How to survive 2017 (An overview of 2016)

2016 could easily be called the ominous year (exceptions of the plaque and world wars). With the clear disgust, disapproval and disconcern about the year, all of us are the waiting for the last few days to pass like sand through fingers. Carrie Fisher dying seemed to be the cherry on the cake collapsing under its own weight.

I don’t want to be chased by an angry mob millennials, but I honestly did have a decent 2016. Which qualifies me to write a guide to how to survive the coming year, 2017. Come on guys be a little excited, if anything, atleast for the wild parties on 31^st and for those of you who go to sleep at 10:30 just to rebel, or spend time in peace; I see you, I see you good.

Well I could sure make a list but that is too boring even for my taste. Secondly by no means this might work for everyone so just enjoy my mindless chatter and my un-asked for expert opinion.

Now you must know I survived my 2016 because of my 8 month long vacation which stretched on till August. Thus most of my time was wasted away in staring at my laptop screen mindlessly or coloring on the walls. I read books and thus tried to stay in touch with my hunger for knowledge. I went into a coma where my assimilation of knowledge was just like one listening to music. Taking in the words, but not the meaning.

This seems like a complain, well it is, but not as much as it is a lesson. I learnt that reading, getting active information is the key to wisdom. Now I aint trying to sound like a 90 year old man or a monk, just giving some good ‘ol advice, read as much as you can, because nothing adds more character than books.

I went through a lot of anxiety and in fact developed a hysteric sense of humor due a project taken up by me. Obviously a success, I think the biggest lesson of the year would be to have patience towards people and situation, because in the end, everything ends well. Putting it into perspective, waiting for your order at the favourite restaurant is always worth it.

And with those wise words, developed a new emotion, we millennials constantly seem to be experiencing is “ahhh fuck that” often exclaimed with droopy eyes and bushy hair. This taught me that some situations just need you to kick back and relax because these people or things don’t need your time and energy, because it is not going to add to you as a person.

I saw way too many posts on social media where people expressed their reluctance to go out there and put effort into their week or day. I did the exact opposite and I can rightfully say I did conquer each day everyday. All y’all got to do is get out of bed and look at the glass as half full.

Trust me it works.

As philosophical as this post is getting, I think it’s okay, three days to the year end and I can assure you I am now a much calmer and happier person. Honestly with this age of social media and all information always floating around in the car, we as humans still failed to acknowledge the real news of the world and instead dwelled in the media spun stories about war, politics and economics. 

Obviously as general public, that’s the information we have access to but it’s up to us to not jump on to bandwagons we don’t know the destination or origin of. It’s time for us to get smarter and put our mind to more useless things than scrolling on Instagram at 3 am.

It’s clear that most things went wrong in the year. The uproar about differences in religion. Un deserving presidential candidates, shadow of war in the middle east we always pray for, political unrest in India and its fight with Pakistan and on a more personal level loss of motivation, death of our favorite singers and actors, stupid medical examination goof ups, student suicides and demonetization.

But keeping in mind all the unfortunate events we had a lot of good news to look forward to in 2016 too. PV Sindhu’s win at the Olympics, wider acceptance of the LGBTQ community, beautiful Canadian Prime minister opening borders to refugees and other countries following, Consequences of Brexit are subjective, introduction of a digital India, more woman centric films like Dangal, Hidden figures. Uber and other startups rose in India (oh thank thy lord for Uber) Sure war still exists, but with collective effort of our main nations, 2017 will be a year where second world countries become strong in defense and sociopolitical situations, not sure about the first world countries.

Sure the world seems to be on a tip of collapsing, but I can’t guarantee what sort of year 2017 will be. But the least we can do is have a positive outlook and stop binging on mindless videos and go out and breath and more aware. Start thinking about the earth and where our individual actions lead the world.

We don’t want to be only known as the generation that killed the Great Barrier Reef.

Oh and a Happy New Year!

  

Teardrop on the fire

It starts with a little zest of enthusiasm, bubbly and ubiquitous. The anxiety makes your head spin while the excitement makes the colors of the world animated. The red is like the seductive pout, luring me in with the beauty of an idea I am not able to encapsulate into a metaphor. The white is like the whimsical dandelion, changing paths with the wind, welcoming the irony that destiny has to offer. The black is as sinful as it was. May be even more; more than I can decipher.

My insanity died too soon.

I liked how the wings of the butterfly were frames of a motion picture; breaking and forming creating an image purely out of the struggle to gain coherency. I liked how I noticed the smile lines on people’s faces. I could guess the age, couldn’t I? It was a good game to play with myself. I play games with myself a lot. Counting the number of liars in the room and pretentiously trying to cleanse the awkward but obvious pretense in people. It worked only in my head.

What were we talking about?

After the euphoria, comes the downfall. There is no peak. No plateau and nowhere to stop to enjoy your success. Success of finally understanding what are you standing here for. Success of finally realizing that the pseudo peak is your downfall into insanity. And maybe I liked it that way. I liked the screeching scratching downfall. Because that’s when I felt most alive.

When the wind kissed my face and the doors flung opened in the face of my restrictions. As I cut through the air it wasn’t fear, but sheer happiness inspired by pure achievement of what I valued most: the feeling of my own presence.

That’s when I realized I was a teardrop falling on the fire. As unmovable and unclaimed for the fire was and I as insignificant as the next, I knew I could still make the wood sizzle. 

~Nikita 

A few words

Very seldom do we discover our pursuits. And very seldom do we keep pushing ourselves to keep in touch with them. This piece was inspired by the idea of feeling really small and insignificant but yet powerful with a hope and drive. That is when you know that its time to go an extra mile and push yourself to do that one extra rep, study an extra hour or ponder over your art, because somewhere your are flicking the string of change.

2 + 2 = 5.

2+2 =5 is a lie openly believed out there. While the truth and logic is forgotten. 

India’s anger has been revoked since BBC released a documentary against the Delhi rape case. Women, Men, Old and Young, Educated and Uneducated all have risen again against the criminals, defense lawyers and the politicians that blame the woman for the rape.

Banning the documentary in a way indicated we Indians are offended of our own filth. The Knockout and this documentary received immediate reactions but only if the thousands of rapes occurring in India would get this much acknowledgement and justice. The banning of the documentary has a justification of its own. Broadcasting the shortcomings of our country to the world doesn’t create a very appealing image, but if we grow as an economy, why don’t our mindsets expand to accommodate more logic and rationality?

“We have the best culture, our culture has no place for woman.” This is was the statement made by a lawyer. A person who is considered educated and wise. Even as a rapist lawyer, supporting a heinous act that killed a woman just proves that humanity doesn’t come through education.

With so many views towards this case, criminal psychology and economic conditions of each family, it is so difficult to overlook how the criminals justified their actions as a “lesson for stepping out late at night”. At 8:30 with her male friend. It is funny how 6 men decided to play superior and “teach her values” by raping her and pulling out her intestines.

If reading that makes you flinch, you can surely imagine the mentality of the men who promise to protect us. It is clearly not their cup of tea.

Statements by many well-known personalities have made women unsure of their safety and growth in this country. Blaming fast food, our clothes and our careers the growth of women socially and economically is hindered. Our clothes are too tight, our behavior is inappropriate and the next time we breathe will also provoke rape. Of course it is all our fault.

But the people whose word meant a lot never blamed the men for eyeing a woman a wrong way. It is believed that rape was always in the punishment culture. But I think people need a reminder that this is no longer a period in Indian history where rape will be considered only a lesson but rather an act of a monster. So am sorry “we can’t enjoy rape even if we can’t prevent it” as expected by a well-known personality.

I am not generalizing men or targeting this only at men. This is for all the people who believe that rape is a not so serious crime. The outrage for the next three months after the incident was war like. People came out on streets with anger in their hearts and a desire to change the country but overtime people stopped fighting. People buried the incident painfully in their hearts.

Because they realized people’s mentality won’t change.

 Hypocrisy runs in our blood. A man beating his wife is called an animal but a man getting hit by his wife is called “namard”. A guy with many girlfriends is called a stud but a girl with many guy friends is called a slut. In a way or the other we unknowingly promote the mindset and behave the same.

Families will still prefer boys, men will still be considered breadwinners and women will always be considered objects that sit at home and have no ambition. Because even with so much efforts by groups, activists and the general public, I still see rape, shaming and domestic violence prevailing and growing: as much as in “Bharat” as much as in “India”. (Another quoted rape only occurs in the modern India and not in his “Bharat”)

If this doesn’t stop we will soon be forced to believe that the country we live in: recognized for its value, cultures and teachings worldwide, fights within; uncivilized and forgetting its “values” and “culture”. On the name of these so many crimes have been pushed under the carpet, so many illogical conclusions have been jumped to that on this day we ingore the sense of morality accepting what has been right for ages.

It’s time to realize that things have changed and we need to change too.

On this woman’s day while we celebrate our existence and our contribution as individuals I don’t particularly feel safe or important anymore.

We don’t know how to survive in this anarchy of blindness. Our actions and rationality don't add up anymore.

Few words: words and phrases have been sourced from various opinions. I prevent writing on social matter because of the conflicts over subjectivity but this issue needed acknowledgement. In my way I wanted to address how lowly, unimportant and so “object like” women are made to feel when it takes courage to be a woman in this and currently in my country. Infact, men or women, it takes guts to stand up for what you believe when the whole world says something else.