Hold the thought, Get the point

They say age is just a number. As I get to the big four O, I both agree and disagree. I don't feel forty but I'm not as fearless as I was.  It's all in the mind they say. But is the mind weary or are you willing to celebrate the glass half full? The decade that just passed has been tumultuous. As someone who follows politics, regional and otherwise, I've been getting sicker. Modi with his unique brand of statesmanship has done a fair enough sleight of hand tricks to retain the voting majority.  We have morphed into a nation where freedom of speech has become a precious nonrenewable resource. Like slow-cooked frogs, we neither have the muscle to rise up nor the money to keep our fight focused.  As politicians openly campaign for violence against those who don't share their political enthusiasm, I lament. I've stayed quiet for the better part of the past decade fearing frivolous lawsuits and death threats from people who don't believe i...

I don’t think people are meant to be by themselves That's why if you actually find someone you care about, it’s important to let go of the little things, even if you can’t let go all the way.   Because nothing sucks more than feeling all alone even when you are with someone. We all see people bitch about relationships all day long, Sometimes, people are so scared of what may or may not happen that they sabotage their relationship. I am so sick and tired of being alone. I am sick and tired of staring at the ceiling, thinking about the one person I am crazy about and wondering if she feels the same way about me.   I am tired of wishing I had someone that I could wake up to, eat a meal with, listen to, come home to and see before I close my eyes. We don’t realize how lucky we are until we’ve lost it. Somethings I do won’t please you. Somethings I won’t do without you. Because we have to find our paths -   Paths of happiness, paths of an...

The last 5 years swept by pretty fast.  It feels fresh. It seems like I wrote about Modi just a few days ago.  It seems like it was just yesterday we couldn't tolerate a PM who wouldn't speak and wouldn't be able to act decisively. We lamented about his puppet master and the scams of the Grand Old Party. We just wanted to get him out.  We thought it was the worst thing to happen to an economist.  And we thought we had enough of scams and we deserved better. And then we voted .  We kicked out the Congress and brought in the butchers. er.. the BJP. The Hand gave way to the Lotus. Green turned Saffron.  We cheered. Well, albeit cautiously. We weren't used to politicians who spoke with such gusto.  Modi swept the quasi-literate off their feet by sheer technological brilliance and digital blitzkrieg.  I personally know of bloggers who were offered close to 1 lakh per month (tax-free) to write up to 4 favorable posts a ...

Over the past few weeks, India has latched on to its newest hashtag - #MeToo. Dozens of women have called out men with any semblance of power and accusations of how they harassed, abused, molested, tortured, or in any way inconvenienced them. The men who have been accused have predictably reacted with shock, denial, and counter-accusations. Some have even apologised.   And as usual, the media has taken sides - We are pro-feminists. And as always, we have condemned the men in the courts of our consciences. So in the spirit of coming out and calling out, I want my 5 minutes of fame too.   I am a 36 year old Indian woman, born and brought up in New York. I was drugged and raped by my friend at a frat party. I’ve been ‘raped’ twice since then by men who wanted to be my boyfriends and then dumped.   When I moved to India 10 years ago, I thought my past was behind me and I could leave the scars of my past behind. How wrong I was! My first boyfriend ...

There are two times in your life when you see the truth.   Two times when you realise who’s got your back and who’s going to stick that knife on your back. Two times when you will know who wants you to succeed and who wants to fail you. One, when you lose all your wealth. Two, when you decide to change career. Over the past several years, I’d been fantasising and preparing for this move. And then one day, the opportunity fell into my lap. I was going to be an UX designer.   As a writer, I knew there are only a couple of ways I could grow and fortunately none of them really wet my lips the way UX made.   I’ve met starstruck youngsters who’d give an arm and a leg to be a technical writer. Part of the allure was in the fiction that we lead super glamorous work-lives. A lot of them thought we got paid for nothing. Ofcourse unless you are Dan Bilzarian, that isn’t true. But that’s a post for another day.   And then I was beyond thrilled wh...

I've been through my share of heartaches. As has anyone else. I've broken hearts and I've had mine broken too.  What do you go through when a relationship breaks? Do you blame yourself? Or do you lash out in anger and plot vengeance? Do you blame someone else for 'casting their evil eye'? Do you blame yourself for not being capable of carrying a healthy relationship? Or do you accept responsibility and move on? Do you sigh in relief that the 'care' is over? Or do you feel like the ground beneath your feet has given way? Do you run in search of the next ruse? Or do you resolve to find peace within? I've anguished over relationships that didn't turn out the way I thought it would. When things went south, I'd write to myself. I'd sink in the bottomless ocean of loathing, rejection, and emotional pain. And then I get better. Some studies show emotional pain lasts only for 20 minutes. Anything beyond that is self-inflicted. This seems to ...

The Oscars are right around the corner and nearly everyone has their favorites.  So here are the nominees and my favorites to win. ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE  Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name  Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread  Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out  Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour  Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq. And the winner is Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE  Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project  Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri  Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water  Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World  Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri And the winner is Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE  Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water  Frances McDormand, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri  Margot Robbie, I, Tonya  Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird  Meryl Streep, The Post And the winner is Frances McDormand, Three Billboards outside ...