Rooting for Bringing Back the Stupidity in Zombie Movies...nothing artistic about it!

Like everyone curious-eyed teenager, my love for Zombie movies began just around the time when hormonal growth was in the throes and daily testosterone resurgence was making a heavy impact. This meant an unending fascination with primarily white & yellow-faced bodies being slashed, and cut down to smaller pieces where the chopped-away body part often had this individual ability to move around! But somewhere down the line, not due to too much TV, the entire charm with the niche died. Not sure why but I can understand that this has got something to do with ditching the old ways of making Zombie movies, choosing the modern, more digital way of doing things. You see, the charm of Zombie mayhem lies in stupid finishing touches.

Blog, Share, Comment often? NO, you are not close to being a good writer

There is a hidden author in you, this could be the week when you start your globally-awaited journey towards being the novelist that God wanted you to become...thoughts like these will continue to traffic your mind but the fact remains that like most things in life, at least crafts that need every nuance of the trade to be baked with extreme effort, Writing is not that easy!

When Family Time sounds like your Psychologist's Favorite Phrase about what you Should be Doing!

Tail-end of 80s and 90s played host to my growing-up memories

It was during the morning hours of getting ready for work and the usual music channels were upbeat with new tunes and songs. My mind just popped some images of audio cassettes of yonder that once used to find ample space in my schoolbag, drawers, cupboards and always seem like trending without the hashtags or Instagram stories. We didn't need social media channels to tell us what was cool - we could pretty much handle this on our own. We didn't need Likes on our images to realize that what we had was of some value and liked by others. These were really plasticky times and still they now seem a lot more real, less commercialized, more restrained without getting suffocating. This was during the late 80s and early 90s.

Do Abnormally Creative Mixing Skills Mean a Good Career?

I am looking for a job profile titled Mixologist. Your expectations should be:

• can mix all forms known to man - air, water, fire, earth, pornographically permeated ideas
• suffers from severe mixing tendencies that were once evaluated as the result of God-mixed, genetically-conjured split personalities
• has no shame in admitting that most mixing experiments lead to severe accidents
• someone who cannot be trusted with a kitchen that is reasonably stocked
• expects you to be ready party to anything and everything that is mixed and whipped beyond recognition
• seems to look at everyday food choices as a challenge and wants to defeat them
• has the distinction of not suffering from acidity despite multiple, same-day food experiments
• was once listed as a wanted offender for challenging the stability of our food chain
• has won accolades for mixing three types of shaving foams and four types of deodorants
• suffers from borderline disassociation syndrome when mixing possibilities dry-up
• cannot be trusted with small kids as his creations might make the kids choke or allergy-up
• envies mixer-grinding machines who seem to mix better than him [seem...they actually don't]
• is crazy about textures in food

Almost Ancient Moral Science Classroom Chapters that Make More Sense Now!

Our moral science classes were usually held in the first period of the day. In a catholic school, as a fraternity, we were big on manners and learning the good things to do. At that time, it seemed a bit too vague, often about things that we really didn’t practice but yes, it helped to draw some sort of line between the good, the bad, and the reasonably acceptable middle, grey zone. These lessons were usually forgotten and often the classroom aura was more of winding down for the day to follow with many mates catching up on quick bites and pending homework copies. Things that were transmitted to us were usually never received or processed. Now, after nearly two decades, it seems that many of the lessons that we didn’t bother to learn during that period are waiting for their share of the spotlight. We were told not to lie and yes, I learned this lesson rather well before giving it away when handling the type of projects that were too big for the teams I managed. The lesson of one lie opening a box of more dicey stories, tales sprinkled with misleading creativity followed. Soon I realized that no matter what the Management or the workplace buddies say, don’t lie to your client – this will blow up in your face in the most hurtful manner. The smallest lessons about starting the day in a refreshing manner, always taking the time to tidy up make more sense now, in my middle-30s when there are a million tasks to manage and not starting the day on a positive note means daylong anxiety and unwanted stress!

If only, at that time, someone could have schooled in the wisdom of teaching these lessons as life-essential skills and not just another round of classroom learning.

When Life Gives You Lemons, Ask for Martini...Demand One!

This is not some Instagram-worthy post with hash-tags like #lifemotivation - this is just me, sharing something that I have learned along the way when repeatedly trying to undertake a journey towards an utterly believable state of happiness. I have this firm belief that as an individual, I never exploited and fully utilized the gifts that God granted. I did not encash the opportunities that Destiny presented. For a long time, Life has been about committing many mistakes and then finding the energy to try redemption. The result is this constant battle where I have to fight off bouts of unhappiness that stem from this reconfirmation. However, I have also found a way of dealing with such days. This short blog post is about such life management...

Did you just mark that wall with your imprints? Don't dumb it up!

What is it about fingerprints on the walls that make people gush about its authenticity? Just recently, I read an article about how to decorate a room using your handprints. My reaction was a blend of confusion and amazement. I felt confused because the idea of having an entire wall covered in handprints as the accent walls trending did not appeal to me, and more so, I could not understand what is so organically creative about it. I was a bit amazed because some people call it artistic! I can never understand this. Prints of human hands, with the fingerprints, clearly showing, in a color of the paint or pigment, does not create great visuals. There is nothing so progressive about them. I am not complaining about how some people have abused heritage sites with this irresistible urge to leave their imprints all over these places of cultural or religious greatness - instead, I am talking about my failure to really interpret what makes this such a lovable thing to do. No one has majestically different hands whose imprints will create a Picasso-niche imprint. Most of these will be scratched away or painted out someday. As long as they are there, plastered on the surface, they look plain ugly. Some vacationers tend to think of these hand imprinting exercises as a very anthropological way of marking their territory or adding that family aura to something that only society or community actually owns. However, nothing of the sort is the reality. Imprinting your hand over anything, often creating smudges, is no art! I see people do it in the kid's room, and for once, a couple of handprints on a call can look cute. I say so being the father to a 1.8 years old girl whose feet and handprints have never been properly captured. As a couple, we have always planned to do it but just never got around to doing so. Here, the visual appeal of it is somewhat understandable but that too in the form of a few prints only, and not doing the entire wall in a maze of handprints. However, handprinted walls in the kitchen, living room, or bedroom are not macabre or eclectic.

Some Food Cooking, Serving, Ordering Habits that Need a Change

Like anyone else in this world, I love eating, and I also love the mannerisms, the sub-cultures, the unspoken rules that are meant to be broken that are inherent to many cuisines. However, the zone of must-DOs often overlaps with irritation, making me pause and think - who created these self-anointed rules of the game? I seriously don't understand why people should order a butter parantha with butter-chicken or paneer butter masala - there is no such disease that is diagnosed with lack of cottage cheese! Why is that a burger seems more complete with a dumping of fries by the side - is there a reason why I should chew down more fried stuff when I only wanted a good burger? Some food ordering and eating preferences are seriously questionable... 

Approach to Restarting Life Inspired by Falling Leaves

Nature has this weird knack of teaching us a lesson all the time. It is just that we never take the time to stop, observe and learn it. However, with time, when Life has jerked you around a bit too much, with too much regularity, you tend to take notice. I took notice nearly five years back and since then, the entire perspective has changed. One such visual that I remember from my transition days is that of falling leaves. For a moment, believe that the leaves are days, hours or moments during which we realize that we need to overhaul our lifestyle choices to enable better outcomes, for a life more aligned along the lines of achieving fulfillment.

Don't Preach about Micro-scoping Everything We Eat

There is hell lot of online wisdom out there about how to choose, about how to be very careful about what we eat - however, some of these seem too preachy and at times, irritating! There is something very simple and unsaid about food that is good - you have to close your eyes to the obvious things that will not agree with a nutritionist's advice. Soulful food is invariably high on calories. Perhaps, this is why it is so happy and big and yes, it contains a lot of fat too which you cannot enjoy if your conscience keeps asking you questions about the calorie count.