Sweet Revenge

Summon him who invented the Exam!
Let's see how he likes to mug up and cram
Science, Logic, Mathematics,
(Throw in some metaphysics);
Bet the prospect alone should make him scram!

To lead, or NOT to lead? That is the question.

I wonder what it is about power and authority that scares and excites me so much... It makes me a glutton and a coward at one and the same time! When the opportunity comes along, for me to take charge, I vacillate between taking the bull by its horns and running the other way .
But I have discovered that I am the sort of person to revel in the limelight, and also the sort to blissfully hold up other powers' pennants. That should solve my problem for me, shouldn't it? But no, I still don't know when the time is right for me to take charge and when I should sit back and let the others take the wheel...
(I seem to have messed up my metaphors throughout this load of gobbledygook that I've typed out of sheer ennui, but you get the gist of what I wanted to say, didn't you?)

Growing up.

She sat by the window sill,
Brooding- her sad eyes settled
Unseeing on the fireplace grill-
Her mind with memories filled.

How the years had taken their toll
On this once bright-eyed, happy sprite.
Though worries had swallowed her whole,
Never did she give up the fight.

Of a sudden, sounds the faint cry
Of an infant: and how her eyes
Brightened- like lilies in July!
Oh, how the sorrow fled her eyes!

He was the anchor of her life
When of harmony there was none.
He was born of a bitter strife
That a lapse of reason had begun.

Silly blunder, though it had been,
Its outcome was a precious life.
For him had she resolved to win:
'Round her son, now revolved her life.

True, it had made her quite a drudge;
Nonetheless, so full was her cup,
Indeed never would she begrudge
Those fine days she spent growing up.

Pessimism and Posterity

We all know the stereotype of youngsters- that they're innocent and easily led. We think they're either naively optimistic or are blank of opinions. But what happens when we meet a young person, who's just barely done with his teens, who hates the country he lives in? This person expressed in no uncertain terms, nor in mild ones, that he thought that our country is 'going to the dogs' and that Kalam's 'dreams' are just that- irreality. He insisted that India's plans of becoming a developed nation are at least a 100 years away, and that the process cannot be sped in any way. Not even if the youngsters of our nation 'awake and take lead', because our country just isn't ready for it. The calls and cries for the young of our nation to take charge of our corrupt country are premature and are contradicted by the hypocritic politicians.
Now having listened to this bitter and cynical tirade, what can one do but to say, "Our time will come"? If one man so young loses all hope, then doesn't it make you think how many more out there are thinking "US is US, Japan is Japan, but India will always be only India"?
Well, listen up, young India- a little bit of realistic optimism goes a long way. A little bit of patriotism will take India all the way.