Great Expectations of Society

I was returning home from a family friends house in Bandra, in split decision I told the auto driver, not to take me to Bandra Station, but rather to Khar Road Station. It was a little closer but other than that, there was no reason for me to have taken the auto down there.

I got to the station, paid the driver, considered looking at the cheap glasses frames that were on display before deciding to punch my tickets and get on the train. I passed my coupons through the machines, and with the buzz of the printer, my train ticket was ready.

I walked up the stairs to the elevated walkway to get to my train on platform 4, I had to catch a Slow train to Churchgate where I'd eventually get off at Mahalaxmi. I spotted that the train was already there, and that meant that it was also about to leave the station, so I hurried.

In my hurry, I almost missed the woman and the man fighting.

The walkway I was on, connected to another, slightly higher walkway which eventually descended into a rather shady looking region. On this walkway, brightly illuminated, visible to everyone around, was a man and a woman.

The man wasn't particularly tall, nor was he built. Just the lean build you'd expect from someone who probably had to work hard every day of his life.

He held the woman's arms and was pleading with her.

I stopped, aware that my 5 second delay was costing me the train home. Nevertheless I stood and waited, unaware whether I had just caught a couple in a bad moment, or whether I was in the front row of a abuse case that would never be covered.

I stood and waited, not because society has been for the last 2 years, compelling people like myself to make a stand but because I wasn't able to dismiss it as a lovers quarrel, or an abuse case.

He held her arms and pleaded with her, I couldn't tell what he was saying, nor would I have understood it. Ignorant me, I don't know enough of the language, despite being from India and having lived in Maharashtra for four years.

She struggled back, telling him decisively that he should let go of her hands.

It had been three minutes and another train to Churchgate carried on below me. It had been three minutes, and a hundred different commuters had walked past the same scene unfolding before me.

I saw a ray of hope, two men, dressed in khaki's, one of them carrying a lit torch. They had to be from the railway or from the police, someone with power who could do something about this!

So I moved closer, up the steps, hoping that these men would notice my attention and notice that they weren't alone on that platform, but rather that a man and a woman were having an argument and that something needed to be done. But they didn't they moved on.

I was committed now, I had stepped onto their platform, I was no longer a bystander, I was someone who can and should do something.

But what should I do? Imagine that he's her husband, imagine he did something wrong and he's begging forgiveness. Imagine that she's his wife, and she's tired of dealing with his shit and wants to leave. Do I have the right to intervene in that private matter? Do I have the right to label him as an abuser and get aggressive with him?

Once again, failing to find an answer, I resolved to remain silent.

She shook free his grip, and tried to move away, but he wasn't having any of that and grabbed her again. She once again told him, extremely calmly, to let go of her. I stepped in, thinking that if anything I could tell him to let her go. That would be enough, yes.

He looked at me and let go of her hands, she tried to move away, but he immediately moved with her, like a defender in a basketball game, covering her every shift with a counter.

I followed, I had raised my voice and said something, I was now part of this process. I had to see what happened.

It is now when I am writing this that I am reminded of the Pulitzer Prize winning photograph by Anthony Roberts "Fatal Hollywood Drama" from 1973 (No. 7) Roberts was armed with his camera, as was I, but he also had his fists, his own strength and his own voice. He took a photo and created a commotion, but the result of that was that a person lost their life.

I was in the same position, I could have taken a photograph in that very moment when he was clutching her hands. I could have taken one even when he pushed her back and she sat down making him sit down as well.

I didn't take the photograph, but continued to watch. Understand that in Roberts scenario, there was direct violence happening, here it just seemed like she was sick of him and he wanted to get through to her.

He raised his voice, causing me to once again get his attention and remind him that I was there. A passerby walked passed me and asked what I was doing, I turned to him and said 'Doing something, could you do something also?' The passerby stood for a bit, like me, just watching, and when the man got angry he asked him what was wrong.

While he never got an answer, he did get him to realize and to hold back. With both of us there, the man decided to let her go, and the woman rose and walked down the stairs. The passerby left, and immediately the man followed after her.

As I'd mentioned, that area was considerably more shady, there were no trains stopping and thus, no people.

Again, I felt that it was possible that the situation might have been resolved, because it became clearer that she knew this man; she never ran, she never screamed, she never hit him and neither did he.

I stood and watched from the overpass, simply because the thought of being alone, could have emboldened him and possibly make him do something.

The third train to Churchgate went, and this time, another train moved in the opposite direction on the same platform that the man and the woman were on.

As the passing train cast them into shadow, I could see that he was either trying to grab her or hold her back, as her yellow sari waved chaotically.

I ran down the stairs, as the two of them moved down the platform, shouting once again to get his attention, so that he knew that he was being watched by someone who wasn't going anywhere.

This scenario had now moved from the overpass to the platform. On the opposite side, was a desk that is generally occupied by police, I looked there, hoping that at least now, someone would do something. That maybe there would be a cop sitting there.

There were two men sitting on the bench, neither one was in uniform. My hopes fell a bit, was I to have to intervene? and if so, what would I do?

One of the men from the bench stood and shouted across the railway lines. The man looked back, he had once again found her hands and was holding them tight.

The voice asked him to let her go, but being so far, the impact of the words were lost. The man from the bench jumped down and moved towards the two of them. He hoisted himself onto the platform we were on and told them to get lost.

Here's the interesting part, while the man held the woman's hands, he'd never hit her, not even once. Yet, the first thing the man from the bench did, was strike the man across the face. The first direct act of violence, came not from the two involved parties, but from an external source.

The man from the bench told them to leave and he led them back up the steps of the overpass, I followed behind him.

He turned and asked me what I was doing, and I told him clearly that I saw them arguing and I wanted to make sure no one got hurt. The man from the bench said that the argumentative man was drunk, as if that solved everything.

I asked him who he was, and he replied that he was a police officer.

My mind was relieved, because I had done what I had to do, I made sure no one got hurt and I made sure the matter didn't escalate and I similarly had managed to see that a police officer was to take charge of the situation.

However this all was bullshit.

The couple walked out of the station, the same way I had originally come in from, the police officer walked back down to his bench and I walked down to the train going to Churchgate.

The entire ride back, my hands shook. My mind was on fire. This incident concerned me.

This is not the first time such an incident has happened in front of me, however this is the first time I couldn't say if I should intervene or not.

I could go on about the alternatives to this event could have been. The fact is that he was drunk, she was not willing to deal with his shit. He could have lost his temper, she could have been assaulted. The thing is that nothing did happen.

Now is that because I was there? I was minimally intrusive, so I doubt it was me. It was because it was a public place? Nope, out of everyone who walked past, only a handful stood to watch, and I was the only one who involved myself. It was because the police got involved? The cop only relocated the matter, he was the only person who actually assaulted anyone. If the man was drunk, and if there is a law on public intoxication, he should have been arrested on the spot and that's it.

What I'm getting at, is that there's a chance that the problem that was visible, may have not been a problem at all. The problem I see, is that we're being conditioned to view events like these and explode them into potential rape cases or abuse victims and charge into the matter without a moment's thought.

I don't know whether what I did was right, or wrong. But I do know that I didn't judge him like society expected me to and I know that I wasn't going to shield someone today, when I very well wouldn't be able to shield her tomorrow.

This is a potentially unpopular opinion.

Look what I found!

I awoke in horror as I realized that the warm sensation that I felt on my leg was actually my urine. I shot up, wetting myself as I rose and suddenly realized that my leg was on fire. Not literally on fire, but the pain was unbearable, and it caused me to fall back onto the floor where I completed my piss.

All things considered, not my worst morning by far.

I lifted my head, trying to see through the rubble that was my apartment. Luckily, my fall had been broken by a stack of pizza boxes and a dozen bottles of coke. I was confused as I could have sworn that it had been a pyramid of Chinese take-out boxes and red bull cans last night but I didn’t let it bother me that much.

I was however, grateful that there were no loose chopsticks lying around. Those hurt. They really, really hurt.

I clambered across the empty pizza boxes, cartons and dirty laundry and dragged myself into the bathroom where I was greeted by a familiar sight, my best friend and roommate Kabir. Kabir, was almost 6 feet of pure unadulterated ghee, weighing a whopping 130 kilograms, his doctors had long told him that he ought to be dead. Credit to Kabir, he didn’t give up so easily.

“Morning Kabir,” I mumbled as I made one final effort to pull my leg into the bathroom. “How was your night?”

Kabir, ever the man of small words, did not reply. Probably because he was curled around the toilet seat, sleeping. Seeing my opportunity, I pried his pudgy hands from the porcelain bowl and shoved him off the toilet seat.

Time was of the essence here as I quickly slipped off my pants and boxers, now wet, soiled and smelling and placed my buttocks on the cool seat. I winced at the cold, however as I began to go about my business, my eyes dropped and saw my leg – Causing me to really wince.

Have you ever seen what happens to skin if it’s brutally dragged across cement? If you haven’t, don’t ever find out. If you have, that’s what my leg looked like.

--

I have no idea what I was thinking of when I wrote this, or what I had planned for this story. However, two years later, it's quite an interesting read!

Charting A Course

It's that time again.

The time where an article pops up on my news feed which is so tempting and so deserving of a click that I click on it. It was titled, " How To Cycle Around The World In 3 Easy Steps - Tom Allen’s Bike Trip"

I don't have to explain why it sounded exciting. I mean, around the word? In three steps?!

Sign me up!

Unfortunately the steps aren't what one might want them to be. Like the Mirror of Erised, everyone will expect three steps that will fit exactly what they were looking for, solutions to the exact problems that they are facing.

The reality is cold and hard, as the advice is pretty much along the lines of telling you to get off your ass and getting out into the world.

Here's where the dilemma starts.

I'm 21 years old. I'm no longer a kid. I have been blessed or born (depending on the readers personal opinions) into a home that has supported and helped me through every desire I have had, morally and financially.

So the thought of giving up everything; just uprooting myself from this life that my parents and my entire family have worked so hard to give me... Well, it just seems wrong.

I know I don't have to uproot myself entirely, nor do I have to vanish forever. But in order to truly be free, to let go of the attachment and really, really cycle without a care. I kind of feel that I have to surrender it all.

Don't get me wrong, if I told my family about this and was able to substantiate the desire, to whatever extent. I'm sure they would have no doubts about saying "go ahead".

But what about my future? As I near the end of my college 'career' I am plagued by the thoughts of what is to come after. Do I run into a job? Which job? Should I be looking at a post-grad? A diploma? In what!? The questions stack up, higher and higher.

Recently we had a workshop in college for Career Charting. The idea being to identify your skills and talents and think about what you would want to be in 5, 10 years and finally when you retire. I had done something similar in December; I basically looked at what I wanted to do with my life. One path lead down Media: Which basically meant photojournalism and possibly full time photography, with a side hobby of films. The other path lead down Politics: It saw me planning to intern at thinktanks, ngos, appearing for the Indian civil services exam and eventually becoming someone who could make a difference in India and the world.

Quite honestly, the latter option was what I ended up hitting. I mean, did I want to be just another person who lived on the planet? Or do I want to make a difference to humanity? Big shoes to fill, but I chose to make a difference.

However, in the last two weeks, I've been handed more responsibilities with some extra work as SC President of my College and I'm questioning everything. The reason for this is simple, working for the benefit of others, is a potentially thankless job. I won't have the exciting and potentially fast paced life that photography might give me, I would be restricting myself tremendously.

So what does one do? When faced with all these parallel paths, how could I find a commonality.

A line that is quoted very often from the poem Invictus is "I am the captain of my soul" and that speaks to me at some level.

As I said, the various paths can be divergent in nature. But if I want to throw myself through the brambles and the thorny bushes between the paths. That's my call to take.

I could do all of this stuff. I could, but how would I?

Off the top of my head, I could go cycling. Get to know the India that exists, if I travelled with my camera, I could take photos and write about my experiences. Maybe I'd get a deal where I can write as I travel, or a book deal. Once that finishes, if I still felt that it was my journey, I could start with the internships at thinktanks and ngos and do the ICS exam. Or I could do something else entirely.

I think it was wrong of me to have tried to tie my life down in such a manner. Life is supposed to be dynamic, exciting, unpredictable and make you feel that you have lived.

If you aren't happy with what you're doing, you're doing something wrong. You need to change it. Thing is, only you can change it.

With the society that we live in today, it's easier, and hence 'better' to stick to the safe things - even if they make you miserable.

But there is hope. I know enough people who have shifted from the things they were successful at, to things they're happy doing. The thing I want to avoid is reaching that point of stagnation and frustration that caused these people to abandon ship. I think it's safe to say that it would be better to chart a course, rather than jump in the blind.

As I think back on what I wrote, I'm thinking "Great! I've totally got this figured out."

Only problem, is that I now have to do it. I don't have to elaborate on how scary it is to move out of your comfort zone...

To that, all I would say is... Little steps. I'll try and inch out of my comfort zone, maybe in a year I'll be ready for this event. At least I'll be done with college!

Lesson about friends

Apparently, a friend is a single soul living in two bodies.

That's kind of creepy. But I get the thought behind it, it's talking about the commonality that exists between friends and how that essentially makes them one 'being'.

Off late, it's been easier and easier to say that, "He's a friend, she's a friend and so are all of them" the term 'friend' has no built-in hierarchy, so a friend is a friend. No medium has highlighted this more than facebook where you can have thousands of 'friends' (Personally I have 590 friends or some ridiculous number) while they're marked as friends, I cannot help that I am betraying the people that are actually my friends. After all, those people have earned the tag of a friend. A majority of those facebook people? Not so much.

What am I getting at?

Good question.

What I'm trying to say is that sometimes a person who you feel is a friend, is actually, not your friend.

Genius, am I right?

In October of 2013, I became the President of my college's student council. Yay, good for me, blah, blah, blah. I never celebrated, because I knew that I had entered a realm that was extremely treacherous and dangerous.

Over the last few months, I've had to make some tough calls. I've had people who have aggressively come at me for certain decisions, or for the things that I represent. I've had to battle them; friends, acquaintances, teachers, etc, I've taken it all in my stride.

I am personally, proud of myself that I have learned the ability to emotionally distance myself from a professional problem. I have had rather head on encounters with several people, however after learning this thing, this ability to not fight, but to discuss, I have really ended up benefiting from it.

In December, I had a sit down with a person who had raised several issues about a number of things, emotions were high and I needed address it. I had had what I would only describe as Cuban Missile Crisis Game Theory encounters with this person, so needless to say, I was sufficiently concerned as to how it might go. When the meeting got over, and in the months that followed, I realized that while we might not agree with certain professional aspects, or even personal aspects, we had enough intelligence and a level of respect and understanding between each other to say that we would make efforts to ensure that this doesn't happen.

In January, I had an incident with a friend, it was a professional one and it soured my personal relation with him, but I was happy to note that as soon as the matter was over, we were able to resume like there was never any problem. I took that as a sign that there was a strong friendship that existed.

What does one do, when an extremely close friend, refuses to understand the boundaries of friendship and professionalism? This isn't about ego, or positions. It's about a person calling me out on the level of friendship and then questioning me about my professional actions.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's unacceptable, because that's taking advantage of my friendship to share your personal feelings about a work decision.

Don't get me wrong, I encourage and urge people to comment and correct me when I have done something wrong. But this is generally at an open level which is still maintained as a professional discussion. This means that I can still meet the person later and not feel that we're going to have the same discussion again. But this...

I don't know what to do about this, my personal logic tells me that systems and boundaries have been breached and something must be done. 'If you stand for nothing, you'll bend for anything' isn't that the saying?

The Spark of Insanity

What's the point of a blog?

Is it a diary?

Is it a portal?

Is it a mirror?

The more I think about it, the more it confuses me. I used to seek solace in writing on this page, but now, more and more, I find greater comfort and solace in keeping my thoughts to myself.

Could this be a drawback of how my life has moved?

When I first started this thing, I'll admit, I was probably seeking attention. I was done with school, all my friends were in college or something, and I was truly just floating around. I turned to writing because that was a hobby and the blog just seemed like the smart thing to have.

I shared my blog articles, after all, I wanted people to know what I was thinking, I wanted them to connect to me.

That was a mistake. Mainly because in a majority of my emotionally driven blogposts, I've been at some of the most extreme points of my life, happiness or sadness. You don't get to know a person from those points, you get to know them from all the stuff in between.

Now, I'm confident to say that I am aware of the circle of influence that I have, it has gone from being just my close friends, and has become every person that I consistently speak to. I know that if I was to share this blogpost, a majority of them will read it.

Which is why I am disgusted. Mainly, because I wanted to write something, but I am more concerned about what people will think and how they might perceive me after reading it. After all, with the additional readership, a few people are bound to come up to me and say, "Hey, I read your blog, nice work" or something with "nice work" changed.

It's like having an open diary, and while that could be a great thing, it's not. Well, not any more.

I should have realized this when I lost the Student Council elections of 2012. I was so pissed off, I went and put my frustrations online, and within two days, everyone had heard about it, if not read it. It was a dumb move because in that instance, I became vulnerable and additionally, I had completely sabotaged an innocent persons chance at being an efficient leader by crippling them before they even started their job.

I've learnt my lesson, I no longer write emotionally charged emails or get into heated debates with people. But at the same time, I feel that I have lost a key element of Virpratap, the spark of insanity (which is how I would describe it.)

What's this spark of insanity? It's just that little bit of madness that allowed me to do whatever I wanted to do, without really worrying about the consequences. It doesn't mean doing stupid things, I do stupid things every day (the other day I got into a slapping fight with four people, good fun, plenty of insanity.) but the thing that has been lost is something special, it's my personal creativity.

Yes, I could probably develop a Student Council 2.0 in a heart beat, but that's not creativity. I could get up and make a five minute speech with less than two minutes of preparation time; but that's not creativity, that's just something that's come naturally.

I cannot remember the last time I felt the urge to write my Great Novel, the last time I felt the urge to take photos or just do something creative.

If I had to string all of this together, and give it some sort of heading, I would say that growing up is more of a drag than I could have ever imagined.

Or maybe, it's just me. Maybe I've gotten way to serious in the last three years. I know that several people might agree with that premise. However, I can say that that's personal progress, and apparently, you cannot reverse progress.

So what does one do when they have reached this point. This point, which even they are not even sure of? Do they go Buddhist and renounce all worldly ties in the attempt to connect to the self? Or do they roll up their sleeves and rip the throat out of the mess they've created?

Personally, I am pretty sure of what I have to do. I have to do what I've always known I would have to do. Fight for Tomorrow.

Oooo! Philosophical line!

I remember some vague lines about a description of a heroes journey, that the hero does what he does, not because he can, but because he has to. It's not so much a line on destiny, but more of a line on the fact that in some cases you have to do what you must do in order to move something else forward.

If I was to drop whatever I was doing right now, I would not progress, grow or develop. Nor would I revert. I'd just stagnate. I've got to finish what I've started.

I mean, insanity is from within right? So there's a chance that the insanity would come back. Or perhaps I'll find some new kind of insanity to keep myself occupied with.

Leadership Advice from Russell Brand

When I told my parents about being elected President of the Student Council, I asked for some advice, I asked ‘How do I be a good leader?’

One of the many suggestions was to watch an interview with Russell Brand. It’s quite a strong one and to be sure, controversial one. However, while every single person I knew was reposting it on facebook saying that it was amazing all I could think was:

“What a god damn ass.”

I’m all for change. I think change is the one think that keeps us as a human race from going extinct. Granted, that also results in the death of millions of species and the general screw up of our global environment, but Hey! Change is happening.

What Brand talks about, actually defends himself about is the fact that he doesn’t vote. He never has, and he never will. I think that that’s great. Each to his own, and I admire him for sticking to his guns.

However, what I hate is that this man, is a Comedian/Actor by profession. He isn’t a political thinker, or a philosopher. He is a comedian who says that ‘the system sucks, so I won’t work with it. I want a new system’

Those words were searing hot, but they have no strength to it. It will get ample of support, because the apathetic people that I spoke about last time? They love it! They’ll make a statue of this clown because he said what ‘had to be said’.

Let’s go back a second, ‘what exactly did he say?’

That the government needs to represent the interests of the people. That they need to solve the economic disparity between the rich and the poor.

Again, we are not privy to all the intricate decisions that a government makes. That’s a separate argument all together, however what we are doing? Blindly saying that the government isn’t working for us.

That’s not how it works. I love that Brand was calling people for a revolution, and I want a revolution, but I want a revolution where the people storm the houses of Government and say, “You will do this for us. We want this. Nothing else.”

But by saying that you should revolt by not voting? That’s not going to solve anything. Your vote is important simply from the perspective that it’s your vote. If you choose to not vote, you are saying that you do not care and you refuse to be a part of the system that exists.

That is unbelievably childish. It’s as good as seeing all your friends playing a game, refusing to play the game, sitting in the mud and decisively saying that you won’t play until everyone plays your game.

And the problem that extends from that; is that everyone will have their own game, or at least different variations of the same type.

Secondly, Russell Brand is hardly a person to talk about the disparity between the rich and poor. Yes, this is a personal attack, however, considering the nature of the statement, a personal touch is required.

Russell Brand is a celebrity, he recently trashed his Hugo Boss sponsor at an event because of some god forsaken reason, and a couple of years ago, he got married in Rajasthan and must have blown more than a couple of million dollars in that wedding that lasted less than a year. If his dream is to cure the economic disparity, would it not be more effective to actually take a personal effort in it?

It’s great to applaud a man who takes it upon himself to say the things that everyone wants to say. But if you look at what he’s saying, and realize how unbelievably retarded it is, you’ll be quick to click the next link.

Last Friday

Last Friday, I was elected President of the Student Council of my college, the Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts.

Woo hoo! Celebrations right?

– No, not quite.

See while I am extremely glad that I have been elected to this position, I have also been one strongest voice in the crowd at college, constantly pushing for change and better practices. So when I was elected, the first clear thought that came to my head was:

“Shit, I actually have to do something.”

Being elected President is a huge honor, but more than the honor, it’s the sense of responsibility.

As a global society, especially here in India, we are extremely quick to say that our leaders are pathetic and that they have selfish motives, etc. Granted, they just might have those motives, but what exactly do we know? Are we there listening to their conversations, or seeing what they’re doing? Not exactly (and I know the witty ones will point out that they’re doing it to us)

How is that related to responsibility? Well, the problem is that my college is filled with a bunch of people who are completely apathetic towards any system of any kind. It doesn’t matter if it’s the college, or the state or the country. They just do not give a shit.

When it comes to quotable quotes, I believe that America nearly a hundred times more than the rest of the world, so to quote JFK:

“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”

I am completely quoting out of context, in the sense that these words appeal to my current situation and I choose to apply them here (quick disclaimer)

When I read that statement, you can see how far the system has fallen. When was the last time the Government, any government asked us, as the people what we want? It’s always a duel, where they’re armed with a meter long sabre, and we’re fighting for our lives with a pocket knife.

Linking the dots. When you have a society that doesn’t believe in the system, because they feel that the system has turned their back on them, it becomes scary to become the person in charge of a system. Not for any other reasons, but because now all the comments are going to be about you.

They might not want it to be personal, but face it. When was the last time the Indian Government wasn’t called a farce, because Dr. Manmohan Singh doesn’t looks like a person who can’t pick his nose without asking someone else?

The system is a reflection of its leader.

So if this system goes belly up, I can blame whomever I want, I can say whatever I want, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be my fault.

I can deal with that. Honestly, I can deal with a hundred people coming and attacking me about a decision that I made, however, what I feel like telling each and every one of them, is do you have a better solution? Did you not think that I personally weighed out the options?

As a society, we are so quick to criticize. To quote Patrick Stokes, a philosophy teacher from Deakin University, who’s article I read a few years ago who starts his semester by saying to all his students who believe that they can say whatever they want and hide behind ‘it’s my opinion’

“You are not entitled to your opinion; you are entitled to what you can argue for.”

I sometimes feel that this is a statement that should be plastered on every street and put on every page of every book. Too many people feel that it’s their given right to complain. Mind you, when I used the term argue, I meant what it actually means, to cite evidence for your opinion. People seem to misunderstand that.

Something that I would like to apply to every single situation that I have to deal with in this next year will be under a banner that comes from all of these thoughts. I plan on asking each person who comes and complains to me about something or another, just one thing. Do you have a solution?

Granted, it’s not their job to think of a solution, but if they’ve thought about a solution, then they personally know that their idea isn’t full of hot air, nor is it invalid. Whether the solution is the right one or not isn’t the question, it’s simply proof to me that they invested in their problem. That’s something that I can work with; because by getting them to invest that little tiny part of themselves into the problem means that they are no longer apathetic towards the problem.

As the newly appointed President of the SSLA SC, I know that since Friday, my biggest problem, and the problem that will hound me for the rest of this year is trying to cure apathy. It’s a challenge and I’m hoping that if I achieve it, I won’t sit back and think to myself:

“Great job kid, you’ve cured two hundred, you’ve only got six billion, nine hundred and ninety nine thousand, and seven hundred people to go”