Lexicon

  7 things love is not Love- A four letter word that makes up 33% of books sold in mass-market. Romance novels alone generate over $1.44 billion in revenue, making romance the highest-earning genre of fiction. Note the emphasis on fiction. While we enjoy devouring romantic reads, we are holding on to an idea of love that is entirely fictional. Frankly, I have no idea what love is, but here are 7 elaborated points for what I am certain love is not : Everything  Love is not your everything. Your world is infinite, encompassing a vibrant spectrum of emotions, experiences, people and adventures. It is the books you read, the ones who matter to you, the places you love to visit, your hobbies, your work and so much more. Your world should not revolve around one person. It isn't cute, it’s an obsession.  All inclusive  Your partner might be your favorite person but that doesn’t mean you don’t need other people, and it certainly doesn’t imply he should feel the need to ma...

  December 31st, Sunday I closed my eyes and inhaled a deep breath of fresh air. When I exhaled, I could feel strands of my hair flying with the wind as every last trace of tension left my body. My feet felt relaxed against the calm of river water. My son was splashing some on me, giggling so much my chest ached at not bringing him out for picnics more often.  The gushing of water brought my buzzing thoughts to a standstill. In that moment I wasn’t bound by the baggage from my past, nor was the uncertainty of the future holding me back. In that moment, as I focused on the rhythm of my heart- I was living.  The thought made me calm. I opened my eyes to see my son still playing with water. It was five minutes to sunset which I so eagerly brought my son to show. From the riverside, it looked delicious at the backdrop of a pinkish blue sky. The view was clear without any obstruction of skyscrapers.  It was only a few blocks away and I was visiting it after fifteen y...

Avoiding- I’ve mastered that art by now. I can do it with my eyes closed but moreover, I can nail it with my eyes open. I can see things with the empty stare of not having seen them. I can hear words with the sheer surprise of never having heard them, and I can avoid situations like they never presented themselves. It’s as easy as shoving back an unpleasant memory. A dismissing head-shake and it’s gone. That’s all it took until she stood tall in front of me, head up, chin up, looking me in the eye as though challenging me with her daunting gaze.  “Why don’t you love me?”  I immediately break eye contact as if the slightest of eye movement would make her disappear. Unlike all the things I have been avoiding, she doesn’t go away simply after blinking. Her pinning look demands answers and I am nothing if not a questionnaire myself.  I want to ask her why she hates me, why she avoids me, what part of me disgusts her. I have so many questions for her but firstly, does she real...

      You half-heartedly scroll through your feed when your neighbour's loud rock songs break your chain of thought. "Keep it low!" you shout through your window, while shifting neither your gaze nor your position.  And...you keep scrolling.    You continue laughing at  memes until they fail to even slightly turn the corners of your lips. When boredom starts hitting unusually hard, you begin working overtime to keep yourself busy. As you unlock your laptop to Microsoft Teams, the group chat makes you feel sick. Why are all the chosen idiots dumped in your teams ALL-THE-TIME?   You cannot stress enough on how dumb they are. Their lack of knowledge and common sense gets you second guessing your decision of having agreed to work with them. Without any hesitation, you lash out at them on the group chat. Not that it was necessary but you had the authority so why not?  Just as you were looking at your sharp replies proudly, a flood of notifications...

Your time starts, NOW ! When I was about seven, I had heard about a trick, which totally changed the way I started looking at the world. Here I am sharing it with you, my dear readers! (it stays between us though ;) ) Ten years from now, Imagine yourself amidst loneliness and misery, sitting on a lone rock by an abandoned farmhouse. You are sitting there, filled with regret, for all the mistakes you’ve made intentionally, for all those opportunities you saw coming but ignored. You scream in remorse, once, twice and the third time, you yell out God’s name. You start begging for a second chance, desperately, deliberately, as if you have a lot of changes to make in your past and you just know exactly which and where, how and when. All you need is to go back.  God hears you, he not only hears you but blesses your wish to come true.  However, he keeps forth a condition. The condition states that although you will get back the past ten years of your life, you will remember nothing a...

    My entire house shimmered with the mild glow of golden candles. Some rested along the dining area while some were left loose from the ceiling, just the way Vaidehi liked. The holy aroma of essence sticks added life to the ambience and the aartis completed the festive vibes. Everything, starting from the menu for dinner to the detailed decorations in the backyard was the fruit of Vaidehi's enthusiastic efforts.  While I was on the verge of finishing the rangoli near the entrance gate, in came a gorgeous girl of eighteen whom no one could stop looking at. Vaidehi had this naturally graceful charm in her which I admittedly envied. But hey! It's not like I was the only one-  It was hard to not notice how perfect she was. Besides her academic record being a dream-come-true, she was also an excellent artist with marvelous paintings and a skillful dancer with authentic moves. Her life was the definition of perfection in a lot more ways than just one.  For instance,...

T o all those who think they need a wave of a magic wand to get better... More than often, most of us are only being a quarter best of ourselves or still worse- the worst version of ourselves. Each one of us has got the scope to improve and each one of us has the capability to become better than we are. In fact, the improvements to be made are so obvious that we know exactly what and where they are to be made but we just tend to ignore the very idea of being better because of the fear of change or of not being good enough to adapt the change.  In the first case, when we admit we are willing to improve it implies that we are not perfect currently but what we have to realize is that it's totally fine to be imperfect but what is NOT fine is to lie to yourself about being the best and to give up on improving.  Deep down, each one of us knows we can give our best. At times we know we can do better but we don't. Because somewhere deep inside, as much as we know we can make it work w...

"Kindness is a gift anyone can afford to give" "You know what? Teenagers are never  understood and if they are at least heard by chance, they are misunderstood!" I started. "Well, that's because your behaviour is beyond one's understanding! Take arrogance, for instance, is that a thing worthy of considering 'cool'?" my grandmother ended. ***** Checkmate! I had nothing to say that could beat her wise remark. It hurt me then and it hurts me now too, to accept it is true. To accept the fact in the teenagers' world that arrogance for teens is cool. That back-answering and passing mean remarks are more playful  and less boring than sweet, kind words. That disrespecting parents is more trendy than getting along well with them. That roasting someone makes you look stronger than supporting someone. That ignoring someone is wiser than acknowledging them. And that, being ignorant, arrogant, and irresponsible is being a perfect mature teenager! Pa...

"Life is what happens around you when you're looking down at your phone"   Technical gadgets over the past few decades have greatly influenced the drastic change in human interests and their interactions with others in an ill direction as well...  When misused/ overused, they are no "bliss" for the human race... For instance, have a glimpse into this family which has adapted itself to the (mis)use of most latest gadgets and notice in which way and for how much better has their life improved from the advent of these sick unnecessary devices. Elementry school kid: He's excessively obsessed with his gaming console. All-day long, the avatars in the game, bonus points, and scores are all he talked about. One would wonder if he was at all familiar with the "Outside" terminology! but who cares? His sister has been treating her cellphone like an organ of her body, she's always glued to it and barely exposes her eyes to anything apart from that tiny s...