Remembrance

Embarrass yourself, yes literally. There is no better way to grow in life other than embarrassing oneself. That helps in not only letting go of our inhibitions, but also our fear of doing something new, risky, awkward or uncomfortable.  I have been practicing that for a past few months and trust me, it's awesome. Putting myself out there without a safety net gives this amazing sense of freedom. There is no need to walk the line, to constantly think of what others would think of me or seek someone's approval for what you want to do. Even if you embarrass others by your action, harmless ones I mean, those that give you happiness or help you become a better person, I say, "Go for it!" A couple of months ago, I tried bowling after a long-long time. I love watching sports, but I am abysmal at them, including even bowling. I just can't figure out the speed, distance, velocity or even the amount of energy required to get the ball hit the pins, actually just to get the ba...

I love to sleep. Any spare time goes into napping. In fact, my entire family loves to sleep, including my dog Mojo. We are one sleep-loving family, which includes not just the immediate members, but also the extended clan. If there is ever a competition for sleeping for the most number of hours, my family will win it hands down. Of course, we have some famous sleep-related stories too, which are often re-told at family gatherings. Favourite one being, how my father and uncle missed their train, as they decided to take a nap before catching the evening train. What makes the incident funnier is that at that time we used to live almost 10 minutes walking distance from the railway station! So, my dad and uncle decided that they can time their nap in such a manner that they should be able to walk to the station with enough time to spare. They overslept and by the time they reached the over-bridge, they saw the train leaving the station. Then we have a cousin of mine who is so famous for...

I am not a winter lover. I cannot stand the cold, dry and sun-less season, where I am just trying to forever keep myself warm with copious amount of soups, coffees and warm water. I get really whinny and just don’t feel like doing any work. Delhi is famous for its ‘Dilli ki saardi’ (Delhi’s winter). Don’t understand what’s so famous about it. It’s just cold, that’s all. The worst part is the sunless days, and then some day it starts drizzling. Imagine cold plus rain. Ruins the entire experience of rains completely, which, by the way, is beautiful in Delhi. I had written the below some years ago as an ode to winters. It captures my apt emotions for the season. Hope you guys like it.  And hey, any winter haters here?

I am dramatic. I love drama. Anything larger than life, I am game. Maybe that's partly because my entire family loves drama too, literally. I mean my great-grandfather, grandfather, father, uncles, cousins and even my sister-in-law have acted in local plays. My father is still an integral part of a drama group in Delhi's Bengali society. Guess I get my creative gene from them.    Yes, I do love simple things in life - the sunsets, rain, smell of the earth post the rainfall, the Amaltas laden Delhi roads, the moon, the stars - they all soothe my soul, especially in moments when I wish to be with myself. It feels as if these are part of me, it's a strange homecoming to be one with these beautiful elements of nature.    Then again, there is life and it gets pretty boring without any drama in it, don’t you agree?    I think, a family-reunion does not count to be a reunion unless there is one relative who becomes a party-pooper and tells everyone off for e...

This is one of those random posts that you end up posting at the nth hour, because you are running late to meet your deadline for the day. Why filter coffee? Well, the topmost word that comes to mind with the letter “F” is a highly censored one. Besides, at this hour I am thinking of coffee because my brain is completely fuzzy. My to-do for the day is not even half-done and I already have a foot-long to-do for the next day, which starts in precisely half-an-hour! Anyway, filter coffee. No darling, not a regular one or the fancy Starbucks variety, which I feel tastes all the same or maybe it’s just me. I still am not able to discern between the Nescafe vending machine coffee, Barista coffee and the great Starbucks ones. Also, what’s with this entire iPhone, iPad, Macbook and noise cancellation earphones paraphernalia at this coffee shop? Is that a dress code or a status symbol or do Apple and Bose pay a commission to Starbucks? Anyway, filter coffee. The first time I had filte...

That's me. Annoyingly opinionated. And, yes, single too :p All the single men and women out there would identify with this. When you are single, networking apps become your lifeline, it kind of gives you hope that all is not 'lost' in the world after all! So, here's reviewing some such apps in a brutally honest manner, laced with dollops of sarcasm. If you are easily offended, do read this now! Facebook makes us depressive and then demonic  - Of course we feel crushed every time we see those cute little babies or lovey dovey couples on their honeymoon. What do you think we are, emotionless robots? But hold it, we also carefully plan our revenge. We display our awesomeness with our cool swag and sexy profile pics, that amazing solo trip we undertook, weekend hangouts and parties, and an unashamedly blatant showcase of everything and anything new. Oh! Yes, it's all planned baby! Twitter is our external brain - We have an inherent need to be re-assured that w...

People usually have ice-creams to quench thirst. Not me. I eat ice-creams because I love them. And, just after devouring the sweet-iced-candy I need to drink water, almost immediately. Ice-creams become responsible for adding on to my thirst, rather than doing anything to quench it! For years, it was such a tough thing to manage. My parents could never understand why would I need to drink water after having an ice-cream, neither could my friends. And, frankly, even I could never figure that out, and brushed this 'weird' characteristic of mine under the carpet of 'the many weirdness of Asha Dey.' And then I found someone as 'weird' as me - my soul sister. As we talked about our love for ice-creams one day, she surprised me by telling me that she also has the same tendency of drinking water almost after eating an ice-cream. I wanted to jump out of joy at that moment, the world finally seemed a little less 'weird'. It was like finding your 'Man F...

Clank! There goes another utensil. Guess you can call it divine intervention that every time I step into the kitchen, the utensils start falling on their own from everywhere. As if the auto clumsy button gets activated as soon as I am near something that is ‘fallable’ (I know that’s not a legit word, so what, the dictionary needs new words once in a while). Actually, I am one of those people because of whom the stores put up placards saying, “Considered sold if broken!” In fact, just a while ago I tripped on the doormat of my room. And if not the doormat, it would have been the door stopper, the side table, the book rack, the dressing table, you got the picture. I can even stumble on a perfectly leveled floor! My pinky fingers are so prone to getting hurt that now I hardly well-up when I dash them against anything that I had so conveniently ignored to see, despite seeing. Once, I attempted a magical feat by trying to walk through a glass door. Yeah! You read it right. I w...

Are you still struggling to find change for this piece of currency that looks like monopoly Martian dollar from the movie 'Total Recall' (the Arnie version, if you please!)? Then welcome aboard the journey called, "Life after demonetization is awesome". By the way, that was pun intended, point obscured. And for those bhakhts who didn't get the joke, here's the straight line: Life still sucks post demonetization, especially if you are looking for chutta for INR 2000. Get it! The other day, I booked Uber using cash option, because guess what, finally I was able to draw some money from a functional ATM, which however, only dispensed 2000 rupee notes. So, if you only had 1000 in your account and desperately needed money, the ATM just showed you, well you know what. I mean your aaukad , and what were you thinking? So after that funny digression, let's come down to the main mudda . I thought in my naivety that this guy would have chutta , and didn...

"Our little satellite reached Mars because it was called MOM. If it was called DAD, it would still be circling the Earth, lost, but not willing to ask for directions." I finished Mrs. Funnybones at one go. Seriously, Twinkle Khanna is a riot. As much as her acting career sucked, her writing is amazing. It was therapeutic to LOL (laugh out loud) at 1 am, giving some serious competition to the many nocturnal ‘creatures’ out there hunting…Oops! Haunting… But that generic statement about men is spot on. In fact, I believe GPRS was actually developed after this need gap analysis was conducted on a global basis! Don’t believe me, here are some choicest samples. My dad never asks for directions, never. He insists that he knows every other road that is there to know! Predictably, we often got lost, with the front seats of our reliable Maruti 800 transforming into a battleground in a matter of a wrong turn. While my mother shouted hoarse to ask for directions, my dad kept ...

Life is what you make of it, literally. You are creating your own reality at each moment, at each breath that you take. So, why create something sad or unhappy? Create something unexpected, surprising, and who knows, maybe something a little risky too. After all,  life mein risk nahi liya toh kya kiya ? Although, that doesn't mean swimming through the gutter water of waterlogged Gurugram! It means more than that, it means swimming with the sharks. The fun is in beating the sharks in their own game and winning it even when you reek of blood from your open wounds. When you are stuck in a situation, there comes a time when you don't want to be bothered about it anymore. You just want to say, 'Enough, I have given too much mind space to you, let me move on to something else.' And, when you say that, you feel a certain lightheartedness about it, you start feeling to be yourself. You connect with your inner self. And when you do so, you don't find a boring you, you f...