The Highway love stories :)

Coming back to my hostel from home with my father on an early winter evening had many pleasant surprises for me on the cuttack-bhubaneswar highway. Sitting behind my father who was intently driving the Honda Activa amidst speeding trucks and buses, I was gazing here and there when some priceless moments caught my attention. The Two wheelers racing on the highway around us carried people and emotions which were inexplicable.

While the young twosomes were racing away... with speed of the bike depending on how tight the hug the driver got from his sweetheart behind him.There one could see all the gigglings, whispers of sweet nothings and sweet smiles intricately associated with the driving. These couples were mostly newly married or with one kid, the wife clinging the husband tight & the husband loving every bit of it.

Then there were the middle aged couples with one or two grown up kids, looking at them you feel, the love is same but its way of expression has changed with time. There are puckered eyebrow conversations, worried faces, yet there is love there somewhere which got mingled with domestic responsibilities with time.

  The vehicles ranged from the humble Luna to the racy Pulsar, yet what remained same was the happiness and satisfaction one gets by seeing so many diferent forms of love. Somewhere deep down, I had a silent prayer in my heart.

I prayed that may these lovely twosomes be happy and intimate always..not just in the journey on the highway but in a bigger journey..the journey of a lifetime of togetherness :)

Cheers to the amazing feeling called "love" :)

Why do i have to be fair to be lovely??

One of the few things that you are bound to see when u watch an Indian Television channel is the ubiquitous "Fair And Lovely" advertisement. The model, location or situation of the advertisement changes with time but what doesn't change is the underlying theme..That is "First U are dark or wheatish skinned(which is the normal Indian skin tone)..you suffer from self pity due to your present skin color..you never win any competition..which may range from singing to dancing to modelling and one day your friend suggests you to try the "Revolutionary Fair & Lovely" and with its unique ingredients you become "White and Fair as milk". You wear a Pink dress and go out and then the miracle happens..you win every competition..people notice you..the boy you had a crush on finally falls for you..your life changes..all because of "Fair & Lovely". 

Utter bull shit!!! is what my head screams when i see the advertisement. It is in stark contrast to what we term as lovely..to fulfill the commercial goals..these companies are reflecting a very wrong ideology which is grasping the Indian mentality.. "Obsession for being fair". I stand up and ask what is abnormal with a girl having a skin tone which she is supposed to have due to her demography. Why do we project girls with the normal Indian skin tone as "undesirable and looked down upon". It is really unfortunate that living in this modern era we have such a downtrodden thinking where being fair gives you everything you ever wanted..right from winning a competition to getting your prince charming".

It is time when we identify the importance of nurturing one's talent and building a strong personality irrespective of any skin tone and not get swayed away by these money sucking companies who have the sole aim to degrade the Indian mentality's take further about their natural skin tone and make a fortune out of it. 

We need to understand the being "fair" and being "lovely" are two entirely different things. BEING FAIR is something you have no control on..it depends on your genes and demography. But BEING LOVELY is certainly something you can work on by being self confident and building a personality which makes you unique.A personality depends on a range of things which you need to learn and instill in a gradual manner to build a unique image that will encourage you to move ahead in life and make you fall in love with a person who loves you inside out.

So next time you see a "Fair & Lovely" Ad , treat it like just an instance of hypocrisy because there is certainly more to you than your skin tone and the world is waiting for you to unleash your talents and virtues which is certainly much more than a white skin with a pink dress.

Of small towns and BIG Hearts :)

I live in Cuttack..and before you ask " Where's that?? " Its a "small town" in Odisha , India. And given the "Gangs of Waaseypur" Phenomenon..the small towns in India have acquired a typical image in the eyes of the "elite and sophisticated metropolitans" . A typical small town would be pictured as a dusty landscape having narrow lanes, unclean drains, hordes of people and cattle moving here and there, scooters carrying uncle, aunty and their chunu-munu , paan eating local goons ornamented with sickles, knives and revolvers ready for war anytime and every time.

And i have noticed,  the moment you introduce yourself  dwelling from a city that  can be categorized as "small town".. you create an impression that  you can never speak English without that typical "small town accent", you know nothing about the subtleties of modern  day living, all you do is watch saas- bahu soaps and are bland and unaware of those progressive advances in the world. A typical small town girl is figured as someone who wears salwar kameez throughout her childhood and teenage, is decked with gold earrings, goes to temple every tuesday, has a moti choti of oiled up hair, dreams of getting married right after school, only to become the ideal bahu with colorful bangles, sarees, sindoor.

I wonder what is the criteria that makes a city or town "small". If it is on the basis of area..then why this sheer branding of it and its people as backward and unsophisticated. 

Here's a few instances which i would love to share about my Cuttack, it is a city with a Heart, It is a city where people of various languages, cultures, castes and religions come together and celebrate festivals that encompass every boundary of inhibition one can think of, where you can see a wealthy businessman and a modest labourer gorge on dahibara- aludum from the same vendor on the street, where you'll have people stop and care if you met with an accident, where you can still catch a glimpse of a grandfather and grandchild on the same cycle or luna, where shopkeepers treat you more than just a mere customer and care about your needs, where a modest rickshaw puller can teach you a lesson or two about life,where people would support you and create a furore if some jobless romeo passed lewd comments on you, where the spirit of people to be happy and to celebrate harmony is of far more importance than their economic status.

I think these are few of the many characteristics of my Cuttack which may be small in size, may not have multiplexes and malls, may not be suave and sleek but it certainly has a BIG HEART :) So all the people reading this..please do not stereotype cities and its people as "small" on the basis of your imaginative assumptions. Every city with its people has a heart and a unique spirit which should be saluted and revered :) Only then can we broaden our own horizons rather than casting others as shallow and backward.