Writer's Unblock

I've been away from blogging for quite a while.
Yeah it's the job, but it's not like I'm super busy or something.
It's just that I haven't written a blog for so long that I couldn't take it anymore.
Even though in my job, all I do is write stuff, but this is different.
I'm not paid to write this and that's what makes this fun.
But honestly, stuff I write at work is fun too, but it goes through a lot of edit from my seniors, clients, etc. and that takes the fun away.
For a long time, I've been trying to search for a topic to write about.
I couldn't and I started to fear the thing that used to haunt me in the past has come back to haunt me again.
Writer's block.
I'm no stranger to this. 
During my school days, I used to try writing novels, yeah... try.
I had a story in my mind that I wanted to tell, I did some research on it, then I started writing it.
I got as far as a couple chapters and that's when it kicked in.
I hated myself for it, I knew writing was something that I wanted to do in the future as well.
But if this writer's block would happen every now and then, then I had to figure a solution for it.
So, I started reading, watching movies, listening to music, anything that inspired me I would take a look at it.
It didn't help me much, basically all I did was try to rip-off some famous movie plot or just copy the book word to word.
 Years went by and my writing habit disappeared, I guess I had abandoned all hope of writing anything.
I picked up the guitar at a time when people were busy thinking about what to do in the future.
My mom and most of my family had high hopes of me becoming banker.
I hated that.
No one in my family has any right to tell me what to do in my life, least of all decide my future.
I knew bankers make a shit ton of money and get a lot of perks.
But that's not what I wanted to become.
I wanted to feed my creative side and call it luck or whatever, I got introduced to advertising.
Here's a job where your creative thinking can turn a product into a brand, win you awards and recognition and what's more lets you be you.
The drawback, most people don't understand what you do, you don't paid what you deserve and thanks to the odd working hours, you can kiss your social life goodbye.
Now that I'm in advertising and doing what I do best - write.
I still look forward to the day when my written words would become famous.
Till then, I hope that my writer's block stays unblocked.

Past Tense

I often wonder why people are always so hung up over their past.
Why do people love what it was like before, why do many are proud of what they were before or the glorious past of their country or ancestors?
I've seen a lot of people boast about what they have accomplished in the past or just loved the fact that things in the past were better than now.
I know and understand that in those or if I'd be more specific, in their days things were simpler and not complicated.
It's true.
They lived the best of their lives, I'm not pointing towards a particular time period but I do agree that the past was the time of innovation, of moving towards a future unknown but one that held hopes for many.
So what the hell went wrong?
Did we stop innovating? Did technology and science play no role in improving our lives?
Why is it that people still don't accept that the life they live or the future ahead of them is going to get better?
I know its a lot of questions but we gotta ask ourselves this from time to time.
I've been so used hearing people talk about the past as if they played a vital role in that time, that nowadays whenever I hear someone mention that, I start to cringe.
I admit that in the past certain things were better.
Food was cheap, homes were cheap, roads were more empty, there were less people....
Now everything's expensive, there's population explosion and what not.
But that is not a reason to complain.
Nobody mentions that in the past there were many incurable diseases which today can be cured and even prevented through vaccinations and pills.
Many are hung up over the fact that diseases like HIV/AIDS and Cancer are still incurable.
What they miss out is that slowly and surely even these diseases will become a thing of the past. 
Imagine if the present social media and technology existed back in the 60's and 70's.
Then today, the scenario would have been a lot different.
The elders, our parents and grandparents would have been experts in social media and we would have learnt from them instead of the other way round.
Of course today we would be living in a far advanced time and not just starting to understand the extent of the digital world.
In the past we when we all were young, we lived a carefree life, one free of worries and devoid of any responsibilities.
That time we all looked forward to growing up and discovering the mysteries of adulthood, which turned out to be a disappointment when we actually did grow up.
The funny thing about life is that no matter what time, year or date it is, everyone looks back at the good times they had and not about what lies ahead.
In fact it should be the exact opposite.
We should all look forward to the future, and know that one day for sure we will witness a future where everyone is more excited about the life they are living and not the life they used to live.
To the elders of this generation who can't come to term with the whole digital thing.
I know you've lived at a time where people would read more books than be on their phones, where to communicate with each other they travelled long distances to meet their family or friends.
Technology today, didn't took the joy away, it made our lives better.
Yeah people don't read a lot of books, but they can read it on their tabs or Kindle, they even have the option of listening to audio-books which might be kiddish but is more convenient.
They have the option of using Skype to video call their friends and family from afar, thus cutting down the time and money needed to travel that far.
If technology has done one thing, it has made people come closer and made our lives much easier.
Like everything even technology has its downside but that doesn't mean its bad.
So the next time someone tells you to try a smartphone or get on the social media platforms, don't shy away thinking its not meant for you, embrace it, cause I'm sure you would find that it will benefit you more than you think.
Cheers!   

Advertised Food v/s Real Food

Everybody loves to eat at fast food joints, almost everyone.
Even the ads for these joints are really mouth watering.
Almost every ad that I've seen about them show those burgers and wraps bounce as they fall, with each filling landing on top of the other and ends with a close-up shot of it.
Never try to do that for real, you'll regret it.
The burgers never fall in place like the adverts, they fall head first and the toppings are everywhere except in the bun.
I'm not saying that I've tried it, but well you get the picture.
Another thing that bugs me is that the burgers never look the way it is advertised.
There's no steam coming out from it and it looks squishy instead of the juicier and stuffed version in the ad.
But no matter how it looks or how it is supposed to look, we all eat it.
Why? 
Cause its addictive that's why.
I can't say same about home cooked food.
Home cooked meals are healthy, that's a given point.
That point is the opposite of what fast food is like.
Coming back to advertising.
It's not really an easy task showing food in the ad.
The whole point of the ad is to make the food look good.
Everyone who's involved with that knows that there's no way they can show the original product in the ad.
So what's their solution?
Show a fake.
It's not like you're gonna grab the food off your tv screens.
So, they won't even bother with showing the real product.
The food that they show in the ads is real.
The burger that you see is a proper one, with all fillings intact.
It's just that the elements aren't made up of what they say it is.
But believe me it does make you mouth water.
And that's when they know that they have done a good job.
Well, don't be disappointed that your burger isn't what it looks like in the picture.
Trust me you don't want to eat that.
Another thing that you can do is request them to make your burger look like the ad.
They really will!
You do have the right to ask them to make it look like a proper burger.
And they will do it for you.
They may have to put an extra effort of making sure the fillings are properly placed.
Then give it to you and there you have it, you own advertised burger.
It's a good thing you can't see their honest efforts, cause if you could, you might never wanna go back there again.
Hint: They add a bit of grease (spit) in your burger to make the burger look nice.
But since you asked for it, that's what you'll get.
Anyways, there's always the humble home cooked meal.
Bland and boring, but without the fear of having an unwanted element in your food.
In conclusion, this whole post was about me trying to answer your "unasked but might have come across my mind" question.
Why doesn't my fast food look like the ads?
My answer.
Why, indeed.....

Educated Idiots

There are educated people.
Then there are overly qualified ones who speak complete bullshit.
They are known as 'educated idiots'.
These are the people that hold the highest position in the office or society and have access to or have used the media in one way or other to voice their opinions.
They may boast of degrees they got from studying in various universities outside the country and its probably their favorite topic of conversation with people least interested in hearing it.
Highly qualified, they are, educated to the point where its unnecessary, that too.
But the thing that they so lack is, common sense or any sort of sensibility when asked of their opinion on any sensitive issues.
 The media people are clever too, they won't go the one wise person who would say the right thing.
Instead they approach the ones they are sure would say something stupid and outrageous and later cover it up by saying their favorite English word that they stumbled upon in the dictionary, 'misquoted'.
Everyone knows what they really mean and it doesn't make any difference whether they change their statement and issue another one.
They know what they are talking makes no sense so they try to cover it up by blaming someone else.
This process follows until the media are themselves bored and find a new topic.
Then it all starts again.
Our country is not the only one where something like this happens, there are various others where its on a completely different level.
Coming back, what really is the problem, for that one has to go really deep.
The root of the problem.
I pretty much blame our education system.
They are responsible for guiding students, instead all they do is force down stuff that's not related or worth learning.
You learn what's in the book and in the exam you are expected to answer the way they taught you, word to word and if you dare write your own interpretation of the answer, they will fail you.
Our whole education system is hell bent on making us learn theories and focus less on practicals and projects that one day every youth in this country seeking a job will know what the job is about but have no knowledge on how to do that job.
Let's say an interviewer has to choose between two people, one who got straight A's in every exam and other who was an average scorer but did a lot of projects, the obvious choice would be the one who did a lot of projects.
While the straight A's student would be wondering why he failed the interview he would soon come to the bitter realization that getting high scores do guarantee you a seat in most prestigious college's in the country, but are totally worthless while seeking a job.
 Take another example.
A young man in his 20's, he's just graduated from one of the top university in US, comes back to India and applies for a job in one of the Fortune 500 companies, he clears the interview and though he doesn't get the position he wanted, he does get a huge paycheck plus some perks. 
In his first day at work or say a week later, he doesn't get to work on some big projects, instead he's busy on some assignments that according to him isn't on his job description.
He goes to complain about it to his boss who shouts an array of abuses that he has by his obvious reaction never heard from his friends or even people who hated him.
Dejected he goes back to his desk and starts questioning his career choice.
He left that company the next day in the hope that some other would let him do what he wants.
It'll probably never happen, but what does he know.
That's reality.
You see, in colleges we all are shown the big picture, but all the sacrifices and hard work that you put to complete that picture is hardly mentioned.
We learn the rules in colleges and at work learn to break them if we ever want to move forward.
I feel the best type of education one gets is when they are working.
Learning on the job is good and plus you are paid for it, who would complain about this type of education.
Here they teach you what is required of you and nothing more or less. 
The stuff you come across while working at times is even new to you and its fun knowing how it functions.
In no way am I criticizing the need of higher education.
For certain jobs and positions that kind of education is a must.
Say, if you want to become a doctor because you like treating wounds, then you can't become one just by reading medical books or books about the human anatomy and start cutting people up.
You'll kill them no matter how much talented you are. 
Another thing is language.
Many years back and even today in this country people feel that if a person is conversing with you in English then he or she is from an high social background or an educated person.
English is the global language.
If you can't speak it then it means you aren't literate or didn't receive enough education.
I think its stupid. 
The whole idea is.
It's like saying that every English speaking person in this planet is intelligent.
To me English is a language, a language used for communicating with others.
Language, in fact any language is supposed to be a means of communication.
What language is not, is a bar to measure your intelligence.
It should never be used that way either.
People who judged others based on that person's linguistic knowledge should really pay a visit to their shrink's cause something is really wrong with them.
There might be highly gifted individuals who can contribute a lot in this world but since they can't speak English don't get much recognition.
Then there are those who despise and ostracize others for speaking in a language that they can't understand.
If someone ever came up to me told me to speak in the language they understand and not the one in which I was conversing them with, I would humbly deny their request and if that leads to them laying a hand on me, I guarantee that it'll be the last time they ever raised their hand or even opened their mouth.
Nobody and I mean nobody has any right to tell me in what language I should talk in.
I speak in the languages that I'm comfortable with.
At home I'm comfortable in talking in Hindi, whereas outside or other places I use English.
Even the locals prefer the language they know rather than other which they have a lesser knowledge of.
Knowing other languages doesn't hurt but that doesn't mean one is supposed to know every language if they wish to travel to other countries or places.
It'll be a really long time when people come to this realization.
Till then one can hope that this country would produce more knowledgeable people and give less importance to those educated idiots. 

What's Luck Got To Do With It?

Life's a gamble and I gamble a lot.
A nice metaphor if you ask me.
Though I'm not even close to be called as gambler, the topic for today does involve gambling a bit.
Luck, a thing most people need and most people think that it is the only thing they need.
Some have good days and some have bad days, but there won't ever be a day where people won't stop cursing their luck or praising it.
Nobody can give a detailed explanation on luck, but they do know that it has to do with certain situations that they chance upon.
Whether you are going for an interview or giving an exam, someone will wish you luck, it has nothing to do with you performing well in the exam or clearing the interview, all it does is give you some hope that you won't fail miserably, obviously the outcome is different but luck plays its part well.
Take flipping coins as an example, you never know which side the coin lands on, but guessing the outcome is what makes it fun.
It can be heads or tails or on those rare occasions the coin lands straight without falling on the head or tail.
You try all the tricks in the bag and still can't figure out what side the coin lands on.
If your luck's good then you'll guess them all or most of them right.
Poker is one of the card games that I like playing online.
I'm not into betting games but poker is fun.
The rules are pretty simple and luck plays the bigger role, in fact take any card game and luck will have a role to play.
You either bet everything and win big or lose everything.
There will be times when you can't stop winning and times when you can't win anything.
If I was given a chance to play poker at a proper casino, I'd never play since anything that involves me putting my money  where there's no guarantee that I'll be able to earn more and a possible chance that I'd lose it all doesn't sit well with me.
Another thing is that, while playing poker in real life, you have to maintain an expressionless face also called the 'poker face' otherwise people will know that you have a good hand and won't bet much.
Luck plays its part from the moment you get the cards till the moment the last card is drawn.
You can go from losing the hand to winning the whole pot or vice versa. 
Another form of luck that isn't known to many but exists is called 'rookie luck'.
I'll explain with this example.
Stock market or you can call it the investor's playground.
You invest your money by buying shares or selling them, whatever dividend you earn is your profit over the money you invested.
Here you wake up in the morning as a millionaire and go to sleep at night completely broke.
Anything can happen, absolutely anything.
There are even people whose job is to speculate whether the market will rise or fall.
Imagine a certain individual whose been investing in the market for more than 20 years, he one day comes across a young fellow whose just out of college and knows absolutely nothing about the stock market and watches as he puts all his earnings that he got from doing part-time jobs into the market and buys some shares of a no name company.
That man may smirk thinking on the mistake that kid committed and goes over to the young man to give some professional advice.
 He has hardly taken a few steps when the market goes up and the company that the young man invested in earns big.
He's shocked and looks again, the company he put the money in doesn't gain much but that young man in that instant has earned more than what he has earned in his whole career as an investor.
The young man didn't knew whether that the market will go up neither did the old investor.
Since it was his first time doing this, we can call it as rookie luck.
First timers, whether it's in guessing games or stock market investments or sports betting have a good chance of winning since they aren't aware of the whole system and just do it as they have a feeling that luck's on their side.
That's rookie luck and it only happens when you're new to those things.
It's a one time phenomenon that's all.
Moving on.
People often confuse luck with fate.
Fate has nothing to do with luck.
Fate is something that is already written and changes by the course of action an individual takes.
Luck is something that follows their fate, if their luck is good then whatever path they chose was best for them otherwise they made a big mistake.
Best way to put it would be like this statement.
Everything that you did today, every action and every step you took has led you to this point where you are reading this statement.
That's your fate, incredible isn't it.
So the final question, what's luck go to do with all this?
Everything. 
You can't escape it but accept that luck plays its part in your life.
Science or religion may have their own theories regarding luck but both are far from the truth.
No one knows how it works, but it does and that's what matters.
That's luck.

Conquering Fear

As I walked into the room lost in my own thoughts, our eyes met.

It was up there in the wall stuck like a sticker out of place.

It made the first move and crawled into hiding.

Me, I shrieked like a little girl and ran, I ran and ran until my feet stopped.

It was a harmless creature which didn't belong in my room.

It knew that as well.

It was a lizard, a house lizard.

Now, most people don't mind these things, even I who doesn't care if a cockroach or a spider passes by, but lizards, they scare me.

My family gets a laugh whenever I spot one of those things in any room.

I fail to see the humor in this.

Its not a child's fear of lizards that I have.

I'll tell you what happens to me when I spot them.

First, I freeze, dropping everything that I'm doing and run as far as I can.

The next thing, my body starts shaking, cold sweat forming over my head, my heart starts beating faster than normal.

I cannot think, I cannot talk, but cower in fear.

They may laugh but once if I ever get a panic attack, it'll wipe the smirk off their faces.

Then I guess they'll take it seriously.

The thing is I am not afraid of other lizards like a chameleon or an iguana.

In fact I don't mind the presence of an house lizard in my room.

I just don't like the way it moves.

Its movement has a faint resemblance to another reptile that I have a phobia of.

Snakes.

The fear of snakes that I have is way bigger than my fear of house lizards.

I get chills even if I look at a picture or drawings of them.

If I ever come across one, I'll faint the moment I see it and might even die without it biting me.

That's why I'm using the term phobia instead of just saying I'm afraid.

Everybody is afraid of something or the other.

Some fear the dark, some fear ghosts and some even fear god.

The last one is completely stupid according to me.

I believe, if you are afraid instead of feeling blessed by the mention of an entity, you cannot call it a god.

Another way to put it is, they are not afraid of god, they are just afraid of the wrath they will face if they do something wrong.

But that's my opinion.

Anyways, fear is something everyone has, if someone comes up to you saying they're not afraid of anything, they're lying or just are yet to come across the thing they fear.

Having something that you are afraid of shows that you are normal human and that's saying something with how weird our world has turned into.

It doesn't makes you a lesser person, all it does is shows that even the toughest among us has something that they are afraid of.

Conquering the thing that you are afraid of starts by accepting what you are afraid of.

Let people mock you and laugh at the thing you are afraid of.

Cause if you see it, you'll realize that they are also afraid of certain trivial things but haven't told anyone.

It's completely okay to be afraid of a lot of things, just make sure your enemy isn't aware of what you fear.

As that day will come when you realize, the thing that you fear so much is all inside your head and like everything, a figment of your imagination.

Damsel In Stress

Being stressed these days seems to be a part of life.
People today live such a stressed life that they don't even try to get it out and relax.
Even the school kids are not spared, with stress regarding homework or exams.
The stress in college ranges differently from the stress about dating someone or passing the exams.
Working life adds another load of stress and it keeps on accumulating until you grow old.
Everyone's stressed about something or the other and if they come across someone who isn't stressed, they will make fun of him since they can't find the reason why that person isn't stressed.
Then that time comes when all of them want to reduce it or eliminate it.
That's the time when they all start to act as a damsel in distress, waiting for their prince charming to come and rescue them.
It's plain stupid, as most of the time they themselves are the reason for their stress and hardly make an attempt to reduce it.
They turn to various activities that reduce stress.
Activities that relaxes the mind like, meditation.
Meditation is good and useful but unless you possess strong will power or get enough sleep, it is not for you.
Imagine a day in the office where you are stressed and feel the need to meditate, you close your eyes, clear out your mind, forgetting the fact that you hardly slept last night, that little meditation session of your ends up being a power nap and later you have to face the wrath of your boss which adds to your stress.
You could try mind relaxing games like chess, or as I call "a slow paced version of I don't know what the hell I'm doing but I think I might win."You could also try your hand in outdoor sports like tennis or football but the main problem with these games is that it starts off as a friendly event, until you have an opportunity to win and cannot lose at any cost.
That also adds to your stress.
Swimming is relaxing, visit a nearby pool once in a while as swimming is a good exercise for your body but be careful in case you spot your friends there as they might make you partake in races with them, even though you don't wanna but it looks fun.Racing of any kind be it in water, air, land or even fire is competitive enough, even if the event may be of a friendly affair, your mind eggs you on your desire to win, even if you don't have it but hey! your brain doesn't see it that way.
Thus, another factor to increase your stress.
Is there a way out?
Yes, there is.
The solution, the only solution.
I present to you, THE BUBBLE WRAP.
That funny looking plastic sheet covered in bubbles, originally used for packing objects but widely used for popping those bubbles for amusement.
It is perfect for reducing stress.
You don't need to think much, heck, you don't even need to think at all since all you have to do is pop the bubbles.
It's fun and you can keep on doing it for hours without being bothered about the time or place.
The creators of these were geniuses and even they would have never in their wildest dreams imagined that these wraps could be used in such a way.
You can get these bubble wraps by going to a store or online and buy a vase or any glass item that you don't need but have some spare money to buy them.
Just chuck out the item or gift it to a friend or relative and let loose your stressful mind to pop every bubble in it, if in case some of them don't pop, you can always stomp on it, which may leave you with even less bubbles to pop.
You could open a shop selling them and earn enough, plus you won't be stressed out since you have the perfect stress buster at your workplace. 
So, say goodbye to all those terrible days of stress with the perfect tool to beat stress and have a great day!