Luxury...!

"LUXURY"...

People generally associate this word with extravagance..
As per the definition given on a popular website, luxury is a material object, service conducive to sumptuous living,usually a delicacy, elegance, or refinement of living rather than a necessity..
But this definition changes from person to person..


Luxury might be an act of buying a Yacht with all the latest technology, to a person who has a Super car..
An act of owning a Super car/bike, to a person who is driving a Maruti 800..
Having a car would be luxury to a person who owns a 2-wheeler.. A bike, for someone who has no vehicle..


Owning a house would be luxury to a person who is homeless or lives in a rented house.. Or a hut..

Luxury just gets bigger with the fulfillment of a previous desire..
And when he purchases a house of his own, that will change into a necessity.. The attitude changes..
In the year 1995, a mobile phone was a toy for the Indian rich.. Today, its a basic requirement..


Necessity to a person is luxury to another..
Well, the journey from luxury to necessity is definitely not easy.. It goes through a series of psychological and financial transformations brought about by the society..


Luxury does not always refer to materialistic stuff..
To someone, spending quality time with their family, would be luxury..
Having friends is a luxury to those who don't have any..(difficult to digest this statement, but ask someone who has faced it)

Getting an undisturbed sleep is luxury to an Insomniac..




I redefine 'luxury' as something which is difficult to get..
That is unattainable.. And achieving it is a challenging job..
You can surely live without it too..

Remembering 9/11...

Its been 10 years since the biggest terror strike on the United States of America..
The day, commonly referred to as "September 11" or "September 11th  brought about a big change in the world..
It was only after this tragedy, that the world got to know the actual terrorism, that resides somewhere in Afghanistan..


I still remember that Tuesday evening(morning in USA), when this happened.. Nothing was known until a passenger jet crashed in the twin towers of the World Trade Center(WTC)..
Later, another jet crashed at the Pentagon..
The visuals shown on TV channels were heart-rendering..
This attack was not just an attack on a country; it was an attack on the entire world community..
World's tallest building had demolished..
The twin-towers no longer stood there..


This was the second terror attack on world trade center..
In 1993, there was a high intensity blast in the building..


This shook the whole world.. The power of terrorism was beyond expectation..
More than 3000 people died and hundreds injured were left under the debris..


No one could have imagined that a group of 19 men would create such havoc..
The untoward incident changed the image of our Muslim brothers, throughout the globe..
Bollywood movie 'My name is Khan' had a good message regarding the same..

Little children became orphans.. Lives were shattered..

This attack on humanity can never be forgotten..

10 years after the attack, there is some sense of satisfaction of having avenged the pain.. The killing of Osama Bin Laden, came in as a big news on 2nd May 2011..

A tribute to 911

Here is a tribute to all the people who lost their lives..

May their souls rest in peace..

Follow @manhardeepsingh

My 1st experiment..!!!

It was pouring cats and dogs..
I was doing my assignment..
The subject I hate the most..
Its not a pleasant experience to do something you do not like, but i had no other option.. Its worth 5 marks.. And our education system has a strange liking towards the number game..
And all of a sudden, there was complete blackout.. Power crisis..!!!!
It was later that i got to know that the transformer had damaged..

The task at hand could not be aborted.. I had to do it at any cost..
Soon i had an emergency light in front of me..the work resumed..
I was not aware of the fact that it was not charged..
I was left in complete darkness, again..!

I started to think of the days, when there were no emergency lights/lamps.. And came to mind the luxury of "CANDLE".!!!
In that situation, calling it a 'luxury' would not be wrong..

And the assignment was soon completed..
The flame danced in front of me.. I wondered what candles were made of..
The chemical composition of wax.. It was something very fascinating, at that instant of time..
I had never thought that a simple thing like a candle could grab my attention.. But it happened.!!!
And a series of Google searches began on my mobile..

Wax, or Paraffin wax was an interesting subject to study..
Wax is insoluble in water.. and non-reactive..
But i had also read an article in some journal on 'wax bombs'..
When wax does not react, how is it used to make a bomb or cause an explosion..??
This question haunted me for almost a week..

Then i decided to carry out the experiment myself..
An explosion meant 'danger'.. But it was a puzzle i had to solve..
I created it.!!

I mixed wax with hot water.. with Sulphuric acid.. Nitric acid..
The king of chemicals failed too..
But I could not digest this defeat..( i'm a bad loser)
I tried reacting wax with 17 different chemicals(including reagents)..
I would not stop this mid-way..

Then i recollected a concept that i had studied in 8th grade chemistry..
Increasing surface area by using the substance in powder form of liquid state..
I preferred the liquid state..
And it worked..!!!

Liquid wax was taken in a test tube.. this involved heating the solid wax at 130-140 degree Fahrenheit..
This was then immediately dipped in freezing water..
And there was the Explosion i was waiting for..
A yellow flame accompanied with white odourless smoke..
The test tube cracked and as water came in contact with the hot wax, a reaction took place.. that led to the blast..

Success really tastes sweet and i could feel it.!!!

This experiment is potentially dangerous.. and all precautions were taken while performing it..
Please do not try it..!!!!

Friends.. foes.. betrayal..

This blog is dedicated to a very special person, who motivated and encouraged me to write this blog.. A wonderful human being..!!

I thank you from the bottom of my heart..

Love...

According to me, a FRIEND has no perfect definition..

You can define it the way you like.. Depending on your experience(I hope you understand the hidden meaning)..

The Oxford dictionary defines a friend as, "a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically one exclusive of sexual or family relations..."

I'm sure many of you feel that this definition is a bit too sophisticated to describe your friend..

Lets me rephrase it in a simple way..

"a friend is a person who helps you.. is with you during every thick and thin.. with someone, you can share everything.."

Now, this statement does not apply to a 'friend' on a social-networking site..

You Might have 400 or 500 'friends' on Facebook or Orkut, but do you share every little thing with them.?

I have 430 odd friends on Facebook, but do I tell them everything.?

You know the answer, i guess..

I have made a reference to this on my status updates earlier..

My suggestion: rename the term 'friend' to 'acquaintance'..

But there may be some instances where you met your soul mate/best   friend on the web.. I did.!! (not a soul mate, though)

There are also times when your best buddy turns into a foe..

I experienced this too.. And people, its really hurts..

When all your personal secrets are told to people who are strangers to you..

You know, someone like an informer.. a mediator.. who is working all time to screw your life..

Believe me, they make up a very important part of your life..

Teaches you a very good lesson, indeed..

And yeah, there is an another group of friends, whose company you can't avoid because they had done some favor for you.. Its like, "imposed loyalty"..

And you cannot tell the person that he/she is very irritating..

Its a humorous situation.. May be because I haven't been through it yet..

Now, this category of friends teach you the real meaning of 'patience'and 'tolerance'

Every single person, you meet in your life leaves an impression, good or bad..

Similarly, you too leave a trace on the other person's mind..

Rightly said, ""HAR FRIEND ZAROORI HOTA HAI.!!""

Express Yourself.........

"EXPRESS YOURSELF".. This is more than just Airtel's tagline...
It took me a very long time to understand the real meaning of "express"..
So, coming back to the topic......


What can u actually express.??
Your imagination.. Your thoughts.. Your feelings.. Practically everything....!!!
But the way you do it is different..


For instance, lets take love..
Your partner might call you up, text you all day or personally meet you.. These are not just ways of keeping in touch with you but expressing his/her love for you..
This was about relationship..
Friendship is not so different..
I always feel that, FRIENDSHIP is just a type of relationship with a little less complications..
If your friend always wants to chat with you on Facebook or Yahoo or any IM service, it just means that he/she trusts you and wants to share some part of his/her life with you..
Don't think of it as a problem.. If you are busy, just tell it.. Ignoring the person may create misunderstandings..
But its sad to notice, such incidents are named 'flirting on the web' or 'flirting online'..
I do not dismiss the fact that flirting never happens on social networking sites, but taking it in the general sense would be wrong.. Isn't it.? Think.!!!!


There is an another side to this.. The negative one..
You might have learnt- every action has an equal and opposite reaction.. Every positive has a negative..!!
ok.! Let me not get into atomic physics now.. It is my favorite subject, though..


Sometimes expressing yourself might get you into serious trouble..
I'll give you a personal experience..
Yesterday, my friend uploaded few photographs on Facebook..
I expressed my disliking towards a photo..
I wrote it in the chat box..(I shouldn't have done that, i know)..
I just could not digest a comment posted corresponding to the photo..


Here is another incident..
A friend of mine called me to attend the techno fest..
And all i did was rejected the offer.. Looks pretty rude..
In fact, i should have assured of my presence and then made a good excuse for my absence..


The bottomline: Be a diplomat..!!!


A friend of mine, who also blogs, once told me, "Do not stop the flow of thoughts in your mind.. Just express it.. Stagnant thoughts are of no use.. whenever there is a strong activity(a persistent thought) in your mind, just write it down or share it with someone.."


To sum up: Never be very open about your thoughts..
"Listen to what others say, but do what your mind says..!!!"..
My experience has thought me this..!!

my first blog..

So here i am, blogging for the first time..
I always had a feeling, that writing a blog would be boring.. Blogging has been compared to a test match.. But today this seems to be the best or rather the only way to share my thoughts..
Sharing everything and anything in the virtual world is a good idea or infact the only alternative when you dont have real friends in the real world..


I dont have the habit of maintaining a personal diary..
I started with tweeting my thoughts..
Soon, i got into the number game of getting more followers and made my tweets more commercial.. something like advertising..
I found no one to share my thoughts with..!!


Then came the College life..!!
Life was bound to change- in a good or a bad way, i dint know then..
It was a good feeling to get into a professional course.. A new environment..!
Looked good for a few days, and life went back to square one..
I was all alone here too.. I still am.. :(
(i just realised that smilies dont appear here.. Its not a chat box.. I should get over that habit now)..


So, eventually had to resort to blogging..
Its a way of speaking with myself.. with the world.. with like minded people..