Yashas Mahajan's Blog, page 9
January 3, 2023
Word of the Week #353:
I miss chocochip cookies.
I probably haven’t had any in the past ten years. For some obscure medical reasons, I had to go cold turkey around age 19.
However, as with most kids, I too grew up with my fair share of chocolate, and I absolutely loved chocochip cookies. And even today, whenever I pass that one aisle in any supermarket, my eyes tend to get caught on that one brand that was my absolute favourite.
And each time, I wonder if I should buy a box. Each time, I wonder if it would be worth the risk. Each time, I bargain with myself. Maybe if I only eat one cookie a day, or even a week… Maybe if I drink lots of water… Maybe if I take overly great care of myself so that I can handle its effects…
But each time, I invariably shake my head and walk away. I never succumb to my temptations.
I still love chocochip cookies. I still want them. I still miss them.
But clearly, they don’t love me back. Clearly, they’re not meant for me.
It is unfortunate. Heartbreaking, even. I mean, there is already so little I want and seek in life, and to still be denied, that too through no fault of my own… Huh…
But I still love chocochip cookies. What can I say. Even if I can’t have them, they’re still as amazing as they’ve ever been, right? I hope anyone who does get to have them really cherishes them.
As I continue to walk down that aisle, I glance around, momentarily considering other cookies that might satisfy me. But alas, nothing else catches my eye. I’ve never been fond of consolation prizes, anyway.
And it’s okay, I guess. After all, cookies aren’t sustenance; they’re a treat. Sure, life would always be better if you have a good one in your hand, but you know what? Life won’t end without one. I can’t have the one I want, and I’ll learn to live with that. I’ve already gone my entire adult life without it. What’s a few more decades.
December 27, 2022
Word of the Week #352:
I have lately been realising that I am not as cocky as I used to be.
And I am not sure if that is a good thing.
Time has this tendency to keep chipping away at us, making us lose parts of ourselves that really made us who we were, until we look into the mirror one day and do not recognise the face staring back.
Entropy remains undefeated.
I, too, remain defeated.
December 20, 2022
Word of the Week #351:
Weighing your options can be tough, and more so when you are weighing long-term possibilities.
I have seen people struggle to choose an ice cream flavour. That is of course among the easier decisions in life, right? All the flavours are sitting in front of you. You get to look at them, check ingredients, often get a taste, and then compare prices.
Real decisions in real life are so not like that, right?
Sure, you do get to choose
You might think what ingredients might go into a real world situation, but, oh, there can be so many more hiding just beyond your sight… Just like the unnecessary amount of sugar that tends to be in most ice creams, I suppose?
Tasting in the real world doesn’t work the same either. Over time, tastes may change, and you might find yourself stuck with something you can no longer palate. Something that’s aftertaste lingers far too long and mars your appetite forevermore.
And at what cost… What costs are we bearing for the choices we make? And what value are we letting go in the process?
Faced by too many forks in the path, it can be difficult to understand how to keep moving forward, right?
I shall be telling this with a sigh
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
December 13, 2022
Word of the Week #350:
What is one of the oddest things about me?
Well, it might seem bizarre, but I seem to keep relearning the same lessons over and over again, and I keep forgetting them at the most inopportune of times.
Life would be so much simpler if I could make a mistake, learn from it, and never ever repeat it. Unfortunately, that is not how life seems to go. Well, my life, at least…
I guess that’s what life is, sometimes. Two steps forward, one step back.
But as long as we keep moving forward…
December 6, 2022
Word of the Week #349:
My single greatest skill is my ability to do things without actually knowing how to do them and still managing to make it seem adequate as well as effortless.
Fake it till you make it, I suppose?
Word of the Week #348:
My single greatest skill is my ability to do things without actually knowing how to do them and still managing to make it seem adequate as well as effortless.
Fake it till you make it, I suppose?
November 29, 2022
Word of the Week #348:
People often ask me how I’m always so calm…
Well, first of all, am I, really? I don’t know.
Second, do we really have any other options? We don’t exactly have the luxury to keep freaking out all day every day, do we? We have things to do and lives to live and… just gotta get back up and keep moving on, right?
But most importantly, in what situations are we calm? That can tell a lot about us.
I don’t think I’m calmer than most normal people. I am just calm in different situations than they are.
Put me on a well-lit dance floor when I’m sober. Ask me to walk into the balcony of a fourth-floor apartment. Offer to call me to explain something. Make me fall in love. Suddenly, I am no longer calm.
But put me in any situation where things need to be done with many known constraints… Is that even stressful? It’s just a task, right. Nothing we cannot handle.
Each one of us has been in tough situations before. We have always either been skilled enough to handle them well and avoid horrible consequences or been strong enough to survive the horrible consequences we couldn’t avoid. So either way is fine, right?
Whatever comes my way, I will handle it.
And just knowing that makes me calmer than anything else ever can.
November 22, 2022
Word of the Week #347:
People always says that our education system is supposed to prepare us for the real world. That their performance and diligence in school demonstrates the kind of employees they would be.
And it sounds logical, right? Right?
Well, actually, it does not.
Let’s take my own case. In school and in college, I never cared about assignments. I hardly ever submitted them on time—if I did at all—and I almost never cared about doing my best. I wouldn’t even do the bare minimum in most cases and still somehow manage to get away with it.
Now, based on that and that alone, I would probably be considered absolutely unemployable, right? And yet, here I am, with multiple jobs in my hand, doing my absolutely best at each one of them.
In fact, I recently realised that in the past 6 years, I have missed ZERO work deadlines. ZERO, ever.
And even in the worst of circumstances, and there have been some bad ones, I have always tried to do my best.
So, what is the difference?
Well, firstly, I care.
Marks are not real. Unlike money, they don’t really get you anything. With you barely pass or you ace each subject and top your class, your path forward is the same.
Schoolwork is difficult to care about because it is inconsequential. And not just because doing it well doesn’t add anything; not doing it doesn’t affect anyone either, right?
As a writer, my editing team is waiting for me to complete my part so that they can begin theirs.
As an editor, I either have clients waiting patiently for their edited manuscripts, or I have a review or quality assessment team whose tasks are scheduled according to mine.
As a student, what is the worst that happens if I don’t submit on time? In the long run, nothing, really. What is the best thing that happens if I do? Again, nothing.
Schoolwork, by and large, is just busywork. It just does not gauge how well you can follow instructions or this or that. It does not demonstrate any real, meaningful, relevant trait that would really apply to adults in the real world.
After all, “can I do it?” and “would I do it?” are two very different questions. And unless I see a good reason why, I probably won’t do what I’m asked.
Want to make school relevant? Have the kids do something they actually care about and they might actually benefit from in the real world.
November 15, 2022
Word of the Week #346:
Moving forward and leaving things behind tend to go hand in hand, right?
It is odd. So often, the pursuit of what we want takes us further away from what we have and love.
And yet, we cannot stay where we are, can we?
As bittersweet as we may feel, as heavy as our hearts might get, we have to keep moving forward.
Word of the Week #345:
Moving forward and leaving things behind tend to go hand in hand, right?
It is odd. So often, the pursuit of what we want takes us further away from what we have and love.
And yet, we cannot stay where we are, can we?
As bittersweet as we may feel, as heavy as our hearts might get, we have to keep moving forward.
