Consolations in life

• At least coffee doesn't pretend to be something it ain't. 
• At least my sorrows are above average. 
• At least nobody is vying to have the perfect soul. 
• At least our lame one-liners shall outlive us. 
• At least the trees stand up for what they believe in.
• At least mosquitoes don't talk behind your back.
• At least pretend to pay attention while i'm talking to you.
• At least your demons are madly in love with you.
• At least the crazy ones don't pretend to be normal.
• At least be honest to your lies.
• At least ISIS has job vacancies.
• At least those who click selfies aren't selfish.
• At least cricketers don't dive.
• At least Hindus can always claim reincarnation as the last resort.
• At least show confidence when you're doing something wrong.
• At least scratch my back before you stab it.
• At least pain is paying attention to you.
• At least Monday comes to an end. 
• At least the suiciders aren't commitment-phobic.
• At least the believers aren't lazybones. 
• At least our enemies don't disappoint us.
• At least the damaged folks accept who they are.
• At least the liberals in Pakistan aren't hypocritical like ours. 
• At least those who change their DPs accept that they're ageing.
• At least our shadows resemble each other.
• At least the losers can claim to be self-made.
• At least those who can't speak don't lie.
• At least the Army doesn't tweet during working hours.
• At least science doesn't expect us go on a pilgrimage.
• At least the illiterates are spared from writing suicide notes.
• At least nobody can hate us more than we hate ourselves.
• At least the misogynist jokes pay full attention to women.
• At least they won't levy doping charges against Indian athletes. 
• At least fat people don't crack thin jokes. 
• At least the women in urban India have a voice.
• At least we can try to be happy.

#LikeABox

The question isn't "What are you thinking?", the question is "How are you thinking?".

Don't you think so?

An abrupt pause

Every time i come across a pair of perfectly fine yet misplaced footwear like these, i wonder how abandoned they must feel like. If one of them was lost or something, it'd have made sense because that happens quite a lot of time. However, seeing two chalable footgear is a bit unsettling. Both are there and yet they can't go anywhere.

Rippling effect

We are like that stone which hits the surface of a river...creates some ripples...bit of a sound...temporary commotion..only to drown peacefully into it. To the canvas of time, our species do something similar. We enter, strut our stuff, build something, damage quite a lot and then leave the stage while the river flows on. It's an universe where everybody adheres to the Script.

PS: The trick is to become a pumice and float.

Serendipity

As species, we might have progressed a lot over the years while some things remain unanswered. Those questions are better left untouched, not because they can't be unraveled but because so many before us—deliberately, if i may presume—failed at it. Questions like, why do we care? Or get hurt by someone's action or even words? Worse still, why do we love somebody or something so much that we reek of bias? People you grew up with, knowing very well their flaws. People whom you haven't even met yet, knowing very well yours. Sometimes, it could be a smartphone or your dog perhaps. Living or dead, they all intrigue your bloodstream in such a manner that they silently command attention. They present you with moments of vulnerability. Scientific temper goes for a toss and your artless life begins to imitate cinema. By bizarre cosmic coincidence, the frames belonging to the big screen enter your everyday regime. Your ego disintegrates. Your mind opens up to a horizon unseen earlier. You gradually understand why Tristan was so abandoned by himself in Legends of the Fall or where was all that anger coming from in the protagonist of I Saw the Devil or who compelled the evil out of Edwin in 12 Years a Slave or which direction was Sergeant William going during the climax of The Hurt Locker or when precisely did a grizzly bear teach Christopher McCandless a lesson in Into the Wild or how a machine is seemingly capable of an emotion humans claim to patent in WALL·E or what sets Varun free in Lootera. While understanding these instances, you submit to the idea of love. Apart from learning why it shouldn't be conquered.

At our own mercy

How does one gauge slavery? Is it even possible in today's timeframe? I've never been jailed though amma often locked us up so that we weren't subjected to scorching summer sun. But that doesn't come close to what a slave must feel under his/her master's command. For reasons plausible, slavery is attached to people with darker skin shade although people across the spectrum—irrespective of their race—suffered at the hands of those who were comparatively more powerful. And in some parts of the world, continue to. 

Wait a minute. 

We are all slaves, right? We might be the captain of our souls but we don't always win the toss. We are captivated by the desire to gain something even at the cost of losing our sanity. We often get ourselves in such a goddamn hurry that we don't even realize where we're heading towards. It's a strange world and our species, stranger. With the change in era, we've become our own whiplashing masters. Aren't we the victims of our accomplished milestones and unaccomplished dreams? I don't know about you but i'm engauged now.

Half full, full empty

I can relate to the local train. When it's empty, it wobbles a lot while the breeze seeps in from all directions. It makes a strange yet harmonic clanging noise as the hanging straps collide with the rod above. It seems like it's moving faster though. A zen monk sans the demons. But when it reaches the next station, there is an underwhelming sense of wasted energy and time as the passengers aren't oozing out. That emptiness is unbearable. On the other hand, when it's full—brimming with people literally stuffed in—the train has a purpose. So many hold on it and that's a worthy feeling. It's willing to carry the load and wouldn't even mind if some unlucky souls lose grip hanging outside or some get knocked out on the jaywalking railway track. To the train, the reputation of being full of passengers is more important than the infamy of being a mass murderer. Being a human who has his ever-changing phase of holeness and wholeness, i can totally relate to it.

Untying the knot

They say love happens just once in a lifetime. If that is so, then it may take more than a genius to recognize when and how and whom it happened with. Falling in love again and again and again and then again is what eventually wears us out. Let's call it the perks of being confused. But they have their limitations too. You can be wrong. After all, you get many chances. On the other hand, marriage is something that should happen just once in a lifetime. Give it a shot. If it works, well and great. If it doesn't, don't ever walk that wretched aisle again. Simple. Maybe it's not that simple. People get married hoping to give themselves a second chance at life. Create something new...at least on a personal level with somebody you supposedly adore and want to "share the rest of your time with" without a second thought. Well, the idea is noble. The application is quite different. When the veneer of novelty starts fading, that's when reality strikes you. At that point, it's up to you to whether you want to fall in love again or rise in marriage for a change. I'm so glad that George Clooney didn't choose the latter.