Life's Tug of War

Life can seem ungrateful ~ and not always kind...
Life can pull at your heartstrings ~ and play with your mind....
Life can be blissful ~ and happy and free...
Life can put beauty ~ in the things that you see ...
Life can place challenges ~ right at your feet...
Life can make good ~ of the hardships we meet...
Life can overwhelm you ~ and make your head spin...
Life can reward those ~ determined to win...
Life can be hurtful ~ and not always fair...
Life can surround you ~ with people who care ...
Life clearly does offer ~ its Up and its Downs...
Life's days can bring you ~ both smiles and frowns...
Life teaches us to take ~ the good with the bad...
Life is a mixture ~ of happy and sad...
SO
Take the Life that you have ~ and give it your best...
Think positive, be happy ~ let God do the rest...
Take the challenges that life ~ has laid at your feet...
Take pride and be thankful ~ for each one you meet...
To yourself give forgiveness ~ if you stumble and fall...
Take each day that is dealt you ~ and give it your all...
Take the love that you're given ~ and return it with care...
Have faith that when needed ~ it will always be there...
Take time to find the beauty ~ in the things that you see...
Take life's simple pleasures ~ let them set your heart free....
The idea here is simply ~ to even the score
As you are met and faced with ~ Life's Tug of War

First Decade…A 

Toddler Dream !

One of the Character in Merchant of Venice, a play by Shakespeare said, "World is a stage and everyone has a part to play, mine is the sad one". If its said for Mr. Lemon, the dialogue goes "World is a stage and everyone has a part to play, mine is the lemon one". he he he....that was really a bad one. Jokes apart, the thing is Mr.Lemon is completing 2 and half decade of existence in this planet of apes....ups human this Wednesday. So to celebrate i thought lets review the first 25 years of life and see how the things were, and let me prepare for next twenty five years...What say ? good idea...So for this detail review i have split my life into two and half decade. The First decade of a toddler one, the second decade of a teenager boy and half decade of a mature man (thought i still find myself existing between first and second....what you think?)

Initial day in my life, was pretty good, infact fantastic...enjoyed a lot as being the only child. Whole focus of my parents was garner by me. Being very sweet, very silent (still am), very shy i was an introvert person drastically living with in myself. One thing that went terribly wrong in the first decade was i attracted myself towards getting hurted. I had seven small and big incident s of cut, slide, fall with 3-4 stitches near my eyes, hand , head, etc in first eight year despite being a very sidha sadha bacha. I am still wondering who said "Mard ko Dard ahi hota"! I feel it was just like bournivita to make me more strong,  I used to have bournvita and i still have.....

I was deeply involved in drawing, learning keyboard, Skating but was only successful in the last one after loosing my front tooth..I finally stood 4th at district skating champion and am still proud of it. One thing which I did passionately was playing and following cricket. One of the dream was to play for my country but eventually end playing at least for my class and my apartment teams. 

In the first decade i started my school, made some really sweet friends and started my journey of being myself. The only problem which i had even i childhood days i use to do what others feel boring. I still like to do things against the wind, some times i feel myself a kite who just swing in the air against the wind or as a small ship sailing against the sea. In short first ten years of my life was just like every other toddler with some humpty dumpty accident but eventually ending up being parents twinkle twinkle little star.

The 27s :  The Greatest Myth of Rock & Roll

Club 27: The price of Membership, was more than one could handle.......

When Amy Wine house died last month, pop culture historians couldn't help but notice that she was 27 years old, thus joining a long line of celebrity musicians who have died at that age, including Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones and Kurt Cobain. Call it "The Curse of 27" or the "27 Club."

As we all now know, these influential rock and blues stars all died at 27 and are some of the most famous members of the "27 club" (also known as the Forever 27 Club). The media's been obsessed with it since Winehouse died. But musicians are aware of it, as well. Kurt Cobain knew about the curse of 27: His mother, Wendy O'Connor,famously said after his death: "Now he's gone and joined that stupid club, I told him not to join that stupid club."

But though the curse might bring chills up your spine, all it takes is one look at someone like Mick Jagger, Lou Reed or Iggy Pop to remind you that death doesn't work in real life the way it does in the fatalistic "Final Destination" films. For every famous musician or artist who has died at 27, of course, hundreds more, many with personal problems just as significant, have not.

Yet something about this legend persists even today with Winehouse's death, despite the fact that the majority of the infamous 27 Club members died within a two-year span in the late '60s and early '70s. (Creepy footnote: The two bookends to that period -- Brian Jones and Jim Morrison -- both died on July 3 ... exactly 24 months apart.)

No person, no matter how many demons they had at age 27, would want that club in their obituary. I've seen some people who think that these deaths are intentionally timed. Like Kurt Cobain intentionally killed himself at that age simply to be in that club. You know, he suffered from depression, drug addiction and numerous other issues. He tried to kill himself at 17, 25, 26 as well, so it's not like he did it just to join a club. It's unfortunate that as a grieving mother, [O'Connor's] quote about the "stupid club" is what made it into the press, because now that's what we think of when people die at that age.

So no, I don't think there's a curse.  I think the number is meaningless. What we're talking about are extreme accounts of extremely troubled young people, which I don't think is a phony category at all ... I don't think it's hogwash to correlate people who fit into that "burning brightly" cliché; I think that means something. But the number itself is meaningless.

You could draw parallels here -- and I'm not trying to be funny at all -- that as certain drugs have become way more potent in the last 10 years, fame itself became much more potent. I do worry that this new speedball combination of fame, talent, sensitivity and a chemical predilection is something that most people won't be able to handle. Fame looks like literal torture these days.

So does this club 27 exist?? or is it just an urban legend?? i don't know. Well, they say, it kicks in, when it kicks it. It has been more than 40 years since the death of some of these rock stars, but people still strive to pay respect and tribute to them when the time comes.Many of today's rock artists have followed club 27 members and many play their music as a respect of their own. the number 27 is a major deal in the rock music genre, as an astounding number of legends passed away at this age. It is a club not many can afford the membership of..........

Better Off Dead…

On this day, i cant help but remember a poem written by a friend of mine... I post this poem in memory of a  guy who passed away yesterday... May his Soul find Peace... This person happens to be my friend's boyfriend... i don't know him very well personally, met him a couple of times.. Truly a sad sad day of all his near and dear ones... Seeing Death so closely gives a person a higher realization of self and God..! Sometimes i wonder, Why are the Gods so cruel.... Death to someone SO young.. who has hardly seen anything in life yet... Cant even imagine the pain of his family... true to the line.. "the Gods must be Crazy..!!"




Bullets on the ground aside this dead boy i see,
blood spread over the walls, how could this be?
the gun in his motionless hand, letters on the other,
words of love left to read now for his mother,
papers on the ground aside this boy i see,
his hearts been left with a hole, his souls been set free,
he has written about this life his past and how his life lost its meaning,
the police come in now who are left for this cleaning,
they tell his mother it was a suicide,
they tell her about how many have done the same and died,
she spends hours awake to now see,
whether her son has left her, now she has to agree,
i cum across his face and i see a smile,
there is a sense of shock within me for a while,
as i read his stories and his words,
of how this boy saw life which was blurred,
this boy will never wake up to breathe,
finishing his writings he felt he was complete,
and finished his time in this world,
his words now seemed true,they began to swirl,
everything was shaky now, i see a light,
i try to move away from it, i try to fight,
it turns dark now, day turns into night,
i see a script on the wall now it is in sight,
about how this boy felt, how he bled,
                                                                and how i decided, i was better off dead.....

KARMA….

I was never a big believer of past life, karma and philosophical stuff like that.. All my life, (of whatever I've lived so far) i have always believed, hard work always pays.. I am a believer in God, being born in a Tamil Bhramin family, that is the least my parents would expect..I thought God helps those who help themselves... Words like fate, destiny, the circle of life, what goes around..comes back around are nothing but excuses for not succeeding, and never had any significant meaning in my life.. I often ignored all this, thinking it is nothing but just another kitty  party topic..

For those of who who don't know, i flunked my CA exams, in the results announced 3 weeks back... and i am not exaggerating, i had out my heart and soul into it.. For 1 year, i had studied as if  my life depends on it... As it turned out, i flunked the exams when almost All my friends cleared and are employed.. I am not trying to say, that i flunked because of my karma, or whatever, my point is, i deserved better... the point is not  the cliche', "why me?", maybe i may be flawed..i may have gone terribly wrong somewhere..  But i couldn't help my thoughts becoming so philosophical..

This might be  the reason, elders usually say, Be good and Do good all the time... Maybe Karma will be a lesser bitch if we be so.. We all talk about Karma and how it haunts people.. so what is this so called ghost called Karma?? Karma is a principle by which a person is rewarded or punished in a particular birth, or incarnation, according to the deeds or actions of a previous incarnation..! Sounds more like, u don't have the licence to be bad ever..! if you are, well, watch out, someone is watching you...! I don't know if i failed in spite of disciplined efforts because of my Karma, i of-course don't know what i was and how i was in my so called 'previous incarnation'.. But i cant help but spare a thought for it... As the events are unfolding in front of me, my own life, the life of people around me, i sure do at the moment think, Karma is the biggest bitch..!!

It reminds me of the famous speech by Steve Jobs where he talks about, how the happenings of today's events may not make sense right now, but in the future, the dots will automatically connect... and the picture would be clear that day.. not today of tomorrow...  Living today hoping to be a passing phase and wishing for a bigger brighter future.....  As the saying goes... " If it's not right, it's not the end............"

Losing My Religion

Religion? well, when people hear this word, the first thing that flashes in their head is GOD.. Religion, after all, is a man made set of rules to be followed if u worship a particular person, or a divine figure, some call them God, some prophets, some they just call him a savior... So, GOD? who is he after all?? where is he?? 


I am born and brought up in a Tamil Bhramin family. By nature my parents are very religious, very spiritual, and very methodical and precise while doing their daily poojas to the periodical havans (a ritual using fire) and donations to temples and places of god's worship.. Naturally, they have inculcated this virtue in me as well.. And being an obedient boy, i have always accepted what ever they want me to learn n practice. So this childhood habit has become a value for life for me.


But, i always thought to myself, what the world would have been, if the boundaries of religion not existed.. Countless people have died and millions are still  fighting over this limitless boundary called Religion and God.. When all that religion says is Love one and all.. Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Allah, all came to this land, and all of them got the message of love..Yet, fanatics spread terror in the name of God. 


Sometimes i wonder, how many lives would have been saved and how many could have lived another day, had God not Existed at all....?!!! i also think, is God blind to all the misery in  the world.. 25000 people dying of hunger EVERYDAY in the world..! what is God doing??? the so called 'cursed' land of japan, Tsunamis and earthquakes have claimed billions and billions of lives there.. The nuclear bombing on Hiroshima Nagasaki, killed not only a million people, but also deformed their  future generations. In India, more than half the population is below the poverty line. People are so poor, they have to eat their own feces for a meal..how pitiful is that Innumerable suicides, babies, infants, being killed, women being raped, child killing his mother, mother murdering her daughter, countless divorces.. Now tell me,  WHERE IS GOD??????????????????


Every morning the headline of a tabloid is corruption, arrest, rape,death,loss in business etc... i don't even remember, when was the last time i read something happy or that brought a smile to my face in morning headline. corrupt government officials who loot the general public, the gangsters and burglars who roam the streets, the bureaucrats and politicians who cheat people to accumulate their personal assets, the terrorists causing mayhem are all living life king size...! is this your GOD????????? 

Give all that u can, to the biggest scoundrels, let them live their lives so royally and on the other hand, give nothing but more and more pain and suffering to the poor and modest class.... Even if these rascals are brought to justice some time in the future, they have already lived their lives so happily, any punishment would look small for them, on the contrary, the other class of people, they would be praying to never take birth in this planet with  such a cruel God.. 

I being so religious from childhood, and a strong believer in god, needed his help or rather his grace in a defining moment in my life... And guess what, God was apparently  absent that day... The land beneath my feet slipped...i was in a state of complete shock... in my conversation with God, i told him,"i gave u all that i had, believed in you, worshiped you,never lost faith in you, then why didn't you help me??" i never got an answer from him..! And since that day, i have been losing my faith in him... i am losing my religion...! I want a few answers to my questions....

People say, whatever is to happen will happen.. it is not in our hands etc...well, i don't really understand, what good in this misery? can the world get any worse?? will the sun ever rise in this world?? Will i get what i deserve? will the world be a better place? will our children too suffer the same fate?? If there is any God up there.... ANSWER ME..!!!!!!!

TRUST REALLY?

 

We have heard a lot of people say, "Trust.. That is the only hope left in the world".  Yes, I agree to some extent. Trust is essential in everyone's life, and one must always have trust.. But, how far and importantly how well can you really trust a friend..??

Read the real life story of a 18 year old girl (then 14), who is a very dear to me, she paid a heavy price for trusting her friends!

August 2007

One week before the plan:
A group of friends were scheduled to meet after 2 long years. These guys are childhood friends and have known each other for 6 years. Rishi, Nitin & Jennifer (names changed to protect identity). As decided, they were to meet at Rishi's place for a reunion.

2 days before the plan:
She was the youngest in the group.  Rishi asked her to meet him at his place & promised that Nitin & Jennifer would come over too. She didn't bother confirming the plan with them  because she trusted Rishi. And naturally so, because she had known Rishi all her life, grew up wid him, not in her wildest dreams she would have known what was in store for her..

On the planned day:
She reached Rishi's place in the afternoon as decided. To her surprise, there was no one but himself in the house. She asked him where Nitin & Jennifer were, he said they would reach in no time. They waited for them. She waited anxiously, while he was pretending to wait. Who would have guessed what happened next?

Rishi tried to get close to her. She felt uncomfortable. And tried to push him away. But he held her tight against the wall & started to strip her. She was trying to refrain, but he was too strong for the helpless girl. He kissed her forcefully, all she could do was pray and hope for some help..she got none! No one came to her rescue. Not even God..!  She was crying! She was in pain. He forced her to the bed. In her self defense, she bit him hard on his forearm, hit his testicles, grabbed her shirt & ran out of the house..

Weeping on her way back home, she called up Jennifer to ask why didn't she come. And to this girl's disbelief, she learned that, Jennifer and Nitin, both weren't aware of any plan of a reunion....
That girl couldn't take it, she felt so cheated and heart broken.. So much for trusting an old friend...?? She felt sick, she wanted to die. She paid a heavy price for trusting someone who ended up assaulting her sexually.. She tried to end her life several times after the incident and was under heavy medication to control her depression..

For many of you, this may sound like a bollywood mega hit, All this happened to a person who is so dear to me... I feel like laughing, when anyone says "Trust me.."


Trust is good... Too much of it, is bad.. How much to trust a person, well, that is an individual's call... I hope this story would be a lesson to my readers..

The Bolly Litmus-Interesting Chemistry Lessons!

Our desi tinsel town does not fail to surprise. With new developments and fresh creativity modifying filmmaking ideas, Bollywood has come a long way from its initial days. Over the years, it has been proven, that a film’s success depends, in great measure, on the pair enacting the lead roles. Thus comes in the reference to onscreen chemistry that these pairs share. With changes in the modern lifestyles and present mindset, filmmakers have tried to bend the rules and have been successful at most times. Read on for some new onscreen jodis that are gaining high ratings on the Bollywood popularity meter. Some are even real life lovebirds or are on the road to become so. Whatever, be their status, their ability to come across as a convincing couple is what has turned them into peoples’ favorites.

With Gen Y stars dominating the choices of filmmakers, most of the present Bollywood jodis who are perpetually in news, are vibrant and have brought in a much wanted but never before seen freshness to cinema.

The Punjabi Punch

While the Kapoor family has been hailed as B town’s first family, the junior most Kapoor to hit the silver screen has always generated lot of attention. His paring on screen with Deepika Padukone let to a lot of tongues wagging about a real life romance which were proved true. However, after sometime of cozy outings and even family meet ups, this hot onscreen pair chose to part ways in real. Despite this, fans have always been wishing a comeback of Miss Long Legs and the Kapoor kid to come together to recreate the magic of the killer Bachna Ae Haseeno.

Hold on…the punch is to hit you harder still…! Another on screen chemistry formulation that is again in news despite having fizzed out some time back is that of Piggychops and Ranbir. While the Anjaana Anjaani pair could not do much justice to the anticipation of the audience in this first outing onscreen, tinsel town and fan clubs are abuzz with their chemistry in the upcoming Barfee. With strikingly different looks and a de-glam avatar they have donned in the film, one can only wait to know if the screen lights up at their second attempt to make a fire.

Flowery Fresh

When there is talk of Ranbir and chemistry, Katrina Kaif- the ex lover of Sallu Miyan can be expected to queue up next in line. Pretty Miss Kaif has been proving critics wrong with her clever choice of films and err… heroes too! While most of Bollywood is split in camps, one lady who clears away from loyalty to any group is the Brit lass. Her chemistry with Imran Khan in the upcoming Meri Brother Ki Dulhan is simple, fresh and awesome, to say the least. The pairing is young and the promos drive home the point that both sizzle in their own way on screen. Now it is to be seen if the Barbie Girl of Bollywood recreates the chemistry on lines of the Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani outing with the Aaamir Khan bhanja, this time.

Kapur-Kapoor

With same sounding surnames, two Bolly favorites who have been generating a lot of popularity in the past week are Sonam Kapoor and chocolate boy Shahid Kapoor. With Mausum promos flooding the internet and print media, the pair’s onscreen chemistry is also being discussed among cine gossipmongers. While the Kapoor lady indeed stands tall and has an all diva like aura, the Jab We Met man well compliments her character in the film.

Band Bajaa and Chemistry…

No, we have not got the movie name all messed up. We are talking of the hot hot, not be missed chemistry between Ranveer Singh and the Parachute girl Anushka Sharma. With the super hit Band Baaja Baraat having brought the couple in the limelight, things have now turned all real from reel! Yes– one of the most refreshing onscreen chemistries has translated into real for the lead pair of Band Baaja Baraat.  Catch them up vacationing in Goa and they still maintain the classic “we are just friends” stance. Way to go before the actual Band Baaja is heard.

The Saifeena Sizzler

One of the top Bollywood chemistry chapters that have real life connotations too- This pair rocked and ripped apart the screens with Qurbaan but has chosen to play down their onscreen outings. Fans were in for a treat with the Chote Nawab and the Kapoor girl choosing to venture onscreen while being a full time couple. Well, for now we have almost forgotten the blunder that resulted while Kareena had Shahid around! As of now it looks that this chemistry formula is being hailed as a classic one by fans and industry favorites.

Dependable Serial Kisser in Picture

Emraan Hashmi has had the best songs in Bollywood and perhaps gets to relish the best chemistry with co stars too. Hover, the latter came into greatest focus in his Murder 2 outing with the gorgeous Jacqueline Fernandez. With the least of inhibitions that is pretty new to our film industry, the two managed to actually set the screen on fire. The Haal-e-Dil song on YouTube has received manifold hits owing to the sensual video that reveals the awesome chemistry that the Hashmi–Fernandez pair has managed to shake up!

With such new formulae hitting the chemistry book of Bollywood it is only time that shall tell which would be part of the classic pairs on lines of Amitabh-Rekha or Shahrukh-Kajol. Since fans today cherish a great movie with a bucket full of pop corn, we can only pray that; whatever be the real life consequence of onscreen jodis; the pairs at least deliver awesome silver screen chemistry. With more and more newcomers and non filmy background actors boarding the Bollywood bus, we look forward to more such interesting pairings who make us believe that they are very much in love, even if they are not! After all, good cinema means bringing realism to things that may be imaginative!

The 7 Types Of GUYS

Well ladies, this one’s for you. All the time you’d wonder, which guy to date, what do guy’s usually think and what kind of species are guys exactly? (Well, yes I called them specie because, whatever they do, it’s unique or more exactly-WEIRD)

They seem to find the rights in all the wrongs, and mess up the easiest things in some or the other way. So here’s a brief list about 7 types of guys you would usually see, and a few of their traits -

MR. CHEEZY

————————

He’ll always have a cheezy little grin over his seemingly harmless face, warning the girl that she’s in for a BIG surprise or shock, whatever you frame it to be.

Gelled hair, strong colognes, tacky shining leather shoes over skinny pants, and usually a floral print tight fitting shirt, he’d come closer, and whisper in a melodramatic fashion (like the late 90′s heroes , open hands, toothy smiles)-

” Ye hawain, ye haseen wadiyan, madhosh kar dengi mujhe

Yeh tumhari surmayi aankhen…”

Dude, wait what does “Surmayi” means?

Come on man, she needs a boyfriend, not Pankaj Udaas!

THE MACHO GUY

————————

The way he’ll approach, is the funniest scene a girl can imagine! Tight jeans, ultra small fake BEING HUMAN tee (inspired by their icon, MR.SALLU, The dabangg eshtyle) that shows off their artificially enhanced big muscles, arms distinctly  apart ,as if he’s got rashes in his underarms and the poor guy can’t bring them any closer, peculiar. He’ll come close, closer, closer-

“Will you frandship?”

HOLY SHIT! The time you wasted in building your body, wish you’d have used it to develop your brain cells instead!

THE WANNABE CASANOVA:

————————

All what he will talk about is, how many girls he dated, rather dumped!

Dude, how many girls did you date?

“Ahh…Hmm, I guess, 1 2 3, I can’t remember how many girls, they were like too many!”

hahaha, sure man, you are so hot!

“That girl there, She’s my ex. You see that girl there? I dumped her too.

And you that girl, she likes me too!”

Yeah man, as I said, YOU are SO HOT!

Now, let’s just interpret how his cocky brain treats real life situations:

A girl says “Hi”- SHE PROPOSED HIM!

She sum how gives him her phone number- SHE KISSED HIM!

And if, by chance, she touches his hand- the guy tells the entire world that he DOODLED DOO with her!

Yeah man, YOU ARE SO SO SOOO HOT!

THE NEEDY GUY:

——————————–

“Please be my girlfriend, please please please, I’ll do everything!”

When a girl sees this kind of guy, she’ll visualise the world famous Govinda song-

Main toh Joru ka Ghulam banke rahunga!

He’ll be the perfect pet, ooops, I mean boyfriend .

He’ll wash your clothes, take your dog out for walk, clean dishes, and carry your bags, everything he possibly can do!

And suddenly, he’ll utter these words-” I am so nice that I never touched my last girlfriend!”

BOOM!

Maybe that is why she dumped you! LOSER!

 THE NYMPHOMANIAC

———————————

 He is someone with big dark eyes, always searching for female presence. Whenever he will be talking to you, his eyes would be down, wandering at some place that you won’t be comfortable with.

“Look up jerk, they can’t talk for God’s sake!”

That’s perhaps what any girl would love to say at that time (with an evil expression).

He won’t miss a single chance to get in your pants.

“Isn’t it hot in here?

Let’s go to my place and you can take all your clothes off there”.

THADDAAAKK!

Poor guy ends up with a red cheek.

Dude, you were lucky that she hit you in your face and not somewhere else, and you do know what I mean!

THE BROKE

———————————–

He would seem nice, sweet talks, will take you out on a fancy dinner, wine, chicken salad with an essence of Italian spices.

“CHEQUE PLEASE”

And the moment he sees the bill, all the gentlemanliness vanishes!

He’d search his pockets, have a look on the floor, on the table, and then gently say -

“Babes, do you have money? I guess I left my wallet at home.”

How could you forget your wallet!  Didn’t you know that you were going on a date?

A few more dates, and then the girl will finally realize, the guy has a habit of FORGETTING his wallet every time!

Time won’t be far when he would call you up at the midnight- ” Ughh, do you have a few hundred bucks, I got to pay myTelephone bill.”

That’s the right time to say- Dude; you need to get a job because you are broke!

Why does it happen to me guy- aka THE CRY BABY!

———————————————–

Perhaps the most irritating breed of guys, they make you think, are you really dating a GUY?

At first you might think that he’s a bit emotional, but sorry, he just can’t stay happy!

I flunked in my exam- WHY DOES IT HAPPEN TO ME?

I missed my bus-WHY DOES IT HAPPEN TO ME?

My ex dumped me- WHY DOES IT HAPPEN TO ME?

And slowly he’ll move on to bigger things-

India lost the match- WHY DOES IT HAPPEN TO ME!

Life is so unfair, why is that guy staring at me? Why are those kids laughing?

WHY?

 WHY?

 WHY?

Yeah man, everything bad happens to you!

But please for god’s sake!

STOP WHINING!

So, next time you see a weird guy, don’t forget his breed, or who knows, maybe one day, you might be lucky enough to discover one of your own.