Be a child

Life has its own complexities. As we grow, we complicate it further and crib for the rest of our lives. Today, when Children’s Day has arrived, I have this innate desire to become a child, once again. Because then life was so uncomplicated and simple. Then, the most mundane thing would never fail to excite me. And I was fearless to speak my mind, irrespective of the consequences.
Those days:
Happiness meant a Cadbury chocolate. The process of unwrapping one would brighten up my face. While the process of finishing the product inside would new no boundaries of propriety. I would eat it, enjoying every bite oblivious to the mess it could create over the face and outfit. Who cared because I was still a child!
Heartbreaks meant not being able to run to the park and play without deadlines to pursue. Play my heart out in the outdoors and come home all in ruins. Fight with my playmates over silly loses. Cry all the way back and still be desperate to meet the same friends, the very next day. Forget and forgive was a way of life. I couldn’t spell ‘grudges’ then.
Sadness meant being refused the new curvaceous Barbie in town which all my friends proudly possessed. While I was made to study hard to own one. It meant losing a faded toy, without an eye or a nose, which had wordlessly taken the onslaught of my affection. It also meant mom cooking one of those least favourite veggies for meals and ensuring that I finish every bite on my plate. Gosh! I tried my best to dump it to some secret places but she wouldn’t move an inch away even if a tsunami knocked at the doorstep.
Creativity meant drawing Diwali diyas (lamps) on mountain tops and showing sun-rise at the same time. Even better when my small group of followers, followed me till the T. Result didn’t win us any awards but we were happy that the disasters were displayed for public to notice. Publicity was what we all desired for.
Love meant a simple hug from the parents and dear ones. Any feelings of being abused were unknown. You could be demanding as you wanted without a care of break-ups. You didn’t need to worry about the timely arrival of your periods. Your hormones didn’t make you cranky and weird during those few days. Stomach cramps and other ordeals were not a part of your life. And if you had a miss, you wouldn’t have eaten the happiness of your partner, worrying about it.
Dancing came easy without any fear of the limelight. I knew no moves yet proudly displayed my own steps to an audience which would clap before I could finish hoping that I would stop the onslaught. And I was delighted in the ignorance of being appreciated. Wish I am less aware of the public glare, today.
Knowledge meant filling the pages of notebook with work assigned by the school teachers. Even if it meant writing the same good old ‘sorry’ for hundred times because I had bashed a guy, badly. It also meant crayon drawings in the sketchbooks and proudly displaying it to the parents, who tried hard to disguise their shock.
Stress meant getting less marks than expected. It meant not being able to finish the homework series during the long summer vacation because I was too busy getting pampered by the grandparents. Sometimes, it also meant not finding the school tie, missing pair of socks and unpolished shoes etcetera which got escalated to the parents.
Life was fun but most of us didn’t realize it then. All I wanted to do was grow up quickly and be the grown-ups. Little did I knew that with age comes acnes, aches of all kinds, losses-financial & relationships, gains-weight & diseases, pressure-performance & deadlines and the list is endless.
Aww…how I miss the good-old-days!
Here’s wishing the child in us find reasons to celebrate, today.


Pic Courtesy: Google Images

Winter wows

Winters have arrived. You love it or hate it. You have no choice but to live with it. Along with winters, the wardrobe gets a makeover. Layers of clothing need to be invented. My male counterparts crib because their female counterparts are covered from head to toe. Layers of clothing make it a wee bit difficult to appreciate the forms, better. And with hour-glass figures on display, it is a pity that you need to hide behind maximum clothing.
As far as I am concerned, I hate winters in big bold capital letters. The chill is too much to bear for my middle-aged bones, not to speak of the early morning fogs which make traffic even more troublesome. While I hate the weather, I do love the splash of colours. All hues of red, yellow, green, black greets you as does the numerous cosmetic creams to care for you. The smart coats and jackets flatter the not-so-glorious curves. Even the most mundane fat can be strategically hidden with some smart cuts. Winters do empower you with Guerilla clothing and gives you the option to merge, if your stardom attracts crowd or your enemies hound you.
The other thing I like about winter is the option to bathe as per your availability. The coldness ensures that your body odor doesn’t raise eyebrows or cause tremors of foul smell. Just do a quick dry-clean and you’re ready to go. Giving you that extra minute in bed, to think about matters of national prominence like the outfit to wear. Come on, it is we who make this nation so anything that is important to us is obviously important to the country. And what to wear is always a pertinent question, to make living worthwhile for the opposite sex. What say? So skip a shower whenever you want and indulge on it when you have the luxury of time. This is true winter wisdom for you to cash upon.
With winters, you do have the advantage to make the most of one of the greatest inventions of our times i.e. the refrigerator. You can cook quantities sufficient to feed the army and still preserve it to last long. They don’t stink like human bodies. So even if the cook misses a day, your heart won’t skip a beat. You have buffer to last, but don’t let the partner or others in the family know the age of the food. They might puke in disgust. Be creative and keep rotating wisely. Your chances of never being caught will increase by numbers.
Also, let’s not forget the gastronomical strength we develop over winters. You can feed your stomach to all spices without a scare of the impact. Can you do the same in summers where one mild variation makes the stomach too upset for you to skip work? Even the offerings go to enormous proportion knowing that you need the extra fat to burn the cold. So what if you don’t care to burn the fat, it is too cold to venture out. While the drinks keep rolling with the weather to blame. After all you need to build your resistance to kill the chill. Hence, winters are a must for eaters and drinkers.
The reasons to bear the onslaught are immense. So what if every night before going to bed, I pledge to bunk work, thanks to the warmth around. Come morning, I cry like a toddler on its first day to school. And brave the numbing coldness of my city. Life goes on, I assure myself. Plus winters are not so bad if you count on the advantages minus showers, maids, cooking, electricity bills etc.
Come on! Life isn’t too bad if you give it some serious thought.
Happy winters!!

Pic Courtesy: Google Images

A kiss about to kill

On a busy morning, as I was cruising along to reach to work, I was stuck in an ocean of vehicles and subsequent jams. Nothing out of ordinary, every morning is a battlefield for office-goers. Every second is accounted for and your killer instinct just takes upon you at those crucial moments. You won’t even mind wearing the shoes of a trapeze artist, if that ensured your arrival on time. Not a moment to spare, not a second to ponder, life goes on at a robotic speed.
I always thought that a lot can happen with a kiss. But today, I chanced upon a different kind of outcome which had nothing to do with love. And it wasn’t even a lip-lock. Just a harmless peck, so harmless that it didn’t even have the passion to embrace disaster. Yet, the impact was lethal. People stopped, vehicles scratched to a halt, even the pedestrians couldn’t resist but ogle.
Shortly, a small group of curious onlookers gathered and killed their time in the heated atmosphere. Two people grabbed each other, hurling posh abuses and were ready to punch. Their families were trying to pull them apart while the spectators were enthralled in a live-show of WWF championship. In the midst of utter chaos, the culprits stood quietly, unharmed and ready to move on. No reaction from them could be gathered. Maybe they were in a trance oblivious to the war they just generated.
My precious moments were wasted stuck in this commotion for nothing. I gasped and waited for the mass to disappear. Both the parties dusted the dust on them, combed their hair, listened to the words of wisdom from their close ones. Took a breather and drove on.
Their two cars, our Public Display of Affection offenders, after sharing a harmless kiss looked at each other. Started themselves without a sound. Honked and moved speeding way, taking commands from their masters.
And I was left wondering, “All this for a kiss”?


Pic Courtesy: Google Images

Importance of being nasty

Be nice, girl. Hence, I was taught to speak politely. Respect elders. Not use the bad words. Herald encouraging word to an uncompetitive colleague. Shower kindness to the needy. Blah blah…
But nobody told me that being not-so-nice makes you famous. And most importantly makes your life, oh-so-comfy. People change their attitude towards you. They know you won’t take anything less than what you want from them. They suddenly value your time more and hence will call you only when absolutely necessary. You will never be overburdened with somebody else’s job because you aren’t nice enough to help others.
The world will somehow seem a peaceful place to work without any overfriendly comments to bear with. People will maintain their distance and won’t interfere or show unnecessary interest in your life. They will fear for their lives because they know you can give your peace of mind which in most cases will ruin their state of mind.
In relationships too, you wouldn’t be stressed in meeting expectations because you have no expectations to live by. They know you can be quite nasty so wouldn’t bother you so much. You know how to refuse and so wouldn’t listen to unnecessary obligations/questions/interferences.
I’ve struggled a lot being nice to people, that’s what we have been taught. But lately when I decided to let out the worse in me, I feel more in control. In control of my life, in-charge of my work schedule and most importantly in the process of seeking a respect out of terror that I had never experienced before. Haven’t you seen the government taking so many precautionary steps under threat of a terrorist attack? Would that have been the case under normal situations? Would anybody take so much pain, for nothing?
Hence, the lesson learnt is that it pays to be not nice. It is important to say it out when need be. It is equally important to let people know that you ain’t the sacrificial goat. And will resist, bite if need be. You will say ‘no’ even at the risk of losing out.
Wonder why didn’t the elders preach me the positives of not being nice? Maybe they never realized themselves and still struggle to maintain the niceties. That generation is different and their circumstances were different too. In today’s world, I’ve learned that it is important to be nice but equally important to not be one. Because at the end it all boils down to you and your happiness. So if the situation demands you to shout some choicest words, so be it. Don’t worry about your image. Good girls do abuse at dire situations. Pick the best you know and blast out. It will give you an internal peace, you’re yet to experience. The job will be done on priority with the added advantage of people being “be-ware” of you. You’ll develop a brand image of your very own. Agreed, eyebrows will be raised and you might run the risk of getting the gossips late. But who cares when people start taking you seriously?
Try it, it works!


Pic Courtesy: Google Images

Let the lies low lie, oops another lie

We love lies, accept or deny. The reasons to lie vary though. Some lie to save the world while others lie to just live easy. Whether we like it or not, lies are an integral part of living. Now, we all were taught that lies never pay and you’ll have to pay a heavy price over a period of time. But, what about the bedtime stories we grew up to. The stories of the damsel in distress rescued by the charming prince or the frog that turned into a handsome prince. Weren’t those lies? Nobody told us then that those were imaginative lies of some writers who wanted to impress. Make some big bucks and hence passed their bug of lies. Isn’t it too much to expect to give up something to which we were fed daily? Just like you shouldn’t ask an alcoholic to leave alcohol if you are the one to buy him booze.
Even the penalties at that tender age where built on lies. A mom would never say the benefits of drinking milk to her kids, all she is ready to say is, “if you don’t drink you won’t become as strong as superman/superwoman”. Now, who could have the heart to tell the poor kids that there is nothing like a Superman so why aim to become one?
The saddest part is that only few have the guts to admit that they have lied. They vehemently deny. Common you lied like everybody else. Maybe today wasn’t your day and hence you got caught. So what? Admit it folks and see how the battle is half won. Else you should be smart enough to ensure that your lies are never caught. Only you know that you’ve lied and you can afford to forget it because we do have a short-term memory about our flaws. Be it someone else, our memory will last for a lifetime.
I lie too but I hate to lie because every time I lie, I have the added pressure to remember it so that each time I give the same version. Most of the times I fail because I am not too good at remembering things, numbers, directions and nowadays names too. The added burden of remembering one more thing cracks me and I get caught often. So I avoid till the last until it is absolutely necessary. But I lie.
Some common lies people say:
Oh! When did you say that? I wasn’t there: Although it is a different thing that the person concerned was very much present there and if you’ve had a CCTV you could have proved your point. But who knew then?
Sorry! I can’t come today as I am sick: It is a different thing that you’ve seen this same person roaming around, painting the town. But he/she is sick and you couldn’t challenge that. Life would be really simple if they called and said that they needed some break-time.
I promise I didn’t say that: While all the way you knew that the only person to know it was him/her so the only way to get it leaked would be through the tongue that doesn’t stop. You know you didn’t utter a word so who would. And since when did walls have ears to hear and mouths to puke.
You look divine: When you know what you meant is devilish. But you run the hazard of making life difficult to live. And who wants living hazards, so understandable and bearable lie.
I love you: You know you don’t mean it but that is the only way to get into bed with her. Strange thing is even she knows you don’t mean it, but it sounds good at the moment. So go with it.
Endless list and I am running a risk of getting carried away, so better stop.
This whole world would be a lie without lies. Admit it!


Pic Courtesy: Google Images

Where is the time?

A recent workshop on time-management was held to open our eyes on the virtues of being on time. Impressive jargons were flashed over tedious presentation and tips were shared to be better organized. And I hoped my world will get slightly better to work. But hopes are made to be crashed and that is exactly what is happening now.
Whoever said ignorance is bliss, maybe knows my situation. In the past I wasn’t well-informed so no-sense of time was bearable. Now it looks like a torture when I am fully aware. Clients say in five minutes you’ll get the approval and there you wait taking each word literally. I am told to keep a watch on my time, but what about the wristwatch my client wears? Hey, I don’t even know the brand and it has a tendency to show late, always.
You should come on time and leave on time, is the utopia I live in every day. But what about the meetings which always start late and ends late? Thus, the whole concept on working with time goes to the rubbish bin. Not to mention the looks you get if you leave office on time, hey guys, I worked harder and finished all of them on time. Since when that is an issue?
The general mindset is that if you don’t stay back, you aren’t working and more so if the boss is around. You just can’t leave, leaving him behind. As if he can’t find his way back to his luxury car without you around. So pretend you’ve lots of work that can’t be finished within office hours even it means that you’ve to chat with strangers online or keep checking out hot babes on social networking site. Will then keeping a time sheet help or reveal more than you are ready to reflect?
In an industry I belong, most of the times client sleep till late. They wake up at the eleventh hour expecting you to sacrifice your weekends (and weeknights perhaps your life) for them. And if you refuse to work their way, you risk being sacked. So isn’t it better to work late than not work at all?
That’s another story that the trainer for the workshop was running late for reasons beyond her control. Isn’t it a fact that in life most things are beyond our control? Awareness educates us but what about the knowledge that kills you. The feeling that you are running late because somebody has forgotten to keep watching the watch, hanging somewhere, maybe in a neglected corner where it is meant to be ignored.
To top it all, all you get to hear is “Just give me a little time”. While you know you can afford anything but time.


Pic Courtesy: Google Images

Never say You won't

Here’s another story to keep the festive spree alive.
He isn’t the one to be domesticated. He isn’t the marriage material. He loves his freedom too much to be sacrificed. Neither does he believe in the concept of monogamy. “How can you continue to survive with the same good old daal-rice?” he questions to people in a committed relationship.
His other point is that he can’t be in the race to win affection through constant attention read long hours over the phone, keeping in touch through texting or whatever. He told himself never to commit and sacrifice his singledom. Afterall he was too old.
Hence, at his mid 40’s he was happy to live life, his own style. Stickler for routine he would indulge in few pegs only over the weekends. Over the working days he would hit the gym, cook his maid-cooked meals and watch the television happily till sleep would embrace him. Mornings were jam-packed with work and clients. He was living the perfect dream. Career was going places and he was seeking new territories too. What more could you ask from life?
Then life took a strange turn. His eyes travelled to her in a crowded metro station. There was something different about her. She wasn’t making any effort to gain his attention yet his eyes wouldn’t stop looking at her. She was not conventionally beautiful, dusky, middle-aged and lost in her book. She didn’t even notice that he was gazing at her.
That night he had a strange dream. Her eyes woke him up and he couldn’t sleep later. The meetings became more frequent. She never noticed him while all he did was make his way through the crowd just to catch a glimpse. He stopped himself but couldn’t succeed. The feeling was strange and funny. How could a complete stranger have that power to hold?
Maybe the forces above had a plan for him. One fine day, he found her at his office as a client. He was delighted and couldn’t help blushing every time their eyes met. Her gaze was too hard to ignore. The night that followed rendered him sleepless. Her eyes left him tossing and turning.
Next morning he pushed himself through the crowd just to see her. And there she was lost again in her book. This time he was more confident and interrupted her with the usual pleasantry. She was surprised. The surprises became a routine then. Soon there were more meetings for work too. He planned to meet her at every pretence he could create. From strangers they became friends and he knew that she was single but not ready to mingle.
He liked her unapproachable demure. He also liked the fact that she was completely in love with herself. Made no effort to impress anyone, made no qualms about gaining attention, loved her job as much as he loved his. She was simply no-nonsense person which made her even more irresistible to him. They became friends and he cherished the friendship.
Friendship became more personal and they would discuss things outside work. The more he got to know her, the stronger was the attraction. Now he wanted more than friendship but was scared of losing her because she wasn’t like any of the girls he dated before. The fear of rejection made him weak. The idea of being with anybody else made him uncomfortable.
He would have continued for life like this if she wasn’t leaving the country for good. He was shell-shocked. Didn’t know what to do but couldn’t bear the thought of living without her. Critical situation demanded something out of the ordinary from him. He wrote a mail to her. Got no response for two days, the toughest days of his life. She wasn’t reacting at all to his mails neither has she given a sure shot answer, he was living in confusion. Finally he did ask about the fate of his mail as a matter-of-fact manner.
She replied, “What mail are you talking about? I haven’t got any.” He re-sent her. Crossed his fingers and kept waiting. The wait wasn’t long enough. She called within an hour. All she said, “I was wondering when you’ll pop the question. Thank God you asked.”
They laugh about it now. He is everything now that he promised he wouldn’t ever be. He is domesticated. Eats the same good old daal-rice and has eyes only for her. She doesn’t seek his attention though, because her busy schedule takes care of her time. So much so that she sometimes doesn’t take his calls or gets no time to call back. But he doesn’t mind. Rather that is one of the things that make him fall in love with her. He doesn’t express it in words but let his actions talk. Like the patient wait outside the shop while she shops. Mind you, he hates shopping but it becomes a little more bearable when she is around.
The God Almighty is having the last laugh, now.


Pic Courtesy: Google Images