Five Relationship Myths!

It is strange how we read books, watch novels and hallucinate that every relationship is perfect. You know it is just the same story in fiction--Boy meets girl, girl meets boy, they exchange looks, books, texts and bam! They are so into each other, ignore the world around them, run around the trees and creepers and run into the sunset. And most of these books and movies seem to be interesting. Obviously! But they display so many myths. For instance, let me list them down.

1. Relationships survive and happen only to the good-looking people: God! This is such a common one, right? The protagonists in the book are always like Tom Cruise and Angelina Jolie. Of course, most of us will abandon the books that have ugly protagonists so, I won't talk like a saint here.

The thing I am trying to point here is the stories that portray how a boy ignores the girl, the girl sits and cries, and it suddenly dawns on her that things can change and turns from drab to fab overnight. Chi! 

2. Fights are a proof that a relationship has reached the saturation point:

Duh? Shut up! It isn't like that.
Ages ago, my uncle told me that the moment we stop fighting with our partners is when the relationship has reached the saturation because you simply do not care. You just let them be.

3. People with similar nature and perceptions are the best for each other:

Oh yeah? And get bored of the person in two months? Because you are just too similar and you feel like you are in a relationship with yourself. Or may be, not. 

But hey this is just my perception. It is my blog. I rule. :P

4. Couples who are in a relationship for a very long period are the happiest couples:

Of course! The others are the sad, demented ones who are probably in a delusional phase till they attain the veteran status and they automatically turn happy and joyous. Sweet, sweet life!

5. Awesome couples do everything together:

And scare the crap out of people around them. You know what? You aren't Siamese twins. Awesome couples need space and have individuality. Demented couples act clingy and do things together.

P.S. If any reader finds these points similar to their life, I am sorry. No pun intended. No, really!

That Nostalgic Childhood!

Childhood-The very word drifts us into a sweet world of memories, goof-ups, foolishness, fun and you know..a lot more stuff. How many of us want to revisit and relive those days? Those days when little things mattered! Things like playing in the sand, going around your colony on your tricycle, going to school with many toffees in your pocket, attending birthday parties gave you a lot of joy.

The joy of walking home with a Tinkle in your arm, and occasionally an Enid Blyton's book would just make your day. The pocket money you receive from your grandparents, the warmth of your grand-mother and her amazing stories, your play room, playing silly games with your cousins, listening to Michael Jackson and ABBA, waiting for Disney Hour, and CatDog were a part of your childhood.

I vividly remember every part of my childhood. Summers were always awesome.I spent my every Summer at my grand-mother's place in Calcutta. Summers to me meant holidays, shopping, ice-creams, a visit to the library in the evenings, lying in a bath tub, long evening-walks with your cousins, short night walks with your grandpa, a visit to the closest Pani-puri center. Those were the days when we had time for family and those were the days of epic fun. And today, amidst this hectic, monotonic life, we have regular bouts of our childhood and how pretty they were!

These days, we see kids struggling to spend their Summers properly. Thanks to the corporate schools and our crappy education system for they are thrown into rigorous IIT coaching during the Summers. How on Earth can a twelve year old decipher IIT syllabus? But well, who cares? There were days when every kid in the colony would go play in the evening and these kids would make a point to drag the kids who wished to stay home. And today, kids prefer staying home to complete their homework which happens to be more complex than my engineering assignments. No, seriously!

And do I need to mention the cartoons? Yes, the anime cartoons! We had simple cartoons like Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo, Captain Planet and well, you get the drift. I am really sorry for the kids now for they have to put up with such terrible cartoons that tend to give me a massive head-ache. Books were a major part of our lives back then. R.K. Narayan, Ruskin Bond, Satyajit Raj, Enid Blyton were our stars (and still are); Tinkle, Archies were such a delight. And most of the kids today..umm..read nothing. How unfortunate!

Everyone paints a rosy picture of their childhood. My grand-mother did, my mother does, I do. I just hope that every kid makes their childhood memorable and a period that would bring a smile on their faces instead of sulking at IIT coaching centers and spoiling the best part of anyone's life-the childhood!

Damsel (s) in Distress!

So after a great day with my best friend, I come home to realize that my mother and my grand-parents are extremely worried and shocked at my audacity (oh really?) of staying out after 7:30 in the evening. Well, let me just thank the lecherous men we see on and off these days...yes, the same men who treat women as their private property. And let me just thank them again for I am almost grounded for the first time ever.

It took some time for my blithe mind to grasp the gravity of the gory Delhi case. Having said that, I must also admit that I haven’t ignored the news, which makes me shudder each time I see/read about it in the media.

Lately, I have been seeing a lot of peace walks, public protests to bring in radical changes, Facebook statuses, tweets, Facebook profile pictures, chain e-mails etc. And sadly, people expect the whole lot of cranked up molesters to change overnight. Tch tch! Who are we kidding anyway? While people were protesting against such atrocities, a few more similar cases were reported in Delhi.

Everywhere around the world, we see “Indians” bragging about modernization, globalization, implying the importance of women and their transition from the archaic times to the current period. Practically and sadly, we do not see much transition. In fact, I see no transition at all. Honestly, the olden days seem to be better.


And then creeps in the “oh-so-famous” conjectures and baseless theories about women, their behaviour, their attire, and the list just goes on. These incidents remind me of this wonderful book called ‘A Calendar Too Crowded’ that I have read a year ago. This book talks about the twelve months in the life of a woman and the final cause of the book is to create an awareness to protect women and their rights. Books and stories like these can bring in such awareness but like everything, even this awareness begins at home. We need to see more of books like these which depict reality rather than painting a glossy picture of women, their happiness and their safety.
Instead of suppressing girls and their interests at home, it is rather advisable to instill some ethics into boys. No, seriously! Our country has come a long way in terms of technology, education, art, cinema, innovation etc. And women have contributed a lot. A lot is an understatement though. Despite all these facts, we still see terrible treatment meted out against women.

A stricter law, a better use of technology, more awareness, more education in schools, and of course, severe punishments will definitely help. India is the only country that shows sheer respect towards Goddesses and it is such an irony that we pray and prey on the same fraternity. Such a shame!

Older, Better And Umm..Wiser?

"I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday."

-Abraham Lincoln

27/12/2011, Bangalore

I was a careless student spending my pocket money on the streets of Bangalore shopping all odd things. It was fun. I had so much time to kill. 

27/12/2012, Hyderabad

I am no more a student. I have joined the working class now. But the 'careless' part remains the same. I do not get pocket money now. I have a useless Visa card (in a crappy colour) now that serves no purpose. No, really!

And it sort of makes me feel like, OMG! A year has passed already? And my blog is a year old now. Yay! :-D

To start with, 2012 has been an awful mixture of emotions and things. Few really sensational things have happened, few horrid things, few strange things, lost few friends, made even better friends, had my best birthday ever, patched up with few good friends, started working and ignored writing and photography, started buying things with my money. Too many ups and downs, too many twists.

Thank you, 2012 for you have been crappy. Crappy enough to knock some sense into my head and hell yes, you have made me a better person. Or let me just rephrase it like this: You have been harsh enough to make me older, better and umm...wiser?

I've learnt that it is easy to get rid of relationships but it is difficult to hold on to them in terrible times. I am glad I got back those 'few' people who really matter to me. 

It is a known fact that people under twenty have loads of friends, people over twenty have real time friends. Now, I know that I don't need a bunch of people hanging around me. I know that I have friends who, no matter where they are, love me a lot and will always be there when I need them.

Six months ago, I had this creepy perception about working in a corporate office. I never wanted to work. But the perception has slightly changed now. 'Slightly' is an under-statement. I like working now. It can be fun.

And of all things, I am glad. I am glad that this crappy year has come to an end for it holds nothing but the most horrid incidents of my life. But I am glad for it has made me older, better, stronger and let us just say wiser in many ways. 

P.S. This is the last post of this year. :-D

Untruly Yours: Book Review

Format: Paperback
Language: English
ISBN: 9789381836293
Pages: 146
Price: 125 INR

To start with, this book’s climax made me grin quite widely. I am a sucker for happy endings and this book sure has one. Initially, I was quite hesitant to spend my weekend on this book instead of Jane Austen’s book.

When Smita Shetty e-mailed me a couple of days ago asking if I’d like to review the book, I was glad for it was grabbing quite a limelight in the Indian chic-lit arena. This book of mere 146 pages is a quick read and it could have been much better if it was written more elaborately. Seriously! Fifty pages into the book and I was glad to read stuff that was so different from the much cliched college romances.

REVIEW:

Untruly yours is a story of Natasha Iyer and her interesting world. This story of a Bengali woman marrying a Tam Brahm makes you chuckle at many places and two-three instances strongly reminds you of 'Two States'...majorly because of Natasha's mother-in-law. Twelve years down the lane, people find her much coveted 'NRI' life a bliss. On the contrary, she finds her life boring and seeks excitement. Her relationship with her husband is heading nowhere, her life is monotonic, her 'Godzilla' mother-in-law is visiting them, and amidst all these disasters, she receives a call from her oh-so-famous-and-pretty sister. The unpredictable turn of events lead her to India along with her son and a Steve, colleague (and oh, a friend). 

Like a blast from the past, she comes across her college mate, Veer Shroff. A single woman  taking a break from her husband, two hot men and loads of complications. The female protagonist has few dark sides, and gets stuck in mess of seduction and flirtation. Well, now, that pretty much sums up the story. This story about love, relationships and its complexities hooks you right from the beginning to the end.

Smita's writing style is simple and humourous. The narration was interesting and this book is a must read for all the ladies who love chic-lits. Hey non chic-lit lovers must read it too. 

And oh, did I mention that the cover is so English and Sophie-Kinsellish? :-D

What Not To Do In The Office!

So when was the last time I ever wrote anything? I know I have ignored my blog, writing, reading, photography for sometime now but the writer in me has taken an oath to write at least 500-800 words each day. No, seriously! You'll see more of me in my blog and other places in the coming few days. Yay!

I was sitting in the office today and like always, I did some major goof-ups. Sigh! Will I ever grow up? Anyway, I thought I should be writing a post on the things that are STRICTLY not meant to be done at work. 

1) Listening to music on a loud-speaker: For crying out loud, why can't you get a pair of damned ear-phones? I mean, yes, you are definitely sweet. You love listening to Justin Bieber, One Direction and Gangnam Style (Did I even spell it right?) but we don't. Some of us are actually trying to work with a limited amount of concentration and we go into depression the moment you play your oh-so-famous play-list.

No offence!

2) Cribbing over free coffee: Seriously? Like really, really? Why in the world do you have to crib over free coffee? 

I wonder why people brag that coffee at home is better than the coffee at office. Everyone cannot be your mother, duh!

3) Flicking office stationery: This is such a cliche, right? I know we all have needs, we need papers, note-pads, pens and pencils but the office pays for us not for our entire household, neighbourhood, kith and kin and given a chance, few people might even pass them over to their foes. Sweet life, nay?

4) The 'Oh-So-Famous Office Gossip': Ah! This is the most interesting thing, right? I am actually beaming as I type this. Nothing can beat the good old office gossip but hey, being a gossip-monger might land you in a big-time trouble.

5) Do not PEEP: This is the most annoying habit I've ever come across. Few people just don't stop staring into your computer and all that you can do is-- a) Lock your computer, b) Close your chat-boxes. 

6) Sleeping in the office: Isn't this a classic? I mean who doesn't want to sleep in the office? AC, comfy chairs, good music in your music player obviously drives the passion in you to doze off like a pig. But do realize that a company doesn't pay to sleep or hog like a pig.

Yes, I don't sleep during my working hours. How awesome am I?

7) The Break Time: Ah! Now this happens with me everyday. Yes, every freaking day. *Sniff* There are times when I wonder if my company is paying me for spending time in the cafeteria. How I wish they did!

I wish!

I still wish!

8) Social Networking Sites: How many of us do this? I don't. I mean I would have but then my company isn't a Facebook-ho. 

Honestly, I see many friends on Facebook, Gmail, Skype during their working hours and I wonder how they manage to work with so much entertainment and picture-viewing going on in their mind. Some workers!

And with this, I come to the end of the post.

I have completed two months in my office and unlike others, I don't crib over going to the office. I look forward for each day. Period. Yes, to have fun. (Obviously) 

The Book Collection Drive

                               “Those who can read and write have four eyes”

How true is that? A well-read person is an epitome of knowledge and if the same person can also write well, then, it is an icing on the cake. With an initiative like this on mind, Gyaan Exchange has launched a book drive called ‘Pan India Book Collection Drive.’ This drive aims at collecting books from various people across the country and the collected books will be donated to an NGO called Goonj.

Before I delve deeper into the details, I’ll give a brief introduction about Gyaan Exchange. Gyaan exchange is an online community which creates a platform for any person who wishes to teach the skills he possesses. For instance, a photographer can take up photography classes. In short, teachers and students enrol there and learn things. And honestly, there are quite interesting classes.

On this October 11^th, Gyaan Exchange turns a year old and to mark this occasion, they are conducting a national level book collection drive. The donor who gives the maximum number of books will be given some exciting gifts. Also, the top three winners and ten lucky winners will be given gift hampers. How nice!

So, I hope most of us will donate some books for this cause. The books can be sent to:

Noesis Knowledge Solutions, 105 Regal Diamond Center, Opera House, Mumbai 400004. Contact Number: 91676064692.

Note: Books can be sent through Flipkart or any other e-commerce sites by giving the address mentioned.

More about Gyaan Exchange: www.gyaanexchange.com

More about Goonj NGO: www.goonj.org