2013, Will you be mine?

Thank god this year is ending. I'm literally glad to be moving on to the next year. What did the year 2012 did to me? It didn’t do anything to me, per se. It was all me. I landed myself in situations without any pre-warnings, became a rather insane victim of multiple mood-swings resulting in irrational decision makings. I became a nomad. I still am. I don’t know where I belong right now. I’m just drifting through this so called life. Still aiming to get an aim in life so that I can “focus” on something at the very least. Nope. This year was just not for me. And it ends on that sad, bitter note.

There’s got to be some good stuff that happened this year? Well, the world didn’t end! So that’s really good for me to carry out further life experiments! I’m trying really hard to think of some good stuff I experienced these 12 months that I can type here. Now, that’s a really pitiable sign indeed! But I will make a list. Maybe it’ll tell me this year wasn’t so bad after all. And maybe at the end of this list, I might get inspired to end this post on a positive, bright note. Boy, I really want to believe in white lies now, don’t I?

  1.      January: For the first time I celebrated the New Year at other than my Mysore home. Bangalore; with my dad, cousins and my project friends. Drank red wine and ate pani puris, with less pani and more vodka in them!!

  2.      February: Nah, nothing good happened that month.

  3.      March: My birthday. Bittersweet memory right now. Because I’m pretty certain that would be that last time I’d be surprised by my friends and also get to cut two different cakes in one day!

  4.      April: The Kashmir trip with my parents and brother. Best 5 days of my life. It still helps me to mentally transport myself to those beautiful snow-capped mountain ranges and crystal clear lakes whenever I’m low.

  5.      May: Project finalization pressure. And euphoria at the end of the month as we got it completed. Five month’s hard work and kiss-assing the lecturers finally paid off!!

  6.      June: Exam time. I still remember my confident and clear mind-set after writing each paper. Felt good to be sure of myself.

  7.      July: Result and the fact that I was an engineer.

  8.      August: Nothing special to recall. Just me and my weight loss spree, got me to visit some new places and to meet different people.

  9.      September: Decision time. MBA or JOB? Spent first 20 days of the month researching and deciding on a few MBA colleges.  Spent the next 10 days to back out of the plan as I suddenly felt this dark feeling in my pit. And that feeling was: “I needed to work”. And I have a tendency to follow the dark, unsure path with a hope to see some light at the end.

  10. October: Moved out of my house. Bangalore called. Learned to adjust to Bangalore life-frequent bus travels, long miserable walks under hot sun until either my slipper snapped or I turned a shade darker.

  11. November: Met a lot of people- people looking for jobs, people giving jobs, people calling me to attend interviews at various locations. And also someone very interesting.

  12. December? It’s been a rough mental wave ride. Haven’t’ figured out what it was this month that caused me to detest everything that’s been leading up to this moment. Made some stupid regrettable mistakes without meaning to do so and that lead to a lot of drama (But if everything resolves in the future, I could actually write a book on all of it!!). But for now, I’m still clueless and heavy-hearted. No good stuffs here for sure, except the self-satisfaction that I’m writing again!

 So on the last day of 2012, I quote this; “Every year there will be a lot of heights and lows. Bad things happen, a lot at times. It makes you question yourself over and over. It gives you fear, frustration, anguish and anger. And worst of all it stops you from looking after your back and disrupt your life with your own crazy thoughts. But everyone tells me that everything happens for a reason. I have decided to believe in this in spite of all that’s happened so far tells me not to do so. So it’s a healthier approach to believe in happy endings rather than fear for a bad future ahead. HOPE does not fail a true believer. Be true to yourself, no matter what comes your way. You are the only person standing between you and your goals and progress in life. Just make sure you are there as a good supporter rather than a lousy hurdle”.

And on that note, I wish every clueless and clairvoyant people alike a very Happy and Fantastic New Year.

2013, I hereby declare thou as my year!!

In The Air

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 33; the thirty-third edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for the month is 'Celebrations'

Life is a cycle of emotions. And often, many deeply felt emotions take quite a time to get recycled. That first missed heartbeat when someone tells you that they like you... that first kiss... that first feeling of being lost in love. The first time these emotions happen, you will inexplicably find yourself floating on cloud nine. Your life suddenly becomes more colorful... Technicolor so to say and your routine becomes more meaningful. You will start enjoying every minute of your life. You will start to appreciate yourself more. When love is in the air, you are definitely a better person.

 But, the real life starts to happen, when the cloud nine that you presumably thought to be floating on forever bursts into tiny rain drops, making you fall... a long way back to ground-zero. Tears run wild, heart aches in resentment, colors around you slowly mixes together to just plain, dull grey. You will start to ask questions? “Was I really in love?”... “Why is this happening to me?”... 

And you know then, that this beautifully poisonous emotion called love can’t be with you forever. Everything has to end one day. Love turns into anger and resentment. You would start wishing you had never fallen in this love-pit. But then again, if you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have known and experienced those beautiful emotions that exists in this pit. So it’s a cycle indeed. You fall in love, feel great for some time and then get hurt and fall out of it. Then you try... try your best to stay out of love’s way. You will start thinking, “I’m not meant for love” or “I would never find love again”. And it’s true, when you are looking for that four-lettered poisonous dart called love, you will never find it.

You can’t look for love and neither will you find it. Love happens when you least expect it. It’s a clean shot, right through your heart. Love finds you when you are finally learning to lead a content, lonely life. When finally you accept to the idea of leading a long-single life with no care or other head-aches; that’s when love finds you. Irony, isn’t it? Love doesn’t come to you when you need it, it actually decides to awaken your heart when you least need it.

Well, no heart can live without love for long. Try as you might, you just can’t. That craving for care, love and attention will always be there no matter how much you might have thought to have tamed your heart.

So when love knocks on your door again and starts to possess you like never before, who are you to stop it? Just let it be. Love is an invisible celebration. Only you would know how much it is making you to change in your life. 

Love makes you want to live again... properly this time.

Love makes you want to sing again... and sing you will. 

Love makes you want to learn to pay attention to detail... you will start counting every little heartbeat in the name of love. 

Love makes you want to cherish that special someone... never before had anybody had that much of an impact on your life.

Love is indeed an invisible celebration. When cupid strikes an arrow through your heart, you are right then, a transformed person. It spreads warmth through your insides, making you a better person on the outside. Your good nature will be amplified and all your pessimistic thoughts will be forced to be subjugated. We celebrate each and every occassion in the year with dance, music, lights and sweets. But when the celebration of love starts to happen, all you need is love itself and the person you can share it with.

Love is an invisible celebration but it is the celebration of new found hope and happiness. So celebrate it... cherish it... because, love is in the air!!

***

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Introduced By: The Fool, Participation Count: 02

Girl in the City

It’s never easy to know exactly whether the decision you have taken is for your own good or for your worse. Once a decision is made, your life’s path changes its course towards a different direction. Your life’s path is more or less like a navigation point on a GPRS map. The paths and the directions keeps drifting around you and you are left to choose the most suitable path from the numerous rights, lefts and U-turns. And it’ll be even more challenging when you have no idea about the destination!

Most of the times you are bound to take a wrong turn; a wrong turn that is taken intentionally just to see how the path works for your future or the same wrong turn taken unintentionally and later regretted. Either way to move forward towards any direction, you have to take that decision. You have to choose that path and you have to tread on it and experience what the path holds for you.

Ever since the graduation, all I’ve been doing is searching for that one right path amidst the numerous options that are laid before me. But all I did was choose each option and carefully contemplate the pros and cons of each such option. Over the months I started to realise, what I think, see, read and hear about the options in front of me is nothing compared to what I would experience firsthand in case I choose one of them.

You can make all the plans you want. But how much a perfectly laid out plan can actually work out? Even the best laid plans fail and mine is far from being called perfect. But I have choices. Lots of them. But all of them have the same weight age. All of them have their own pros and cons. If I choose one, I have to be ready to face some high roads and always be ready to sacrifice my comfort zone. Nothing ever comes easy for sure.

So here I am. In this big city, away from home. Finally moving forward on to a new path rather than contemplating what the path holds in the future. Am I scared what would happen if things doesn’t work out? Hell yes. I’m scared about a lot of things but I know I have it in me to face them all. And that comforts me to some extent.

Future is always unknown and I’m glad not to know. Makes my life simpler to live and to survive. Yes, surviving. I never actually lived to survive before; I just lived a carefree life. But now I’m surviving to live. And that makes all the difference there is.

All in a LIE

I feel so trapped inside. No goals, no determination, no desire and NO CLUE whatsoever. What am I going to do with my life? Looks like this life of mine has come to a miserable halt. There is no track from here on that would lead me to the so called destination. What is my destination? I hear the word Destiny in the word destination. What is my destiny? Did god give me this messed up, about to be fucked up life just so that I can ask this question?

Destiny is overrated. Just like the movies. Just like the art shows. Just like every other colourful aspects humans create to indulge in. It’s a fucking camouflage. A lie. That is the ultimate truth. Destiny possesses our souls, brainwashing our hearts to make the mind believe that the body has to strive hard, for the ultimate “desty”-nation.

Nope. No way. Not in this lifetime. Ah, these are the negative vibes that I feel so familiar with. It’s a strange thing, but these words give me an ironic comfort inside. Almost like I am agreeing to them without a fight. I take pleasure in pessimism now. Because I know ultimately when all the hope, faith and the rainbow coloured optimism leaves me, I’ll be greeted by my good-old friend pessimism. Negativity is like a sarcastic symphony. It is just below our hearts waiting to pull it down whenever the heart gets overwhelmed to soar high because of over-optimism or excessive trusting. It keeps our heart grounded.

An everyday optimistic person can point out that this negative aura of mine does nothing but cage my dreams, hopes and desires. But they are so wrong. Reality now-a-days is more real than what the word reality actually expresses. Everything is not white, pink or golden. Black is a good colour and so is grey. I am surrounded by darkness.

I feel lost, yet I feel like I’m home.

A perfect sun-set

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 30; the thirtieth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

The strong wind made me sway as if I was sailing on a boat. To my right stretched the most beautiful ocean, outshining its way through a plethora of golden light. The sunset seemed like a perfect start to a new decision towards life.

“Roni come on, let’s dive into the waves”, a small kid shouted at his elder brother in excitement. “Ronit, don’t let him go too deep”, shouted their father over the loud gushing and splashing of the strong Arabian waves.

The excitement and recklessness in the kid’s voice and the father’s clear concern, made me realize that I had been overlooking these small, yet necessary emotions when it came to building a family. This was the first time I had actually managed to take note of these emotions. All that mattered to me these days were emotions that I used to showcase only for materialistic things. Like the new car that I had been dreaming to buy since two years which I finally bought last week. To commemorate the success, I had taken a week off and even made Malini, my wife do the same so that we could come out of the city for a weeklong celebration and relaxation.

Over the salty wind, I could hear Malini’s voice loud and clear, at the back of my mind. “Abhi, what exactly are we celebrating? It’s just a car. I’m very happy you bought it and now it will be easy for you to travel to work every day. I don’t feel like it’s necessary to take a whole week off just to drive around in it, along the coast line.”

“What are you talking about hon? This car represents a milestone that we have reached in our marriage. We have finally reached a stage where, we as a couple can lead a luxurious, guilt-free life. Isn’t that what we always talked about?”

“That was three years ago Abhi. We were newlywed and buying a big house and a car is any husband and wife’s initial dream. We are about to enter into our fourth year of marriage and all we own is a two bed room flat in the city. Our parents don’t visit us often because it’s too far and even if they do; we are always busy travelling back and forth from our work. And now we have finally bought this expensive car which pretty soon will start hibernating in the basement because of the rising petrol rates.”

“Um, actually the car runs on diesel...”

“I don’t care on what it runs”, Malini’s voice shook in frustration. “I want to own something that is ours Abhi, not something we order and buy at a store. Don’t you think it’s time we start investing on something a little selfless?”

“Selfless? Let’s see, I work 10 hours a day so that we can afford a nice home and now a car and you work for a few hours, teaching local school kids some English. But yeah, it’s very selfish of me to buy a car and very selfless of you to point out how selfish I am! Thanks a lot Mal, I expected a little more support from you but definitely not this.”

“Abhi, aren’t you understanding what I’m trying to say? I feel like I’m the only one who is thinking of having a family with you and all you think is to invest your money in something that doesn’t have a heart!”

“You mean kids? Oh, come on Malini, it’s a new apartment; it’s only a year old. I really don’t want kids at this stage. I mean the havoc they create... it’ll be like living with a live volcano that can erupt anytime it pleases. And what about your work? You will have to quit your job to look after them. Do you really want to give up your career so soon?”

“See, this is exactly what I’m talking about. You are so selfish right now. You are saying no because you care more about the house paint getting wrecked by our future kids rather than thinking about how wonderful it’ll be to have a little baby boy or a girl amidst us. Are you seriously that heartless Abhi?”

I couldn’t stand her glaring at me. This whole having kids’ conversation always made me uncomfortable. “Look, I’m not saying no to a future prospect. But it’s too soon for us to have kids right now Malini. Let’s give it a couple more years...”

She was shaking her head in disbelief now. “You know what your problem is Abhi, you are scared.”

“Why should I be scared..?”

“Oh stop it Abhi, I didn’t marry you blindly, I knew you’re very thoughtful of your decisions. Sometimes you hesitate to make a decision to such an extent that you will end up missing an entire opportunity. Like that promotion that you bluntly rejected because you thought you were not ready for the change so soon. Life is all about change Abhi and if you don’t get that, then I don’t think neither of us will be happy together.”

“Give me a break with the preaching, Malini. We have come all the way to Goa to enjoy a few peaceful days. Can you please not ruin our holiday like this? I promise, once we go back we’ll work it out”

“You have been saying the same thing from last two years.”  Saying so Malini walked out of the Resort towards the beach.

***

Now here I was walking along the coast, in search of her for the last two hours. I saw all sorts of people; couples enjoying an evening walk, kids building sand castles together while their happy parents took photos, groups of friends running about the beach or playing with the waves.

Malini and I were about to be 30 this year and having kids was the next best thing at this stage. But why do I feel like I’m not ready?

I guess Malini is right. I’m just scared to accept changes in my life, I thought. That’s when I realised how selfish and unreasonable I was sounding. Malini was the one who was ready to sacrifice her career to bear my kids and here I was, completely lost within my world of new homes and new cars and monetary investments.

I started walking back towards the resort. I saw Malini sitting on a park bench and looking to her left at the kid’s playing nearby. A little girl ran towards Malini and pulled her hand, gesturing her to play with her. I could clearly see the longing look in Malini’s eyes as she took the little girl’s hand and ran with her towards the beach.

I ran too. Towards Malini and hugged her from behind and whispered, “I’m sorry for being such a jerk this whole time Mal. I will not make you wait anymore. Seeing you with the kids made me realize how happy you will be when we have our own kids. And I want that happiness in our lives”.

Malini turned to face me and I could see her blushing. “You really meant that, didn’t you?”

And that’s how we ended the perfect setting on the sun-set beach with a perfect kiss.

***

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. I’m thankful to BLOGGER NAME, who introduced Blog-a-Ton to me, and I debuted in XX edition.

Credits

Image - Shades of Orange by Harsha Chittar
Courtesy - Curious Dino Photography via www.blogaton.in

Two in One

This year I received a couple of awards from fellow bloggers and I must say it kind of makes me feel good. This is despite the fact that I'm a major cynic when it comes to this whole receiving an award and tagging business. This is because I love short-cuts and sometimes I think things in such a way that my short-cuts sound really evil. I mean, consider these awards. Its out there on the internet right? There was a time when I saw so many bloggers tagging their friends and giving them awards like these and during that time, I wasn't at the receiving end of any of these awards. So what was my evil short-cut plan? My mind egged me to copy a couple of Liebster's and Versatile's and "pretend" to receive them from bloggers that didn't exist (I was sure most of the readers wouldn't even click on the blogs that I have tagged to double check them!). Guilty!! But I guess my laziness pretty much saved me from carrying out this evil-master plan. And that's the only time I'm really ever grateful for my lazy,comatose state.

Obviously, I'm wrong about this misconception. People really do give interest. And it's never really about how many awards you post on your blog. It's all about how much you have put yourself out there that makes fellow bloggers actually consider you as a possibility to award something like this in order to show their appreciation. Everybody likes a bit of appreciation now and then. But it only makes sense when you are actually recognized and not pretentious about it (Neha's mind, are you listening/reading what I'm typing right now??). 

And so here is my appreciation for my friends who thought I should receive this. A mighty thanks to you guys.

Thank you Ajay for this cool award. (I'm about a few months late in posting it, apologies!!)

Thank you Sreeja for this lovely award. (I'm not so late in posting this, finally coming out of my laziness!)

Some rules to these awards:

1.If you are tagged/ nominated you have to post 11 facts about yourself.

2.Then you answer the 11 questions the tagger has given you & make 11 questions for the people you are going to tag.

3.Tag 11 more Bloggers.

4.Tell the people you tagged that you did.

11 lousy facts about me:-

1) I tell myself to never listen to myself but I end up listening to myself most of the times.

2) My major current goal in life- to lose some weight and to improve my health.

3) I love cats. They melt my heart and make me laugh and I really need to laugh these days.

4) I have a tendency to make my life difficult for me to live in. I'm plagued by negativism and pessimism.

5) I like to be by myself. I like to keep my mouth shut and just be silent. I would really like to control my anger but sometimes it just goes haywire and people in my path will get its full impact. 

6) As a complete contradiction to the above sentence, I love hanging out with my friends, going to parties with them, getting drunk if an opportunity presents itself; but it's less these days as everybody is busy with their careers.

7) I love to travel. I would love to go on a trekking or hiking soon.

8) I hate being lazy but at the same time I love being lazy (I'm crazy, I know!).

9) I love Maggie. I realized I'm addicted to it when recently I went on a 10 day fasting and all I dreamed about was delicious, steaming, hot Maggie.

10) I'm running out of facts (even this is a fact!).

11) I love to write, duh!!

11 Questions for me:

1. What is the most important thing in your life?

~To be happy.

2. Would you dedicate your time for society if chance comes, even if it is difficult?

~Yes, I would.

3. What is that one thing you would like to get from life?

~A lot of luck, will power and optimism.

4. If ever you are alone in this whole world...then?

~Suits me, I like being alone. But I just need my laptop, and my movie collection.

5. Who is that one person you would like to meet?(celebrity)

~Hugh Grant.

6. Your favorite genre in reading and why?

~Mysteries and Thrillers. They are very thrilling!!

7. Are advertising an influencing thing in your life,   to what extend?

~Not really, But Chocolate related ads and other junk food ads make me hungry.

8. Your favorite author?Why?

~Sidney Sheldon. He's my ultimate inspiration.

9. What is that wild thing you will do if nobody is going to judge you?

~Be Childish.

10. How much blogging means to you?

~A lot.

11. How do you discard the waste from your home?

~I give it to the garbage-man!

11 Silly Questions from me:-

1. Have you ever fallen off your bed while sleeping?

2. Do you still sleep with your Teddy Bear?

3. Which celebrity do do have a crush on right now?

4. Have you ever done something wild and crazy? If so, do tell.

5. Your favorite super-hero?

6. Your favorite child-hood cartoon character?

7. Your hobbies?

8. Your favorite Author?

9. Your favorite junk food?

10. Your favorite music band?

11. Are my questions silly and stupid?

And the 11 Bloggers I would like to tag and dedicate both the awards to:

1. Leopaw (http://bigbitz.blogspot.in/)

2. Jasmeet Kukreja (http://emotestar.blogspot.in/)

3. Dr.Time Pass (http://sometimesmakessense.blogspot.in/)

4. Jaish_vats (http://jaishwrites.blogspot.in/)

5. Ash (http://e-pinion.blogspot.in/)

6. Tarang Sinha (http://tarangsinha.blogspot.in/)

7. Ghazala Hossain (http://a-blind-date.blogspot.in/)

8. Deepak Karthik (http://deepakkarthikspeaks.blogspot.in/)

9. Jessy John ( http://jessysjohn.blogspot.in/)

10. Ajay Kontham (http://imagination19.blogspot.in/)

11. Mak (http://maks-journy-nevr-ends.blogspot.in/)

And many more. I follow a lot of blogs but It's an enormous task to link them all and to intimate them. Nonetheless, I have finally completed this award task. I had nothing else to write as my mind is troubled with multiple issues right now and I'm attacked by overflow-ification of words! 

Thanks again and Enjoy your day!!

Thoughts and Acknowledgments

Okay, the title sounds like I'm about submit an abstract to my project. But the good news is, it's just a bunch of random thoughts from my side and I promise to keep this post short. 

Well, I don't need to say much, the picture below speaks for itself. Yesterday, I finally received my long awaited prize from Indiblogger for participating in Stayfree- Time to Change contest. I was one of the five winners who won a watch. And finally I have a watch that I can wear as a jewellery. It's quite heavy as it's of a broader make. It was tough for me to choose the best watch as there were so many fabulous watches under Esprit and other brands. The reason I chose an Esprit brand is because, when the result was announced that I had won a prize a few months back, I literally googled every watch present under Esprit and just fell in love with the brand. 

I must confess, this is my first win ever in a writing contest. And this is the first time ever I've received a BIG prize. I used to win small prizes for drawing and painting stuffs at school level. But currently, I've lost touch towards painting. But I don't want to lose touch when it comes to writing. I always used to write but never figured that this could be seen as a talent too. No, I still can't completely agree that I'm talented at writing. I have a lot to learn. 

But little milestones such as these, truly helps boost up my perception towards something better in the future.

That's that. And as a side-note, I won't be blogging much for the next week. I'm going to a place where I can access internet only through my phone. So will miss out on a week's worth of stories from fellow bloggers. Hope to catch up with you all when I return.


Cheers :)

Hair Scare and Dove to the Rescue.

I have to admit that I have been a careless teenager. Especially when it came to my hair. 7 years ago, during my prime teen years, I was more of an outdoors kind of person and since I am blessed with long, straight and slightly wavy hair, I hardly thought I needed to take care of it. It was just hair on my head and I used to pull it into a pony tail, without even combing my hair at times, before venturing out of the door.

During lunch hours at college, all my friends talked about was hair-fall sufferings and also show-casing excessive concerns about a few gray hairs here and there that they all seemed to be plagued upon. I usually got lost in my own thoughts during these conversations. The only thing I used to be concerned about during those days was when the class hours would end and what snack granny would have prepared back home. And thus during one of those “boring” conversations, one of my friend brought me back from my “snack dream” with a pin pricking question: “So, Neha. You used to have such thick, lovely hair when you were in school. What happened to it?”

And her words reverberated all around my empty brain as this type of question to moi was a first and I replied to her after two minutes of shocked silence. “What? What do you mean? My hair has always been like this even back in high school.”

“No it wasn’t”, pitched in my other friend to my deep misery, “I bet you can’t put two thick plaits like you used to put during those days.”

“Of course I can, but I won’t. This is college for Christ’s sake. I don’t want seniors to come and rag me for going all “gauramma” here ok?” I replied irritably.

“Ok, then let’s go to the rest room and check out if your plaits are as thick as they used to be.  You can take them off again”.

So off they dragged me to the ladies room and I knew I had gotten myself into a spot I didn’t want to get into the first place. As one of my friend finished braiding my hair, I turned towards the mirror and I was shocked to see how much volume had been lost in those plaits.

“My god, is this some kind of a joke?” I exclaimed.

The other girls tried hard not to giggle but they consoled me and from then onwards even I got into those long and painful conversations of protecting one’s hair by sharing various homemade remedies.

Each week I tried new things. My mom and grandma worked judiciously by applying coconut oil, neem oil, lemon-mix oil et al to my scalp and hair. And as a result, my already oily skin got oilier by the day and my forehead started to house the dreaded pimples. Shampoos are not so good at removing oil from hair and mom always warned me from resorting to different shampoos as they contain a lot of chemicals. As a result, once a week I had to resort to Shikhakai powder and my allergy towards the irritable thing increased. Shikhakai is a really good natural product for hair, but it’s a nightmare for those who are allergic to its smell. My skin used to turn red and itch at the contact of it, and so I had to stop using it eventually.

After 5 months of this horror show, I literally used to run away whenever either my mom or granny used to come to me with a bowl of oil for my scalp. I had had enough of trying to take care of my hair. My hair had definitely grown longer at a faster pace because of these age-old oil therapies but I was definitely not satisfied with the torture I was enduring.

Anyway, with the hectic classes and assignments and other things ruling my life, I barely had time to have a decent breakfast, let alone spend five extra minutes to tend my hair. As this hectic schedule continued, my carelessness towards my already unmaintained hair grew, if possible to another level.

Two years later, I had finally graduated from 12^th and was in my first year of engineering. Two years if carelessness regarding my health due to various factors like hectic college and tuition hours, tensions, eating junk food rather than fruits and veggies and lack of proper sleep had finally taken its toll on me. Obviously I had gained weight and keeping that aside, my lovely hair looked less lovely now a days. And damn those gray hairs. I could see them hiding amidst my tresses, almost evading my notice. And though my hair was long, it looked really thin and dull these days. The dandruff problem was going out of control now and it became really hard to maintain because after every head bath, my hair would get oily and itchy by next day. And I wasn’t even using oil for my hair!

I must confess I used to jump from shampoo to shampoo very frequently those days. In a year, I might have used five to six different brands of shampoos in a vague attempt to control hair-fall and dandruff issues. Obviously it was all those heavy chemicals that were causing all this damage.

I had had enough of all this shampoo business. But there was still one shampoo that had escaped from my notice somehow.

One day at a shopping mart, I was causally walking down the aisle, in search of the Dove soap. I found my Dove Exfoliating Bathing Bar and in the next shelf I found the Dove Deodorant that I had been meaning to use since a month. Then I remembered that the Dove Deep Pure Oil-Cleansing Face Wash I purchased the last time was almost used up. So off it went into my shopping bag. Then in the next row, I came face to face with Dove range of shampoos and suddenly I was hit with a strange epiphany. How on earth did I end up using almost all of the Dove products except the shampoo and the conditioner?

It was like the answer was right there and I had failed to take note of it before. I literally worship the dove soap and the dove deodorants, mainly because of their mildness and lovely smell and the soap really gives my skin a smooth effect. Obviously if the soap and the deodorants worked, then shampoo should work too.

After my last Shikakhai and horrible chemically inflicted shampoo scenario, a new shampoo from a product company that I was already familiar about was a welcoming sight. So I judiciously bought the blue Dove Damage Therapy Shampoo and Conditioner.

This time, I was determined to make things work for me. So it was bye-bye for most of the junk food. And a hello to all the fruits and veggies. I started to feel better health wise and my oily skin condition was finally reduced and my hair was starting to breath now.

And you know what? Within the next two months I could clearly see a positive result on my hair. It was growing long again and hair-fall had reduced visibly and the split-end problem was almost nil. But the grey hair was still there. Shampoos can’t rectify that. So from last two years, I’ve started visiting the salon to get a nice hair colour from a really good brand. And I feared Dove might not be able to help me out with coloured hair, but as it turns out, I just needed to change from the Intense Repair Shampoo to the Advanced Colour Care Shampoo.

And now my hair has more volume, and the colour treated hair looks better than ever before. All thanks to Dove and some common sense to maintain a healthy diet from my part.

And that was the end to all my hair problems. All is well that ends well. What say?

P.S: Technically I can compare Dove products to Google. When it comes to Google, apart from using the Chrome browser and the Google Search, people end up using Gmail, YouTube, Google+ and Picasa web albums. Even Dove is similar to Google when it comes to its universal usage. Women are most likely to end up using Dove soaps, deodorants, body lotions, face wash and of course Dove range of Shampoos and conditioners. 

This post is written for the "Dove Damage Therapy Contest" and my post on Indiblogger can be found here.

This contest is sponsored by:

Neha’s Journal hits a century.

This is not a post on my hundredth post. I’m still 32 posts behind to reach my hundredth post and I intend to reach it with posts that matter to me. This post is dedicated to all my friendly readers who visit my blog from time to time and assure me that I’m not the only one reading my posts. Recently, my blog celebrated its one year anniversary and as a gift to myself, I duly noted that about a 100+ fellow blogging friends have been kind enough to follow my page. In the first month that I started to blog, I had no idea about the blogging world or how it worked. I was under the impression that I would post whatever I felt like writing and people would visit and comment on my post. Obviously it doesn’t work that way and I’m glad it doesn’t work that way too.

Because if things became that easy, I wouldn’t have developed a broader perspective of reaching out to the diverse family of bloggers and I definitely wouldn’t have learnt a thing or two about the different lives and culture and history and the photography that the other bloggers had in store for readers like me. Over the months, I have learnt to be humble and definitely I know it now, that blogging is not like Facebook or any other social networking platform where the sole purpose of such platforms is self-promotion and a desperate seek to achieve popularity.

No. Blogging is a much more sophisticated and yet a friendly platform. Indeed, bloggers blog with hopes of gaining many readers. But it’s definitely worth it because here, all we are promoting is our words. Our hard earned sentences weaved together to produce an interesting insight into our individual lives. It’s very easy to take a picture of ourselves and to post it online and to get likes and comments, but definitely the end result of it won’t be as sweet as getting appreciated for bringing out the writer in us and showing the world a glimpse of our intellectualism. That, my friends is the real fruit of blogging.

So as a thank you to all my fellow bloggers and friends and future blogging friends whom I look forward to meet and exchange a comment or two, here is a poem dedicated to you all. Cheers!!

A journey that began

Not so long ago;

It triggered a dream,

A dream that evaded its existence.

But a dream, that finally began to unravel

Letter by letter,

Word by word,

Sentence by sentence.

Finally, I saw my dream

Pouring onto the pages;

Pages that I hold close

To my heart.

Pages... I never imagined,

Would make their way

Into the lives of the many individuals,

My fellow bloggers,

My mentors and my friends,

Whom I met during this worthwhile journey.

So far, the journey has been fruitful

And I intend to continue it,

For days and weeks and years to come.

I am forever grateful for all your support.

                                               

                                                         ~Neha 

When WORDS get MURDERED

Let’s not deny it. You and I both have committed multiple murders recently and we are going to continue to judiciously murder in the future too. What murder is this, do you ask? Don’t be shocked. Luckily we won’t be sent to prison for this kind of murder. I’m talking about a crime, which falls under the section of “defamation of words”. Yes, with the advent of SMS, chat rooms and text messages, we all have victimised the English Language by murdering its basic word-structure. If you are still not getting me, just get your smart phone or any other mobile device that you use and open your inbox. In the recent conversations there is a 99% chance that you are bound to find, if not all, but at least a few of the following words that would have been typed in short-form to make them look like this:

And= nd

Come= “cum” (I mean, come on!! We all know there is a whole other meaning to the “cum” word!)

Coming? = cummin? (No thank you!!)

What= wat

This= dis

When= wen

The= d

Your= ur

Tomorrow= tom (as in tom-cat?)

Should= shud

Could= cud

Don’t= don (you want me to “don” my dress or call in the mafia?)

And the list goes on. This is a serious crime you know. Over the last ten to fifteen years, we have become so accustomed to the “easy and short” usage of commonly used words in daily life that it has become more of a bad habit now a days. Short words are fine to use, when we are in a hurry to send a message to a friend as fast as possible. At times like that, short lingo is enough to make the communication. But that doesn’t mean they should be cultivated to be used on daily basis, especially on formal occasions. Now there has come a point where people forget the line between a formal and an informal letter.

Consider an average, short-lingo addict who is typing a very formal letter to an associate. And this is how it goes;

Respected sir,

As Ive bin caught up wid a lite fever, its nt possible 4 me 2 attnd d functn on d said date. Kindly understand n oblige.

Yours truly,

So n so.

There is definitely nothing formal about this formal letter. The excessive usage of short-lingo is slowly deteriorating our brain from using the actual English words that are classy, wholesome to pronounce, to speak and to see.

I know SMS language is the all new “it” language that people, especially the teens and young adults are flaunting now a days. But studies show that if this type of sub-culture continues, the short form might as well be adapted as the revised English language with the future generations.

English is often called as a mad man’s language because, there are words that sound the same but mean different like “hare” and “hair”. Then there are words that sound something and are spelled with completely different letters like the words “tough” and “through” where the “gh” is merely there for no reason. So no language is perfect. Even English is perfectly flawed. But it has been built and well organised over the past generations. There are many words that come under this language that define subtlety and sophistication. English language is a classic, universal language. But times are changing and so is the usage of English words. In my opinion, people are becoming lazy to type the whole word. Instead they are resorting to the SMS culture even for formal occasions.

This is mainly affecting the children’s Basic English knowledge. There are cases where students often forget while writing long answers and resort to using short-form words such as “r for are”, “u for you” and "bcoz for because". Maybe short-lingo is a popular culture out in the modern society but they are definitely formidable to be used when one is expected to actually write on a sheet of paper.

Even I have done such horrible mistakes while writing letters and even during class internals. And this is mainly because of the constant texting and chatting with friends on the internet. That is why I started blogging. So that at least in my posts I wouldn't resort to the SMS culture. And this has helped me improve over the days. Now a days, even while I text or chat on Facebook, I make sure I type properly. Of course there are times, I feel lazy and use the short-hand version. But that’s okay. As long as I don’t use that form of language in my E-mails, letters and comments, I’m fine with it.

Words mean a lot to me and I hate to see them get stripped off and murdered off their essence like this. So I’m making the following two similar requests:

Please stop hurting the words. Use them fully and completely and if you respect the language, that in turn shows your respect to the person reading it.

(OR)

PLZ stp hurtin d wurds. Use thm full n cumplte n if u respt d lang, thn u respt d persn readin’t.

Now why don’t you decide which makes more sense to read and to feel? The former or the latter??

***

P.S: Trust me, you don’t want to forget your grammar like this cat here who texts his pals a lot!! ;)