Life As I Know It

Blocking someone is an unilateral decision made that effects two people. I personally have never been comfortable blocking people because I don’t like making a choice for someone. It is not fair on my part. Most often on social networking sites I’m a private user and only people I permit in my virtual world get to walk across the threshold and that is how I prefer things, where I am in control of who gets to see what and how much of what I post on the internet. As you grow older people get too close for comfort or so distant that you don’t even know why you are on each other’s friends list. Under those circumstances I just unfriend/unfollow/Delete person from my phone-book because I know if I am feeling that way about someone and that I am giving up on reacquainting myself with them means I will certainly never be interacting with them on my own accord. By not blocking them I leave the window open for any communication or insults they may want to throw my way because bel...

Today I HAD to tag along with my dad as he shopped at the super market because I had given my vehicle for servicing and needed a ride back home. I haven’t shopped for groceries in a long time. As I helped him get everything on the list I realized that there weren’t many people around. Everybody who was there was old and I was probably the youngest shopper. I looked around and saw all these cute old people pushing their carts, pausing at every isle and pondering if they should turn in and see the shelves. There was this one old woman who seemed to remember a new item every time her turn came up for billing. One of the assistants offered to help her but she was adamant about going and picking exactly what she wanted without any aid. She relinquished her spot twice this way and as I watched her I was amused and at the same time pleased to see someone so old being so energetic. Each billing counter was occupied by an oldie. I told my dad about the woman who kept forgetting items on ...

When I watched the first episode I wanted to give up half way and yet I forced myself to sit through it. The episode left my mind in a tussle. The first thing that crossed my mind when I watched the episode was “ The Bed” by Tracey Emin. I remember looking at the image and wondering why someone would pay to see that or why would someone not get her into therapy after such a confession. Is madness intrinsic in art? Are the two inclusive of each other? Why is it that in the modern day we find art in brutality? Why must we conjure and explore the demons deep within us to put before people to have them praise/criticize it? Why would anyone subject something so personal to them to public scrutiny? More importantly how can I sit back and say I understand the reason for the art and its placement or even understand the underlying emotion. Yes, I am hopeless at conceptual art. My understanding is limited to brush strokes and use of colors so it is further limited only to paintings and nothing ...

When I first saw this Airtel Ad I thought, “Sheesh how pakao can an ad get!” Then after all the Monday flurry I had enough idle time, hence my mind just wandered on back to this ad, even though I was trying to will my mind against it. There are days when I really need to put a leash on my thoughts. Especially when they have the tendency to wander off on such puerile subject matters. Here is how I wish the ad had been thought out: Take 1:  Woman boss tells her employee (Husband) that the deadline needs to be met in a rush and that means working overtime. Boss (Wife) instead of going home stays back with team, brain storms ideas using Airtel 3G services, orders take out and everybody has a good time. Plus it means spending more time with your spouse. [Same plot if there was a role reversal i.e Husband was the boss and Wife the employee.] Take 2:   Man boss orders team to meet deadline, heads home, cooks dinner for employee wife. He does so, by usi...

Remember how Nirvana came to be and why Kurt Cobain gave up his life? He wanted to give the world something different and he did and then what he believed to be an individual pursuit became so mainstream he just gave up on his life. A band that was just 3 albums old came to its demise because the world enjoyed what it heard and wanted more of the same because it was never heard of before. Fact is everybody likes to be different. One individual steps out of the regular mould and people encourage his courage to go offbeat. Another person who sees said person’s success vies for the same and does the same. Basically a trend starts and people follow the trend. Hence the trend as of today is to step out of the regular grunge of being a lawyer, doctor or an engineer. Youngsters today are instead going for options that are available to them at the left of center. Which are musicians, actors, writers, comedians, painters, bakers, sportsperson (Badminton/swimming/billiards) etc… A...

“ This is the funny thing about growing up. For years and years, everybody's desperately afraid to be different, you know, in any way. And then, suddenly, almost overnight, everybody wants to be different, and that is where we win. ” - Mitchell Pritchett  ( Modern Family Season 1 Episode 18) I like escaping people. I have been told time and again that I am blunt. I don’t know any other way of being. I can’t smile and be all pink and cotton candy-ish. I have re–lived most my school horrors on this blog. This should give everyone a fair idea as to why I am not keen on staying in touch with my classmates. Thanks to Whatsapp though, one person who had my phone number added me in our Xth Standard Group. Thanks to said person every person I was avoiding has my phone-number. You’d think over a decade later people would at least “Grow Out” of their cliques. Nah! That is expecting too much. I am okay with the cliques. I think I got so used to it that their existence just didn’t m...

I spent most of my teenage years and early twenties being a very angry person. Most of it had to do with always letting academics take the driver’s seat with parents riding shotgun, my swimming days and dreams taking the back seat. Where was I? Riding on top of the car? No. I was chasing the car. In retrospect I realise, I had no options but to chase the car. I could have stood rooted to the spot, or just walked away. Alas, everything of importance to my life was in the car. So, I ran after it like a mad child trying to catch up with it. I couldn’t see anything around me just the bloody car that I was chasing after. I eventually caught up with it. The first thing I did was get academics out of the way so that I was in control of the car. I was steering it in the direction I wanted to go. When I looked in the rear-view mirror the dreams looked different. I don’t know when swimming got off the car. There was an empty seat at the back. All I want to do now is drive to the coast. Let my...

Being a lawyer is fun in most parts but on some occasions it can do to your mind what prisoners feel in solitary confinement. I enjoy the work that I do because when I started I had the option of choosing what cases I wanted to concentrate on. Once you get into litigation it is good to gain exposure in all branches – criminal, civil, personal laws, banking, corporate litigation you name it and just dip your finger tips and toes in it. When I started practice I made just one request to my senior – To not assign any family court cases to me. I can’t go near family court cases because I believed that I was jinxed when it came to those cases. He phoo-phooed me and the very first solo case that I drafted and filed in my life was a divorce case. Let me just say that the case never saw the inside of a court hall. The incident only made my resolve stronger to never ever handle a family case again. In college I had spent most of my 8 th and 9 th semester in family court helping in th...

I don't know when my obsession with owls began. I guess it started with Harry Potter and from that point on I began collecting an assortment of all things owl.  It began with Key-chains because I collect those too. I basically get excited about the smallest things which has resulted in me collecting all sorts of things. From tooth- picks to match boxes, marbles even. I guess I am a hoarder. Though I like to call my self a connoisseur of "simple fine pleasures". No matter how bad the weather around me, they guarantee a smile or at-least the comfort of having something that I can carry with me because I am too old now to be carrying my doll with me for company! This is the bling- max thing I own. Truly. I am not a shine and startle person. This owl has seen the best and worst in me. The key-chain that has the keys to my vehicle, office and my cabinet. Yellow eyed owl key chain, because I love Yellow! The OWL Vase has a nice spot on ...

Yes, I am referring to A. J. Cronin’s book in this post. I had just finished 7 th standard and during the summer vacations before I started 8 th standard was the year I was permitted to choose my own books at the library. This was the first book I picked. I don’t remember the story now. I remember it vaguely but this book had an impact on my heart. When I say impact, I mean it stirred up emotions in me that I didn’t even know existed. The feeling was so turbulent. Just remembering how the story pans out and how it unfolds churns rage, love and pure shock at the action of the characters in the book. It is a beautiful book. I read Shannon’s way, Citadel (The Book that inspired the Dev Ananad Starer - Tere mere sapne) and The Stars Look Down by him but nothing ever did to me what the Spanish Gardener did. That was the third book that made me cry. I am not going to tell you the story or introduce you to the characters because I’d be robbing you of the experience of reading the boo...

Discovering who she was, was an easy task but clearly people in college still had a problem with the person she was. The Woman started noticing that she couldn’t help but get along with people older than her and her peers just as in school continued to be intimidated by her and preferred keeping their distance. In the last two years of her school life when the girl realized that she was the happiest when she was free to express herself. Express she did in moots, debates, camps, talks held in schools and colleges. As she adapted to the surroundings she knew she would never compromise this freedom of being herself for a group of people whom she would not be working with or seeing after 5 years of college. She knew in her heart that even if she did see them there was no danger of her having to acknowledge their existence. That little boat of being politely civil had long sailed. People in their late teens and early twenties invariably end up spending too much time worrying about be...

The Little Girl re-lived the horrors of the World wars in her mind. Kane and Abel became her favorite novel. Hazard by Richard Marx was her anthem. She went to school armed with her books and music. The little girl had realized that though she didn’t talk to many people she had a razor tongue that could hurt people. She used it and went home every day to hide behind the dictionary to sharpen her weapon to unleash her words on anyone who came to attack her. She never indulged in physical violence unless it meant trying the moves she saw on W.W.F and those were learnt only to defend herself from her brother who grew to be a tyrant. The little girl was just a little bug to her brother. They fought. They fought physically with a vengeance. The little girl would leap at her brother to hit him and he would bring his knuckles crashing on her head. She didn’t quite understand why they fought as much as they did. The fights grew in their intensity. They grew distant. They wouldn’t acknowledge ...

The little girl aped her elder brother. To her, he was the coolest dude that existed. She was the kid in school who was spoken to because she was so and so’s sister. As a kid she was extremely naïve. Her brother was the quizzer, the topper, the teacher’s pet, the social guy and everybody liked him. She on the other hand was the brat, the swimmer, a teacher’s nightmare, anti social and didn’t want to be liked by anyone. They were polar opposites of each other. Her brother - the witty charmer and She, the *shrugs shoulders* and very impolitely leaving conversation kind of person. Perhaps… the younger version of her envied the ease with which her brother was able to make friends and be at the core of everything that was happening in school. The fact that they were so different and studied in the same school eventually led to teachers constantly comparing them. It wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. But imagine a little girl always being chastised and all sermons ending with, “why ...

I am not big on self-help books. I didn’t have an opinion on them until I read one. I always thought I wouldn’t read one because these books are categorized as “Self Help”. Enough said right? I mean why would one want to read a self-help book? When one can step out of their house to do whatever they want to?[I know you need legs to step out. If you have them step out. If you don’t have them figure out a way to step out. If you have legs but don’t know how to use them – I’ll imagine you as a baby between the age group of 1 day – 15 months old who is a prodigy and can read and chose my blog of all blogs to be educated about the world based on my constant rants on my life experiences. But if you aren’t in the age bracket I mentioned, please don’t try and contact me.] The first thing about experiencing anything is to actually get out there and do whatever the hell it is that your brain is prompting you to do. There are three ways that this experiment can go – You fail or succeed and...

It is 5:57 A.M and what am I doing up so early on a Sunday, you ask? Well, I am up because I have viral fever.  My nose is clogged and my throat hoarse. I have the whole husky voice thing going for me. I can’t lie down for the fear of suffocating on my own snot. Hence what better way to keep busy and distract myself from my discomfort? -  Write a new blog post. I have noticed that I always fall sick during court vacations. I somehow manage to hold myself together during the week before vacations which are by far the most hectic days of courts what with judgments/orders being passed which pretty much chart out how I’ll be spending my  vacations  (i) preparing appeals, (ii) preparing caveats or (iii) Both. It was during the last work week before summer vacations that I gave AIB my full-fledged attention. After watching all their videos on youtube I proceeded to listen to their podcast. Initially though, I felt like I was eavesdropping on a personal conversatio...