My Facebook Profile pic

              Once upon a time ( that is how most of the bedtime stories or fairy tales start) people clicked photos for the memories attached to it. They were seen in albums kept in storage areas once a year and smiled upon. These days we click photos just to put it on facebook. Fortunately since I do not have a facebook profile, I do not go under immense pressure to pose like a stud every time someone is clicking a photo.

              Facebook profile pics are deceptive. And we might hardly have people who would disagree with this fact. How many times have we seen the most awesome looking girl on facebook to be an average looking girl in the real world? I don't know about others but I have been deceived far too many times to keep the count. As if the pic is of the same person but in some other parallel universe. Perhaps the movie DejaVu was not fiction after all. There does exist a universe parallel to this which is known to most fb users. They go there every month to get their photos taken so that they could be uploaded on fb.

             I only wish if people looked the way the fb profile pic is. I would have loved the world. Not that I am a materialistic mcp who does not value inner beauty but comeon who would hate to see only beautiful faces around.Even the Lords had only beautiful people around. I have never seen an average looking dancer whenever they showed Indra's palace in television serials.

             The poses I see on fb would make SRK hang his head in shame.The plain Jane next door girl I remember from school suddenly looks like the hottest chick in town. The regret of missing the bus in school overrides other feelings.And then the school reunion brings you back to reality.You start getting the confidence back on the decisions you took.One more strange thing I have noticed is no matter how the fb pic of a girl is, she will surely get likes and superlikes from guys, but more on that when I write on the gender discrimination on fb.

               Most of the rant also comes because of the fact that I am the rare unlucky person whose pics look worse than the already bad God gifted face.Only if someone showed me the door to that parallel universe. Only if I could have gone back a few years and saved a pic when I actually looked cute.( before you judge, all kids look cute). Anyway the bottom line my friends is that never judge a book by the cover if the cover you talk about is the facebook profile pic ;-)

PS: The hypocrite that I am, I am attaching the pic I would have used as my fb profile pic.

Cheers!! Give my pic some likes please!! ;-)

The 'Indian Husband'

               One of my favorite movies RDB starts with a line ' I always believed there were two kinds of men in this world, men who go to their deaths screaming, and men who go to their deaths in silence. Then I met a third kind.' I always get a feeling that the third kind he actually refers to is about the one I am writing about. The kind that is different than others. Even different from the other married men. He is the most underrated superstar of the world. He is the one who is more like Spiderman caught in a web built by the society.He is bright, charismatic and still so humble and modest. He has suffered from centuries and will probably suffer for a few more.And yet he stands tall, fighting the odds, delivering the goods ( I do not mean the grocery here please) , easy to please. Yes, I am talking about ' THE INDIAN HUSBAND'.

              When I say this guy has suffered from ages and will continue to do so, I meant no exaggeration. The Hindu religion talks about two main holy wars fought. The causes for both were women and the people who fought and died where Indian husbands. Be it the father of Lord Ram who had to send his son to jungle or Lord Ram itself who had to fight after he went looking for the golden deer on his wife's wish. The Indian husband was torn between his duties and his wife if he was the king of old times. The Indian husband is still torn between his wife and mother in modern times.

                In the Indian wedding, people dance and celebrate and have fun. But little does the man on the mare knows that people dancing in his procession are celebrating a different cause. The married men are dancing cause they are happy that the people who suffer like them have increased by one more, the singles dance because they are saved and the women dance to know that they got one more from the enemy clan. What he has failed to realize is the reason why most Bollywood movies get over right after the hero gets the heroine and before they get married is cause we love happy endings. And they know that after marriage there is just ending to the poor guy's life. Nothing is happy about it.

              The poor husband suffers right from Day one. If he listens to what his wife says, he is a henpecked husband. If he listens to what his mother says, he is a 'Mummy' boy. Not just that, if a guy is liked by his in-laws he surely will be hated by his own parents or if the parents find him an ideal son, the in-laws are complaining. When he works too hard to make some money so that the family gets a good life, he is blamed for not spending time with his family. If he spends time with his family, he is blamed and he will be no matter how much he earns, that he could not get enough for his family. Poor guy keeps getting squeezed from all corners of the world.

                He gets into the mode of listening. Everybody has an opinion which will be a new battle waged if worked on. He tries to find solace in the newspaper and news channel. But the most important work to be done will always be remembered by the wife when he just opens the newspaper. The kids have taken control of the TV remote. He is expected to know everything that the wife thinks. He is expected to know how his parents feel. He is expected to work the way his Boss wants.The pressure of expectations makes his shoulders slump.His Blood Pressure increases.And then comes a time when people start saying, Ohh that Mr X, what a man he was, now he is married.

               Like a table tennis ball, he keeps going back n forth between his wife and mother. Like a football, he keeps been pushed around by his boss, colleagues, kids, parents and society.Like in Baseball, he keeps making 'Home runs'.And just like the cricket ball, he is battered and bruised in a few years. He is playing all the sports but is not enjoying it. But the guy still stands tall, remains humble and modest about his achievements of his daily life, keeps a smile on his face and asks the bachelor sitting next to him, 'So when do you plan to get married'?

              So please stand in silence for a couple of minutes or salute the guy, but find some way to respect this superstar.Gift him something whenever you can cause he doesn't have a day for him. Archies makes no cards for him. He just sits there, suffers and does it with grace. A salute to all the Indian Husbands. May God give you the will to be strong. :-)

Cheers!