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Relationships are now just confined to emojis. Also, I find it very strange that people at workplace are your besties, until you change office. After that you are just a contact. And I find these relationships so empty.
We take pride in being busy. A person who has the time to smell the flowers, look up at the brilliant night sky or really feel the rains with eyes closed are usually deemed as someone ‘who has nothing better to do.’ How wrong we are!
I fall in the category of the ‘ones who have nothing better to do’. No, really!
When inside my office, I have always looked outside the large windows wishing I was outside watching the sunset or maybe just lying on dew filled grass. But situations in life often take you away from who you really are at your core.
Days passed and I really got a high from the corporate life. The money, the business of the day that kept loneliness away and the feeling of accomplishment gradually dimmed the voice of my soul until it was just a whisper. I changed. I gradually started becoming a person I was not. Of course, I felt an emptiness in my soul.
And then one day, I just lay down in bed to sleep, with my daughter next to me.
She uninhibitedly put her tiny arms around my neck and snuggled close to fit herself closest to me. In the dim lights of the quiet night, I reciprocated her hug and held her close. I rested my chin on her head breathing in her essence. We spoke of all things from ‘Why dinosaurs roar?’ to ‘How Shaun the sheep can cook?’ and while talking I found a piece of my soul.
The simple act of just hugging my daughter and falling asleep next to her made me realise a hug makes so much sense. I told her ‘I feel so good when I hug you .’
‘Why?’ She asked me her tiny face lit up by the soft light.
‘Because I love you so much.’
‘Do you feel good when you hug me?’ I asked a little unsure.
‘Yes’, she said.
‘That means you love me too.’ I replied acting surprised.
She nodded her head with a shy smile and we hugged a little tighter just taking in the moment.
I have many times tried to feel good by listening to music, or going to a spa, but trust me nothing can beat a hug. It’s strange how little children can teach us about the basics of being human. Human beings come with the potential to become human, but somewhere while engaging with the world they forget who they are.
If you observe children, they are not inhibited. They hug the people they love, they hold their best friend’s hands. Sometimes they even pull away a carefree strand of hair from their friend’s face if they see it. These gestures, I find it so beautiful.
Growing up, there are these inhibitions at place. Many a times I have observed a friend would get overwhelmed over something and come over for a random hug, but would just stop awkwardly, unless of course I reciprocated. Sometimes there are those who we meet after a long time, they would rush to meet me but would hesitate before hugging me, just because they are unsure if it’s appropriate.
And I am talking of close friends here. Yes, there’s a well meaning respect in the hesitation before making a physical contact, but there’s also a beauty in another human just removing a carefree strand of hair from their friend’s face without asking.
Relationships are now just confined to emojis. Also, I find it very strange that people at workplace are your besties, until you change office. After that you are just a contact. And I find these relationships so empty. People associate only if they have something to gain from you. What happened to the old fashioned way of being in touch, or maintaining relationships just because you connected? The fact as I learnt is that while I thought people connected, they were actually making connections.
When people grow up, people focus more on being appropriate than genuine.
That night I realised what I had been missing in my life. Real people with genuine connections. That night as my soul stirred, I held on to the moment, grateful that I was experiencing it.
I always hugged my father. I always held my best friend’s hands. I always hugged people close when I met them after a long time. I was not inhibited. The person mattered more to me than inhibitions.
I am like this because I grew up with people who were like this. Choose Love not profit, help not gain and humane community not selfishness. This is how the world I came from operated. And there were no saints. Just simple human beings. Isn’t this the right way to be?
Really, I would rather be someone with nothing better to do and just experience the beauty of existence and love uninhibitedly rather than aspire to be busy and surrounded by humans who communicate better through emoji.
Yes, I am often alone because of that, but the handful of genuine people that surround me make it all worthwhile. The friend who cheers for you, the sister who calls you to share a recipe she tried, the cousin who whistles louder at your success than you would, the neighbour who dropped by with a casserole because they wanted to share. The list is endless.
What about you? Look at the people around you, are they making a connect with you or are you just a contact, a connection to boost their aspirations? Are you happy being the way you are? If not, what’s stopping you from making genuine relationships?
Published here first.
Image source: VikramRaghuvanshi from Getty Images Signature Free for Canva Pro
A Social Media Content Writer by profession. A writer by heart. A genuine foodie. Simple by nature. Love to read, create paintings and cook. Have impossible dreams. At the moment, engaged in making those dreams read more...
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What I loved was how there is so much in the movie of the SRK we have known, and also a totally new star. The gestures, the smile, the wit and the charisma are all too familiar, but you also witness a rawness, an edginess.
When a movie that got the entire nation in a twist – for the right and wrong reasons – hits the theatres, there is bound to be noise. From ‘I am going to watch it – first day first show’ to ‘Boycott the movie and make it a flop’, social media has been a furore of posts.
Let me get one thing straight here – I did not watch Pathaan to make a statement or to simply rebel as people would put it. I went to watch it for the sheer pleasure of witnessing my favourite superstar in all his glory being what he is best at being – his magnificent self. Because when it comes to screen presence, he burns it, melts it and then resurrects it as well like no other. Because when it comes to style and passion, he owns it like a boss. Because SRK is, in a way, my last connecting point to the girl that I once was. Though I have evolved into so many more things over the years, I don’t think I am ready to let go of that girl fully yet.
There is no elephant in the room really here because it’s a fact that Bollywood has a lot of cleaning up to do. Calling out on all the problematic aspects of the industry is important and in doing that, maintaining objectivity is also equally imperative. I went for Pathaan for entertainment and got more than I had hoped for. It is a clever, slick, witty, brilliantly packaged action movie that delivers what it promises to. Logic definitely goes flying out of the window at times and some scenes will make you go ‘kuch bhi’ , but the screenplay clearly reminds you that you knew all along what you were in for. The action sequences are lavish and someone like me who is not exactly a fan of this genre was also mind blown.
A new Gallup poll reveals that up to 40% of Indian women are angry compared to 27% of men. This is a change from 29% angry women and 28% angry men 10 years ago, in 2012.
Indian women are praised as ‘susheel’, virtuous and to be emulated when they are obedient, ready to serve others and when they put the wishes of others before their own. However, Indian women no longer seem content to be in the constrictive mould that the patriarchy has fashioned for them. A Gallup poll looked at the issue of women’s anger, their worry, stress, sadness and found that women consistently feel these emotions more than men, particularly in India.
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