Shift in relationship and US

Is being in love enough in this age of complex relationship which is increasing coming under duress? R for Relationships has many feathers to its cap: fling, one night stand, on and off button, obsession for one another and committed. The kind of love flaunted in the universe of Facebook and selfie makes one wonder on what makes love rosy. Or, are we seeing things with tinted glasses!

The way we look at love and relationship has changed among the teens and new generation with smart phones and gadget applications. For teenagers, it's a shift in mores and the world is undergoing a crisis of sort with the altering of equation. Quick sex sounds like grabbing a burger for those as young as 14 in college who doesn't shy away from getting intimate with multiple partners. The India Today sex survey findings is revealing when it shows how there is no distinct between cities and small cities, where the young do not shy away in telling that they browse porn and do it with class mates. The risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases is always present. It's a worrying trend. At the risk of sounding preachy, I can't stop myself to ask whether they will grow up in an increasingly insecure environment, plagued by emotional vulnerability. 

Has city life and globalization made us vulnerable when we look at relationships where we are reeling under stress? We are a young generation of seekers, we look for love and if it doesn't work out the way we expect things to, we turn into emotional wreck. There are many hazards such as depression and lack of balance that often gives us a wrong perspective about things in store. The interesting part is that our expectations are not lowered when a relationship is not working but to the contrary, we constantly look out for that person who will offer us balance.

Image credit: Google 

It's a change in social mores in an age where we becoming increasingly busy with work and we hardly have time to give to someone. I feel a relationship with no commitment string works out for us and after all, we are human beings who need a shoulder to lean on. There are many who abhor the changing face of love and relationship but the fact is that one needs to adapt to the complexity of life. How do we do that? We stop believing in the thing called romance or love by sitting like a spurned lover. This facet of being a sore loser doesn't find resonance in today's world.

I ain't pretending that we should embrace everything which is modern but the main argument is that we should avoid the pitfall of morality and judge people according to some societal yardstick. Rather, we need to mull on how to treat our relationships, in particular, one that has no future. Expectations from a relationship is something that must be dealt with in a very sensitive manner and knowing that it may not have a long leash of life, we shouldn't make it a priority over other stuffs such as friends, family or personal space. 

Sometimes, we are ill equipped to deal with break ups even if it's a platonic relationship. Partners need this space and emotional disconnect to take care of themselves, which is often neglected. I have a great belief in 'Me time' where we can do activities such as yoga, treating self with shopping, spa and travel. It's very important to see the world and being a great believer in solo travel since it affords one the luxury to be with the self. One shouldn't make relationship the whole of one's life. It is part of our existence but not everything.

Why the rush to jump into back-to-back relationships post a break up? Me think that it's the habit of having someone by our side and we tend to get insecure at times with stress building up in our lives and the crack that we suffer from. We need to take thing slowly and breath easy. Rushing into relationships will not solve half of our problems and just because the whole world is getting on with a partner, that doesn't mean it will work for us. If love is destined to happen, it will and never be shy or stay away from it.

B(r)oom Baby wiping dust

A b(r)oom baby, I must have been in my past life, I tell you. Arre Baba! I just want to sweep those ridiculous jerks blessed with a foot-in-the-mouth who keeps on blabbering and harping utter nonsense. Look at our Cultural Minister, Mahesh Sharma going on an endless refrain, 'Bible and Quran not central to the soul of India' and women should not go out in the evening.

An irony flowing in my life. I just hate the broom to wipe off the dust in corners of the house. Gawd! How I hate using the broom when Mom was asking me to do some clean up! I whined and prayed how I can run away from home in protest and do dharna against the atrocity on a helpless child. Now, do I have a choice! It's better to take a dip in the Ganges. I am doing the same on this blog in my desperate attempt to clean up the dust accumulated by Sharma-Ji. By the way, what PM Modi doing apart from promoting Indian tourism all over the world? Swach Bharat Yojna! 

I am thinking how about doing some moral policing in this post against the likes of Sharma-ji who loves sharing cup of tea and coffee with guests, a lil birdie tells me. This man loves showering Namaste to everyone who meets him in the lobby. Mann ki Baat, Sharma-ji kya baat. How about doing Kapaal Bharti to cleanse the mind and the thought-process? What's wrong with our Sharma-ji? He must be secretly thinking to compete with the likes of RSS, Taliban and what's not. Suddenly, Sharma-ji is in the news and must be secretly loving it in this new syndrome of attention deficiency.

Hey! It's simple, no. He could have clicked selfies in different avatars and upload on his Facebook. Sounds better, na to get some mileage and celebrity moments. Jab tak Sharma-ji rahega rajneeti tab tak entertainment hoga national TV pe. Who needs Arnab when we have the State Minister of Culture, doing a failed lungi act?

His name is Mahesh Sharma, Sharma-ji ki kahani. What a delight and entertainment he is? TV channels, newspapers and of course, Mrs Funny Bones feasting like vultures on this not-so-intelligent statements. Yes! We are jerks. I am a jerk for without Sharma-ji, this post would be sleeping somewhere, in some corner of the mind. How I love this Minister! I am a huge fan from today for being such an inspiration to the youth and the nation. He just inspired to utaro his aarti. I am just loving the man like the Mc Donald that I munch for tickling my funny bones and the joker that I am in an attempt to make people laugh, scare the shit out of haters and those insensible souls to whom this post won't make an iota of difference.

See! I am a nice boy. I am praising our minister and not once I used invective and the F-bomb I normally do in my post. I tell you, Sharma-ji is an inspiration. You still don't trust me!

A morning prayer

Morning dew ushering fragrance on the spotless leaves,

flowers in the bud dance to the tune of a flawless day.

Sun rise soothes the atmosphere,

life has not yet started.

It suddenly feels so beautiful as nature and human becomes one.

Surrounded by the lush greenery and mountain from afar,

one can only imagine the peaceful thrust of life offered that didn't deteriorate in the name of development.

If pollution would have been an imagination,

we would never longed for spotless nature, surrounded our lives.

An utopian dream, may be,

as we crave for everything clean and beautiful,

filled with natural beauty.

Have we become so selfish?

We sink into the hum-drum of city of life,

traffic escalating.

Yet! We call it progress.

No progress can happen without a man eating to full stomach,

nature rising above materialism.

A dream that never meant to be.

With Love

Vishal

Superstar Ganesha in town

The favorite God is here! The man with the midas touch who brings all superstars to their knee. You know why? Because he is the biggest superstar of all, mighty and he is visiting our home for 10 days to charms everyone with his trunk. He's is the darling of the masses and make them dance energetically to his tune. He smiles, sit and watch. Welcome my friend Ganesha, the destroyer of ignorance and spreading knowledge, intelligence as well as wisdom.

You will find him in every pandal in the nook-and-corner of Mumbai, Pune and the pockets of Maharashtra. Hey! Don't freak out for you have 10 days to celebrate his grandeur in zest and style. Ganpati Bappa Morya! It's the Ganesh Utsav. Our super duper star crosses the sea to enter our house in style and we relish Modak to make Ganesh Chaturthi a grand affair, spreading love, together and removing all barriers, be it, caste, creed, sex and race.

Walk on the streets in Mumbai, you will find Ganesha everywhere, sitting majestically on his throne on the pandal decorated with devotion and love. You don't need to walk miles and shedding sweat to find him. He is omnipotent, omniscience and all pervading. Hop at the local station and the pandal is right in front of you. All you need to do is to pay your respect to Ganesha, our friend.

Our friend never shy away to bring the crowd together for the visarjan at Girgaum Chowpatty where a motley crowd come together, carrying him on their shoulders, the day we bid him a farewell. You see him in different avatars in clay, small, miniature and jumbo size, riding high on the shoulders of devotees who sing with zeal and passion, 'Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudchya Varshi Laukarya.'

The agnostic in me, fell in love, with Ganpati, the day I set foot in 'Amchi Mumbai' witnessing the joy of the 'Bappa' celebrated king size on the streets of Mumbai and Pune. Yes! They danced to his tune on 'Jhakaas' songs from Mach Gaye shor to 'Tera Jalwa' and 'Haar Taraf Hai Yeh Short' in Maximum City. Can Mumbai be complete without Ganesh Utsav'? Just plain unimaginable! The joy of watching the crowd swooning to his tune, be it in the slums or on the streets, where the underdogs and cream of the crop become one. Ganesha unites his people, be it Hindus or Muslims, making space for each other to celebrate love and religion. It's the beauty of India or a dream for our people to rise ahead petty matters and ego.

Hey! Chill! Ganesha has reached our shores to woo us and he is not going so soon. Our friend gonna make mischief, cement hearts and relationships for ten days. He is our most adorable that our celebrities deck in color, bring him home for 10 days and perform his arati. The fun has just started and let's make it a lifetime celebration.

Ganpati Bappa Morya! Hail our friend Ganesha

With love

V

A personal rant..read at your own risk

It's a rant. I choose to bear my heart out at the risk of sounding like someone, looking for sympathy and some desperate attention-seeking action. It took me a long to weigh the pros and cons, of course the consequences of opening up.

Right now, my life is in a mess and fucked-up wouldn't be an understatement. A lull which is persisting in my life and the agnostic in me is praying for some magic to unfurl. I have always believed in help flowing from some unexpected quarters and from strangers. It happened in the past and the optimist in me, believes that there is no reason why it shouldn't happen again. The only thing that's keeping me in fair stead is my optimism. Gosh! How my life has changed. I just hope that circumstances don't make me lose the real self. Losing the mental sanity and dash of positive energy vibe is the last thing on my mind.

Image credit: Google/www.shutterstock.com

Frustration is growing deeper by the day at work. The more you actually pray for things to get better, it's getting worse by the day. Honestly, I dunno what to do in the face of murky things and unhappiness. Tendering my resignation is an option at the back of the mind but the EMI on the laptop and loan bills been holding me. I have sent some 28 application letters, got rejected 'nicely by two, saying my good profile doesn't fit the bill. Not one to lose heart, I will bring it to 50. At least, something should work out. First time in my life, I've been sending application letters to companies like a demented soul who lost it.

A lesson that I have learned: Never go back to the old company, no matter how big the talks about transparency and how things has improved. I am so done dealing with unprofessional people, who doesn't understand the basic of journalism and running an organisation in the most unprofessional manner, giving false hope to its employees. I pity those who still believe in the so-called growth agenda that comes at a sacrifice. One shouldn't expect anything from such people, who think the whole world is imbecile.
On top of that, you choose not to pay your staff for more than 2 to 3 months and when a request for salary is made, you choose to give empty threat that we should be careful not to write letters or else, it will go in our goddamn file. Such unprofessional and unethical attitude get to my head. Just imagine, we are literally begging for our rightly earned dues and we are paid in installment as if it's some fucking EMI.
The flimsy reason you give when we tell that we are in shortage of staff in the team that you prefer in-house people and new additions will destroy the team's unity. How ludicrous can this get! Who with a sound mind will come up with such lame reasoning? Never heard of but only a person like him, who thinks he can fool everyone. On top of that, his weird business strategies in a creative field that needs expansion at some juncture or the other, sucks. And, the wrong people in the right place...I am not surprised why the fuck the marketing department is stagnating.
Yes! I was asked to lead the team after one of my colleagues who was heading has left on account of professional reasons outlined. I cannot lead a team of four, with varying capabilities and the company is unwilling to expand. I refused and someone from another department took over. I am happy and just doing my work in silence. The last thing, I wanna do is to be associated with such an unethical company.
The last rumor I am hearing is that they will cut salary if one reaches office 5 minutes late. Gosh! Are we being schooled or what!! Who does that? Another excuse for cost-cutting, may be. The saddest part is that business people are taking over publishing business where they don't understand one thing or two on what works.
I am doing everything possible to leave this company and look at a place where I can grow as a professional. Hopefully, some good news should flow towards the end of this month. At some point, I felt things were not just happening to me but there has been minor development, courtesy the help of  a very kind man with good networking.
I shall leave my rant here. Quite a story that I intend to spell in the second part. Yes! I will unburden myself the moment I resign which will be in a matter of time.
Good Night and wish me luck, folks.

Love deserves a second chance

It's been a year since Kavya ran away from her home and lived in  constant fear that they will chase her down the fast lanes, between crazy traffic, speedy vehicles and train in this big city. She has been hiding her face under the veil during her daily journey in the local train on her way to work at the BPO. She was able to make ends meet with the 20k that she earns at loose end.

The fateful day on her way to freedom still runs deep in her breath and whenever she thinks about her great escape from the clutches of her ruthless in-laws from US, her heart beats furiously. Her parents convinced her that Ajay is a good match, settled as a software engineer in US and that she will make her life. Her in-laws demanded a huge dowry and the moment, she stepped foot in her new home, the land made of dreams, she was subjected to harassment and forcing her to go without food till her husband don't reach home. At times, Kavya would go without food till the wee hours in the morning. She was drained and lost the energy to protest against the inhumane treatment and the Karwa Chauth where she was made to fast. Once, her mother-in-law slapped her for taking a shower before her husband and the latter never protested against his mother. 

Then, one day, it was too much and she sneaked out of the apartment with her passport and hundreds dollars, helped by the immigration officer to a new city in India. She lived in constant fear, surviving on tea and going to bed on an empty stomach. Turned down by her parents because good girls don't run away like that and the bullshit about the family honor, she lost faith in humanity. Kavya went around a couple of times with business men, rich college students and CEOs as a call girl and was arrested. The sympathetic lady inspector understood her plight after chiding her and got her a a flat, sponsored by the Indian Government and a job at the call center. Her faith in humanity has not been restored yet.

Till one day, Kavya met Vicky Malhotra, a simple guy who was struck by her beauty at the railway station. He waited for her and pursued her like crazy, between making her feel special only to be rejected. He didn't accept defeat since he was enamored by Kavya's beauty, simplicity and fell in love with her. He was unaware that circumstances has turned Kavya into a stone-hearted person and that love has no place in her life. Her eyes told Vicky lots of things and could sense how much pain is being hidden beneath her eyes. He decided to give his Kavya happiness.

One day, she got fed up of him when he convinced her to come along with him at the restaurant. Vicky confessed his love to her, "Kavya, I am in love with you. Your eyes never lies and tells me how life has given you pain and sadness. Everyone deserves a second chance and one shouldn't say no to love. I've dated and slept with several women but they never loved me. I can see the sincerity in you."

Kavya felt uneasy, "You know Vicky, what do you know about me? Before we start being friends, there are certain things that you need to know about me. I was a battered woman and run away from my in-laws. I live in constant fear that they may find me. The cops have arrested me for doubling as a call girl since I needed to feed my stomach."

She thought that the reality would make Vicky run away but to her surprise, the latter said, "Kavya, my love, no one is a saint in this world and those who pretend are the biggest hypocrites. I am an orphan, abandoned by my parents but made things on my own. I was in love with you but now I respect you. It demands lots of gut to tell the truth." He kissed the palm of her hand. "Friends?" he asked. Kavya smiled and hugged him.

Two Years Later

Kavya was dressed in the orange peach sari and dazzled as Vicky was gushing and couldn't keep his eyes and hands off. He ran his finger on her back. Kavya gently slapped him, "Mister! Keep your hands off me."

It wouldn't stop Vicky who caressed her face with his hand, curled his lip on her and she held tight to him in the drawing room. He kissed her passionately and she ran her hand on his chest, biting his ear. "Happy! Enough for now. We will run late," she seductively tells him. "Let's keep it for dinner," she cajoled him.

They drove to the marriage court and in no less than one hour, Kavya and Vicky were legally wedded to each other. During the evening, a room was booked at the Oberoi. Kavya and Vicky made passionate love to each other, chartering zones no one would have imagined. He undressed her, touching her back, kissing her and cupping her breast as she bends and pressed his stomach, before getting into each other.

Kavya and Vicky's soul were united beyond the physical love. Who says that only movies and books have happy ending? They drank their wine to glory, being a constant support to each other and united to each other.

20 years later:

Today, Kavya and Vicky's daughter Shonali is getting engaged to her best friend, Rahul. Kavya is dressed in a green shiffon sari and as she steps out of the BMW at the venue, Vicky holds her hand. "What?", the 50 year-old charming mother exclaims.

Vicky smiles and looks dashing in his grey suit, "You look as beautiful as you were the first time we met and see what's there on your left cheek." She turned to see her face on the car's rear window and asks, "What's there?"

He blushed like a child, "You are beautiful." Kavya gave an infectious smile and helds her husband's hand, "Let's walk in, Baba. Your daughter is getting married and you behaving like a child, infatuated with love."

Kavya and Vicky walk in together, hand-in-hand as the guests look at them in awe, wondering how they've kept love alive for so many years. Shonali couldn't stop admiring her parents and run to hug them in a tight embrace.

Love

V