Hope, a Sorceress

Hope sometimes could be a vicious thing. It is ostensibly viewed as a beacon of light called belief when none whatsoever can exist in the darkest of times. It throws you off balance with dreary of peace amidst the explosion. It sometimes makes me wonder if this thing called Hope is a good thing.

It might be. If it can help you out of abject pessimism, if it gives you enough to take on the bout of everyday life, if it can harbor the belief of tomorrow, if it can make you live.

It could also be the one to set free the pathway for disappointment and misery and a foothold for betrayal.

Hope is an abstract being which could be lot many things; a friend and a foe, a harbinger of frustration and of happiness, an elixir, an aphrodisiac for the lamented. Word in itself has a mystic quality to it, one that makes you fall without question, with a serene smile.

And most of all, she is a sorceress with an uncanny ability to weave the magic on a whim, the one which makes anyone hope for the better, always!

Courtesy and common sense, the Forgotten Virtues

Evenings according to me are the best times to have a cup of strong coffee. The relatively breezier and less humid scenario added to the exhaustion of the day’s work demands it of course. As I was coming out from the coffee shop with the take away cup ready to catch my bus, balancing the full cup in one hand and the mobile in the other, trying to open the damn door. I managed it successfully without spilling the coffee and was holding it for the fellow worker who was just behind me and in equal rush. I was standing there waiting for him to take hold of the door and what he does, pass through the door with no regard to the person holding it for him. Another day with the same cup of steaming coffee, the person pushed open the heavy door of food court and before I could hold the door he just releases the door which almost hit me if not for the step back I had taken and saved myself from traveling with the smelly and sticky coffee on me. (Smelly is good, sticky is well you know sticky)

And before you curse me, it was yet another day with again a cup of murky drink (sorry coffee is one drink I can't get over), a house keeping staff was standing in front who was about to pass, she opened the door and held it open for me to pass and when I was about to close it she just waved and said "Carry on, I'll close it".

Now, all of them work for the reputed MNCs, trained in their streams and given etiquette sessions by HR (If they follow this basic courtesy is another question) and paid handsomely (think in relative terms here before you question). And I can’t help but see the stark difference between the privileged and the otherwise . I just wonder if the education has ruined us, the supposedly sophisticated professionals or I'm afraid if we are too ruined for the education to mend us.

God forbid I hope courtesy is not pushed to extinction.

This is not to insult, but merely to insinuate and activate the dormant seeds called common sense and courtesy which I hope is present in every one of us...

Secrets - A Myth

“Unknown thee secret, thou shall be protected”.

The hushed tones, the whispering and the signalling that spell secret always makes us wonder; always makes us ponder. Reality hardly matters, for the faculty for unrealistic dominates and the desire to belong overpowers the sense of reason. It is the notion of being bound by the secret and oath of blood that is found more intriguing than the secret itself.

Well all of us seem to have a secret or two or it is fashionable to have couple of them in your pockets. Secret to put it in simpler terms is something which we don’t want the third party to know. Of course it is known to a smaller somewhat confidential group never crosses our mind. (I really can’t accept the answer that they are not third party). As the famous saying goes, a secret loses its appeal if it known to more than one. More the merrier doesn’t apply here. So anyways, this undisclosed stuff is imposed with so much importance that it is more likely overrated. 

The word that is deemed to behold the unknown brings the illusion of sorts that attracts the onlooker or should I say literally the listener, but mostly it is circumstantial. This manifestation is brought on by the mind which always has a life on its own, often nurtured by greed and the fascination for the impossible or even boredom. In the end it is just an extra baggage to be carried around to give an aura of mystery which is still found alluring by many. The intent is not to sacrilege the content or the sanctity of very word but to emphasize the triviality that permeates through.

There is always a part of us hidden from the rest of the world or latent enough for us to even discover. If there is none what so ever concealed or even mildly cryptic, the unsolved puzzle of human emotions would lose the charm it took centuries to build. For the enigmatic race the fact it is the virtual concept that is fed on to keep the curiosity alive is still an inconceivable concept.

There is not such thing called a Secret. There never has been one to protect; it has always been the obscurity of mystifying truth and the legacy that has needed protection.

Tears, When Words Fail

The moment when the emotion overwhelms you, the moment when the vision all but blurs except the point of focus, that moment of truth as it unfolds, that moment when the false facade breaks to reveal vulnerability, the moment when the resolve weakens to diminish the invincible wall, the moment when the need surpasses the ego, the moment when the love transcends the distance, the moment when the pain of losing is greater than the grain of truth. It is the moment when the words fail and the tears fall.
 It isn’t the expression of weak, but the one of resilient. It isn’t the expression that magnifies the void but the one that palliates. It isn’t the expression that can undo the reality but the one that makes it more real for us to accept. It isn’t the expression that appears to make one fall apart but the one that whispers to let go. Tears, they deserve more honour and respect than any of us are willing to give.

That Velvety Black Curtain called thy Hair

With no offense to the women who possess those long tresses of enviable hair and the men who long to caress them.

I had always felt the long hair has an unfair advantage. They demand you to take a second look and grab the center stage and give you the smirk which says it all.  I have not known a guy who was not tempted by the long shiny strands, well no offense because even women have been drawn to those. Right from the medieval ages to the current if there is one thing that has been in trend it is the long flowing hair which makes head turn even. The sensuous pixie stands no way near the elegant beauty of the sister. No matter how trendy those cute pixie cuts look or sexy it is fashioned, the delusion of that black waterfall of long tresses that fall succulently on a woman continue to tease the senses of men and allure them like no other despite the age we are in.

And come on let’s get real, they are charming and appealing to the eyes for whatsoever reasons that escape the ones made of flesh with blood flowing in the veins.

Theory of Real and Fake "I Don't Know"

More often than not, “I don’t know” is used for convenience sake than for the real reason. When you don’t want to answer a question or evade, you have a readymade answer – “I don’t know”. In genuine cases of “I don’t know”, well that’s when people forget this magic word. You get way too many ambiguous answers which confuse you rather than a straight “sorry, I don’t know”. Needless to say in times of total helplessness of awkward situations “I don’t know” pulls you through.

When you are restless, the best way to describe a day where you can get nothing done correctly and definitely not at the right time there is an anxiety or may be kind of sixth sense that makes you jumpy even at the slightest deviation. I’m definitely not talking about the bout of day to day lives, well it could be applicable in that case too I suppose if you don’t intend to think too deeply. Anyways back to the topic, this kind of unknown worry has no base or one which we can’t figure out with tiny bit of intelligence we possess. It makes you irritable, angry or you just move on the vegetable mood. (Where you just sit and start without doing anything. Please don’t take sit too literally). And of course this is the time when everyone known and otherwise will remember you and too desperate to get to know recent (not) happenings in your life. The answer “I don’t know” the reply which has the remote possibility to save you, only irk that one-day-well-wisher to dig for more. Like Mr. Murphy, whose law we apply to even the slightest glitch in a day, the answer “I don’t know” should be made for the vegetable mood situations.

Having said that I really don’t know why I’m even writing this. May be there is a lot more to do with “I don’t know” that it appears in the surface.

An End to the Endless Lament

I was standing under this tree enjoying the rare breeze in the ever famous Chennai summer. There was a promise of rain in the air. As always with this kind of situation it made me philosophical.

There was a time in everyone's life which yearned for the extraordinary. There were dreams of impossible, the theory for progeny as conventional as stability for the experienced. Sometimes wanting to live in the dreams became more real than the labyrinth of reality. And so we the once deterrent let the chance slide away. As time branched to years, it was easier giving up than to turn life around. The insecurity and dilemma which were unknown becomes a constant companion though unwanted in every step of the way. As the regrets mount, unhappiness and the discontentment becomes a way of living. We envy the ones who do and criticize the ones who try, gel with the rest who stagnate.

May be this isn't the way it has to be. The shell of low self esteem that we have built could be as fragile as china if we are willing to break. The shadows of the lost dreams we are hiding in could become a reality only if we could take first step. The belief in yourself and the resolve to try is a place to start.

Any choice is a gamble, you win some, and you lose some. But there is one thing you gain if you are willing to try, the contentment you get from just trying; enough to put you in peace.

Playing the odds in the game of life has never lost its appeal and it is as good time as any to bet for or against it.

It is your choice to win or lose…

Solitude - A way of Life

For many it is a word that is synonymous with loneliness. It was considered to be meant for people who we term social retards, or someone whom people think should be kept out for the sake their own convenience.

What is forgotten here is that the state of solitude is something that is the choice of the individual. Reveling in solitude is an art not achieved by many. Hell even mentioning the slight preference is frowned upon.

May be solitude is too strong a word for many, may be a little time for yourself, just for you without any disturbance – the word you are familiar with this would be Privacy, is something everyone yearns in this “will stop for none” world. So why one who makes it a way of life is taken in a pejorative sense always baffle me.

Loneliness is something which is imposed upon, solitude is a choice, a way of life.

It is for the wise, for the chaos of everyday routine, a remedy rather than punitive, an escape to the world you created than the one that was created for you, a place to restore the peace of mind lost amidst the demands and to discover the contentment though ephemeral yet pure at that moment.

An Ode to COFFEE

There are two types of people, those who love coffee and the rest who don’t.

Indeed I’m a hardcore coffee lover (and drinker) and I say this divide because I never really have come across someone who has said otherwise about this magic drink.

I had always equated the aroma of filter coffee to the calm and beautiful morning in the luxury of home. A steaming cup of hot coffee in the morning gives the great start to the day like no other. (Yes I have hundreds of people who could attest this)

As long as I can remember coffee had always be there in my life. The drink knows each and every mood, the ups and downs, and the happy and sad times. It is an elixir for the depressed and nothing cures a bad headache as fast as a cup of strong filter coffee.

Contrary to the popular belief, drinking coffee doesn’t affect your health any more than the usual beverages we take.

From the range of advertisements starting from the legendary Usilamani's "Besh Besh" Narasus's coffee and Aravind Swami’s Leo coffee to the Nescafe starring Suriya and Karthi’s Bru, the omnipresent south Indian drink never lost its charm though have changed many forms.

From the beginners who start with the a cup of coffee a day to the recurring, with lets just say, many cups a day, there is no one who has figured out what is it about coffee that makes them want to come back day and night and continue the cycle.

Is it the caffeine or the mixture of the powdered coffee bean and chicory that gives the taste it tastes or is it the combination of everything?

Well whatever that it is I hope the taste never changes for it is a vocation that has been passed on for generations, a cult that sets us apart and a religion that unites us like no other.

Long live Coffee!