I think I am slowly being converted.
From a confirmed shopaphobic to one who looks forward to shopping trips.
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Ssh...Bitter Confessions
How do people live in a place for years? How did people work in one place for years?
For me, this is an enduring question.
I like meeting new people and making friends. The whole process of making friends is a fine chemistry experiment - how much of this to add - how much of that to subtract for now - how much of compliments, confessions and treating, knowing the right time and amount of blunt truth to be dished out - how much of coffees, movies, and lending of books - how much of sarcasm to be dished on a Tuesday and how much of wit and humour to be showcased on flagging Thursday spirits.
So is it any wonder that once a friendship connection is managed, I am usually flummoxed on how to proceed? You told me I must make a friend in a new place - Done. But Step 2 is what? Maintaining that friendship? Ah so easy...Step 1 rinse and repeat! But wait. What is this new substance that my 'friend' waves hello to, goes on lunches with, makes calls to while I am 'waiting' and generally, doing exactly all that I am doing with my friend?
I will play the hop, skip, slide to the side but are you now asking me to hop, skip, slide to both my sides with the guarantee that I will fall on my arse every once in a while? At the best, that is. At the worst? Hah, I will fall and will probably cause no single goosebump to rise and disturb the larger scheme of things.
So now, I am at a situation of 'Ahem...ahem...what? oh no, I didn't say anything, just a scratch in my throat, oh no I do not mind at all, please carry on' with a parallel commentary in my head going 'Oh are they planning to watch Star Trek this Saturday night? And I am not even being asked about this? be still, make no movement, oh heck, here goes, shucks should have invited over myself, pharaoh! after spending a whole month talking about nothing but Enterprise? Hrmph! I will catch the Saturday morning show!' and poking out an imaginary tongue.
See, if it was you - you will probably have been laughing and having a real conversation rather than an imaginary one and you would have had a fun evening and offered a boost to your friendship with not one but two people. Maybe not enough that they would forget home and ambitions to war with the world for and with you. But then, that happens only once in 500 years, right? So why lose appetite worrying about that?
But with me, the chemistry of friendships is nuclear science. I may know the base elements but I have no idea what to do with them. Most of the times, I do not care. This is sad because I do have an idea of what could be done in a certain situation, but the effort stymies me. I would much rather subject myself to soliloquies, day dreams, lone jaunts to movies, chocolate binges, exotic food haunts (my translation for fried spicy food) and eventual boredom. In a weird way, I like this. I look forward to days when I can do just this. I will sit closeted in my room, with a juicy chicken leg, a plate of biryani on the table, a cup of chocolate cake in the wings, a sexy story to read and a comedy on the telly on standby and during this all, keep moaning about my lack of friends while answering a telephone call from a friend and saying I am too busy and hence, cannot come over for a Barista coffee trip.
And when this gets too tiring and predictable, the city gets too stuffy to negotiate and I am off to a distant land with no friends and acquaintances to slog and grind at new works and tackle strangers through the day.
Oh Woe! Such is the fun of life.
For me, this is an enduring question.
I like meeting new people and making friends. The whole process of making friends is a fine chemistry experiment - how much of this to add - how much of that to subtract for now - how much of compliments, confessions and treating, knowing the right time and amount of blunt truth to be dished out - how much of coffees, movies, and lending of books - how much of sarcasm to be dished on a Tuesday and how much of wit and humour to be showcased on flagging Thursday spirits.
So is it any wonder that once a friendship connection is managed, I am usually flummoxed on how to proceed? You told me I must make a friend in a new place - Done. But Step 2 is what? Maintaining that friendship? Ah so easy...Step 1 rinse and repeat! But wait. What is this new substance that my 'friend' waves hello to, goes on lunches with, makes calls to while I am 'waiting' and generally, doing exactly all that I am doing with my friend?
I will play the hop, skip, slide to the side but are you now asking me to hop, skip, slide to both my sides with the guarantee that I will fall on my arse every once in a while? At the best, that is. At the worst? Hah, I will fall and will probably cause no single goosebump to rise and disturb the larger scheme of things.
So now, I am at a situation of 'Ahem...ahem...what? oh no, I didn't say anything, just a scratch in my throat, oh no I do not mind at all, please carry on' with a parallel commentary in my head going 'Oh are they planning to watch Star Trek this Saturday night? And I am not even being asked about this? be still, make no movement, oh heck, here goes, shucks should have invited over myself, pharaoh! after spending a whole month talking about nothing but Enterprise? Hrmph! I will catch the Saturday morning show!' and poking out an imaginary tongue.
See, if it was you - you will probably have been laughing and having a real conversation rather than an imaginary one and you would have had a fun evening and offered a boost to your friendship with not one but two people. Maybe not enough that they would forget home and ambitions to war with the world for and with you. But then, that happens only once in 500 years, right? So why lose appetite worrying about that?
But with me, the chemistry of friendships is nuclear science. I may know the base elements but I have no idea what to do with them. Most of the times, I do not care. This is sad because I do have an idea of what could be done in a certain situation, but the effort stymies me. I would much rather subject myself to soliloquies, day dreams, lone jaunts to movies, chocolate binges, exotic food haunts (my translation for fried spicy food) and eventual boredom. In a weird way, I like this. I look forward to days when I can do just this. I will sit closeted in my room, with a juicy chicken leg, a plate of biryani on the table, a cup of chocolate cake in the wings, a sexy story to read and a comedy on the telly on standby and during this all, keep moaning about my lack of friends while answering a telephone call from a friend and saying I am too busy and hence, cannot come over for a Barista coffee trip.
And when this gets too tiring and predictable, the city gets too stuffy to negotiate and I am off to a distant land with no friends and acquaintances to slog and grind at new works and tackle strangers through the day.
Oh Woe! Such is the fun of life.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The Roads Taken
Have you walked down a street at 2 in the morning? - All bundled up in woolly warmth but with that tendril of cold dread shooting up your back at each approaching face.
A street that you walk down with such familiarity and confidence under the warm friendly sun but under a blanket of stars, it's all about clenched jaws and unblinking eyes covered up by a deceitful easy swagger.
Have you walked down 20 feet of road flanked with dried shrubs on either side and deserted under the heated afternoon sun? - All covered up in the sweat of speed walking 2 kms from college to tutorial, clutching a collection of Economics notebooks to my chest while holding up an umbrella in self-defense.
A road down which you walk in easy camaraderie and jollity on the way back from tutorial to hostel with a bunch of guys and girls. A stretch which takes you 5 minutes to walk down with friends but which you crossed in a blinding minute an hour earlier with a 3 second break to wet your umbrella under the broken pipe on the wayside. For, whatever uncertainties lie in store, you absolutely must have that wet respite - watching that water flow allows you time to unclench your jaws and have a much-needed saliva respite for your throat.
Have you walked down a road in the dawn chill of 5 am? - Walking a dearest friend down to the auto stand to catch her 6 am train. Then finding that there are none, and so you desperately troll streets looking for the elusive auto. And when you have found one and your friend is on her way and you have come home and crawled into your bed to warm up your cold body, you fall asleep straight away and then dream of your friend caught up in a realistically ominous dark swirl and wake up hyperventilating.
Every road teaches us as we walk past.
A street that you walk down with such familiarity and confidence under the warm friendly sun but under a blanket of stars, it's all about clenched jaws and unblinking eyes covered up by a deceitful easy swagger.
Have you walked down 20 feet of road flanked with dried shrubs on either side and deserted under the heated afternoon sun? - All covered up in the sweat of speed walking 2 kms from college to tutorial, clutching a collection of Economics notebooks to my chest while holding up an umbrella in self-defense.
A road down which you walk in easy camaraderie and jollity on the way back from tutorial to hostel with a bunch of guys and girls. A stretch which takes you 5 minutes to walk down with friends but which you crossed in a blinding minute an hour earlier with a 3 second break to wet your umbrella under the broken pipe on the wayside. For, whatever uncertainties lie in store, you absolutely must have that wet respite - watching that water flow allows you time to unclench your jaws and have a much-needed saliva respite for your throat.
Have you walked down a road in the dawn chill of 5 am? - Walking a dearest friend down to the auto stand to catch her 6 am train. Then finding that there are none, and so you desperately troll streets looking for the elusive auto. And when you have found one and your friend is on her way and you have come home and crawled into your bed to warm up your cold body, you fall asleep straight away and then dream of your friend caught up in a realistically ominous dark swirl and wake up hyperventilating.
Every road teaches us as we walk past.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Cowards, To Thee I Say...
I am a girl, a daughter, a woman, a professional, a secular individual, an Indian and a global citizen.
In each of my roles, I have my own unique set of responsibilities. I have different dreams. I aim for different goals. I demand my different rights.
As a girl, I am responsible for taking care of myself. As a girl, I want to be happy and dream of living the perfect life in a fairy tale.
As a daughter, I am responsible for the happiness and comfort of my parents. As a daughter, I aim to keep my parents satisfied and proud of me even while living life independent of their pressures and ambitions. I have the right to be loved and criticised for who I am and not for my gender.
As a woman, I am responsible for being fair but not unsoft in my dealings with the world. As a woman, I aim to use my female instincts to dust off unwarranted and undeserved males while preening for the one I want. As a woman, I have the right to live life on my own terms and not on terms dictated by the dominant force at a given time and place. As a woman, I demand my right of choice. As a woman, I demand a country and a world where future generations are still left with a world viable and strong enough for their share of foibles and follies.
As a professional, I am responsible for delivering on my job. And then, a little more. As a professional, I aim to touch the loftiest star in my skies while keeping my integrity alive. As a professional, I demand that I be identified by my work and not by my gender.
As a secular individual, I am responsible for understanding my religion and the other person’s religion. Short of that, I am responsible for acting maturely and fairly and acquaint myself with ‘perspective’. As a secular individual, I dream of a world where religions remain personal quirks like favourite brands of toothpaste and not badges of identity. As a secular individual, I am demand that as I do not judge others by their religion, let them not judge me by mine; that I be given the right to live and grow and see my generations thrive in a land undiluted by hate mongered in the name of Gods.
As an Indian, I am responsible for understanding the complex honeycomb concept of India and never dismissing my nation’s achievements and shames and missed buses in catchphrases of the moment. As an Indian, I dream of a world where India is known and seen by the world through the prism of who she is and not in terms of who she inks a deal with. I dream of an India where equal opportunity exists for people of all caste, religion, ethnicity, region and sex; and I aim to not be dismissive of the still births faced on the journey towards being that India.
As an Indian, I demand the right to not be hijacked by other people’s war in my own land. As an Indian, I demand the right to not be held hostage to the whims and moneys of jobless and idle satans. As an Indian, I demand that my country be acknowledged for her strengths and may no Indian or non-Indian tarnish that with gratuitous exposition on her scabs.
As a global citizen, I am responsible for understanding the uniqueness of the world we inhabit – the fascinating rainbow of skin and eye colours, of thoughts and beliefs, of faiths and rituals, of tribes and races, of soils and life. As a global citizen, I am responsible to be not selfish enough to pawn the future of this world. I aim for a world where citizens will not be identified by their colour of skin or length of their clothes. I aim for a world whose people understand the value of this earth we inhabit and who realise that only in togetherness shall we survive and prosper.
As a global citizen, I demand that personal quibbles be solved over a cuppa in a coffee house and not in gunbattles. As a global citizen, I demand that politicians and leaders in all garbs think of countless voiceless me’s in this world before embarking on violent carthages rather than just thinking of their own personal I’s.
As a girl, a daughter, a woman, a professional, a secular individual, an Indian and a global citizen, I demand the right to reclaim my space. I demand that my country be returned to me, for jobless thoughtless cowards have no right to wreck the fabric in the weaving of which they had no hand and dried no sweat.
As a girl, a daughter, a woman, a professional, a secular individual, an Indian and a global citizen, I say to all ye cowards now – Take your fight somewhere else. This country has stood by you for 60 years and when it chastised you for bleeding her, you turn on her like your age old enemy. You have no honour. My country and her people pride themselves in being honourable. Yes, we have had great moments of shame. Yes, we have made inerasable mistakes in judgement. But if we cannot sit across a table and talk, then you do not deserve to hear ‘fair trial’.
A frustrated and despairing person’s curse be on all you cowards: “May you all rot in your special Hell.”
In each of my roles, I have my own unique set of responsibilities. I have different dreams. I aim for different goals. I demand my different rights.
As a girl, I am responsible for taking care of myself. As a girl, I want to be happy and dream of living the perfect life in a fairy tale.
As a daughter, I am responsible for the happiness and comfort of my parents. As a daughter, I aim to keep my parents satisfied and proud of me even while living life independent of their pressures and ambitions. I have the right to be loved and criticised for who I am and not for my gender.
As a woman, I am responsible for being fair but not unsoft in my dealings with the world. As a woman, I aim to use my female instincts to dust off unwarranted and undeserved males while preening for the one I want. As a woman, I have the right to live life on my own terms and not on terms dictated by the dominant force at a given time and place. As a woman, I demand my right of choice. As a woman, I demand a country and a world where future generations are still left with a world viable and strong enough for their share of foibles and follies.
As a professional, I am responsible for delivering on my job. And then, a little more. As a professional, I aim to touch the loftiest star in my skies while keeping my integrity alive. As a professional, I demand that I be identified by my work and not by my gender.
As a secular individual, I am responsible for understanding my religion and the other person’s religion. Short of that, I am responsible for acting maturely and fairly and acquaint myself with ‘perspective’. As a secular individual, I dream of a world where religions remain personal quirks like favourite brands of toothpaste and not badges of identity. As a secular individual, I am demand that as I do not judge others by their religion, let them not judge me by mine; that I be given the right to live and grow and see my generations thrive in a land undiluted by hate mongered in the name of Gods.
As an Indian, I am responsible for understanding the complex honeycomb concept of India and never dismissing my nation’s achievements and shames and missed buses in catchphrases of the moment. As an Indian, I dream of a world where India is known and seen by the world through the prism of who she is and not in terms of who she inks a deal with. I dream of an India where equal opportunity exists for people of all caste, religion, ethnicity, region and sex; and I aim to not be dismissive of the still births faced on the journey towards being that India.
As an Indian, I demand the right to not be hijacked by other people’s war in my own land. As an Indian, I demand the right to not be held hostage to the whims and moneys of jobless and idle satans. As an Indian, I demand that my country be acknowledged for her strengths and may no Indian or non-Indian tarnish that with gratuitous exposition on her scabs.
As a global citizen, I am responsible for understanding the uniqueness of the world we inhabit – the fascinating rainbow of skin and eye colours, of thoughts and beliefs, of faiths and rituals, of tribes and races, of soils and life. As a global citizen, I am responsible to be not selfish enough to pawn the future of this world. I aim for a world where citizens will not be identified by their colour of skin or length of their clothes. I aim for a world whose people understand the value of this earth we inhabit and who realise that only in togetherness shall we survive and prosper.
As a global citizen, I demand that personal quibbles be solved over a cuppa in a coffee house and not in gunbattles. As a global citizen, I demand that politicians and leaders in all garbs think of countless voiceless me’s in this world before embarking on violent carthages rather than just thinking of their own personal I’s.
As a girl, a daughter, a woman, a professional, a secular individual, an Indian and a global citizen, I demand the right to reclaim my space. I demand that my country be returned to me, for jobless thoughtless cowards have no right to wreck the fabric in the weaving of which they had no hand and dried no sweat.
As a girl, a daughter, a woman, a professional, a secular individual, an Indian and a global citizen, I say to all ye cowards now – Take your fight somewhere else. This country has stood by you for 60 years and when it chastised you for bleeding her, you turn on her like your age old enemy. You have no honour. My country and her people pride themselves in being honourable. Yes, we have had great moments of shame. Yes, we have made inerasable mistakes in judgement. But if we cannot sit across a table and talk, then you do not deserve to hear ‘fair trial’.
A frustrated and despairing person’s curse be on all you cowards: “May you all rot in your special Hell.”
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Whee!!!ful Day :D
I am officially 30 years old today. And I think I have just had the crackiest, most happy, most wonderful and most delicious birthday ever.
The second part of the day, especially, saw me wearing a perpetual smile :D
*Shoutout to Joy* - I may be able to interest you in a certain video ;) very soon.
Thanks for the shower of sparkles and sprinkles...
The second part of the day, especially, saw me wearing a perpetual smile :D
*Shoutout to Joy* - I may be able to interest you in a certain video ;) very soon.
Thanks for the shower of sparkles and sprinkles...
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