Silver Linings and Other Shiny Things
17 May 2012 Leave a Comment
So, my friend sent me a desperate message about a Potter epiphany she had. When I read it, I could not help but relate it to everything I see around me. I over analyze. That’s how I roll. But, enough about me. I shall proceed to explain this in the best way possible.
Ginny looked up into Harry’s face, took a deep breath, and said, “Happy seventeenth.”
“Yeah. . . thanks.”
She was looking at him steadily; he, however, found it difficult to look back at her; it was like gazing into a brilliant light.
“Nice view,” he said feebly, pointing toward the window.
She ignored this. He could not blame her.
“I couldn’t think what to get you,” she said.
“You didn’t have to get me anything.” She disregarded this too.
“I didn’t know what would be useful. Nothing too big, because you wouldn’t be able to take it with you.”
He chanced a glance at her. She was not tearful; that was one of the many wonderful things about Ginny, she was rarely weepy. He had sometimes thought that having six brother must have toughened her up.
She took a step closer to him.
“So then I thought, I’d like you to have something to remember me by, you know, if you meet some veela when you’re off doing whatever you’re doing.”
“I think dating opportunities are going to be pretty thin on the ground, to be honest.”
“There’s the silver lining I’ve been looking for,” she whispered…
My friend’s idea was that, even though this seems like an outwardly sarcastic scene, this is one of the sweetest and most bittersweet scenes of all the “ships” that sailed off the Potter shore. JKR has been often criticised for her treatment of the romances, but I have never agreed. She has taken the small moments to teach us the big lessons.
There are people like me, and we live on these thin silver threads, hanging off clouds filled with things we’ll never know. Or maybe just dust. I revel in it right now, with a wry smile on my face. It’s ok. Waiting and watching is the only thing left to do. But, who’s complaining as long as I get to keep that? To keep the idea of getting to be somewhere else when I want to, and with whoever I want to be.
I’ll not say much more. Just leave this be, right here. It’s enough. 
Oh, one more thing: Expect nothing more than crap. But, when life exceeds expectations, you take it with two thumbs up and a smile on your face.
That Awkward Moment When You’re From Saudi Arabia
16 Apr 2012 8 Comments
“Saudi? MyGod. You have to wear burkhas, right?”
Yes, in fact I own 4.
When I tell people I’ve lived in Riyadh since I was 3, they feel sorry for me. As if I have been living in bondage for years in schools with only girls. I may have never seen any man but my own father who, by the way, rides camels to work.
For those people, I may kindly ask them to save it. For the next Indiana Jones movie, maybe? Thank You.
Now, I’d like to proceed to exhibit A. THAT is what my city looks like:
yep.
While you take that in, let me have you know that I lived an almost normal childhood here. Here’s what I mean by that:
1. After the age of 11, I wore a burkha. Only here, it’s called an Abaya and it’s a bloody style statement. Bling’s the word, children.
2. Oil is indeed, cheaper than water.
3. Every house has 2 living rooms. One for men, one for women. In regular, non-creepy households- One TV room, one SITTING room.
4. There is a place called Al-Othaim which claims to be open for 25 hours. Don’t believe me? Have a look: 
6. No “self-respecting” school here has co-ed classes. THAT is why Arab men seem so creepy. They don’t know what girls look like.
7. No car, no social life. Or supplies of anything, really.
Apart from the above facts, my childhood has been no different from any other Indian kid. I have been bred on Bollywood, Cricket and ghee (made from hybrid cows on Arab farms, but ghee nonetheless). I did not have taps made of gold and Osama was not living in my front yard. It’s a lazy life where you do NOTHING but watch TV, read or go online. But, you know what? Being me has its advantages. I quite fit in here.
Oh, and for the male readers, the women are indeed pretty here. 
Heartworm
15 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
A relationship or friendship that you can’t get out of your head, which you thought had faded long ago but is still somehow alive and unfinished, like an abandoned campsite whose smoldering embers still have the power to start a forest fire.
Courtesy: Dictionary Of Obscure Sorrows
UPDATE.
14 Apr 2012 4 Comments
I just found out 4 IDs subscribe to this via e-mail. 2 of which are the same person. Thank you, loyal fellows of the written word. Much love. 4 people like me.
Updated update: 1 loves me 
and it’s 5 now. YAY.
High School Drama
14 Apr 2012 2 Comments
Today, I got an e-mail from one of my best friends who’s known me since 3rd grade. I heard the most annoying post-school rumour about me and got agitated. That’s when I remembered how much I hated school.
Ok, honestly. I hated school. Really. There was no bigger punishment for me, no better reason for me to hate my existence. I never liked to study, and disliked authority. School sucked. I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks so.
I was fat. No fat girl has left high school without thinking “So long, suckers”. There is no place for a fat girl in high school. Boys don’t like her. Her friends made fun of her. The teachers also laughed when she ran in a race that had mandatory participation. As I gather my self pity today and throw it to the dogs, I write THIS post as a solid goodbye to every insecurity I never needed, and every comment I should not have heard.
Today, before I got that e-mail, I figured that high school is what makes you who you are. Insecurities and ambitions alike. Post e-mail shock, anger and hurt ; I figured it need not be that. No way. Sure, you learn what NOT to do or what NOT to be, but it need not form your insecurities for the rest of your life. You need not feel the same way forever. No one has asked you, nor is anyone obliged to make you feel that way. It’s all in your head.
The same goes for your ambitions. Don’t stop believing. You wanted 5 then? ASK THE UNIVERSE FOR 10 and work for it.
That idiot boy need not ever hear about this or know that you’ve grown up. You only have yourself to prove it to. THIS.. IS… LIIIIFE. Aaaandd, achievement level unlocked. Congratulations, you can now move on!
All that said and done, I had the best friends in school. We learn, earn, grow, be, laugh, share, be there for each other even now. I don’t expect that from the citizens of The Real World. Because somewhere, in that illogical world we called High School, things made more sense than having to deal with cynics and fair weathers. It was Lollipop land with evil boys stealing your candy and you never getting over it. Till now. Till now…
In An Alternate Universe..
05 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
“I would be happier.”
Isn’t that what we all have always wanted? He did too. In another world, opposites would rule. Sad would be the new happy. Lonely would be the new together. He didn’t know how it made any real sense, all he knew was that he didn’t want to be here.
He closed his eyes for the first time in the last 24 hours. Every muscle in his body felt like it had been tumble dried till the last ounce of strength was squeezed out. Ouch.
He closed his eyes. Sleep felt like an effort too. Not because he wasn’t sleepy, but because when he slept, it began. The incessant, never-ending suckfest. The feeling of being sucked into his bed further and further ahead till it seemed impossible to wake up. It wasn’t easy.
As the phosphenes in his eyes shone like city lights he’d seen a million times, he realised he need not have worried about anything at all.
The anxiety attack had passed.
He had just shut his eyes, when the damned phone rang. It was her. That country song said it all- Stay Beautiful.
He picked up. She spoke with a smile. She always did. But, this was not her voice. The automated tone on the other end of the line said a lot more than he wanted to hear.
Another day to kill. Another chance to die. Another chance at anxiety.
You see, this WAS the alternate universe. You killed to survive. It was the only thing that stayed back from the other end. Survival of the fittest.
He’d forgotten the meaning of “beautiful” a long time ago.
Because this deserves a whole post to itself.
01 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is on TV! I will not be lying when I say my identity is incomplete without having said anything about this movie over here. Not because it’s the best movie in the world (it MAY not be), but because it is the starting of everything I ever expected from LIFEEE!
*cue drama button*
[Yeah, spoiler haters can move on]
Being one of my earlier experiences in a cinema hall, I did not know what it was like to be overwhelmed by your emotions in a movie. I came out wailing like a toddler (much to my parents’ fear, really). Sigh. I went thrice after that 
Even now, when I see Rahul and Anjali battle it out on that shitty excuse of a basketball court and then, whistle and make up (because kissing was a no-no in the 90s) – I know I am in fangirl/Bollywood heaven.
This movie has been the basis of every girly fantasy I have harboured over the years. Bubblegum or not, I saw the sense in loving my best friend. The chemistry between Shahrukh and Kajol is tangible in every time they’re together on screen. That does not ever replicate when he is with Rani or as I’d like to see it: The-snotty-bitch-who made-the-story-an-interesting-mess.
Don’t we just want everything Kuch Kuch Hota Hai stands for? A fun college life with lots of best friends (and, a special one) where you’re the popular one? Where your principal is a cool, wacky sadoo? Where you could sing and dance to Altaf Raja and still be awesome? HA. Well.
Now, we have a child named Anjali who will unite Rahul and Anjali against all odds. HELL YEAH. This takes you along a roller coaster ride filled with mute Surdy kids, Mr. Almeida and rain dancing at summer camps. Bhai Wah. Will they ever realise how much they love each other now that all this time has passed? Aye Haye. The tension.
Thankfully, the dosti does turn to pyaar at the end of the movie and we can now thank the heavens above that all is well at the end of the movie. Not without a few tears at the end (or in my case, buckets).
Don’t you wish that was true in real life? That things were not that complicated? That we could fall in love with our best friends without anyone having a problem with it? With a lovely storybook bound in bubblegum and a happy ending? And a song-and-dance routine, obviously.
Till I find an example for that, I’ll just go back to mouthing the dialogues and lyrics to this movie and hoping against hope that Rahul and Anjali ka milan ho jaaye. For the… wait, how many times have I watched this, again?
DISCLAIMER- Contains content from Dharma Productions. I do not own that. Jussayin’.
