Grab the Silver Lining

The roses are no more radiant

The violets have lost their vibrance

Sky is always grey

It’s to loneliness, I fell prey

Satisfaction eludes when I pray

Music has lost its melody

Even comedy feels like tragedy

It is quiet outside but no peace within

Though there is no reason for it, I can pin

There is death everywhere I see

Oh, this world if I could flee

    But where would I go

    For, my mind is my foe

    I close my eyes and sit back

   But everything under the eyelids is growing black

         So, I cry and then cry some more

         And to myself I swore

         To hear my head's little voice

         which puts in the picture, that I have a choice

                          Let go love laugh and live a little

                          This whole caboodle is second fiddle

                          For, the grey sky will again shine

                          When the stars will align

                            Cut all the flowers you can

                                The spring does not follow a ban.

Being Positive in times of Corona

These testing times where the world is plagued with a life threatening illness and everyone seems helpless about it feels like a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie. In fact there was a movie named "Contagion" based on the reality we all are facing today. There is uncertainty about our health, our jobs, health of our loved ones and its okay to be anxious and feel overwhelmed about it. I guess, most of us feel so and its pretty normal. But we do have to hold our horses and make a conscious effort to get through the end of this tunnel, in One Healthy Piece.

Staying positive can be a task in these challenging times, so I have tried to come up with notes that can help as an anchor in days to come

1. Treasure the value of CONNECTION.

Toughest times reveal true identities of people close to you. We can take this time to evaluate who needs our attention and care and who is responsive to our love and affection to determine who we want in our lives.

2. This is not ETERNAL

The uncertainties we are going through now will not last forever. Time and tide changes so be grateful for the good ones and accepting of the bad times.

3. Cherish the LITTLE THINGS

If we miss something we were used to seeing, doing, or being, we will begin to notice the little things we miss in particular about that person, place, or thing which we missed noticing earlier. Count this as a sign to be grateful for what we have now and as a reminder to honor the little things, once we are back to our normal routine. 

4. New PERSPECTIVE

Our lives have taken a 360 degree and that too without our permission. We have been presented with a different view towards life. Lets take this time to pay attention to what we see now and how we feel about it.

5. Don't Fuck up on your FEELINGS

Don't be under the pressure of "Make the most" out of lock-down. This extra time on our hands has given us endless possibilities to take up some courses, create artwork, have meaningful conversations with people we haven't had in years etc etc. But lets not allow these possibilities to pile pressure on us. We humans are gritty and want to rise above our circumstances but we need to slow down and feel our emotions, give ourselves permission to grieve, feel what is happening around us and be humbled by it. Its okay to be messy, not to know what happens next.

"You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world...but you do have some say in who hurts you.

I LIKE MY CHOICES." - John Green (The Fault in our Stars)

That first night away from home

I ventured out from home almost a decade ago to pursue the golden degree of MBA. The experience of living away from home gave me lot of edges and curves. The most crucial part of this stay is the first night spent in the new surroundings with new people in absolutely brand new bedding. Okay, I got you there at the brand new bedding but frankly there is nothing dreamy about it.
I do have a distinct memory of my train journey from Delhi to Mumbai, the location of my college. The highlight of the journey was my crying marathon, listing to the songs from the Gangster, just above my mother's berth. I guess she was running her own marathon of sorts. My mind was filled with uncertain thoughts about future when we disembarked from the train at Bombay Central. The air was heavy with moisture and raw fish odor.
Seven hours later, I was waving goodbye to my mom trying to hold back giant wave of tears. And she let her oceans flow as the taxi sped off. I came upstairs to my room and tried to find comfort in my new bedding, instead I cried my heart out. And that's when the stark reality dawned upon me that
The Circus of Life has begun. There would be free falls, constant juggling of roles and responsibilities, some magical music, maintaining balance while walking on tight rope of life and I will be meeting some jokers along the way.

His college is few hours away from home but the thought of Hostel breaks his heart every time his mind wanders to near future. Its his first night away from home today. He is standing in his hostel balcony overlooking a garden with a fountain in between. Its pitch dark and way past midnight when he whispers into the phone with tears welling up in his eyes, "Didi ghar ki bahot yaad aa rahi hai". I want to transmit myself to the other end of the call and wrap my baby brother into a tight hug. Instead a thought takes over me, "The Circus of Life has begun", for him.

The second night would be much better, I promise him.

Happily Satisfied or Satisfactorily Happy

So it seems that I have reached at the top of the pyramid called Maslow's hierarchy of human needs or its an early onset of mid-life crisis. But whatever it is, it has forced me to put my thinking cap on and ponder upon important aspects of self actualization/fulfillment. Lightning struck soon after leaving me wondering, What is more important - Happiness or Satisfaction?

Happiness is a state of mind, a positive emotion which brings a state of well being. As an individual we all indulge in positive sensory experiences do things, look for things that make us happy. Satisfaction is about meeting an expectation, being content with life and being sufficient enough in your own ways. And yes, satisfaction is definitely not an emotion. It may be apt to say that money can't buy you happiness but those who have it, know the satisfaction.

When people say that satisfaction lies in having all the answers to the problem while happiness is having no problems at all, I scratch my head hard thinking about the innumerable possibilities of problems occurring in our grand dramas of life.

It’s worth thinking about standards of a satisfied life and the possibilities for happiness and joy in our lives.

From Femi-NIST to Femi-NAZI

For India, feminism is the need of the hour, but its interpretation has been twisted, battered and bruised. In concept, Feminism has a noble agenda of achieving equality between the sexes, right to vote, be educated, freedom to work, equal pay for same work etc etc. But this etc etc does not include hating men, praising slut hood, showing off bra straps. Feminazis, on the other hand,  have have decided to throw the noble concept of feminism away and act crazy. Rather than achieving one goal — women equality — it’s become an autocratic coercion, where supporters are required to walk in cerebral chains, timid to think differently than the leaders of the movement.

And here's why they are called Femi-NAZIs

1. Reservation -  Frankly, the seat reservation for females in buses and other means of transport is uncalled for as  reserving the seat might not make a man respect a woman. Instead, Its shouting -out-loud that woman is physically weak and incapable to even stand on her legs. 

2. Shouting-out-loud - So yes, sometimes the feminazis are just acting as high pitch bitches and being heard less. The volcano of feminist eruption has been so aggressive off late that most people fear of getting burnt in the lava of women empowerment. 

3. Confused Priorities - While the feminists are fighting against female infanticide, girl education, feminazis are on their own trip hogging limelight for issues such as, "My choice: to be size 0 or size 15", or ‘why should I cover my pack of sanitary napkin in black bag’.  

4. Men Stereotyping - Feminazis have mopped all men of the country with the same broom. Stereotyping men as wife-bashers, rapists etc is just ridiculous.

Feminazi in the making

5. Rage or Revolution - While feminism started as a revolution, feminazis have reduced it to some chal-beta-selfie-le-le-re kindda rage. Feminazis aim at wearing the skimpy clothes, late night partying,  being a rebel  without a reason as their focus areas,  giving a zilch care to the genuine concerns entailing women empowerment.

                                                                                                                                                                   

People deserve respect for their actions not for the gender they belong to. 

Seems Femi-NAZIs have  butchered the subject beyond recognition.

Why should Babas have all the FUN

Going by the intensity of expose of the spritual gurus, the aastha and sanskar channels will soon be filing for bankruptcy. Supposedly, everybody and anybody is proclaiming themselves to be dharma gurus and now have expansive platforms to broadcast themselves. Money, fame, following come in tow when these self professed gurus resort to antics like dancing on stage.

Its very hard to imagine a dharma guru, all decked up in heavy layers of makeup, latest glitzy jewelry and dolled up in red from head to toe, be it the long red tilak, the dark red lipstick, the red chuda on both wrists. Ideally, a spiritual guru's attire and conduct should be such that it invokes spirituality and simple living amidst their followers. And the way Radhe Maa dresses surely conjure carnal desires rather than spiritual ones. We Indians, follow everything too closely, be it superstar, a spiritual leader, a politician or for that matter the car ahead on the road and in the proceedings forget about our beliefs, our thought mechanism, our lifestyle and end up trying to be "that" person. The fact that spirituality has been turned into a commercial venture can be seen from the fact there are close to 30 religious channels in India in different languages.

A complaint lodged regarding Radhe Maa's involvement in a dowry case brings one more fact to the horizon, that is - " A woman is a woman's greatest enemy". In spite of being in a stature of a person who can help the society get rid of the issues such as domestic violence, dowry harassment, female infanticide, she has been an enabler to these derilictions. It has not been established whether the current pictures of Radhe Maa in short dress, boots doing rounds on internet are real as they have been reportedly  leaked by another famed notorious personality, Rahul Mahajan. But, its time people learn their lesson and eliminate the third person (read Dharma Gurus) in their divine connection with God.

Apparently, the below lines have been written for Radhe Maa

Kal raat mata ka muje email aaya hai,

Mata ne mujhko facebook pe bulaya hai.

Last heard, Radhe Maa has been entitled as a potential contestant on next season of Big Boss..

Come on Indian Media..You can do better!!

Ekta Kapoor has surely ruled the roost when it comes to generating TRPs and it seems Indian Media is taking immense cue from her. For a skyscrapping TRP recipe,  involve a celebrity as the main ingredient, the mango man as a side ingredient, bring everything to a boil and serve it with hashtags of nonsensical outraging one-liners. So here we have a-la- Sanjeev Kapoor recipe type news served along with snippets on social media.

Last week news of Hema Malini in a car accident was one such dish served to us. I have my heart going out to people who have lost their lives in the road accidents and the little girl in this particular one. Though about 400 people die in road accidents everyday in India with just a tickr of the mention at the bottom of our TV screen but this particular one was breaking news on every channel for the simple reason because it involved a celebrity. The high resolution pictures doing rounds on social media and TV of Hema Malini's ripped face, her blood soaked pallu aimed at stirring the moral souls of us viewers and a tiny thumbnail of the other car(Alto) hit in the accident, aimed at non-biasedness of this coverage. With basic facts being curtailed due to the TRP race, there was lot of hue and cry made about why the little girl was not taken to hospital. Had media delved more into facts, it would have shown that the girl died in her mother's lap in a while after the accident and it was sensible to take her to a nearby hospital instead. The worst is when media coerce the people to their brink by asking stupid questions about they feel after loosing their daughter? Who should the parents blame for their child's death?

Now with the accident fading off from the idiot box, both parties involved in  the accident have taken to media to pass the buck for blame amongst each other thereby grabbing headlines again. It is very clear from the media coverage of this accident that it was news because Hema Malini was involved in it, else this incident would have been hushed underneath the sheets long back. 

Last heard, the Rajdeep Sardesai s and Barkha Dutt s are tweeting that Vyapam Scam be covered more widely by media. Finally, they realize news has to be beyond TRPs!

People are sheep. Media is the shepherd.

My Choice..Really!!

So I got up today morning with a mystified overcast in my head. Yes the happenings around me confuse me to the core. Like this Deepika Padukone video on "My Choice". And the first question that I ask myself is - Is she kidding? In a country like India do we really have a choice to follow our choices. And even if some elite class women (I don't necessarily mean the rich one's here) do have this choice then do they need to blow the trumpet of having a choice of engaging in extra marital affairs/ infidelity. I mean they can do so without shouting from the rooftops about their choices. And for the lower class who don't even have a choice in deciding what to eat for the next meal..does this "My choice" anthem really makes sense. 

And then Mr. Director of the video (Homi Adjania..same lad who made Cocktail) confuses me even more. So on one hand,in his movie Cocktail he is depicting that the hero falls for the Sati Savitri/ suit clad Diana Penty instead of a rocker and happy-go-lucky-my choice-theory following Deepika Padukone and here in the "My choice" he is depicting an entirely different theory. Deepika had challenged the equation of beauty*brains=constant and I had better expectations from her but here she completely fell prey to what was being asked her to do rather than using her grey cells. So in plain theory a woman did what a man thought was righteous of his thoughts on woman empowerment. So rather than an empowerment motivation this dude has challenged the choice sanctity of a woman. Because I do not think having a baby can be choice for any woman - "Its a boon that god has showered on us women". Period. But yes it seems unfair to direct all angst against the Dips lady as she is doing what she has been asked to do or acting in the video so to say.

And closer home in this foreign land, these Americans fuddle me to the hilt..more-so in their environment conservation sense. So I am not really sure whether they want to save water or paper. Picture this, a basic apartment infrastructure here is such that they do not use a water jet in their commodes (apparently to save water), instead having zillion rolls of tissue papers to clean up and then they have a big bath tub (taking water conservation for a toss). So neither the paper/trees are being saved nor the water.

If the maiden step to knowledge is confusion...I might become a genius one day!!!