All About That Blog!

As the music grew to a dull roar I could see that he had changed his mind. Our family and friends had gathered round and were excited to witness a climactic moment, but I knew their wait would be in vain. My eyes searched on for a growing sense of recognition in his, but found none. He was far gone. His one knee proposal felt like he was imploring me to read his mind, and so I did. Finally, standing up, he hugged me. The crowd cheered on as I put my arms around his neck and kissed him gently on his cheek. He wrapped his arms around my waist, nestled his head in my shoulders' nook and whispered softly in my ear, "I can't do this." To everyone else we were heading toward a new chapter in our lives but it was actually the end of an unexpected and beautiful journey. It wouldn't end in 'Till death do us part', it ended right there on the dance floor, where the music died.

...Ever so often you come across a Voldemort in your career, One Who Must Not Be Named . Staring at the computer, suddenly, I knew what I had to do. I knew I had to leave. Give up the 'career path' that I thought I was destined for. His hand was raised and his eyes had nothing but contempt for my work. His lips dripping with disdain. Anger filled his very being. But why? All for a frivolous mistake on an Excel sheet? That couldn't be it. His actions on that last day left me befuddled and anxious. I wondered — Would he have hit me? Would he dare to? Wiping off an isolated tear that rolled down my cheek, I left. In a corporate organisation, actions like these ensured that you got fired. I knew the manager of the quality department was wrong. He had no right to treat anyone this way. And yet I had let it happen for a grand total of eight months. I was just 22. My confidence was shattered day by day in that organisation. I still stuck around because I'm a fighter, not ...

Being short does not go unnoticed in today’s world. You would think that being below the average height would let you get away with stuff because… well… no one is looking at you. You would be wrong. Its bad enough that you get called out in school for being short. Class photographs, sports day, choir practice, physical ed training, including random sunny days, but it doesn’t end there. Being an above average student all my life did not help either. The only thing people focused on was that my height did not match the requirement. “Where is the rest of you?” They would often ask, almost as if they were expecting a reply like – “Oh I got tired of being tall so I just shaved off part of my legs.” You must’ve noticed a trend of 'the short people look' taking over society these days. I certainly have noticed more and more Indian women making eye contact with me or looking up to me (in the literal sense) and its probably just genetics playing up. Its no wonder that we have more ...

When you're trying to make it down the road as an adult, more often than never you find yourself stopping to take a break. Faced with new challenges every day you seem to think of your past problems as unworthy of all the time you spent on them. You now begin to remember them with such fond appreciation. You may even long to go back in time even though it seemed tough then. Because when you are in the middle of that dark forest of problems, there is no getting out. You can rarely see a way and there's inevitably a hundred voices singing in unison about the things you are doing or were doing wrong. But when you pass that stage and a new problem comes along, your past does not seem so bad. “Try to stay positive,” maybe the four words that you don't want to hear from anyone. There is a limit to how much helpful advice one can take. "You will learn from this situation," "Trust me on this," "Be positive." Positivity never helped you before. Ti...

It is the faith of the people that brings them to Father Agnel's church to follow a rather peculiar tradition. They come from all over and all religions to hug and kiss a bust of Fr Agnel’s statue and revere him with colourful flowers, candles of wishes and prayers for miracles. While tying their garlands of adoration around the statue, many whisper in its ears, with the deepest conviction—the unanswered prayers of their past.  Some would not make their whispers too obvious while others would even carry their children up to the figurine so that they, too, may speak to the bust. I’ve always found idol worship hard to believe. Revering statues made of stone and clay seems like such a nomad thing to do because you are giving in to the belief that God dwells in that statue instead of the living things around you.  But I watched on as the followers of this late priest came in Sunday after Sunday with such devotion in hopes that their prayers to the almighty would be answered throug...

There is a kind of consistency to the way we live our lives. Not necessarily evident when you look at it up close and personal, but definitely noticeable when you’re standing at a distance. We do like to play the blame game with Gods of destiny and leave our lives to be designed by fate.  But this is also true when it comes to the genius that lives within you.   Motivational speakers will tell you that there’s a genius that dwells close to you to help you in your time of absolute dire need. So the genius acts like the elves in the shoemaker's store who come in when the master is asleep and leave the shop in the morning giving all the shoes a little more than a professional touch. Much like the poor old shoe maker who couldn’t take credit for the masterpieces; the people of pure brilliance sometimes avoid taking credit for their work as they fear that it would drown out any future episodes of great works of art. People often say they're waiting for that ha...

If you want a permanent tattoo and you’re living in India, why scar your body with needles?   Just stand out in the sun with a stencil of your desired impression and voilà! A tattoo that may not necessarily be brought on by endless pain and bleeding, stays with you for days on end. I went to an amusement park in early April, wearing my favourite strappy sandals and it looks like I haven’t removed my shoes since then. The memories of the amusement park are still so fresh that even the roller coaster rides, the screaming and the measly proportion of good food did not need constant reminding.  And that’s when I began to wonder why do we need to have a constant reminder of a long lost love, a deceased parent, reminiscence of a pet, a dream or a deep set desire bound by stranded hope or even a string of words you once read in a book of faith.  And the answer was right in front of me. Sometimes we don’t have a choice. You just get scarred, people leave a ma...