Blog Manifesto

Blog Manifesto


This blog is dedicated, as the title would suggest, to the qualities of being young. We are young writers. We are playful and sensitive, fluid and changing. We are unashamed with our art. We wonder at the world, puzzle over the meanings of things and twirl in delight at images and ideas that float by, grabbing at them as they pass. We are curious and constantly inquiring and prying concepts open and taking assumptions apart. We are on the ground, close to the earth. We have bare feet and wiggle our toes into nature. We carry our blankies still and wrap up cozy and comfy with each other and tell ghost stories and shiver at creepy things. We laugh and we cry and we take a lot of naps, drained from our outings and exertions.

We write as gifts to each other, tying them up in ribbon and leaving them around for each other to find, hiding and waiting for the person to wake up and read. Surprise! We weave our stories together to create a bond. One writes, then the other. then another again. We have a shared reality that we have crafted, bit by piece by patch, by string. We write simple, honest authentic things, with our unique voices. You can tell each one of us from the other, without knowing who wrote what. Our voices are clear and gentle and original. We whisper and our personalities roar! Like children, our feelings are strong, our passion for what we write shakes us. We are moved and sometimes left breathless, by our own words or the words of each other. We cannonball into each others spaces. We fall backward into each others writing, like into a pile of leaves or a soft bed. We gobble and grin and ask for more. (footnote kudos to JC)

Then we go to bed, wake up to a new day and do it all over again!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The possibility of Androids


The future. It’s funny thinking about it. Such a vast mysterious thing. It can be what you want it to be. So full of possibilities, so full of excitement.
My brother is 25. He is working as a market analyst in London. He has a swanky job, a swanky apartment, a swanky car. He has a gorgeous girlfriend back in India. He is happy. Yesterday he told be the best years of his life were in college.
My flatmate is 34. She is an apparel designer. She works till 6, then has dance classes, guitar classes and a baking class. She is beautiful and has an adorable merchant navy fiancé. Every night during dinner she goes on about how she wishes she were back in college.
My father is 56. He is a mechanical consultant. He owns his own company. He has a beautiful house, an incredible wife, amazing kids (if I say so myself).  His best years were in college.
I am 20. I am in college. I have a fantastic time. I am learning all sorts of things, most unrelated to my coursework. I have a whole future full of possibilities. I have dreams and goals and hopes. I want a future where I am even happier than now. But all evidence indicates that that will probably not happen. These will be the best years of my life, and then I’ll settle down to the monotony of routine and schedule. My capacity to be happy and be excited will diminish. My dreams and hopes will be compromised with reality.
Why try then? Why try so hard, get my hopes up when this is the top point of the graph? After this, reality kicks in with all its responsibilities.
Of course, there is no way about it. I know that. Nothing lasts forever. This too shall pass. It’s just a little depressing thinking about how fast it’ll all end. The supposedly best chapter in my life will be closing in just a few months.
But I know other doors will open. There will be change, and that in itself is exciting. I look forward to whatever the future throws at me.
Who knows, in my future, there may even be androids :D

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4 comments:

  1. RosieJune 20, 2012 at 11:36 PM

    I love the repetition in this piece. It is elegant and thoughtful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. reeseJune 21, 2012 at 12:29 AM

    Jini...
    Very nice! Chase after your dreams...maybe you will be able say that your college years were great, but your future is even greater.

    ReplyDelete
  3. JCJune 21, 2012 at 3:36 AM

    college is only the time of your life when your eyes are opened to possibility. this is what makes it so momentous.. you have a whole life full of wonder before you. and you, jini, i have no doubt will make the most of it. beautifully written. thank you for reminding me. im treasuring my past as i look to my future.

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  4. SharonJune 23, 2012 at 11:15 PM

    Jini, I see many more exciting times ahead for you. I believe those who told you it was the 'best' time were trying to share their experience with you and relate to your life now. The point of 'best times' is they improve with hindsight. The little nuisances have faded away and what remains is free of the day-to-day work which you are living through.
    I enjoyed college but I seldom regard it as the best. No! rephrase that...I never think of it as the best. My job with kids, the challenges I met on a daily basis, my children, looking back those seem so much better than college. And, right now is a very good time for me... It may be the best time...I like to think the apex is ahead. Seriously!

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