I love you too, Zindagi! :)

Hello there! :) 
Its been a while hasn't it , well I can imagine some of you yawning and rolling your eyes. Ok I think I will just cut to the chase. 
Now I wanna talk about something that made me move my lazy bum and actually take some time out to write. I have been meaning to write for a very long time (I know I know, cliche but you gotta bear with me. I really did) but never actually could force myself to do it. But today I just had to do it. 
Thing is, I saw a movie called "Dear Zindagi" today. For the uninitiated, it is a Bollywood romantic drama. No drama though as the genre suggests(well that wasn't a good one was it? Still working on my jokes sorry about that.) A class apart from the run of the mill films that come out these days. The funda is very simple. Love your life. Can it get any simpler? Well but in practice, is it actually as simple as it sounds? Absolutely not. But why is that? A Calvin and Hobbes strip comes to my mind which pretty much sums it up. 

Eureka! That comic strip ought to drive the point home. Before I go yapping about how beautiful the movie was, let me quickly summarize the plot. Nothing fancy, nothing out of the blue. The story revolves around a girl, Kaira in her 20s struggling to put the pieces of her life together. To her rescue comes a guy, Jug who becomes her confidant(also happens to be a therapist) and thus begins her journey of self discovery. Yes, it is that simple. Kaira, so beautifully portrayed by Alia, not only learns her lesson, but also teaches us a lesson for life. I can say with certainty that I am not the person I was 3 hours ago. Remember how as kids, we were asked to suppress our emotions. Do not throw tantrums, do not cry etc. This film says why it is not only ok to cry when you feel like, or yell when you are hurt, but it also says why it is the right thing to do.  

"Tum agar khulke ro nahi sakogi ... toh khulkar has kaise sakogi" (translated to - If you can't cry out loud, how can you laugh out loud) makes you think doesn't it. 

Some of the dialogues were so profound that it will be lingering in your mind days after you have watched the movie. One other thing I loved about the movie is that, it shatters so many stereotypes.  How many times have we hesitated to do things just because, hey what will others think. You know what, that really doesn't matter. The film deals with a lot other issues/problems us millennials face and the way they were handled deserves to be appreciated. All in all, this movie was one hell of a rollercoaster ride. It makes you laugh, it makes you cry and most important of all, it makes you feel good about yourself. If you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend you do. As the dialogue goes, Ja Simran, jee le apni zindagi :P (no? ok I give up) 

P.S. :Thank you Dear Zindagi, you gave me something to write about and rekindled my passion for writing. :) 

Until we meet again! :) 

You, Me and (not) our love story - Chapter 2

Previous Chapter : You, Me and (not) our love story - Chapter 1

It was still raining. But that didn't seem to stop her. She was in an unusually good mood. She wasn't the type of girl who made men turn their heads in awe. Sure, she had big beautiful eyes, jet black hair that reached a little below her shoulders and a perfect jaw line which only accentuated her already perfect smile and those mesmerizing dimples that showed up every once in a while if and when she had a hearty laugh. But all this often goes unnoticed as she liked to keep a low profile. The closest that she had ever come to make up was using a Kohl and eyeliner occasionally. Her eyes radiated so much confidence and spoke volumes to someone who was observant. She was used to hearing as to how beautiful her smile was, but this compliment about her eyes totally caught her off guard. She was intrigued. She wanted to get to know that person who could read so much into her and yet she had absolutely no clue as to how he even looked.

Damn you Avanti, She cursed herself. Its not like you meet men like him on a daily basis. But you had to embarrass yourself like that in front of him didn't you? 

She quickly started recollecting what all she knew about him. What is that one important quality that an author must possess, she quizzed herself. Imagination!! squeaked her mind. Over the course of years,she had made up a couple of imaginary characters in her mind. So up till now, there was idealistic Avanti(IA), overly dramatic Avanti(ODA), smitten Avanti(SA), jocular Avanti(Javanti) and finally the one and only sane one, not so Avanti(NA). Well because you know, I am anything but sane, she chuckled. 

So Avanti, you met a guy, medium height lets say? It was none other than IA

Hey I think he was little taller than that, SA cried out.

Oh you guys, remember how he was sitting and was gone the next minute, reasoned NA and so this argument is baseless.

I hate how she is always right, whispered ODA.

Lets discuss his dreamy eyes, pitched in SA.

You know smitten is an understatement. You should be called obsessed. And you are this close to becoming a stalker, Javanti guffawed and the rest joined in.

This went on for some time and they reached a conclusion that it was impossible to track him down. She continued walking, feeling dejected.

As soon as she reached home, she hastily put down her bag and logged in to her laptop. On her way back, she had dropped a message to her boss saying she will connect from home. And so she had to. She had a couple of emails and she started responding to them, almost typing unconsciously. When will I ever muster the courage to quit and do something  I want to, she sighed. She hated her job. She religiously did. But somehow she was still working. The money was good. Job nature wasn't very demanding. And hence she continued. After about 2 hours, she thought of taking a break. She logged into her facebook account and the 1st post she chanced upon was about some trip to Ladakh. Out of curiosity, she navigated to that link only to find herself so captivated by what the trip had to offer. And in no time, she was drafting an email to her boss telling him that she will be going on a vacation for about 15 days in another 2 weeks. 

LADAKHHH!!!!! All her inner voices screamed in unison.

To be continued...

You, Me and (not) our love story - Chapter 1

A heavy downpour accompanied by a major thunderstorm brought the city to a standstill. It seemed like the rain gods were lashing out for all that is done against the nature. Here she was caught in the middle of nowhere, begging the rain gods to show some mercy but all her pleas were falling into deaf ears as the rain only seemed to gain momentum with every passing second. She was a Senior Executive in a reputed multinational company. As fancy as the name sounds, the job involved prosaic number crunching, not exactly the kind of job that excites her. Secretly, she had always wanted to be a writer and she kept assuring herself that she will become one, someday. Needless to say what she would be doing in her free time. Reading and writing had become part of her biorhythm. A bibliophile that she was, she had a separate room for the love of her life, her collection of books. As much as she wished she could go back home, cuddle up and read , she was overcome by a disquieting restlessness. It was getting late to work, same old mundane work, she thought. If only I could gear up the courage to quit and not care, she sighed. 

It was 9:30 and she was already thirty minutes late to work. Her stomach started to growl reminding her of her hunger. Great, she thought. Just then her mobile began to ring. Another call from work which she had no intention of attending. She switched off her phone and headed to the small restaurant which was pretty close to where she was waiting. She ordered a sandwich and went to occupy the extreme corner which was isolated from the rest of the restaurant. She fished for the book in her bag and started working on the story that she was writing. Halfway into her sandwich, she felt the presence of someone sitting right opposite to her staring at her intently. She pretended to be impervious to the eyes that bore into her and then she was no longer able to take it. What? she demanded. He responded with a nonplussed silence. She gave him a good long disparaging look and when she was satisfied, she got up and left. Exactly then, the waiter ran towards her with her sandwich. It took her a good 30 seconds to realize what she had done. She turned back only to find him gone with a note on the table that read, you are welcome for the sandwich by the way. And hey, beautiful eyes Avantika. 

She was washed over by a gamut of emotions. She was enraged, guilty and happy all at the same time. Enraged because he was gutsy enough to look at what she was writing. Guilty because of her brash behaviour and finally happy because, well obvious reasons. She couldn't help but blush. All the bad things since morning seemed like it never happened. A random comment by a random stranger made her day. Without second thoughts, she headed home.

Next chapter : You, Me and (not) our love story - Chapter 2

Love Undefined - Finale

Take me to the Index

Previous Chapter : Love Undefined Chapter 8

As soon as the plane landed, Priya couldn't wait to get home but them she didn't have to wait that long. Radha was right outside the airport waiting to receive them. On seeing Priya, tears of happiness started rolling down her cheeks. Tarun's presence made no difference to her. What an irony, Radha thought. She slid her attention to the kid who was talking animatedly to his dad. Gosh , Shrey has grown up so much, she thought. But nothing could actually distract her from the voice inside her head. Talk to Priya, it kept shouting.  Oh yes I will, she shouted back,saying it out loud. 

Narayan kept shooting glances at his wife.  He noticed how weird she has been acting all day. He knew this was something very unusual of his wife. Yet he remained silent. What is she upto, he kept wondering. 

Priya smiled on seeing Radha. That heavy burden that she was carrying all along seem to have lifted suddenly.On their way back home, Shrey kept glancing outside and was marveling at the sight of each and every thing. Now and then he kept shouting, whenever he saw something he recognized. Tarun and Narayan exchanged a few words and other than that nobody really spoke anything. And no sooner, Shrey fell asleep. Silence prevailed until they reached their destination. Tarun freshened up and sooner fell asleep. It wasn't that easy for Priya though. There was this nagging thought that constantly kept reminding her of the fact that she still haven't spoken a word to Radha. Her to-do-list on this visit to India mostly involved Radha.

1) Make peace with Radha.
2)Get along with Radha
3)Try staying calm when Shrey is around Radha and so on...

So much of unnecessary drama and I might as well get it over with, She thought and she tip toed into the kitchen. Radha was preparing dinner and hence she thought the best ice breaker would be to start off with "can I help you prepare dinner?" but before she could actually say anything , Radha initiated. Priya ,what are you doing here? go get some rest, she smiled. ok ma, is all Priya could say and she sprinted through the hall towards the bedroom. 

She couldn't help but smile. Radha actually spoke to her and she did not seem a bit angry. Well that's a good sign, she thought and was so lost in thoughts that she lost track of time until Radha came and called her for dinner. And they had their dinner like one happy family. Later that night Radha put Shrey to sleep and Priya slept peacefully after a really long time. 

The next day Priya got up with a smile on her face. All of a sudden yesterday seemed like a long time ago and all the bitterness between her mother-in-law and her seemed like it never happened. That is when she realized that all this was bound to happen. All this misunderstanding and the cold war and everything. It did not take them apart but actually brought them together. She felt like she had successfully solved one gigantic jigsaw puzzle. It felt like they were one happy family. Just then she heard Radha shouting "Priya! Its 8 in the morning and are you still asleep? .. and the rest fell on deaf ears. Just when I thought things were getting better, She smiled and got up to face the day ahead(or in short, Radha)! 

----------------------------------------------The end---------------------------------------------------

Lost in Reverie

Being in the 20s , the future looks scary,

Thoughts muddled up, heedless to the turmoil inside my head,

Running helter skelter to catch up with the routine without a pause,

Too nervous to gauge where the path leads and for what cause,

just go with it, says a part of me, 

resist,says another for all its worth, you get to live only once.

Yet I sit here, panic stricken,

frightened to go out and explore ,

trapped in my own little cocoon, 

fighting relentlessly to break out,

break out from the monotony,

for I know that sky's the limit .

Gifted are those who pursue their passion, I might say

If only I knew what their 20's used to be like. 

Life is not a bed of roses, I have heard,

Monetary success is momentary, I know,

Do what you love, I keep reminding myself,

for that is the key to eternal happiness.

This is a promise to myself,

To ignite the fire, to kindle that passion.

It is never too late!

I know that I can still start today and write a beautiful ending,

As I would never want to fail without trying.

It's a girl? Say WOW!

"It's a girl" , she announced.

Kill her, they said in unison.

In our so called democratic country, which has a very rich cultural heritage, this is such a shame. Women of our country are tortured in every possible way. Sometimes even before a baby girl is born, she is killed. And the sole reason being, she's a girl. 

What is even more shocking is the statistics. 200 million women are missing in the world today which apparently is more than the devastating deaths from world war 1 and 2 put together. And our country is yet again famous for a very wrong reason. 

Here is a video that gives us all a better insight into this problem.

In the above video, a lady talks about how she strangled her 8 baby girls and the worst part being, she doesn't even regret that. She's seen smiling which only makes me sad that a major part of our country's population are still completely ignorant.  We go about blaming others for this never really realizing that every individual is responsible for the injustice that's been happening. Its time to turn the mirror around and take a closer look. Gone are the days when women do not step out of the house. There are so many women who are a living example that there is nothing a women cannot do. 

This gendercide causes a major gender imbalance thus resulting in a chain of other social injustices such as child brides , girl trafficking and such. You take pride in being a man. Well that certainly is beyond me. Its high time everyone understands that a bunch of chromosomes has nothing to do with who is superior to whom.  This discrimination goes a long way back in history that eradicating this is definitely gonna take time. If where to begin is your question, mold your children. Teach them to respect women and that discrimination should never be tolerated. Teach them that everyone's equal.

To all the women out there. Never tolerate injustice and discrimination. You deserve every bit of what a man gets. Speak up and shout if that is what it takes to be heard. Never bog down and do whatever it takes to earn the rights your deserve . 

I know its late, but then don't they say, better late than never?

Pictures courtesy : Google

This entry is submitted for Indiblogger and Franklin Templeton Investments's initiative - Most inspiring ideas for a better tomorrow.

Franklin Templeton Investments  partnered the TEDxGateway Mumbai in December 2012.

Love Undefined - Chapter 8

Take me to the Index

Previous Chapter :Love Undefined Chapter 7 

And thus began her longest  journey....

Shrey was pretty much excited, as he was going to "Inda" in the "Aaropane" . He kept repeating that for the past few days ever since he was told so. What he didn't expect was the sit-in-one-place-and don't-you-dare-move looks that his mom and dad kept shooting at him. Naturally he became all cranky and was troubling his mom who was all the more troubled. With every passing minute, Priya was becoming all the more paranoid. She was not ready to face Radha just yet but she was not given an option. She started analyzing the situation. She knew she had to handle the situation very delicately as Tarun was very very sensitive when it comes to his mom. He isn't irrational . But then he isn't very supportive either when it comes to this, she thought. How could he be anyway. She realized it is indeed to much to ask from him. Both the women he loves the most couldn't tolerate being around each other. That is when she realized that Tarun was the one who was deeply hurt more than herself or Radha when it came to the crisis at hand. That is also the time she made up her mind to make peace with her MIL no matter what it takes. 

Tarun tried to shut off the voice inside his head which terrified him more than what he already was. He planned this trip to put an end to the constant misunderstanding between the women in his life or rather the women who are his life. He loved Priya as much as he loved his mom. Taking sides was completely ruled out as he knew it was no one's mistake in particular. He thought a confrontation was all that is needed to make things the way it used to be. He felt bad for treating Priya the way he did. He did nothing but to add to her miseries. He tormented his Priya who was already feeling guilty and he just couldn't live with that. His gut feeling told him that this was "THE" trip. It is all gonna be ok, he thought and then drifted to sleep. 

Radha's happiness knew no bounds. She kept telling her husband that Tarun is coming as if he would ever forget. But the real happiness was not that Tarun was coming. It was that Priya is coming. She was only angry when she left to India. She was so angry that she couldn't think straight. She kept telling her husband how bad a decision it was to let her son get married to someone as arrogant as Priya. Narayan kept ignoring his wife until one day when he could no longer tolerate the blind arrogant remarks his wife was making and he spoke to knock some sense into her. He spoke all about how she behaved the exact same way with his mom and how she has no right to blame Priya. Infact Priya is all more patient than you ever were, he said curtly. For some strange reason, this did not infuriate Radha. Rather it dawned on her that whatever her husband said was absolutely true. When she was of Priya's age, she made a mental note that she would be the mother in law every girl would ask for and she realized she wasn't doing justice to that. She felt so guilty that she did not speak with anyone for days. It changed when she got to know that they were gonna pay a visit in the next few days. She did not know how, but she was all set to make things right. I will be the MIL that Priya would be very proud of, she smiled. 

There is an extremely simple solution to all the problems in the world. And the first step would be to stop blaming others and take a long, hard look at yourself. :)

To be continued...