Personality vs. Intelligence

I was recently asked to compare personality with intelligence."Personality", I said," is apparently more important than Intelligence."Most of the heads nodded in disagreement.” You gave the wrong answer!”, my friend told me.It might be the wrong answer to be spoken in public, but don't we all know what makes us prefer a person over other and what makes us decide our friends?Do we take an IQ-test before we offer to be friends with a person?Of course, if your friend turns out to be super-intelligent, you made a lucky choice and you think more highly of her/him. But, that's only after you introduced yourself to her/him because you liked her/his style or dressing sense or popularity quotient or the way she/he talks or smiles.Personality can be developed. Intelligence is rarer and mostly, God-gifted.This makes intelligence more covetable. A good personality is more desirable, though.(Whom would you recognize first-Hritik Roshan or Stephen Hawking?)If life had been about scoring well and earning high, I would have given intelligence more preference. But since, it's friendship, relations, society and people around us that make life worth it, personality gets a higher score from me.What do you think-Personality or Intelligence?

I Never Loved You

To tell you the truth, I never loved you
Because your lips weren't red & eyes weren't blue
I tried to avoid you in different ways
To save myself from seeing your face
'My friends would laugh’ was my fear
I felt embarrassed to find you near
But at the time when no one did care
To console me you were always there
When all was shattered & my life was a mess
You gave me love and happiness
What happened? Why couldn't you wait
for me to change or was it too late?
When I realized what a heartless life I had led
I found your body in front of me, dead!
Your lips weren't red & eyes weren’t blue
but you gave me love that was very true.'

(forgive the 15 year old 'me' for the flaws)

She suffered from T.V.

Manisha (name changed on request) was very excited. She had been invited by NDTV to its show. “Some show called Money Mantra, I guess”, she told me.
“Great!” I said, “Do let me know when I’ll be able to see you on T.V.”
“Of course”, she said, all eager to be seen on T.V.
I wasn’t much excited for I had many a times refused to oblige NDTV people by my presence amongst the audience. But ignorant her, she really was happy to have been given the offer. (I was trying imagining how she must have reacted at the time when she was given the offer. But somehow, I always found myself not imaginative enough to get the exact reaction)
“Three of my friends accompany me to the studios. They’ll send a cab to pick us up and drop us back!”
This was one thing I hadn’t ever known. They send a cab to pick the audiences up! Gosh! There must be too many of my kind who turns down their offers.
“Cool!” I said, “I hope you have a nice time. I’ll be waiting to see you on T.V.”

The lucky day finally arrived.
How was it? Here’s a summary of what she told me.

The cab arrived at 10:15 am to drive four of their precious audiences to their fully Air Conditioned studios (She felt cold there.)
The shooting (something on travel and tourism) began at 11. It continued for about one and a half hour. It was so very boring (with host, Pankaj questioning ‘some’ Ankur, ‘something’ in travel and tourism industry) She took it, anyways, with the broadest of smiles on her face. (She was to be seen on TV!)
Whew! Somehow, it got over and now the cab would drive them to their college, where there’ll probably be some people talking about economics and stuff; But that’ll be more interesting than an episode on Travel and Tourism.
The cab? Where’s the cab gone?
Damn! They took a three-wheeler to their college. They were confused, frustrated and exhausted. But, they still were excited.
5 pm- the telecast on TV!
5 pm- she, with her family, took a seat on the sofa facing the TV and switched on what had been the most ignored channel.
She went the whole (boring) thing again just to get a glimpse of herself. The whole family sat without blinking even once. They waited and watched. It was only Ankur and Pankaj on TV, and a few of the lucky audiences, at times. But no Manisha.
They did not lose patience. They watched continuously.
And there! A little bit of the suit she wore was seen.
The show ended. So did the enthusiasm.

So much for a part of her salwaar-kameez being shown on TV!

I wouldn’t make a guess on whether she’ll accept such offers again.
But she is definitely a positive thinker.

“But I forgot to tell you something”, she said.
What, I wondered.
“One of the boys amongst the audiences was real smart!”

Every cloud has a silver lining (no matter how negligible it may be)

A Change?

For eight years, we have laughed at each other, with each other and amongst each other.
For eight years, we have lied to each other and lied for each other.
For eight years, we have lived for each other and we have lived each other.
For eight years, we have been each others’ reasons for presence at schools.
For eight years, we eight friends have been a team.
Today, after eight years, we are at different places, even miles away from each other (only geographically, of course)
But there are some things that keep us from missing each other. And that’s probably our own ‘new’ friends.
Never had I thought that it would take just a few minutes to make new friends at college.
Never had I thought that it would take just a few hours to know each other.
Never had I thought that it would take just a week to call my ‘new’ friends my close friends.
Never had I thought that strange acquaintances would make a team and this soon.
But, one thing that I had known forever is that what creates a difference between mere existence and life is called friendship.
And perhaps, everyone knows this, inside. Perhaps, this is why we could recreate lives so soon.
My friends at college (new no more) have helped me relive my days at school.
They have helped me realize once again the magic that gossips hold.
They have helped me feel once again the thrill of bunking classes.
They have helped me rediscover myself, and all in a period of two weeks!

So, has college life brought in a real change in my life? Not quite.

I am really grateful to my friends, old and relatively new, for persistently helping me equate life with friendship and friendship with bliss!
Thank You, friends.