Some more to look(Read) back on

Sometimes I forget if I'm 27 or 28... which is obviously a huge sign of age catching up and I must naturally, then, be 28..
which I used to feel is young.. at least a year ago...
but now experientially feels old..
How do you all do it?

club hopping
bar swirling
drinking
drinking and waking up the next day operational?

Since I do literally none-of-the-above.. the only thing I'm doing is skipping..
skipping past it all... and much-the-lighter-for-it.
Occasionally one is shoved out and insisting loving voices say a "good time" must be had..
but I have always been very-middle-aged in my taste... ever since I started growing up and realising what exactly I did appreciate..

soups.books.rain.the sea.and music. and dance.. and dancing to good music with better friends :)
which was great in the 18-28 era.
and still is.

only now books are either Academic or pure vacation bliss...
dancing is those incorrigible sitting-moves in much-too-jazzy restaurants
and of course.. the big one.. Weddings :)
and the heartwarming friends are met over cosy coffee dates..
the precious times continue but life is different now..
Effort must be made to build up from the present what we wish to nourish in the future...
Effort, I have realised, is needed in just about everything worthwhile..
and much is left to learn... but steps are being plodded..
and it will all be worth very-much-while ..
because more than what one has.. is who one is and who one aspires to become...

Intent + Effort = Magic... or Karma.. your pick :)

love to all on their own aspirational journeys..
towards painting our own futures :)
and Happy Wedding Day to All the Excited Brides
Best Wishes!

the dirty P word.. Politics

I know its probably my because I'm inching closer to the big bad 3 Oh!, that I'm discussing this now..

The first discussion that i vividly remember having with close friends about this was in college... Bachelors.. and on this rare occasion the 4 of us were relaxing at a coffee space after a probably hilariously fun dinner.. and somehow.. strangely... we started sharing our Political views..
which had never come up till that day..
and i remember a merriment filled debate and quite a few of us shouting loudly but amidst laughter and a lot of learning about the political situation sans judgement.. it was a good night..
and at the end of that we were uniformly satisfied with the discussion and feeling good about ourselves for having a constructive argument and knowing more rather at the end of it..
like i said, it was a good night...in fact, as i reminisce i remember someone adding "I'm proud of us you guys"... :)

but now things have changed dramatically... political discussions are loaded.
we all know who we support, why we support them and nobody is really inclined to budge from their position based on someone elses words.. I'm not talking about "us" the innocents a decade ago :).. but the environment in general...

recently at an out of town wedding found myself loaded into a car with another fellow on the way to the venue.. and the conversation began innocuously enough but soon found myself in a place of such utterly opposing views that i found it a better to keep my mouth shut and let my eyebrows do the talking... which they did.. aplenty!...

and the virtual space and especially the comment section has become way too vitriolic for my taste..
sometimes i really wonder who these terrible people are, who begin to spew out such such such disgraceful things that you wonder why their mother never soaped their mouth in infancy!
and things that one would cringe to be even distantly associated with as a human being.. why such hate? why such hate for women? or anyone disliking Salman khan? or opposing views? basically.. opposing views.
our tolerance levels have fallen beyond belief...
we seem to be nation full of perverts and intolerant jack**es... and its not just the uneducated lot..
unfortunately it has penetrated the so-called academics.. i remember my comment-war with an allegedly educated humanities (the horror) scholar.. and how intolerant he was... how unrelenting in his desire to cut the voice of women and demarcate the whore and the virgin category... sick. absolutely sickening..
i think what is most disgusting is the Intolerance..
why are people no longer entitled to have their opinions respected?
if someone speaks up... why are they hounded?
where has "i respectfully disagree" gone?
where is the civilised behaviour in this civilisation?

where are the merry conversations of the years gone past.. :)
a post dipped in the honey of nostalgia... :)
but realistic enough about the not so palatable present day circumstances...
whatever is happening?