Punctuated Murmurs

She asked me, what it was I liked to write about.

Without missing a beat, "you do it for the love of it. Because you can't help it. News reporting and writing aren't the same" *cue eye roll*

But then, I think I had an answer.(I'll admit it hit me at four o'clock on a Monday- my preferred time for plans of grandeur)

There is nothing more evocative, intriguing and repelling than people. Ironical companionship and deliberately smudged boundaries. Incomplete sentences with loaded subtext.

Whispers of complications which acknowledge simplicity. Varying portions of lies, masks, vulnerabilities and dreams .Shaken, not stirred

There is nothing more fascinating than human relationships.The deviancies , and sometimes, begging lack thereof.

Raw, beautiful, throbbing everyday conflict between Messers You and You.

Desperate belief timed to activate when desperation sets in; rather than something worth believing coming around. Smudges of personalities consciously wiping off on each other. Daily abortion of old selves.

People. Just people all around.

Either at war or in a passionate, gnarly entanglement with their own psyche.

That's what I like to write about.

Isn't that what anyone ever wrote about ?

Another Brick in The Wall

That one person.

They will teach you everything. 

It doesn't have to be a love gone wrong/waste/unreturned. 

It just needs to be one human being so connected to you and so far apart from your being that they wrap themselves around you like a sentence which never ends or the invisibility couture that Potter rocked.

It could be a parent missing. A friend frustrating. Or, the pop culture favorite- love worn and war torn.

You obsess, ignore, amalgamate and then process fragments of their being. 

Your imagination assimilates its favorite bits about them and then recreates- Alternate Realities. Subconsciously and quite subversively, might I add, you re-align your reactions (imagined or real) only to extract desired reaction from them.

This muse need not be physically present in your surroundings but the little you've known of them, always is.

And, that's how you learn and un-learn. Who you want to be. Who you think other people could be. 

Sociology 101, is a fascinating semester. Over too soon and always leaving you wishing, you'd just studied harder.

Things I Missed You Through

Every chorus of every sing-along song

Days of being punched in the gut

Contemplative hair shampoo-ing in the shower

Doodles during a meeting about something someone cares about

Listening to a friend rambling

While rambling

Zing-ing with 'em knockout zings

Listening to the apocalypse-now of breaking news

Post 1am

While looking good

While not feeling so good

Meeting new books and new-er authors

Or old friends and staccato conversations

On Tuesdays post lunch

On vacations to places you never really went

Flaming cheeks and ensuing embarrassment (in that order)

Crowds of more than four

New , shiny, inexplicable, incomprehensible gadgets

Tripping on words

Gryffindor nostalgia

Rewriting histories

Exploring brave new worlds

New Year Cheer

What really marks December and sets it apart from other months?

Redemption.

Or the impending feeling thereof.

December is that month when you think you will close your eyes, get tumble-dried and come out minty fresh the other side of the new year.  Your life feels like a musical with promises of new hope, new beginnings, fewer mistakes and the odd Julie Andrews-on-a-hilltop-song thrown in. 

There’s a lot of Hollywood inspired faith and love doing the rounds. And then, there is Christmas.

The spirit of Christmas, winter holidays (or is it just a love of liquor cake?), Julia Roberts/Kate Hudson rom-coms can drive even the most hard core atheist into a warm, fuzzy, believing mess (it’s almost like strategic warfare).

In that lulled state of happiness/winter/candy coma we then go on to resolve !

We resolve to read more, eat less, run more, worry less and generally come closer to Oprah’s version of 'how to be post-modern good'.

Who can resist the easy charm of Resolutions? They offer you a chance to discard your old selves and personalities.

 Heavy Bangs and not working out was very 2010 of you!

This year shall be about evolved sartorial choices and well-timed epiphanies !

Except December is probably the vilest decoy ever. Fresh starts, resolutions, and haircuts can and should be taken any day of the year.

Hell ! 22nd April is as good a time as any ! 

So this year stuff yourself with cake, turkey and well-coordinated colour blocked layers.

 But like a friend said, “December is like, a month long Friday”.

You’re too giddy to be making well thought out, sustainable decisions right now.

Wait until Tuesday.