U can be friends with all kinds of people for all kinds of reasons. Because both of u like café’ frappe’ n Abhishek Bacchan alike. Because both of u hate flurocent orange. Or because she thinks the kinda guys u like look sad, and u think the kinda guys she likes look gay:). But once in while, u come across that one friendship, that u just cannot reason away. It’s there…just because.
N it’s this friend that I wanna tell u abt. He irritates the hell out of me wen he keeps arguing with me or wen keeps begging me for treats, which is aways. I hate it wen he gives me is I-know-better-than-u looks (they are worse than his I-told-u looks). I hate his mocking laughter, wen he gangs up with others and says, “Excuse her, she’s a bit special”, patting my head. I HATE it wen he pulls my cheeks, and hate it evn more coz I know that he knows that I hate it, but does it all the same.
But I love him for the way he can make me talk…bout anything and everything. N the way he’ll come after me, after I storm out after a fight, knowing full well that before I’ve gone 10 steps, I’d be more miserable than the poor soul I yelled at.
I hate the way he thinks he has me all figured out. And for the fact that for most of it, he has. But I LOVE it when I realize, how wrong he can be at times.
He’s the only guy who’s called me a bitch, on my face, in front of half a dozen people, n meant it too. Still wen he came back, I accepted it. He hardly tried to justify it, or explain y. Heck, he didn’t even offer a proper ‘I’m-sorry’. He is the only guy whom I’ve called a ‘bloody-fucked-up-loser’, on the face, but not in front of half a dozen people. I did offer a I’m-sorry though. N he accepted it. Both us know neither of us will forget any of it, but it’s OK.
I hate him for my best friend fell in love wid him, with less than happy consequences. N for the muddle he’s created with a good number of others. But I respect him for having the courage to stand by the one girl he said he loved, taking a chance that his friends will someday understand. For patiently waiting for that day.
I respect him for the way he can look at people, see what usually goes unnoticed. The way he can see good in everyone, bad in everyone.
I hate him for trying to ‘help’ me, or sympathize with me, wen all I needed him to do was be there, wen all I needed was a friend. N I do hate him for making me think, at one point, that I was in love with him. Love him for the fact that wen I realized I was not, I felt neither resentful, nor relieved. I didn’t feel uncomfortable bout the possibility of being in love, or bout the reality that I was not. Because it really didn’t matter. What mattered was that at some level, he understood what it was like to be me, n made me feel it was not so bad.
He’s hurt me at times, n hurt me good. I’ve hurt him at times, n hurt him good. I’ve thrown him outta my life a zillion times, walked outta his life a zillion times, but he’s come back, every single one of those times.
He’s not my best friend. Probably not even the closest. I’m most definitely not his. He doesn’t make me feel any special. Or even loved, for the matter. He makes me feel like…me. Just me.
N u know what? It ain’t so bad.
N oh! I LOVE the way his ears will turn the most glorious colour of pink when he reads this. And the way he’ll vehemently deny that they have not!
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Red Ribbon Loops
When are we gonna grow up??? No seriously, it quite simply ceases to be funny anymore.
Dec 1st. World AIDS Day. A day, set aside to spread awareness about a disease, which is, quite effectively wiping out entire populations, and doing it nice and slow, so that not many realize it. So everyone thinks its important to disillusion people who still think that AIDS is something that drug addicts and prostitutes n those scum of earth who get into all sorts of “immoral activities” get. So religiously, everyone who mattered, pinned a red ribbon on his or her shirt to express solidarity with the noble cause.
I wore one too. Our college distributed them at the gates. That was not all. There were talks, seminars, documentaries. Placards all around campus that told u how AIDS can and cannot spread. There were the usual blood transfusion will, n shaking hands won’t deal, but one of them proclaimed, “Multiple-partner sex causes AIDS”. Huh? Excuse me? All due respect for the people who put in all the effort to put in those banners, but don’t u really think its kinda time that we finish with the preaching and tackle the problem like mature adults do? If sex with multiple partners causes AIDS, then hell, Idon’t see much hope for the future of the world. I dunno if they wrote that intentionally or outta simple misinformation, but this is exactly the kinda attitude that is the root cause of all the stigmatization that AIDS n HIV patients have to deal with..
In India sex, is a four letter word, sexuality, is something we don’t discuss in polite company, and pre-marital sex is something that should be declared criminal.
Recently Isaw an article being put up in our coll notice board, from B’lore Times, bout condom vending machines that were put up in the JNU campus. For one glorious moment I thought that our coll’s actually decided to shed its holier-than-thou attitude on such issues (who am I kiddin, on every issue), but no! My bubble burst wen I read the last para, which was highlighted to show the real cause of its finding a place there- a comment by a familiar name, which read “College is not the time for such things”. I’ve all the respect for the person, she’s a great teacher, n an awesome lady, but seriously??? If they just take a quickie scan around coll, they’ll probably realize that a considerable number are not single, n half are not exactly virgins (there! I said the word. Now are they gonna sue me for defamation next?). Its pretty evident that students today are getting a completely different kind of education in college (n yes schools too), while teachers are deliberately closing their eyes to it.
Wat we really need is to do away with taking the high moral ground, and open up to a lot. The birds n bees story may work wen we re 3, but phuleese do not insult a 17 year old’s intelligence with that. Stop saying “multiple partners will land u in trouble”, no one will listen. Tell them unprotected sex with some guy/gal whose face u wont remember the next morn is gonna get ur immune system fucked(yes, i used the dreaded f word),they'll make sure they use protection. Wen curious teens learn that A+B can sometimes make C, they’ll think before.
Sex really does determine the amount of freedom u’ll ever have in ur life. Bring it out of the closets, or backs or cars parked on lonely roads. N there will a fewer porn mags stacked away under the sink, n people wont go to the chemist n guiltily ask for “woh hai na, woh”. U’ll free a lot of minds, n in the process save a lot of lives.
Life doesn’t end with AIDS. But it sure becomes a tough battle. Those addicted can perhaps do without the stigma. But I don’t think they re looking for sympathy. They need understanding, n solidarity. And that is what the red ribbon is all about.
Ms. Know-it-all said: “What we need is actually to learn from our cultural heritage. We just need to know the right books to refer…kama sutra anyone? ; )
Dec 1st. World AIDS Day. A day, set aside to spread awareness about a disease, which is, quite effectively wiping out entire populations, and doing it nice and slow, so that not many realize it. So everyone thinks its important to disillusion people who still think that AIDS is something that drug addicts and prostitutes n those scum of earth who get into all sorts of “immoral activities” get. So religiously, everyone who mattered, pinned a red ribbon on his or her shirt to express solidarity with the noble cause.
I wore one too. Our college distributed them at the gates. That was not all. There were talks, seminars, documentaries. Placards all around campus that told u how AIDS can and cannot spread. There were the usual blood transfusion will, n shaking hands won’t deal, but one of them proclaimed, “Multiple-partner sex causes AIDS”. Huh? Excuse me? All due respect for the people who put in all the effort to put in those banners, but don’t u really think its kinda time that we finish with the preaching and tackle the problem like mature adults do? If sex with multiple partners causes AIDS, then hell, Idon’t see much hope for the future of the world. I dunno if they wrote that intentionally or outta simple misinformation, but this is exactly the kinda attitude that is the root cause of all the stigmatization that AIDS n HIV patients have to deal with..
In India sex, is a four letter word, sexuality, is something we don’t discuss in polite company, and pre-marital sex is something that should be declared criminal.
Recently Isaw an article being put up in our coll notice board, from B’lore Times, bout condom vending machines that were put up in the JNU campus. For one glorious moment I thought that our coll’s actually decided to shed its holier-than-thou attitude on such issues (who am I kiddin, on every issue), but no! My bubble burst wen I read the last para, which was highlighted to show the real cause of its finding a place there- a comment by a familiar name, which read “College is not the time for such things”. I’ve all the respect for the person, she’s a great teacher, n an awesome lady, but seriously??? If they just take a quickie scan around coll, they’ll probably realize that a considerable number are not single, n half are not exactly virgins (there! I said the word. Now are they gonna sue me for defamation next?). Its pretty evident that students today are getting a completely different kind of education in college (n yes schools too), while teachers are deliberately closing their eyes to it.
Wat we really need is to do away with taking the high moral ground, and open up to a lot. The birds n bees story may work wen we re 3, but phuleese do not insult a 17 year old’s intelligence with that. Stop saying “multiple partners will land u in trouble”, no one will listen. Tell them unprotected sex with some guy/gal whose face u wont remember the next morn is gonna get ur immune system fucked(yes, i used the dreaded f word),they'll make sure they use protection. Wen curious teens learn that A+B can sometimes make C, they’ll think before.
Sex really does determine the amount of freedom u’ll ever have in ur life. Bring it out of the closets, or backs or cars parked on lonely roads. N there will a fewer porn mags stacked away under the sink, n people wont go to the chemist n guiltily ask for “woh hai na, woh”. U’ll free a lot of minds, n in the process save a lot of lives.
Life doesn’t end with AIDS. But it sure becomes a tough battle. Those addicted can perhaps do without the stigma. But I don’t think they re looking for sympathy. They need understanding, n solidarity. And that is what the red ribbon is all about.
Ms. Know-it-all said: “What we need is actually to learn from our cultural heritage. We just need to know the right books to refer…kama sutra anyone? ; )
Thursday, December 01, 2005
who says there's no magic in the muggle world?
Saw harry potter and the goblet of fire recently. Me and a friend, we rushed into the theater, collected our tickets, gropped in the semi darkness to find our seats, n settled in. we were just about getting comfy, when these three gals walk in. they look at us, look at their ticket numbers, look back at us. We meanwhile are trying to pretend that whateva they do is not really our concern…they are just a bunch of confused kids. So they politely say, “I think u guys ve got the wrong seats...” well we aint giving up that easy, we’ve got saet numbers 5 n 6, n this is 5 n 6! Turns out we were right, it was seat number 5 n 6, only in the wrong row. so we move our asses to the row in front, n finally settle in...n the movie begins.2 n half hours of pure magic!
Rowling has this amazing ability to bring her stories to life, a fine attention to details, n magic so real that u tend to feel it, not just read it.the first 3 movies, kinda sucked, but this one was gud...ok not comparable to the book, but good in its own right.nevermind that dumbledore's a bit over-excited, n krum has all 1 n a half mins of dialogue(not that i'm complaining, it was good enough to look at him ;)).
harry potter, books usually, but this time around the movie too, always gets me in the wish-i-was-there mood.wish that magic actually existed in the muggle world too.but then, i wondered doesnt it? isn's life an everyday evidence of magic...perhaps as Hagrid says in the first book, if we muggles stop trying so hard to ignore it, we'd see magic everywhere...
isn't it magic the way some hundred odd people, who have not seen each other before, n will probably not see each other again, can sit in the darkness of one huge room, n let someone else's magic wash over them? isn't it magic, that for some 2 n a half hours, they suspend all other realities, n just believe what they see...and at the end of these 2 n a half hours, they all go back to their happy lives, unchanged, unaffected. but not always, is it?sometimes, there are some movies that do change a part of u. isn't that magic?
isn't magic that fire fly can light up, without burning up?that the salt water that rises up from seas, falls as rain?(ok, lines from a song, all copyrights violated, but still is amazing!). isn't it magic that n atom, that minuscule(wrong spelling??) thing can actually further be broken into a whole lot of parts? isnt it magic that our brain can hold so many memories, from colour of our dress that we wore on our first date, to the name of the dog of our first best friend, but quite simply refuses to remember the last date of submission for the college assignment?isnt it magic that on a crappy day, wen everything seems to go wrong, one small kid u meet across the street jus smiles at u, for reasons known only to him, n suddenly it seems not so bad.cheering charm?that u can sit with your friend for hours, not really say anything of consequence, but stil walk off feeling u jus had the best conversation of ur life?
see?life's full of magic. every nook, every corner, u'll see an elf laughing at u. u'll see a li'l wizard flipping his wand.
wen we got out of the theatre, my friend said, 'wish it'd jus go on , not get over'. well, buddy, it does go on!
ms know it all said: who says there's no maggic in the muggle world?u jus need an open mind to see....thru the looking glass...
Rowling has this amazing ability to bring her stories to life, a fine attention to details, n magic so real that u tend to feel it, not just read it.the first 3 movies, kinda sucked, but this one was gud...ok not comparable to the book, but good in its own right.nevermind that dumbledore's a bit over-excited, n krum has all 1 n a half mins of dialogue(not that i'm complaining, it was good enough to look at him ;)).
harry potter, books usually, but this time around the movie too, always gets me in the wish-i-was-there mood.wish that magic actually existed in the muggle world too.but then, i wondered doesnt it? isn's life an everyday evidence of magic...perhaps as Hagrid says in the first book, if we muggles stop trying so hard to ignore it, we'd see magic everywhere...
isn't it magic the way some hundred odd people, who have not seen each other before, n will probably not see each other again, can sit in the darkness of one huge room, n let someone else's magic wash over them? isn't it magic, that for some 2 n a half hours, they suspend all other realities, n just believe what they see...and at the end of these 2 n a half hours, they all go back to their happy lives, unchanged, unaffected. but not always, is it?sometimes, there are some movies that do change a part of u. isn't that magic?
isn't magic that fire fly can light up, without burning up?that the salt water that rises up from seas, falls as rain?(ok, lines from a song, all copyrights violated, but still is amazing!). isn't it magic that n atom, that minuscule(wrong spelling??) thing can actually further be broken into a whole lot of parts? isnt it magic that our brain can hold so many memories, from colour of our dress that we wore on our first date, to the name of the dog of our first best friend, but quite simply refuses to remember the last date of submission for the college assignment?isnt it magic that on a crappy day, wen everything seems to go wrong, one small kid u meet across the street jus smiles at u, for reasons known only to him, n suddenly it seems not so bad.cheering charm?that u can sit with your friend for hours, not really say anything of consequence, but stil walk off feeling u jus had the best conversation of ur life?
see?life's full of magic. every nook, every corner, u'll see an elf laughing at u. u'll see a li'l wizard flipping his wand.
wen we got out of the theatre, my friend said, 'wish it'd jus go on , not get over'. well, buddy, it does go on!
ms know it all said: who says there's no maggic in the muggle world?u jus need an open mind to see....thru the looking glass...
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