LOL: Life Of Leo

Image Source Don't judge me, don't ask me why, but I recently started watching this show on Netflix called Dubai Bling. Half way through the most ridiculous first episode, I stopped and asked myself as to why I was doing this. There was a plethora of other content out there, but yet I decided to watch this one. Honestly, I was just curious and I thought it was about the magnificent city of Dubai. I do love watching documentaries on big cities, mega kitchens, crime, famous personalities etc. Turns out, it is a reality show about a bunch of richie richs' of Dubai. A woman who lives pretty much in a palace, but wants to move to a bigger place due to lack of closet space. Her Indian husband smartly asks her to have another baby and expand the family before expanding the home. There is a female real estate Mogul who feels the need to repeat "I came to Dubai from Lebanon with $300 and I'm a millionaire today" time and again. She also happens to be the co-owner or so

Image Source Circa 2004. The time when you needed an invite to join Facebook. I was so excited to receive one and before I knew it, I was pretty much updating every bit of my life out there. "What's on your mind", was taken very seriously and looks like I felt the need to answer that every thirty minutes or so. Things only got worse a few years later. I had just started working and was nursing a heartbreak. Internet access became more easy at work and I apparently was good at finding quotes on pain, crying, heartbreak and sharing them. Some of the memories that pop-up these days make me want to cringe and die at the same time. Long story short, Facebook has been a vital part of my growing up.

Image Source If there is one thing that I want to focus on in 2023, it has to be writing. I wrote just 5 posts in 2022 and I'm embarrassed and sad. Embarrassed because I'm ashamed of not being dedicated in pursuing something that I love. Sad, well, same reason. As someone with a genuine "have to be in control" problem, it doesn't go down well on me that I'm not able to do something. Especially something that I want to do. Now that I look back, I realize that it did not bother me as much as I thought it would. Perhaps, it no longer was a priority. How and when that happened, I'm not sure of. One thing I know for sure now, I want to get back to writing and I have a plan in place. I intend to stick to it, come what may.

Image Source PAIN - A four letter word. Something that makes or breaks you. ABUSE - A five letter word. Though often associated with physical and sexual, emotional abuse is equally dangerous if not more. TRAUMA - A six letter word. Nothing to do with any injury or accident. Any or many distressing or disturbing experiences. TRIGGER - A seven letter word. A simple word, dialog, situation or person can make you go through the above three at any point of time. FAMILY - A six letter word. Usually meant to protect you from all of the above. A safe haven, a happy place. A place where you are understood, a place that doesn't judge you, a place that accepts you for what you are. Family, a group of people who live together or come together on occasions and care for each other. They shield you from the pain, abuse, trauma and the triggers associated with it. If you are extremely unlucky, the very family becomes the cause for all of the above. Welcome to my life.

Image Source My last Action Replay was in July 2021, that is almost a year ago! It aches me that I haven't been regular here, but I'm slowly making a start now and that is something I want to stay consistent at. 2020, 2021 and the first five months of 2022 were a blur! It is a weird feeling, time is moving so fast and yet everything around feels slow. I don't know if I'm making sense, but that is how 2022 has been for me so far. The pandemic still looms, but our life has pretty much gone back to the old normal. We used to feel restricted and claustrophobic earlier but now we are free to do whatever we want. That's a tiny win! I have been through a lot from the start of the year, both good and bad and as usual it has left me with lessons that would last a lifetime. Work has been good and while we are asked to step into office once in a while, I'm still primarily working from home. My workplace is just 10 minutes away from where I stay and I don't feel like go

Image Source This incident happened more than a month ago and it still refuses to leave my mind. I'm neither a fan of Chris Rock or Will Smith, the sheer audacity of what happened is what stays with me. What Will Smith did was wrong, there is no doubt in that. But, what Chris Rock did wasn't right either. As a comedian, you have the liberty to make fun of a lot of things. Physical appearances and illness not included. The way we look is what people see first, anything a little out of the ordinary hurts our self-confidence. More so because people ensure to point it out. It hurts no doubt. Now imagine being mocked for it. I wasn't aware of Jada's alopecia areata until this happened. Maybe even Chris Rock wasn't, after all not everyone immerses themselves in social media all the time. Will Smith should have handled it off stage than talk about the dangerous things that love makes us do. I mean this was the man who won hearts by forgiving his cheating wife. The reason

Image Source Since the pandemic, if there is a Bollywood movie that was shoved into our faces promoted immensely, it has to be Atrangi re. From Sara Ali Khan dancing in every possible location, be it trees or on water, to people copying her Chakachak moves, this movie was everywhere on Social Media. Personally, I think that Sara Ali Khan is a decent actress, but picks the wrong movies. If you think she was annoying in Love Aaj Kal, she takes it up a notch with Atrangi Re. The movie does live up to its name in terms of ample color strewn around, but what makes the movie unintentionally funny is the colors of people. Before I talk about what I thought of this one, let me give you the gist of the movie. Vishu (Dhanush) is from Madurai and is studying to be a doctor in Delhi. Rinku (Sara Ali Khan) is an orphan from Bihar, hated and abused by her family members and happens to be a serial eloper. She's runaway ample times to be with her long-term boyfriend, Sajjad Ali Khan (Akshay Kumar

Image Source I started blogging in 2009, reasons behind it were important back then but not now. Writing was an outlet and the concept of blogging was quite new back then and people were thrilled to write, read, comment and give away a plethora of blogging awards. It used to be all personal and thought-sharing back then. With time, it became a business. Blogging contests were a challenge to the mind of a writing novice, but the eyes were always on the prize. Blogging communities came up with many money making ideas and honestly, all of them did work. Prizes and vouchers were given away at the drop of a hat and for an article written just for the sake of it. Personalization gave way to commercialization. Ample time was spent on research of topics we did not care about, but had to write about. Deadlines and version revisions took away the simplistic joy of writing, but not without giving you more moolah than you bargained for.

Image Source What do you call that feeling where you want to say so much but are not able to put it into words? Whatever it is called, that is exactly what I'm feeling as I sit down to write this. Honestly, I cannot believe a time has come where writing has become optional for me. It is definitely not out of choice, neither has it been a priority over the past few months. If I were to be more honest, I'd say that I did not even think of writing or miss it even. Writing has been a vital part of my life and it had/has been paused for a while and I'm totally fine with it. Yes, say hello to the new me. 2020 and 2021 have been weird years and we can all agree with it. Every one of us has gone through so much, lost so much, gained so much and what not. I'm sure at the end of the day none of us are what we were two years ago. The pandemic hasn't been easy but it sure did make each one of us look deep into ourselves. One of the biggest lessons that I've learned over the