Vande Mataram

"So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked." --Mark Twain

India, a very prolific country. I've been living here since 15 years. Pretty much through out my life till now. This country reminds me of a lot of things. One of the biggest being, Myself.

I would have never stood where I stand today, had I not been born on this country. I would never know colours, in their true sense, if not for india. I would have never known the cows-- The Gae Maata! In the literal way! I would have never felt the fun, of flying kites on 15th August. I would have never got goose bumbs while watching the Republic Day Parade.

I would have never learned that feeling of pride when I see our "Tiranga" flying high in the air..

I would have never known myself, if not for my country..

Please hold hands with me, friends. Let's make a difference. I think the time has come. Indeed. We need to start our movement.

And by "Our" movements, you'll know what I mean,once you read the peom below that i wrote..

Be my human chain guys..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

My Human Chain With You.

I have roaring dreams,

dreams that make me twist and turn at night.

Dreams that make me restless,

dreams that make me think,

when the rest of the world sleeps.

But... That silent music of introvertism,

kept the roaring dreams,

tightly shut in a box.

You know why?

Because my dreams demanded change,

My dreams demanded me to rise,

My dreams kept pushing me towards extrovertism,

My dreams kept pleading,

Crying i'm the last hope..

But today,dawn has cracked,

Not on Earth . . . Yet,

But in my heart.

I've found the key,

to that little box,'

where my dreams and thoughts were captives . .

I scream out today,

and hear me well, friends!

A change I'd like to make,

is for you all to start dreaming.

A change I'd like to make,

is for you all to forget race,caste,and creed.

A change I'd like to make,

is for you all to work.

Work; towards a birghter India,

a brighter future.

A change I'd like to make,

is for you all to not join hands with "Brain Drain".

But my friends,

A change we need now,

This very second;

Is for you all to get a vision,

Not just sight.

A vision that enables you,

To be grateful to this land,

This land; of our father's sweat.

A vision that teaches,

You to propogate,

Not dominate.

A vision that makes you,

A born leader,

to lead India to change, to rise to the top.

A change I'd like to make,

is for you all to join hands with me,

And make the longest Human Chain.

A human chain that symbolizes,

to even the stars up above the zenith, the heaven,

The change that you're a part of,

The change you made,

The change for good,
A changed paradise called India. . .

-- NILANJANA BHATTACHARJEE.

Vande mataram!

=D

I had a nice day.
Well, yea, I did. It's one of those very normal days, but just certain comments make them the best:) So today, I really want to thank ALL those people who knit my life with me, and made it sooo freakin speacial! Even my blogger friends, cause they've been there too, cyberly hi sahi ;D

It's crazy how the past year just went by. I mean, look at it! Durga pooja's in a month!! And how slumped in anguish we were, last year thinking that we had a whole year to pass now..Ofcourse, in a year, too many things have changed. Friends, school,studies,family and I for one have really changed. And honestly, I have no regrets about it. True friends stuck around, fake one's left. Which suits me fine, actually.

Recalling the kind of tomboy I was a year back ( I still am! And proud of it) But some things had to change, and they did for the greater good.

It's August already. God. I was working my ahem off last year at this time for Zonals.. This year too, I will be playing. The only difference is that I'm not going for coaching, and rather will be given VIP treatment to just step into the court and play for 40mins ;)
I know the fact that I'm not prcaticing will effect my perfomance. ALOT> but that's the way it has to be this year, And i have to live with it.

I have moulded myself into a different person, and you guys have helped me. God! Just a year, and it feels like a decade! I've learnt so many things, and tried to make myself better . As a person and as a worker,too .
I've found new goals, and new sides of myself... Sides that were hidden are now out, and I think I'm amazed at how many sides came out.. Not in the bad way!

I've realized people's importance in my life, speacialy certain people who were there. No matter what. They acted like my stick through life, and I could never pay off what they did for me.

I'd like to thank Him-- up above, and Him-- down, here with me.
I love you. Always will.

I want to thank ALL my friends, you all are the best . Simply the best. And for those who lost contact, i hope the very best for you all. And for those who didn't want to keep in touch, well, I hope you guys get along life well.
No hard feelings... :P

I'm walkin with my old friends, picking up all my new friends.. and waiting for the ones to come :)

I'm walking with almost everything I had, maybe leaving bits for the best... and I have miles to go...

Take care every body, and don't regret life, no matter what.
When they say "Make the best out of now!" they say it right.
Some people learn it the hard way, and some people are just smart like me ! ;)

hhaaha.
Be smart :D
Actually, hard way's also fine :P

I love you all :)

and you all Rock. Just keep smiling!
\m/

Ways to live life forever

I've been ill from the past few days. It's been very boring, and hardly anybody was home. Studying was not an option-- for the simple reason that I didn't want to, and going out wasen't one aswell-- cause my mum would have disowned me:)

Anyway,

so I've been doing alot of reading lately... Finished quite few books.. The last one was called "Ways to live forever" by Sally Nicholls.

It's about a book that a kid writes who has lukeamia.

I cried, I laughed, I frowned, I ridiculed, I scowled, I made every possible expression while reading that book. . Because the ridiculously beautiful way it has been written really shook me up.

I thought it was pretty kidish, at first. . but then the way the author has explained how the Kid {Sam} aquires and lives certain wishes that he only dreamt of doing, but never thought of it as "do-able" with the help of his friend {Felix} is amazing. . It's funny how visualy dynamic the book was, because I could see everything, right infront of my eyes.

I realized once again, that all these worries we take of not being able to study hard anough/ fidgiting over what to do over the next 90 minutes so it's *utilized* well/ how to act infront of the guests coming home/ how to get the XYZ scholarship are trivial issues at the end of the day if all you care about is being happy after all.

Even if you're dying.

Sure enough, all of that is very important, I couldn't agree more that a future/money/job/home/etc everything is important... But... what I think is... I think I'm an okay human being, i don't like being mean, and I don't like being a bitch to anyone .

I trust myself enough that w/o unfair ways, and with my hardwork, I'll reach the top...

But that'll never stop me, from sitting on an apple tree during a power cut, and feel like I'm in space.

;)

Read the book guys :)

Cheers!

Scholastic Book Launch.

Yesterday, was a beggining to what my life is going to be.
The first Book Launch ever, that I was a part of.

Let me give you all a lil rewind of whatever happend, so you guys don't find yourself utterly lost !
;)

Well, every year, there is this National Scholastic Writing Awards Competetion by Scholastic, in which kids all over India send their entries, their stories, and their thinking.
In that comepetition, I came 5th position all over India.

So,
recently I was informed in school that my entry had also been selected for getting published in a book called "For Kids, By Kids" which was a compiplation of stories by children who've got a national level recognition in the field of writing.. I was invited to the book launch, as I was one of the authors.

Yesterday was the Book Launch.
I went... And the first thing I saw were more than thousand copies of the book being sold in the counter. Excited little kids, and smiling parents,and interviewers, and everybody else, everybody was just running around, buying copies of the book.
It still hadn't sunk in.

I went to the counter and picked up a copy, my parents were waiting for me to get the book.
I went through the content, I couldn't spot my name. Despair covered me like a tight black blanket, I felt complete dissapointment for whole 10 senconds. I came back in form, and gave it another try...
anishk, rhea, blah blah.. xyz.. abc... . blah....... Nilanjana Bhattacharjee- Breaking Free.
THERE IT WAS!!!!!!
My heart skipped atleast 3 beats! {Okay, maybe just one }
But.. I saw my name. My story, right there..I took a copy, and took it to my parents..
My mum and dad was talkin to someone else, dad introduced me to that person, saying "Yea, my daughter is one of the writers.." and this person leaped over me sayin "Congratulations dear!!!! Doesn't it feel great!?! Keep it up darl!!!" and went off.

Then, this lady came to me, and said "Hi, I'm the organisor of this event, your name ?"
I said " Nilanjana Bhattacharjee"
"Oh! You must be one of the authors then!! Welcome in! Please have a seat in the Author's seats, yea, right over there" she said, pointing towards a direction.
I stared at her blankly, "You must be one of the authors".
I was thinking to myself,
This lady said I was an author. I. Yes, I!!
What?!!!!
"No wait, Nilanjana, don't freak. Be a good girl, go sit."

I went, and sat. Trying to look through these people who were looking at me intently.
Finaly, the program began.
We were asked to read out little extracts from our stories.. i read my favourite part..
At the end of it, someone asked me
"What inspired you to write something on Breaking Rules , and Chandni Chawk together?"
I said
"I just wanted to send this msg accross, that today Breaking rules is considered a wrong thing to do.. but what people don't get is, breaking rules is a part of discovering yourself, who you really are, what are your limits, and where you start and stop... and as far as Chandni Chawk is concerened, people really need to discover where our real Delhi started from, from where New Delhi began.... "
And then there was this hugeee roar of applause for me!
FOR ME?!!
It sunk in. Finally. It did.
"Today, I am an author. "
It sunk in.


I saw someone's face without who this feeling wouldn't have been complete.
I was living my dream.

after few more questions, we were made to conclude the gathering,
we spoke our last few words, and it officialy ended... But not unoficially!
There were little kids, guys, girls, ladies [!!] coming upto ME and asking for autographs!!
This lady made me sign a couply of copies
"This is for my daughter"
"this is for my grand son"
"this is for myself! please sign it!"..

Never in my life had I signed autographs for someone, and today, so many kids and adults were asking for my autograph!

I had lost count of how many books I signed.. i could see the excitement in the other fellow authors with me too, when they signed..
we were all under 16, and this was our frst time, ever...

I got my gift hamper., and when I went into the bookshop , there were MORE people wanting to talk to me!
I gave some of them my email, and I made a friend "Meghavarshini". She was a book fanatic like me, and we had similar tastes. Also met this interesting person named Anirudh. He seemed to be extremely well read, and very polite.

My parents and family were too proud. Mom said "there was this lady who said, who knows? your daughter might be the next jhumpa Lahiri!"
I could tell she was proud. My dad too.


My night ended with a high, with a high of happyness.

This was my first step towards ambition.. I can see many more now.. Coming to me, and I am decending forward.. right towards them..