Happy mother's day to who? (Sexual predators on the loose!)

This is dedicated to all the women I know, if you are man enough to be a women, then go ahead read this. You are my mothers, my sisters and even my best friends. You have been my confidant and my support but most of all, you were there to protect me because that is the nature of women-kind. We believe in territory and we believe in securing rather than conquering. Why do we then keep silent on issues that determine our life and the ones that we love and want to die for?

I am going to talk about child abuse, as it is and as we saw it on Satyemev Jayate. Some of us, actually 1 out of 2 of us have gone through it. I am not ashamed to admit that someone in my family could've attempted the same with me. This is how they go through it, they are trusted, they are our relatives, they take us in a room and touch us in all the places, we wouldn't let anyone and I even mean our boyfriends or our lovers and now our husbands to go in to. Then we let these leeches in society prey on us. Why? Well, in the beginning it is out of innocence, in adolescence, it is because of rejection from society but when we reach adulthood, why do we still refrain or restrain from talking about it? Don't give it the name of repression or respect for your elders because guess what after 25, the only respect that one can earn is, through that respect from us.

Why do we then continue to give reasons to our silence?As you must have seen in the show and  like in big organizations give it the name of "whistle blowing". Why can't we implement the same at our houses? What is the worst that you can face? Honestly I think nothing except that we can save generations to come and start a trend of awareness. I see nothing wrong with that.

I guess all that I have to do or anyone of us 1:2 has to do is to tell our parents what happened to us. What happens next is up to them. May be some of them may even die after listening to what we were put through or how our innocence was taken away from us but what is guaranteed to us is: It will not happen to anyone next to our kin. Not so bad right?

I think we should do it, let us get up in the morning, think about this or form the right words to break it to our parents. Let's bring this to age. Let them learn something from us or from what we feel from all that we learnt from them. How about that for a change?

It's time we break this stupid silence and wish our mom's for real. Happy mother's day mom.

Why can't we be?

So this is for you my friend. It took me a midnight walk and a few glasses of wine to come to the answer of why can't we be? It's human. The human mind. It is so strong. We can be who we want to be, create what we want to create, make people believe what we want them to believe, we have come of the day and age, where we can let our imagination, enter the minds, hearts and touch the souls of everyone around. It's human to want to be and to let others believe that they can't be.

How we miss out on this is that in this world of make-believe: The only audience that we miss out on most days is us. We refuse to recognize what we are capable of..and it is not motivation we require or at this age, even an approval. It is the simple alignment of mind, body and soul.

Once we manage to align our feelings and drive our minds to what our goals are, the universe falls short of options. The other thing that we miss on apart from recognizing ourselves is: The present. The present somehow slips away each time we sit around pondering. Time really is like the sand grains in a glass bottle.In the good times, it always seems to move faster. It is through the tough and obstructive times, that we get caught in to it. The only thing that helps us move forward better is to spend the present wisely. To be able to embrace whatever little we have, and to build it like artillery for the future.

No one knows what the future holds or for that matter who it holds in it for us. The only thing certain is what's within us.Everything that we invest in ourselves will for sure stay with us. So whether it's education, whether it's a new sport, a new instrument, an intelligent conversation or just that walk in the midnight; it's all these that will see us through to be what we can and want to be.

Take time out, time out to kill every possible fear, pain and inhibition and look around and for the time being, even if it means blending around and doing what you have to do, do it. It's called being and existing and some how through this being and existence, we will stand out. It's Darwin's theory isn't it: survival of the fittest. The only race we have is with ourselves, so where is the problem really?

I say we can be! Can be what we want to be. So let's dream big and like Walt Disney said "I dream, I do.."

Cheers!!

Ink, Imagination and Animation

After watching "Avengers" in 3D today, I started to think about where it all began. The seeds of it all were sown by one man's imagination. It took him a pen and then an illustration to bring his idea to a piece of paper. Those pieces of paper got bought and then animated. The animation probably was 2D and now 3D.

Now I am all about evolution and the effects that it brings along with it. It spreads to the masses and we sit in cinema halls applauding mostly the technology that went behind it (at least I did). Somewhere deep down, we do admire the imagination don't we (I tried to but I was so awed by the technology!)? I do think about the man who imagined it all and did he imagine these characters to be the actors that were put on the screen out there?

I wonder. In this world of Kindles, notes, 3D and even 4D, how does the average thinker,writer and illustrator feel? Don't mind my pre-historic thinking but I still love holding those books. I like their smell and their feel. I also love the 2D animations by Walt Disney. I'm so hung up on animations like "Beauty and the Beast", "Snow white and the seven dwarfs", "Little mermaid", "Lion King" and the others. I'd hate to have them wiped off from the generations to come.

In the world of abstracts and short-forms, I'd still want writing and art to hold a place like it does in my heart. May be a part of my paranoia also comes from the fact that earlier I use to write on paper (I still do, some habits die hard) and now I sit here typing.Will I evolve in to a generation which forgets what it is to write??(May be even lose a thumb in the process!!) I still paint with crayons, chalk, pencils and whatever I could get my hands-on. I hope that never goes away. (My paranoia getting the best of me at this point!!)

Almost everything that we see today is somewhat of a re-creation except technology. So are the writers, painters and illustrators in for a rude snub? (Including the little budding me :-( !) I sure hope not!

Let us let them live. Let us buy the comics and see the 2Ds. I want them to be immortal.I want thinking to grow not just in terms of evolution and inspiration but also in terms of absolute innovation.

Well then let the charity begin at home ;) ! Time to watch some 2D, read a book and see an old cartoon.

Cheers!!

Of Worldly pleasures and barriers

After a nice long day of worldly pleasures, there is nothing more relaxing than sitting in bed with my laptop and listening to the sounds of the night. I have always thought of myself to be more of a night person than a day person but what I find most interesting these days is that the time that I enjoy the most is the early mornings or the late nights. The most honest of times. As the world sleeps around me during my early morning walks or my nightly writing sessions, I find it rather comfortable to hear the nothingness around me.

It also draws my thoughts to positive feelings of love, goals, home and life. A nice, very long walk to a beer garden, an almost burnt arm due to a somewhat heat-stroke and then a little snooze under the sheets makes me love life even more. I don't know what it is that people look for so hard in their life when all it requires is good company, laughter and a little above average conversation. I guess the latter is hard to find.

I sat in a very loud club last night and did a usual night-out filled with booze and dancing but the only interesting part that stands out in my memory is talking about enriching yourself and accepting people the way they are. Me and my friends discussed how we want to take up some instrument, learn a new sport, discover new routes in our city and go out on more excursions. We also spoke about different languages, their sounds and how each language could be related to one another. And inspite of the human-ness of it all, there is a question that disturbs me..if all of us are just looking to enrich ourselves then why does one have political, language, cultural and other miserable barriers?

I guess I'd have to grow up to find that out (:P)! All I know is that..home is where the heart is..love is where life exists..and life exists in music, art, good conversations and in really living it to the fullest..and living is what I do...and what makes me happy!

Ok so cheers to a "Simply happy" life :)

The Indian-ness of it all...

My darling of a friend posed this question for me today, what is it that defines the soul of India? What is it, that pulls us NRIs so strongly towards it and yet repulses us to reside outside it all? Do we love the little chaiwala managing his stall and is so willing to serve us, is it the uncle-jis and aunty-jis who are almost always willing to get us married off or are willing to fill us up with food, all out of affection? Is it the "jugad" for everything or the "milte-hai" attitude of people? What is it that makes that country so lovable?Why do all my short and warm affairs with this country keep me alive for the rest of my time away from this place? And still deep down inside, I'm not willing to move back yet...why?

I find it hard to ignore the "equality in inequality" in this place called home. I find it troublesome, how a place like Delhi with the rich, mighty and the intelligent falls prey to numbness. Every time, I move a few paces away from the New Delhi railway station to go to Panchkula, I'm overwhelmed with the filth and poverty. At one side, we have the beautiful fly-overs of Delhi, the swanky pubs, the unbeatable service of air-conditioned malls, where even a driving ticket is held out to you by hand and then on the other hand, there is your little chaiwala all of 10 years, handing you out chai at the road-side. Am I comfortable with this gaping reality?

When I read and hear about fancy terms like "Gobalization", "Service-sector economy","Equality","Outsourcing", "Development"....all that comes to my mind is Hygiene hygiene hygiene...Hygiene in our environment, hygiene in our political system, in our infrastructure...in everything around us....Why are we talking these big terms???? When all we need today is for us to pick up the broom and clean up places, when all we need is awareness and education and when all we need today is to share what we have in abundance....

The countries I've traveled in the past 2 years have no past to talk about when compared to India. We have an invaluable heritage that we've just taken for granted. It's kind of like the spoiled rich brats, who waste their wealth on everything and anything that makes them to stop thinking. We've overlooked what we have by the over-dose of consumerism. Yeah, its like dope for the youth. Dope them, numb them out..so they cannot see or feel anymore....Let them shop till they drop, keep them away from visiting the monuments, fill trash in all our heritage and keep them blind from the real treasures and wonders of life.

We are a forgiving nation and we forgive ourselves and others any moment that we are shown the bling...and that I feel is the biggest infidelity that we show to our nation...We seem to forgive our politicians each time they dwindle the prices of oil and gas, we seem to forgive the corrupt, each time we are shown the greens, hell..we forgive ourselves for bribing and overlooking serious crime scenes. We forgive and we forget. If that's not all...we gloat in the glory of it all :)

I hope that someday, some time soon, when I've traveled enough, gathered my thoughts enough...I can justify and overcome my own cowardice towards my nation and be able to show my own love and respect towards it...till that time...I will continue to write about it and think about it...help me..help me sort out my feelings for a nation I love and yet distance myself from...

No cheers to that....

Daddy long legs

Honestly I never quite understood the meaning of the saying but since this entry is going to be dedicated to a father-daughter relationship..it just sounded very fancy. All through my life, I always felt, the only relationship that defined me was my rebellious spirit against all that my father believed in. It could have been his religious inclination, it could have been his overly protective nature, it could have been his fear : of my overly ambitious spirit against the real- world. The real world that would only always try to get me down at everything I believe in, my free spirit and my unconventional thinking.

Today as I sit here, hitting a 30 in a few months and he sits there, retired and trying to enjoy the life that he built around him, I seek him. I don't seek his approval, I seek guidance against three difficult choices that I face today.

Choice no. 1 : Quit my struggle in a foreign country and embrace the opportunities back home.

Choice no. 2: Try as hard as my spirit and little life can..to try and fit in this foreign land.

Choice no. 3: F**k 'em all and concentrate on what I was born with, my little artistic and writing talent irrespective of the competition that lies there.

Choice no. 3 just by the way was added today. Dad told me that everyone is born with a unique talent or quality, something that they never get to work on unless life leaves them no option. He said according to him, I had something I was born with, that I've just ignored or taken for granted and called as a hobby and may be I should explore what lies for me there.

Would it work? Who knows...?? I only know that today in a day and time and age, where people still talk about stupid things like gender equality. Here is a man, who has lived his whole life of 60 years trying to correct my ways. Here is me, all of 30, trying to fight him only to seek a concurrence now. At this stage in life, it is difficult to stay, what is right and what is wrong. I have only mere chances of survival given my soaring ambitions and almost dying spirit.

I can only make peace with a simple fact that I may not have been daddy's little girl but I certainly have to be daddy long legs in terms of my flight ( Yes, I did google the meaning!)

With that thought and the weekend on it's way...

Cheers!!

Inverse proportions

Did it ever happen to you that you thought about inverse proportions in your relationships? I know, it's after holi and most of you are probably down and under with your hangovers but just a quick thought. Inverse proportions, for those of you, who are not mathematically equipped means, a little of something leading to a domino of something else.

It just struck me right now....you know, this always has played a very important part in my life, the cheaper( in terms of brain value and in addition to my life) the company, the more I've had to compensate it by going to expensive places but the more rich the company, the cheaper places I'd like to go to. Hmm...what this means..is that in my life there have been a lot of people, the ones who carried little value in my life, I had to go out with them to the bigger discs, the bigger restaurants , the drive in the biggest cars and so forth, simply  because I didn't think that they would add value to my life, so loud music and the big show would make it easier for me to bear them. On the other hand, the people who really mattered to me, I've entertained them at the cheapest bars may be even a street lane. I've had the best conversations in gardens, near the CRPF dhaba, or the by-lanes of Delhi or even Stuttgart today. Sometimes I've even entertained people on the train stations in Germany or in a comfortable ride on a train or auto or even in a bus ( which I'm unpopularity known not to take in India!)

My sisters or my best friends have led me in the most difficult times in funny places, rich by experience but cheap at cost. Hmm...I won't say that that makes me low maintenance but if at all very rich in experience. I just realized that the best experiences in life have not cost me a dime but "the-not-so-great" ones have cost me a fortune!

So, if you are a really good friend of mine, please don't splurge on me. No point. Chances are that me or someone great out there is just looking for some simple company and not your money. Inverse proportions on cost-benefit analysis!

I just had a great evening in my apartment and it cost me next to nothing, just some great music and great company. At that thought, think really hard as to what makes you really happy, "the show" or just some good company with may be a nice whiskey, great music and a great companion :)

Cheers!!