The New Year

Happy New Year

2014 is Here

To Stay

For one more year

Yes,my dear!

That was terrible.Anyway,it’s gonna be 2014 in an hour or so.I can hear the music playing from some apartment in my neighborhood.Here I am,waiting for the new year to arrive,in my usual,lethargic way:by lying on my bed and typing these words.Last year,I was just lying on my bed.I’m sure quite quite a few of my friends are celebrating it similarly,with the difference being the presence of alcohol in their bloodstream.(ARs.And PN.And of course,STR)

It is customary to make resolutions to be carried out in the new year.It is also customary to not follow through with them.However,my resolutions are things I really wanna do.I want to stand by them.

Here they are:

•  Learning android app development
•  Practicing the guitar regularly
• Developing a proper schedule and following it
• Completing the finance course I took on Coursera
• Being more involved in the fun(extracurricular) stuff
• Regular(Perhaps bi-weekly?) updates on this blog

As I strive to achieve the above,I also want to be a better person.A person who is wise,kind and bold.And perhaps achieving all the above will give me the confidence to turn into the person I want to be: a better me.

I’m speaking in rhymes.

Happy new year,bitch.

p.s. PN,please upload those pictures you took at the Battery on FB.Danke.

Untitled

“It feels good to share things”

– VSK

“Yeeees”

– Dr. KRU

It does feel good to share your thoughts,to unburden yourself of some of the baggage of the past.It takes a load off of your mind. The lightness that you feel can only be described as sublime.No more baggage.You feel like you can do anything and you hope to keep this feeling forever.Unfortunately,you can’t.

What do you do? You’re on cloud 9 but you know the cloud is gonna burst and you’re gonna ride down on the rain. So,once you are in such a state,you make resolutions of self improvement,about brightening your day and everyone else’s. You hop from cloud to cloud(I’m kinda digging the cloud metaphor) until you reach that cloud where you feel that you can ride down and land safely on your feet.You can’t stay up there forever right? You have to get yourself back on solid ground.You have to carry out your resolutions,not just make them, even during the tough times.You gotta stick to your resolutions.

And what’s a better time to make resolutions than the New Year? Of course,people say that new year resolutions are the first ones to be broken,but then again,people say a lot of shit.

I have found that sharing your pain unburdens you.However,you have to be careful about who you share it with.Not everyone can take it.And more importantly,not everyone cares.

While sharing does help a lot,it’s your final state that counts.Pain is,after all,your immediate response to something,some stinging,unpleasant perhaps shocking stimulus, stretching it out for too long only makes you suffer.You can share your pain,you can bitch about it,but then you have to accept it and move on.Pain cannot be avoided,suffering can be.

Or as Haruki Murakami puts it more elegantly in his book,What I Talk About When I Talk About Running,

“Pain is inevitable.Suffering is optional”.

p.s. Check out this beautiful and inspiring comic tribute to Nelson Mandela.

Blog post #4: Section 377

I’m back,bitch!

I realize I’m a little overdue in coming out with this post,but…you know. Anyway, I’m not gonna be talking about Section 377 or provide a sociolegal counterargument to the Supreme Court judgement on it(Check out Bhagwad Jal Park’s excellent counterargument).What I am gonna do is try and argue against the arguments given by various people against homosexuality itself.Section 377 just provides the backdrop.

#1 Homosexuality is unnatural.

This is what Rajnath Singh, president of the BJP, had to say.  First of all,how you decide if something is natural or unnatural? Do you flip a coin? Heads natural,tails unnatural? I think not. Or is it something which is not natural,meaning something against nature.But there are several examples for homosexual behaviour in the animal kingdom. And humans are animals too, you know. So no,not unnatural. But definitely uncommon. Which brings me to my next point…

#2 It goes against the sentiments of millions of people.

Baba Ramdev,Yoga dude. And he’s probably right. However, we cannot always abide by what the majority believe in. Something so inborn as homosexuality cannot just be wished away.It’s who you are. Suppressing your very being for the ungrateful millions helps no one.So, be proud to be gay.As for the people with the above sentiments,they can,with all due respect,go fuck themselves.

#3 It will destroy Indian culture.

Several random people. Nobody has really bothered to explain how exactly it would destroy ‘culture’.If it is change that they are talking about,then it would be welcome.I believe that culture does and should evolve with the times,be more accepting of homosexuality.We can’t be doing the same old things with the same old social setup.Things change,this is a dynamic world.And also,lets not forget that culture exists for people,not people for culture.So what if in future two people of the same sex undergo,say, a hindu wedding ceremony?It’ll just make the culture that much more richer and accepting.

#4 For now,it’s homosexuality.Soon,there’ll be people asking to legalize sex with animals.

This is the most ridiculous argument I’ve ever heard.The whole idea of a homosexual relationship is based on consent between the people involved.Animals are incapable of consent,so no that will never be legalized.And while there may be people who love to have sex with animals,I don’t think they should be jailed or anything.Maybe therapy?

People do not yet fully understand homosexuality.Some people think it’s something you can become,which is not the case,as scientific studies have shown. So,the gay community definitely needs to be more vocal about who they are and what they stand for.More gay pride,less persecution by conservative assholes.

It’s a beautiful and crazy world.

Blog Post #3: Everybody Lies

“Everybody Lies.”

– Dr. Gregory House

“LOL , I don’t .”

– Mahatma Gandhi

Hope that cracked you up a little bit. Everybody does lie, don’t they? For some reason or the other, we find that we have to tell lies.We tell lies to protect ourselves, to protect others or sometimes just for the heck of it(yes,I do that). Which brings me to honesty.

Is honesty just about telling the truth? You could be selective about your truths and still be considered ‘honest’.Or you could just keep mum and be called honest.  I think honesty is not just about telling the truth but also about being transparent and open.Like my friend, STR. He is truly an honest person. The kind of honest and open introspection he does, I don’t think I could do it myself,at least not so openly.

I have met very few people in my life who are honest to the extent described above. Many are just superficially honest and a little hypocritical.Ok , more than just a little hypocritical. Is it an Indian thing to be hypocritical? To say one thing and to do completely another? We are supposed to revere the great Mahatma in our country, yet we are dishonest and hypocritical even in our reverence.

Everybody does indeed lie.