A Bowl of Elusive

You don't see a lot of love letters these days. Its a pity how so many staples of the last generations are eventually becoming redundant due to new technology. Receiving a love letter on email while equally titillating for a person in love, will never hold the nostalgic value of a piece of paper with eternal markings of love. A love letter, even when its torn to bits is still a piece of history for its recipient. Will an email ever hold that kind of value? It was way back in 2004, I think when I received my first love letter. It was anonymous, just a few generic words on an Archie's card. But the card was scented. Roses, I remember. It smelt like roses. Now I have never been a romantic, but it was an experience. One that I still remember at times. Not romantically as such, but as a fond memory. The fun fact was that I still don't know for sure who actually sent that letter. I mean, I was pretty sure who it was, but the person I suspected never really admitted to act

Of late, I have been coming across more and more instances that point toward the devastating effects that insecurities have on shaping a person's personality. It is terrifying how utterly irrelevant matters are capable of instigating such paralyzing insecurities in our minds. I have broached this topic in many of my earlier articles, specifically referring to my own insecurities. I think it is time we took a closer look at this demon that most of us share. For instance, an ex-girlfriend of mine faced a lot of ridicule at the hands of her classmates in school for being too "thin". This made her insecure about her build and that insecurity stayed with her till she met me. I pointed out to her the fact that all supermodels are slim and people all around are body-shamed for being plump. I have been called names like "Yeti" and "Daanav" for being tall and heavy. But this article is not just about body shaming and its effects. It is about the effect

My grandparents never adapted to the technologies of the new millennium. Even my uncle is not really tech-savvy and doesn’t have any social media presence. But I do. The whole technological revolution happened in front of my eyes. The social media scene came into existence during my teens and it became an integral part of my lifestyle pretty quickly. Be it Yahoo Chatrooms, Orkut, hi5, or Facebook, at some point or the other I have used them all. Online messaging apps became a big thing a couple of years ago and now, people in organizations are using WhatsApp for conversations which were earlier meant only for company email. It is definitely a huge revolution and the merits of online social media are unlimited but it is also being misused a lot. That is, but natural and doesn’t bother me much. Systems are being put in place to check that misuse. What actually bothers me is the lack of Netiquette among people, especially a few elderly people who have taken to social media recentl

WARNING: Those who were bummed out by my depressing article "Just Another Day in Life" might find this article even more demure. That's because it is. But it is a topic I needed to write about. So here goes nothing. Being a child born in a country which is as densely populated as India just multiplies your chances of being sexually abused. In fact, I believe that as much as 95% of kids today face some form of sexual abuse or the other. Do you want to know why I am assuming such a huge percentage? That's because most of my peers who felt comfortable enough with me to share their woes, told me that it had happened to them. In some cases, it was just some neighbor "uncle" touching them inappropriately and in other cases, it was more horrid than that. A girl I knew had confessed to having been raped between the age of six to nine by five different men, most of whom were either related to her or were close family friends. I myself faced abuse at the h

I have been away for weeks. I just couldn't get myself to type a word. Have been battling with some inner demons. And the thing is, I don't think I am winning. I am stressed out all the time. Things around me just seem to be getting worse. There is just so many things in my life that seem to be spiraling out of control. Take my job for example. As usual, I am doing all I can to perform well, but nothing seems to make the bosses happy.  There's a restructuring going on in the company's operations in my territory and I am having a hard time dealing with the new people I am coming across. They might not be hostile but a few of them are strangely wily. They just keep speaking in riddles and ridicules. My girlfriend tells me that it is an issue with me, that I am letting them mess with my head. I just don't know how not to. I am a straight-forward guy. I don't understand taunts and back-handed comments. And most of all, I am bad at shutting people up. I j

Just the other night, I had this weird little dream. I was on a family vacation with my father. He looked young as he always used to and I was my present age. As it usually is with dreams, you tend to forget the details. So I am having hard time remembering where we were. All I remember is that there was water in the background and I was trying to make my father pose with me for a selfie. After several attempts I got it right. And I remember feeling in my dream that this selfie was really special, even though I couldn't figure out why. Frankly, I am not a big fan of selfies anymore. It wasn't until I woke up from the dream that I realized why that selfie was so special. My father has been dead for sixteen years and that picture could never exist. It was a strange feeling dreaming about him. I know this must sound like a very silly thing to write about.  But there was something about how I felt in the dream. A kind of serenity that I haven't felt in years. My

I am not the man of your dreams. I am not the man of any girl's dream for that matter. I was just browsing my FB wall and I came across the picture of a cousin with her husband, where she is singing and her hubby is playing the guitar and I thought to myself, "These guys are such a well-suited match." And that reminded me of the several times my girlfriend wanted to do something that I wasn't really into. Like visit a local monument or go furniture shopping. Hence, the realization. I am a rather boring person who isn't interested in a lot of things. I spend a crazy amount of time being stressed out about my job. Very few things actually make me happy and lately, I have been becoming more anti-social than ever. My pessimism has helped me cultivate a somewhat practical approach that's required for my job but other than that, it has affected all other aspects of my life negatively. I have traced the source of all my cynicism back to my college days. T