A single kid’s lament

This post is a sad, gloomy one so before things get weepy let me wish everyone Happy Raksha Bandhan!
Today is all about brothers and sisters, colourful Rakhis and thoughtful gifts in return.
On a sibling’s fest, when the newspapers are filled with articles about the bonds between brothers and sisters, who will listen to a single child lament about how miserable life can get without a sibling at home?

Oh to hell with all the drama about how “I love being the single child” and “I get all the love and attention” crap. I don’t want all the attention; why do I need to be a celebrity in the family all my life? I need someone to share the lime light!
Seriously, there should be a day in the whole year of 365 days, dedicated to single children who don’t have an annoying brother or sister who occasionally tends to check their secret cupboards and read personal diaries. Kids who don’t have someone to tell all their fears to and have them laugh at you, though deep inside they’re concerned and constantly looking out for you. For all the single girls who run behind boys on Raksha Bandhan, genuinely wanting to share some sisterly love and have them run away like the Rakhi is a ticking time bomb…

because as happy as we are to have all of the parents’ undivided love and care showered over us, the fact of not having a sibling always remains like a hollow ache in the heart. It is like life is never complete without fighting over sharing a bedroom. Getting to keep a lot of secrets is never as much fun as telling it to a younger sibling and watching him threaten to let it slip when the grownups are around. I’m pretty sure there is much more to bonds between brothers and sisters than what I know.. how i wish.......................
well.. Happy Raksha Bandhan to one and all! 

Happy birthday poem

This poem is exclusively dedicated to Sandhya, my super awesome friend who celebrated her birthday yesterday.

On this very special day, I’ll just say,

that poems travel a long long way
that’s why this one was always ‘on the way’ J
but here it is today!!
Wishing you a happy happy birthday!

Of course I know that won’t do!
This verse is something old and new
of the last years that fleetingly flew
behind us, as we grudgingly grew;
reminding today, how much I miss you. L

Of all the memories that lay afloat
in my mind, it is hard to quote
the most memorable, hard to note
the funniest joke, for me to gloat
what an awesome person I got to know! ;)

I hope, Someday on your birthday,
A poem like this will travel a long way
and blink and beep on your new iPhone
while you’re listening to your favorite tune
driving on a highway in a Bugatti (or something!)
Off to a day of mountain climbing,
backpack full of chocolate bars… J
I wish you everything nice, earth to stars.

And Every year on this day
(might be late, I can’t say B))
my poem will travel a long way
Like it did today
to wish you a happy happy birthday!

The Auto Man

Similar to the Umbrella Man (Roald Dahl), the auto-man is also a con man. Even today he pulls off cheap tricks to pocket money that is not rightfully his. He is a common species and overshadows the honest auto drivers to such an extent that it makes me swear off auto rickshaws for the lifetime.

Now that’s a formal introduction. What I’m exactly trying to say is auto-drivers especially in Bangalore….. Huff!! I swear I'm never going to travel by an auto Ever EVER again!!

Today I thought I was lucky to find one who actually turned the meter down and drove without a word. I asked him direction to get to this place and he even offered to drive me closer to there. Lost in the delight I handed him a crisp Rs.100 note a minute before getting down. He happily pocketed it.  Being a wretched decent human being I expected him to hand me the change when we stopped. To my surprise the fellow claims I never gave him any money!! If he has so much of a financial crisis I don't mind helping him out.. But not when he thinks he can take me for a ride!  

I have come across drivers who demand three times the normal amount for short distances just because they “it’s an interior area” or “a one way” and “they don’t get anybody to drive back”. I have come across those who tamper with the meter so that it innocently clicks away to twice the normal amount because everybody believes the meter. I have even seen the egoistic type who simply shake their heads and drive off(that really gets onto my nerves! . But this, I think, crossed all limits. And we, the commuters, are helpless. We need them, and they know it. Which is why, on a rainy day the fare is higher. In terms of economics it works perfectly. Someone really needs to get these geniuses out of economics class and teach them moral science.

This time, again, I decided to forgive the auto-man. I hope there will not be a next time. i hope we all can start using bicycles instead of autos :) 

“EXAMS!!!”

Yesterday when I remembered about my blog my little voice was dancing inside my head saying “I told you so I told you so I told you so”. So here I am today………. J

Anyway I can’t believe tomorrow is my EXAM!! What I find even hard to believe is I don’t feel worried at all!! Before you jump into ghastly conclusions that I have studied everything let me clarify, I have not studied ANYTHING! So it is definitely not confidence. All I have done is staring at a few important pages in my book really hard. If there is a camera in my brain with enough resolution and all I might have captured some images which will help me pass.  Or else………. L

“You have a huge syllabus and you don’t even have enough notes!”

There it is… hello little voice. It yells at me so much but can’t make me study. I wish I could get that tension everyone gets the day before the exam. I even sat down and watched two movies in one go and called up some friends to rant about how terribly I’m preparing, hoping that in the last minute I might get tense and actually concentrate on studying. Unfortunately right now I suddenly love music, can’t live without my phone, feel like sketching something and get ideas for my blog post. L

When mom called up asking me what I’m doing, very seriously I said “yeah I’m studying for tomorrow” hoping that would set me off. But I STILL CAN’T CONCENTRATE!!!

So this is the last thing I’m going to try. If I still can’t concentrate I’m going to stop being a nerd and go attend that exam without studying a word. Let’s see what happens J

Stop dayy-drrrrreaamingggg.........and get to work!

“For heaven’s sake STOP DAY-DREAMING! I can’t take it anymore.. All you do is dream and dream all day long! You always want to be in someone else’s shoes and just keep forgetting that you have your own pair of shoes. Including the high heeled ones you can barely stand in... You still have it! Now again.. AGAIN! You’re thinking about blogging about this and I’m pretty sure you won’t.. STOP..!”

Sorry.. That was my little voice yelling at me. Sometimes it tells me what to do and and sometimes yells at me like that. I wonder why I call it ‘little’…..

OK. So finally I am so fed up of myself day dreaming about meaningless stuff, that I have even changed the name of my blog. Don’t ask how much of dreaming is behind this very post!

It came up when I was studying about feature writing. Not writing a feature, not reading it, but studying about it. I was reading something like... “Feature writing is creativity within limits….” And I’m already at this antique rosewood desk writing away to glory; then I’m in the editor’s office where the editor is very happy with my feature and my colleagues are all jealous Blah Blah Blah…

It’s a blur from there because my little voice started yelling again. “YOUR EXAMS ARE THREE DAYS AWAY! SIT AND STUDY! YOU NEVER COMPLETE ANY WORK! YOU DON’T EVEN POST ON YOU BLOG! “

Now that was something I did not want to hear. But some great soul has quoted that we must try to turn our weaknesses into strengths. Who said it?

I can’t remember. If you remember tell me. Although I prefer you don’t tell me so I can pass it off as my own ;)

So if all I know to do is day-dream, that’s what I will do. ON MY BLOG. J

“You won’t last a week”

We will see.

But you know what...

After travelling for nearly 6 hours in a government bus, now I say real beauty is the auto which carried me and my luggage safely home. and my messy room where i can finally dump those bags and stretch my hands. sitting on a vibrating seat for six hours with a fat guy next to me taking up three fourth of the seat is not easy. next time, i'm taking the train. uff.................

where to find beauty....

The thing called beauty is everywhere. Not only is it in real life that we can see, it is in the virtual reel that keeps playing in our heads, a movie called memories. They are always in the back of the mind, suddenly popping out on unexpected occasions with an awkward chuckle or a lump in the throat. It is not just a picturesque landscape complete with a perfectly still lake reflecting the moon; it is also the memory of looking at such a photograph with a loved one and saying “let’s go there sometime…” “Of course, when we’re married…..”

Beauty is in the undying love between a husband and wife, a promise to be there for one another through thick and thin; and it is also in the silly teenage crush that is remembered while going through old diaries and photographs. It is in the memory of finally having talked to that special someone and coming back home to jump around and call up a dozen friends.

Beauty is in those bestsellers on the stands that amaze readers with pure genius… But it does not stop there. It is also when I’m sitting up late night writing an assignment and doze off for a second, then wake up with a jolt suddenly remembering the time in school I dozed off writing my homework and mom spanked me on the head. The very feel of that little nostalgic smile is beauty.

Beauty somehow gets into everything we love, even dad’s faded grey t shirt that’s two sizes too big. Memories are beautiful; they are a personal marvel when they string themselves together to tell a whole story that is exclusively yours with all those hysterical laughing spells that bring about giggles out of nowhere and those tears that a special someone had always wiped off. Beauty is there.. everywhere.