Of Marshal's and Lily's

While making my way from the bus stop where I sat for 2 long-boring-hot hours to the bridge, one traffic light away to collect the money I earned by sweating and sitting without backrest, I couldn’t help but notice this couple walking in front of me. They were walking at the speed of an earthworm and stuck to each other like a leech. They were so much into holding hands that even when a file fell down both of them bent down together to lift it with each of their free hands, not letting go of the hold.

For many, such a gesture would be irritating/cheesy/mushy/too cute. But I thought it was just their version of expression which was not to be judged (not the walking slow part though!). Probably they were in a new relationship where everything seems angelic, but if they weren’t then there must be something more than ideal about them. How many couples after a few years into being committed talk to each other over the phone for hours? How many of them hold hands like they are never suppose to let go? How many of them feel the zsa zsa zsu when they’re being kissed? How many of them alter plans with their friends just to be with the person they love for 15 more mins?

The answer to the aforementioned questions depends on the length of the relationship for most. Inversely proportional!

I admire those who can maintain the same love/ beatitude/warmth/adventure even when they grow so old that they need to put on their dentures before they can even try to kiss and use wrinkle creams so they look younger and more attractive than the partner. They struggle to walk even while using a stick yet they hold hands to support the other =)

Such are the gestures that make the love last forever and make the relationship stronger with each passing day, with each passing moment.

Of people and their opinions

You see someone who you know you're never going to see again still you make an opinion about that person. You meet someone for the first time and the first thing you do is make an opinion about him (don't deny it, you know you do it). You spend some time with that person you still have an opinion about him (it might be for the better or worse). You love someone still you can't convince yourself not to make an opinion about the loved one.

We all (I being no exception) tend to visualize what the person's life is and what he is like in life, no matter who he is, where you see or meet him, how long have you been with him, how much you know him.

Who are we to make judgments? Who are we to assume their whole background, life, habits? Why do we care? Is it human nature, maybe?

Making an opinion is one thing, but are we allowed to impose it on others? Can we tell a third party how the second party is, based on our mere opinions? Are we allowed to do that? Maybe not?

Then why people all around you want their thoughts to be accepted all around them? Why do people not respect other's opinion? Why do they assume that their assumptions are always right? Why do they want to shut their ears when the view point differs from their's?

I'm a little fed up of the questions. Guess I require a good night's sleep before I can wake up at 5 tomorrow. After all, in everybody's opinion it's a job I can't screw up! I've to play by the rule and live up to that opinion. Right? Maybe?

Of a happy life and a dreadful end

“It’s a boy!” they said and rejoiced. Another member in the family; the only son, the only child. Celebrations everywhere! Happiness and hope everywhere!

Time passed. Little son became a naughty kid. Very destructive. Poor results in school. Complaints from teachers. Scolding from parents. Not-so-good company. Things weren’t exactly the best for him but he was having a ball.

Time passed. Naughty kid became a growing man. He realized his responsibilities towards his family, being the only child. Started to take things a little more seriously yet squeezing all the fun out of life (still naughty). Shy to talk to girls yet having crushes every second day. Not-so-good company were still his friends but he now knew how and when to differentiate. His life was a little on track and he was still having a ball.

Time came. An accident took place. Broken glass everywhere. Curious road-siders surrounded. In the middle, covered in his own blood laid this growing man. His small eyes closed. His breathe faded. His heart stopped.

No one knows what were his last words or his last thoughts. No one. Everything was over in those few minutes; a life, a hope, a family.

Piyush and I used to fight a lot, not because we hated each other but because he was in the group I hated the most.

I didn’t think that this event would shake me up so bad but after crying under the pillow for a few days now, I know that it has. Life is so unpredictable. People say “I live life to the fullest”, do they actually? Piyush did. So what if he wasn’t the topper in school? So what if he misbehaved? So what if he didn’t get into the finest engineering college? All his life, he did what he wanted to and when he wanted to. His parents loved him. His friends loved him. His round face always had a smile. He, indeed, lived life to the fullest.

Of Girlfriends and Pyjama Parties

Clean table, dirty room, lot of work, consistent effort to finish it bit by bit, loud music; seems like I am back in old JC days except that instead a cup of coffee, what lies next to me is a bottle of water; except that the door is not open (cluster mates get disturbed); except that she’s not sitting on the table next to mine to sing along with me (occasionally telling me how bad my voice suck), to talk about guys, to bitch about the world, to share mutual cravings for food, to wake me up in five minutes, and most importantly to tell me that I don’t look fat from side, back and front profiles (After June 2005, it was all lies!)

I miss my roommate and I am not embarrassed to say that because it’s not her why I am writing this (I love you! =p) but the lack of females in my life.

I’ve been brought up with boys, had more boy-friends in school than girl-friends (I hated most of those girls). I am just so uncomfortable around girls. Maybe it’s the universal fact that girls are bitchy; you never know what she’s going to say about you to her friends once you turn your back. Maybe it’s the fear that many of them would dislike me (I am sorry but I just can’t put up the fake ‘Oh! I am so happy to see/talk/spend time with you’ for more than 5 mins’).Though I do try sometimes due to criticism from my male friends - ‘you don’t have any girl friends’, and in hope that I would at least like a few of them and they would like me too. And I do enjoy the company of a handful of them, but the thought of meeting them again and hanging out makes me go zsa zsa zsu and so I tend not to make any such plans.

Perhaps this is the reason why I value the girls I have in my life so much. I love each one of them to the extent that choice being given I’d choose them over any chocolate fudge, any ice cream, any party, any guy.

A Question

World’s growing. And so is the competition. And with it, grows the fear to lose. Everybody wants to be on the top and the way they choose to do that is by putting down the other.

You read in books, you see in movies, and you wish time would fly back to; when kingdoms were fought for yet the boundaries were maintained; when pride was of utmost importance yet failure was accepted; when men were the sole bread-earners yet women were treated with admirable obeisance; when friends spent their whole lives playing/studying together yet never forgot to greet each other with respect.

Have those old golden days of rank, respect and royalty really disappeared in the smoke of sarcasm and crudeness? Have people no sense of friendly yet courteous humor? Do feelings take no priority? Do women not get distinguished anymore? Are friends of no value?

Has the world become too mean or is it just the pessimist in me talking?

...kya itna burra hoon mein Ma...

Taare Zameen Par - It's a story about a little boy who gets sent away to Boarding School because his parents think he's being deliberately disobedient. While he's there, a teacher at his school discovers that he's dyslexic and uncovers a hidden talent for art in the little boy, that everyone else had ignored.

I have always wondered what it would be like to be sent away from home and to go to Boarding School being a little child. My parents (mostly my mother) were adamant not to send any of their children away before they were big enough to decide for themselves and I always thank the powers that be for that. But the more I think about it, the more I begin to wonder what it must be like for children to be sent away from home for half their lives, some before they even enter their teens.

I know, and have heard the popular arguments. Boarding schools make children tougher and more disciplined. They've got better skills when they come out into the world. But isn't that what parenting is supposed to be about? Preparing your kids for the world, molding them into responsible adults? The truth is, I have never been able to understand why people have kids if all they want to do is make their own work easier and send the kids away. How can parents like that ever say that they have actually had a say in bringing their kids up?

It's just like that certain section of parents who have nannies for their kids, right from when they're born. Why do you have a baby when you can't give it everything you've got? I understand that there are careers and people have to make ends meet, but I would be devastated if my baby drew more comfort and security in a stranger's arms. I find that's the saddest thing that any mother could do to herself. Careers can wait; the childhood of children once ruined will never be restored.

Perhaps working till evening and returning home to play with the kids, is how working parents imagine it to be before they bring another human being into this world; but once the responsibilities, of work and of children, increase manifold, boarding schools/nannies/grandparents become the main and major part of the picture. Do parents have the right to deprive the baby of his rights just to reduce the burden? Does money/career undermine another life; life which is a part of their own?

It is so easy when telling the truth. Yup, I'll just leave it at that.