Same Old Brand New

At the beginning of the end, we all want to have mattered somehow. If not to make a difference then atleast to make a mark, an ugly spot even. We try so hard to make something work, a little bit for the purpose and a lot more for the pride that comes with having done it. Somewhere along the way, we realize that we made it all work a little too well. Sow what you reap is a universal assumption. Sow for another to reap is daily life. But in all this load and effort levied, wherein lies the fulcrum? In a world of so many working toward making a difference, why is it that everything still remains the same? It's almost as if change is not a change but a given, and we seldom know what we're doing until we've actually done it. The journey becomes the destination. Maybe this is why they say, the world is small after all. I watch some of these revolutionary people and I asked myself: When people around you are moving and you're not, does that make you stagnant? And in return my self asked me - do we stand out because we stand up? Or is it the other way around?

Rooted Route

When you're driving to get from A to B and encounter a red light or two in between, your brain automatically switches to think mode. Its almost as though traffic lights were invented for this purpose. I realized that introspection is always a stranger, and every once in a while it hitches a ride. So, before changing lanes, we use this time to think and get some air. Only sometimes we swallow years alongside it. Unknowingly. Tests of yesteryear become lessons in our minds, and events metamorphose into experience. What we didn't want to see all along is what we suddenly seem to have front row seats to - all the reds and greens which once were, and the ambers which still are. We can ignore them, bully them or brush them aside all we want. But the essence of it all is this - Its not until you hope for the future, that you begin to understand all that has come to pass. So, go on and get your engines started. Switch to first gear.

Say No for Love

Since the days when we all went to bed at 9, we were told to learn and grow. And so we did. We were fussed and poked over, skewered on the grill of security so we didn't turn out into cold meat. So wherever we went, a cushion and a half followed. But here's the raw muscle of it all - there comes a point when you start wondering, which came first - you or the cushion? To walk into life with a cushion behind you is one thing. But to walk into a cushioned life is completely another. Its times like these when i wonder - when did boon go bane? We are loved, and so we are provided for. We are cherished and so we are protected against. No matter how many times I validate this theory, a slow and steady hole begins to grow - benevolence and love are opposite poles. So sometimes, out of love (for yourself) say no.

No food for thought

The advantage of a job is employment. The disadvantage is that it slowly kills your power and courage to dream. The greatest irony of a worker's life is that his ammunition backfires on himself. The nest becomes the birdcage. A thirst to earn our own bread unconsciously prompts us to starve the mind's belly. And when we're far from parched and our ambition gone skinny beyond recognition, we suddenly head for the buffet. And what do we find? The drinks are on the house.

(r)evolution

When you've moved from a loft of certainty to a penthouse of ambiguity, I must admit that it takes a while to get used to. Simply because the immediate grandeur within your reach will be yours. Well, in retrospect. But after the afterparty, you slip out of your shoes and into your skin and begin to think about all the whats and hows. And you realize that although you're staying in a penthouse, you'll have to start off by living in the closet. As the gears start turning in your mind, you slowly start to understand a simple truth - its the small turns that lead to a big revolution. And just like that, your closet got a little loftier.

Acquittal of innocence

When it comes to us, we all suddenly earn extra allowance. There's no budget for behavior or too high a price for comfort. Its almost as if our treasury of reason was born to settle our tabs. But after the bills are paid and our closets are full, we are inevitably taken to trial. And once you're sworn in, a blank cheque rarely helps. At this point I can't help but wonder, how good a case would you make of yourself, if you knew the jury to be your own conscience?

The right kind of wrong

When put in a tight spot and asked to choose, most people either freeze or melt. That one situation which we really hoped to avoid confronting is that one irrevocable guest who enters our lives uninvited. And since a guest must be honored, we entertain despite discomfort. But when the show's over and its time to go home, how do you show your guest to the door? I realized that sometimes, our head doesn't want what our heart really needs. I've heard it being said that the right thing to do is always the hardest. But reality, I understood, went beyond hearsay - the right thing to do always feels so wrong.

Bridges and Perks

How do you begin to bridge a gap too wide? How do you make its pillars stand strong again? Sometimes, its the strongest relationships that have the weakest link. Two people might have been together through the storm, but when sun comes up again, they seem to fight over a pair of shades. And the shades starts to represent everything they were and are. When I try and rationalize this with denial, a strange thought occurs. Isn't weakest strong better than strongest weak? And that got me thinking - if the perks of happiness are what first instigate us to work at a relationship, shouldn't weakness get us fired? Apparently not. It would rather we work overtime, minus the perks.