I've got you Babe

There's this person 

Who will always be with you

No matter what you go through

No matter where you go

They'll never ever leave your side

Through good times and bad

Through the thick of it all

Though people may desert you

Some may even walk away from you

But they will forever be by your side

They will always be there

To console you when you're sad

To hold and cover you with their warmth

Giving you a helping hand 

When you're fallen on the ground

Often picking you up

Dusting you off and helping you move on

They are your biggest supporters

The voice that eggs you on

In the darkest hour

They bring you hope 

Give you the faith that you lost

And provide you the will to move on

When you feel all hope is gone

And there's nothing else to live for

Like the little voice of reason

They will help you through

They see you through it all

They know your every whims and fancies

They see you bare to the bones

They know who you truly are

Nothing is hidden from them

Though you may deny or hide

They see you for what and who you are

They know what pleases, What hurts you

And through it all They take care of you

Often rationalising with you

When you veer towards the irrational path

They steady your shaky ship

And blow into your sails

Righting the wrong course

They care for you, they love you

They whisper words of wisdom to you

If you could only be quiet and listen

They have your back

Where others may stab

Never ever giving up on you

Cause they know what you are capable of

And they want to see you be that

They are your best friend

Your greatest love

You biggest support

You cheerleader, your lover, your friend

Like a shadow, always at your side

Never ever leaving you

'Cause that person is YOU

Life from both sides

As I stand at the cusp

At the turn of another year

To grow a year older

Never knowing if I'll be wiser

Even though I know I am not 

Turning a new leaf

Cause I don't know what all to change

The year gone by

 Took me through hell

Made me feel pain 

That I thought would never end

But somehow I made it through

I glad to have known it all

The flames that I have been through

Have made me change 

From the man I once knew

To the one I became

Forging my will

Making me strong 

Helping to restore my faith in me

I seen my life through both sides now

Through ups and downs

I have seen it all 

I have no illusions 

Of there being a change

But still I hope and keep the faith

Somehow I'll find my way

I longed to say "I love you"

And hear it said back too

Even though I knew it very well

This was a foolish and selfish thought

Not hearing it made me lonely and insane

I have made mistakes

I have stumbled and fell 

Sometimes headlong 

Into my personal hell

Darkness was what I felt

I longed to put an end to it all

Not knowing when it all would end

If there'll be light

To banish the darkness I felt

Cause the mistake I made 

Left me feeling ashamed

I wanted it all to end

People thought they knew what I felt

Telling what I should do

Never really caring to know well 

The pain and loneliness I felt

Telling me that I need to change

They didn't realise 

That advice was not what I needed

Just a patient ear

To hear the pain that I felt

For companionship 

Is what I longed for 

Cause love seemed far from me

Broken and battered was how I felt 

Down in the dumps with no will to spare

But then friends came to my aid 

Love helped me find a way

Restoring the faith that I once had

They dusted me off and wiped my tears

They gave me hope, 

helped me get back to my feet

Without a judgemental word

They showed that they genuinely cared

Love embraced me and made me see

What a foolish boy I had been

Through fears and loneliness

Love was always there for me

There may have been change

But change is part of life

Is something we've got to accept 

Without a fret

Not knowing what what will happen next

Cause love gave me a reason to live 

Love gave me hope and banished despair

Showed that it will always be there

When I need it it will always be there 

I just need to reach out and it will be there

I've looked at life from both sides now

From subtle breeze to stormy clouds

From the highs and lows that I have known

I finally found way back home

Now I have no fear of the dark in me

Knowing I'll never let it conquer me

For friends and family are my support

Love will always be there for me

Always leading me on.

That what makes you whole

You are going to have some good times

Along with the bad

It's only when you know sorrow

Can you learn to appreciate 

All that's good in your life

There will be times

When all the pieces will fall into place

And times when nothing goes your way

And time when nothing ever happens at all

You are going to experience 

Highs and lows 

Like a heartbeat that tells you 

That you're alive and kicking 

And not flatlining and dead

Embrace life and all that it has to offer you

The good times along with the bad

The happiness and the sad

You have to know heartache 

So as to learn to appreciate love

You've got to learn to accept others

In order to really accept yourself

Accept life, grab it and hold tight

Learn from it but never let it go

Let cover you, envelope you, embrace you

Absorb all that it has to give you

Live it to the fullest 

Never ever give up on it

You can't always be happy 

But happiness comes from a place within

Don't ever loose that place

Love and be loved

Accept to be accepted

Honour others giving them the respect

They deserve

Happiness and sadness

Joys and sorrows

Triumphs and failures 

These are all part of life

And that what makes life complete

That what makes you whole

What does Freedom mean to YOU

What does being free mean to you?

Being free means to be born with a free will, without the shackles of slavery to enslave you, to confine you (unless you are bound to the shackles that men put on you, that we bind ourselves with).

Freedom is being who you are, who you choose to be, where you to choose to live, what you choose to do. Freedom is being free to choose who you love, loving them without judgement and prejudices. You are free to choose who you love and how you love.

You have a freedom to follow your dreams, to practice your beliefs, to settle Anyway you choose to settle. You are free and no one can take your freedom away.

Along with freedom, rules and laws are necessary. Without them there would be anarchy and lawlessness. Religion too is necessary, it gives shape to your beliefs and forms your moral compass. But neither law or religion should discriminate, should take your freedom, should force you to do what would circumvent your freedom. Should tell you otherwise.

Religion though needed should not cloud your mind. Religion should broaden your thinking and not narrow it. Religion should give you the freedom to accept one for who they are, not judge and look down on something against nature. Religion should be tolerant of all and not intolerant.

Similarly the law needs to uphold freedom and not unlawfully take it away. It should not be used as a tool to rob one of their freedom.

Freedom is a gift which we all have been blessed with. A blessing for all. But never take it for granted, cause we will never know it's true worth unless it is taken away. We can never have  freedom by taking it away from others. So we've got to learn to respect freedom of all.

Freedom is truly a blessed gift which we all have been blessed with.

The High School Experience

Been binge watch 13 Reasons Why since morning, so I guess this write up has something to do with it, inspired by it.

Being sick means you have some good time to yourself, to ponder and reflect on the direction your life is taking. Watching 13 Reasons Why kind of made me rewind back to school days.

High school can be a real bitch sometimes. You want to conform to a set of made up rules, be seen with and as the cool kids at school. It's all a popularity contest. Anything unique and you'll be seen as an outcast. 

Kids can be real cruel. They'll make fun at your imperfections, call you names and tease and poke fun at you. They can be unforgiving and relentless. Sometimes you eventually let these things get to you. You just want to run away from this bullying and teasing. Don't want to run into them. 

Thus you start wearing a mask, putting up a front to shield yourself from the things they throw at you. You don't want them to see the real you. You want to be seen as cool and popular, thus loosing sight of yourself. In order to be accepted you become somebody. You know one slight mistake will not be forgotten. 

You try and hang out with the cool kids, or at least hang around with them, so that you can seem to fit in. Do the things they do, no matter how wrong it may seem. Your every actions and every decisions is influenced by your friends, what would they do, what do they do and why you can't do the same? This is not peer pressure but conforming to a set type often going along with pranks that may not seem right. Thus loosing your identity and uniqueness.

And this doesn't stop here. It continues to follow us in college and our career. We butt kiss, suck up, hang around, socialise, all in the name of climbing up the social and career ladder. Once again loosing ourself, keeping our true self hidden. We are sure that if they get to know an aspect of us, people will never understand, cause that aspect doesn't conform to set principles. 

We turn our backs on people who really care about us, genuine friends and lovers, who love us for who we truly are and not what we put up. We just ignore them or turn them away, because we don't want to accept ourselves, to be ourselves, and we have difficulty in accepting them cause we do not accept ourselves and our lives. Thus making our lives empty and superficial.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, is all about our need to be loved and accepted. To be admired by one and all. We put our lives out there for people to like, love and judge. For people to stalk and jerk off. It's our lives in the open. Again another way of trying to conform.

I am not too sure if things will ever change or if we could live our lives as who we truly are, open, proud and free. Not conforming to any standards and rules, not being bracketed in life. I really hope it comes soon.

P.S. 13 Reasons Why continues to show how bad our and backward Hindi shoes are.e