LOL: Life Of Leo

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.

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields " I can't believe dad didn't tell us where he hid the gems. " Neil says angrily. " You convert your earnings to precious gems and not tell your children where you kept it? " Nathan says.

Image Source Festivities always remind me of family and one Diwali that remains closest to my heart is the Diwali of 2011. I was invited by my friend's family to celebrate it with them. When another friend and I walked into her house, it was filled with so much love and warmth. The whole family was gathered under one roof, dressed in their traditional best and laughing and talking away! They even brought in gifts for each other and it was such a happy ambiance. Every one was genuinely happy to see the other and this one episode showed me what families should all be about. Once the evening ended, I headed to a coffee shop near home, where Cal was waiting for me. We spent the rest of the evening, being the lone members in the coffee shop and with the noise and light of crackers around us. The Diwali of 2011 was magical in its own way.

Image Source In my previous post , I spoke about how women who drink are judged and scrutinized by the society. Today, I want to raise another important question and attempt to answer it in my own way. As of today, in India, there are 945 females to every 1000 males. And trust me, this is a better statistic when compared to what it was earlier. We all know the answer to this imbalance, don't we? Female foeticide. Years ago, I wrote a post about this very topic and it hurt me so much to write that. A few days ago, I happened to chance upon that post again and I thought what could be the primary reason for people, men and women alike not wanting to give birth to the girl child. As a new month began and a certain loan amount was cut from my bank account, I got my answer. It has been close to five years since I got married, but the loan that I took for my wedding is still on. My parents are still paying off debts that they had incurred at the time of my wedding. Yes, five year...

Image Source For some reason, all the articles that I've read since morning have been about marriage and the difficulties that surround it. I am not a staunch believer in the institution of marriage but I do believe hopelessly in love. I married the man I love around four years ago and we have continued to be lovers and soul mates. It worked out very well for me, so yeah I'd like to say that marriage is good. The reason why I say that I'm not a big fan of marriage is because of the forced relationships and responsibilities that come with it. When most couples say that they don't feel married, it mainly means that they do not stay with their parents. The only time that I've felt married is when I stayed with my in-laws for the first two years of marriage. It was no less than hell. Today as my husband and I stay on our own, we're back to being in a relationship rather than being forced to being man and wife.

Image Source The biggest irony of my life is my name. Soumya means soft natured and gentle. Yeah yeah I know, even I'm laughing my ass off. I was initially named Deepthi as they wanted my name and that of my sister's to start with the same letter. But then apparently one fine day, my parents decided to change it and look what happened. Although I do not think that a person's name describes his/her personality, at times the thought is amusing. There are so many people who are just not like their name at all. There are some really funny instances as well. There is a girl I know who cannot concentrate on anything and is called Shraddha. Another atheist friend is called Shiva. The guy who is always ass licking and following his mentor is called Guru. You get the drift, right? I had barely interacted with my husband in spite of knowing him for ages until we finally began to meet often and fall in love. I once told him that he has a very funny name and it doesn't suit...

PHOTO PROMPT © Ron Pruitt " Are you sure you want to do this? Eloping is such a bad thing. " She tells him. They were running away to get married. With bags packed, they were waiting at the bus station to go somewhere far away. " We do not have a choice ." He says. " But we did not even tell them about us. What if they agree? " " What if they don't? " " Running away will bring such shame to our parents. They'll die of it. " " I do not want that to happen. Let's head back and talk to them. If they don't agree, let's try to convince them. " This drabble (100 word fiction) is written for Friday Fictioneers, 23rd October 2015 .

Lee Miller in Adolf Hitler's bathtub, Munich 1945, by David E. Scherman I had it all working for me The best love, the best family life And one fine day he came along Ripped all I had with a bloody knife My loved ones were scattered around I am the only one who survived I remember the face of the tormentor I held my pain in and never cried I hid myself from his gaze And yet followed him around everywhere I had vowed for revenge in my heart He was someone I would not spare It took me a while to sort out a plan The pain within me held me strong This was the only chance that I had I could not afford to let it go wrong I followed him home one fine day I waited for a while until he was alone He pleaded for mercy at my feet But this was not something he could atone I went in straight for the heart I waited until it stopped the beat Then came the red gushing out That's when I knew revenge tastes sweet I watched him ly...

I have always been a quick learner and love to be busy. I'm a workaholic and am usually neck deep in work leaving me really little time for anything else. As much as I am a master of multi-tasking, at times I do fall short some where. Over the past few months I have been so busy that I have had no time to pursue any of my passions. Be it reading, writing, painting or baking. Since we moved into a new place of our own, almost all of my free time goes in taking care of the household chores and cooking. It was tiring to the core even to wake up in the morning and do basic chores. My mood swings were all over the place and I used to snap frequently at my husband. I clearly was missing all my passions and my daily life. It happens you know, when your adventurous life is suddenly pushed to extremes of monotony. I tried my best to keep my cool and take one thing at a time, but it was not working well. I was breaking down and found it difficult to concentrate on one thing. No, no...

Copyright Ted Strutz " Ruhaan, it is past bedtime and you are still watching TV? ", I yell at my five year old. " But mama, I have no school tomorrow ." " Still, you need to get to bed on time baby ", I turn the switch off and then the lights and carry him towards the corner bedroom. " Will you please read me a story about cricket until I fall asleep ?" " Sure my darling ", I say and reach out for his tiny shelf of books wondering how his father would have read the cricket story had he not abandoned his only son who was born without limbs. This five sentence fiction is written for the topic ' Bedtime ' at Lillie McFerrin Writes . This drabble (100 word fiction) is written for Friday Fictioneers, 30th January 2015 .

Image Source In life all of us have to make choices. All of us are expected to choose what is good for us and what we can do. And this has nothing to do with that the fact that the person is a man or a woman. Its not that only women have to make choices and men can have it all, men have to make choices and compromises too. But more often than not a woman is expected to make choices, and let the man have his way. People expect women to be born with that compromising attitude and if she does not have it in her, then she is not a good lady. She is considered selfish and arrogant. Who decides that women have to make compromises? If society's rule book dictates these terms then I am proud to not adhere to it and stand out. Why are we all letting go of what we want to do and following something that does not make sense in the first place. Isn't that the biggest form of compromise that we all are making. And that too by lying to ourselves. It is definitely not worth it. Wo...

Image Source Some days ago there was this interesting article in the newspaper about wedding gifts. The article spoke about how couples these days mention " No Gifts Please " on their wedding cards and how there are some typical wedding gifts that offer no use whatsoever. I was reminded of my wedding gifts on reading that and how I had planned to write about it. It has been almost two years since my wedding now and yet some gifts come back to haunt me every now and then. A wedding is a very personal affair, but mine was anything but that. Almost half the crowd of Bangalore was invited to my wedding and before I could realize, there was a huge pile of gifts wrapped in shining paper piled all around the house. I always feel that it is better to ask the couple what they want as a gift and then get it for them. If you are not close to the couple, then it is always better to gift cash instead of some tacky show piece. Even hundred bucks is fine as long as it can be used. T...

Copyright -Björn Rudberg It took me a long time to find the perfect Christmas tree, and it was no easy task to get it down to our house through our steep pathway. Watching my wife decorate the tree, made me smile realizing that all the effort I put did not go in vain. " Dad, we do not have a glimmering star to put on top ", my five year old came rushing to me. " Darling, I have the perfect star for it !" She and her mother watched as I climbed up the ladder to put our tiny family portrait on top of the tree. This five sentence fiction is written for the topic ' Glimmer ' at Lillie McFerrin Writes . This drabble (100 word fiction) is written for Friday Fictioneers, 26th December 2014 .

The story so far. Image Source: Google Once you have decided in your mind that you want to marry a certain person, nothing, absolutely nothing can change your mind. The commitmentphobe in me was gone for good and I looked forward to spend my life together with Cal. Apart from going back to the same house, we were living together in every possible way. After a busy day at work, I would meet him and stay together for as long as we can. He would then drop me home and head back to his place. Once my parents too knew about our relationship, things were more than smooth. My parents have seen him since he was born and they adored him completely. My mother cooked special dinner for him almost every day and I was glad that he was getting along so well with my folks.  Then came the day when we had to start off the whole wedding preparations from the start. The start here, means the bride seeing. According to the Tamilian Iyer clan, the girl comes to the boy's house, instead of ...

Image Source: Google Unless we are born to a Tata or a Birla , none of us are born with a golden spoon up our butt. All of us come from middle class families or at least came from. At least I do. I came from a lower middle class family where we struggled to make a decent living at first. Later as my sister and I completed our studies and started making good money we rose up the ladder to an upper middle class family. But I do not act like I was born into luxury. I still remember those struggling days and hence I know the value of money. This is how I am always gonna be. I see a lot of people around me who act like they were conceived on the bed of luxury, when that clearly is not the case. Unless you had a gold crib as a child, you still are a part of the rags to riches story. Whether you contribute to it or not, is something else altogether. One of the biggest examples that I see around me are those people who come from small towns to a big city like Bangalore. Suddenly, ...

Read Part-1 here , Part-2 here , Part-3 here Present day - 1.45 pm I almost spill the orange juice on my dress as my mind and body is trying to adjust to the revelation in front of me. I feel a million things going through me. I wanted to walk away, but my legs wouldn't give way. I wanted to yell, but no voice came. I wanted to cry, but tears remained frozen. I wanted to feel angry, but felt emotionless. I slowly placed my glass on the table and stared into nothing. Mom was wiping her tears on the tissue now, leaving trails of kajal on it. “ It is too much to take, I know. Sorry .” She said in between sobs. I look up at her and feel the world spinning. I hold my head right in between my palms and look down. I feel an arm on me soon after. “ Here, have some water .” My mom stood next to me. I gulp down the entire glass and hand it back to her staring coldly into her eyes. “ So, dad is not my father? ” I manage to ask. “ He is your father in every way. He loves ...

Having children is a blessing they say. I've stayed away from this thought until now and shall for a long time. If ever I decide to have children, I would want to have a daughter. No, I'm not gender biased or a feminist, but somehow I never have " wanted " a son. My husband agrees on this. One of the reasons why we have stayed away from parenthood is the mounting expenses that come along with pregnancy and raising a child. Yeah, we are not afraid to admit that. We want to be completely ready before we welcome our daughter in to our lives. We do not want to feel a pinch or let her feel the same. She would be the biggest gift for us and we would not let anything bad come close to her. We want to give her everything we have. Without expecting anything in return. We brought her into this world, so we would not want to burden her with anything. Education, luxury and moral values is what every parent would want for their children. But along with that I would want t...

Here we go guys. As promised, here is a glimpse of my big day!  All dressed up. I couldn't recognize myself. After the garlanding ceremony. Man, those garlands are super heavy :| Cal walks his bride to the swing/oonjal. Oonjal is an Iyer custom where the bride and groom sit on a swing and women walk around warding them from all evil. And he promised to hold my hand for life :)  The Iyer bride costume. Another case of non-identification :D His usual self, Cal had to crack jokes just before the moment. The moment. Beautifully captured. Mangalya thantunanena mama jeevana hethunaa Kante badhnaami subhage tvam jeeva saradah satham Burn, evil doers. Burn in hell. Yeah, I'm a drama queen too. Toe Rings. God bless you, dear husband :) The custom where you go see a star called Arundati. All we could see was a mobile signal tower. And a crow. The wedding venue. Cal and I supervised the decoration. After the gr...