Patched Blankets And Broken Guitar Strings

Every person has something or the other with him that he values above all his possessions. I'm not talking about the expensive stuff people buy and go crazy on loosing it soon afterwards. What I'm referring to is something personal. Like when I was a kid I remember having this thin blanket I used to use to sleep. This must be around when I was around 7. Thing was I used to take a bite out of it every night. Why did I have this weird habit? No idea. I try not to think about now. Anyways, in a few months, it had more holes than a French cheese. My mother, exasperated at this habit, used to tell me off adding that she would do away the blanket if I don't stop my habit. The 7 year old payed no heed. One day, when his blanket was too full of holes, his mother put it for it's timely washing. Little that the little me knew, he would never see it again. At night when I asked for it, my mom told me to use a comfier replacement. I did. It was nice. But I missed my patched blanket, holes and all.
Time flew by. And around 10 years later I got my most precious thing so far. My first guitar. Acoustic. And it set me back by 4 grand. But it was totally worth it. I would try different songs on it, attempt to make my own tunes, even braved singing a few of my compositions when I was alone. We were inseparable. I got it to Pune when I joined college here. We started jamming with it here. It was fun. An instant hit. It lasted about a year before all the use here took it's toll. The strings got so worn out that 2 of them have broken and though they can be easily replaced, even my guitar is showing signs of fatigue. Like it's gonna snap. Soon.
It HAS been 5 years of serious rough use. My parents recon that I should get an electric now and do away with this one. I don't want to. This is my first guitar. I agree I have been negligent with it, but it was the best thing I've ever had. And that includes my long lost blankey. I'll try and get it fixed. Even if it's just for keepsake. I'll treasure it. Always. Or until nature allows me to...

Love, betrayal and friendship...my views here.

Earlier this week, a friend of mine updated his blog with a post on long distance relationships. He spoke of how people keep in touch and overcome distance through love, determination and the most awesome thing ever - The Internet. He had a point you know, and I'm not talking about the internet factor here (though it is still awesome). What I speak of here is his focus on "love". He had a valid point in saying that without love, the relationship will not last simply for the fact that there will be no serious relationship stuff to start with. I'm all for that. The definition of love isn't set in stone. For me, love is an unconditional attachment to something or someone. But what I feel is the bitter truth, how does love come to be? Would you love a person who wishes to kill you? Who abuses you? Yeah, some people will say yes, but that is AFTER they have fallen in love with the sadistic partner of theirs. What I speak of is BEFORE. How does it all start? You like something cause of it's use, or it has something that attracts you. Isn't it same with people. You don't FALL into love. You sink into it. Slowly. A time then comes, when your respect for the person exceeds your own. That is what I call love. A point when people are ready to do something for the other person without asking for a return. Mind you, even that has it's limits, so don't become a selfish prick. So until there comes a time when you truly cannot think of hurting the person you like, ever, you can't call it love. At least as I see it.

Another thing I try to cope up with daily is the expression of betrayal. Someone or the other around keeps on ranting about being "betrayed" by a some bloke or other. Especially in cases of (here it comes again) "Love". Cheating boyfriends/girlfriends are something of a common thing now-a-days. I know it must suck big time when a person you care about so deeply goes after someone else and gives them your "love" badge. But people have to realise that it is for the better. If the person didn't care for you enough to be loyal to you, the person here probably doesn't deserve your care. So it's about time you took your care and moved on to greener pastures. It takes getting over, but I feel people make a too bigger deal out of it. If you remember your "mistake" (I'm not calling that person "love", it was an error in judgement of character, get over it) with hearts around, try recalling what you have been through. Surely the cons are greater than the pros. If you can't get over it and call it "unconditional love", then well, you probably like something ALLOT in the person. Try someone else with the same feature. Maybe you'll overcome your episode. See? Simple. Just gotta think straight.

The most precious social emotion is the family feeling , which I will not cover, since I can't imagine explaining it. It's too pure to me. THAT is love in true form. But just in case your family does try to pull something on ya - arranged marriage or something for "your own good"- try telling them what you feel. If in some cases there is a question of family pride, a.k.a ego, involved, well then...best of luck. I'm not into advising anything wrong. But one's life is his own, no one else's. Do what you feel is best.
The last and one emotion I can say I know most about is friendship. Mutual relationships among people which ( I feel) are stronger than any emotion ever. Friendship like love starts mutual, grows onto you, and develops if you nurture it. A true friend will never ask you to do the choosing. He will understand your situation. He will sacrifice. If you want a true friend, you gotta be a true friend. It's not one way ( like a few times in the "love" issue. I call it madness). No betrayal of trust from either side, no lies, jokes...it's a wonderful thing. Something to be felt. If you have a lover who asks you leave a friend, DON'T! To make a person loose a friend is not love. Not by my books. Same goes for a friend who puts his friendship on the line cause you like a person he doesn't. I true friend is rare. Recognise and treasure that person forever.

True love, true friendship are hard to find. Don't let either go cause of selfish people. This is how I see daily emotions. Not complicated. Just sort of over hyped. Thanks for bearing with me. I have the most awesome friends in the world. That I can claim. Hope you do too... :)

Samosas, Vada Paos and Cold-drinks

Dieting. The conceptualized way to loose weight. You eat less fatty stuff (Some people skip meals altogether) and in the end you are rewarded with a slimmer and a healthier body. So what would be the opposite of dieting? For a part, maybe it's something I'm following. I stay in a rented apartment close to college. Our gas cylinder got over about 6 months ago, and we have been super lazy to apply for a new one. The proper food joints (as close you can get to food anyways) are located in a market area about 300 meters away. And when the tummy rumbles, the only saviour around is "Kiran Bhai" and his "Kiran's Cafe".

 Now this place is far what might strike your head when you hear the word "cafe". I doubt you get coffee there, but I've heard he makes a mean "Adrak ki chai". And what might you get on the menu? The all time favourites : Samosas, Vada Paos (which are dumplings made out of potatoes and marinated with Besan), poha and "bread pakodas". On occasional rainy days, he even whips up onion pakodas, which sell like hot cakes (just a similie here, no cakes on sale). When we have so much food right under our appartment building, why bother with all the fancy stuff. So our usual lunch menu consists of a samosa, a vada pao and an occasional bread pakoda. To wash that down, we go for a cold drink. Now tell me readers, what do you think of our daily lunch menu? It certainly made me loose WHATEVER was left of my appetite.

 For the record, we do eat proper dinner everyday. The wonder thing though. I've lost 3 kilograms without any exercise routine. Go figure. Now I hope none of you readers are planning to try this at home. We might not exercise allot officially, but believe me, running up and down to college and back is more than enough exercise for us. We're just lucky with that I guess. The things not good though. Gone are the days when samosas used to a rare treat at home. Now it's our staple meal. I don't feel like looking at the stuff whenever I go home. And this is the part which really sucks.

It's every kids dream to have junk for a meal. Thing is, it no longer remains something we would enjoy once in a while. Why ruin the fun and the magic of the thing by regulating it? Believe me, you WILL get bored. As for the health issue, it's still bad. So only one advice from a junkie here (yeah I know. Ironic. But hey, speaking out of experience). Eat healthy and savour the taste once a while. As for me, it's time for one of those "I WILL NO DO IT" regime. No junk for lunch. Wish me luck :)

Dude you gotta start speaking to girls

Everybody have their phobias and everybody have their own ways of facing them. Some people find it difficult to face the crowds, some are afraid of heights, some afraid of silly cockroaches...the list is endless. There's apparently a word for a fear of being watched by ducks...from somewhere. It can't get any crazier than that. My predicament, is speaking to women. Hope you aren't amused by the fact here. It's a pretty sorry situation out here, and i know it might seem funny (I've had friends laughing their asses off at this), but it's a pretty serious topic. And if you face the same problem, read on. If you don't, well then i hope you enjoy it as much my friends have. I needed to get it out, so i am.

I honestly don't know where it all started. I remember not having any problems before. I think it started when i actually hit puberty. At the time, i neither bothered me nor anyone else. Life moved on without me feeling a need to speak to females. I generally don't go around chatting people up. Call me an introvert if you will, but i felt there was ever any need for me to speak to the girls in my school. All my friends were guys, and we mostly stuck to ourselves. Playing football, studying, hanging out etc. It wasn't until college that i started to feel the full implications of the thing. The reason for the sudden enlightenment? My roommates who seemed to notice my uncomfortable conversations with girls around me.

One such incident took place when i had to attend a seminar. One of my friends introduced me to a friend of his. The friend in question was a girl (no points for guessing earlier). The entire conversation was limited to one "hi" and a smile each. Lasted 2 seconds. After the seminar, my friend told me that for those 2 seconds, i had gone a deep shade of red. Something like a "cherry" i should quote. See? And apart from wondering WHY i was going red, there wasn't a stray thought going on inside my head. Honest.

Though this did trouble me, i set it aside as "not important". All was cool until 3 of my friends decided to bring up an intervention. Disaster. A long talk about how i should speak to every girl i see to overcome my "redness" to that it's about time i get a girlfriend. Some things i have excluded since they were sort of...lets say unpleasant and embarrassing. After all the goading, the discussion ended with one conclusion : I AM IMPOSSIBLE.

My argument was simple. When there's no NEED for communication, is it necessary? I think not. Anyway i still go cherry red and that is VERY embarrassing. If anybody has the same issues, then please share. If not, well not much there then. Not a very insightful entry this, just something personal about a boy with issues. I type to improve. Hopefully my next entry will be more....something. Can't think of the right word to save my life...until later then...

       

Social Blackhole

I recently got back to my twitter account, and with new gusto got down to some tweeting. Thing was, i never really had understood the witter concept. It sounded like just another fad people had taken up. It always started out like this. There were bloggers who used this initially to broadcast their views to those interested. Next came the high profile people tweeting away. Twitter suddenly became a instant hit. Who wouldn't want to know about their favorite personality taking a kick at the world. It was a chance to finally get to know what the high and mighty thought. Thus came in the followers who wanted to establish a communication with their all time heroes (be it a one way thing, it was a start). The last group of people to join were people like me. Those wondering what all the hype is all about.

It was the same with my Facebook account. "I'm not going to get sucked into the blackhole called Facebook", i had said. "It's too addictive", i had observed. As if that worked. I tried to experience the pull of the networks bottomless pit. An image comes to my head. Me dipping a toe into the side currents of the roaring whirlpool just to gauge the danger. I gauged it alright. Got sucked into the eternal abyss of social networking. A few of my friends were pleased. "We told you so" was what they had said. "You are one of us now" they had told me smiling, like i had just been recruited into a group of hungry zombies and getting ready for my first brain hunt.

I was helpless. Before it was just on the desktop. Next came the mobile internet, and before i knew it, i was tweeting away at 6:30 in the morning. The bad part? I'd go back to sleep after posting the tweet. Self loathing there. Lots of it.

The question which really gets me here is, WHY? Why get hooked onto this thing. Why have a compulsive desire to check on your page every 15 minutes. Are we looking for occasional "likes" or "comments". Are we actually relying the internet to have a thriving social life or is it just a way to get those feelings out of your head? Whatever be the cause, the ultimate result is just the same. Addiction. You just gotta check that post. Just like someone needs just that one drag off his Cigarette.

Then there are a tornado of fake profiles, all identified with women in swimsuits as their contact pictures, and YOU get to be their FIRST friend!! The sheer joy!! The excitement! Blah. Only fools would fall such stuff, (i know quite a few). An incident to share here. A friend of mine got an invite from a girl claiming to be from Delhi. He messaged her. She messaged him back. He became her self proclaimed boyfriend. He even admitted to meeting her when he was in Delhi later. In truth, the account was FAKE. He later admitted to not meeting with the girl, but the guy still has no idea that the account is a fake. He says the girl was a fool, so he dumped her. Yes brother, we believe you.

Fake profiles, fake people...everything is there. Wannabes, critics, photo fanatics...it's a whole new world out there, and it's going to be a long time before a decent number people come back to reality for good. Still trying to do that here. Someday, sometime, we should break free. Though blackholes generally don't let go. Until then...TWEET away :)