Lists and more lists

I am turning 25 in almost 4 months. And I am scared.

There's a deluge of lists that seems to be popping out of nowhere. 19 things to do before turning 25, 22 things that makes your college life amazing, 30 things to not to in your 20's. It goes on and on! Lists that possibly smart but unknown people have compiled about education and career, friendships and people, love and relationships, drinking habits and pooping oddities. And with every list I'm overwhelmed by the prospect of everything that I should have done or should be doing. Re-evaluating choices made and the paths yet to be traversed. Maybe I didn't drink enough or meet enough people. Was I crazy enough or adventurous enough? I should travel more and read more!

Yes, I am scared. I want the bed to swallow me and hide me in it's warm layers sheltered by darkness. I hope the knot in my stomach disappears as I try counting again wondering if I ever got past 10. There are 25 tabs open in my browser and my head reels at the amount of information but I can't close any. I am venturing into uncharted waters and now I can steer myself in any direction I want.

Having spent 24 years of my life jumping through academic hoops set by other people I often find myself questioning my passions. What do I really believe in and where do I want to go? Is it really something I want or something fed to me that I forgot to digest? This might just be the crisis that they talked about! So I decided to come up with my own list.

1. Make your own list.

Today, make your own lists. Make a list of things and people that inspire you, things that make you happy and everything you're grateful for. Make a list of ways in which you can help people and values that resonate with you. A bucket list of feats that you aspire to achieve unbound by any limitations, letting your imagination soar. Make a list of what drives you to tumble out of bed and look forward to a bright day. What are things you admire about yourself and what would you change? There will always be people who want to share their advice and they mean well. Keep yourself open to them as you go on to list what matters to you!


Today, I created my own lists. I made lists for myself and these will be my compass in this unknown territory. There are wise people in the world who know a lot more than me but they cannot create my lists. They can only inspire me to go just one more step further and discover the world.

I would love to hear about your lists so go ahead and drop a note. 

Because you deserve to know

I loved that story. It had bears and friends and getting into trouble with a house full of popcorn!! (Really how could you not be amused by a house full of popcorn?) But I couldn't read it yet. So she read it to me, over and over again, day after day till I learnt to read. I don't know if she ever got bored of it but I certainly didn't and she just never showed it. 


I didn't really have too many kids my age around me to play with, at least none I wasn't bullied by. So she played every inane game with me and read every story to me and talked to me and taught me how to see the world and learnt along with me. We were a team when He was too busy. 


When the nights seemed too dark and there were demons imagined and unimagined, I knew she was there to fight them. When the things got rough I was right by her side, scared, little, whispering, assuring and seeking assurance. I didn't understand much but as I whispered "mumma?? mummaa?" I wanted her to know I was there and know if everything in my world was ok.


(Then the Little One came and we all love her to bits too. Little One, if you ever read this, you should know you became our baby just as I was their's. :) )


Through school and life, from a thousand miles away, through the good and the bad, she has always been my best friend and nothing will change that. When the things get rough we will always be next to each other. Just as we were 20 years back.


Mumma, I love you.

I was 12 years old and she was in my class. She was barely scraping through from year to year, struggling with every subject. I don't think she had any friends. She probably hated coming to school and we didn't help. I remember girls seeing lice in her hair sometimes and snickering behind her back. I remember when we went on class trips she would be sitting alone. Most of us had friends we wanted to sit next to and chatter away but no one wanted to sit next to her. I remember trying to explain to her the difference between singular and plural once. I was scandalised she was in 6th grade and didn't know. And I remember not being patient. I don't think any of my teachers were patient with her. Occassionally when I wasn't so caught up in my own world I would feel bad for her but I never did much about it. Today, I wish I had. I wish I'd made a difference.


There were many such students in my class and we weren't nice to any of them. Children are an odd mix of compassion and cruelty. While they don't see the differences we do sometimes, on other occassions they react with undue harshness to these very differences. I was never really mean to her but I was never more than polite. I don't think I ever really wanted to be her friend. But I wanted her to know I was nice for my sake. I couldn't stand being downright rude or mean to anyone so I tried to help when I could and I was polite. But she needed a friend. A voice to speak up for her and I wish I did. 


I don't know what demons she was fighting. Family, disorders or circumstance. But I wish we hadn't added to it. 


And I'd like to say I'm sorry. 10 years later as I sit here thinking, I wish I'd had a little more courage. Just a tad bit. 

I just can't help it

I just can't let some things be. There will be a constant nagging inside if I do.


I just submitted a report for one of my modules. I am not required to give extra time for it. The prof clearly said we can choose how much time we want to devote it. I chose not to devote a lot of it. At this point I don't care about the grade and I have too many things on my plate. Does that mean I stop caring? No. I just can't help it. When I'm the one editing the final report I can't help correcting every last grammatical error. I can't help making sure each sentence sounds good. I can't help check the spaces and the formatting. I can't help but check the font!! I don't want to. My mind is telling me to stop the madness but I still do it. There is no way I can hit submit knowing something wasn't right. It still irks me that i didn't size every one of the pictures perfectly. And I just remembered the citations are messed up and I will definitely go back to correct them! Much as I would like to not do that!


You know what! I just can't help it. Like I can't help so many other things. I can't help relapsing once in a while. Keeping a count of how many days. Wishing and wondering. 

Maybe I have a disorder. Who am I kidding? I have a disorder and I need help y'all. 

Growing up

I love public speaking. Always have. Since I was 7 and took part in the Ram Krishna Ashram elocution competition. That rush of adenaline before you speak in front of an audience. The butterflies in your stomach and yet the excitement. It's an amazing feeling. The love for the stage and the mic. I miss it. All of it. And I hope it's not too late to go back to it soon. 


Is that a part of growing up? Do we sometimes leave behind things we once loved unknowingly? Leave parts of you behind that soon become fond memories you talk about lost in growing up. Caught up in the throes of life we let things once important slip by. Every once in a while as I ponder over what lies ahead I question the choices I've made. While I'm not disappointed with where I am right now I do regret some choices. Things I could've done. And regret is one of the ugliest feelings. It's that sinking in your stomach made so much worse by the helplessness, the knowledge that you can't go back. But what you can do is make sure you pick every shell that catches your fancy as you walk along the sandy beaches of life. Occasionally a wave comes along and some are washed away. But that's okay coz up ahead there lie a few more.


I am at one of the most exciting but scary as shit places in my life. If my life was a novel this would be the beginning of Book 2. Not just a new chapter but a new book. A new book filled with new places and new people but the same old me with new aspirations and goals. New promises and new challenges. I had a plan. That plan changed and I don't know if I am on track. 


But now I have a new list. A list of all I want to do and be. And a new plan. I don't know if 10 years from today how far along this plan I'll be but I sure as hell am going to try. And public speaking definitely is on the list. What is life afterall without hope and excitement? 

Life and such

It's a crazy time of the semester. Deadlines, submissions, projects, assignments and tests looming one over the other. Sometimes I can't keep track of just what is due when and struggle to knock one down after the other. Its like the shooting games you play. Just when you kill one zombie running towards you there are other two coming from the back and eventually one of them gets to you or you keep up the fight till the end of the level. 


When the semester started I had this crazy fear. This panic in my guts that didn't seem to go away as I saw what lay ahead and wondered if I would keep up. Two months have gone by. One day at a time. One step at a time. A blurry countdown. Now it's less than two months away. The end of an era. The book 2 of my life. But I think I am happy. That panic that seemed to loom over me is not there much. Sure, there's more on my plate than I can handle. Coupled with work it's a big surprise I'm not going nuts. Maybe I am. 


It's a beautiful day and great weather. And today, I can sit here and appreciate that. A small smile on my face.


Happiness is a funny thing. I've come to believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. And yet everyone has a different answer to "what makes you happy?" How do you chase something when you have no directions? All I know is what clouds over my happiness. And for now I am hoping to fight for light through those clouds. We all do. Some of us find it and others keep looking for it.


Meanwhile, I find my dose of happiness in a cup of coffee. A good movie and a good song. A bright shiny morning and the dozen little things that make me smile through life. 

Honesty

As I read through the pages of Brooke Farmer over a considerable part of yesterday I realised something. The common thing about all my favourite bloggers is the fact that they are brutally honest about themselves and their lives and I value that. It's a part of what makes them awesome.


I have always shied from that. Baring my soul to leave exposed the very vulnerable parts of me. My fears, anxieties, beliefs, aspirations and everything that digs a hole in the core of who I am. To discuss that on a blog that I protected from ever being found seemed inconceivable. Still seems. The few times I crave to let those feelings surface I prefer shooting arrows in the dark. I disguise them in the cloak of vagueness and hope no one ever sees them from what they are. In fact, I have probably mastered the act of doing so. How people discuss love and heartbreak, fears and despair, the past and the baggage is beyond me! And, even as I type this I know to most I sound crazy for I see no rational reason myself! Protect myself from hurt? Maybe. The safety of the dark? Maybe. Trust? I don't know. Honestly these are the common reasons anyone would venture and I wouldn't know what applies to me.

This is not to say I lie. (Well, I'm sure I've told that occasional lie but you know what I mean) Every opinion on this blog holds. Or at least did when I wrote it though I may have reformed some of my views. And yet, as of today I've shared the link with very few people. The fear of approval that I refuse to accept. That struggle between not wanting to be judged and yet being okay with the judgment. The fear of opening up more than I want. Isn't it better to hide? 

As I read these blogs I can't help but ask myself will I ever get where these bloggers are? Is it courage I need? Courage to tell the random reader what I fought with, what I achieved, what are my insecurities and what I am proud of. More importantly, do I want to?

When I started writing, I didn't want to spill my life on an online public diary. A few years after this journey started I am ready to make a change. Or at least try to(Clearly I still need that refuge of shooting arrows in the dark)! 

Abstinence

Yes I am abstaining from the internet. Which means I do not go online at all. No facebook, no gchat and no yahoo. Let me tell you its no easy feat! Day 1 and 4 hours into the challenge and I already found myself tempted a few times!

I am hopelessly addicted. I log on to Facebook god knows how many times and while I am at home there is a very good chance you'll find me on gmail unless I am sleeping. I don't know how that happened. Most of the times I am invisible but hey just coz I am online so often doesn't make me very social. Is it really a bad thing? Maybe its not. Everyone is hooked onto their Smartphones and that is the trend of the day but I would like to know that I can kick it. And if its really that difficult to stay offline, it is all the more reason for me to try! The change was sudden but internet just creeped into our lives. Just 3 years back smartphones were a rarity and today who doesn't have it? 

Maybe I am still an old-fashioned bum who likes to think that we need to break off from technology and find the time to sit and stare. Look at the world and all that shit ya know. And I am ok with that. Sure I am fascinated and being without a radar myself I acknowledge that its one heck of a blessing. And yet here I am trying to fight it. I am weird like that. 

I am really not sure why I do such random things and try to fight the internet. But you know what, its on bitches! Hopefully, it leads to more productivity coz I could totally use that you know. 

I have no appropriate title as happens often

I have too many flaws and if I were to list them I wouldn't know where to start. What is interesting though is that for a long time I never really saw them as flaws. I mean so what if I am a little impatient right? Or highly impatient if you will. That is not a flaw flaw. So what if I am short-tempered occasionally? In my world there were some flaws which were acceptable and there were some which totally weren't. I don't think much has changed but once in a while I do think I should be able to change some things. It would be good if my mind didn't go crazy doing summersaults and thinking overtime. (Why does blogspot not have summersault in the dictionary?!? Its like how my phone doesn't have bitch or fuck though that is probably worse.) No, I am not going to go ahead and list my numerous flaws as that is a much longer list best left to some other time. (Incidentally, leaving things to some other time would be a part of that list.)

(This is not my best piece of writing fyi. I have too much I need to vent and this is just a super long rant. It might not even be long coz right now I only have that vestigial feeling of the need to write but the moment has definitely passed.)

Once in a while I find a blog that makes me go "Omg! That sounds just like me!!" Neurotic crazy individuals who do random, quirky things which remind me of my own absurdities. What sets them apart though is that they actually pen down some things I would never dream about publishing even on this rather obscure blog. That's how I am wired. If it is important and actually matters to me I will go out of my way to never discuss it to anyone. I have lots of friends but when it comes to sharing the messed up bits of my life I won't turn to anyone. And no its not their fault cause I do have an amazing bunch of friends but I have never learnt to share. The moments of openness are few and rare and set far apart sadly. It amazes me how people share important aspects of their life on public platforms like blogs and facebook. Maybe that's a part of growing up and I need to start taking my baby steps much as I appreciate my own company. Narcissist much? Maybe....

Patriotism?

For some reason I never associated or saw patriotism as a thing of the present. It always appeared in the History textbooks and whatever little relevance it had to my life it never meant giving up your life for something you believed in. It just never occurred to me that people might actually give up their lives for political beliefs! Naive much? I guess. And that is not to mention the hundreds of lives I know were given up for nation and religion.

Yet, when I read about the lives lost in Sudan, Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen for political freedom it shocks me. They must be people with families. Normal people with the passion to fight for what they believe in. What moved them? Did they think they would lose their lives? Were they willing to lose their lives? Were the close ones willing to let them go? How does one make their peace with something like that?

There are just so many unanswered questions. I don't know what are the answers I am looking for. The idea that some of those lives were lost and yet they might have been coerced into fighting for it, that they might just have been pawns in a much larger political agenda; is very daunting.

I remember distinctly, as a small kid I was very patriotic. Maybe it was the school, the environment or the fact that I am just a bit of an idiot which was responsible; I have never clearly understood. I wanted to do things for my nation. I saw things that were wrong or that people told me were wrong and with my naivete I wanted to go and correct that, armed with nothing but good will. What could possibly go wrong when you are smart and have a good heart? Clearly, nothing!!

Then something happened. I grew up. I questioned everything I had been taught and made to believe as a fact that you don't doubt. "India is great and you are proud to be an Indian." It didn't make sense. All I knew was that some other things were so much more important to me. I blamed it on me being a coward only to wake up and realise one day that its more than just cowardice and courage. Its about what you value more than what you have been taught to value or what you perceive you value.

I am yet trying to understand and figure out my life, my values and what I want. I admire everyone who has the courage to stand up for what they believe in. I hope to be able to do that if nothing though I don't know if I will ever be convinced to give up my life for my nation.

PS: To every Indian soldier out there who has given up more than I could possibly imagine please do not get me wrong. I value what you're doing just that I don't think I am capable of doing the same.