The fairy tale love

I need some love, today. Some real, unconditional love.
• Love that would eagerly wait for me and greet me with a warm hug
• Love that would follow me everywhere and make me feel special
• Love that will tell me that I’m the most beautiful so what if I’m dark and fat
• Love that wouldn’t depend on the way I smell
• Love that won’t leave my side even when I go to the restroom
• Love that shows in the eyes and needs no word to express
• Love that doesn’t shy away to kiss me every 5 minutes
• Love that doesn’t seek answers and saves me from despair
• Love that cures my depression of being unloved
• Love that makes me look forward to going back from work
• Love that tells me you’re my world even without uttering a single word
• Love that just makes me feel good about being loved
Maybe that love can’t buy me diamonds. Or buy me expensive gifts. Maybe that love can’t buy me worldly pleasures.
Maybe all this is too much to ask. Maybe it’s time to have a dog. Because only a dog can give you so much love. Even without being asked…


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What women needs

I learnt (from experience) that being a woman isn’t easy. And writing for a woman about a woman isn’t easy, either (thanks to a client). We, women are so difficult to please.
Be it the corporate or the personal spaces, we women are no easy job to handle. Maybe, nothing came easy and hence we are on a mission to ensure that nothing gets any easier for others. The flight for equality hasn’t been a smooth ride and whatever seat we’ve managed to get, we want to tighten our seat belts to a suffocating success. Just to make sure that irrespective of the flights fate, we do manage to land unscathed and unhurt. Well, isn’t it an impossible task? I say impossible because we’re humans and we are sure to make mistakes. So why push ourselves so hard that we become Godly? Don’t we have enough Goddesses to worship and spare the country of add-ons?
I don’t know about others, but as a woman I don’t ever wished to be worshipped. All I want is to be recognized as a human being with similar needs and wants like my male counterparts. I don’t need reservations because that is upfront discrimination, when I think I am no less than a man then why treat me special?
Yes, reservations are required though, not for the urban women like me but for the less-urban women in my country who are seeking independence, emotional and financial. The urban woman has acclaimed her financial freedom. Most of us are in pursuit for emotional freedom. Freedom to lead the life they want, freedom to do things without being questioned, freedom to demonstrate love without the fear of what the society will say and many other freedoms.
But the sad part is many women like me in their quest for freedom have stopped acknowledging the fact that they are different from men. They have stopped being themselves trying to ape the stronger sex. A woman is unique in her own ways and what she brings to the table is something only she does. Trying to be tough is her call but just to succeed like a man is a futile effort. Why can’t she be her own self and still succeed like the way only she can?
In our journey to prove to the world that we ain’t any less, let us not lose ourselves and find ourselves in the missing files. Let us not get so cold that even the best of forces can’t track us down.
Don’t forget to be a woman, women!

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Agency Facts

We fight, pretty madly. We never miss a chance to blame. We are mad. But despite the madness we feel for each other.
Thank God for it!
So if one meets with an emergency, the whole lot drops their deadline and run to rescue. The bosses help with monetary support while the rest don’t shy away from moral support. Support never runs short.
If one needs a drop then the other waits (even at odd hours) to ensure that you’re dropped. While the rest of the office calls you at whatever time, just to ensure you’re safe.
If one gets fired for reasons beyond his control, the whole team puts in their paper without a thought. Just to claim their solidarity. And together the group then searches for jobs.
If one goes through a personal crisis, then the whole group combines to cheer you out. Without a question we render our support and most are understanding enough to keep your secrets, well-guarded.
Even the lowest in the rank is an important member. His thoughts and reactions are as important as the top rankers.
Loyalties are hard-earned. Boss isn’t always right here, atleast, we ensure he isn’t at times. Designations don’t necessarily earn respect but good work does. So don’t expect orders to be followed every time. Rather we prepare you to deal with mutinies at critical junctures.
Appraisals don’t happen regularly but appreciations do follow at regular intervals. Fed by appreciations, most of us don’t ask for more.
We have no cubicles but the space to turn around and say, “I can’t”. We have no flashy workplace but the freedom to do our own things like sketch in the middle of an important con-call or write a post about work in the middle of work or listen to loud numbers when client is blasting loud.
This is my work-world where every hour is different. Filled with stress and steep commitments, this is the bug called “advertising”.



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Who pays to copy?

When I was a kid, I wanted to be another ‘Kiran Bedi’ because my folks thought that would be best for me. And all I wanted to do was please them. That point of time I didn’t know about the big hurdles like clearing the competitive exam where everybody is more prepared than you, maintaining the ideal body weight for which you need hours of physical exercise and so on. All that interested me was Ms. Bedi’s smart demeanor and the dress code.
When I was a little older, I wanted to be a doctor because that is what my dad thought I should be. It is prestigious and well-paying, I thought. By that time, I knew the importance of money due to the strict parenting policies of my folks. As a rule, one chocolate a month and one eating out per month was allowed. They believed that children should be made to realize the value of money. And the fact that they belonged to humble families, might have forced them to curb my childish desires.
When I was a teenager, I started thinking of the glamour world. I thought I was God’s blessing to mankind (like every teenager does). Hence, I’ll be a boon to the entertainment industry. My folks knowing my plans bashed me royally and the idea boomed.
During college days, I started talking to myself. I realized academics aren’t cut out for me. The fact that I wasn’t good at it was another issue all together (something I hated to acknowledge). Either, I slept off during the classes or decided to save myself from the torture by bunking them religiously. But then the big spoiler was the low attendance letter hideously appeared at my doorstep. I tried a lot to hide the news from dad but failed in that too. Obviously, I was induced to some heavy shunting and a threat that ate my carefree days. He threatened that he would marry me off to the first guy he set his eyes on, if I continue to ditch classes. And marriage for me meant end of freedom, plenty of examples existed within my family to scream out the danger signs. So, the fear factor got me thinking about a career that made my presence at home minimal.
Today, I am a Copywriter and I take care of my own bills. I don’t know how I became one because a decade ago I didn’t even know what it meant. Writing was like breathing to me and I started it as long as I can remember. But I was told writers don’t get jobs because it isn’t considered a job. It is a hobby which doesn’t pay. So I tried to find out one that pays and bumped into writing for advertising. As to my folks, they still think that I copy and write. They haven’t been able to figure out why would somebody pay you to copy? Isn’t copying an offence?
I don’t even try to explain because my profession makes sure of my frequent absence from home, social gatherings and anything that I want to make an excuse of. The perks aren’t great but it gives me the freedom to think, write and above all dress without any code.

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Comma may go to coma

Oye Maa!
The learned of the language are dismissing the use of comma and planning to send it on voluntary retirement. They say that comma has served its purpose and needs to be bidden farewell.
As a copywriter, my world and work has generous seasoning of comma that only a comma can do justice to. Maybe in English, comma needs to rest but in copywriting how else can you write without a comma?
• We use it when the clients expect us to talk of different things that has no relation to each other, all in one sentence
• It rescues us when space troubles us and we need to deliver the junk, so no scope for grammar just keep adding words along with commas
• It works when you want the reader to pause and go easy on your labored work
• It is the savior when no other punctuation is available and all you can think of is the non-fussy comma because it is wholesome
• Life or clients may never give you a second chance but our dear old comma is forgiving. It keeps giving you chances to make mistake, all you do is scribble something and keep using it
• Comma has a huge fan club because of its humbleness, hence, most prefer to use it other than the rest
Personally, I love comma in every font. Rather I chose fonts based on their representation of comma. Comma has added a touch of class to my writing. It has become an inevitable part of my writing. Wondering, how will my writing survive without it?
Oh God! Comma should never die…


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I, Me and Myself

Most of us love our space. Yet, if there isn’t someone to share the space, we hate it. This hatred towards life grows further if people around have someone special in theirs. It’s funny, how the bitterness takes the best out of us seeing others happy. We don’t intend to but we end up wishing ill.
And those who deny are living in self-denial because no one can live alone. Men have a little edge in handling loneliness as they are brought up in a certain way. Their upbringing trains them to spend more hours outdoors while women are groomed to be “ghar ki sobha”. Resulting in women facing bigger challenges to fight being on their own.
Here are some of the tips which might help considering my immense experience of being on my own:
• Invest in friends who are for life-long and to whom you can pile on whenever you want.
• Develop a hobby and spend hours in it, no matter how stupid it might look to others, such as gardening, sketching, dancing or plain simple bathroom singing.
• Try to be your best friend. Go on regular dates with yourself. Do things on your own even if people might find it odd like shopping all by yourself, going for a movie, eating out alone.
• Join some social group and make an effort to attend their weekend programmes.
• Don’t isolate yourself from your family and difficult as it seems, make some time to be with them.
• Pamper yourself. Whenever you feel low, visit the all-friendly neighbourhood salon cum spa and just indulge. Don’t worry too much about the bill because you’re spending on yourself.
• Travel as much as you can. Take frequent breaks and venture out.
• Exercise in any form does help. It could be long walks, sweating it out in the gym or whatever you’re comfortable with.
• Most important treat yourself well. So cook for yourself, sometimes elaborate meals too. Dress up nicely and make every effort to look good. You never know when you’re going to bump into that special someone, so always be prepared.
• Appreciate yourself. Buy gifts for yourself. Why depend on someone else to buy you expensive stuff? When that special one comes he’ll spoil you with gifts but till then keep showering the goodness on yourself.
• Try to watch a lot of mushy romantic films because it’ll give you hope. It will ensure that you never stop dreaming of better times ahead.
• Get on the net though watch your steps closely because you might run into trouble. But make the most of the information age. Connect with people or read extensively. Choice is yours!
• Good old reading helps to ward away boredom. When you’re tired of the sounds of the idiot box, switch to books. It makes you intelligent and you can impress others with your intellect.
• Be neighbour-friendly. It will give you the advantage of dropping into their places whenever the loneliness gets too much to handle.
• Being single has one huge advantage – you’ve all the time to yourself. Do good to someone. Get involved in some social work like teach the helper’s children, babysit animal orphans, read to the visually-challenged etc. The satisfaction is immense and adds up to your sense of self-worth.


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It does hurt

Love is in the air. But in our present times, love has a restricted entry only on a particular day. The market is buzzing with greeting cards, gifts, chocolates, flowers and even personalized items to get soaked in this fever of love. And whenever we think of love, heartaches are complimentary.
Relationships have gone complicated but it still hurts:
• When you see the rich going on a shopping carnival at the cost of depriving the ones who work for them. Ditto a famous industrialist who recently rolled out a whooping amount to shop a Cricketer for an upcoming cricketing tournament. While his employees are running from pillar to post to make him pay their wages.
• When you read a new born baby of few days dumped on a garbage bin or in public transport by a family member just because it is a “girl”.
• When a toddler is raped by no stranger but someone she knows and depends upon. She is too young to even realize her pain but the perpetrator is well-prepared and planned.
• When a tribal woman is punished for falling in love to an extent that suddenly the entire village men gets the license to enjoy her. Sadly, they are her own people and the torture is carried to such greater lengths that she has lost all account of how many times they violated her.
• When a young life was wasted just because he belonged to the North-East and looked different from the region he migrated to gain education. And mind you, it wasn’t even a different country.
• When political parties are busy washing their dirty linens in public, accusing each other and giving us no reason to hope for better.
• When a veteran artist awarded with Padma Vibhusan has to plea for years, without any success, to find a home where she can spend the rest of her life.
• When a brave soldier gives the ultimate sacrifice and his family has to do the rounds with the influencers to keep their lamps burning.
• When the talented have to leave the country to make a mark in the world. We have the best brains but still face the problem of brain-drains.
• When a life is lost and nobody even gets to know until nature’s law starts spreading the decomposed smell. Sometimes, even the neighbour’s have nothing to divulge, not even a name at times.
• When many precious lives are lost on roads failing timely assistance by the passers-by due to fear of law enforcer’s harassment resulting in delayed medical attention.


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