Once more upon a time

When Douglas Adams said " Is'nt it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too" I am assuming he had forgotten the one thing we also seem not to remember these days- Think what we would have been, if instead of being fed with fables and folklore we had been crammed with todays' news headlines. 

The dissolution of the la-la land comes with a thud. It might be when we realize... in the words of Taylor Swift "that prince charming is not easy to find and that the bad guy is not wearing a black cape, he is not easy to spot, instead he is really funny, will make you laugh and has perfect hair." But then again classic fairy tales do not deny the existence of heartache and sorrow but they do deny universal defeat. 

Age and experience might claim to teach you how to never make the same mistakes twice but they definitely succeed in teaching you how to stop believing in miracles. We lose our appetite to stomach fantasy. The movie ratings are reflective of the same... I see people mock happy endings branding them as unreal even though they'd still read to their kids of the kiss that brought Snow White back to life after she got tricked into eating a poisoned apple...and then I see people who rave and rant about how brutally and bravely honour killings were depicted in LSD and that it was a tragic yet true portrayal of a big social menace, however they do not usually care if reiteration will ever equal resolution. We have become cynical to an extent that we put aside the sprinkling of fairy dust and the sunshine ray and prefer to discuss seemingly sexist statements by the 'Wolf' in The Little Red Riding Hood. 

If fairies and goblins and elves and unicorns make me happy, if the topsy-turvy land atop the Faraway Tree going wisha-wisha makes me want to befriend moon-face and have pop-biscuits and if I feel all will be ok when I think of the heroes, I trust we all need fairy tales to keep the magic alive. We need to float and dream. We all deserve at times- to be rescued like Rapunzel, a house made of cake and gingerbread, a pretty pair of glass slippers which fit perfectly, a fairy godmother, a fistful of magic beans and a flying carpet. 

P.S: We all deserve Neverland :)

Of men and malleability

I would like to believe i have an above average-active social life. Also with the limited number of places to go to in Delhi when your search filters are: South Delhi, Rock music, Conversationable, Relatively cheap, Happy hours, Karaoke nights, Decent people, casual summer dress etc. makes the six degrees of separation shrink to 3 for you. To illustrate with an example: Everyone knows a, a's ex, b's best friend who is now seeing a's ex.. and so on.

Anyway so the above was to prove that my sample size and frequency of exposure can validate and form a basis for my trending.

Lately my faith in God and in Delhi is getting restored. Men have landed from venus or have returned from Warwick or Leeds or Macquarie or wherever in the world they were sponsored for a nifty post grad diploma by their folks after they got off their gifted corollas in college. Well my point is good looks are back in town though the charmers are still missing, the picture in my head when i say charmers are suave smooth seniors in school maybe a generation or two ahead of us. I wish i was born a year or three earlier... the era would've been magical.

Coming back to what compelled me to sit down and write this post is that these seemingly decent men (the ones who are my age usually with a goatee or slick shirt pulled over a lean body) who make spurts of appearances are accompanied by women who are either qualify to be trophy wives without a distinctly identifiable personality or docile coy women who have never heard the yellow submarine or strawberry fields forever while Mr. X happens to worship the Beatles. The point of intersection between both women being that one can usually spot them nodding their heads in an agreeable manner (please take note that i do not think this is bad or being judgemental about it in any way..lol).

This has made me draw an analogy that men look for gold leaves instead of diamond studded tiaras. That is because gold can be hammered or pressed permanently out of shape without breaking or cracking while diamonds are known to hold their shape under temperatures that would melt silicon.

If it is men and their safe options which usually guarantee a 'Happily ever after' life i guess i should be extremely grateful and thank my stars for finding someone who does'nt mind the wild child in me ;)

Sigh.. Sigh

It is saddening... the state of women today. The difference between the past and the present being their acceptance of what gives them happiness-Emotions which were freely expressed, colourful hues, a tinge of silver, pretty faces, made up eyes, laces and ribbons and visible efforts added just for them :)

Now it seems there is dual pressure because 1) more and more women are constantly struggling to gain ground in a male-dominated society, I mean its only fair if they sleep with the VP for a promotion just like Mamta Didi has all rights to earn her own share of money- why should Lalu be a single player in the game AND so it is also right if one appears to play cool and go with the critics and ROW. and 2) Due to the fact that they can spot a lot more well groomed, attractive, fair-faced or rich women than earlier there is a greater degree of differentiation required because they sadly don't have the beauty card- hence the intelligence quotient becomes top gear; their mantra (talk about existentialism and jean paul sartre, condemn every other woman who looks like a piece of art, envy the privileged 'green' few and label them as women who just married right while they themselves look like a broom..LOL).

So i get it when most movies celebrating womanhood are about brave rape victims, successful entrepreneurs, idealistic models or plush politicians. But what about balancing femininity, grace and elegance alongwith. What about the forgotten truth that women call a spade a spade, they feel, they relate and empathize. Maybe the large bunch of man-ish freaks reading this post are already in the process of developing testicles ;)
What about complicated emotions not of a female war-hero but of a selfish, shallow, fashion-obsessed barbie-doll who can still be worthy of love by a completely grounded man (also seriously ask yourself which part don't you like the rich part, pretty part or the part where it hits you that men think you've got brains but still treat you as invisible as you lack the former to be drool-worthy). It might not be a manifestation of reality but you are kidding yourselves if you think thats a non-section.

Well some movies are just meant to entertain, please the eyes and soothe the mind, if you scoff at them you know beforehand you're not the TG so give ppl on your FB a break- Don't go and watch it. And for fat old corporate losers who try and rip the movie apart at work... take a break..you're just sour because such women have always been out of your league.

Cheers!

Uncoupling

I am compelled to discuss this considering I am at a stage where I may have to forgo karaoke parties (my love for them is evident now) for my married friend's birthday dinner because I feel it might be considered rude to ditch them just because they are married- which has strengthened their equation of being able to suck everyone into the 'couple' zone.It is their inherent ability to perceive two people as extensions of each other devoid of the fact that as individuals their choices and tastes could be like chalk and cheese. Their idea of space and doing your own thing is that men get shoved to a separate place to discuss things over a mug of beer while women sip their wine and discuss the men. 


It is i am sure a great feeling when you know you're the centre of the universe for someone but i was always under the impression that a center is something you always want to come back to after strolling through the nooks and crannies like in one of those green circular plastic maze puzzles. There is a sense of achievement when you're able to get the three silver balls to the center but the challenge ends when you let them stay there for too long.  I am guessing the awesome-twosomes take Newton's first law of motion very seriously. 


They also tend to assume that most people around them would adore the 'my bonnie lies over the ocean' talks. What does not hit them is that people like myself need a babel fish (wiki it you would love me for introducing you to this world) in their ear to be able to get it. It is galling that they go on about the surprise dinner they have arranged for their partner, then about what they should wear for it... and then expect one to be completely engrossed in their debate over whether purple orchids or white lilies make the cut.


One trait which permeates all couplekind is like Trillion they would leave the planet for the two-headed Beeblebrox. For you to get the context I shall elaborate. i.e they will abdicate the rest of their equations with one and all. It is a rarity to see them join in to celebrate your new job because for starters they would be so out of loop that they'll hear about it a month from when you bagged it.


I am halfway from pressing the panic button when it dawns on me that I'm not the only one who does' nt fit in, I'm hitched to a guy who tacitly agrees that it is extremely bothersome when you're expected to pick up the phone mid-way an Atlas Shrugged or your next blog post. 

Are we even Steven?

If there is someone who strongly goes against the Apollo Munich tagline 'Lets uncomplicate' it is a Cancerian. I need a pat on my back for stating that in black and white because had any such judgement come from a true blue Cancerian it would have taken about a month; they will first create a corner in their mind, place that judgement and then weave a situation around it so that they are truly convinced. So now you know that they will say it only if they are able to artificially justify it to themselves so that they derive the satisfaction of being neutral.

Next they will take about 15 days to blurt it out even to their closest people because words once spoken cannot be taken back and they'd want to have the luxury of doing that. Now they'd argue that its just about being judicious but don't you get fooled. This is how they justify their non-committal nature in their head ;) Yes I would tend to agree that their perception of being diplomatic actually stems from here.

I have had the privilege of having a Cancerian room-mate, dating a Cancerian, being great friends with one or two of that breed (tags: Gupta and http://purple-karma.blogspot.com) and now also spending my travel time to work with a Cancerian friend. With all due respect (only because I love my roomie and am buddies with my ex) all that I know about Cancerians and their mode of operation is a product of my efforts only and maybe my prolonged association with them- they are'nt a book, they're a password protected ipad.

'He will take his secret to the grave' I'm sure the person who invented this phrase must've been close friends with a Cancerian if not a Cancerian himself. They harbour, button-up, bottle it up, gulp it down I don't know what they do but they do it very well. They'd make you want to put them at gun-point and have them give it all out (though they'll manage to confuse you by putting you in a loop). This trait of theirs according to them should be defined as being 'mysterious', let me give them a reality check - this ability to be restrained peppered with how ambiguous they are is what gives them a tint of being 'detached' something which will keep their closest friends from banking on them when they really need you because Cancerians are not very helpful during SOS are they? 

But more often than not their taste in music is just what you're looking for, I have connected with every single one of them mostly on that. They also have a penchant for being clued onto random scraps of information which make them excellent conservationists. You cannot get bored with them. Also a peculiarity I've noticed about them is when they get entranced they flout all the above rules and just be themselves, be it their cribby, cranky selves or self-less give-it-all -i've-got selves (In fact this is so rare that their true self almost comes across as an oddity..lol). I know how one of my extremely sane Cancerian friend's obsession with Katrina Kaif is almost scary and unlike himself :)

If Libra embodies balance (which it does not!) Cancer signifies pseudo-balance. They are always looking for a middle-ground and their interest behind it is not tact or prudence, they're just looking for a safe place to bury their heads.