Why 2014 is better than 2013

Hello guys! It's so good to see you again!

It's 2014. 2013 is now in the past and no one can really do anything about it. Victories, luck, happiness, mishaps, mistakes, regrets, moments you totally owned with Stark-y confidence, and the moments you absolutely have no intention to remember again. You cannot go back (unless you are Doctor Who or own a Time-turner). Not being able to go back can be a bliss, don't you think? I mean, who would want to go back when they can go forward?

Anyway, stomp on the past because here are 7 reasons why 2014 is going to be a far better year.

1. Sherlock season 3: After years and months and hours of conjuring theories about how the object of our obsession can survive a fatal fall, we have some hope of knowing what actually occurred. The wait was excruciating and many gave up hope of ever coming to know the truth while others surmised in vain. But now 2014 offers us the elusive season 3 and here we are, ready to pounce upon any chance of getting enlightened with the genius of Gatiss and Moffat.

2. Baravi* sampli: Yes, exams are a part of life when you are a student and even after that. But never again would we have to go through the demotivating numbness of appearing for the Boards**. That is reason enough to rejoice. It's like when the Dark Lord disappeared when baby Harry had survived. Everyone was in the jolliest of moods, not caring whether they were being noticed by muggles. Getting through the 12th standard boards deserves that kind of joyous abandon.

3. FIFA: Woohoo! \m/ I still don't get why world cup has to happen every four years. Why can't it happen every year? Anyway, 2014 is the FIFA year and I  couldn't be more happy. Argentina will be back and so will be we, supporting her through thick and thin. And even if you support any other nation, it's time to celebrate and paint our faces with flag colours. The game will be on and our spirits will rise with the haunting anthems.

4. One more Federer: Hearty congratulations to Mirka, Roger and the to-be big sisters. We are overjoyed with the news. It's a sign that purity, love, warmth are infinite and life is abundant. God bless the Federers. They keep spreading smiles and kindness. We wish we could give them a big hug, especially Mirka. :'")

5. Adele's new album: Get ready to bathe in sound. Adele's new album is a hit even before its release. It promises happy songs this time but we don't care what the mood of the album is as long it's Adele rendering it with ruthless style. All the best, Adele. We are all ears.

6. Driving license: Many of us are turning 18 and some of us recently have. It's such a liberating thought, driving around in a car through the dusty labyrinth of the traffic in Pune. Just you and your friends going to the pictures, no helmet, no scarves, no raincoats, ahh, hmm.

7. The Hobbit: Well, well, well. Bilbo has just asked 'what have we done?' We'll get to see the high definition, thrilling and magnificently terrifying repercussions of 'what they've done', in The Hobbit: There and Back Again. Smaug the Stupendous is in a terrific mood to show them what revenge is and we are more than excited to witness what he does with his glorious voice (wink, wink) and Bilbo's commonplace, Baggins-y cuteness cannot be done without.

So, friends, great things are about to happen. Brace yourselves. It's 2014. You are going to own it. Have a little faith and pixie dust. ;)

*means 'twelfth' in Marathi. Refers to the 12th grade in the education system in India.
**Refers to the secondary school examination held by the education department of the Govt. of Maharashtra i.e. the Board.

A few things to live for

Hi :) How are you?

We live on such a beautiful planet. Earth is truly divine. Not just because it has life, and it has us but because it's just so beautiful. No, I am not a traveller, as yet. But you don't really need to travel to Switzerland, Kenya or India to know/realize your planet is incredible. You, on some Sunday afternoon, lie on your bed and do nothing, and there it is. Among thousands of negative thoughts, you finally manage to produce a positive one. And you realize there are a lot of things you can't live without (excluding the obvious scientific ones, like oxygen), and that you are immensely thankful that those things exist, because they are sort of what you live for. So here is my list of the best things about this planet.

1. Perry mason books: One owes a great deal to Gardener, Doyle, and Christie. I mean, sometimes you have got a hundred assignments to complete which were due yesterday and you've got an exam tomorrow and your head is about to burst with all the pressure and you start rethinking the benefits of academic education instead of studying. Who can you turn to? You simply open The case of the drowning duck and you are on it! You do not look up until you solve it. Who cares about stupid exams? There is a man dead in the kitchen.

2. Fifa: Sometimes you feel your life is segmented into parts containing four years each. Fifa starts, gets over, and you manage to breathe through the four years that it takes to begin again. And when it's on, everything else has to wait. I mean seriously you have got the massive responsibility of shouting 'VAMOS!' at the television. Plus, you tend to get more involved because your country does not have an international football team yet. So you go full out to make sure you break the T.V with the glass of whisky in your hand when Argentina loses to Germany. And maybe you were drunk but the Latin blood you never had charges through your veins and you are not a fan. You are aficionado. 

                                

3. Roger: What else could bother you when Roger is about to lose a set? Mirka is folding her hands in submission. But you are dancing about the T.V set, cursing his opponent, throwing popcorn at the T.V. If he wins, you hug your mother who is quietly witnessing your hysterics and tell her that you love her. If he loses, you refuse to turn off the T.V till they start showing other matches and cry with him until he stops. Roger, Rogi, Fedex, Fedya*. When you love Roger Federer, you love everything about him, his game, his daughters, his laugh, his Swiss-ness, his wins and his losses, you love it all because it's his. And he is just so damn lovable.

4. Sherlock: You have spent the last two years in searching, guessing, theorizing, analysing or trying to ignore the probable answer for a single question- 'HOW?' 
Following a series is like living two lives. Or multiple if you follow many. You are a C.I.A agent, you are a drug-dealer, you are a Lady in an Abbey, you are all this while trying to do your best to explain how a man can survive a fatal fall. Huh, irony. Oh and plus, you are you. The dreary problems in our mundane lives seem to vanish, giving way to exciting ones. See you at 221 Baker Street.

5. J.K. Rowling: Did you ever wonder how poor the intellectual quality of our lives be if we didn't know about Hogwarts?
We will always be thankful to J. K. for showing us what lies beyond the cars on the road, behind the grey clouds on a summer sky or an unobtrusive wall on King's Cross station, that someone out there conjuring spells and mixing potions, doesn't know how to work a computer or a smartphone and doesn't need to. Destination, determination, deliberation.
Anything you go through in life seems petty and you start looking up to the characters of Neville Longbottom, Professor Lupin, Sirius Black, Molly Weasley, Professor Mcgonagall and several others who died or sacrificed their loved ones for the battle against pure, unflinching evil. J.K. introduced us to the most endearing, heart-warming, and courageously loving characters ever to be born in print.

6. Adele: She is brash and sexy, warm and haughty. And she knows how to make his head burn. She is unapologetically herself and she cackles like the devil. She has the voice of unleashed victory and she rules. Oh and she knows she rules. There is nothing about her that you don't love. She makes you feel empowered. Smooth adrenalin gushes through your veins as you sing with her and you are ready, ready to heal, ready to love, ready to crack, to forgive and ready to burn.

7. Shah Rukh Khan: His smile, his confidence, his energy are contagious. You cannot help but laugh at his witticisms, and his oozing self-confidence somehow warms you towards him rather than intimidating you. He is a superstar at every level and yet he feels strangely approachable. Although he wears a heavily practised expression on his face, the way his eyebrows cluster, raise, move up and down, feels genuine. You cry when he does and laugh when he laughs. When he speaks you are completely engaged in listening to what he has to say and how he says it. You adore him and envy him. You love him but in a selfish sort of way because at every level you want to be like him. And somehow his mega-super-stardom does not come in the way of your wishing to be like him. He makes it look effortless. He is affable, charming, sexy, and by all means, yours to dream. 

"These are a few of my favourite things..."

Thanks for reading!




*In Marathi language, "ya" is used in someone's name to show affection and familiarity towards him.