Et tu brute

William Shakespeare,

He was pure genius.

I had a hate-love relationship with him in school. I loved Julius Caesar,  hated Macbeth and loved Merchant of Venice. Romeo and Juliet was beautiful, The tempest was like a conjurer's dream and Hamlet was pure boring. But when I say hate-love, whatever I felt the stories always demanded a strong reaction. They couldn't be ignored. It demanded of you to form an opinion with real raw emotions. Today we read books -  good and bad. There are books that make you go crazy. The alchemist did that for me. But there are so many that just pass by and you never look back. He could never make that happen. 

That was his magic. 

I had a phase when I tried talking like his characters.The dramatization, poetic emotions, passionate characters, murder and insecurities, love and lust. It enthralled me. (I also sounded really stupid) 

His works were life-like. His characters imperfect. They were like you and I. They were just more honest about their emotions.

Of course, now there is this new theory saying he was they and Shakespeare was a pseudonym.

His language was arcane but somehow his words touched you. They had a certain depth in them. He created an atmosphere that set perfect pictures in front of your eyes. All books do, but these were vivid colored pictures. I haven't read any of his works since school but the stories and phrases were the kinds that remain etched in your memory. I still fear the Ides of March (Something Bad always happens) , I wish life had time pauses where I could come out and recite a Soliloquy. In fact there are times when my mother catches me talking to myself (Read: I am not mad) , and I put the blame on Shakespeare. I do a little literary genius strut and tell her its my version of a Soliloquy. My inner goddess does a cat stretch with her chin up. 

The point being,  we owe him so much today.

We don't realize but there is so much we say, so much we do, the thoughts we feel, the wit that we think is ours -  that we owe to him .

Knock- knock !Who's there? - Yes, we joke because of him.  

Do you smell "Foul Play" ? Even if you do, stand by your opinions, "Come what May." 

Lovers that we are we say , "Love is blind!" 

 To pamper our ego we quote, "The world is my oyster" and the incessant ego boost is what we owe to him. 

 "Wear your hearts on your sleeves" when you communicate and when you joke, "Brevity is the soul of wit."
A homeless man is a "Sorry sight" and a stupid man is a "Laughing Stock."

 When we are nervous we waited with "Baited breath"  and it "makes your hair stand on ends" and once the results are out it doesn't matter because "What's done is done." 

When someone dies, "He breathed his last" and when someone disappears without notice,"He vanished into thin air" Then follows the philosophy of life and death and how nothing is permanent , because  'All the world's a stage."

That was "Good Riddance" of the "Green Eyed Monster"  and its great that you finally "Sent him packing." 

"For Goodness' sake" let me sleep "I haven't slept a wink". 

The "Naked Truth" is that we "break the ice" and make new friends, but keep your old ones close because, "When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions." 

We say good people have "A heart of gold" and bad people are "Devil's incarnates" 

We have "Seen better days" but don't be fooled because, "Too much of a good thing" is bad.  

We shouldn't be "Faint hearted" and we should "Fight fire with Fire"  because life is short and once the "Game is up"we will all be "as dead as doornails."

 Life is a "Full Circle" and we should "Play fair" to make it a "brave New World" before  the "Game if up" 

Oh, Shakespeare, you were a "A piece of Work" 

ps. There are SO many more. Read them on http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/phrases-sayings-shakespeare.html.

Ink-blue finger tips

I wanted to write something.
You know those nights when you're just itching to write? 
I'm not sure if you know...
You crave to hear the intensely fast clatter of the keypad as you move your fingers at lightening fast speed or the squeaky high frequency scribble on a sparkling white piece of ruled paper.

Writing brings immeasurable happiness to me,

So I thought I'll start writing and see where it takes me,
Because words, they take you traveling. You start at one pole and end at another, and the story in the middle is what manifests on its own.You think you're doing it, but you're really not. One word leads to another and it forms a sentence. You don't even realize it but it turns into something magical.That's the thing about wordplay, it's insanely mysterious and double-insanely powerful. I don't usually know where I'm going to end up until I get to the end. Sometimes its unstructured (like I usually rattle away), and sometimes it has a definite structure. 

Today I use the keyboard to type words, 

but writing with a blue fountain pen with ink dripping all over my fingers was close to heaven.

The smell of ink is divine. 

" If dawn and dusk had a scent then the smell of ink is the smell of dawn and dusk with a white lily dipped in it."

The shabby ink blue finger tips that lasts for days is a happy memory of a peaceful hour gone dreaming, rummaging and scribbling. 

Writing is a life within a life. Blue words on white crisp paper take you into a new world where you need nothing but your words. They become people, emotions and sometimes entire lives. These words have the capability to make us feel things deeper than they are, more vivid than they seem and more beautiful than it is. Two words can make you want to rip somebody's heart apart and one word can make a life-long friend. Sometimes half a word is enough to fall in love. Some power isn't it?

And words, they make you feel so vulnerable and vulnerable is so incredibly scary but so beautiful! Where you let it all out and place it messily on a piece of paper:
This is me, all of me, nothing more, nothing less. Nobody else could bring out that kind of unconditional vulnerability.

But these words, little buggers made of alphabets, they've got double standards too,
They make you feel vulnerable yet extremely powerful. They help you communicate and sometimes they help you stay away from communication. They help you love and hate, they help you imagine and ideate. 
Little love letters, novels, a thesis on archeology. 
Emotions, history and philosophy. 
They're all but words. 
Nothing more nothing less.

After all,
It all starts with ink blue fingertips and a whole lot of happiness.

Transit

As I write this, I am flying 20,000 feet above Kansas. It’s a warm, sunny day (Read: A blessing) and as I prop my legs against the seat board with a book in my hand (Thank you, Nina), life with all its imperfections, feels perfect. Not because I am going to California or because I am meeting my best friends after 10 months(THAT), but because I, for once feel like this is my happy place – exactly where I'm meant to be – flying above a blanket of clouds, driving by lush green plains and poppy fields, zooming past a mountain trail, or sometimes even taking the shuttle to school?

On the move, bags packed, tags tied, seat belts fastened, sceneries around me and sunlight on my face. The rush, the inertia, the fast paced walk and curious eyes that seem to absorb all the stimuli around. Knowing that I'm on my way to someplace. It’s in that moment where I’m really in the present. Not thinking about anything and just being myself. Crying babies, reunited couples, dozing grandpas. It all feels so raw and real! Traveling brings out human behavior in its truest form, I think. Sweatpants and flip-flops – zero pretentiousness.

Life is a journey and probably that is why traveling brings you to your most innately natural state. Because you know that the journey has a start and an end, everything in the middle is valued so much! It feels like in that one journey, you lived a little life.

I’m going to go back to my book now and then probably take a nap!
Ah, the good life.

Just wanted you to know that:

My soul smiles when I'm in transit! :) 

Sunsets

Sunsets have always been my favorite for many many reasons.

But today's was different and definitely the most beautiful since I have moved to Chicago :

It was absolutely breathtaking. Most of the sky was a steel gray because Chicago is obnoxious  in terms of weather and it was a cold cloudy June day. But far at the horizon there was a rich golden yellow and a flurry of crimson, mauve and peach slowly blended flawlessly into the steel gray. I had never seen something like that before. It was different.

It was different, not just because it was splendid but because of the realization that followed after.

Its a casual sunday and I'm over-worked. I have been sitting in the same position on the same side of the couch with my body aligned against the same pillow working on multiple presentations. Finals week struggles are real. So I was sitting, propped against my pillow, cozy under my fleece sheet working on the content strategy for an ice-cream company.

It was 8:07 pm and I happened to stretch and look outside the window that was right behind me. I saw this beautiful sight. The picture does not do even half the justice to the real thing. Technology is obviously overrated. I removed my cellphone to take a few pictures and dramatically gasped a little at the beauty. At approximately 8:09 I was back to my couch propped against the same pillow working on the ice-cream strategy again.

At 8:23, I turned again and the sunset was gone.

I realized I was never going to see the sunset again except in this 8 megapixel form.

And the same goes for every day :)

Carpe Diem

Interventions & Lists

Yet another sabbatical. Week 4 onwards is just downhill every quarter. This quarter has been particularly dramatic and I have been particularly amazed at how much can happen in one quarter (which is not even over yet)  - Good and not-so-good.

Point being, I was galavanting on my old blog and found a list I wrote on July 24, 2014.

It's titled : To-Do. 

Very very interesting piece about things I wanted to do once I made the big move and today as I read the list I felt awesome but at the same time horrible about myself because while there was so much done, there was also a lot left to do.

1)Drink More Water 

2)Talk more, Text less.

3)Sketch a lot. Sit by the lake and sketch.

4)Organize my Desk

5)Mind-Map (Work in progress)

6)Read one good book every month

7)Be more Direct & less diplomatic

8)Create a brand

9)Start a new blog 

10)Eat weird food

11)Wear less Makeup

12)Make a mood-board

13)Sky-Dive (Summer 2015)

14)Stop dwelling , Stop worrying

15)Read about the economy and about money

16)Save (Constant work in progress)

17)Spend less on clothes and more on food

18)Get retweeted 100 times

19)Design a typeface

20)Get comfortable on Skype

21)Send postcards back home

22)Watch foreign movies in languages that I don't understand  (Work in progress)

23)Learn a foreign language (Work in progress, thanks to Qiu from Ningbo)

24)Fewer emoticons :(

25)Learn to use Google Maps better  (I have aced this one)

26)Learn to make really good coffee

27)Be vocal, be honest.

28)Start an online portfolio

29)Do 16 Suryanamaskars and Tibetan Yoga everyday

30)At the end of these15 months read this to-do list and feel happy about yourself (6 more to go!)

Lists make you revisit your goals and reconsider your priorities.

When you're living in a new city - you're often so consumed with so much stimuli around you. You find less time for yourself and Your thoughts revolve around people more than your goals, it's often overwhelming, sometimes lonely and sometimes you create a million problems that don't exist. 

Obviously, some days are entirely spent on netflix.

 Sometimes you forget to think about the present and dwell in the future. Job/No job? India/America? At such times it's so important to have an intervention with yourself, go through old lists, make a new list, take the pressure off and have a jolly good time ;)

A new spring cleaning list & more updates on this eventful quarter will be up soon!

A bright yellow spring carnation, 

Juie

Who is she?

Who is she?

She must be her A4 size resume,

Crisp bold letters on a smooth white manuscript.

Maybe she is made of her triumphs the world knows of,

The school she went to and the Ivy League she graduated from?
Success and Victory is what she’s made of!

Or maybe, her relationships define her, or her high cheek bones,

The men she’s dated and the friends she’s had?

The red of her lips and the rouge on her cheeks?

Oh! She's her Maserati, or her house, her children and her spouse

Is she all of that?

Maybe her Twitter feed and her Facebook profile,

The duplicated life she leads swamped in her E-world!

The glamor and parties that surround her life?
Maybe her friends, maybe her foes,
On her photographs, a 100 likes?

She’s so much more:

She’s the dreams she dreamed about but couldn't accomplish,

The thoughts that twinkle her eye,

She is the thrill she feels in the climax of her book,

And her insecurities, she doesn't know why?
The songs that give her goosebumps,
and the movies that make her cry!
The grey areas of her mind that she cannot face,

The promises that to herself she makes,

She’s the way she loves and the way she cares

And the way she uses her radioactive mind!

The thoughts she has when she’s alone

And the places of comfort she finds.

She’s so much more than the daylight can see,

And the crevasses of night can find!

You're neither your color, nor your body,

You're nothing but your soul to the blind!

Valentine

"Self love is the wind beneath the wings of all relationships."
                                                             -Elin Stebbins Waldal

What does it take to love? 

Another person who understands you, cares about you and accepts you the way you are? 

I thought so too.

It's a little easier than that.  Just a little. 

Its about understanding yourself, taking care of yourself and accepting the way you are.

It took me a while to understand this because most of the times we are so caught up in overthinking, self judging and self depreciating that we feel happiest when we love someone else. It makes us feel good about ourselves, it makes us feel like we are capable of giving and receiving love. But that love has no power unless you love yourself enough.

Someone had once told me, "You can never love others unless you love yourself."

Seemed silly to me at that time because I didn't quite understand what it really means. I didn't know how much I loved myself because I was always surrounded by so much love from F&F.

After I came to Chicago I have gotten to know myself better.

 I feel raw, sometimes naked and sometimes outrageously insecure.

Never faced these emotions before because I was always protected by a flower blanket ;) 
But here it's cold, (often -22 degrees celsius) & obviously there is no flower blanket. There are days without any hugs and kisses which was so rare. There are days without meaningful conversations. There are days stuck in the library with a rocket science equivalent case with almost no human contact. There are days when you skip dinner, eat an unhealthy lunch and the thought of exercise doesn't even cross your mind. In such an atmosphere you often get beneath your own layers. I know I'm making it sound like I'm an onion but you could say that! 

That's when you realize how important it is to understand yourself better. Why you do what you do? Why you feel hurt, and what makes you insanely happy? Your insecurities, the little black patches on your snow white cloak, your alter-ego and your grey subconscious! 

It's also so important to take care of yourself. Waking up and doing some Yoga (Which I did after 1000 years today), alternating between cups of alcohol and water, eating your greens and keeping the stress level in check. IT'S SO DIFFICULT  but it's so necessary!

And lastly, it's important to accept the way you are! Quit the self judging, self depreciating behavior. We all make mistakes, get over it! 

And when you love yourself (No I don't mean obsess about yourself), you are so much more capable of spreading your love around and of inviting more love into your life! 

This valentine, start with some Self - TLC! 

I'm no agony aunt,
Valentine kisses,
Juie