Shave India

Disclosure: Since I've run out of all sensible things to write and I'm really not in the mood to comment on Obama's security breach or Real Estate in Dubai crumbling down, I'm writing about a really mindless topic right now. If you are annoyed after reading this post, please don't tell it to me coz I'll say, You were warned!

There are very few things which fascinate me as much as my cluttered desktop or my sister's overflowing cupboard (with most of what is my stuff in them). Men with beard are one of them. Think about it. Not so long ago, Ruk Ruk Khan and Tick Tick Motion with their chiseled bodies and chikna faces were all the rage among the girls and young aunties alike.

Then, came the likes of goonda-looking Abhishek Bachpan who boldly stated that keeping a stubble is "in". I'll simply say he is too lazy to shave his beard off. Others like, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Johnny Depp and Collin Farrell followed. They redefined cuteness, fusing it well with the hairs on their face.

Cut to the present, where all the boys around me seemed to have taken a pledge that they will let their neighborhood barbers die of hunger but will not go in for a trimming or much better, a shave. No, they will not let the poor barber earn a penny or few.

My younger brother has a beard thicker than amazon forest within two hours of getting shaved. And yes, all he has to do to irritate me is to stand near me and pretend to scratch his beard. Gross. GrOsS. GROSS.

S looks cuter than a koala bear whenever he shaves. The sad part is he makes it a point to meet me only when he is looking like a complete terrorist with his beard, moustache and all. The cherry on the cake is the recent survey I came across where Gillette is launching a movement called "Shave India".

I was casually surfing through channels when I came across this ad. At first, I thought, maybe it's some similar political campaign like "Lead India" or "India Shining". But two minutes into the ad and I came to knew that the ad was launched in response to a survey which revealed that 90% of the Indian women would like to kiss a guy who is well shaved.

My reaction was like "Hadh hai wella hone ki bhi. Kisi dhang ke topic pe hi survey kar lete. Common sense ke bhi survey hote hain kya?"

But the fact that I've dedicated an entire post to this bearded topic does prove that I did gave the issue an afterthought. Most of my male friends prefer to keep a stubble, a goatee, a barely -there mustache or the most common one - trimmed but not shaven look.

I'm yet to come across a guy who prefers to shave. Regularly. Now, come on, would you guys really like it if all the females stopped waxing? No, right? So, there!

Strange Stranger Meeting

For people who do not know already or have visited this page for the first time, let me tell you guys that I travel a lot, like four hours everyday within the city.

Considering I'm always using the public transport, I happen to meet a lot of people. Keep bumping into the same people all the time who happen to be in the metro/bus same time as me every day. And I've got reasons to believe that this must be quite a common phenomenon with most of us.

I've also got reasons to believe that all the girls reading this post must have their own story of a boy who was a stranger but still remains memorable. Like boy in the coffee shop. Boy in the bus. Boy in the mall. Well, so this is my story about the boy on the metro.

FYI, I'm usually at my defensive best when travelling alone. I deliberately put up that expression which screams don't-ya-dare-mess-with-me for people who can't help themselves but pass lewd comments or follow young, pretty things for no reason. Ain't I modest? **chuckle**

I'm usually the kind of girl who would be walking unusually fast, almost running (coz I'm always late), carrying a REALLY big bag, looking serious or talking to myself as I walk. Not the perfect mental picture for a "pretty young thing". Ain't it. It was already dark when I left college yesterday and it was still 5.30 pm in the evening. Winters, I tell you. So, I once again assumed that fierce, strong-girl exterior and headed to the metro station.

By the time, I reached upstairs, the metro was already stationed there with it's doors about to be closed. And hell, I was still on the escalator slowly approaching the platform. I dashed towards the metro, frantically running on the escalators and managed to squeeze in the metro, with the doors closing just behind me.

I smiled and congratulated myself. Doesn't matter, that half of the compartment filled with most of whom what seemed like "middle-aged people" returning from office were already looking at me. I thought what they must be thinking, "Oh, these youngsters who do not have enough patience to wait for five minutes till the next metro but will obstruct the closing of doors" and other shit.

I chuckled at the thought and looked searchingly in the compartment for a seat. Seriously, with all the running, I could use some space to sit. God Bless the person who invented "Seats reserved for Ladies". I saw a young boy sitting there....and again I went "Oh boy, that's my seat, get off it" in my mind.

So, I simply went and stood in front of him. Clever boy, He understood the hint, looked back and saw the sticker behind him which said, "Only for Ladies" and politely got up, offering me his seat which I gladly accepted.

That is, when at the next station, I saw him. I saw him standing on the platform even before he got in and thought to myself "Aw,, that guy is HOT". The train stopped, and he got in my compartment. "Great", i thought.

As I was contemplating why I had been fixating on this stranger, I realized he had sat down next to me.

In the empty seat that had cleared out.

For the woman who had gotten on at the last stop.

The woman was still standing there.

WHY DID YOU NOT SIT DOWN???? I mentally screamed at her.

Ok, this is not good. The boy I had nearly drooled over was SITTING NEXT TO ME.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

What now? Stay calm. Stay. Calm. Caaaaalm.

I tried not to look uncomfortable and just to play it safe, started looking in the other direction. But I could almost feel his shoulders touching mine and I was freaking out. And sweating. In Winters. Weird.

I hope he doesn’t notice. I snuck a look at him out of the corner of my eye. He seemed completely oblivious to my existence. Well, he’s probably too cocky to even consider me to be in the same league as him. Although I usually don’t care much about appearances, my pride was slightly hurt at the thought of this. I mean, I know I don’t look like a model, but I can look decent when I want to. And today, I looked fairly decent - at least, I thought so. I mean, I was wearing purple, and I only wear purple on days when I actually colour-coordinate my outfit. So there. I was looking decent today, and yet I was totally invisible to him.

Argh, stop it pink. I’m sure he’s used to girls tripping over themselves to get his attention and I am NOT going to be one of them. I REFUSE to be a silly giddy girly-girl who swoons over pretty boys!

Wait.I am a silly girl. I am just not a girly girl and I definitely, DEFINITELY do NOT SWOON OVER BOYS. And he would definitely, DEFINITELY not be interested in a girl like me. His girlfriend is probably tall and skinny, with long tanned legs and wavy, dark brown hair, and big eyes with long eyelashes…

Before I knew it, I was picturing his supermodel girlfriend.

No, he probably has more than one supermodel girlfriend. A guy like him definitely has someone on the side. Probably two. Or three. Or four.

Then, suddenly he threw something, trying to be incognito but I noticed..

What?! Did he just litter INSIDE THE METRO?

Ok, now I am not a freak about littering or anything, but I don’t throw garbage out of moving vehicles either. I was not impressed. So I snuck a (what I hoped to be distasteful) look at him. But before I could deliver the full distaste-look, something in his lap caught my eye.

A pack of cigarettes.

Oh great.

Now we have a litterer and a smoker. And a (possibly) major player. This just keeps getting better and better.

I turned away and looked out the window. I am so over this guy, I thought, which made me smile because I had fallen for the guy in less than a second, then gotten over him before the metro ride was even over. I am SO good at this “swearing off boys” stuff.

See pink, this is good, this is what you want. Boys like him make you feel insecure and disappointed and not good enough. Without the baggage of swooning over every pretty boy that walks by and wondering if your hair is in place, you’re so much freer and you can smile stupidly and not care who’s looking at you strangely or whether that’s a flattering look for you.

I was proud of myself.

We ended up getting off at the same stop and I almost skipped off , feeling extraordinarily rah-rah power-to-the-women / who-cares-if-I-don’t-look-like-a-supermodel-I’m-still-beautiful-on-the-inside. But I allowed myself a glance at him as I walked away, because I wanted to see, from the perspective of my girl-power self, whether I would still swoon like I did when I first saw him getting in the metro.

And, maybe the heat had gotten to my brain and was making me see things, but when I glanced over at him, I caught him looking at me as we parted ways. And I grinned.

Good things happen when you meet strangers. ~ Yo Yo Ma

An year older, A lil more wiser.

So, it was my 21st birthday last week. (Yup, I don't think that I'm already old enough to be lying about my age, so there!) It was definitely not one of my best birthdays ever to say the least.

However, I'm here on my personal space, not to discuss how good or bad my day went. Over the years, I have realized that age is not just a number. Your birthday might pass in a matter of few hours, but it leaves a permanent mark behind, where the realization dawns that okay, you are a lil more older and hopefully, wiser.

Your birthday is just another day which comes in a year. It might be special for you, but for the rest of the world your special day is just like any other day. They get up,. go to work, keep sleeping, get drunk, get laid., fight with their boss, laze around...to each his own.

It might sound strange but It's like a pattern. Every year, around two to three weeks before my birthday, I suddenly realize that something has changed. Changed about me. It's kind of funny, you know. It's this deja vu kinda feeling where while getting dressed in front of my mirror, I suddenly have this realization...."wow, pink, you have changed" .The awareness of how my perspective on things has changed. I wouldn't do things now which I would gladly do two years ago. And the next feeling is "Arre, didn't I felt the same thing last year as well"?

I admit I have changed a lot with time. It is in moments like these, when you are only with yourself, that thoughts filled with inexplicable wisdom hit you for a split second and leave you feeling a lil more wiser. So, what did I learn from myself this year?

• I realized that my mad rush for a dream career, top scores isn't what matters most.

• Contrary to what I believed, shopping does not make me happy. Maybe for a few hours, but then it's not worth spending pots of money on things I'll hardly use, all for momentary happiness.

• I now prefer watching funny videos on Youtube, talk to people who are good or simply go for a walk when I want to feel happy.

• On my last birthday, almost all of mine office and college friends, called me at midnight, to wish me. This year, I doubt if they even remembered it since I'm no longer in the office or same college. No birthday calls and very few text messages indicated what I'd missed out on. I'd missed out on investing in true friends, people who stay with you even when you change your workplace.

• I always thought I disliked boys and can never fall in love with any other man than my bf. I'm forced to reconsider my thoughts now.

• Do not expect. The less you expect, the more happy you will be with what you get.

• I'm a lil more interested in boys now which was perceived as an "improvement in me" by my BFF.

• I want to spend a little more time meeting people who are mature, intelligent and can think. I've had my fair share of fellas who are too busy acting immature, updating their playlists or scoring over girls over internet chats, girls shopping aimlessly and ooh'oohing over their new fuck-me heels every time somebody talks to them.

• I wonder why and how do girls, my age, manage to shout to prove their point. I almost feel like telling them, " there is nothing sexy about shouting. So, please shut the F up". Raising your volume cannot compensate for your lack of logic or common sense.

• Also, I want to be surrounded by people who do not scream "Oh fuck" or " ^%$^&%^ in Hindi everytime their pen drops down. Seriously, save your curses for something more worthwhile.

• I love people who are funny, unassuming and who do not get tooooo serious about life without losing their focus. I wonder where are all of them?

• Your friends aren’t perfect either. Being the first to forgive and forget can go a long way.

• Holding a grudge just isn’t worth it.

• Don’t take everything too seriously, you’re too young for that.

• Nobody can love you like your parents can. But it's still fun to search for that special someone.

Too much of self-introspection for now. Morale of the story is that I need to loosen up and be a bit more easy going this year. And yes, not to take things or people too seriously who do not matter.

P.S.....m breaking my rule...not including a picture this time....coz m not in the mood to put one. period.

I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself. I will be rich by myself, and not by borrowing. ~Michel de Montaigne