Emerging from dark chasms

“Do you know the last time I felt joy? Chuck had brought me into his darkness for so long, I've forgotten what that felt like”

“You may not be aware of it but it’s not all light and bright in here. There are some places devoid of even a hint of sparkle”

- Blair Waldorf (Gossip Girl)

Her darkness came from the people around her. She left her old life and came here- came here for more. She came happy and happy she believed she would be for the time she was here.

She didn’t think it to be any fault of hers. Why the people around her had suddenly started behaving differently. All that she could think of was her having gotten close to a single person. For centuries, those a little separate from the others, those not a part of the herd have been viewed with suspicion.

She however did not do anything that would warrant such behavior. To all of them she was nothing but polite, cordial, warm, if a little distant, something that came from her lifelong insecurity when faced with a group of people. The rest of them started by inching away from them and then they were shunned from the group. She can’t remember exactly when the hate started. She’d never seen anything like it earlier. A sunshine protected soul always, never before had such behavior assailed her. The hate comments reverberating in the air all around her were hard enough to take. In the wake of this she drew the only person she was close to, closer still, making in haste and at a bad moment, a choice she would regret, not only by going into something she wasn’t ready for, but also making way for more hate coming her way along with a lot more isolation when that person suddenly removed himself from it all, leaving her— in a mess she’d gotten into primarily because of him- to face the heat by herself.

She maintains a brave front in front of the rabblement. She smiles more often now. People with no idea what’s going on think it means she’s completely happy there- the sound of her laugh echoes the valley. If they only caught her off guard at a moment of desperation when her mind and her eyes feel dead. She remains stoic, ignoring the verbal and literal trash being thrown her way, pretending to the world that it doesn’t affect her one bit, wondering all the time how long can this charade go on? When will the cruelty end? Nobody but she knows how deep the wounds of laughter at her expense and pleasure in her misery go. How much they affect a person’s psyche and how long the damage can last.

But she’s decided that she will not let any of that affect her. She’s got way too much sunshine inside her for that. She’s convinced herself that from now on, petty people like that will have absolutely no power over her emotions. She just has too much more in her life for some pathetic sociopaths to take away. Aside from the haters, she has so much to live for, so many dreams, so much love to give to those only willing to take. She does not need them- does not need their opinion or approval on how she conducts herself and her choices in leading her life.

All they are is jealous of her. All they want to do is reduce her sparkle and steal her smile away because they can’t handle it. They “pluck her feathers before she can fly” because they envy her charisma and cannot bear to see someone have it all. They underestimate her and fail to comprehend that her spirit is uncrushable. She does not and will not break easily. She channels her memories of laughter here. She has people who know who she is and who she’s always been to cheer her on. Support from unexpected sources and from people in the very same place as her gives her the will to remain as she is and not buckle over. She takes a vindictive pleasure in the haters’ efforts to be as good as her and failing miserably. Other than that bit of contempt that she allows herself feel, she will not pay attention to any of their trash because that is how inconsequential they are in her life.

Times like this are just steep rocky slopes on her way to her pinnacle where the shine she gives off, will draw the world in. She will get through this because she can- I believe with all my heart and soul that she can and for merely having the strength for it, I am so so proud of you!

Maybe if we just don't talk about them, it'll just go away

By Nirmitee Mehta

Career Conundrums

The delicate and infantile age of about 4 is when most of us make our first premature career decision. "Ma, when I grow up, I want to be a teacher!" and from there begins the string of career options we weave for ourselves, ranging from animated ones like pilot and "that-person-on-the-tv" to more serious, thoughtful and sane options like lawyer,doctor,banker,etc.
How easy is it for us, during our adolescence, to have a new ambition each day? I'd wanna be an air-hostess today, but owing to the fickle-mindedness and frame of mind of a child, I could wake up the next day declaring to become a journo, yet noone would question me- instead I would be encouraged with a smile(and sometimes a little clap,too); my parents going along with whatever I proclaimed, knowing that this is just their juvenile baby talking. As we grow older, the seriousness of these decisions dawn upon us. "What are you going to do with your life ahead?", becomes a deeply feared question, furtively longing to be ignored. It doesn't help that we're constantly reminded of those few odd contemporaries who predict rather confidently how their next 10 years are going to shape up - only to add to our growing insecurity.
Why this fear? Why the ignorance? Why are we so apprehensive to take a decision and stand by it for the rest of our lives?


Pressure. It's the pressure that we are inept of withstanding. Pressure from parents, from peers, from those galling relatives who wouldn't stop asking about our future plans... But the pressure of the highest magnitude is, ironically projected from ourselves. The pressure of choosing something that the 25-year old version of ourselves has to live with, the pressure of ensuring that that version of us doesn't look back to the present day with regret or compunction.
Career decision-making in today's time is not just merely about making a profession out of something one enjoys doing. It involves a series of complex parameters, as one has to take into consideration the competition involved, the job security, the satisfaction, the lifestyle that it'll facilitate, and not to forget, the money-which apparently seems to make this cynical world go round.
I am not an expert in judgements like these - hell, I've managed my choices even more erratically than the monsoons of India. But all I can vouch for is that this phase of perplexity in every teenager's life is inevitable, and to rise above it, going with what You feel is right (and not getting influenced by others) is what makes you a winner. The only way to know whether you've made the right decision is to follow it, which only requires you to be courageous, intrepid and ambitious. I believe that if one chooses wisely, follows it with whole-hearted aspiration, stays clear and concrete throughout... That 25 year old version has got to be living a pretty awesome life. :)

By Chahita Lalchandani