The Girl inside Me!!*

This post was one of my FB statuses when I was still addicted to it. The status went on like this ”Hey yo! I have managed my home damn very well for 4 days without my mom. Wohooo!! I can make a good housewife. *conditions apply.” This post made everyone curious and attracted way too many comments. They started off with people asking what does 'Conditions apply' mean? And then came the hurricane.

Like Carrie Bradshaw said, "Every couple has their own rules". I made them for both, my future husband and me. Wondering it’s a little too early? Agreed. Because, if you want peace, prepare for war, might as well prepare now.  

Rule 0: This is not a rule. Just FYI, I am going to have a professional career just like he has.

Rule 1: He should be a good friend of mine, before being anything else to me.

Rule 2: I Rule, so it is advised to think twice before inviting me into his life.

Rule 3: He should Respect Women, it won’t be accepted at any cost if women are criticised. And no I am not asking him to be a feminist, but just to be a gentleman.

Rule 4: He should never ever lie, if found he'd, the repercussions would be wild.

Rule 5: You should maintain some kind of attitude a.k.a range and should have ultimate taste in everything. Liking everything we see? Na huh.         

Rule 6: I am not a very big fan of Emotional Drama or in today’s terms, Emotional Atyachaar.

Rule 7: I want everything to be perfect. In short, I am a cleanliness and assortment freak.

Rule 8: Should promise me to gift me my RYAN. This will be discussed in person.

Rule 9: This is a little complicated, but I can explain. It is suggested that he should speak negligibly little or nothing about his past love. I know it hurts me more than it does to him. He is a part of my life now (as all the above rules are followed and cleared). Maybe, I can heal you or gradually may even love you.

Rule 10: I don’t expect you to come riding on a white horse, but you should own a beautiful Apache or Fz or R15 or ZMR or CBR.

Rule 11: If Rule 8 is ignored then the gift would be reciprocated to both RYAN & MEGHA at the same time. Once again, this can be discussed personally.

Rule 12: He should not be a pakau.

Rule 13: He should have knowledge about movie dialogues because I use them a lot and I would expect you to understand them.

Rule 14: He should not hate stuff like English music, movies, novels as I am crazy about them.

Rule 15: Rule 14 can be further extended as follows - You should not hate or criticise or make fun of anything that I love, at least you shouldn't express those feelings to me. You have the privilege of changing the topic in such cases.

Rule 16: Rule 16 is omitted.

Rule 17: I believe in ‘Just Do It’. So I expect you to ‘do’, than ‘speak’ of doing them.  

Rule 18: Should wear Desi kurthas occasionally. Hmm, I think it is the only dress in which almost all guys look dashing and amazing.

Rule 19: Thumb Rule: You cannot have similar rules.

Rule 20: I do not use beeps or *** for expletives. Also, you can use them without beeps. Permission

Granted.

Rule 21: We are going to Goa for our post-marriage-tour. Decided.

Rule 22: Should take me to Dominos often. My ‘often’ meant once in a week or fortnight.

Rule 23: This is a freebie for you. Call me with my nicknames, I can almost do anything for you.

Rule 24: My time is an hour or so late than the accepted Indian Time.

Rule 25: All the above and below rules won’t applicable if I have come to love you.

Rule 26: I love the Iraani chai at the local cafes, so they can also be in our regularly visiting places list.

Rule 27: I know I am a grown up, yet at times I love to be treated like a kid.

Rule 28: We are gonna be the residents of Hyderabad forever.

*The language has been tweaked off the original post, to make guys feel less offensive and more comfortable!! Few rules have been withdrawn/changed/omitted, as per my convenience and comfort.

Campus 2 Corporate

The sun used to rise with me, but there were days when I didn't even see the sun light. Now, I sit here in this garden. As always being very specific about my seat, I chose a bench that gave me the least view of humans, because I am myself disturbed and I am in no mood to see more around me. In the garden, I see an open piece of land between checkered slabs, planted with saplings which are supposed to catch up quickly in this season. And to my shock most of them are dried, with dropped leaves and drooped branches, lifeless and ready to be plucked out and replaced. A few though, are vibrant with life and full of energy, probably, by draining others’ of their assets. Oh, yes, the corporate culture.  

If a bunch of strangers are made to have lunch together for a few years, they may end up either friends or enemies. But if a bunch of professionals are put in the same situation, they end up with a relation that is a little more than anonymity and a lot less than familiarity. Here, we can make very few friends and lose many more. Yes, I have experienced. There will be a variety of awkward situations, one ends up saying thanks to the same person he/she said sorry a few minutes ago, smiling at the same person one shouted on the previous day, and an eternal cold war. Even after having Corporate Culture's rules and manners neatly scraped everywhere in the office campus, I see people who use the time during meetings more effectively by browsing what lingers in their mouths post-lunch and picking noses, of course their own. The first half of the corporate life goes in understanding what is expected of you and the second half goes in digesting the same.

Simply, what appears weird to me and unique to people already settled here, is put into a phrase “Corporate Culture”.

Life was different back then, when I was not a part of this so called culture. The thoughts in my mind ran like this.

In spite of having a cell phone and novel always in my hands, I still had place to hold an ice cream on the way back home from college. Now I have both my hands free but no energy. I used to love rain, but not now. Because the only way I can enjoy it now, is through a glass window. I am brought into an understanding that I will be no more in a presentable way now here, if I enjoy rain in my own way.   

I feel every job on the way to my present-destination seems more than right for me. I see in people’s eyes the love for their job. A gardener cuts grass with utmost care, a soldier loves a country more than himself, a doctor cares for others’ life just like his own, a salesman explains the beauty of the product, making people realize having it would be a wonderful feeling.

I see many stars in my office, many more stars than one can see in the sky. Here is how it happens, the always-on lights on the ceiling of the office gets reflected in the few fortunate glass-panes which are unveiled of their shutters.

Everyone thinks, I am waiting to cross the road, but actually I want to cross the road, break the rules, change the juvenile society, climb the ladder and reach out to the sky, the sky with actual stars.

The mosquitoes remind me of the dirt I can write about, the crowd reminds of population, the traffic about pollution, huge buildings about so-called development, but here I am surrounded by things about which I can only rant about, but not write.