Sprinkled Words

Our generation today only wants the best for themselves. No body wants to settle for anything else, and they shouldn’t, honestly.  At what cost though? Learning to be manipulative, create a toxic environment around and up the game so the other will lose? subtly find ways to cheat the other so you get what you want?  Really? Is that the healthiest way to go about it? Just think about it for a while.  If someone is nice, you think they are too nice. Oh! He’s being so nice, I wonder what he wants. I feel so sad to say it out loud, but I have heard this multiple times, ‘Oh she’s so humble, that’s why people walk all over her, no wonder she can’t ever get that high position in life’  When did humility and kindness being such a curse? Since when did being nice to someone become something one looks down upon? Do you know if you have a personal opinion that sometimes doesn’t match the majority, you don not say it out loud in order to be the one sing...

Mind you, I missed out the word 'middle class’ in the title.  It has taken me a few years, a lot of weddings I shoot, and a very good dinner date with this amazing lady who I won’t name, to realise that we as South Indian kids have got the whole concept of love wrong.  Well, not wrong entirely, but let’s just say that the kind of normal punjabi house hold love, was only Karan Johar movies for us. I didn’t realise that was normal for them, until one day a punjabi friend told me I do not know how to love someone.  I found that very odd and strange to believe, because I for a fact was sure that I love a lot of my friends, I love my family, I love coffee too (ok it’s not a human being, but it could be!!) . So what did she really mean by it? OK yes it took me very long to hug someone and not be awkward, I have never kissed my friends on their cheeks, like all those typical Instagram photos of girlfriends. I never hugged my mom every morning for 20 years o...

I apologise for the silence from my end. I know it's been a while. But it's given me some times to think, and now I wonder. Does everybody judge everyone else's choices around them? I have been asked this question a billion times so far, 'Are you not going to shift to America like your brother and find a well paying job?'   NO      What is wrong with what I do now? So last evening I bumped into an old aunty who used to live in the adjoining building to us. She had only two question to ask me beyond the courteous how are you, 'What do you do apart from photography for work' I very hesitantly responded, 'That is what I do for a living, and I love my job', to which she checked me out head to toe like oh dear god, give this poor child some sense. Her second question to me was 'Your brother is of marriageable age, so when will he get married?' To which I smiled and replied, 'Why does everyone get married?' She instantly cross...

Ever wonder why they call it Self Help? Well it had been a while since I wanted to read one, so recently I picked up one called, non violent communication. It spoke about various aspects in life. But out of all I read, I picked up on this one thing that stuck to me like nothing else. (little did I know reading on flights would help so much)  How do we project anger? Did you ever just stop to think? Our hearts does a lot more than just pump blood to our body and lee us alive. It leads to the stomach. The stomach that doesn’t just digest food, but also is the pit to all your feelings.  Do you ever feel hollow even after you’ve eaten? If yes, you know what I mean.  Sometimes we say a lot of things without understanding, but it is in the spur of the moment. Sometimes we pile things up in our hearts and the just spill it out all at once, because we have been scared to say it all this while. But who have we been scared to say it to? Ourselves or someone el...

I’m sure you all know when one says that. Ever wondered how that works with life? Be it relationships, or work, it’s always going to take a huge chunk out of your life.  So here’s a question, and no, I don’t need an answer out loud, this one is just for you ; Do you love your bed more than yourself? I’m sorry to disrupt this relationship a little bit, but I need you to do this for me.  So one day is fairly long right? we do have time to gossip, or just sit and stare into blank space?  Well…. what if we take that time and just do something we like? Don’t be too lazy, come on, I know you can do it. Carry that book around in your bag if that makes you feel better.  You like food? or just a quiet cup of coffee by yourself? Ok great, whats stopping you from doing that?  It’ll take you only 15 minutes I promise.  Please give it a shot? Much like the yummy food we eat, our brain may like some of it too. Lets all take some time out of ou...

To a generation seduced by technology, will we have the kind of love we read in books? Or will be look like catalog photos of a magazine advertising for it's latest gadgets? Will our house be filled with electronics and e books? Or filled with some photos and artefacts from the places of our travel. Will the world forget the sheer happiness of the smell of an old book? Or to find an old tiny daisy for a bookmark? The definition of 'Love' can be different for different people, clearly mine was written back in the 1980's. The joy of coming back home to family/ lover, pre cooked hot dinner waiting for you, and some bonding time over a hot beverage?  (yea ok, I'm old) Today, we all realise it's a rate race. Everyone is running to make ends meet, make jobs work, somehow squeeze time on a weekend to meet a few friends. Guess what, we all know it's going to be like this for a couple of years now. Meeting people on dates may become usual, and making fun of t...

A year later, today here I am, sitting up at 2am and writing this. A lot of things have changed. My love for colours, doing things I like, unapologetically, sitting in a cafe and sipping on my coffee alone, happily.  I am finally able to go back to those relations I left behind when I was afraid I will screw them up eventually. School friends, some parts of my family, and well, honestly, me. There were parts to my life that I had completely refused to acknowledge. Today, I am able to go back to them without having an anxiety attack. Yes, I still have those tiny phases when I just want to be alone, walk home from work, so I get that little time and space for myself, but hey! Who doesn’t want that? That’s perfectly normal right :D  ( that is if there is something that is normal)  I learnt how to start to love myself.  I slowly started to give up the patterns that had built up through these years. Self victimisation, inflicting pain ...