Yashas Mahajan's Blog, page 24

Word of the Week #208:

Incubation

Okay, visualise this:

The quarantine has ended.

My favourite friends are throwing a party at their place… Because, that’s what you do when a quarantine ends, right?

I’m late, but not too late. I’m just at the right time, really, when the party is already in its full flow and everyone is already having fun. No more awkward small talk while everyone waits for people to join in on the dance floor. 

I can see her through the open door. I watch her as she prances about, her long, lustrous hair bobbing around her waist and her beautiful smile lighting up the dimly lit room. 

She turns. Our eyes meet.

Cue the music. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12fJAnaif34?autoplay=1;start=200&w=560&h=315

She sees me walking up the stairs in slow motion, my hair ruffled by the soft breeze and my black shirt just unbuttoned enough to offer a glimpse of the recently-chiseled body underneath.

Striding in, I place my hand at her waist and spin her into my arms. Our eyes meet again, and we know what we want.

The chorus rises.

Without hesitation, we break into dance.

I was made for lovin’ you, Baby,
You were made for lovin’ me.
And I can’t get enough of you, Baby
Can you get enough of me?

Sounds fun, right?

Well, anybody who knows me knows that I cannot dance. At all.

Do I have a chiseled body? Maybe if it were chiseled out of foam.

Actually, I don’t think I even have a black shirt.

So, what is the point of this daydream?

In tough times like these, it is important to dream. And not just dream idly, either. Continuing to work towards your goals is important to sustain sanity when the normalcy and the noise of a routine is taken from you.

This is not the time to pause your dreams, but to feed them, gestate them, and prepare them to be borne into a new world.

Isolation can be the best time to work on things that scare you. Use it wisely. Keep working, not from the fear of failure but from the joy of the pursuit. And soon enough, things will be back to a new normal. 

I have my list:

Learn how to danceKeep working outGet a black shirt

Let’s get to work, shall we?

Word of the Week #207:

Quarantine

So, all my life, I have worked from home. 

I mean, okay, “home” is a weird topic, right now, but that is an entirely different thing. 

Anyway, spending long hours sitting in front of my Mac, typing away furiously with nary a distraction, that has been my life for as long as I can remember… Or at least as long as I have had a Mac…

Hence, imagine my consternation when the one time I decide working from home is not going to be enough, the entire world seems to want to reverse course. And that too when I was just beginning to feel at home where I currently am. Now, the stores and malls and, well, everything is closing around me.

Fate has a keen sense of irony.

I have little food, little money, and little reason to stay, but I don’t think I should leave either. Also, I don’t want to leave. 

I plan to stay my ground and fight for the home I’ve built, here.

The vibes, right now…

When the gusts came around to blow me down…

That song is just perfect…

But it doesn’t end on a pleasant note.

Then again, what does?

Word of the Week #206:

Abode

Home…

It seems like a simple concept, right?

And yet, for the past several months, it has continued to elude me.

Actually, I only started actively thinking about it in the past few months. I suppose it has weighed on my mind for almost all my life.

As social beings, humans are forever cursed to seek somewhere they belong. I have been seeking for as long as remember.

And it has been a struggle. I could never relate to people, never connect with them. I could never feel at home.

I will accept that I have been lucky to have been surrounded by many people who love me, and a few who might even understand me. I wonder how many people are afforded that luxury. And yet, I always struggled to find somewhere I belong.

And after several months since the stark realisation that I have no home, I have only now begun to understand what I need to do.

I cannot find somewhere I belong because that place does not exist.

Time has come for me to build a home.

This is a place where I don’t feel alone.
This is a place where I feel at home.

— The Cinematic Orchestra, To Build A Home

Word of the Week #205:

Nonpareil

We tend to normalise the things in our lives, right?

I mean, we HAVE to. Otherwise, our lives would be far too skewed.

Still, I believe that when we do this, we tend to overlook too many of the most important things about the world around us. 

We might not notice how comfortable or pleasant our home was until we move away. Because, why would we? Comfort is the norm within our experience, right? A deviation from it is noticed, but its sustained prevalence is forgotten. But after having moved away and struggled to feel “at home” ever again, we realise just how special and valuable that sensation is.

The same goes with people, of course. While we have them around, we do not notice what we have. We may never learn some of the most interesting things about the people we see every single day. Is that not an opportunity too precious to lose?

As an artist, one never knows what single word or idea may spark a masterpiece of a lifetime. Inspiration may be lurking in any corner of your world, just like that scary snake we spotted in the parking last night, which led me to add a new, interesting chapter to an ongoing project.

As I said, inspiration may be lurking in any corner of your world, and you never know when it may strike. 

So, look at the world. Look at the people around you.

See. Understand. Absorb. 

Word of the Week #204:

Cryptic

So, I love Thums Up, right?

Is it the best drink in the world? I think so. But is it, actually? I don’t know.

Is the the healthiest drink in the world? Resoundingly, no.

Now, does this restrict me from expressing my love for Thums Up? Of course not. 

I can still keep talking about how much I love it, as I tend to do.

I can keep recommending it or offering it to my friends, as I tend to do.

I can buy more of it and let the shopkeepers know of my preference for it, so that they have an incentive to stock up more of it, which again encourages more customers to buy it. 

I cannot hold down someone’s nose and pour Thums Up into their mouths.

I cannot disregard studies into harmful effects of caffeine or sugar or soda.

Does knowing and admitting its drawback dilute my love for Thums Up? Of course not.

That is how love should be. 

 

Word of the Week #203:

Lucid

I have been told that the way I talk can sometimes be quite complex and roundabout. 

So, beginning tonight, let us try to talk about some relatively complex topics in as simple a way as I can.

Extremism is bad.
Don’t be an extremist.

Now, what is Extremism?

Imagine that you love Thums Up. I mean, who doesn’t, right? Well, actually, some people don’t.

Now, should I go about attacking people who prefer Pepsi or vandalising shops that sell Mirinda, of all things? 

No.

Why? Because other people get to choose what they want, just like I do. 

Let us repeat that. 

Other people get to choose what they want, just like you do.

And no matter how visibly stupid their choice, we have to respect it—or at least tolerate it.

Why? Because that is part of living in a civilised society. I don’t kill you for your choices, and you don’t kill me for mine. 

Simple, right?

Let’s try it for a week and see how it goes.

Word of the Week #202:

Hibernate

Now, it is not often that I say this, but I have been sleeping A LOT these past few days.

Since Saturday, I’ve spent more time asleep than I have awake.

In fact, I just woke up and I’m already sleepy…

It is quite odd, really.

I haven’t been particularly ill. The usual sniffles, but nothing too major.

Have I been fatigued? Maybe. But then again, who isn’t, right?

Maybe I’m just decompressing. As the saying goes:

When the cat is back,
the mice hit the sack.

Eh, all this thinking and typing is making me sleepy.

Maybe I’ll just sleep while I can.

Word of the Week #201:

Prerogative

Ah, Valentine’s Day is almost upon us.

Love is so lovely, is it not? 

Everyone loves love, right?

Everyone loves to have someone who loves them and someone whom they they can love, right? And preferably, those ‘someone’s would be the same.

Isn’t it nice to have that ‘someone’ who knows you and understands you and loves you for who you truly are? 

Everyone loves having that ‘someone’, right?

But does everyone need that ‘someone’?

Is your life incomplete without that ‘someone’?

Sure, you would be lucky to find ‘someone’ like that. But can you assume that you would? Can you ensure they will get to be with you as long as you live? Would your life not start till you find them and come to a halt if you lose them?

The way I see it, a soulmate is a privilege, not a birthright.

All you can do is keep moving forward and hope for the best.

Word of the Week #200:

Legacy

Legends never die.

In some form or the other, they live on.

Word of the Week #199:

Hominid

Humanity.

How does one define it?

What makes us human?

Is it the best of us, or the worst of us?

Even the scientific community has had major disagreements over the concept. Is it a species? Or a genus? Or a sub-species?

For several centuries, the “best and brightest” of the time believed that certain ethnic groups to be superior to others, a belief that justified the array of atrocities committed at the time. 

Strangely, though, some acts that are defined as inhuman when committed by some (see Holocaust) are brushed under the rug when committed by others (see Bengal famine).

In fact, the entirety of human history is a history of humans committing horrendous atrocities on anyone that seemed even slightly different, be it their clothes, language, skin, hair, eyes, beliefs, handedness, whatever it may be.

The history of humanity is a history of fear and hate.

Humanity lacks humanity.