The Words with Wings

"Eventful" seems like a small word to describe the crazy February I had. This month involved moving out of my home and shifting to a different city, dancing on stage and wearing a lehenga after years, going on dates, meeting old friends, and even that's not all. Let me go through all the events chronologically. My office is in Gurgaon and I'd been traveling to the office since last year but lately, I'd started getting horribly car sick, so shifting near my office seemed the right way to go about it. So, shifted to Gurgaon at the start of this month. This was also the time that I started getting into the dating world again (Didn't really work out but I felt ready to finally start dating again). Soon after shifting, it was my best friend's parent's silver jubilee function, where the dress code was traditional Indian outfits and we also had a dance performance planned. The only thing about that was... I hadn't done both of those things in the last 12 ...

I met a couple of my school friends after years today and the peace that came with this visit was unsurpassed. Just a couple of hours together made us realize we're at a place in life where we never anticipated being as school kids. All of us have grown into our unique selves but we still have certain traits that have remained constant over all these years. For instance, I still need to learn how to walk and not trip over imaginary things, one friend forgets about the world when she's around food, and the other one still thinks it's easier to derive formulas than to learn them. Once you enter a corporate setting, you become a more sophisticated person, even if it's not intentional. Maybe it's the environment or maybe it's the work but the folks at your office see a version of you. They might never get to see the "Innocent school you" or the "Wild college you". Eventually, even you start forgetting that part of yourself. But meeting those chil...

 I recently watched a movie named, "Serendipity", which means "Fortunate accidents". It made me realize how we come across so many fortunate accidents in our daily lives and don't really appreciate them enough. Just today, I was driving to my friend's place and something exciting happened. There were four traffic lights on my way there and as soon as I reached each of them, they turned from red to green, so I didn't really have to wait even once. It was such a small thing but it made me so happy. I told my mom about this when I returned and she said, "Now you can wait peacefully the next time you find a traffic light to be red, hoping that maybe the next one turns green as soon as you reach there." So, in a way, such little things help you stay hopeful and keeps you going. Every time you meet a person and feel like keeping them in your life, it is serendipitous because even if it is for a short period, that person reflects hope and happiness. I...

 So, it's been a while since I wrote anything. The same old excuse - "Been busy! Trust me." And even I don't know what else to say. The past few months have been no less than a roller coaster ride. Before last year, all of us had a specific task to do. We had the defined goal of studying  (and enjoying the childish pleasures of troubling our teachers and finishing all the food in our friends' tiffins even before the lunch break started) in school. Then, we started college and the ultimate goal at the end of those 4 years was again already laid out - yeah, to get a job! But now that we've started with that job, we no longer have any set rules to follow. Now, we can choose any road and become whoever we want. And I know that sounds amazing but it comes with its share of confusions. You just have too many choices! You can continue to do what you're doing. You can look for a better opportunity. Or you can even do something completely different and change your ...

I recently had that one and only "Mango Doubles" ice cream, only to realize how some things never change. As adulting hits, you grow out of your old habits and interests. But does that mean that you suddenly start disliking those things? I don't believe so  —  we just tend to forget about them, so whenever I get an opportunity to get in the shoes of the "kid" me, I jump onto it and hence the "Mango Doubles." This applies not only to our hobbies and interests but also to our friends or even our first love. So, as they say, "you never forget your first love," and I couldn't agree more because that is the most innocent form of love you have ever experienced in your life. If you're super lucky, that first love also ends up being your last. But for the rest of us, the first love just means a lot of happy memories and some sad ones. After a point, you don't even want to remember why things didn't work out with them, rather you just ...

My university requires us to complete one semester of internship as part of our course. Ironically, I chose my internship in a management consulting firm to fulfill the requirement of my engineering degree. So, an internship is basically putting up with long working hours for being underpaid. Let me talk you through my experience so far. I started my internship in January and it was "Work from Home" then. My office re-opened on an optional basis in March and excited as I was, I planned to go one day. I was really thrilled and eager and dressed up in a lovely formal outfit to seize the day. That day, I spent the whole day wandering about in the office, meeting some new people, and taking office tours. My senior knew that it was my first time in the office, so he was sure that I wouldn't work much and I didn't. "First day at the office" seemed like a valid reason to not work. I came back home and was very tired from all the meandering. It was a really fun day ...

This is what my best friend suddenly said to me one fine morning and it made me realize that isn't it what all of us are doing? Aren't we all always chasing memories? The memories are what keep us going - both the good ones as well as the bad ones. The good ones give us hope to make even better memories and the bad ones keep us grounded and help us rectify our mistakes from time to time. This reminds me of my favorite line from the song, "Lost Stars" by Kiera Knightley. It goes as follows: "Are we all lost stars? Trying to light up the dark..." Because yes, we all are lost stars, who keep going by making memories along their way. These memories are like bright stars in our dark and difficult times. They keep us from losing faith in what's good in our life.  Our memories help us win over all the bad times because the sun shines brighter after every cloudy day. There are different kinds of experiences associated with every memory. Those experiences make us...