i, blatherer.

It all started when I decided to give birth to my alter ego, allowing it to come alive on-line.

I wanted a unique name - something that described me in a single word; yet, wasn't too obvious to reveal my identity (Mr. No-sense-lazy-ass would have been too easy for anyone to guess that it's me).

Many people take the easiest way out and name themselves bond007, hellboy, sexy-babe, and the likes. But anyone, who knows me well, knows how much I hate clichés (at least in theory). And, so began my journey in search of 'that' name.

After much search, I stumbled upon a word - blatherer.
thefreedictionary.com describes blatherer as someone who talks foolishly/gibberish.

Fits to the tee, I thought.

I had the habit of talking non-sense; often, confusing the listeners on where we started and where are we headed to; lost in transition; circling around a square that has no corner - Got it?

But wait! Why am I writing this? Did anyone ask for it? No one seems to have an issue with the name.

Well, because the name has its own darker side - the one that's oft confused on what to say during tight situations, the one that's ready to churns out rubbishes, the one that redefines sarcasm, the one that almost lost a very good friend because of this.

I just hope that I'll always stick to the funnier part because the rougher side of the coin is too hard - for me and, more importantly, for the people around me.

Blatherer died tonight.
And, somewhere in the distance, the music faded away -

So hold me when I'm here
Right me when I'm wrong

The right fit

I used to think I'm quite flexible and not-so-choosy when it came to making friends with people. Here, however, I've come to realise that it's quite the contrary. You just can't stand some people, while with some the closeness is more of a sine wave. Even the select group of people, the so-called close friends drift apart at the minutest of causes (or even without them), their void getting filled (though slowly) by others.
Why is it that school/college friends stay dearer than any latter ones?
Is it the idiosyncrasies attached with growing up and becoming more opinionated? Or is it the constant urge of people to mold others in their 'model' casts - something at which they continually fail? Hard to say...
An operations guru may say that the most optimum way to deal with these is to Stop Caring. Sadly, ops ain't my cuppa tea...

Whose value is it anyway?

Oft-repeated, fused and confused, values or value system, to be more precise, is something I never understood.

Everyone has a common stand on it – an individual has his/her own value system; right for one may be wrong for another.

But, what else?
Isn’t there a common set of attributes that are never ever spoken against?

Can ‘standing by your decisions and beliefs’ be wrong for someone?
Can ‘sticking to what you vouched for’ be wrong for someone?
Can ‘speaking the truth’ be wrong for someone?
Can ‘honoring your self-respect rather than ducking humility’ be wrong for someone?

Show me someone who answers affirmatively to any of these questions and I’ll show you a fool.

Of course, there are grey areas. Something that all the shiv shainiks of the world take advantage of. Divides on the basis of cultural acceptances and religious tolerations are bound to happen, especially when we have such a complex social setup. But, I do believe that if we probe harder, we’ll reach a consensus on what’s right and what’s wrong though someone’s voice may find lesser volume the other’s.

The V(alue) before the We. And the We before the I.

What you see is What you don't get

After a long drought, I finally ended up with 3 movies this weekend - Mithya, Control and American Gangster.

Though the three movies are totally disconnected, there's something that remains true for each of the 3 movies - All the three movies portrays characters that saw something and wanted to be that something, just to realize later that they didn't want it.

Mithya revolves around a struggling actor, VK who couldn't get a role in a film but ended up with the role of a gangster in real life. He hated it. Starts loving it later. And, then got lost somewhere in between. A very very sad end.

Control remains a well directed biopic based on Ian Curtis (the front man of Joy Division) - his musical journey, the sheer genius in his songs, the pressures he couldn't cope up with, a rocky marriage, an extramarital affair and his suicide at the age of 23!

American Gangster is your regular gangster movie but for the fact the guy who gets the booties this time happens to be a black and not someone from the Italian mafia (very much clichéd & done to death).

But be it VK or Ian or Frank Lucas, none of them never thought that they'll end up like this. All of them started on a path with a focus and a vision. They knew what they wanted. And, they were very determined at it. But then, life has its own twists and turns. You never know where you'll end up.

Maybe, what Shakespeare said remains true for all of us.

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;

:|

Well, that's what my response was when I heard about something that should have stirred every minute muscle and bone in my body.

Is it that I have become numb or is it that I have realized a larger goal that goes beyond the local highs and lows?