Darker the night, brighter the stars!

The path we tread is not always a bed of roses. Sometimes without our knowledge the destination changes. We were supposed to travel to a holiday destination, how did it end up in hell hole. Thats how life is just meant to be.

Roads will always be there. We need to find the right one to walk along. Changes in life are good, no matter how murky and judged you may feel. Changes are there for a reason. Its there because you made some errors, its there because you need to learn. Its there, so that you get a fresh start. We are not complacent out of our comfort zone. But what else would life be, if its not one hell of a roller coaster ride after all.

We often see pictures of happy faces and presume they have the most blessed life on earth. Its only before those pictures, there would  have been atrocious grief. Grief, which no one is supposed to know. No one leads their "perfect life". We need to make things perfect which exists. No one wronged you, because no one is bad person. People react as and how circumstances trigger them. That does not make someone less of a human.
So what if you are at the receiving end at times, there will be another day when you will beholding the gun.

A perfect Sunday is never perfect. A perfect marriage is never perfect. Perfect children are never perfect, so is never this perfect LIFE. But there are Sundays which are just beyond perfect when they were not meant to be. How did THAT happen? It happened because you deserved it. It happens because you will always be bestowed with gifts you did not ask for. Preserve that gift but don't obsess over it, because one day that gift will also not be perfect.

Rhyme worth a dime.

The hair which looked fragile,
Has been fathomed to shine.

The shades of time,
The wrath and grime.
Shrouded well, the crevices and fine lines.

Took on the heat and wheezed still,
Fluttered and seduced, but decayed still.

Salted and peppered,
Straightened and tampered.
Flinched to be touched to be felt withered.

Danced  in revelry and sweated in sultry.
Bounce they said, fatigued it heaved.

Washed to the roots, matched with the boots.
Tied in a knot, acquitted at last.

Set wild to grow and cropped to show.
Got drenched in rain and trickled in vain.

Kept growing till the last breath,
Was it in genes, or was it just the dead cells.

Caressed in love and torn in trial.
It broke a little with every consequence dire.

Whats in the mirror that made you turn.
Which made your day, and to never return.

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The Good Indian Girl

No sooner is a girl child born in India, the whole melodrama of molding her into "the good Indian girl" kick starts with great tenacity. Somehow, a furrow, a wrinkle or a crooked smile escapes on the faces of the family members when the nurse divulges, "Its a GIRL!!". She might as well say, "Brace yourselves".

Metro cities have mostly been liberal towards girls to some extent. The scenario in small towns though, is way too funny.

So here are the good Indian girl traits she is supposed to imbibe in all forms possible.

1. She has NO boyfriends. It does not matter if she is a tom boy by nature. She is supposed to be comfortable only with girls.

2. She is supposed to excel in studies. An average student is a disgrace to the family (Okay, mostly), even though she is intended to be married off to deliver the role of an apropos housewife. Anything below 80% means, "she is just a girl after all".

3. She excels in "Paak Shaastra" (cooking). It does not matter if she holds a revered position in her work place and has other virtues which share the bread and butter for the family. Its as good as being a pseudo-girl if cooking is something she detests.

4. She does not follow fashion with utmost enthusiasm. It would mean, she is just somebody too frivolous with least respect for Indian culture. Like wearing a mini skirt would make you 20% Indian and a salwar kameez dupatta would grant a 100% guarantee certificate.

5. She has sane friends and enjoys sane music. Anything like hard rock would evoke comments like "hath se nikal gyi hai ye ladki".

6. She is not supposed to voice her opinion unabashedly. It would mean she is too bold and outspoken, or rather the kind of vamps broadcasted on daily soaps. Silence is considered to be the biggest virtue of the good Indian girl.

7. She does not party. It would mean she smokes and drinks. That would mean she has no morals. That would mean she cannot be a good wife or a good mother. Not that I am promoting smoking or drinking, but character certificate is surely not up to snuff.

8. She follows fasting atleast once a week and partakes in religious rites. A person can be an atheist by nature or may not be staunch religious. It is a personal choice. But in our Indian society, you may not believe in it, but you have got to fake it with utmost devotion.

9. How did I miss...the most venerable virtue is VIRGINITY. It can defy all other virtues. Since she cannot be vocal about it, her histrionic skills come to play or foreplay. If you have lost it, how clever can you be to hide it. Your life depends on it. If you do not get caught, you are a goddess, and if you are dumb enough to get caught, you are more than just impure. Oh yes, and the last resort is that cycle ride if nothing works out.

Well, irony of the situation is women do not understand women. We would be the first ones to raise fingers and demean other women at the drop of a hat. Sometimes knowingly and at times unknowingly. Then,why do we expect our men to shower rose petals on our way, when we would find ways to pelt stones at each other.

A letter to my future self

Each of us weave a sense of identity out of slender threads. We take our personality traits and inter-link these with the examples shown to us by our parents. We mix in our cultural heritage, the lessons learned from formative friendships, plus the things and people that we have come to love. When we say 'this is who I am', we mean all of that - and all that we have been through. 

I wonder how my future would turn out to be and if I would be able to recollect what I was thinking then (Now). If I were to write a letter to my future self, it would read as....

Dear,

I have written this when I was dubious of how and who you would be. Ofcourse we plan ahead of what ought to be us, but sometimes plans change and life has other plans for us.

I hope you are healthy and smiling. I hope you have achieved great heights in your professional and personal facets....and even if you have not, you are satiated. That you are miles away from chicanery and people love you for your veracity.

You must have seen ups and downs, surpassed the elbow grease and strived to live up to other's expectations. There would have been days when you would have starved for some time alone and then the days when you would have hankered to be heard. You would have got fine lines and grey hair that you want to hide, but I say, they ought to be flaunted, as the adage goes....

"Wrinkles merely indicate, where smiles have been"...Mark Twain.

I wish you have people around you who genuinely adore you for who you are and that you continue to glean epiphany from all the good things in life, that it offers you and above all....you still believe in GOD.

"God is more truly imagined than expressed and He exists more truly than imagined".....Saint Augustine

I wish you have learnt from your mistakes and had the best of times in your life. You have traveled  the world, unleashed few impregnable places, rediscovered joy and in the process of it, made some prodigious memories. You have some more riveting anecdotes to tell from your life. You are still grounded and believe in yourself. You spread the glee around and you don't need to hide your fear anymore. On your journey lived so far, you have also paused for your loved ones and nursed their squalor.

"Memory is the diary we all carry about with us"...Oscar Wilde

I am traversing the aisle to meet your smiling self. And then I shall look back to this chirography on a sunny day with a cuppa coffee, a smile would crease across my face and I shall say, "Yes we have met".