The Drama Queen

Spooked! When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers, ‘tis near Halloween. Anonymous. Halloween is celebrated annually in several countries around the globe on the 31st of October. We relate it with spooky costumes, freaky masks, trick or treat, jack-o’-lanterns, eerie decorations, candies and more candies! The origin of Halloween is quite amusing. Some say that it marks the end of Summer and the arrival of Winter. Winter is symbolised by dark, gloomy days and even darker and longer nights.  Dark here is metaphorical to ghosts and other evil spirits.  Another version is that it is the  intervening night when the ghostly spirits freely roam around to announce their ‘arrival’ during the ‘dark’ season of winter. They are suspected to go around playing mean tricks on the mortals. You have a choice now. Either you can offer these free spirits their favourite food and other fancy sweets and candies to please them or d...

Yes.  It is all over our phones and tabs and laptops. Like an avalanche. Relief and discomfort, at the same time. I am not really shocked or surprised to see so many of my girlfriends and women acquaintances posting this on their walls. I am sure we all have discussed this within our circle of girls.  I say girls because this discussion began right from our school days and continues well and beyond. Some cheap guy on the roadside or some crazy stalker during our daily commute or that creepy relative in the family or some pervert in the office or now, thanks to the social media where one can hide behind anonymity and send cheap messages online, it just gets darker.  It is being spoken out loudly now. One of the boons of social media is that we can make ourselves heard to highlight the right cause. Creating a widespread awareness in this matter has been long overdue. The solidarity shown by so many women and men just proves that it is prevalent just about everywhere. Th...

It is that time of the year, again: The self-pampering from the parlour trip. Working out our arms by holding the umpteen number of shopping bags. Thanking our stars for the advent of online shopping in our universe. Getting hypnotised by the clever marketing of the jewellery giants. Flocking the shoppers’ bye-lanes with the entire extended family for that perfect show-stopper evening look. Threatening the boutique staff for getting the perfect fit of that dress. Ticking off the list for gifts’ shopping. Bargaining with the hawkers for the colourful lamps and rangoli. Stocking up on low calorie options alongside the ghee-laden sweets for a guilt-free celebration. Phew! But much like how every coin has two sides, here comes the downfall. The annual mega-cleaning ceremony. It is quite like the ‘Spring Cleaning’ in several cultures around the world. It involves cleaning every nook and corner of our humble abodes. Or risk being judged. Judged and looked down upon by the ‘Oh, I had al...

I remember, as a child, having written this essay several times during my school days. My thoughts were clear. It had to be the ‘glorious’ one: ‘My ambition is to become a doctor.’ And why? Because my mum would want so. My dad wanted me to be a CA, but honestly, I didn’t know what they did. I still wonder, at times. Cut to the present time. I am a mother of two lovely kids. As any other Indian mother, I took it upon myself to ‘pursue’ their careers for them. I sat down to make a list of must-dos. It was time for some intense retrospection. A few blank stares and several doodles later, I realised that it was easier if I made a list of must-don’ts, rather. The first ones to be struck out were: Doctors and Engineers. I have family and friends who are in these fields. So probably, I am saturated. No offence to anybody, but I am allowed to be selfish. Being a mother tops it all. After some self- motivation, I convinced myself that probably my children should do this on their own. You se...