Conflicting Minds

The word ‘Spice’ is very synonymous with us Indians. We associate spice with food and lifestyle, words and stories. ‘Meetha’, ‘namkeen’, ‘chatpata’ and ‘theekha tadka’ do the talking in the way we Indians are. From mixtures of masalas we use in our cuisines to the daily gossips and news in our storytelling and conversations-have it all. Indian curries popular globally have been successful to cater to international tastebuds. With instant ready-to-cook, heat and eat powders, gravies and pastes, life has become much more easier than the time-consuming grinding processes. At the end, it’s the aroma and taste that matters. With a lot of health values seeping in today’s world, ‘multi-grain’ breakfast cereals, sugar-free beverages and light snack crackers are best-sellers for a healthy, tasty diet. Claiming to be healthy and at the same time, maintain the Indian spice is a constant struggle of how to combine taste and health. Kelloggs after a its initial brand failure in the market, made ...

Love is all that makes the world go round and round, in my silence I hear a sound. Ah! Not the usual heartbeat, but to make sure it’s love that’s all I need. Talking about it, relationships and all that hype of it’s a wonderful feeling falling for it or the other way round, never fall for it, it hurts. An in-thing or a trend of being in a relationship or having a break up is today’s mantra. I don’t intend to leave my parents just because I had a fight last night. Trust and understanding is all that is needed. A sense of comfort and loyalty and yes, no matter what ‘Never give up on love’. Why ‘rethink”, it’s time to rebuild’. Does it mean that mistakes, weaknesses, shortcomings and imperfections should be the cause of break ups. Relationships may be long-distant, but separation can’t be the reason to get away or escape. It causes misery and irreparable damages. Heart break is just a term, it breaks you down and life isn’t worth living. Things are not just the same, the barriers man cr...

How ironic to be moronic! When morons rule us at our workplace, it’s tough to stick on. I call it pulling along, struggles and debates on proving one’s worth. To have courage and take a stand, take no blame for doing what is right. The true reason of unemployment is that well qualified, experienced and confident individuals are facing the challenge everyday. The financial security, responsibility and a status of reputed brand, pay package and profile is the concern. A large number of them churning out of B-Schools and attending interviews, stiff competition ahead and guaranteed placements through college isn’t enough. Stress control, deadlines, pressures and dominance make it hard for one to survive. All I need is to learn to deal. The rudeness, the demands and all that expectation of what I’m not is so irritating, that bogged down even before attempts stagnates thinking and growth. A negative sign of why people at executive levels are hard-working than the top bosses. Senior level ma...

How about knowing Aunty Jaspinder’s daughter in Chandigarh without meeting her! Why not? That’s how I met your mother. From Yahoo Messanger to GTalk, from Facebook to Skype and all the hype and buzz created that I’m in a relationship. If not sailing in the ship, it’s cruise for the flirtatious. Blackberrys to Tabs to Androids to every infectious device that technology throws at you, I wouldn’t have been so interested in Jaspinder Aunty’s daughter than I would have out of Facebook. Falling for her by chance and meeting her is so much different that aunties talking about getting us matched. Shaadi.com with all its boring prospects and window-shopping future partners and enough of spectators to dig out reasons of why it didn’t work out. The in and outs of relationships, break-up parties and patching up again is the on-going trend. The day Uncle Danny called, Sunday morning 11 am sharp, he put forth a personal question: Yes, then no inquiries. No, then will take it forward. I said, “Go o...

The Lovemarks Company - Happy Holidays - LoveMix 2011

A little bit of sadness, I thought I could share A little bit of happiness, wonder if it is still there A little bit of hope, a little bit of dream Too late to realize I’m out of the team Taking the risk of the road less travelled With zest and passion to take over the task Silently and patiently time passed by The faith in my dreams diminished nearby Not knowing the narrow ways ahead Sometimes felt I could have just fled All in my mind, to do a lot of things Had to give up, what more could it bring It’s hard to leave what you really love A little bit of faith, a little bit of support Could have taken me a long way The talent I have is dying inside me Crying out to save and bring back life to it The expectations that crush me The constraints that stop me The boundaries that I must cross The roadblocks that come my way A little bit of chance to prove myself A little bit of appreciation to help myself Just one more thing that will help me grow Always loo...

“Hi! I’m Betty, remember the last time we met at Kevin’s birthday bash….it’s no more party! ‘Bash’ -I thought innocent souls were beaten up. Sophistication and style has gained importance rather than using the right words in the right context. The power of owning idioms and amassing wealth of rich creamy vocabulary is the ‘in thing’. Acceptance plays an important role here. The first impression and the way one starts a conversation talks from which part of the town you are. There comes society, class and brand-centric community. From what we wear to what we shopped, we only believe in talking and flaunting, realizing we lose track resulting in gossip and a drunken state of mind that comes free, when we are brave enough to speak the truth. Next day hangovers erupt news, rumors out of what we really said that what we ever meant. Yes, it worsened words and relations. I truly call it ‘Con-worse-ations’. Mankind not kind enough to apologize and repeatedly inculcate it as part of our life...

Confident, satisfied and dead sure the way I wanted things to be, but never knew there was a border line between aspirations and destiny. After all the prayers, research and everything, it made no difference to what I really wanted to do. Biggest decision at the crucial age of 25, where to go now, what to do, I’m I in the right place and questions like these popped up my mind. The stagnant, monotonous and mechanical way of working wasn’t meant for me. I had other reasons of my own of sticking on. I wish I could turn back time. Nevertheless, it has just been first love, and a hard way to quit something, and then do what. Something that you always enjoyed, loved to do and figure out all of a sudden, it wasn’t meant for you. That’s the call. Standing at four roads, wasn’t the crossroads. The cross was the glorified failure I had to overcome just to hone that skill. The hidden talent, so late I discovered, maybe by others first, was a compelling voice saying what I’m I doing all this whil...

Limited editions. Limited writers. Limited rights. How do we combat that? When the right talent is not in the right place. Movements, quits and hop-skip and jumps all over again. It becomes a cycle, a habit, an addiction. Even thinking and actions get restricted. A better way to improvise it…..let’s think, but not limit our ways. Thinking beyond imagination, looking beyond the reality and yes, the connection with words, circumstances and people. How often does this take place? In my case, yes all the more. It starts with ignorance, negligence and rejection, humiliation a long way. Battling goes on in the mind. I can’t express, I hold back and I’m short of ideas. My thinking power reduces. Not because I can’t or don’t want to. It’s the suppression of dominance of experience over the amateurs. Taught great things, discussed and arriving at a point of decision is the final approval. I have no say, I can’t think better than this. Why a ‘NO’, just because I’m not at the level of superiorit...

No! This time it’s nothing different, the usual stuff….no complaints, no grudges, no excuses, no expectations. Over-excited when I know I’m getting what I always wanted. But yes, a fear of losing out on it and in the end not enjoying it. Be it interests, food, clothes, job or relations, it’s very difficult to stick to a thing that begins with joy and ends with pain. It’s just like sand that slips from the hand. Everything seems bright in the beginning, but you reach a stage where you tend to get saturated and want to just give up. It’s not escape, it’s mere freedom from things that you cling to and get used to. And when it leaves you, it takes time to recover from the distant chord. I wish had done so many things, follies, regrets and all that was said and done. Why did they even come into my life? I pondered over it and the more I thought, I felt it was useless and just go with the flow. It also brings nostalgia and memoirs of the times you wish you could re-live. A special feeling ...