Writers write.

I truly believe that the reason why there is such awful writing on the internet is that a lot of good writers are insecure about their work!!! This fact was brought to light when my friend in university was assigned only the editing of the newsletter because she claimed to have no writing skills. At that time, we were in a hurry, so I took her for her word and she edited. The next time round, she wrote a piece called “The Rise of the Skeletons” which had me in tears of laughter and I wanted to smack myself for not paying attention earlier. It also made me want to rewire her brain because clearly, she has poor judgment. She is one of those hidden, unsuspecting people who suddenly are like “Teri paas Maa hain? Meri paas meri blog hain!”

That was two years ago. It came to light again a few days back, when another friend refused to show me her blog because she believes “it’s horribleee” which is like saying the McDonalds apple pie is crap. My response to that is she was dropped on the head as a child. Sure, is it gourmet cuisine? No. But is it good? Heck yes! I did read her blog (hello Google) and she is laugh-out-loud funny! And that is hard to write!!! Believe me I’ve tried and fallen flat on my face. My nose is crooked. Her writing is so conversational that you feel like she is talking to you and you laugh, only later realizing that you look really weird laughing at your computer screen in a serious office environment.

It’s people like these that make me wonder why some writing is online for the world to see. I would much rather read and laugh, rather than cry at the massacre of the English language or wonder if I can contact the author with some information on mental institutions and psychiatrists.

The concept of insecurity is fascinating, because the people who are truly insecure about their work are usually those who have a bucket load of talent. It’s like sometimes on the road, you see this creature that looks like a stack of Michelin tires wearing clothes that leaves very little to the imagination, not that you would want to imagine that, but the people who would truly look good in those clothes, might as well be wearing gunny bags!

It also makes me wonder what constitutes “good writing” and who judges this? My writing oscillates from writing about heartbreak and exploring love to writing about chips and candy. Literally. Is it “good”? And more importantly, do I care? I guess writing is all about it being relatable and that is subjective. I guess all I can say at this point is that, I enjoyed the writing of my friends and I want to read more.

When I forgot to look!!

You know that time in your life where you just go “what just happened?” Like you go a couple of months without really paying too much attention, and you almost don’t recognize it anymore! In the last two months, I got a new house (as most of you know), I also got two kittens(!!!) with my flatmate Swetha! We’ve named them Cinnamon and Kunai. Now, here is the fun deal. Swetha and I are both doggie people and didn’t know the first thing about kittens. A lot of the stuff we learnt online, like how to get them used to the litter box, what they eat and how much, etc. but there was a lot of stuff the websites didn’t really tell us!

Here is what we learned. The BIGGEST difference from dogs is that cats like to be left alone and not molly coddled. But of course, I’m a molly coddler. I love being mommy and loving a tiny critter to the ends of Earth. It is like my life’s mission. But, I learnt quickly to let them be, give them room and let them explore and trust that they will not fall down the stairs. Cuddle them and suddenly wrinkles on your face is your laaaast worry. You’ll have other lines and give “face reading” a whole new meaning! Another thing I learned the hard way, cats DO NOT like being scratched behind their ears. You do that and they will scratch you in stead! My hands have new lines and my future has been considerable altered I think! It is true. Also, if you get them used to playing with your fingers, they will do so ALL the time. Like even when you’re texting, they will pounce on them. You can’t even scratch yourself without them getting excited! This is after you’ve bought them more toys than you had as a child!

It’s been an adventure so far, and I’m absolutely loving it! The ups and downs make for great dinner table conversation. The horrified expression on my grandmother’s face when I tell her how they climb curtains is priceless. I’m quite assured that I am also a cat person because I love them to bits and pieces and I loveeeee walking in the door to high pitched squeaks which is how they tell me that they are glad I’m home! It really makes my day when they lead me to their food bowl with “feed me human” written on their face. I think I should start a Texts from Cat thing going.

The other big change is my job. I switched jobs and I love this one! It’s custom built for me and is a challenge but I’m super grateful to have really supportive people around! It’s close to home and I’m now balancing my house, my mum’s place, my grans, my work and my friends. I feel quite adult-ish. I still get distracted by lights and colourful things. So not quite all that dignified adult you see. Also, I am NOT plagued by IT issues. Really. I know it’s hard to believe, but the IT helpdesk are not my best friends at work. I do not greet them everyday with “Good morning! Could you please help me with…” Those of you who’ve worked with me, your whaaaaaa expression is valid.

Another change, my friend Maria is now a full on singer! Like she had her first concert, and is composing music and stuff. I get to see her do this entirely cool thing, compose music in the car when we’re (she) driving somewhere! Like where did that even come from??? And all I can sing is “Baby One More Time”! Her concert was insane! I was like yeaaaahhh, that is my friend up there, singing. I’m that cool. I have singer friends. Um, who are you again? :P

My long time friend Kanchan is finally planning on selling her art, which is crazy awesome! She was also in a Kannada movie (Money Shani Honey) which released in theatres!!! I’ve got a Kanchan original in my house! It’s so cool when someone you’ve known since you were nine years old is now a famous actress and is a painter and a whole lot more. It kinda makes you question your life, but then I go, I blog and walk into walls. That just makes me kickass!

Varsha had her Salsa show at the World Dance Congress. I got to see her dance and then made her teach me some basic Salsa steps, which I’ve promptly forgotten. She says she will teach me to dance. I say I will reduce her to tears. One must remember the one year of Bharatnatyam classes I underwent where I had to stop because it took me a year to come in the vicinity of mastering the first certification, that takes 6 months. I can still hear her go “Sit! Sit!” and me try in vain to get the rhythm.

Singer, actress, artist and dancer. All check! I think I need to get into the entertainment industry as a Public Relations officer or a manager. Because clearly, I’ve got the industry covered.

I also got to know Supriyaa  (a friend of  Varsha’s) a little better in the last month. I call her Smiley, because if you saw her smile, you’d call her Smiley also. She would really make a great comedian. She has a LOT of material from her childhood and is a fantastic storyteller. She told me once that I had a fascinating life, but my God, I wholly disagree. This is a girl who when she talks about her childhood, you sit and stare open mouthed because you can’t believe your ears! She once decided to break the Guinness World Record to eat the most amount of glass. She asked her parents how the person on TV did that and then when they replied “with practice”, our girl here decided to chew on a lamp bulb. Only realizing that she couldn’t when her entire mouth started bleeding!!!!!!! The disclaimer “Do not try this at home” was clearly written with her in mind.

Another brilliant escapade was when she decided that like the cartoons, she wanted to become flat, like a pancake, so that she can blow herself up by blowing on her thumb (read Tom and Jerry, Road Runner) so she stood in between two elevator doors, letting them slam into her and stopping when the neighbour brought her mum to rescue her, from herself. Then she cried in the night because she couldn’t blow herself back to size. And she narrated these stories with a huge grin while I looked at her and Googled the number for NIMHANS (a mental hospital). I don’t see how I am fascinating. Really. I get chased by animals. She voluntarily gets squished.

Another crazy awesome new thing is the sudden influx of musicians in my life! I absolutely love it, even though I’m tone deaf. But you know what, I have been inspired to write songs! Like I wrote four lines for a song and even had a tune in my head for it! I never write songs! I’m SO thrilled!!!!

Now, with all this change and newness in my life, there HAVE to be some things that are the same. Now please, can you think of one thing that would be the same in my life? If you’re thinking cows, you got it!!! On Tuesday, it rained heavily, and I was running from the bus stop to my house, only to get chased. By what you ask? A Camel? A dinosaur? Noooooo. By the great giant cow!!! I ran into the nearest house I found only to be thrown back out onto the street by the very nice guard dog growling at me. Sigh. At least there is some normalcy in my life.

Then, I walked home, missing the downpour by two seconds. Literally. But I did come home to a postcard on my doorstep, which made Monday a lot better as I had just learned that I would be spending the next two days in the office that is on the other side of the world (well almost cause LA would have been cool :P).

It’s so weird when you just let your life slide a little and suddenly there is SO much change and you actually need to take some down time and catch up! Anyway, here’s to the next big adventure! Being chased by monkeys. Or something like that!