Dark Thoughts

 As I lay in a dark room,
crouched,
my nails dug into my flesh,
afraid of the darkness
and the impending danger.
Vipers and a python
slithering slowly, towards me,
wouldn't leave even if a candle were lit.
Swiftly, the vipers crept through
my ears and mouth
its tail ringing and its
venomous fangs stabbed through
my brain, scalding my body,
poisoning my mind.
You remember this? You remember that?
That bitch! She betrayed me...
A familiar voice
played in my head
as the venom drugged me.
The python,
with its affectionate and brilliant sparkling eyes,
coiled around me like a thick, comforting blanket
on a chilly evening
to tell me that everything would be fine.
A soothing engulf soon became
a tight grip, refusing to let go.
As my breath grew heavy and uneasy,
crushing my bones to pieces,
a sudden numbness and drowsiness
spread over my body,
burning occasionally.
There was one more
among them,
a newborn,
which pierced into the rotten flesh oozing
with old blood and
flies swarming around the wounds
as rats nibbled and the
spiders encompassed with
strings of webs.
                         - Megha

                                                    What’s up with what’s up?

What’s up, wassup, wazzup, sup – don’t tell me you have not heard these words before or are in denial of having uttered them. Be it a slip of tongue or a habit, we have come across these words and use it as part of our everyday lingo. From youngsters to people we refer to as belonging to the older generation, this word has conveniently carved its way into everyone’s vocabulary. Each morning, as I make my way to the classroom, I come across people who ask one annoying question to which I have no reply, “What’s up?”  The manner in which people say ‘what’s up’ is disturbing. It varies in scale from casual to creepy. If you observe carefully, the way your guy friend says ‘what’s up’ differs from how your girl friend says it: guys usually look at you with one brow raised; whereas, girls smile as they shoot this question at you, making you look like a lost puppy in an island. “What’s up”, sounds like a cheesy pick up line, doesn’t it?

Not one day passes without one having to hear this horrendous word. The word gives out some cool vibe or so people think. The question is, what is the answer to ‘What’s up’ and what does what’s up mean? Why do people use this word often? Before pondering on these questions, it is equally important to know what one is talking about, and, therefore, having done my small part of research, I shamelessly admit that I had to Google the word in order to find out what it actually means! The answers that came my way induced a tummy tickling laughter. Quoting some of the meanings for “what’s up”- An extremely annoying question that has (unfortunately) replaced "Hello" or "Hi" as the most popular form of casual greeting (Urban Dictionary) ; something that you say in order to ask someone what is wrong (The Free Dictionary) and the like.

Having confessed previously, when someone greets me with “Hey! What’s up?” the usual reply is “nothing much” or an awkward silence prevails between the two, before guilt hits this person hard and he/ she chooses to change the topic of discussion. If one is in an equally joyful and frenzied mood, one can choose to irritate the person by giving back a similar annoying answer- “The sky”, “the roof’, “the ceiling”. Though you will have to face the consequences of your response which is made visible by the other when he/ she pulls a long face and shouts “seriously!” before walking away. The taste of victory is sweet and you know that that person won’t bother you for an entire day.

Now, having understood and known the meaning, why do people say what’s up, and, not ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’ directly. Is it a Herculean task to say ‘hello’? The irony is that, even ‘what’s up’ is being replaced by its infuriating and aggravating sibling- the short forms like- ‘sup, wazzup etc. The day is not far when ‘what’s up’ will go out of fashion and will be replaced by another unimaginable word. So, reader, the next time you greet someone with ‘What’s up’, just wait for a reply and if you don’t get one, just stick to the formal ‘hi’ or ‘hello’ and make an effort to say three words ‘How are you?’ I’m sure; it does not take a long while to ask someone how they are doing instead of leaving them in an uninhabited territory by asking them ‘What’s up?’

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                                  The Saga of Baking a Chocolate Cake

Everyone has some weakness and we like to tap on one’s fragile point and use it to our advantage. For a coffee addict, there is nothing more important than a piping hot cup of coffee with the perfect balance of decoction, sugar, milk and love. Who does not love a heavenly piece of chocolate cake with a sinfully good choco mocha dripping sauce?

Kitchen has, over the ages, been accommodative and accepting than the society will ever be and has housed the menfolk of the household. Cooking, that is often looked at as something reserved for women and lists itself under ‘work’ and ‘burden’, has, lately, been referred to as therapeutic. You may have heard your friend saying that cooking is his passion or your sister sighing and entering the kitchen to assist your mother during the weekends. But, we all have that one friend whom you would have heard saying “Cooking is therapeutic. It calms me down and makes me happy.” As soon as you hear this, you have a dialogue in your head “What is he, crazy? How can someone even bear working in the kitchen, in front of the flame on a summer day? How does one manage all the cutting and multitask in the cooking space? This guy must be joking!”

As a person who loves to experiment, when people around me love to gorge on my experiments; it’s pure bliss to see a satisfied smile on their faces. Cooking gives me a stupid happiness which is hard to put into words and, therefore, I find it therapeutic. Well, it cannot be denied that my guilty pleasures include whipping coffee and sugar powder for the thick fluffy cream floating on top of my bitter coffee or watching the sugar granules dancing their way into a vessel of boiling, hot milk and the like. But, nothing comes close to baking a good old chocolate cake which is a companion during both, good and bad days.

   “Let’s face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people.”    

                                                                                                -Audrey Hepburn

A gooey, dark chocolate cake, cooked to perfection is a wonderful spectacle. The process of baking one is absolutely pleasurable. The first step is to gather all the ingredients required- measuring cups and spoons of various sizes, flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, vanilla essence and the like. A mixing bowl, where the magic begins, welcomes the flour and cocoa powder as they sift their way through the sieve, to be a part of something greater. The rich brown against the white is a beautiful amalgamation of the paradox. The powdered sugar filters down, creating a layer of snow which encircles the bowl. The gust that blows through the window, on a warm afternoon, makes the powdered sugar twirl and shiver before it joins the other ingredients. The mixing bowl becomes a fiesta, a potpourri of sweet and irresistible fragrance. 

Adding the wet ingredients (curd, and milk) to the dry ingredients and whisking it to the perfect consistency is an art in itself. One experiences unadulterated joy as the whisk is lifted to check the pouring consistency of the batter; we relive our childhood memories- we taste the batter in the pretext of checking if the flavors are balanced. Once the oven is set, the batter is poured into the mould, it is impossible for one to take their eyes off the bubbling batter as it sets on its journey to transform into a delectable chocolate cake. The chocolaty smell wafts across the house, inviting visitors occasionally who patiently wait to devour this dark beauty. 

The cake, once out of the oven, is cooled and the baker impatiently pokes the cake to check if it is cooked. As the mould is lifted, the cake stands in all its magnificence until a luscious layer of choco, mocha sauce is poured over it, covering the tiny pores and making the occasional visitors restless and fidgety. The first slice of cake is cut and the chewy and creamy goodness is demolished within minutes of its glory.

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                                The reality of a photograph- A decaying truth

               “Most things in life are moments of pleasure and a lifetime of 
                embarrassment; photography is a moment of embarrassment 
                and a lifetime of pleasure.”

                                                                                                 - Tony Benn

Leaning against the wall and going through the old photographs on a rainy day brings back a lot of memories, doesn’t it? As I look at the photographs, a thought strikes me: the funny expressions that we pulled off during our childhood, the blurry pictures, because the photographer could not stop shivering, the loud laughter that almost echoes in my ears and importantly, the innocence and genuineness of the picture.

The cameras, say 20 years ago, were very much different from what we have now. It captured our so- called flaws, our ‘actual self’ and no, there was no DELETE button. Once, a moment was captured, we were doomed. Do you recollect the time we dreaded and at the same time looked forward to? Waiting for the pictures clicked to get printed and reach home as what we refer to as ‘photos’. Do you recollect how the entire family would gather just to look at the photographs? It was a big deal back then and the pictures were passed around as the entire family encircled the table in the living room. Do you recollect how everyone laughed at that silly expression of yours, or how your brother irritated the aunt and she appeared cross in all the photos? Do any of these recollections bring a whirlpool of memories and paste a grin on your face?

Glancing through photographs was a family pass time in the past. It brought the household together and filled the entire room with mirth and joy. Here’s something we all are guilty of: family portraits. That one day when everyone decked up and visited the photo studio for a family picture. The annoying photographer who came and adjusted our hands, face, even our smile, asked us to look up, then down, then up again! The mountain scenery in the background, the red and blue curtains with a happy family in the front, the parents seated on chairs and the children on either side of the parents with their hands on their parents’ shoulder. Does any of this ring a bell? This recollection sounds ancient, doesn't it?

The past is past, and, coming to the present scenario, we live in the Age of pouts and duck faces. Yes, indeed, the reference is being made to selfies and groupfies. Living in the time when the only camera that we know is the one that come in handy- our mobiles. Now, let’s face it, a major chunk of the population has at some point done this- taken pictures in front of the mirror and sent those pictures to a couple of friends.

With a myriad of camera apps being introduced, we can tweak and play around with the pictures clicked and hide our ‘imperfections’. We can hide those blemishes, make our bodies look slimmer and make ourselves appear ‘perfect’. One must not forget to mention the even more terrible groupfies- the groupfie with our squad, the one to celebrate nothing, another one to celebrate that one wedding, that one we all are a part of because it is a family groupfie and if you miss that one, well, you become a lesser part of the family! Groupfies have replaced the childhood nightmare of family portraits. The family portraits, though disliked by everyone, should get some credit for capturing the candidness of each of us, the purity and utter disgust on our faces, the senseless smiles as we looked into the camera lens.

Before a groupfie is taken, one laments that he appears bald in the camera screen; another one complains about looking fat and expresses her concern and anxiety to look thin in the picture, the next says she looks darker than others and so on. Why does all this sound plain wrong and ridiculous? Suddenly, the way we appear becomes more important than getting a picture for memory sake. It is, therefore, sane to conclude the fact that selfies and groupfies have made us all the more self- conscious.

The other day, walking pensively down the busy street, I found a family casually posing for a groupfie. The sight seemed to bother me, since, in case of a groupfie, considering the picture was clicked using a front camera, they gave a lot more importance to their appearance than they should have. They were more engrossed in making themselves look perfect, were busy posing,  getting the perfect light, the correct angle which would flatter and bring out their best features, that they forgot one thing- to smile from the depths and be happy. 

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                                                       Get in touch with Reality 

  Each one of us, in this world has a ritual, say, the first thing that some people do in the morning is relax and read the newspaper or solve a Sudoku or crossword puzzle with a steaming cup of coffee and so on. One among these habitual routines of ours happens to include a piece of machine, commonly known to humans as mobile phone. Sadly, there are many who belong to that chunk of humankind that wakes up every morning and tries hard to ignore that shiny piece of metal that calls out to them as the light blinking on the screen makes them feel guilty and look like a terrible person if they do not reply back to the texts and messages from the previous night’s conversations. The questions raised over here are- Is technology taking over our lives? Does our life revolve around social media and how much are we rooted to Reality?

     “I find that checking my phone (in the morning) tramples over my 

      positive vibes, because we all know that checking messages is like

       rattling a wasp nest.”

                                                                     – Stephanie Lee

From personal experience and observing my surroundings, I’ve noticed and was startled to find that everyone these days owns a mobile phone. It has become a parameter to define our social standing- be it a small, school going child or a senior citizen, rich and poor, mobile phones which were a symbol of luxury almost just two decades ago, has now become part of the ordinary. A tiny piece of machine which served the basic purpose of communicating while travelling, has now started dictating our lives.                     

Not only this, but with the advent of technology, particularly mobile phones, which aimed at simplifying our so-called complicated lives, it has further added to our misery and has emphasized on artificiality with the introduction of social media, where we lead fake lives just to impress the society. It is safe to say, at this point, that technology and social media play a major role in shaping our personality, views and ideology. In fact, people who do not use or are not active on social websites are looked at with surprise. Quoting William Wordsworth, who said “The world is too much with us”; tweaking this quote to suit the 21^st century would be “technology is too much with us.” This holds true at the modern context where we breathe, drink and live on technology.

As technology has been devouring up human kind and led to social media addiction, it has managed to pull us away from reality. We all get anxious and restless when we do not get messages or replies in an instant. Our agitated hands, an impatient mind and sleep deprived eyes, recklessly glance through random shopping websites or pointless videos on YouTube. However, though there are social media addicts on one hand, there has been a trend among the young generation, known as ‘social media detox’, where, individuals voluntarily and with conscious efforts delete or stop using their social media accounts. This not only reduces anxiety levels but also keeps us in touch with reality.

One must also introspect and ask themselves various questions, like- when was the last time I took a walk in the park without my headphones? When was the last time I traveled in a train and enjoyed the breeze that blew onto my face or when was the last time I had a ‘real’ conversation with my friends and family? When was the last time I met my friend for a face-to- face conversation about life? Does this make you think? It does? Good! Learn to appreciate the small blessings and the beauty that surrounds you. Go offline, delete that social media account. Switch off that ‘piece of machine’. Go for a walk. Look at those colorful butterflies as they flutter around in the garden, the birds that chirp away all day. Laugh a little. Stop ‘existing’, start LIVING!

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