'Cause Pigs can Fly

I don't believe in the power of prayer, mostly because I don't believe in any prayer-answering entities and so constantly wonder who exactly one prays to. It's also a bad habit I have, asking this question when people talk about praying. I apologize if I've asked you this question or if I've given you a look when you spoke about praying. What got me thinking about prayers is the current situation in Sri Lanka. A few people asked that we #PrayForSriLanka, like we prayed for Paris or wherever else a bomb went off killing a few dozen people who were usually white non-Muslims. But then praying is easy. Sharing a post about praying for Sri Lanka is easy. Even I, an atheist, can share such a post. Even I can pretend there's someone up in the skies (which is where, by the way, these cursed rains came/come from) who will listen to me and magically make the rain stop, the collected water disappear and undo the landslides. And I accept the argument that praying is p...

As a kid, there was nothing I wanted more than to be an adult. Being an adult meant the great I and the great F. Independence and freedom was what I was after and for some reason I, along with many others, thought that turning 18 meant you were suddenly independent and free. I was of course in for a shock because life sure doesn’t work that way. You don’t go from being a kid to being an adult just because you celebrate your 18 th birthday. Sure, you may be able to drive or drink or get married but none of those things make you an adult. And yet, at some point in life, you will feel like an adult. You know that while you haven’t got your shit together, you can still deal with whatever shit comes your way. You just know… And so here are a few things that I did when I thought I was an adult and what I do now. (Note 1: Things will change, because I still have a lot of growing up to do. So there’s a lot more to add to this post and I’m sure a lot of actual adults will just...

I was brought up a Buddhist and if there's one thing Buddhism does, it is that the truth isn't sugar-coated. We aren't eased into the concept of Anittya, Dukkha and Anaathma. We are thrown, head-first, into the impermanence of things. And I'm glad we are, because from my youngest days, I knew that there will be a day when everything I currently know in life will be gone. My parents. Loved ones. Family. Friends. Books. Looks. Feelings. Everything I value now and have such attachments to will be gone. And yet, most issues we face in life are because we aren't willing to let go of people or things. We think that everything will remain as it is forever. This is why we freak out when we discover our first gray hair. This is why we hope anti-aging creams will smoothen our wrinkles. This is why we refuse to let go of people, to move on. And this is why it hurts when things change. But that's just the way life is and there's not a goddamn thing we can do about i...

This one's for Cup Café. I still remember my first day at Cup Café. It was somewhere in 2013. One of my closest friends and I had just spoken to this artist about a tattoo and we were in the Town Hall area, looking for a place to eat. My friend suggested this little place she had been to with her mother than had decent food and, if I remember correctly, amazing chocolate cake. And so we walked there, to this tiny little café that I had walked past many times without having ever noticed the place. I can't remember what exactly we ordered but I'm sure we got ourselves a slice of their Death by Chocolate. And man, was it heavenly. Somehow this little café became 'our spot' for meetups. We rarely met up at other places. Cup Café was everything we wanted. It was usually quiet, not crowded, the people were so sweet, the food was good, the drinks were amazing (lime mojito, I would die for you) and the prices weren't too bad. Plus it was at a convenient place for ...

1. Team Non-Procrastinators We’ll start with this because if I was a non-procrastinator, I wouldn’t be putting together this post. I have two weeks’ worth of work I need to get done by tomorrow but here I am, writing something that will be of no use or interest to anyone. But here’s the thing. I procrastinate way too much and not in that way where you actually manage to get things done on time despite watching a load of videos you can easily watch later. At the beginning of every work week, which starts on Wednesday for me, I promise myself the I'll get work done by Thursday and send it off by Friday morning. Every week, I stay up till 3 in the morning on Saturday morning telling myself that it’s still technically Friday since I haven’t slept since Friday morning. But somehow it’s so damn difficult to close YouTube, close Twitter and just get to work. Which I always regret the next day when I feel like a starving zombie. Where are my brains! 2. Talent  Befor...

At the beginning of 2016, I was a firm believer that you do get to pick your friends. Sure, they never stand in a row and you never get to pick whoever you like the most. Friendship doesn’t, and shouldn’t, work that way. But that’s not what I thought at the beginning of the year. You do choose your friends. That’s what I thought. And at the beginning of the year, I wasn’t in the best of places. I didn’t have a job. I didn’t have any money. I had nothing to do or keep me occupied. But I had friends. Some that I still love dearly. And at that time I felt lucky for having made quite a few wise decisions with regard to the people I had picked as friends. By then, I had already lost touch with most of my school friends. Only one of them remains someone I keep in touch with. And I thought this was a smart move. I realized that in school, at that age, thanks to the system, you don’t really meet people you have a lot in common with. Friends are people you sit next to or have the s...