An original sense of judgment. As against borrowed opinions. True speak. As against lies of convenience. Easy in one’s skin. Not what one wishes to be perceived as. Love for colors. An appreciation of light. Empathy in thoughts and design. An affinity towards open spaces. Human warmth. Beastly passion. Loyalty. Not doing to others as you would have them not do to you. Respect for straight lines. Love for curves. Not filling homes with oversized furniture. Nor waking hours with gossip. A deep desire to break walls for big windows. Making tables larger at work. Emotional independence. An ability to walk alone, and loving the same. Admiring the gaps between musical notes as much as the notes themselves. Guts to stand up for what one believes in, as against yielding to public opinion. Knowing who true friends are, and who the intellectual bullies in the garb of well-wishers. A plain wish to slap fact manipulators. Willingness to amputate ulcers from one’s life with no guilt whatsoever. Saying ‘no’ when you can’t say ‘yes’, without having to invent a lie. A heart and talent to mother even those children that aren’t one’s own. Patience to wait before crossing a street. Wanting to hold hands even when it doesn’t make sense to do so. A pat on the back and a kiss on the forehead. Not counting every smooch and love. Hugs. And a coffee or two. Knowing what we actually leave behind when we depart. Being beneficial to the other even in one’s own losses. A natural trait to maintain eye-contact while conversing. And not look at all when needed. Remembering smells. Noting subtle sounds. Appreciating silences. Yelling when it’s fun to yell. Making kitchens part of living rooms. Offering water and a smile to mailmen who peddle long routes to deliver our letters. Gorging on big breakfasts. Not ignoring BMIs. Working not to earn but to contribute to the world. Not minding foregoing one’s copyrights for the greater good. Encouraging gig economy. Breaking the shackles of corporate slavery. Not indulging in pretend-professionalism. Not using the word, “theme” in one’s pitches. Not needing to say, “hey, listen” before saying what one wants to say in a way that ought to be inspiring listening. Defending the defenseless. Behalf-ing the voiceless. Curating children’s paintings. Spitting on spelling bees. Not forgetting one’s school and that one teacher who made one what one is. Keeping tabs on small expenses. Not hesitating to buy the most beautiful things. Tipping stewards. Not forgetting the chefs behind the scenes. Not planning everything in advance. Refusing to be a cog in the clockwork machine called capitalism. Not rating everything. Burying tourist traps. Carrying a pen on one at all times. Giggling. Doodling. Doodling and giggling. Respecting Sadie Hawkins Day and respecting those who respect it. Using the word “love” more often than you would like. Growing vegetables. Gifting flowers. Watching world-cinema, not just Hollywood. Editing photographs professionally, not just clicking randomly. Learning that film-editing is actually rewriting, not cutting. Understanding chopping a sentence into lines doesn’t make poetry. Knowing your Rumi. Not forgetting your Kipling. Dreaming your Jane Austen. Living your Hemingway. Hiding your Rand. Hoisting your own. Eating less, chewing more. Not knowing everything in the world. Living. Not just reading. Being. Not just breathing. Producing more than consuming. Simplifying. Leaving the reason in the complex untouched and understood. Traveling by faith, not sight. Applying probability in daily lives. Gently caressing the works and designs one likes. Knowing loving something need not lead to wanting to own the same. Having spiritual stakes. Betting on self. Upping the stakes. Knowing all the many shades of blue and pink. Not what the markets push into lives. Seeking light. Not seeing things in black & white. Understanding darkness. Not nitpicking on every grey shade. Minding the gap in queues. Not forgetting the assurance in human touch. Wisdom through experiences. Not intelligence by college acceptance rates. People-watching. Not sitting with blinders on. Understanding human condition. Helping understand. Reasoning. Not lynching. Power with a light touch. Submission to a tight love. Keeping books and friends few and good. Knowing intellectual masturbation never leads to a climax. Noting “interesting” is a non-word. Avoiding “not bad”. Abhorring “stuff”. Understanding Oxford comma. Knowing humans came before grammar. Having a large vocabulary. Using only the simplest of words. Teaching. Not just learning. Taking country roads. Saving highways for labor pains. Diners. Not drive-thrus. Mom and pops. Not Incs and Ltds. NYT Metropolitan Diaries. Not just WSJ acquisitions & mergers. Michael’s. Not just marts. Middle America. Not just coasts. Analog radios. Not just Spotifys. Dear Dad. Not just Dear John. Cutting costs, not corners. Repurposing lives, not just things. Going and doing, not coulda-woulda-shoulda. Not wasting food. Not hoarding things. Not banging doors. Not paying for T-shirts on top of tuition. Designing. Creating art for art’s sake. Making home the centerpiece to life. Knowing it’s the philosophy, not the profession. Knowing it’s the pilot, not the plane. Knowing it’s the implementation, not the chip. Understanding pauses tell more about one’s disposition than words tell about one’s intelligence. Digging problems. Finding answers. Fetching ideas. Ferreting the unheard-of. Trailblazing. Taking the road less traveled by. Driving into the quiet. Loving Farnsworth House, not just Carnegie Hall. Visiting varsities, not just museums. Using ink and paper, not just Mac and pads. Kissing realism, not dissing fairytales. “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”, not just “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Taking A-Train all the way for a change. Always returning home on foot. Talking to strangers. Breaking patterns. Flagging prejudices. Downvoting double standards. Occupying hearts. Knowing love and lust are both human. Accepting pain and suffering are optional. Understanding pursuit of happiness is totally legal. Realizing liquor and tobacco did none no good. Neither warmongers nor couch-potatoes. Not buying TV dinners. Not watching exploitations. Not falling for influencers. Not voting the right candidate in the wrong party nor the wrong one in the right party. Realizing not doing is also talking. Comprehending non-cooperation. Believing in labor strikes. Putting The One Percent in place. Knowing markets. Being your own asset. Knowing cars. Being your own driver. Accepting any wheel can take you from A to B. Understanding planes take you to your destination and trains to your destiny. And Greyhounds anywhere. Seeking journeys. Heeding your inner voice. Respecting randomness. Serenading serendipity. Knowing gap year is coming-of-age that doesn’t ask for tuition. Watching “The Motorcycle Diaries” and “Super 30”, not just “Barry” (2016) and “Bound for Glory”. Giving chance a chance. Knowing New York is built on chance and dare, not rock n’ roll. Fighting. Remaining in the arena. Sitting tight. Camping. Holding head high even when crushed under boots. Dying with a good story well told. Knowing God doesn’t exist. And that he is in details. Grasping the difference between your doctor who did his best and a life-saving doctor has its seeds in meritocracy’s defeat at the hands of every other noble cause. Embracing. Not complaining. Knowing everything you go through makes you a better human. Everything that doesn’t kill you is strengthening your core. Every time you fail you are calibrating your compass. And embracing is everything. Hardship is character-building. Enthusiasm is gasoline. Listening. Really listening. Autodidact-ing. Autodidact-ing ALL the time. Ekalavy-ing. Understanding it’s not where you live but where you live inside your head. Realizing it’s not who you love but how much you love. Remembering it’s not how often you fall but how quickly you pick yourself up. Not apologizing for everything. Not dressing up for every occasion. Not misunderstanding people by the large number of books on their shelves. Being irritatingly forgiving. Getting condescendingly polite. Charging dollars for etiquette. Calling haters brothers and sisters. Telling copycats how much you love their works. Cutting folks to size. Editing life in real time. Forever knowing you are stronger than what you are facing. Constantly remembering how you do anything is how you do everything. Never forgetting what’s done in love is done well. Accepting, when you don’t stand up for anything, you will fall for everything. Getting up. Living deeply. Not surfing. Sucking out all the marrow of life. Not passing. Gridlocking. Plowing. Hell-raising. Being light on foot. Natural in gait. Meditative in strolls. Completely lost in wanderings. Caressing grass. BnB-ing country. BBQ-ing segregations. Cold showers in the mornings. Hot baths at night. Solid integrity. Not blowing hot and cold. Simple answers. Not cobwebs of lies. Small investments with long-term commitments. Not weekly temptations fueled by speculation. Spending more on books than food. Risking more on passions than trends. Preparing for the worst. Remembering courage is grace under pressure. Knowing deadpan is a universal language. Understanding sense-of-humor is the original bail bond. Realizing life is not what happens to you but what you do with what happens to you. Anchoring. Dissecting. Deep-learning. Journaling. Loving verbs more than nouns. Walking more than driving. Listening more than talking. Trusting everyone’s emotional intelligence. Leaving more things unsaid than said. Telling and kissing. Not kissing and telling. Giving credit where it is due. Not forgetting people throw stones at things that shine. Constructive more, destructive less. Believing more, doubting less. Rounding up more, rounding down less. Understanding, in New York, everyone needs a therapist, and everyone is everyone else’s therapist. Rescuing lost pencils. Doing Route 66 at least once. Understanding every permanent tattoo comes with a free regret. Visiting alma mater. Thanking every rung on the ladder. Initiating. Incubating. Incorporating. Not waking up late. Not keeping one waiting. Not sharing everything. Not keeping cards too close to heart. Noticing how sharing turns feelings into dialogue, and how saving can turn feelings into songs. Pearls in oysters. Diamonds inside the earth. Shells on the beach. Truth in the obvious. Glint in the eye. Glitter on the cheeks. Picking up what the heart wants. Remembering what you seek is seeking you. Seeing the Sistine Chapel in everything. Carrying “The Alchemist” in your heart. Taking long breaths when needed. Forgetting to breathe when it so happens. Humming. Whistling. Teasing. Surprising. Annoying. Sitting on floor. Cooking. Doing dishes. Calling parents. Understanding love is an ability, not an emotion. Being obnoxiously truthful. Effortlessly elegant. Nauseatingly graceful. Killing it with kindness. Keeping mum nevertheless. Knowing self. Not falling for Rupi crap. Loving Calvin and Hobbes. Introducing XKCD and Abstruse Goose. Believing in between-the-lines. Learning the art of omitting. Giving it up for self-publishing. Buying only used books. Reading delivered paper. Leaving messages in bottles. Giving the book in your hand a discreet cover. And the title before your name a hideout. Writing, regularly. Typing, lovingly. Serif, sparingly. Sans serif, steadily. Spacing, generously. Editing, constantly. Sharing, unashamedly. Knowing you get to live only once. Knowing you can only be yourself. Knowing Bookers and Pulitzers, Globes and Oscars, Emmys and Tonys are personal opinions of extremely talented and supremely small section of a billion adequately-informed end-users. Understanding demographics. Building a cabin in the woods. Giving the one you love a T-shirt that says “Nuclear Shelter”. Denting the world while being a speck in the universe. Building fire. Being fire. Raging into the night. Making kids pause the game to see you jog by. Making everything look easy. Mastering living in small means. Concocting joy out of thin air. Not drawing lines. Just thinking outside boxes. Not wallowing in self-pity. Just looking at silver linings. Not caring to look mighty strong all the time. Understanding crying is soul taking its rare shower. Not owning. Just leasing. Not getting comfy. Just traveling. Leaving marks. Remembering names. Greeting all. Mistaking none. Encountering originals. Not networking without a mind. Trusting instincts. Not referrals. Following intuition. Not algorithms. Giving into Creative Commons. Not subscription ransoms. Azadi, bhukhmari se. Azadi, bhed bhaav se. Rationality. Not majority. Meritocracy. Not blind equality. Knowing your place in the world. Not giving up individuality. Punching, punching, punching. Sweating, sweating, sweating. Learning, learning, learning. Consolidating. Fortifying. Bull-horning. Blindsiding. Dictating. Filling the unforgiving minute. Foraging every last ounce. Fixing everything. Fostering good things. Laughing your way to the bank. Drooling all over the place. Sketching landscapes. Recording nature’s whispers. Working printing presses. Knowing you can’t beat German engineering. Nor Japanese integrity. Nor Chinese pricing. Nor American marketing. Idiots spending. Indians saving. Banks stealing. Africans smiling. Me watching. You tweeting. CIA giggling. Canaries singing. Fish dying. Understanding the whole world. Remaining a sthithapragn. Knowing learning French doesn’t automatically make you cool. Getting Converse shoes that will do. Realizing business schools don’t make you a leader, nor film-schools a filmmaker, nor psychology degrees a therapist. Expanding on the natural spring within. Discovering destiny one link at a time. Speaking without self-censor. Posting only #NoFilters. Using sarcasm like salt, not water. Butter on croissant. Ghee in lentils. Peanut butter on Wonder Bread. Feet firmly on ground. A place for everything and everything in its place. Political correctness where it belongs. Snowflakes where the sun doesn’t shine. Reason free from passion. Passion free from judgment. Knowing periods help less and commas more in building a better world. Noticing writing is actually self-help. And walking is in fact flying. Understanding double negatives. Using only triple negatives. Kidding. Relying on the law of averages. Not giving into anxieties. Noting insurance companies and casinos work on the same principle. Fighting pharma peddlers. Questioning therapists. Stripping mentors. Spotting Salieris. Combating hierarchies. Breaking ceilings. Quizzing everything. Doing something with everything life throws at you. Knowing what you have where you are is a good start. Knowing future doesn’t ask for graduation certificates. Knowing what you would do even if you didn’t get paid is what will eventually pay you in loads. Knowing your game. Not playing by their rules. Disrupting, disrupting, disrupting. Being a destiny’s child. Being a terror. Being yourself. Noting existential anguish is material for creation. Seeing anger as a language. Channeling. Rapping. Jumping. Dunking. Hydrating. Looking shockingly sweet. Noting every which way the system can eff you in. Knowing how to skirt the same without spending. Working for post office. Volunteering for seniors. Veering off what’s-in-it-for-me-s. Willing life’s earnings to education. Accepting “When Harry Met Sally”, New York’s finest romance has its roots in “About Last Night” (1986), Chicago’s finest romance. Understanding domestic bliss is the secret sauce in Edward Hopper’s saturated shades. Not minding blooming where you are planted. Understanding garages are meant to house start-ups, not cars. Giving into suspension-of-disbelief. Not forgetting magical realism is the subconscious helping the conscious stay in the game through abstract suggestion. Remembering love is blind, and therefore avoiding hiding from it behind your sunglasses. Understanding true love can come calling from behind, and therefore avoiding noise-cancelling headphones. Believing in seeing. ‘Cos seeing is believing. Jaaniye, Heeriye, love will find a way. Enjoying being just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to spell his heart. Enjoying being just a boy standing in front of a girl asking her not to call you weird. Being annoyingly yourself all the time. Irking purists. Shocking neighbors. Stunning doubters. Not stating the obvious. Not minding looking too obvious. Losing manners for health every now and then. Rubbing spit on wounds when none is looking. Knowing which end of the stick is which. Appearing disorientingly cute. Speaking jarringly clear. Not judging a book by its cover. Knowing “The New Yorker” is all covers. Not falling for appearances. Knowing a fountain pen is all nib. Wearing heart on sleeve. Not wearing NASA cap while not working for NASA. Not eating while not contributing. Not speaking while not adding. Not taking while not giving. Giving. Giving it all. Hoping. Hoping for all. Living. Living through everything. Living in the moment. Living for the moment. Spotting every scene. Enjoying every sight. Loving LBDs. Praising polkas. Standing by solids. Believing in monos. Trusting two-tones. Knowing you don’t need more. Seeing the functionality within minimalism. Not forgetting the folds in Sabyasachis. Knowing shoes are a whole meal. Not forgetting beating heart is the real deal. Not fearing heartbreaks. Not missing new beginnings. Starting everything compulsively from scratch. Throwing crumpled paper balls straight into baskets. Placing faith in complete unknowns. Doing Dylan. Trying succinctly-put. Talking only sense. Knowing, if you haven’t been served the stew, it is because it is still cooking. Understanding your body. Speaking your soul. Having true generosity of spirit. Being a helping heart. Gluing broken china. Mending torn shoes. Saving a stray. Knitting on subway. Sitting straight. Being straight. Standing tall. Turning slices of life into tiny stories. Tying undone shoelaces of children. Nursing broken wings. Not keeping mum not always. Throwing feed to ducks. Nuts to squirrels. Squirrels to nuts. Liars to lions. Piecing together shreds of randoms into new leases of lives. Whispering your wildest secrets to horses. Not shooting immigrants. Not selling fakes. Not buying Crocs. Never saying never-in-my-jeans. Defending First Amendment. Believing one when one shows one’s true colors. Murdering misconceptions. Interviewing professors. Mentoring juniors. Bridging hearts. Designating drivers. Respecting goalkeepers. Thanking doormen. Pulling off an Amelie or two. Being wealthy in not needing things. Knowing minimalism is editing that did its job super fine. Putting in your damnedest best. Remembering what Krishna said to Arjuna. Orpheus to Eurydice. Clint Eastwood to Hillary Swank. Elwood to Jake. Steve Jobs to Stanford. Bill Watterson to Kenyon. Kipling to every son. Elizabeth Otis to every girl. Being rich, acting normal. Being poor, acting normal. Beginning with the man in the mirror. Knowing elephants are given small eyes so everyone would appear only too big for them to hurt. Realizing pretty women buy big mirrors so they can stay humble. Accepting men erect tall nothings not for a reason. Understanding I would choose a hug over a lay not because I am an idiot. Biting every nose. Picking every brain. Remaining an original. Understanding life is all about whose hand you are holding. Practicing being ambidextrous. Just to exercise other parts of brain. Etching single words on paper. Just because you love them. Making paper planes when done etching. Letting go. Watching rain. Nicknaming neighbor’s twins Pittar-Pattar. Getting inventive. Not waiting outside Michelin stars. Not killing mockingbirds. Not jumping into mass hysterias. Saying noes. Pissing all over peer pressures. Asking nepo babies out on dates. Missing train in the last minute. Repeating. Inviting trust-fund babies to benefit dinners. Allowing them to do the honors. Repeating. Spotting sugar daddies in shopping malls. Curtsying and asking how the family back home is doing. Repeating. Respecting LGBTIQA+. Refusing to lose any more alphabets. Loving the rainbow. Understanding the real rainbow is when you are open enough for light to pass through. Stopping explaining things you can’t explain. Two dozen roses makes sense and one dozen looks plain stupid. Getting your heart broken only twice a month. Dropping postcards home without signing name or place. Just so mom knows you are safe and sound somewhere, and very lonely. Not looking a cop in the eye. Charming the pants off FDNY. Not standing too close to the tracks. Knowing who your mayor is. Climbing those steps. Not taking no elevators. Walking into rooms. Spotting who the boss is in two seconds. Understanding, after everything is said and done, love is laughing at you because you just realized love is above all. Trying, so help you God, being someone’s precious. Doing only un-hitherto-es. Quitting smoking. Chewing calculus. Losing attitude. Memorizing Periodic Table. Not gambling. Not trusting suits. Not suffering fools. Not clogging 911 lines. Not expecting special treatment just because you chose to dress certain way. Not demanding jobs just because you chose to walk certain way. Accepting New Yorkers are so loveless that they have to pet every dog on the street. Realizing senior years are progress report on your parenting skills. Not losing that wonder. Tripping on steam engines. Not becoming a snob. Connecting with childhood hood. Not letting go “The Vessel” just because it’s the Guggenheim for suicides. Signing up for changing scenes. Not needing plumbers. Not gotta-call-supers. Not visiting no barbers. Giving each other hairdos. One another high-fives. Everyone shout-outs. Taking charge. Parking right. Indulging life around. Putting romance back in New York romance. Not showing sole while sitting cross-legged. Not having to smile all the time. Not needing to accept every invitation. Not having to smell divine all the while. Being content. Being the personification of being content. Being a giver. Being get-outta-here. Keeping your end of the deal. Taking deep breaths in front of florists. Acting like a tourist in your own city just so tourists can pretend like locals for you. Listing that couch just so the next Ed Sheeran can one day forget your name on tonight’s show. Understanding no matter how many dreams you dream only to fall short of realizing, you can, still, every single waking minute of your life, put into this world what you alone are gifted to add. Cutting off umbilical cords. Noticing, nadi mein talab hai, kahin jo agar, samandar kahan door hai. Reading lyrics translations. Not just scorching the floor. Exercising imagination. Not getting stuck at “Anti-Social Social Club” level. Der learning German. Not falling for the French. Dare taking off-the-beaten path. Not becoming a prisoner of habits. Keeping noises low. Expletives funny. Pranks sincere. Telling you don’t believe in vaccines, if you don’t like the guy sitting next to you in library. Wearing haz-mat suit to class, if the teacher came with a toxic personality. Sitting in expensive sidewalk cafes without ordering. Being a lobbyist in skyscrapers just to understand rich man’s problems. Playing domestic argument SoundCloud files when neighbors are eavesdropping. Upping the intrigue by speaking to each other only in sign language in the corridors. Respecting New York deaths by calling the nearest florist and a real estate agent in the same breath. Being dark while all you are trying doing do is create humor. Calling yourself the white savior in the wrong parts of town. Understanding understanding human condition begins with getting punched in the face. Standing in front of rich prep schools with face covered in bandages just to help them prep better. Being an angel. Living only in invisible mode. Not needing more than 60 minutes to pack and leave town. Leaving. Living. Not renting an apartment in a building with the name, “The Address”. Not walking into a cafe that calls itself, “Le Cafe”. Not buying a perfume, “The One”. Bringing home a muffin, if she got you a bagel in the morning. Making coffee even if she didn’t make love the night before. Getting only smaller cupcakes. ‘Cos smaller cupcakes taste better. Smaller cupcakes taste better ‘cos they look cuter. Not questioning love’s theories. Not disrespecting old partners. Not letting anyone other than yourself open doors. Understanding new knives need getting used to. Accepting it takes a while before it all settles in. Appreciating the slow burn. Noticing the taste of cutting chai comes to it from a very slow and a very long burn. Much like to a life well struggled for. Respecting wrinkles. Loving scars. Kissing wounds. Licking tears. Reading survivor stories. Understanding you never truly understand violence unless you are at the receiving end of it. Not skipping pages. Not flipping out. Not making your lack of experience be a penalty for the fighters you have difficulty understanding. Not saying, “it’s not the end of the world” to those who just came from there. Leaving room for everything. Believing a bit in even those with not a bit of credibility. Knowing you are never too far from your own Orwellian future. Keeping conscience clear. Nerves strong. Faith solid. Not being an ostrich. Not being a frog. Not burrowing heads in sands. Not thinking the well is the whole universe. Not declaring a footlong a lie when you haven’t even tasted a 6-inch sub. Understanding one fighting for one’s rights is one fighting for everyone’s rights. Noticing how quieter one becomes as one’s war is longer. Seeing how stronger one becomes as one’s cross gets heavier. Watching how funnier one’s expression gets as one’s trails get harder. Cherishing humor born out of pathos. Gold out of fire. Diamonds out of oppression. Steel out of clenched teeth. Beauty out of breaking. Poetry out of agony. Agility out of struggling. Empathy out of suffering. Benevolence out of bankruptcy. Wisdom out of having seen it all. Philosophy out of understanding it all. Realizing you have to really ask the harvest, if you really want to know the good the plow did to the innocent field. Prizing a prize. Owning a pride. Wearing a heart. Sharing a bond. Loving a life. Keeping seeing. Keeping learning. Keeping wanting. Keeping walking. For even death is only mid-sentence. Not mistaking quantity for quality. Abundance for contentment. Connections for friends. Posts for works. Arm-candies for loves. Selfies for memories. Texts for letters. Words for songs. Tiffany blue for cerulean blue. Burlington for Savile Row. Armchair for activism. Twitter for labor. Forever creating value and supply. Not fine print and false demand. Constantly building meaning and permanence. Not real estate and profit. Readily making fire and love. Not heat and labor. Nudging shoulders. Not budging to pressures. Locking eyes wee bit longer while thanking someone. Not looking down while saying something nice to anyone. Vigorously shaking hands while being the Prime Minister of India. Picking nose in front of finishing school grads. Farting only in elitist pubs and Harvard commencements. Drafting your own speeches. Upsetting people just to help them feel alive. Responding to first responders with utmost respect. Getting out of the frame of news cameras at work. Not turning a blind eye to social injustices. Not wasting the time of New Yorkers. Never accepting a meeting unless the table is big enough to work on. Understanding you can reach any place within 30 blocks on foot in the same time it takes a bus. Doing it in increments of 30 blocks just to fool yourself into fitness. Understanding all writing is photosynthesis. Human warmth producing love. Staying in the sun. Being a sun. Remembering love’s SPF. Offering more than a lotion. Putting yourself out there. Because, love, actually, is all around. Calling back every time you say you would. Rising for the occasion even when you didn’t promise you would. Letting there be spaces in relationships. Resisting being the center of the universe. Understanding negative spaces. Using only double-edged swords. Understanding media clutter. Realizing the best logo is one even a kid can reproduce in two seconds. Knowing The Constitution. Understanding governments are elected by those who didn’t vote. Getting your rights. Not stealing anyone’s. Keeping quiet when enemies are making mistakes. Quieter while friends are facing tests of friendship. Understanding detoxing. Unfriending toxics. Understanding unlearning. Stopping stereotyping. Social un-conditioning. Saying F.U only on the face. Understanding A.I as it evolves. Giving it a steady middle finger. Posting restroom codes on cafe doors. Not pulling one too many paper towels. Stepping into the morning rays. Not getting your vitamins from the corner store. Sending more than thoughts and prayers. Not becoming hard when all around you aren’t being soft. Understanding, if you are irritated by horns blaring, those poor kids who never had toys grew up to become ambulance drivers. Not growing up. Not believing in chic. Not paying for vogue. Knowing it’s not what you sport but how you carry. Understanding grace is unfailingly amazing. Collecting blessings. Not throwing away quarters. Licking stamps. Not picking rows. Helming dreams. Not filming tragedies. Not wagging tongues. Not rigging truth. Not stabbing from behind. Remembering scientists were stoned to death for discovering facts. Accepting anything you haven’t been witness to as only hearsay. Distilling truth. Carrying your own compass. Cutting through crap. Not paying for drinking water. Not booking one too many suites. Pitching tent. Understanding the stillness of heart. Ditching home. Responding to the restlessness of feet. Living on bread. Birkenstock-ing the hell out of Lonely Planet. Visiting India. Riding through sarson da khet on Royal Enfields. Hitching a cargo ship back. Not beelining airports. Realizing New York is an answer, not a city. Understanding liberty is a fight, not a statue. Knowing those who look like creative types just spend well on grooming products. Understanding you don’t know gold from dog sh*t unless you scratch the surface. Noticing how light travels faster than sound. Understanding some look intelligent until they start talking. Hanging onto every word. Not underlining every sentence. Understanding per se per se. Knowing, if a deal appears too good to be true, it usually is. Remembering the law of diminishing returns. Not forgetting it applies not to love. For the more you give, the less you lose. Taking a plunge. Not weighing pros and cons. Making days count. Not counting days. Remembering allergies. Unfollowing ignorance. Starving OCDs. Unlinking fears. Knowing both men and women have both testosterone and estrogen to varying degrees. Understanding waxing-and-waning is not limited to the moon. Finding acne a funny equalizer. Entertaining a mismatch as cosmic humor. Going the distance, your creative license. Splitting ways, poetic justice. Understanding forgiveness is a mark of strength. Realizing ghosting is the hallmark of the weak. Killing inner demons. Not inner voice. Freeing inhibitions. Not credit limits. Trying. Not crying. Working. Not brooding. Biding. Breathing. Bellowing. Soaring. Reaching venue without consulting maps. Finding bagels without joining lines. Spotting loves without loading apps. Not using trackers. Not accepting cookies. Not dropping coffees. Not adding no sugars. Misspelling Vuitton for fun. Erasing i in Fendi. Exposing Vulgari. Understanding dressing rich is one thing and being rich is another. Noticing expensive pens are one thing and good penmanship is another. Realizing having a good dog is one thing and being a good master is another. Understanding grooming yourself in that certain look for your job is one thing and being right for the job is another. Noticing underdogs do more wonders to our morale than sure winners. Accepting you can’t spell cats without TS. Congratulating the groom, wishing the bride luck, not the other way around. Skipping entrées for desserts. Ensuring you have more exits than entrees. Book-lefting. Copy-lefting. Right-doing. Mic-dropping. Not winging. Not playing. Not judging. Not forgetting where it all started for yourself. Telling mother you love her even when she burns your partner’s pancakes. Not telling you love a painting while you can’t even see it. Not acting mad while not even disappointed. Understanding asking to be adored for biking 50 miles on a friction-less highway on a $5000 bike with zero weight and a dozen gears is like a kid charging a labor fee plus taxes for a visit to the candy store. Playing sports. Not games. Ending runs. Not running. Knowing the difference between ‘in five’ and ‘in an hour’, probably and possibly, good in bed and great in bed. Noticing we like because and we love despite. Realizing creating happiness with nothing at all is the mark of real men. Knowing your chokers. Understanding speech-blockers. Knowing being 99% honest is not being honest. Understanding being ready for love when you have the time is not being ready for love. Understanding mitigating circumstances. Forgiving love’s mistakes. Understanding absence-of-malice. Accepting apologies. Understanding cease-and-desist. Never repeating mistakes. Not needing emotional crutches. For time heals all wounds. Not needing heels. For time wounds all heels. Understanding it’s a process, process, process. Understanding you both are on the same side when you are warring with each other. Understanding no single thing encapsulates an entire person. Raising your words. Not voice. Being needy when needy. Being a pillar of strength when need be. Being there always. Understanding the usual answer is yes to food, no to drugs, white space in graphic design, and love in life. Never missing the full moon. Not marrying into the same gene pool. Invading. Conquering. Dismembering. Places in the heart. Not countries. Not caring to climb the Empire State. Never missing an open-top bus. Not mistaking Broadway for theater. Nor inclusivity for quality. Nor conviction for truth. Nor earnestness for honesty. Nor success for love. Nor wealth for legacy. Nor offsprings for successors. Nor wild oats for adventure. Understanding radioactive half-life. Knowing precisely when to quit. Understanding moderation. Telling life who the boss for life is. Not getting drunk on the night of getting driver’s license. Not mistaking a stranger for a threat. Nor a drifter for a grifter. Nor a struggler for a hustler. Nor a dreamer for a writer. Nor a fake for a poet. Nor junk for a period piece. Manufactured hit for studio greatness. Self-indulgence for an auteur film. Plug for an editorial. Advert for a calling. Manipulation for an argument. Absence of war for peace. Pretended justice for justice. Elected government for able administration. Remembering every wall is a door. Noticing every gap is a market. Every seed a tree. Every child a canvas. Every blank a song. Every prayer a religion. Every job a god. Understanding space. Not violating anyone’s. Understanding twist-and-turn mechanism. Whirling to let go. Watching water under the bridge. Swimming to shed excess baggage. Understanding compliments. Saying something when you see something. Walking New York block by block. Noticing the method in the madness. Not missing U-turns. Not crossing bridges before they come. Not writing on rock. Not doing flip-flops. Integrating. Not dividing. Softening the edges. Not holding onto grudges. Ensuring seamlessness. Not forgetting the most effective works are those that go totally unnoticed. Like good makeup. Or illicit children. Or backbench boys. Or girls who didn’t attend proms. Knowing your worth. Comprehending your core. Remembering your strengths. Managing your blindspots. Learning proper breathing. Understanding what doing Vipassana can do. Not forgetting the timelessness of David vs. Goliath. Nor the undying spirit of Joan of Arc. Nor the lesson from The Hare and The Tortoise. Nor Loving v. Virginia. Nor People v. Larry Flint. Nor Roe v. Wade. Understanding credit. Not spending the money you don’t have. Understanding slavery. Not giving into mortgage culture. Appreciating freedom. Not forgetting the time you can keep for yourself to do what you love will prove a better investment than the money you can make doing something that’s not you. Studying surface tension. Knowing how to separate disinformation from truth. Staying quiet and dumb than talking and making it clear. Picking up trash. Not laughing at trash. Willing to give up a seat. Not losing that train of thought. Remembering happiness is what you think, what you say, what you do being in harmony. Never forgetting lying is self-hypnosis to doom. Understanding quest for truth is a dark comedy. Not forgetting individual change is a slow burn. Learning systemic change is an epic poem. Not forgetting history was never made overnight. Noticing lies travel half the world before truth puts on its shoes. Not forgetting corpses and truth can’t be hidden for good. Not letting your left hand know the kindness your right hand extended. Not ignoring data is permanent. Not fearing leaving digital trails. Breaking free in a blink. Knowing necessities from comforts, and comforts from luxuries. Noticing how everything is hard before it is easy. Observing how some things are unforgiving until you dunk them in masala tea. Understanding how old you are is how young you think. Knowing how wide you grasp is how open your mind is. Being a sponge. Being an analyst. Being a monk. Realizing everything is a test. Accepting every challenge. Knowing it ain’t bar mitzvah until you go through fire. Not letting the kid inside die a slow death. Not asking the dreamer to get real. Not expecting the romantic to give up. Not giving up on the good inside each. Not living a minute without noticing the grand beauty in everything. The reason for living. The magic in being. The fortune in seeing. The joy in breathing. Not postponing. Not speed-dating. Not fast-eating. Staying calm. Searching within. Learning how to do without. Prospering bit by bit. Fasting now and then. Good-will-ing. Do-good-ing. Hands-on-ing. Not-stop-ing. Creating, creating, creating. Knowing everything will fall in place, if only you slow down a bit. Knowing all you need is just one person to believe in you. Staying open so lightning could strike. Understanding you are everyone you’ve met. Realizing depth has nothing to do with length, width and height. Noticing many-to-one is the beginning of one-to-many. Realizing the world might change you a bit before you can change the world. Accepting love has nothing to do with anything except itself. Realizing heart is allowed to have reasons that reason knows not. Not forgetting you have a right not to explain your life at all. Feeling the pulse. Not the heat. Seeing the purpose. Not the distance. Seeing the path. Not the barriers. Seeing the whole. Not the sum of its parts. Using just a candle’s light at nights. Fantasizing nothing but future. Accepting nothing but mistakes. Doing only one thing at a time. Keeping movements smooth and graceful. Sculpting. Not just doing. Meditating. Not just working. Building. Not just adding. Slogging. Finishing. Orgasming. Screaming from mountaintops. Sleeping like a log. Waking up with a dog. Song on lips. Bounce in step. Wishing. Hoping. Thinking. Praying. Planning. Dreaming. Risking. Getting dirty. Getting dirtier. Loving. Letting go. Loving. Letting go. Giving. Giving it all. Day by day. Breath by breath. Inch by inch. Them and you. Good and bad. Triumph and loss. Living, living, living. Loving, loving, loving. Giving, giving, giving. Doing, doing, doing. Doing life. What makes one beautiful.
#WhatMakesOneBeautiful
Written from a sidewalk in New York.
Please visit www.LoveLustNewYork.com
if you wish to read the short stories
he wrote from an actual road.
“Love, Lust and New York”
An indie film of 20 shorts.
Each 15-minute-long.
Each stand-alone.
All all-heart.
Free Download
Why This Film?
Sometimes, it’s not how grand a thing you are capable of achieving but how uniquely beautiful you can be at taking care of a small pest of a problem. Going out to conquer the world is great. Staying home to ensure the soufflé isn’t burnt is the real calling at times. This film is that. I was in a place in life where I knew I would have neither money nor any friends in a new city I was moving to to make a film. So I had to avoid writing the traditional 90-minute-long story that would demand professional actors, locations and crew for long periods. So I wrote 20 short stories of 15 minutes duration each. Nothing dramatic. Plain slice of life stories. And seemingly unconnected with one another. The very small cast and crew that come together to film each story would be different for each film. I wouldn’t need anyone for more than 1 or 2 days that it takes to film any given short. And therefore, if they like the story, there is possibility that I can ask them to work for free for a day or two. And repeat the exercise 19 more times. 20 shorts. When put together, a 3-hour-long seemingly big production. And since not a single actor is on screen for more than 10 minutes or 15 minutes, nobody can ruin the entire 3 hours. Which means I can work with even untrained actors from other professions. I made it sure to write the stories and characters in a very understated and realistic manner. Not much needs to be done in terms of acting. If a person looks the part, half the job is done. The dialogue, the surgical cuts and a good background score can ensure the rest. 20 such stories. Interwoven here and there in the in-deliberate way life surprises us in a city like New York. 3 hours of decent enough identifiable drama for diverse sections of the society and age groups. That’s all I wanted to do. I wasn’t planning a feast. I was just baking 20 assorted muffins. And this is where I am now: still driving home. I knew not a single soul except the AirBnB contact when I moved to New York. And I needed to make this film possible without raising money or using social media. The beauty of the idea is that it can be pulled off in the smallest imaginable budget. It was conceived and designed to be a near-zero budget production. If you bring in more money, you can make it look better. Bring in even more money, you can hire known names and make it catch the attention of a million people in its first week. But that would defeat the purpose. Anybody can write and direct a good drama in a decent budget. To stand out on the sole strength of your writing, you need to prove your story can hold together strongly even when it is filmed on a cellphone featuring kids from your neighborhood. You have watched such sleeper hits. Nothing new. Except they come only now and then. Hence this obsession to ensure the production is poor and will remain poor. Even Gandhi was poor. But look at what he managed to pull off. I am not trying to create the Moulin Rouge experience. I am just trying to pull a coin from behind your ears. Because I know it still can make a million people out there smile. This film is that. A small coup. And small coups take a long time and patience to reach fruition. One moves inch by inch. But one moves every single night. This little big film might take another year before you can see even half the film. But you sure will see the whole film soon enough. And it will stand out in any film festival. It will be so inexpensively made, so refreshingly honest in its drama, and so original in its voice that every good film with any budget upwards of $50,000 at the same film festival would feel small about themselves for needing so much money to just tell a good story. It’s for a reason Russians chose to use pencil while America was secretly spending millions of dollars in R&D to invent a pen that can write in zero-gravity during their space race. I can really sharpen this cheap pencil into a fine weapon. I can write well. And I write from my heart. And I write about the times we are living in. And I write for you and me. Hope you enjoy reading these short pieces. And contribute to filming the same in whatever capacity you can: acting, camera, sound, art, costumes, publicity, producing, location jobs, administration, secretarial, networking. Any chipping in can help me dent the world better. Just don’t expect the film to be done in less than a year. These days, I am spending most of my waking hours fighting politics to ward off evil, and doing freelance gigs to pay rent dues. I love New York City. I write to it a love letter every single day. Getting to know you is my vocabulary. Thank you very much for crossing paths and considering reading my screenplay. Please read all 20 stories. It’s a free PDF download at www.LoveLustNewYork.com Please read all stories, backstories and casting sections. You will understand the method behind my madness.
_____________________
From the Same Author:
.
The Philosophy of Bollywood Song
.
.
Quotes from “What Makes One Beautiful”
.
.
