Gems Of Thoughts

 A family is over the moon when they are born. The mothers feel proud and the fathers are happy. The relatives say "Oh! that's a blessing". And then the society seals their fate with the rotten tagline - BE A MAN . The irony is that this same society doesn't allow a man to BE A NORMAL MAN. Just like how pre-defined standards (read bu****it) are set for a woman, it's the same for a man. Don't Agree? Let's see. A man is weak if he cries. A man must go for a regular job to take care of the family. A man is not a man if he doesn't make his wife "know her place" in the house. Want me to go on? There is no escape for me from the shackles of the expectations that society sets for them right from their birth. It's funny how there are no stories written about fathers who struggle to raise their kids after the mother deserts them, a man who got sexually abused by a woman is never on the news, a depressed man? Hush! Hush! We have heard about women b

  It comes in waves you know, first the happiness of getting to know you, then the times that we were actually there for each other laughing at those worst times and then the unbearable part where it was all over. The part where I drown in the waves. You ended it. Telling this makes it less hurtful not because blaming feels good. Just because it's the truth. How could you? How could you just stop all the ties in the blink of an eye? Was our relationship so unworthy? So little? Oh yes, I completely agree that things went wrong. Very very wrong than it should have actually been. I did not let you keep those problems with you even when you thought that there is absolutely no use in sharing just because I couldn't help. I can count the times I have repeatedly got you to share them either by force or threatening or even in a friendly way. Whatever I did, I have always done it not because I had to, it was because I wanted to.  You were my friend. My little brother. That stings. Using

Stretching out on the sofa on a lazy Sunday evening, I was going through the WhatsApp status' when one of the posts stopped me. It was by my friend about a skincare regime and in the corner, I could see a diya being lit with all its might with the flame dancing and shining. While I started getting restless as to why I was staying on that screen for more than two seconds, I could feel the lamp staring right back at me. I instantly knew why. During Diwali, I still remember how I would anticipate lighting those lamps and seeing those fireworks light up the sky. The thrill of the holidays mixed with the festive vibes still lingers somewhere deep in my heart and my mind. Those times when my mother would run up an oil bath for us and tell us stories of how "good triumphed over evil". The stories were repeated every year and still every time she said them I heard it in awe.  The cracker boxes that would arrive in the house was not something I looked forward to because bursting c