Much Ado About Nothing

Exxageration of every phase that kindles the worst and best of us is second nature to us and our denial of this fact is our first nature. It takes a supreme level of stupidity to ignore this fact and pretend the weight of the world upon oneself.

What's beautiful can only be saved in thoughts and treasured to encourage us to smile to ourselves at times. No, there is nothing more to it. Nothing more that you would want to assign to it. But then, it is no reason to be bitter about the cause and effect. Quoting my friend Archana here- " You can never complain I should have chosen the other way as it is the path you never gave a chance to and hold no knowledge of what it holds. So suck it up and move on". I found this profound for my own reasons.

To blame ourself for all that it took from us only goes to prove the extent of self affliction we hold. I am no preacher but Victor E. Frankl is and he has experienced enough to identify the loopholes in human endurance and the strength of it. To not know consequences at testing times is a bliss as it allows room for irrational and illogical positive speculation. On the other hand, knowing all of it and what's ahead of us is a bliss variant which ends speculation once for all and for good, leaving no room for denying the truth.

There is a purpose to the imposed euphemism in this post. We give ourselves many chances to fail at things we give our best to. The chance must be respected for what it is and not for what it should be. The context is open ended for one to fit in their recent judgement of themselves and realize its for the best against nothingness.

Being and nothingness.

The thing about "Knowing"

I am an Indian so I take pride for the wrong reasons like Satya Nadella becoming the CEO of Microsoft or over the alleged news that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were supposed to get married in Rajasthan, "India". I am also a yet-to-be MBA graduate, so that means I must take pride in knowing almost everything and try to be interested in knowing what I don't know. I am glad my MBA gives me the opportunity to travel abroad and understand where I really stand. In this journey I discovered that we aren't the only ones taking pride over the little we know.

Among the myriad things one must know nowadays to have a decent conversation or for that matter to sound smart is insane. One must know what North Kardashian wore while playing in the garden and must keep up with ( no not the Kardashians!) what Malala Yousafzai is doing this very second. I don't know either, so I am ignorant! However it's a much safer place to be. Among all the pseudo intellectuals Internet procreates every millisecond I stand last. I do take pride in that *Ting*!

I don't loathe internet, it's great for a zillion reasons but not for claiming your knowledge's worth. I understand competition to the extent that my parents wanted me to crack IIT JEE and then lowered their expectation to AIEEE and then settled for me attending MGIT. However I don't understand the competition wherein everybody is supposed to know everything. It's sad to see people around me develop an evolved taste for popular hobbies and match lack of interest with lack of knowledge. Along the same lines its disturbing to see pseudo concerns and pseudo contributions to grave causes. Internet allows that sarcastically and we buy it.

The new normal is different and it's all about being different. In other words Lady Gaga is the new normal, no wait I take that back...she is back to normal. Damn!

It's too much to keep up with and we instead of admitting to the inability of pacing upto it, we take a flight to the destination, in-cognizant of  the nuances of the beauty lined up along the road. However our previous generations are immune to this epidemic. I am glad to have mentors both in my work space and personal life who don't understand and celebrate the 'know-it-all' trend. I have the freedom to pick up the phone and ask the most dumbest questions in all seriousness to them without being judged and making them fall in love with me all over again.

If everything were to be this tamed then what about Wiz Khalifa! *Ting*

Being or Beautiful

The description of the place where I come from is enough feed for people to guess the way I look and I for one Love IT! No I don't louuuuu the way I look nor do I hate it, I love the fact that people can create a mental picture of me uglier than I already am. My family never let me bother about things like beauty and weight and in fact they provoked me to be uglier ( pun intended). They always encouraged me to be the best I could be and have been beyond supportive in whatever I chose. However being a South Indian in the North Indian space alienates one to a different orbit unintentionally. No the kids weren't mean to me nor did I lose a crush because of my color but certainly there was an unintentional demarcation.

Being around the world ( just USA and Europe, or so I say to impress myself ) enough to understand different people I realized the importance of looking a certain way among my gender. It wasn't particularly disturbing but it's concerning, given its shallowness and lack of importance towards one's personality. I have never understood the art of make-up out of my laziness and my mom's prettiness. Her gorgeousness doesn't need supplement and she just decided mine doesn't either. Recently however I entered the space of make-up and was lost and disinterested. When I asked my friends why they chose to buy them, they replied in all honesty " It makes us confident". That's the second saddest thing I've heard in a long long time given I am from India where the news is filled with my gender serving victims with or without confidence. If confidence were to come from the way you can make yourself look and not from the way you look, it's time to take a second look at many things.

I see animated drawings and paintings on faces which only begin to show the effort they put in. Lashes are replaced by bushes, brows lined using a sketch pen and lips drawn beyond their outlines. Hair is a mystery as they themselves can't trace back what the original color was to begin with. Nails are heavier as they are laded with another. I must take a pause to explain that I don't condemn all of this. I just implore to not draw a relation in which being confident is directly proportional to the way you look.

To this extent I would blame the other gender of holding expectations based on false images, images which are fabricated in every sense, botox, surgeries, make-up, lighting, implants, bleaches, tans etc etc. Man' listing that was tiring! Moving on, when did men start doing all of these too? Third saddest thing I've heard. I look good twice a year precisely when I put an hour effort and a weeks gym to fit into an outfit and mind you all that is FOR ME! No it doesn't make me confident and I was born confident.

I've had some amazing girls around me telling me how beautiful I am in the sense that matters to me. I've had my brother remind me how no one will marry me given my ugliness and then I have my parents who think Aishwarya Rai is yet to watch out for me. Among this spectrum of opinions that matter I chose to be happy the way I look. It works!