Dark Sides

Hey there.. It is so hot here in Hyderabad. It's like sitting in a furnace constantly.. Hyderabad summers were never this hot. I guess it's global warming finally hitting us where it hurts. We swelter all day long.. Anyway instead of cursing about the heat, let me tell you about a book that I read. It's called 'Gone Girl' by Gillian Flynn. It's a psychological thriller, where a woman goes missing the date of her wedding anniversary, and the prime suspect? Her husband. The book is told from two points of view. Amy Elliott Dunne, the wife and Nick Dunne, the husband. Amy is telling us her side of the story, through a diary which she has kept since she met Nick, so we learn about her marriage and what happened in the days leading up to her disappearance. Nick talks to us in the present. The marriage apparently is an unhappy one. But both have their own versions of the story. The issue is which one do we believe? Do we believe Amy, the missing wife, who comes across as an understanding, devoted and even a little naive wife? Or do we believe Nick, the husband who doesn't seem very upset at his wife's disappearance and was having an extra marital affair, but maintains this image of a bitter and unsympathetic Amy, who made him feel like a failure?
Gone Girl is a book that shows everyone's darkest sides. There's no one that is truly good, other than maybe  Nick's twin sister Margo. Everyone is manipulative, everyone has a hidden agenda. I couldn't put it down for a second. My mom would constantly irritate me as I was reading by talking gibberish. Although I didn't appreciate the ending, I understood that it wouldn't have made sense any other way. There is no happiness in this book. There is evil. And honestly.. Its more frightening than a horror movie. It's terrifying how manipulative someone can be.. And it makes you wonder what your loved ones are truly like. Are they as loving as they seem, or is it just a facade. Gone Girl is a book that brings out the worst in everyone, and you tend to wonder, if you have such darkness in you.

Confessions Of A Chocoholic!

Although being a teenage girl is awesome, it does have its drawbacks. The main one being, PIMPLES, which are currently dancing on my face. So, I'm currently banned from sugar in any form. Obviously, I'm thinking of absolutely nothing else. And when I try to abstain, they hit me smack in the face trying to tempt me.. They're like an Achilles' heel. I had to go the bakery yesterday to pick up a sponge cake as my darling mum had decided to make trifle pudding for my sister. Oh! The sheer smell of muffins and croissants and cake and just the sense of being in a bakery was pure torture.. And then, I was watching television with my mom, and they show these people with glowing skins eating ice-creams that look absolutely delectable and that just makes my heart break... I know I'm sounding melodramatic, but I guess these are withdrawal symptoms.. I know that I shouldn't be eating but my mouth craves the sinful, delicious taste of chocolate. Ah.. Just the thought of it is mouth-watering.. Why can't I eat as I eat and have perfect skin? Then again, why can't I eat as I eat and have a perfect figure? Urghh.. The world is an unfair one.. Where eating pasta and cakes makes you fat and gives you diabetes and myocardial infarctions (Heart attack. Sorry, I wanted to sound smart!) and eating vegetables and drinking sour lemonade makes you live longer. I know. I sound frivolous; but hey! I'm 17! If I can't act like an idiot now, when can I?

The Help

Have any of you watched the movie 'The Help'? Its based on the book of the same name by Kathryn Stockett. It takes place during the civil rights movement that took place in America during the 1960's and speaks of three women who are extraordinary in their own way- Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson and Eugene 'Skeeter' Phelan. Skeeter, an aspiring writer, is a young woman who returns home to Jackson, Mississippi after graduating from Ole Miss. She finds that her beloved childhood maid Constantine has quit, and cannot get over the fact that she didn't write to her before leaving. All her friends are married and having kids and she dreams of having a career as an author. She gets a job as a columnist about home-making in the local paper. She asks her friend Elizabeth's maid Aibileen for help, and is uncomfortable about the way her friends treat the household help. Like they don't have feelings, like they aren't human. This inspires her to write a book based on the lives of maids who have spent their entire lives taking care of white children.

'The Help' is true to its name. It gives you so much insight into other people, into ourselves. It helps us understand how inhuman we can be. These African-American women, spend their lives feeding, bathing and dressing other people's children, and those children grow up prejudiced against the women who actually brought them up. Every morning, Aibileen comes to her employer, Elizabeth Leefolt's house and wakes up her daughter Mae. She tells her this mantra everyday, "You is kind, you is smart, you is important", because her mom couldn't be bothered with her. These women love these kids like they do their own flesh and blood, and probably even more than their own parents and they end up being treated worse than the dirt on one's shoes. It requires a huge heart to love someone else's kid, especially when that someone treats you like you have a disease. How is it human to treat someone like they are not even real people? Humanity isn't a human instinct. Before being accused of plagiarism, let me tell you my mother said that.

The sad part is, that we, in India, don't treat our help any better even now. Most of us treat them like they don't have a life of their own. Forget about the way we treat our servants, what about our caste system? We decided that some people in the society weren't even worth speaking to, forget about that we thought we shouldn't even touch them. 'The Help' is a mirror to all of us. It shows us that all of us are capable of cruelty if we want to be. All of us want to feel superior to someone else, even if we hate to admit it. Deep down, we do. Its a part of us that most of try not to show, but it comes out in different ways. 

I never forgot the way Aibileen speaks to Mae Mobley. She was a little girl who was never told that she was pretty, never carried around by anyone other than the maid, never loved. That too is a kind of discrimination. Not being loved because she just wasn't pretty? She was a little girl! All little girls should be told that they're pretty, no matter what. I have to admit, watching this movie, moved me, touched me, and made me want to become a better person!

Biology is Not Destiny

As I write this I'm watching 'We the People' where the debate is about whether Indian women are combating bias in the armed forces. I honestly don't understand why most people think that women aren't brave enough to join the army or the navy or the air force. Women are capable of more courage than anyone. How does a country progress when its women are facing discrimination? How exactly does Finance Minister Chidambaram expect to end gender discrimination by just allocating 200 crores in the budget. Is that going to change the mindset of men? Forget about men, is it going to change the mindset of mother-in-laws? I frankly think that the mother-in-laws are the absolute worst! Most of them are under the delusion that just because they gave birth to sons, they are somehow superior. They feel like they have every right to subject the daughter-in-law to a life of slavery. They feel they have every right to make her cook an entire meal when she's recovering from an illness. They feel they have every right to decide what the girl wants to do with her life. How many cases of abuse, both mental and physical goes unreported every year in India? Why do people in India still believe that a woman's job is to cook good food, wash the clothes and be the perfect hostess? Anything else, she's called aggressive and over-ambitious. We may say that people's mindset is changing. But is it really true? Would a man willingly stay home with the kids, do the cleaning, cooking and grocery shopping? Or would he predictably think its beneath him?
Just because you're a girl, it can't determine what you do with your life. I don't think I'll ever stand being written off just because I'm a woman. If anything, we should be respected more because we are women! At the risk of sounding conceited, what makes men better than us? I mean, we can do what they do. Actually, we do it better than them most of the time! I resent the fact that some men assume that as soon as a woman has a baby, she is duty-bound to quit her job and devote all her time to taking care of her child. Not that I'm saying its a bad thing if a woman wants to spend time with her child, but the man will not consider it for a second, because the man is the apparent breadwinner, isn't it? God! When will men stop being the sexist, chauvinistic pigs that they have been since the beginning of time?

Lessons Learnt From A Chick Lit

Hmm... I don't think I've gone on such a long break before.. What does one do when suffering from writer's block? I started to write two posts, left both halfway! And I plan on making writing my career! Jolly good, isn't it? I hate writing bad stuff! Mostly because my mom gives me a hard time time about it but also because I feel unsatisfied with a bad post...  I haven't been reading much for the past few days, other than the occasional chick lit! People may call it trashy, but I don't think there's anything wrong with reading for pleasure. I mean what's the point of reading at all, if you aren't getting any pleasure out of it? I also think that if one doesn't get pleasure from what he/she reads, he/she don't even learn anything. Because it's only when you derive pleasure from something are you willing to learn from it. I don't understand the people who only read Malcolm Gladwell and then act as if they're superior to the ones who love books like Harry Potter.

There's always a lesson to learn from everything. From Lord of Rings, you learn that size is no estimation of power and that if you have friends all burdens are easier to bear. From Harry Potter you learn, that love is the strongest power in the world. From To Kill A Mockingbird you learn that you never really know anyone unless you step into their shoes and walk around in them. What my point is, is that every book, every film, is trying to send out a message! I think the message that chick lits send out is to never lose faith in true love. Because once you do, your view of the world turns a little jaded. It's my opinion! I love chick lits because it's nice to just get absorbed into the happening lives of young women, a lot like us in many ways and watch them find their soulmate! I love books, so I tend to speak of them very often! Don't mind me! This post is repititive, I know! But I just couldn't think of what to write!

The Loss of Individuality

Today in class, we started a poem by John Keats-'Ode on a Grecian Urn'; or rather, we were given an introduction to the times it was written in. My teacher spoke of how poets and artists were inspired by nature and that as nature was perfect, anything derived from it was also perfect. They also thought of the Greek and Roman eras as perfect. Implying that, all technological progress has brought is discontent and unhappiness in everyone's lives. That was the sentence that struck me. Not only has technological progress created discontent, it has also destroyed creativity. Its like life has become easier, so mankind has ceased to imagine!
I mean, look at it! When there were no facilities, no fancy machinery, only human labour; beautiful buildings like the Taj Mahal, the Notre Dame, the Sagrada Famiglia (although incomplete, incredibly beautiful), the pyramids in Egypt and countless other monuments that we see!
Now we have world-class technology and all we can create are the ugly skyscrapers and malls that we see popping up everywhere! Maybe that's it. When you don't have a lot, you appreciate beauty, and when you do, you pretend to! It's all part of the social status, isn't it? To appreciate Mozart's music, admire a Monet or a Renoir? What are the odds that those very people would not be able to differentiate between Mozart and an ordinary musician? I'm guessing they would be incredibly high.
People love to show that they are spiritual and cultured. That's the key word-show! The moment we start worrying about what other people think off, we cease to think and enjoy for own pleasure. So what if you don't think Picasso is brilliant? So what if you don't understand the works of Stephen Sondheim? Most people don't! At least you have the guts to admit it! We don't live to impress anybody. Nor do we live to conform to anyone else's ideas? We do live for others, but we aren't expected to change to suit their needs. The sad part is, most people already know of all this, but are afraid to raise their voice, afraid to be even a slightly bit different, lest they should be mocked. Brilliant world we live in, don't we? Liberty, Equality and Fraternity indeed!

The Repurcussions of a Quick Temper!

According to my mum, I deserve a huge set of kicks! She says that I lose my temper too often and she says, and I quote, "You storm around the house with a blood pressure of 190!". According to her, when I throw my tantrums, I look like a woman that should be locked up in the madhouse. I do agree that I tend to get a little extreme, and I am short-tempered at times, but what can one do, when being constantly poked by a toothpick? Or being constantly interrupted while exercising, or updating my blog?
She says that in spite of all this I should maintain a sweet and kind demeanour! That no matter what, a lady should always be a lady! Both she and my dear sister know exactly how to get under my skin. And they exploit it every opportunity they get! I know its foolish that I let it get to me, considering I've been hearing it for years and I should have learnt how to respond in a grown-up way by now. But my temper always gets the better of me! I'm writing this right now because my mom just told me off for snapping at her as I was updating my blog! As its fresh in my mind, and I can't think of anything else, I decided to write this! She says I'll chase off anyone who is wants to be my friend, with my shrill voice! Quite a frightening prospect, but intriguing nonetheless! Nonetheless! That's another word that bugs her! She thinks me using it in an argument is preposterous and pretentious and downright impudent! I didn't mean to come across as impudent! I just said it! My mom, although an incredibly interesting person to chat with, has her quirks! Like, she loves to entertain herself by calling me incredibly mushy and nonsensical names just to see my reaction! And then both she and my sister fall into peals of laughter about it! But she reverts to angry as quickly as she is playful. Like right now she is telling me, that after my sister has gone off to college, there isn't anyone who can whip me into shape and thus, I have gone totally wild! I wonder what she will say when she reads this... I think she'll probably be torn between a desire to flick me on the head and and call my sister and talk about my nuttiness!