Friday 13 September, 2013

The Fabulous Man, and Am I One?

This post comes to you in two parts:

Part 1: The Fabulous Man

Yesterday, my friend and I were at a railway station, waiting for a train my friend was to board. As we were standing there, talking, something magical happened. Rather, someone magical happened.

From a distance approached this mystical being. A man, not taller than 5 feet with the waist size of Kate Moss was walking towards us. Actually, he wasn't walking. Walking is for lame earthlings like me. His walk had purpose. This man, his walk had fantastic swagger. He was swagging.

His hips swayed to ramp music perhaps we were too deaf to hear. His catwalk could have given even Naomi Campbell a run for her money. I was mesmerised. And so was my friend, and everyone around who looked at him.

As I unabashedly stared at him, I saw he was talking on the phone. And as he walked past, I heard him speak in the loudest, most high pitched voice ever. As if his swagging wasn't enough, this man gave us more.

He walked the entire length of the platform that way. I stared at him until he completely disappeared in the crowd. And it was then I decided I wanted to be this man. This fantastic person who was just being himself. This fabulous, fabulous man. The Fabulous Man. That's what I decided to call him.

They say that some people walk into rooms and own them. Well guess what? The Fabulous Man owned the railway platform. And if ever I see him again, I am going to tell him that he is fabulous and I want to be him.

In fact, I think we all need The Fabulous Man in our lives to remind us to not take ourselves too seriously. And to be fabulous, of course.

Part 2: Wherein I am Made to Question my Gender

This incident occurred not even an hour ago. It was around 1.30 in the night then, when all the crazies of Bombay take to travelling by train. Seriously, I have met some very weird people at this hour. And today was no different.

I was coming back from work, and my stop was approaching, so I got up and stood near the train's door. Another woman (?) got up behind me. I felt a tap on my back. I turned around, and it was the woman (?).

"Aapka naam kya hai?" She (?) asked.
"Supriya," I answered, without thinking twice about telling my name to a person I had never met before at 1.30 in the night.
"Kahan rehte ho?" She (?) asked again. This time common sense prevailed and I didn't just hand her (?) a detailed map to my house.

"Kya aap whdunsuhdueh ho?" She (?) asked. I couldn't understand, so I asked her (?) to repeat.
"Kya aap whdunsuhdueh ho?" She (?) asked again. I still couldn't get it, and at this point I was getting annoyed.

"Kya?"  I asked again.
"Kya aap ladies ho?"

What. Did I just get asked if I was a man?
What?

How do you even respond to a question like that? I didn't know what to say. So this woman (?) asks me again. I said I was a woman. She then asked me if I was married and if I had children.

Fortunately my stop arrived and I sped, without looking back even once,

My first reaction was anger. But then I remembered The Fabulous man and felt a little better.

Once I got home, I took a long hard look at myself. Do I really look like a man? Why would someone ask if I was one? I am not the most feminine of dressers, and neither am I very demure in my mannerisms. Does that make me a man?

I don't know. How would you deal with someone questioning your gender? Let me know in the comments.

Until next time, stay fabulous.

Thursday 5 September, 2013

Winning Awards and Other Happy Things

Even though I have been out of the blogging circuit for a while now, I was recently bestowed with a Liebster Award from the very cool Nikhita, who has an amazing blog called Of Chaos and Couture. I am so happy to be acknowledged for this blog of mine... inconsistent and often silly as it is, it is still mine, and I am grateful! Thank you, N!

A Liebster Award is an award given by bloggers to bloggers. Once you have been nominated for a Liebster, you have to do the following:

1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger.
2. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
3. Answer 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
4. Nominate 11 bloggers who have less than 200 followers. They should be bloggers that you believe deserve some recognition and a little blogging love.
5. Post 11 questions for the bloggers that you nominated to answer.
6. Let all of the bloggers know that they’ve been nominated. You cannot nominate the blogger that nominated you.

Ok, here we go!

1. As I mentioned before, thank you Nikhita! I have been reading your blog for a while now, and I have some favourite posts, which I keep coming back to from time to time. Also, I was inspired to buy Happy by Clinique after reading your post on Perfumes for Every Occasion. (I love it!)

2. And here are 11 random facts about me:

1. I have an unhealthy obsession with makeup. Even though I do not use much on a daily basis, I have an urge to own all kinds of makeup. The most expensive thing I own is a YSL lip gloss which set me back by almost Rs. 3000.

2. People like collecting stamps, I like remembering dog breeds. Clearly, I love dogs.

3. I don't watch movies or TV shows if people tell me to watch them, no matter how popular they are. However, one day if it strikes me that I should watch it, I watch it obsessively in one go.

4. No matter what movie I watch, I go and read its Wikipedia page just to confirm I didn't miss the plot.

5. I stalk strangers on Facebook, but I find it particularly enjoyable to stalk teenagers. I don't know why.

6. My top two favourite pop culture villains are Darth Vader (Star Wars) and Gus Fring (Breaking Bad).

7. I waste a lot of time on BuzzFeed.

8. I can go from being completely social to a hermit within a day.

9. I have very weird pet peeves. For example, I hate when Indians, who have never even gone abroad, speak in a fake accent with foreigners. And I hate them with a passion.

10. My favourite season is winter. I love being cold.

11. I love the smell of apples, but I hate eating them.

3. Here are the answers to the 11 questions I got from Of Chaos and Couture.

1. Coffee, tea, or chocolate? Since I am not addicted to any kind of beverage, I am going to say chocolate. Specifically Dairy Milk Crackle.

2. Why did you start blogging and when? I started sometime in 2006. I started blogging because at that point I felt I had a lot to say, and maybe someone could empathise.

3. What is your favorite workout? Eating chips in front of the tele is working out, right?

4. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? I am going to say New York. From what I know, it is a better version of Bombay, my love.

5. What is your favorite dessert? Kheer made by mom.

6. Name a book or movie that changed your life. This is going to sound very lame, but Wake Up Sid had a huge role to play in the person I am today.

7. Name a mantra that you live by. Satya, Prem, Karuna. This means truth, love and kindness.

8. Describe your perfect day. Sleeping in till 11 am, a great home made lunch and Hum Saath Saath Hain on Zee Cinema.

9. Do you eat to live or live to eat? I love food so much, I live to eat.

10. What is one trait you wish you had? Self-control, definitely.

11. Name one thing you’re grateful for today. I am going to say crows, because they are so photogenic!

Unfortunately, I cannot fulfill point 4 of the requirements for the award. As I said, I have been so out of blogging, and I haven't read too many blogs either. But I promise to give this away to deserving people soon.

And that's it! Thanks for reading.

P.S. I have received so much feedback for my previous post. All I can say is I am overwhelmed. I will do a follow up post soon. Bye for now.