymore, at least for out of the world and demanding subjects that require a lot more time and comprehension. We always slog in other courses but there are exceptions. Accounts is one of them. ;)

He had got the question paper on the pen drive as he disabled the Wi-fi connection right before the exam. There goes our plan out the window. We had to pull-off something in order to survive the test of time. I just wished that Keith lets us download the paper off our inbox and the next thing I see is the internet working and our dear clerk also gave us the liberty to copy! Strange, I thought but nonetheless, I did not hestitate downloading the paper. Again, I wished that Keith lets us download the file without squealing to the director, Mr. John and he just announced so. I slowly realized that I could read and control minds. WOW! That would multiply into so many things right now, but I had to focus on the exam. I was so excited to use my power. After all, destiny has chosen me to weild this power out of so many odd people on earth. We all stayed low on the radar. But, there was a problem. Our beloved director is always agile to notice even a speck on your screen when he comes down for supervision or even on surveillance, thanks to the morons who tried stealing RAM sticks that would not even fetch 200 bucks. We all thought that the feeling was pure angst against the college. So, I wanted him to just go to some other planet, from this college. My friend just exits the examination lab, heads to the office. Apparently, he was a time-traveler and since I wanted him away, the next thing Mr. John remembers is typing on his laptop in a dense forest with weird tribal people around in the Amazon basin. He froze time too, allowing just our classmates to appear for the exam peacefully. I could have myself made them work to "our" benefit but delegating task is all about teamwork. Aint it? The joy on the faces of the people was similar to that of prisoners when the Correctional Officer was not around. Such is the persona of our director. Too good to be true and I jolted back to reality, reality with all its harsh hues and blues with the director entering in with his trademark "I do not give a flying f**k look". He sticks around until the last ten minutes of the exam.

The exam was a nightmare but I managed to score 19 on 20, somehow, with a bit of tactics and street-smartness. At least I acquired a new skill of maneuvering tactics to pass exams without being pulled up for copying. That is a miraculous power in itself, considering how nerdy I was before joining this college. Time takes us through.

*Document Eraser: A software that erases all your documents every time you either re-start or shut down your computer. Anecdote: Keith apparently has expressed his frustration by turning off the computers during exams, I pity two of my classmates even today.

*In the pic, Keith Kurien, the great during the faculty versus students match. Faculty lost 3-2.

DISCLAIMER: The above story could land me in deep trouble, so all the characters and the story-line are totally fictitious. Just in case, hard work always pays, cheating is just a way to defy the system when some mature people are headstrong to pull you to the abyss, no matter how hard you work. Work hard, in fact, harder! We always recommend that for the long-run.