That Dreadful Day..

There are a few things in life which seem absolutely useless. No matter how much you try to involve them in your daily life, they are simply of no use. For example Rahul Gandhi, the presence of nipples on the body of a man, the warning signs on the packaging of cigarettes, law and order in Uttar Pradesh, the F7 key on your keyboard, garbage-bins on Indian pavements, a diet chart, self-help books, Uday Chopra and geckos. One can still argue that Rahul Gandhi was made to join politics so that one day he could ensure a strong government comes into power, his opposition! But how can you justify the presence of geckos in your house? They do not perform any activity which could not have been possible without their existence. 

An average house gecko lives for about 20 years, which it spends doing nothing but eating mosquitoes, other small insects and its own skin- which it sheds every 4 weeks. Between the sumptuous meals- it copulates, excretes in every corner of your room and makes noises weirder than the ones you hear at a Bengali wedding. Clearly, none of the above is something so distinct and important that this world has to witness its constant presence right from the Jurassic era. The mosquitoes can be taken care of by using mosquito repellents in our homes. For small insects, we can use various domestic insecticides. We can also definitely do without having to clean its poop every day. 

Also, ridding the geckos from this planet will ensure that these geckos never again enter our cars and sit quietly in a corner, away from the sight of every passenger; waiting for the car to start and for the passengers to lose themselves in the conversations that usually follows, stealthily coming out in the open, craning its neck above the edge of the rear-view mirror and staring at you with its glassy eyes. That moment, when you notice its eyes staring at you and assess the very high probability that it might jump from the rear-view mirror onto your lap any second, is enough to distract you to one of the ugliest motorcar-accidents of all times. But if you still manage to keep your wits and park the car safely to one side of the road, it vanishes by the time you start looking for it to shoo it away. Life’s most challenging task is to muster enough courage to enter back in that car, still unsure whether the gecko is hiding inside or did it jump out at the same instant you fled! Well, when it happened with me, I was clearly the superhero that day. 

Until and unless these geckos contain in themselves the cure of AIDS or cancer, I sincerely hope they cease to exist, at least in and around my home. Uday Chopra is more bearable then these slimy skinned creatures. God, are you listening?

Open Letter

To our parents, grandparents, guardians and well-wishers,

When we were born in this free country, we inherited certain rights; these rights were, at times, contradictory to the customs and beliefs which have been passed down from generation to generation. We have a right to live, a right to practice any religion, a right to make our own decisions and most importantly- right to equality. Through these rights, the law-makers did not mean to offend you, or create a legion of young rebels. They simply wanted to empower every single one of us; to give us the power to rise above the petty social and religious diktats which are enforced upon us. These people were the true foreseers of our country. 

These fundamental rights were taught to us not during or just-after birth, but in the educational institutions in which you enrolled us, spending your hard earned money; a premier establishment which promises to make a man out of your boy and a lady out of your girl. These preparatory organisations never distinguished between the young minds on the basis of man-made divisions like caste, creed, religion, social strata et cetera. We were always treated as one and the same, and were taught to treat everyone else as equals too. During those young days, our minds were not poisoned to differentiate, not even by you all. We had friends of all colour, caste, religion and of the other sex. And this was always encouraged. 

The hypocrisy started surfacing when we became matured enough and old enough to take our own decisions. We saw the dark side of the moon when we were standing on the crossroads of life where we had to choose a life-partner for ourselves. Suddenly, the legacy of choosing a spouse of the same caste, religion and creed became a thing of utmost importance; for the sake of the family name, for the sake of the social stigma which will be faced by the family and for the sake of the purity of the lineage which is to follow. The freedom which was allowed to us all our lives became the biggest point of emotional blackmail, “Clearly, if we knew this is what the freedom will cost us one day, we would have been sterner and stricter during your adolescent age!”

Why did you even spend so much on educating and freeing our minds if you were planning to cut off our wings with your own hands one day? Why did you read to us the stories of all the great men and women whom the world remembers for their acts of valor to go against all the social norms? Why did you liberate us to one day lock us in the same cell in which you were imprisoned years ago by your parents, grandparents or guardians?

The secret to a happy life is to be with people who make you happy, and I do not think being with a partner of the same caste and religion guarantees that happiness. Let us make our own mistakes and break the age-old tradition. 

Remember the time when toilets attached to the houses were considered impure? Ridding that age-old notion turned out to be very beneficial, did it not?

Yours Humbly,

Discover Yourself

I will be your muse,
Your friend, your holy grail
As you sit and draw me,
In all your poetic ways...
My eyes will be a mirror
Not haunting, but clear,
To help you see inside you
To drive you, to ignite you..
My voice will be your guide
Not a binder, but an ally,
A fellow-traveler when you need it
A distant mirage at other times..
My touch will be your tocsin
For when you’ve wandered far beyond
A familiar kiss of intrigue
To bring you back to now..
I will talk to you about men
About existence, about life,
About prophecies, philosophies,
Of the long forgotten times..
I will be more than all the things
You want me to be
As I help you discover
Yourself through me..!!