Why India can’t stop Honking? ©

Time and time again these articles surface on the internet, get printed in magazines/ newspapers, people voice opinions related to this on the radio and I agree that while there is not much activism for it right now and for all there is it is very subdued so I really should not have an issue. But for all those saying that we need to stop honking as a nation, that it effects the noise pollution levels, about how some countries barely honk on roads- I completely agree with your cause and totally feel that we should stop honking. But just one question- How can India stop honking?

1) Pedestrians choose to cross the road without a so much of look left look right. Crossing the road is really not like getting up from your bed and going to the loo but it seems it is.

2) The most irritating pedestrians are actually those who walk on a road like they are walking inside a mall. Holding hands, gossiping, walking slowly while back slapping each other all in the middle of a road. Like really, mall walking on roads can be injurious to life. (Between when you honk at them, they turn back and glare at you like you are the stoopid one).

3) Then there are the elite of the society. The upper class. The high society. Like Sweety aunty must get out of her BMW 7 series in the middle of the road and cause a huge traffic jam as 10 others behind hers are now stopped, rather than just ask her driver to stop at the parking stopover which her favorite Citywalk Mall has so conveniently provided just a few feet away. Sweety aunty please be sweet and think of the 10 cards peeche you!

4) There are also those people who while driving at insane speeds think it is okay to just suddenly decide to turn right. Boy I know that your hormones are rushing at the speed of light and can make you fall for one girl in one minute and the other one the next but these are cars and roads, so next time please look around.

5) So we have all these fancy lanes, but the white lines are just useless demarcations right? Because when we feel like going in the right lane we will do that and when left we will do that. We change lanes like we are actually driving in the Fast & Furious. Even indicators are not given as a courtesy. Tch tch.

6) So how many times you stop when the light is yellow and then wait for another 5 minutes for it to turn green so that you can take your right. In the meanwhile this line has developed behind you and you are happy than in 1 minute the light will be green atleast for sure you will get through. But then there comes this one smartass who think it’s okay to come from behind all the cars and put his car infront of yours and before you know all these smartasses have come and kaboom you are stuck waiting for the next green light.

7) Whenever there is a free right or left the drivers who have to go straight will never leave space for the free turns. Oh why dear fellow citizen must you be so mean?

8) Bus drivers. Auto drivers. Rickshaw drivers. BRT.

9) Oh how are we forgetting Sweety auntie’s daughter Baby? So while she stops on a red light she starts touching up her makeup (remember its apparently just touching up as she already seems so painted and you wonder if these many colours were actually be created to put on a face specially in bright sunlight). Comes out the Mac playbook. There comes the lipstick, touch up with the Lip Gloss, then her eyeliner is perfected and then the shadows. Little blush on the cheeks please? Oh perfect. But did I tell you that it was 2 minute red light? And once Baby starts with “Babying” up she can’t stop till she’s finished. And you are stuck behind her!

10) You are going home after a long day and can’t wait to get back. Your drive is long enough and you are hoping for no traffic as its late enough. And then at the most unexpected place there is a huge jam. And after being stuck there for 1 hour, you realize the reason- Baarat was dancing on the road and blowing crackers. And then you think to yourself, maybe some people do own some roads.

So we honk and we honk and we honk!

(PS- We need to really civilize ourselves as drivers and pedestrians with more empathy and consideration of others and improvement in infrastructure and then we shall truly stop honking.)

Why to love ‘How I Met Your Mother’ even after 8 long seasons of not knowing the mother? ©

Let’s start with finale of season 8. Did not get to watch it the day it aired but the minute I knew the mother had been revealed I actually felt goose bumps and went straight away to Google her picture and when I did see her I went all “awwww.” The casting directors must take a bow. They have found the perfect Mrs. Mosby! When I finally got time to sit down and watch the show, I felt like a kid waiting for her present. I contemplated fast forwarding the 21 minutes to just see the moment the mother is revealed but that would mean missing the 21 minutes of the show so I didn’t. I don’t know how many of the breed of HIMYM loyalists are left. But for us breed, it was one special episode.

Most of my friends who belonged to this breed in the beginning have slowly moved on by now. While some have completely stopped watching it, others keep watching it for the hope that it will end one day and great mystery will be revealed. I on the other hand, have always loved this show and will miss it dearly once it’s over. I really can’t wait for season 9 but it also saddens me that there will be no season 10.

So why do I love this show? There are exactly 4 reasons to that.

1)      Ted

How can one not love Ted? His belief in the universe and never ending search for true love is heartwarming. Even after one fall after the other, the guy still believes he will find his one, his one true one, his soul mate, the girl who will complete him, the mother of his future children and that is “awwww.” So much hope in the magic. How can you not love that? It is our inspiration. Life leaves us all so jaded. As we grow up life stops being more about work career and growing up than love and soulmates. When we were younger we often felt that we were put on this planet to love, to find love and as we have grown up- among those of us who found our love, our one, we have let love take a back seat while work/career/ growing up drives and for those who tried and didn’t they have resigned and moved on from love only itself. Being a part of this clan I feel truly ashamed sometimes that we all seem so practical and boring. Don’t get me wrong. We can’t always live to love or walk like there is music playing in our heads or take every love lost in our stride and smile through but we can be a bit more optimistic. A bit more romantic. A bit more “awwww.”

Ted makes me believe that one can always believe in love so much, one can believe in hope always, one can believe in soulmates, one can believe in romance.

2)      Barney

Okay so everyone at one point of time has loved Barney. Be it because of his antics with ladies or all his bro codes, or his plays from the playbook or his “legen..wait for it.. daryness” But the most magical part about this character is how it has grown over the years. How Barney has gone from being a never want to commit kind of guy to gradually growing into someone who was ready to commit. And all this while never losing his awesomeness. Kudos!

3)      Lily and Marshal

You can’t not love this couple. I would kill my boyfriend if he became anything like Marhshall but Lily and Marshal together work as a couple. A part of my love for them is because in this “who’s next world” they are a symbol that long relationships do not mean love fizzles out or you grow boring together, but that the years are growing together not aging and becoming more fun because of your better half. I love that they have shown this great strong couple who have had their share of problems but have roughed it through. It’s cute how truly dependent they are on each other, how they are not two but one person, and how they complete each other in every way. (For all of you rolling your eyes right now, don’t else they will permanently get stuck there :P, love a little huh)

4)      Robin

This lady is how lot of the men would like ladies to be, hot and not emotional (no wonder she and Barney make sense together). She is strong, independent and totally in control. Ted was in love with her and she was always honest about how she felt from day 1 never ever giving false expectations. Respect.

So those are the 4 reasons why this show is still worth loving.

As much I don’t want this show to finish I can’t wait for the series finale. But I just hope they do not give it the end Friends got, with friends moving on in their lives away from each other. I am at the age in life where some of the people close to me are married, some getting married and some who will be married in the coming few years. Everyone is moving on. And I would like to believe (and hope really), that marriage or having children does not mean that your life with your friends is over. That things have to end. Things change, agreed but I know friends always find a way to be friends and I hope that is how this show ends on one final note.