An ode to 20-somethings

20 something - the phase when you trade your pair of jeans for a pair of formal trousers; when all of your friends are getting married, getting a job and getting a life, and you? Well, if you're anything like me, you're still trying to figure out where exactly the sitcom version of adulthood went. It's almost like the "Santa Claus is not real" moment for most of us, just stretched over a decade. Not to mention the utter disillusionment named reality that we grapple with on an everyday basis. Everything was, is, and will be about money, we discover and what's more? The rat race we've trained our entire lives for, becomes the playground where we watch friendships crumble to dust (and the reverse holds true, as well).

20 something- the period when you realize that in reality, NOBODY CARES about who you are, what you do, and where you land up; except your family. It's also the time when you finally end up flying from the nest and learn that, spreading your wings isn't exactly the most effortless job ever. Rephrasing Spiderman, "With independence comes responsibility"; our major concerns turn to finding a job that pays the bills, instead of scouring branded outlets for the next best deals.

20 something - an age when we learn that romantic love really is overrated, probably even hyped for the sake of rom-coms. True love means spending nights and days fighting to stay together, rather than falling apart. A period, when true friends get separated from the fake ones and every relationship is tried under the test of time and distance.

And finally, when we come to the end of the rollercoaster ride, we realize that nothing is permanent. Ever. Also that, change is the only thing constant. Always.

Love thy friend...

The Beatles weren't very wrong when they sang "I get by with a little help from my friends." I don't believe we need a post or a day specially dedicated to friends, because the real ones always do stick around - despite the distance, time zones, misunderstandings and crappy mood swings. But I've had this itch to write since "I-don't-know-when" and what better day than this?

Some friends are those kinds with whom you don't know how it suddenly all fell into place. Strike that, most of my friends are like that. Even after days of not staying in touch, catching up with them is like one crazy house. And they say, with distance the hearts grow fonder. What they definitely FORGOT TO MENTION is that the phone and internet bills seem longer too! Late night conversations over almost everything under the sun, birthday wishes over Skype and e-mail, texting so much that your hand hurts in the morning - there aren't a lot of things that can beat the kind of weirdness we share.

There's this surprising level of understanding shared and the beauty of it? You don't need to even say it out loud! Most of the time, the way a text or an e-mail is phrased is enough to get the point across. Not to sound like a story ripped off a rom-com, there are crazy shouting matches, misunderstandings lasting for more than a year and sometimes where we go without talking to each other for a period of months. One phone call, one text message is all it takes to go back to being the crazy people we were - because well, who else would we talk to without being judged for some mental disorder?

And when everything else fails, there's family. Sisters are our first best friends... Well, maybe not the very first but then they're always there. No matter how old you are or how far away you may be - there never is a better person to turn to than them. They're the best people to get a reality check done from, without any of the flowery nonsense.

The best part about being a friend(and having one!) is that it never gets too old, too late or too crazy. You don't even need to be related, you just are whoever you are and it doesn't scare them at all. I would have dedicated this to all my friends, but then again who needs a simple blog post to celebrate a friendship that's worth this and so much more.

Wishing you all a very happy friendships day :)

P.S. Forgive the cheesy F.R.I.E.N.D.S photo reference :P I was just too lazy to make a collage :D

Why the world needs more (and better) storytellers!

When somebody I've just met asks me what my hobbies are, I almost always list reading as one of them. Later on, I realize that even though I've read quiet a lot in the past, lately I haven't had time to catch up on my reading. Maybe, all the books I've read lately don't seem to be able to recreate the same magic or whatever else the reason, I never have found a recent book that had me as gripped as the Harry Potter series or made me want a Mr.Darcy.


Most of the books I've read recently, have characters ripped off from classics or predictable story lines (or both!). So much so, that I could actually read the back cover and tell you the story. I remember reading Famous Five, Secret Seven and The Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton and actually being transported to the fantasy land he'd created. Detective series like The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were also equally captivating. I could even pick up one now and not get bored.  Then came the phase of classics, where I was introduced to all the elements of a perfect melodrama. Shakespeare with his smart word play, Jane Austen with her powerful female protagonists, the three Bronte sisters with their tragic lives are a few among my favorites. J.K. Rowling wove her way into the hearts of millions of readers with her books on an orphaned wizard boy - Harry Potter and his war against evil. The books were(and are) such a rage that, there were many spinoffs - online and offline. Among Indian authors, there weren't a lot of books I liked reading owing to poor grammar and predictable Bollywood-type storyline. Chetan Bhagat, Ravinder Singh were among the few authors whose novels I actually did manage to complete.

Image Courtesy : Google

An author can probably fool his audience into buying his/her book that is utter bubblegum trash with effective marketing and P.R. strategies. But what the world (and the author) doesn't understand is that we communicate via storytelling. How well-read we are definitely affects the extent of our imagination and creativity. Let me put it this way, a child who has read quality books (or has been read to, in childhood) is far more capable of communicating effectively and thinking creatively as compared to a child who has spent his childhood in front of a T.V.


I, personally, believe that well-told stories could change the way we look at things. That's why today, with extra focus on "THINKING OUT-OF-THE-BOX", having effective storytellers becomes more relevant. What are your views on this? Do leave your comments below :)

- Divya

New girl in the city

Making a transition from Content writing back to Engineering wasn't easy, to say the least. What made it even more daunting (for my parents) and exciting (for me) was that my current job as a Systems Engineer required me to relocate to Bengaluru for the training period of 3 months.(Who knows! I might get deployed here too!) Forget about 3 months, I was an absolute fresher in terms of living alone and I wasn't really sure whether I'd be able to even manage.

The Hanuman Temple near Iskcon

There really wasn't much apprehension regarding the city because it's still , well, India. I figured I could get by with English and Hindi.(And for those who actually think it's easy for me, as a Malayali, to get by - Boy have you got it wrong!).

The View from my terrace :)

Pardon the stereotype, but a rural area replete with the borewell and cows was what I really thought Bengaluru would be. I knew very well in advance that it was a tech hub and a very well-planned city, but my perception was set. I was officially transferring from a city to a "gaav" in my own head. But when I landed a fortnight back I was taken by surprise with the kind of amenities and services available. I can quiet confidently say now that, Bengaluru is as welcoming and pleasant as Mumbai, if not more.

One of the random monuments in Bangalore

Yes, I still travel by overcrowded buses and then there's the traffic and a lot of other things I can crib about. But this blog really isn't about that. In Bengaluru, I was lucky to meet really inspiring and awesome people. One of them is my room mate. I don't think I'd have survived this long, hadn't it been for her. Being from Maharashtra herself, she is a brilliant room mate, friend and an extremely balanced and fiery person. The other names on my list include all the people I've met in training - seniors and colleagues. Well, nothing is perfect and there were those initial dafrrys of homesickness. I craved for Mumbai food (yes the Vada Pav) and missed my family. But, after the hiccups, the independence was exhilarating and so was the responsibility.

Yummy Tchoupatolis during our Roomies Day Out

I eventually got accustomed to the bland-but-nutritious food of the hostel, the being-on-my-own-for-everything feeling and the complete freedom. I blended in, like the million others, who come here everyday for their jobs. Hell, I've even started learning Kannada!(to the amusement of all the ticket conductors and my friends, here). And now, the city isn't so brand new... and neither am I :)

My four-legged friends

Besides writing and reading, I love animals and birds. By love, I mean the completely crazy kinds, wherein I run off in my jammies to feed a stray kitten wailing downstairs. In this blog post are some of my favorite shots of some of my most favorite people in the whole wide world.

Patches - the grocery store cat snug and very oblivious to me clicking.

Winny - the friendliest squirrel ever, at her candid best

Newest addition to the family. With 6 siblings, his family could give teddy bears stiff competition. Adorable, licky-as-ever and the most lovable of all - Sandy the pup

The famous catwalk by Stripey. He hates eating and being photographed. Loves talking!

Mischief - doing what he does best! Catnaps *sigh*

You talking to me, bro? The hungriest crow ever!

Why I write... And a million random thoughts

I'm not a very organized person - not when it comes to my thoughts. So it doesn't come as much of a surprise, that I'm lost for words most of the times. To put all of the thoughts flitting in and out of my head into one coherent sentence verbally, is somewhat of a mammoth task and I'm happy if I can manage finishing a sentence without stuttering. Most people mistake it for awkwardness and reticence, but it is just a case of my brain - well, Multitasking.

Which is why, I find writing to be a pleasant change from talking. It gives me the kind of freedom to express, that talking never did. I know I'm not even close to Shakespeare, but I'm more comfortable jotting down my thoughts on a piece of paper than having them spoken out loud. Writing gives me a sense of firmness- the finality that comes with the idea being actually visible in a coherent form on paper or on a computer screen. I know there are many, who feel that the written form is insensitive and cold. With the range of punctuations that we have, (almost, always used unnecessarily) I feel what we write can and does influence a lot of people across the world. Take the web and the print media as examples. I agree that there is a large section of people who tune into the 9'o clock news, but a majority of them will also pick up the newspaper with their morning cup of tea, the next day. For people of my generation, content on the web is influencing us majorly - right from buying books on Amazon to buying high-end electronics after reading reviews. Word-of-mouth has now become Word-on-Facebook or Word-on-Twitter and everything we write is going to have "The Butterfly Effect" somewhere down the line. Besides finding it as an effective medium to express myself, I really find it the best way to get things out of my system after a long day. Trust me when I say, it's way better than shouting. And the best part? The paper or the laptop you're writing on doesn't judge you.


Above all, there's one more reason - I simply love the elaborate long form of written content like everyone else. In our fast-paced lives, we often don't have the patience to listen to what a sales person has to say. But we'd willingly peruse a product specification brochure, that is 3 pages long, on the internet. Although, we claim we're leaping into the future - from written to audio-visual, I think we've already made the leap from written to audio-visual and back to written content supplemented with visuals.


Like I said, I could be biased because I haven't been much of a spontaneous talker as a child. What are your reasons for writing? I would love to hear some of your views.

Till next time,

Divya

Rooting for India!

Staying true to one’s roots is a phrase that has been done to death by every brand that ever was. With international brands capsizing the local markets, the tagline has assumed relevance in marketing more than ever. It got me wondering whether we, as consumers/individuals were even attracted to the actual concept rather than the mere show of words.

As a Gen Y kid I, like many others in my generation, have been witness to the Internet boom. The repercussions of the same were felt differently across the various parts of the world. America became the technical hub and the dream locale to provide just that push to any fledgling career. Every middle-class Indian, who had only heard about the country till then, started nurturing hopes of living the Great Dream abroad. The same trend continued into the new millennium and changed the dynamics of not only the market but also pseudo-westernized our country.

Don’t get me wrong here. This is not a hate rant on how Big Bad America capsized Culturally Rich India and brought us all to the wrong side of morality. I love my shows on the tube and everything else that western culture has ushered in. It would have been great if our country was truly following the new age ideals while sticking to our roots. While we busy slog away at perfecting our English grammar and the American accent, here’s a thought – How about we learn to read, write and speak in our mother tongue? I would be a hypocrite, if I’d say that we should learn all the Indian languages with their different dialects. But it is not a matter of pride that we cannot communicate in our own mother tongue, in the age of free web tutorials and Ebooks. As a matter of fact, it is pretty shameful that we’re drawn towards learning foreign languages like Chinese, French and Italian because of the sheer monetary profit associated.

The scenario gets worse when it boils down to the historical and civilian details of our country. History is taught so blandly, that it is hard to feel an inkling of liking for the subject. Pre and post-struggle details are breezed through concisely in a chapter or two. Beyond Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and a few others, we don’t even remember the names of other patriots who participated in the freedom struggle. On the other hand, civics is hardly taught. It’s more of a rushed primer for everything else we need to expect later on, as citizens of this country. In this age of technology, it is truly sad to realize that as citizens we know more about American and Egyptian history than our own. And why? Because they’re more mystical and interesting, according to our textbooks.

By all of this, I don’t mean to say that all Indians should go back to primitive living and start adhering to Panchayat rules.  Saving our culture doesn’t entail bidding goodbye to luxury or your pair of jeans. You could very well be all you want and still in tune with our heritage. It is, as simple as, getting to know your own country a little better. Because if we don’t respect and treasure our own legacy, chances are that nobody else will.

Till next time,

Divya