Fireworks

Sunny dresses
And bare toes
On the grass
Colored lips
Sipping coronas
Heady conversations
With green eyes
Under a clear sky
Time flies...

The day rolls
Into the night
In silence
And in laughter
With the touch of a finger
A tinge of blush
All the things I love
And fireworks.


Ever felt like a firework about to go off when you met someone that filled you with happiness? Yeah! that's exactly what I am talkin' about. Good day people! I hope you all have a day full of everything you love.

.:ayda:.

Awesomeness!

It was going to be graduation time round the bend. Many of us were going to get an ominous looking fancy piece of paper soon. If your college is awesome it will say “Level up: Life Skill AWESOME acquired.” 

But for most of us it will just say our name and some words and a two digit summary of our  worth in the past 4 years staring us shamelessly on the face.

When I was an undergrad I remember looking forward to graduation so much. I thought to myself on a regular basis, “Just get through this. When it’s all done you’ll be able to make money and start your life.” By the time that day actually came, I was so underwhelmed with the whole "college experience" that I stopped regretting why we don't have a convocation 'cause most probably I wouldn’t have even bothered to

show up.

At least real life had started. And I was off to the races… not really. In the last six years I’ve met people who are in their late teens who I consider peers and equals; people who organize groups, throw giant successful events and still have time to kick college’s ass; people who make these crazy life altering decisions and go through so much for the sake of upholding a benevolent idea. I’ve learned a little bit from every single one of you. And I need you to know something else: You’ve changed my life. 

Just watching you do what you do has given me so much excitement about the world. You taught me the value of college outside of class when we were hanging out in the canteen, dancing, fighting over choreography, calling dibs over better rooms and bigger chunks of chicken, when we were royally ignoring people (or each other :p), or making up over a pan (yeah not bowl ;)) of hot or cold maggi, watching movies in the theatre or singing together. You taught when we were sharing a million stuff knowingly or unknowingly, when you were silent or grumbling or shouting or just texting "dinner?", "Canteen. step up 4 trailer. Awesome" "dup?" "chotto meye" (lil girl, in bengali) and so on and so forth.

Each one of us has some shortcomings and some redeeming qualities about us while some are kind or creative or funny or headstrong or whatever (the list of adjectives goes on and on..), some among these multitudes are good at BEING AWESOME.

What is BEING AWESOME, you ask? Well, there no 1

way to answer that but you can always try reading on:

And so I give you the 7 commandments of Being Awesome:

1. Be a dork. (or in another way Embrace who you are.)

A person who confidently accepts that he/she likes to read is always cooler than a person who wears a gothic Tee and gets hammered for the sake of trying to look cool.

2. Say YES to new things.

They take challenges head on.

3. Don’t take criticism personally.

They don't crib or whine about it on Facebook or twitter (in short the social media). They Listen. Process. Learn. Improve. Thank. <like I'm doing now  :p lol>

4. Embrace failure.

For every 1 good idea there are 10 bad ones to pull it back but these people say "F*ck the haters" and go on.

5. Persevere

They never give up without a fight. And they are amaaaaazing fighters (better than the spartans!)

6. Give everyone a chance.

I noticed something interesting about the people I consider to be excellent — they hang out with everyone. They have the oddest friends and they love them all. This gives them access to all sorts of strange worlds and social circles. Best friends come from strange and unexpected places so try not to judge anyone before you get to know them. This has a cool side effect too — when you try to see the positives in other people instead of judging them harshly, the voice that thinks other people are judging YOU harshly tends to shut up.

7. Life starts today.

Above all else, they realize that they’re already the person they hope to become more or less. They stopped waiting ages ago. Waiting for some day to come when someone else gives you a permission slip to live or validate your existence is a sure-fire one-way ticket to S*cksville.

This stuff is easy. Being awesome doesn’t depend on your parents, or the amount of money you have, or what you’re good at. All you need to do is make the decision to behave in a manner that is more awesome. Saying yes is only a little different than saying no.If you can figure out how to stop listening to the voice in your head that is afraid of the unknown and instead say, “F*ck it, from now I’m gonna be awesome,” then you’ll be on your way to kicking ass in no time.

I can actually guarantee that.

So yeah you guys Thanks!

#LiveItUp \m/

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

"It's hard to be taken seriously when you don't have connections. And unfortunately, when you don't have connections, it seems like the only people you can connect with are other people who don't have connections.” said a random man in New York. He seemed normal and good looking and I bet even handsome if he smiled.

There is a very inspiring page in Facebook- the social networking giant called “The Humans of New York” which today I explored on the recommendation of a good friend of mine. I was glued to the testimonials of the various ordinary people and how they fought losses, tragedy, abuse, fear, pressure, confusion and the various other vices of the societies of this world with love, tongue-in-cheek humour, beyond-the-years smartness and most of all smiles and courage. They were remarkable in more ways than one.

I mean I have some pretty dark corners in my life too and I am sure we all have. We live in an age where we live dual lives even before knowing that we do. There’s one life where we are pristine characters with respect to everything, where we bow and smile and greet and are the so-called good kids of our parents. And there is the other that contains all the complicated gross stuff that we won’t even dare to discuss with anyone.

It is quite an unforgiving world that we live in, where the lights are blinding outside but inside the blackness is sickening. “Nobody cares”, we often complain but forget to ask ourselves “Do we?” Everyone is juggling trying to really live instead of just blatantly existing (as those who believe in “live, don’t just survive” are supposed to be cool!) with keep oneself from drowning in his own sea of demons.

Sure, a lot of things around us are impersonal but boundaries don’t divide us. Much like the people of New York, there are tons of inspiring people here in India too and all over the world. We are united in our difficulties, sadness, courage, and quest for survival, journey to fulfil our dreams and want to leave a mark. It’s a fine line between despair and hope and though self-pity is an easy way out and we often see the negativities around us and people plagued by it, that’s only half the truth. A good number dwell on the other side too and that’s heartening to see.

It’s the journey that matters not the results! We spend too much time on just one question “to be or not to be?” and lose out on so many thing. Time slips by and we forget to be happy, crazy, inspired and a million other things just worrying about millions of other stupid things.

LOVE J

We never lose to love, we lose by holding back.

ADITI

Alive

See how the city lights dance

Full of promises of opportunities and chance

People moving fast

Cars zooming past

We are alive

Full of hope and life

Armed with a thousand dreams

Brushing off dust of what-could-have-beens

Crisp shirts and ironed ties

We are making our way through to the dais

We are alive

Full of struggle and strife

From the streets to fine living

Assisted by humble high thinking

No magic mantra, no shortcuts

We learn to crawl, walk and then run

We are alive

And doing just fine

Fighting our own battles

Not shying away from the hassles

Surviving wounds and many stitches

On our way from rags to riches

We are more than alive

And proud of our kind

We have fallen and gotten back up

Unflinching and unwavering on the path

Wills of steel and titanium resolve

Life has come full circle

We are alive

Children of the night

Sweaty days and sleepless years

Open eyes blinking away fear

Little joys that light the way

Actions that are louder than the words we say

We are alive

Bidding our time

Pushed, pulled stretched and burned

Stoked with hardships and purged

Redemption is served, good and neat

The fruits of patience and toil are sweet

We are alive

Nurtured on cold ice

The spotlights sing

Dark days on the retreat

The centre-stage is claimed

Finally the name shines on silver, engraved

Yes we are alive

Polished and shined

Praises sung in our honour

Peace prevail in our corner

Reminiscing in silent recluse

Of a journey painted in beautiful hues

Never still, never quiet

Never passive, never trite

Filled with joy and with light

We are souls ever alive

Of characters in the Idiot Box

Very recently the popular TV series of the West but I daresay more so of the East (seeing its fan following in the country) How I Met Your Mother came to an end. Ouch it hurts! It sounded like the sad demise of a beloved pet. Yes it hurt that much. Amid tears of joy and sorrow it took me a while to take in the fact that there will be no more new Canada jokes or have-you-met-ted games and totally off the rocker bonk-a-doodle from Barney.

Oh well what can I say? I see everyone around me and see how people have invited these characters into their homes, let them make space in their hearts. They have cried when Ted was turned down by Robin or when Ross and Rachel broke up. We live in an age where these characters are more loved, adored and cared for by us than we do our family and friends. Oh speaking of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. boy was it an international phenomena? It went on for ten whole years and one day BAM! Season Finale is knocking at your door. That’s the day you realise how much of a part it was of your lives.

Back when I was 10 I used to read this column in the supplement of a popular newspaper where celebrities were interviewed. Every single one of them was glued to F.R.I.E.N.D.S. choosing it as their favourite TV series. I couldn’t understand what the fuss was all about but now I know why. It’s because you cannot help but fall in love with Phoebe even when she is barking mad and Rachel even though she is obnoxious and materialistic and Joey for being unbelievably dumb and Monica for being so controlling and sometimes Chandler goes so far out of the limit that you wanna say “Dude take a break!” but you don’t. ‘Cause the fact of the matter is in real life these kinds of people would probably be hated and bullied! But for a decade and even now they help us recuperate from a bad fever or heartbreak or simply a bad day when nothing’s working to lift our mood and we are wrapped up cosily in a blanket sipping on hot chocolate or cocoa (if you are anything like Sheldon) and staring at the idiot box or the screen of our laptop and laughing along with them innocently forgetting our pains.

These characters are people we’d like to have in our lives but don’t or they are probably there but we don’t realise. We all have a Marshal and Lily (the perfect couple) in our friends circle, or a Joey or Barney. Over the years they have just helped us realise the happiness that comes from having similar people in our lives, from sharing a joke to a whole wardrobe or apartment. They have taught us to embrace all kinds of people and be tolerant and that faith finally comes through, that destiny is a real thing and that eventually life moves on but the epic memories makes the whole thing worthwhile.

LOVE J

Bows and Applause to them.

ADITI