Teenage Drama!!!

"Di it is so last season" B had a quick glance at my evening dress, she swiftly turned her focus to her fb page. Last season? I murmured to myself, 2 months before as I walked out of the trial room wearing the same dress, I couldn't help but pat on my back for my fashion sense and today a girl 7 years younger was telling me that I looked like an old women?. 


On my recent trip to Delhi, me and my family stayed over at my uncles place. The week long tour was a peek into the life of a 16 year old teenage girl, with whom I shared the room .The week long tour brought back some memories and I couldn't resist the temptation of comparing her present life with my good old days. Every where I turned to, I saw young girls dressed way over their age. Most of them looked like a mirror image of each other, same loud music, dressing sense and even the same hair style. For, someone who had quite an uneventful teenage days I was baffled.During the mall days back at Cochin, me and my brother used to sit in one corner people watching, we would calculate the average age of mall throbbing youngsters and it would be around 16-17 year max. Most of them stylishly dressed, holding arms with a stud/drop dead gorgeous girl by their side and that lets me wonder " How much on an average does these kids spend?". When I was in 11th, I would have to beg a hundred million times in front of my dad so that he would give into my loud soabs and  hand an extra 30 rupees as pocket money so that I could have my favorite shake that day. Things were different back then, there were no malls, having boyfriends were still a taboo in our society and most importantly consumerism wasn't a term heard quite much even in a communist state like ours. Things have changed! malls have sprouted up in every nook and corner of the city, kids actually love spending time bowling or playing video games in malls , and people prefer KFC and McD  over real food. 


And all these happened right in front of my eyes and I never knew!!!. I have a brother, 4 years younger but, he still has to beg like I used to , to get extra 10 bucks as pocket money. Okie, comming back to the point I try to melt in , fake in as the sheep, wear a sheep's coat and look cheap in it. Acting my age comes natural to me but, not faking the part of a 16 year old teenage girl. I have reasons to believe I live in an illusioned world cause at 23, I still can't wear my make up or still can't get the names of any boy bands right. I must have lived in some prehistoric times.


Does that mean I am completely against the teenage fun?NO!!! I mean, I don't have anything to look back to and gush, I don't have trazillion pics to choose from for my FB DP, I don't have heart breaks to boast off, I clearly didn't have fun. Times are chnaging and so should you and me. There are moments when I absolutely wish I were a teengae girl, reliving the teenage drama phase and then there are moments where I am thankful to my parents for keeping me grounded to the reality. 


The trip did teach me few essential tips to tackle my own future generations:

listen to a teenager: They may have a valid point, you can have your way around after you are done with the hearing part


Understand: The times that we grew in is entirely different from the present scenarios. Don't judge.


Watch: Always be careful, adrenaline high teenager may not be the right judge of a situation but, as a grown up you can and should.


Look up: Never treat them like kids, they are individuals wanting to be heard so always give and take respect.

Work Wear Issues

So many unfinished, not worthy to be published post lying in my drafts. And here goes my latest attempt to write. When I joined my company nearly 1 and a half years back, there were no specific policy on work wear. As a matter of fact, we did have a 4 page pdf on what to and what not to wear to work place, HELL!!! no one bothered.On a regular working day, one could see strip/acid washed jeans, funky tees and all those not to be worn attires making rounds through the campus. I do know guys who have survived through meetings and deadlines in just 'A' jeans and their ever trust worthy black Rock-N-Roll tees. After I shifted my base to Cochin, things took an U-turn for good, people here dress to work in simple, understated work wears. I ditched my old ways and settled in for more work friendly attires. After numerous mixing , matching, filtering, deciding what to wear I absorbed in the idea of "wearing" your work.


I would still wear my Jeans and tees on those lazy mornings when wearing a  traditional wear was unfathomable. On some week days I stretched my jeans ability to survive any more dust and dirt. Last day we received a company mailer asking all employees to dress professionally to work. Jokes flew, and everyone was analyzing everyone else from head to toe. Some of my colleagues came running to me and pointed the mailer and asked " How will you survive from the week on?. No hanging earring, no crazy color combination, no that in your face shoes" and I had to reason with literally everyone , I mean what does work wear mean? Black and white devoid of any color? devoid of pretty prints?. 


On Monday I came to work wearing a brown kurta, white leggings , white golden border shawl and nude heels. The security was staring on my legs, may be they expected me to wear something as I wore the last Friday, my yellow sunny peeptoe. I smiled and went in wearing my confidence on my collar or rather my shawl. Hours later, a girl wearing an above knee length kurtha and black leggings from the same ODC came up to me and asked me if the security had warned me of wearing inappropriate dress. She narrated her conversation with the gaurds and it seems, leggings are inappropriate to be worn to work. HMMM!!!! even one of my team mate was complaining on how the security felt about her tight churi being work inappropriate. I pinged some of my Bangalore friends and asked if the same condition prevailed there and they gave me a super confused expression cause no one bothered to tell them that leggings were banned. That made me super red, I mean how can a tight churi, a below knee kurta, or a bright yellow dress be termed as work inappropriate?. The company policy does not site any of the above mentioned into banned lot. Banning something or asking us not to wear something just cause we are in south is bloody BULLSHIT. A sleeveless or a shorts being inappropriate in general public's eyes is no excuse to behave in a way they did. I was left off cause I had worn a shawl with my dress as my whole ensemble was passed off as a churidhar where as, the girl behind me with her leggings and short kurta caught the gaurd's eye. Asking us not to wear a sleeveless cause this is Kerala is bullshit. This is corporate Mr. security, and even if I turn up at work wearing  just knee length pencil skirt and a tucked in shirt u will have to let me in cause that my friend is a WORK WEAR.

When life gives you LEMONS, make LEMONADE

I have multimillion things to share, starting with the reason for absence from blogger for over a month. I was bamboozled at work, working late nights, weekend panic attacks, rushing through deadlines all for a greater good: A WEEK LONG VACATION!!!!. I am a planner, I plan everything in life starting from my goals to mundane things like what to wear to work the NEXT week. On one of those relatively easy on the schedule days when I could stretch and take my eyes off my computer I drew up a plan on what I would wear for the entire vacation week. The plan consisted of a detailed approach and included lists of items I should carry. By Friday evening I was pretty much sure I wouldn't be able to reach home earlier than 11pm... I couldn't care much for, I had a task at hand and responsibility to finish before I could sip my Marguerite and enjoy the colors of fall. I reached back home tired and wanting to rest my back on my comfy bed, in midst of extreme tiredness I FORGOT to pack my bags. The next day morning when the cuckoo flew over my next, dad was heard straining his vocal chords, it was more of a war cry I believe. He threatened to abandon me if I didn't bring my suitcase down in 10 minutes. I opened my wardrobe, pulled out whatever I could lay my hands on and was present downstairs in a matter of 5 minutes. At that point missing my flight was far more important than looking chic and stylish during the vacations. The point I want to highlight is No matter how much we plan and plot, life decides it's own.

Life has given me many U-turns. Many times, I have stood at the cross roads and wondered "WHAT NEXT". We humans have a special trait : Ability to learn from our mistakes and  bounce back stronger. I did just that, found that perfect door every time which was kept open for me  though what I hoped and wished was completely different. People around me feel that there is no point in living a well scripted play. Even OSWALD says so (Octopuses are never this cute). I like it this way, the script is definitely Indian with full of rainbow colors :). It gives me a sense of satisfaction that I have not wasted yet another day on Earth. Planning helps me to utilize my energy in the right direction. I do agree that, living life by the rule books can suck out the fun element.  How do you like your life? Planned or Random?

P.S: I spent my entire vacation on a single pair of jeans and borrowed clothes.