Getting a Life

I was reading the much talked about book, 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, GOt Wild and Got a Life'. The book was in the news for all the wrong reasons. The authoress was criticised for plagiarism. One day, she was being praised for having written a wonderful book, the next day, she was put to shame with accusations of plagiarism. Plagiarism is not something that I m going to write about in this blog. If at all any of my articles are used commercially, I may come under the scanner as well for using a few lines here and there from greats.( A few company names are also there. Hopefully, I m not sued for putting the Google ads in here which can very well make this blog, a commercial venture :P ).

Before I take a detour from the topic, Let me get straight into it. Its the central character of the story that caught my attention. 'Opal Mehta', the studious yung girl, who buried herself under the books and a few classical music lessons to fulfill her lifelong dream, er , her parents' lifelong dream which was forced upon her isnt it? Her parents do assess the gravity of the situation and make amends, but then it is fiction. Reality is way different. Anyays, I m not writing about Parenting either.

Where was I? Yeah, Opal Mehta, the studious girl, 'Padhaku' as these kind of people are referred to in this part of the world. I know that a few of you reading this ( if at all any of you take the pains of reading this :D ) are going to raise their eyebrows and say, " What a Hypocrite! This guy himself is a Padhaku and he is asking the padhakus to get a life !!!". Well, to say the least, I am not a padhaku. I may have been, but that was long back in 2nd semester. I got a life then itself, so I can be no longer classified in that category :). Scoring decent grades should not necessarily mean that anybody is a Padhaku. There are so many factors which are taken into account while putting people into that category, the primary requirement being a very high GPA. The biggest factor should be that he/she should be like Opal Mehta. Controversies apart, this is one book of the very few I ve read that summarizes how guys fail to miss on what life has to offer just because they need to slog to make it BIG if not necessarily happy.

My college has got a few Opal Mehta like characters, who dont have any friends. The people who may talk to them are the LAB partners. THank goodness they got into very good companies which will pay them very high. Maybe, they think thats how their life should be. Without any friends, all their happiness to themselves within the confines of their rooms or apartment or whatever. But let me tell you, being an Ex- padhaku, If I came under the classification even remotely before 2nd semester, I know what I missed in life. I hardly had any friends outside of my classroom. EVen those were very few in number. My ignorance about many guys who happened to be in the same batch as me is testimony to that fact. I realised what I missed and from then, on I ve been happy. I m enjoying life to the fullest, being serious when the need be, being the casual bloke when the situation is such. Well, I guess, I was not thinking about writing about my own experiences here. I was thinking of writing about the loads of Opal Mehtas being created in the world today.

Pursuing a dream, they fail to see what life has got in store. They forget that socialising is one of the essential traits of mankind. Its not that, one should ignore his/her studies, responsibilites or anything serious for that matter. But ain't we missing upon a lot of things just because we fear that failure to make it to our goal . We surely will get a second chance unless, we are risking our lives trying to do it and fail, dont we? THen why should someone miss upon a lot of things that life has to offer? Life is not just about books and work. Its about fun, Its about adventure, Its about wholeness, Its about getting a life. So Padhakus...GO GET A LIFE....!