Life, Eccentricities And Me

It's that time of the year when your parents ardently wish you were like "Gupta Ji's" son or "Mehta Ji's" nephew or worst, they condemn you for not being like them. Yes, you guessed it right, it's results time. All that hue and cry about how you've failed to live up to their expectations; how you've ruined their reputation in that rickety colony of yours or amongst their social circle that comprises relationships that weigh your credibility by virtue of your "MARKS" let alone your intelligence or even your genuine approach to hard work! It's sad that we belong to a country where marks is of utmost importance in judging your intellect and then, English becomes the yardstick to measure your social relevance. Somewhere in erstwhile Delhi, or in the narrow lanes of some tier two city, a student shines by securing 99.6% or a 99.8% (what's with remaining decimals?), and in your own homes, you disown your child, who besides bein...

Toddlers and their idiosyncrasies tickle your funny bones as much as they confront you with situations that are quite typical for them alone. Last evening when Anshika was back with her papa from the mall, perhaps she had been "trained" to refrain from divulging the fact that she had enjoyed an ice cream (which is quite a taboo when Maa is around), however the moment her mommy opens the door she enacts as if she had been fed the dessert quite against her will! Well, you can guess papa's reaction! A toddler whose vocabulary is none but an uphill task is more dangerous than a blender with a missing top, hear this out-when Maa instructs Anshika to tread carefully on a wet bathroom floor for she might "slip", she confuses it with "sleep" and asks mommy to demonstrate, which in either case is difficult and ridiculous! A toddler can come of age, mentally alone (for physically, they are usually that cute yet pint sized dynamite that can explode any instant...

Embarrassments come in all forms and it generally comes uninvited, sudden and uninformed. It can be in the form of that last bite of some sticky cheese, or the fiery red chilli flakes or that small bite of green spinach, that you have failed to brush out off your teeth and it does a little "peek a boo" when you are having that important conversation with your latest crush! Urrgh! It is quite embarrassing, more so when this innocent folly of yours get pointed out by that mischievous little impish boy in your complex and you have no options rather than turn tomato red. Embarrassment is also when you try to climb onto that last seat, (last because it is near the door, slightly elevated with a cage like enclosure around, not sure what exactly goes in the mind of the manufacturer, but surely it's intended to make the seating a little too competitive and complex)in the air conditioned Volvo bus, laden with robotically programmed people, who are even clothed similar, now this ...

Indian middle class women and their affinity for their obnoxious collection of "Nighties" is not something that is unknown but the reason is unfathomable as to why this piece of clothing, that is nothing but a night wear, is not only an asset for pride but a fashion statement as well! Every "Guddu", "Chikoo", "Raju" or even "Pinky's" mother would ostentatiously clothe themselves in these attires (if at all I may have to call them one) and go to their respective children' pick up points or even to the local vegetable vendors. Some would even audaciously throw in a small scarf like thing which again would resemble their hideous "nighties". But the reason for throwing in that small piece of wrap is again a questionable gesture (not that it covers their modesty in anyway, some even possess such hugely designed assets that even a double sized bedsheet would fall to shame). These weird night wears come in every size, eve...

One of those frosty mornings when the world stood frozen, We two rebellious souls lay beside each other, oblivious of the world and the world oblivious of us. We lay there for years it seemed feeling each other's bare, bold beauty, when time stood still. Our souls lay naked to one another, Our eyes turned windows to our surreptitious desires. Amidst the clandestine desires, we lay, breathing into one another, caressing one another, unfolding our deep dark secrets. We lay in between furrowed sheets, reeking off sweet dampness. We lay like two truant teens breaking the shackles of this world, culminating in a frenzied apotheosis. We existed in a world where time stood still. Alas! Today is the day where time challenges us and the world beckons us. We need to go, we need to break free from one another. We need to bid that last goodbye, we need to cry our hearts out before our eyes go barren forever, before our roads never meet again, before our destinies drift ...

         They say,"All good things          come to an end"          But I beg to disagree!          My love for you is undying          never ending and it cannot          come to an end.          Those love laced nights,          Those amatory exploits,          Those long silences between           the sheets, where only our           breaths spoke.          Those frenzied mornings,          Those calming nights, I say,          cannot come to an end.                 Those hidden hankerings...of being          with you cannot come to an end!     ...

We talk of shattering gender stereotypes but how much of it seems to be implemented yet. When was the last time a woman felt safe? When was the last time she was either not subjected to prying or preying? It hurts to be part of a society where the sole place a woman remains safe is the mother's womb; even then there are high chances of being subjected to female foeticide! This evening during one of those random playing sessions, Anshika, my 3.5 aged daughter instructed me to feign a mock situation wherein I was supposed to act as a "damsel in distress" and she would come to my rescue not as how the society would expect her to enact, for instance, the female protagonists like "Barbie" "Frozen Elsa" "Mermaid Princess"  but as "Spider-Man" , and there too, she refrains from accepting to be adorned in the "pink" costume (the one worn by "Spider-woman") but wants the conventional "blue and red". I feel goo...

Indian viewers and daily soaps are like the hand and glove combination, inseparable and unavoidable. The remote for others in their family is an inaccessible object till their quota for the day isn't over and even when they've exhausted the zillionth atom of each of these daily soaps, they would retire for the day exclaiming, "Na, it's bed time!" That sigh in their voice is like the ultimate favor that they do while handling you the remote, when you can barely open your eyes! And these daily soaps feed on controversies, estrangements,  multiple marriages (I mean, 1.4 billion people are either struggling to get out of it or trying to get into it...at least once, and here, the protagonists don't spare any opportunity to marry their own/borrowed/neighbor's wife/girlfriend/fiancée; perhaps they would soon start harping on same sex marriages or even something that I learnt today, "sologamy", celebrating self love, self compassion) or even bereavemen...