Wednesday, November 30, 2016

LGBT and flights

Have you ever had that feeling where you're sitting in one place and your surrounding keeps moving? That moment when your stomach curls and butterflies turn into gigantic elephants? All you can only see and understand is the ever growing feeling inside you... to throw up! Yes, you guessed it. 
Motion sickness. 
This piece is totally going to be about how it ruined my chance at Bollywood. Confused much? I'll tell you how..

SCENE 1: 
God's own country - a place where bananas are fried and leaves are eaten upon. Where queues in front of the bar are longer than those in front of banks. Having enjoyed an impromptu vacation for a couple of days, it was time for me to return. Apart from the fact that I love travelling, I'm a huge subscriber of something that comes with the baggage, i.e. motion sickness. Love it, hate it, but it never lets me ignore it. Mindful not to fall sick 40,000 feet above the ground, amidst the beautiful sky and clouds, I popped a pill supposedly assigned to make me feel better.

SCENE 2:
Did the pill make me shut my mouth?(pun intended)
DAMN YES because now I was drowsy and felt like I'd just been tranquillised. 
I'm a big sucker for window seats and hence made sure I got one on the plane. A few mins later, a Blondie in his mid 50s sat next to me. Another few mins later his Indian friend came and sat next to him. They seemed to be dressed like in a band. Long hair, leather jackets and swag face. 
As the flight started taking off, suddenly, Blondie clutched Indie's hand and intertwined their fingers. He shut his eyes tightly like a small child afraid of planes and tightened the grip of his hand. It was one of the most heartwarming scenes of my 2016. 

Welcome to India 2016 where a new age queer couple is travelling and taking life just like the rest. 

The pill was starting to act in all its glory and I dozed off by the time we started seeing the clouds. I  woke up wanting to click a picture of their hands but just then, yay i fell asleep again. (P.S. they kept holding hands till we landed) :)

SCENE 3:
We landed in Pune and I asked the cute Indie to help me with my bag.

(Okay, please wait for the climax)

SCENE 4: 
Days after that, I was awake one midnight as usual, watching videos on YouTube. On the side bar, I saw something. No, I saw someone in a video. Familiar and unable to recollect. Who is he? Kaun hai woh? I opened the video and it was an interview with Kareena Kappor Khan. 
I was busy looking at the host and... DAMN!!! He's the Indie!!! 

Apparently, I slept off sitting next to the Indie who is a popular Bollywood figure in terms of anchoring, story writing and screenplay writing for another Bollywood director with similar 'tastes' as his. 

Made me wonder... why is his relationship status single to the world? You have a beautiful relation Indie, and with the most lovely person. It doesn't matter if you both are the same sex. We need more beautiful souls like you. Ones who can just love; without reason and compulsion. Seeing you both made my heart melt.. there I was, sitting next you, at the window seat, being the quintessentially 'normally' oriented person by Indian standards and all I could hold on to was my book when the plane took off :) 
Much love to all who find love irrespective of sex, colour, age, caste, time and religion. As an ode to Indie and Blondie, I shall soon be writing more about the most overused word in our dictionaries - Love. 

And damn you, medications! You cost me my Bollywood debut! :D

Monday, November 28, 2016

Bitter half makeovers

Like any normal day, I was incessantly switching from multiple social networks to find something to grab my attention, and boy, how it did! 
I came across a few similar posts which read "XYZ's shocking transformation after breakup!" "ABC does not look like this anymore after divorce!" Wondering if they had gotten themselves a plastic surgery done, I curiously opened the damn link! So that's how social media marketing is done... HMMM. 
Anyway, I was directed to an actress's makeover pictures after an ugly divorce following a very abusive marriage. She was the same - just shorter hair, a new tattoo on her hand quoting philosophy and holiday pictures by the beach. This got me thinking. Why had she waited all this long to cut her hair short? Or just go away on vacation? Bigger question, why was all this shocking to people?

Preach as you may please, but we are heavily dependant on others to validate our happiness. We breed on acceptance from peers and loved ones like holding onto a ventilator pumping happiness into us. We were not moulded this way and we need to know this is wrong.

First things first, there is no greater love than thyself
How?
Like this: When highly stressed, getting a pedicure on your feet or the nasty neighbour's feet makes you feel better?

Secondly, nobody stays forever
P.S. yes I'm being a mood killer now.
How?
Like this: You're born alone and till the last breath, you are pretty much the only person who stays with you for so long. The rest come n go as they please.

Relationships are not for neglecting yourself.
How?
Like this: Big revelation, I know. But it is a relationship only if you love and accept yourself first. The sparks fizzle out when people do not treat themselves like they did at the beginning. Who will love you if you don't? 

It must not take a heartbreak or a tragedy for one to realise that self love comes above all. 
Been wanting to get that pixie crop? Get one today! Go ahead with that beautiful little tattoo you've been wanting to get done. If you feel like re-doing your room with fairy lights or going on a road trip with your besties, do it today. Dress for yourself and find work that makes you happy. Your eulogies won't mention the pretty shoes and how much you strived at making others happy. For life is short as you know, and with each passing day its getting even more shorter for you to while away the little precious time becoming history each minute. 

Better half or not, you definitely don't need them or anyone to make you fall in or out of love... with yourself!