It’s that sort of a day when you continue to listen to a song on repeat. Not just because you are too lazy to do something about it, but because you want to wrap yourself in the familiarity.

It’s that sort of a week in which you wonder how things you never imagined could happen to you actually happen.

It’s that sort of month which fills you with both excitement and anticipation.

It’s that sort of a year which feels like you are living someone else’s life and any minute now you will  snap out of it and then everything will go back to as it were before.

You still cannot really fathom what is going on in your life.

So you sit there and wonder, is this really you?

A Funny Feeling

Ever since I got up today, it feels like a Saturday. Yes, i know it's a Friday, but somehow today, it just feels like a Saturday. Now some may ask what exactly a Saturday feels like, but then we really can't answer such philosophical questions. Specially on a Friday which feels like a Saturday. Now, usually people may consider this to be an upside, but we know better. If Friday feels like Saturday, then Saturday will feel like Sunday. And Sunday will feel like Monday. The whole process will be ruined. Although, a question arises if that hasn't the whole process already been fucked up beyond recognition and repair?

And the reason we find that feeling like it's Saturday on a Friday is strange because usually life is just a haze. Sunday to Saturday, all pass by in a flash. Each day is filled with the same, dreary feeling that nothing is ever going to change. No day is different. It's all the same. So why does it then, seem like a bloody Saturday, on a bright, shiny Friday?

Maybe there is a deeper, philosophical meaning to all this. Or maybe my mind has finally caved in and actually gone crazy? Who knows? Who cares? Who gives a fuck? Not us.

And then suddenly on a Friday which feels like a Saturday, we have an epiphany. Among other things, we realize that we find the world, so ....... so ........ so ...... funny.

Don't know why, but today everything just seems funny.

It's funny that people kill each other because they don't share the same religious beliefs. It's funny that we are fussy about olives in our martini while orphans in Africa die of hunger. It's funny that a 15 year old kid is killed by his friend because he dared to ask him out. It's funny that people make their own lives a living hell because they want to subscribe to some sort of moral standard. It's funny that people live their whole life trying to fit into the role that society has set for them. It's funny that the very same people who have children so that they aren't alone when they grow old, end up in an old people's home. It's funny that the world has just been deprived of a good writer/doctor/musician because a husband wants his wife to stay at home and attend to the kids. It's funny that someone right now in some part of the world is thinking of killing themself because they feel alone, neglected, and have lost all hope. It's funny how people take themselves so seriously that they forget how to laugh. It's funny how some people feel that it is okay to deny other people the same rights that they themself enjoy, because they fear that their own children might grow up to be like the others. It's funny how that even thought most laws say that all people are born equal we still honor kings and queens, crowned and uncrowned?

Yes, on a Friday which feels like a Saturday, I am highly amused. Or maybe it's just me.

Isn't it funny that if by accident you did something nice for someone, it might have restored their faith in humankind? Isn't it funny when you finally realize that the only acceptance you were looking for, was your own? Isn't it funny how we want to keep trying to define other people based on our own judgment and understanding? Isn't it funny that when something that turned out to be disastrous at one point of time, actually made everything fine in the end? Isn't it funny that if we don't lose hope and keep searching, one day we will find what we were looking for? And then look back and think that all the stress, all the mental turmoil, just seems a little bit ...... funny? Isn't it funny that your stubbornness is the only thing preventing you from picking up that phone and calling your loved one? Isn't it funny that the only thing preventing you from chasing your dream is you? Isn't it funny that when people you had pegged out in your mind, turn around and do something which catches you by surprise? Isn't it funny that people make life a game, which they try to play every waking moment? Isn't it funny when you realize that all the games were futile and all you need to do is to listen to your heart? Isn't it funny that someone, somewhere right now, just decided to give life another chance? Isn't it funny that a phone call can prevent a person from becoming a dead statistic? Isn't it funny that we spend all our lives chasing after money and fame and when we get it, it feels empty and hollow? Isn't it funny that sometimes happiness is just a good book, a warm cup of coffee and the pitter-patter of rain on your window?

Yes, on a Friday which feels like a Saturday, I am highly amused. Or maybe it's just me.

The Post you can't pigenhole

How much do we actually know someone? Can we even get to know someone?

We all have people in our lives who we love, who we cherish and somewhere in our subconscious we peg them down for some stereotypical role. We might do it without it ringing a bell in but I think most humans tend to do that. Or maybe it's me. Who knows?

Then suddenly they turn around and say something or an event takes place and they surprise you with their reaction and suddenly you see them with new light. You suddenly realize that you hardly know who they are.

So that begs the question, how much do we actually know the people we know?
Do we really know everything there is to know about them or do we just get to know only what they want us to know? Or is it our fault that we presume them to be a certain why based on their previous behavior?

Don't we in some way or the other, stereotype people? Yes, most of us do that. In a very subconscious way. And others do that to us to.

Fat people are fat because they overeat.

Or women who meet men to who they are not married to without explicit written consent from their husband are promiscuous.

Gay men are just waiting to pounce upon straight people who have no idea of what's going to hit them.

Two people of the opposite sex are talking. OhmyfuckingGod, they must be doing each other.

Oh, he's Indian, he must love cricket, melodramatic movies and eating with his own hands.

Oh she's Indian, she must love wearing Sarees, making babies and eating with her own hands.

Oh, that dude looks Oriental, must be Chinese.

Oh he's Mexican, must be an illegal immigrant working on someone's garden.

Oh look, she's white, must be easy.

Oh, she said no to me. Must be a lesbian.

Oh, he said no to me. Must be gay .. (well, maybe she was right in my case) ...

You get the idea ....

Yes, most of us do that. Without blinking an eyelid. (When I say most of us, I'm generalizing. I do not mean you OR me. Specially me. Now don't judge. This post is supposed to be anti-judging. I know, I know, hypocrite. But that's the way the cookie crumbles.)

If we meet someone who seems to have a common attribute with someone else, we do fill in the rest of the boxes based on the characteristics of other people we met.

A lot to do with this factor is how certain types of people are represented in the media.

For example, if we look at how the Indian media portrays Gay people, it is far, far away from reality. In fact, they make it appear to be okay to make fun of someone because of their sexual orientation. Not that the American media is absolved of this. I mean the Gay jokes made by Jay Leno and Lettermen are cringe worthy, as apparent from the recent "My Gayest look" controversy.

Maybe what I'm trying to say is that looking at things objectively, there is a need to shun conventional wisdom and look at each person individually.

Not every Gay guy is like the cast of Will & Grace nor is any woman easy because of her color and not all Mexicans come to the US illegally.

The opinion we form of a person, says volumes about who we are.

And no, I'm not trying to be preachy here. Just bouncing of some thoughts.

After all, we need to tell ourselves, "I am unique. Just like everyone else."

Freaky Friday

Why is each and every single person you meet at a public function obligated to ask you "So where are you working these days?" ? Are you only defined by where you work? Whatever happened to talking about the weather? When did that go out of fashion?

Why do children have to be so darn nice sometimes to make you (for a small period of time) want to have you own? And then spoil the moment by asking something so inanely stupid like Are you married??? that you laugh like Santa Claus high on crack ?

Why do you have to listen to a song after a long period of time and be reminded of a time in your life when you had dreams? When you didn't know that life is a like desert filled with a few small oasis of happiness? Why does it remind you of a time when you thought that you would one day grow up and change the world and not end up like everyone else? Why does that seem so stupid when you think about it now?

Why does the news of your favorite teenage waterhole being closed make you feel like someone who has already been canceled from prime time and is now running in syndication ?

What makes you want to spend a few days with your head in the sand just like an Ostrich? Just talk to no one, see or read nothing, just keep your head buried while you temporarily switch off your brain?

Why is it that you can't identify your emotions and actually know what the hell is wrong with you?

Why do you wake up one day and feel like everything around you has changed and then when the warm cup of black coffee brings you back to your senses (or whatever) you realize the only thing that changed was you?

Why do you keep procrastinating and not doing things you know you really need to do? Things you know would only benefit you?

Why do people have to assume that after living in a city for more than two decades would make you an expert at navigating through it?

Why do you lie awake at night thinking all these thoughts end up not sleeping for more than 24 hours??