Aavarana – The Cover

​”Your body is just a cover. It is only there to help and communicate with other. What matters is the Aatma.”

I have read such and related thoughts numerous times. Once a thought is repeated to you so many times, it has a tendency to affect you. My problem is that I understand it but fail to implement it. A part of my mind loves the thought. The other acts exactly opposite to it. The human tendency to reject ugliness is deeply sown into the brain. That makes it difficult to judge someone from their appearance. Even if you are able to judge, You will reject the idea in case if it’s ugly. 

When you go to the market, This ability acts as a boon. It helps you in buying groceries, fruits, vegetables, clothes and so on. Here the appearance often plays a big role. If an apple doesn’t look good from outside, It won’t be good from inside most of the times. Although there is a practice to wax the apples to make them shine so as to fool the buyer. Some are fooled due to this extra shine. Vegetables, are as good as they appear. So is the case of clothes. Such decisions condition our mind to reject ugliness. 

I am still trying to get around this. I understand that the person in front of me is genuine. He is kind hearted. But if he doesn’t appear good, then I blacklist him. I stay away. I don’t know how many people, good people I have missed because of this trait. Though it has reduced substantially, I still think I can do better. I want to do better. 

As they say, Do not judge a book by its cover. 

Let’s see how long it takes me to implement this. 

Happy New Year 2017

​Aloha guys! It’s new year. Before I continue with my nonsense, here’s wishing you a happy and prosperous new year. Make the best out of it. Don’t complain if you can’t. 

Now let’s see. What everyone does on the first day of the year is pen down some resolutions. Most resolutions definitely include joining a gym. Isn’t it. Weren’t you thinking of this? He he he. That’s on my list as well for whole together different reason. Let’s not get lost in thoughts. We have to make a list. 

1) Reading : Over the last 3 years, This one resolution I have been able to keep up with. 3 years in a row!! Not a joke dude. I definitely deserve a pat on my back. So this year I am going to make it a little bit tough. I want to read 35 books. The difficult task is that I want half of it to be paperback or hardcover. Not ebooks. Believe me. It’s a difficult task. You cannot carry the book with you everywhere. 

2) Solo hike : This has been on my mind for 2 years now. Couldn’t do it for some wrong reasons and a couple of right as well. I’ll have to be fit to be able to fulfill this. Hence the next resolution. 

3) Join a gym : Oh God! I so want to do this. But my laziness keeps me away from joining a gym. I don’t want six pecks and the body of a model. I want to be fit and healthy and have good stamina (for all the right reasons). If I am able to make 30 days in a gym, Then it will last for a long time. BTW, Why there’s no tax relaxation for joining a gym? Are you listening Mr. Prime minister? 

Fourth would have been get married. But I have completely lost interest in it. My practical sense tells me I have just 1% chance of getting married now. It’s better to keep this out of resolution list. 

So what are your resolutions? Let me know. 

Looking back to 2016

That time of the year when everyone starts looking back and tries to list out their achievements. Accomplishments. If you are active on social networks then this becomes mandatory to you. You are often bombarded with such statuses, messages, tweets etc. So much so that even if you don’t want to look back, You think of doing it. And while you are thinking of looking back, You are already looking back. I have reduced my social networking activity to a great extent. But whatever time I spend on social networks now is sufficient to drag me into this activity. So here is what I thought about 2016.

The start. First week. It was nuclear. It was Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The “Fat Man” and “Little Boy” did a permanent damage to me. For the last two days, I kept thinking whether to write about this or not. It’s personal. Even a few minutes back I wasn’t sure. There was something in me that was pushing me to write this. It managed to succeed the last minute.

1) The Breakup
The usual suspect. Right? Almost everyone goes through it. It’s very common these days. I managed to stay away from this because I always avoided Love. Maybe later. Maybe later. And so happened that I crossed 30. Still I avoided the feeling. I insisted on arranged marriage. So so old school. Then suddenly out of nowhere this happens. This girl approaches me. Chats day and night. Then talks day and night. I thought she is just being  a little over friendly. Then we met. A few days later she expressed her love. I thought this was her infatuation. I took it seriously only when she talked to her parents about… Us. All this happened in second half of last year which I didn’t write about. In the first week of this year, Our parents met. Everyone agreed. All was well until the next day when she broke up with me. I couldn’t think. After a long call, I thought of giving her space. But somewhere deep inside, I knew it’s over. I was right.

2) I lost my Uncle
If there was a person whom I respected almost as much I respect my father, it was him. It maybe because the first few years of my childhood were spent in his company. Every year, I used to take out time out of everything and stay at my uncle’s place. It’s away from all the noise. There is still no good cell phone coverage there. It felt good every time I went there. Talking to him, Working with him made me happy. I guess he loved me that much. I miss him. Is till do. His memories blur everything. A void he has left which will always be empty. And this happened very next day of break up.

3) Home renovation
It would surprise many how this made it to the list. Just a week before 1 an 2, I had started home renovation. I have this crazy emotion. I get attached to non-living things if  I spend a lot of time with them. My home is one of them. I couldn’t demolish it. I couldn’t imagine the prospects. Thus renovation. I thought it would be difficult but never thought it would be a herculean task. I had to live in a room covered with asbestos sheets with poor ventilation for six months, most of it were in summer. I lost weight. I lost energy. I was weak.  got sick. I had almost no help. But there were two things I never lost. Hope and Faith. Every time the energy reached it’s lower limit, something strange would happen. I would get a tiny bit, A little help from someone which would help me drive for sometime. Fortunately, This continued till the inauguration. Griha Pravesh or Opening was on October 10th. The day before, I worked till I couldn’t. This in spite of getting help from my dear sister. I just put a brave face the next day when actually I was tired. What kept me going were the complements. Almost everyone loved my home. Till date, Every guest doesn’t fail to mention this. This.. This has increased my confidence. I am high on it.

There were a few more incidents which were highlight of this year. But nothing beats these three. At the end of the year, I am happy. I am learning to stay happy irrespective of all the things happening around me. I guess, I have matured a little. I have become serious. The coming year, I would like to balance myself. Trying is all you and me can do. Also, Hope for the best.

And also, Think nonsense while thinking about everything else…

Philosophers Phone

“Aim for the stars. If you miss, You’ll land on moon.”

I bet the guy who said this, Must be bad at physics. I mean, What the heck I am going to do on Moon? Anyways, I am not an inspirational speaker or a spiritual guru. But I can always copy. That’s what I did.
These days, It’s very easy to find inspiration. You have zillions of social media websites and apps which are have turned into garbage bins for quotes. Go to your app menu and open Whatsapp. Then check out the contacts list where you are able to view the status of all the contacts. See? You don’t need to read Socrates. You have more than one in your contacts list.
When you drink one pint, You are fine.
Two pints, You start enjoying the beer.
Six pints, You feel dizzy.
Twelve pints and you start giving back to nature.

The same thing is about those quotes. I simply cannot handle the sheer large number of quotes served to me. I feel like vomiting. At that very moment, I wish that person is in front of me who churns out this many quote. I’ll throw up on him and say, “These are the quotes I wasn’t able to digest. Please keep them with you.”
That contact list also displays the hypocrites in your contacts. Not all of them, But it has most of them. When you know a person and that person puts up a copied quote from all the garbage, You compare the behavior of the person with that quote. Most of them, They act completely opposite to the quote. Then whats the point of putting the quote as your status? What skills you are showing off? What I can deduce from it is complete lack of creativity.

So please.. Please stop putting up this quotes everywhere and every now and then. Once in a while it sounds good. But more than that is bad for digestion. You can post nonsense instead. That will at least help someone smile.

The Ponytail Story

For those who know me or have seen me or my picture, They are aware that I sport a ponytail. For some, it adds to my personality. For others, I look awful. The later category mostly includes my parents and family. But for me, It is the most favourite part of my body. Ummmm.. Maybe second favorite.

Today, I lost a part of me. I killed my ponytail.

After committing this murder, I am going through an emotional turbulence. It’s just hair, Some will say. But they weren’t. That ponytail was part of me for half a decade and it defined me. And today, I am going to tell you the story of my ponytail.

Once upon a time, There was a lean guy with no sense of hair styling. And to hide this weakness of his, He used to get cropped haircut once in every one and half month. While he was in college, The days when guys experimented with hairstyle, He secretly wished to sport a ponytail. But “What will others say?” and “Everyone will make fun of me” stopped him from doing it. Once the experimentation time period was over, He buried his desire.

A couple of years into his professional life, He got fed-up of the moral compromises he had to make, The abuse of his simple nature and the unexpected twists in his personal life. So he decides to take a break. A break from everything and start afresh. While doing so, His long buried desired to sport a ponytail, resurfaced. “What will others say?” and “Everyone will make fun of me” knocked on his door. Gathering all the courage, He kicked them out of his world. Thus begins the birth of ponytail.

The initial criticism faded over the time. “People” were frustrated and fed-up of repeating the same episodes. The guy, who was disturbed by the criticism at first, Adjusted and adapted to the critical environment. After almost nine months without haircut, His dream became reality. He finally could tie his hair and turn them into ponytail.

Now people noticed the guy. Because he was different. Well.. At least he looked different. He could be easily identified in a crowd. Now he was a known person who was difficult to forget. His ponytail made this possible. The connections he made were fruitful in his professional life. He struggled but he was happy doing so.

But every good thing, comes to an end sometime.

The evil called “marriage” entered his life. In spite of being open minded, The guy had pledged to marry within his community to make his parents happy. He had hurt them enough in past. And he knew this one decision will make up for all. But now the same ponytail created problem. This particular species from Venus in his community, Apparently hated the ponytail. He waited and waited for that one exception. His wait wasn’t fruitful. Finally, with a heavy heart, he decided to do the unthinkable. He decided to murder the ponytail just to make his parents happy.

This is the saddest day in his life. The recovery from this murder will be difficult for him. He expects no one to understand his trauma and support him.

THE END

I hope so…