Cynical Chirp – Leave out ALL the rest

Life is difficult. Good times are au contraire. They are not there to last, but to just make it more bearable. Like a draught of cool breeze on a hot summer’s day. Like a warm afternoon on a cold winter’s morn.

Oft have I heard people throw rhetoric at me like “Life is a journey, not a destination”, or “the chase is the best part”…  And yet, when you come to think of it all, all we really do is JUDGE. Judge every single thing by how it ends.

We judge books – we’ll label a particular book as good or bad, simply because it didn’t end the way we wanted it to. Was THE ENDING why you bought that thousand-page novel in the first place – so the author could cater to the whims of the ‘self-acclaimed novel enthusiast’ in you?

We judge relationships, people at large – because, IN THE END, they didn’t quite turn out the way we wanted them to. (Cynical chirp: Helloooo… Are YOU perfect?)

My point here is simply that we set such a store by how things end, that we never really give a shit (pardon the slang) about how beautiful, wondrous and momentous it was, all along. So what if things didn’t turn out quite well – didn’t it make you happy until that very last point? So what if the movie had a crappy ending – didn’t you laugh all the way through, until that monotonous end?

Of course – if it was bad all through, a good ending can provide therapeutic relief – work as Band-Aid, to help heal the wound. At least paise to vasool hue na?

But if it was good, why this fuss about how it ended? I mean, good things are never supposed to end, right? In that case, the end can never BE good. Isn’t it contradictory, then, to expect the end to be good?  Good things, anyway, do not end. They can never end. Some bonds are way too strong for that. People who truly care for you will always be by your side. Listen to your heart and you will know.

Instead of waiting for the ending to be just perfect (which it can never be for all life revolves around imperfections), concentrate on making things so good that you never really achieve the end – that it never ends – until forces stronger than us override us eventually. And leave out all the rest… Obviate the bad memories, obliterate the hate, the hurt, the pain, the angst… leave out all the rest…

Forget about the ending. You never purchased the book for it anyway. Enjoy it – for as long as it lasts…

And for all my dear friends who still wish to judge books by the end – why waste money? Maano meri baat: next time, just go to that book store and flip through the last few pages of that book. You’ll save a lot of money and ample amount of your precious time as well. :)

Let's spill the beans, eh???

A few days ago, a certain someone I know, wrote on her Facebook status as to how interesting it would be if people were to actually speak their mind. Now that got me thinking. Freedom of speech. Freedom of thought.

How many times have you heard your best friend – or any friend for that matter – say how great it is to talk to you because you are not the least bit pretentious and because you speak exactly what you think!!!

Speak what you think????? Your best friend wouldn’t BE your best friend if you were to tell him/her exactly what you thought! Because your friends only think you tell them exactly what is on your mind, when in reality you are telling them what they WANT to hear. Heart-2-heart conversations are just the same – while you are out there spilling your gut about how much your crush has hurt you, your best friend only feigns a passing interest in the conversation. She is inwardly thinking – “Well, what did you think you’d get anyway? Roses??? If you were to ask me I’d tell you to move on, you won’t get anything here.” What she ends up saying, however, is – “How mean! You just hang in there, my dear. Everything’s going to be all right.” J

So, yes, maybe it would be a great idea to tell people exactly what you thought. But only empirically. In reality, you would do best if you were to lace whatever you thought with a spoonful of sugar (remember Mary Poppins – “...for a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down...”) – and cater to the audience J

Forgive, but never really forget

When someone hurts you, or causes you grief, you are left with wounds that scar you for life. Sure, with time, the pain and the angst do subside; but you are still left with ghostly memories of the hurt – the tiny cracks and fissures never really go away.

One poke, and it all comes rushing back to fill the wide chasm that it had left behind; to break the knot, that was created in the blissful, carefree innocence of childhood. And that is why, while you may be able to forgive, you can never really forget.

Love's labour lost

Love. The epic idea which is the stuff of all creative genius. The bane and the boon of all civilizations. Love it was that destroyed Troy; yet, love it was that has been the breadwinner for all great playwrights. All you need is love: if all goes well, you live happily ever after; if it doesn’t, you become a poet/philosopher.

Ah! The pain of falling in love! The fleeting joy, the momentous pleasure, the ephemeral ecstasy that connects you to the one that your heart desires... and the hopeless dread that fills the void when it is gone.

Joy, pleasure, and ecstasy: for you are all aglow – as long as it lasts. Fleeting, momentous, and ephemeral – nonetheless – for it is never to last.

Such is the nature of emotion when it is tied, yet never to be reciprocated.

The lover struggles to stay tied to every strand of memory – like an addict hopelessly holding on to the last whiff of opium; a shipwrecked sailor whose only consolation is that a rescue boat arrives before all his energies give up and cause him to forsake that one piece of ply to which his life clings.

And yet, you cannot but ignore the dread of desolation – the pervading sense of gloom and despair, accompanied by the chagrin of having attached yourself to something – once it is gone.

So, remember this, if you are ever to fall in love, my dear: it is not for the weak at heart. It is, but, for those who are willing to circumnavigate in the eternal dance of death. For those who can play, rejoice and revel in the stakes of the heart: where every single deal would fill you with ethereal joy or hopeless dread. And while the joy transcends us all, the pain envelops us like a cocoon – whence no beautiful butterfly ever shall bloom.

And yet, the misery is yet another flighty bird – for love may sink into the horizon, but the earth is round.

Old blue jeans

You wake up one morning, and realise that you’ve outgrown your favourite boy-band, your favourite pair of shoes, your cuddly teddy bear, your best pair of blue jeans, and, worst of all, your best friend. You suddenly realise that you have nothing in common with any of these any more – and while you are sad that you have to forego them all – you have no choice.

You thought that it was everlasting; yet, it is as transient as that thought that comes to your mind but is never put to ink. EVERLASTING ETHEREALITY...