The Ripple Effect

When a stone falls in water, it creates ripples. These ripples are observed in a wide area around the point where the stone fell. But I bet everyone knows that. How does the simple act of throwing a stone in water create such a wide effect? I bet everyone knows that too. The stone sets the particles around it in vibration. These oscillating particles vibrate their adjacent particles, and the ripple is created and passes on from particle to particle.

So how about it? How about creating a ripple? You just need to throw a stone. A simple smile, a simple act of kindness, simply standing up for what is right, telling people you love that you love them; it’s just a simple act but the ripples will carry far and wide.

We, the people, don’t need an external entity to make the change. We are the change. We are the ones who throw the stone, we are the stone, we are the particles and we are the ripples. We are the ones who create changes and we are the ones who pass them on. It is our duty and our destiny.

We have been led to believe that our leaders are supposed to change our lot, to make our lives better, to turn our country into a developed country. But it’s wrong. We see no progress and we decide that we just chose the wrong leaders. But it’s not up to the leaders. It’s up to us.

Imagine if the billion plus people of India just decided to make small, positive changes to themselves and to their surroundings, we might not become a superpower overnight, but we will make our country a better place to live in. We threw out the British that way, remember?

My stone is to urge as many people as I can to stop drinking, because I believe we’re just filling the coffers of the big liquor companies and their home governments when we drink, and destroying our lives in the process. Instead, when friends get together, they could do something much more constructive that would bring more beauty and happiness into this world.

So how about throwing a stone? There are probably many lying around you. Search, and you’ll find one that fits your hand.

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It's not easy.......

Hi everyone,

Some of you have been reading this weblog since the last few days. But I guess you guys thought those were mere words. Now here I am with some harsh words for you people, specially the so called STUDS of IIT….

Well you guys consider yourselves to be great studs, ‘coz you can gulp down 7 pegs of whiskey and 3 bottles of beer. And what else? What else do you do? You didn’t drink when you came to this place, because of your family values, because of the way you have been brought up. Then all of a sudden there’s this great transition. You wanna become someone else …someone, so why not a stud? So you go to B......., and grab a sutta. It all starts there. Someone teaches you to smoke. You start with one brand and then you switch brands, and increase the number. Then you find a companion to your sutta. The so called IIT campus has a lot of sutta and booze outlets and you can easily go and get some, even if you are not of the legal age.

Then you go to 2nd year. You are ragged, and your seniors treat you, treat you at P., at T., and pass on a culture, a culture which says, “Drink, drink and drink”. You get high and enjoy, and then you go to another treat and again drink there. But what after some days? You don’t have anymore treats. So you go out and spend the hard earned money of your parents and get some booze for yourself again. Once, twice, thrice- sometimes even the count does not exist.

Then you become a senior and now you are the one to pass on the culture. You do it and then in your final year, you again drink, drink and drink; not knowing that someone, somewhere would be getting hurt, directly and indirectly….

Now you join a job and your 2k pocket money changes to 30k in hand. So what do you do? Drink, drink and drink. You increase your drinks. You go to pubs, late night parties and drink, drink and drink, not knowing what can happen. You drink, and you drive, and you are hit. May be you are saved one time. But my dear friends, luck is not always on your side. And you are hit badly one day …and you die …you leave this world …but you leave a hell lot of memories …helpless parents, who do not even know what happened ....and how …crying friends. You won’t be there, but the people around you will be. It’s not easy for them to hear their friend being referred to as a dead body. It’s not easy for them to not talk to a friend, their best friend lying in front of them…but not talking. It’s not easy for a father to light his own son’s funeral pyre......it’s not easy for a mother to forget her beloved son....it’s not easy for a brother to loose all the support he had from a friend-cum-brother.....it’s not easy …..it’s not easy to forget someone ….Just put yourself in that place and imagine. This can happen to anyone. So why let it come? It’s all in our hands, right? We want our families to be happy, right? So the choice is in your hands…. Do what you want to do. But then just remember what I said …It’s not easy…

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Goodbye

Well I just wanted to say that,well, I'm not going to write again. I had been writing in the hope that it would help someone, but now I don't think it will. People need a stronger reason to give up alcohol than the misfortunes of some unknown person in some remote corner of the planet. So I am going to make this my last blog.

Before I go, I would like to share one more story with you-it's about two kids I know. Their parents were friends of my parents, and the father was in the same college as my father. We lived in the same town, so we had practically grown up together-the two kids and me and my sister. Well, their father was an alcoholic. The reason he started on alcohol, from what I heard, was that his career was not doing well. So he started drinking and his career slipped further, and then he drank even more.

I remember, once when we were visiting them, the parents went to one room and sent all us kids out to play in the courtyard. Then the younger one told us,"Papa daaru pi rahe hain(father is drinking)". Imagine hearing that from a kid. He must have been, what, six years at most?

Well, the father gave up drinking after some time, due to the continued efforts of his family and friends, but he had a relapse some years later, and he shot himself. I met this same kid again some time ago(I don't live in town anymore). Guys I can't describe the expression on his face to you-there was pain, sorrow, suffering written all over it. Suffering, that could have been avoided. I wish I could've said something to help him, anything at all, but I didn't have anything to say. He was eighteen years old then, four years younger than me, and he had already seen more of life and known more sorrow than any of us.

This blog is dedicated to him and kids like him all over the world, but specially to him. I hope he finds peace in life.

This one's a riches-to-rags story!

Guys, someone sent us this link some time ago. We think that you might want to check it out too.

http://in.movies.yahoo.com/070903/211/6k9lz.html

We thank whoever sent it to us. It gives us all the more impetus to keep writing against alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, and other addiction-causing substances.

Asking for help is not a sign of weakness

If you have a drinking, smoking or drugs problem, please ask for help- from your family, friends, teachers, anyone. It is not a sign of weakness, asking for help. Instead, it shows how strong you really are from inside. It takes a brave man(or woman) to seek support.

You can find the locations for AA meetings here:

http://www.aagsoindia.org/location.htm

Alternatively, you can call one of these helplines:

• National Addiction Research Centre (NARC), Mumbai
  (022) 65834605
  
  
• T.T. Ranganathan Clinical Research Foundation (TTK Hospital), Chennai
  (044) 24918461 / 2948
  
  
• NIMHANS De-Addiction Centre, Bangalore
  (080) 26995360
  
  
• Hope Trust, Hyderabad
  (040) 23396339 / 23327973
  
  
• National Institute of Behavioural Sciences (NIBS), Kolkata
  (033) 22469662 / 22865203
  
  
• AIIMS De-Addiction Centre, Gurgaon
  (0124) 2788974 / 8

Or, check out these sites. These also have a lot of information:

• http://www.muktangan.org/links.html
  
  
• http://www.gatewayforindia.com/medical/health/drug-rehabilitation.htm
  
  

You know, when I found this information, I thought about how different our lives would have been if I had found it sooner. Then I thought- would I have had the guts to tell him that he needed expert help? You see, I was a bit scared of him. He was much older than me, he was my senior, like an older brother and his friends told me he could have one hell of a temper. He never got angry with me, but still I was damn scared of annoying him. Moreover, if I ever dared bring up the topic of smoking or drinking in his presence, he would give us a look that said that I had crossed some unknown boundary, and I would shut up immediately. He wanted to give it up himself, but he didn't like to talk about it.

It is only now that I realize that I shouldn't have shut up, that I should've risked his anger. All of us should have.

Guys, don't make the mistake we made.Trust me, you don't wanna go about feeling somehow responsible for your best mate's death, or ruin.

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please help......

How many friends have to die before you do something to stop the monster? Everyday so many new kids get introduced to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes; how many of them have to die before you would open your eyes? Would it have to become an epidemic before you do something about it?

We never think we’re susceptible, do we? It’s others who fall victim to such things; but we and our loved ones and our friends are within this impregnable fortress that death can’t penetrate. And anyways, the harmful effects of alcohol, drugs ‘n all are all long term, right? They can’t hurt you immediately, can they? Reality check dude- even right now someone you love, maybe your own kid brother or sister, may be contemplating his or her first glass of liquor. And no, the effects are not necessarily long term. An overdose of heroine, a drunken-driving accident, lung cancer, they cause death pretty fast.

Please, and this is a really very sincere request, speak out against alcoholism. Tell your parents, your kids, your siblings, your friends. Tell them to just say ‘No thanks’. Tell them it’s not cool to drink. Tell them it makes you worry when they drink. Tell them you love them. Tell them you don’t, ever, wanna have to miss them.

If they are willing, tell them to go to an AA meeting (that’s Alcoholics Anonymous). The AA hold their meetings in almost every part of the country, in every country. Here’s a link to their page:

http://www.aagsoindia.org/messages.htm

The message is important.......

Guys, everyone who reads this, we need to spread this message. So please pass this on, and if you have any stories of your own to share, please do share and comment.

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For you, and you, and you too

If you ask anyone in my campus whether they consider themselves alcohol addicts, they would simply answer ‘No’. They just drink now and then, when some friend is giving a treat, or if there is some such occasion, like a job offer, or if they are just angry and frustrated. And of course, they don’t get drunk. Others around them do. They are perfectly capable of holding their drink, even up to the tenth peg!

People here are so proud of being able to hold their drink that they don’t realize that that is how addiction starts. The same high that you used to get after two pegs, now requires five. After some time it will require ten. And finally, you will end up drinking from morning till night in search of that elusive high. It will affect your studies( many people in my campus will testify to that), and wreak havoc on your family and social life, and you will probably lose at least one job after passing out.

I have heard of people in my own campus, people I know, getting into serious trouble because of their drinking. Getting caught is the least that can happen. But there have also been some pretty bad accidents. But does somebody care? Have you ever bothered telling your friends not to drink? They would probably not listen to you anyways. But have you even tried?

If you are someone who likes drinking now and then, even though you are not an alcoholic (not yet at least), you will ask me what business it is of mine to ask you not to drink. Probably none. I might not even know you. But I might know someone who does know you, someone who might even love you, care for you. Believe me, it is not so much for your sake that I’m asking you to stop. It’s for her sake. Or his. Or theirs. In a way it is for my own sake, but you probably won’t understand that.

I am putting one more link to AA here. Anyone who does not want to believe me, may visit here. It is true that people do a better job of convincing themselves, than others.

http://www.aagsoindia.org/messages.htm