THE GOOD LIFE

So, do it. Decide. Is this the life you want to live? Is this the person you want to love? Is this the best you can be? Can you be stronger? Kinder? More compassionate? Decide. Breathe in. Breathe out and decide. It is in these moments of decision after all, that our fortunes are made. Stay quiet because silence/loneliness when accepted is a gift from bounty that will help us in finding our treasure.

But, one of the risks of being quiet is that the other people can fill your silence with their own interpretation: you’re bored. You’re depressed. You’re shy. You’re stuck up. You’re judgmental. When others can’t read us, they write their own story- not always the one we choose or that’s true to who we are.

Sometimes, I just sit with myself and recount all the kisses, all the laughs, all the nights and all the days that I’ve squandered. Sometimes, I just sit down to ignite my soul with the passion that sometimes appears lost or disillusioned. Sometimes, I ask myself tough questions and bury my soul with guilt. Guilt of being nice to people who always took me for granted and made me doubt my self-worth, guilt of dreaming about my future life goals, career goals and relationship goals when I see them broken into pieces the day after and, guilt of not succeeding to please everyone I like at all times.

Guilt that terrifies me and you is made up of sixty five percent water.  And everyone you love is made of stardust, and I know sometimes you can’t even breathe deeply, and the night sky is no home. You’ve cried yourself to sleep enough times that you’re down to your last two percent, but nothing is infinite. Not even loss. You’re made of the sea and the stars, and one day you’re going to find yourself again. Trust me.

The most beautiful people to be around are the ones with open minds. The ones who will tell you that sorrow is just as wonderful as bliss and that at any moment, you can be whoever you want to be and love whoever and whatever you want to love- whether it is religion or the same sex or drinking or pain. Sit at bars and linger in coffee shops just to find these kinds of people. Without knowing it, they’re slowly changing the world.

Love your partner unconditionally but follow your own unique dreams and goals simultaneously. Find a partner who gets tangled in your dreams and falls into your wishes. Wonder through the depths of your desires, and crawl in to the smallest part of your emotions. Get lost in your goals, and find your way back with the knowledge that your mate backs you. Dance with your secrets and hold hands with your memories, always.

Do what you love wholeheartedly, and money will follow. Clubs get old. Every different weekend, wear a new outfit but make sure that you hang around with the same people. Hold onto them. Stop competing for everyone’s attention. Just pick one out of the lot and stick with him/her. Splurging is overrated. Take that money and build your empire and not just your closet. Stop mistreating those who love you and care. If he or she sees beyond your faults and past, KEEP THEM.

In the end, you only need one man to love you. But him to love you free like a wildfire, crazy like the moon, always like tomorrow, sudden like an inhale and overcoming like the tides. All you need is only one man and all of this.

WOMEN CAN’T HAVE IT ALL‼

Speaking broadly, I’m just too hardcore a feminist to enunciate my write-up with a title like this one. So quite obviously, the title can’t be a product of my thoughts but the nomenclature of the manufacturer of this thought would probably send an electric spark down to your nerves like it did too mine.

The CEO of PepsiCo India, Indra Nooyi notoriously voiced the above titled emotions while being awarded for her prodigious excellence in one of the ceremonies. At the Aspen Ideas Festival, Colorado when she took over the stage, there were business tycoons and men/women from the press alike in galore bracing themselves up to lend their ears to something worthwhile being stressed upon from the podium. India’s most successful woman entrepreneur, till then, was being viewed by flocks of women as a powerhouse, as the Harry Potter who had got all clandestine revealed about the success mantra, as Sherlock Holmes who had spied long at the mysteries behind being efficacious efficaciously, as Dan Brown who had cracked Da Vinci Code tediously, or simply put as a laborious businesswoman in-apprehensive of what her genetic coding (i.e. being a woman) says.

The boss, who is a mother of two, further extended her views, saying that she died with guilt over compromises she had to make to balance career and family life. With a stellar career, £7.3 million salary and a 34 year long marriage, statistics flatter enough to deceive her statements though. She insists that women can only pretend to have it all. She says that every day is a choice that in parallel to being a CEO, shall she be a mother today or a wife. Sometimes, during the day itself the decision has to be amended over again and again.

She had put light on how uncooperative her spouse had been, which fundamentally turned things sour as the onus lied on Indra solely. He complained every now and then of her work priorities. Sadly, he failed to understand that you can’t become a million dollar baby with a minimum wage work ethic. Sadly enough, in defiance to Indra Nooyi I would say that ‘no one has it all’ in reality. Ms. Nooyi, trust me, everyone just pretends to have it all. Right from the morning, every day is a choice between whether to stay in bed for a couple of minutes more and laze or to get up a decade of minutes earlier and grind. You just can’t have it all. It is the law of the land, you win some; you lose some.

Wrapping it all up, I would culminate by just hoping that all women get better better-halves over Mr. Raj (Indra’s husband), because settling down for lesser things in life can’t be an option for the ambitious lot of women.

PERKS OF BEING A PASSIONATE JUNKIE

Just like anyone and everyone, you're leading a normal life...the one of an Aam Aadmi. As a school/college student, you wake up in the morning to go to school/college. You are compelled to attend the morning classes in half sleepy state or in complete senses (by sincere students). You comfort yourself in the dance period by aspiring to be the most graceful dancer in class, similarily you find solace in the aspirations of being a melodious singer in the music period, the agile athlete in the sports period and the proficient student in all the academic classes. While switching over from one efficacy to the other (as mentioned above), you carry those typical teenage sensations of being the hottest diva as a girl with a wardrobe brimmed with haute couture, and of being the handsome hunk as a boy. The hour-glass figurette or the six-packed abdominal structure is also something that leaves us aghast and awestruck.

You come back home finally after those chirping sessions with mates in schools, those seasoned looks ushered by you to your crush in between the classes and breaks alike, and after even those moments of horrendous embarrasment when seldomly you are showcased as the laughing stock of the town. You then rejuvenate yourself by watching TV or by tapping the keys of your laptop. You marvel through such electronic gadgets at the resplendent beauties of myriad actors and actresses, you follow the latest fashion trends from funky flip-flops to flashy watches. Again, comes the dismal occasion when you recall people who mock at your well-rounded belly, your dwarf height or other features of yours which they don't consider upto-the-mark. You envy the girl/guy-next-door who seems to enjoy a Midas touch right from his childhood (...born with a silver spoon types;) ).

By the evening, you somehow convince your parents to take you out for dinner (.. allow you to go out with your friends rather..again that teenage symptom ;) ) after you return from your tuition classes. This outing completely lifts your spirits, and life again becomes perfect for you..atleast momentarily. You lie on bed ultimately after going through all the events of the day. Again, before sleeping you feel like the knight when you stay awake and chat with your friends late at night hiding the phone from your parents. Even in your sleeps, you crave of partying crazily like others do.. all night!

Now just imagine yourself to be hit upon while doing something.. I mean to say that you just get that vibe .. you just feel that something you did just then wasn't only done by your hands, legs etc; but from within ... from your soul.. your heart.. OR you even don't get to do it(at times).. but when you watch someone doing it.. you just feel that you belong there.

Now your life for heavenly sake doesn't remain one of an Aam Aadmi as you choose to make a difference.. at times even an upheaval..you feel like the majestic soul of the world sent on Earth to be extra ordinary and a blessing in disguise for many. You realise your motive in life and you experience that inner peace.. in your wild fantasies. Now people's comments on your physique, your skills don't break you down.. instead you start looking up at them as another stepping stone towards your journey to success (where your heart lies..). Now you don't crib when your parents' turn down on your ask for a pizza instead you start respecting that decision and hopefully, even understanding it.

If you be true to yourself, you'll agree with me that your life then gets transformed from the one of an atheist to that of a meditator..a peacemaker. Problems spring up from nowhere, even when you're following your heart... and mostly even bigger problems show up on your way but now that positive vibe in you does the talking.

Now you don't need those incessant clock alarms to wake you up, your soul rises along with the sun and you feel so passionate and enthusiastic along with the rising sun. Then you say to yourself that “enough of enviousness from others, now you gonna just compete with yourself.” your mind doesn't wander now from being a dancer to a singer and so on... now you just want to be that one person..YOURSELF. You seem to have grown up overnight, when you understand the things happening around you.. they maybe in your favor or not.. and even if you don't understand that reason.. you start respecting this fact and this aspect of life!

Your mind stops wandering now from your hottest crush(es) and centers around your heroic role-models. Finally, after all the soul-searching sessions that you go by when you decide to take that plunge to be who you were created to be , you choose to set the world on fire. In the path , you fail, you get rejected, you are told that you're not good enough, you part ways with your dearest friends, you have to stay away from your family, you are mocked at, you are left shattered and embarrased at times, you feel too much loaded and exhausted to get youself motivated again and again, you lose the reason of your struggle in the middle of your journey, you lose people around you..and then if you are still left with something known as dedication, determination or discipline in you.... you now think of losing youself in it..because now you tend to be the most dangerous of all.. beacuse now you are left with nothing to lose... and that serves as the deadliest cocktail in the world!

And then, you WIN! You! Yes you! You win! Cheer up! Now party as hard you want to!! because it was all worth it! Now you don't need anyone's consent for anything..now its your wish to turn to people to take advices from them or not. You are left on your own now, because you show it that you can do it all by yourself. Your parents are proud, your friends return back to you, high headed people who discouraged you stoop their heads low in front of you.. and now, even this shouldn't excite you, lure you and leave you strayed from your path. You should just accept all sorts of people, forgive them for all wrongdoings and make your perspective larger than their objective in life.

I will just wrap it up by saying that, there are somethings in life which everyone needs to learn in order to excelor survive. Some learn the hard way and others the smart way... the magnitude of intensity of those things, according to me , makes all the difference.

So just put on your magical garb and live the life that you imagine beacause that is the biggest adventure you can ever do in your life... the one of following your dreams and being a Passionate Junkie.