The consequences continue...

Ever since I cleared my CA Final, the one thing that everyone asks me is when am I getting married. Like that’s all that there is left in my life. Slog all your life, clear highly competitive professional exams nicely, then get married and have kids and then live off your husband. When the wannabe in-laws ask you, “beta, how far have you studied?” you’ll at least be able to list higher qualifications than their petite son. So here’s a boost to your inflated ego, you are way out of the league for most guys out there. Isn’t that something to be proud of now?

Marriage is an 8 letter word (and I don’t really mean it’s spelled as b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t, you jerk!) it actually is! Go back to the word and count the number of alphabets. Anyways, I’m not here to take English lessons but hoping that there would be someone who identifies with me on the following…

The whole procedure is so overwhelming and treacherous. If it’s arranged like my cousin’s, you’ll drive the poor parents nuts while you simply enjoy the teas and lunches with your potential significant others.

…And if its love, right from the day one when you meet them and fall in love till the day you actually tie the knot, is a risky business. First you notice all the good stuff only, coz after all love is blind, partially, and doesn’t like to wear contacts or glasses. Then you love them so much that you’d do anything to make them happy. And then there are the unwanted characters in the story who try to bring a twist in the tale. This can be anybody from your next door uncle to your special someone’s next door aunty (including the aunties-and-uncles-in-law)… nosy people. They all deserve to be cursed like Pinocchio.

Then there is the state of commitment where the love has gained sight in one eye after a laser operation (ok, now don’t grab my neck for non fruitfulness of the treatments I’m suggesting here, in case you’re blind, I’m not an ophthalmologist.) So now you can see things a little clearer and things are still good till you are handed over a To-do list and each item on it is going to take you months of learning. Now you start questioning Bobby (apni innocent si Dimple, from the movie Bobby, yaar) who told you, “pyaar me sauda nahi…” if she was kidding you. The silly girl knows nothing about real love!

Now you feel like it’s a scheme followed by a tiny asterisk with a small note attached “terms and conditions apply.” You’re probably okay with this hidden clause because, admit it, you’re still a little sightless. But if you have an ego the size of a dinosaur egg, theses terms and conditions will be fulfilled as long as they are taken with a pinch of love. Trouble is not everyone is good at negotiations :(

But I guess in the end marriage is still an 8 letter word which is spelled as b-l-i-s-s-f-u-l :) Just keep the extras from playing the match if they have no team-spirit.

Dreams

They say 'if you love someone, set them free. If they come back they are yours. If they don’t, they were never yours...' Who ever made this phrase popular were fooling around with love.

I can tell you this is not the right test for love! Sometimes they do come back but still don’t belong to you. Have you ever thought what that would mean? Ever wondered why they are doing this to you? Kill you not once but again n again…

You think it’s easy to let them go, you try to be brave but you know deep inside that its all just fake feelings you are trying to portray. You think you can get through the pain, the heartache, that you can forget them and move on and at that very moment you see them standing in front of you. You forget all the pretense of the bravery you have been putting up because u feel that you will never have to go through it now but the very next day they are set to leave you again and you realize how stupid you were to believe in them and all your dreams. Dreams, that’s what they were and will always be. And just when you try to calm yourself they come back to leave again…

Do you know why this happens to you? If you have the answer please be kind enough to tell me too.

Right or Wrong?

I’m sure, not once but many a times in your life you must have faced a situation where you didn’t know whether to do something or not. It’s more or less like your hearts begging you to go ahead but your brain/conscience is not giving you the green signal. All your heart cares about is the possible moment of happiness but your over-smart brain just doesn’t want you to be happy and keeps reasoning with you that it would be unacceptable to the anyways useless society and its age-old morals. Don’t worry. It’s probably just jealous of your heart. After all it’s the brain whose primary job is to think but you want to listen to your heart who always keeps messing with your brain.

So now what do you do in this situation? Who do you listen to? Listen to your brain, ‘coz, after all, it’s always right and will always keep troubles at bay? But your heart keeps behaving like a child, “I want chocolates, I want chocolates, I want chocolates…” that’s all it says and you know it wont stop till it gets the chocolates and if you don’t give the chocolates to it, its going to cry n make you feel sad about it.

So what should you do? Make the kid happy or listen to the wise guy?

I’m thinking of making the kid happy by giving it what it wants. Unless I take risks I won’t have any gains. Just like Bryan Uncle once said, “Well, it maybe wrong but baby, it sure feels right.” So be it. What’s the point of having principles that keep you away from what makes you happy? Even if it’s just momentary. I’m just going to ask the wise guy to muster courage and face the consequences when they arise. After all he’s the intelligent one and not the kid.

Besides you know what they say. “When you don’t know whether to do something or something or not, JUST DO IT (yeah, Nike got something right). When you get old and look back at your life, you wont regret the things you have done as much as the things you never did”

Love Actually

Love, that’s probably the most complicated thing to describe. I bet even Einstein and Newton would have failed on the subject of love. It’s like summer rains, you never know when it’s gonna pay you a visit and by the time you start to enjoy the touch of the tiny droplets against your cheeks, it’s gone. Of course nothing lasts forever but wouldn’t it be great if you could defy that rule?

I’m sure you all have seen the movie Love Actually and half of you would be claiming it as the best film you have ever seen. Well, count me in. Was watching it for the umpteenth time yesterday, yet, every time I watch it, the movie has its own way of turning me into a deeper shade of blue. Reminds me of all that I have lost and found in my life…

Lost a lot of friends, not because I couldn’t get along with them, but our individual careers made us go separate ways. Sometimes I wonder if it’s really worth the sacrifice. So much so that now I don’t even know how and where they are… I’ve lost best friends, not because of career, but just that we couldn’t get along which sounds ironic because unless we got along in the first place we wouldn’t have been best friends. I’ve lost love, which is painful, yes, but I won’t hype it like our stupid Bollywood movies. But, yes, it is more than worth the mention. I know there’s nothing better in this world than the feeling of being in love. And I believe it’s not the fact that there’s someone who loves you but the fact that you have someone to love. There’s nothing that can be more fulfilling. To the world, you can be a very strong person, but when you are with them it’s totally different. Just one hug from that special someone can completely melt you down and make you feel vulnerable and the same hug can make you feel like nothing in the world can hurt you because they will protect you.

But that’s not all that love is about. It’s also about giving wings to the one you love and allow them to fly, high. So that at the end of the day when they come back to you, you know that they are going to stay forever. And if they don’t, try to be glad that at least one of you is happy.

So whenever I watch Love Actually, it transports me back to those old times and reminds me of all that I’ve been through, I see all these past years floating in front of my eyes. But at the same time I tell myself it’s not the end of the world. There is still a lot of love left amidst the hatred splashed across the morning newspaper everyday. And all that you have to do is stretch out your hands and grab hold of it. You don’t know what’s in store for you tomorrow. So make the most of what you have today. Screw consequences. Listen to the song “kholo kholo” from Taare Zameen Par - “…Dil khush jahan, teri toh Manzil hai wahin!” :-)