My wishlist in a nutshell for 2013 and ahead

Courtesy:pinterest.com

2012 is already coming to a close. It feels like just yesterday when I had written about how 2011 had panned out for me and what I'd like to do in 2012. This year has been a year of success in terms of having ticked off all the items that I'd planned to achieve. It is a great feeling. Although the tasks itself were not something that had to do with a lot of effort on my part, yet most things did fall in place with the time line I had in mind.

This gives me weird courage to write down my wish list more often. Maybe writing it down really makes the universe consider it wholeheartedly too. This post is not about what I'd want to do just in 2013 but a bucket list of things that I want to do on as a long term goal and a wishlist that may not come true in the near future or even at all.

Read more- I'd definitely want to read more, not only in the next year but also as a long term goal. The more I write and read other fellow bloggers, the more I feel inadequate about how little I've read or been reading.

Travel more- Oh, this an unsatiating desire, I guess! I cannot term myself as a well-traveled person and yet I know that however much you travel, there is always desire for more. This being an expensive hobby too (in terms of money and time), I can only hope to be able to satiate my travel senses to whatever extent possible in the years to come.

Take on more work- This is definitely something that can be worked upon immediately. For now, I'd like to continue the work-from-home status. My observation is, if I organize myself better I can definitely take on more than what I am currently doing. I also want to diversify my work sphere so that I am not losing out on the work experience or the field I studied in, while simultaneously accelerating on the current work front.

Write more- yes, sounds crazy to my ears even as the marathon is wearing me down. I am definitely taking a break after this marathon but I do want to write more and better when I come back. A couple of well-wishers and readers of this blog, apart from the family members, have expressed their confidence in my writing abilities to the extent that they feel I can..ahem..maybe add a book to my name. I am really humbled, flattered and deeply appreciate your good wishes. But, to be honest, it sounds all too idealistic and far-fetched. It requires tremendous commitment, discipline and of course talent, to say the least. However all writers, small or big, nurse a desire to see their name in print one day. So, I start with the commitment to write better and explore different genres for a beginning.

Give back more to the society- There are so many lovely people out there who are doing so much for the underprivileged and society in general. I truly admire them for what they do. I am not going to make a show of pledge here but I'd definitely want to extend a little more of myself whenever I can, even if it is in a small way as to take part in the waste segregation whole-heartedly or minimize the wastage of resources in the household or donate more stuff to the needy.

So, that somewhat sums up my bucket list/wishlist. What are yours for 2013/future?

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Are You Fair Enough?

I am talking about skin colour here. If you are even one shade less than a white-washed tone, you better start using the fairness products else god forbid you may lose the job interview, remain a spinster all your life, suffer nasty remarks from the road side pani-puri Walla and such other dreadful consequences.

Seriously, what are the Ad companies thinking when they show ads where a person using a fairness cream has an interview panel groveling before him to accept the job or a lady who is already ready to give the sun tough competition is depressed about her skin not glowing enough? A fair-skin can get you your dream job, win beauty pageants, the man of your dreams, and in short have the heavens and lady luck licking your feet. Never mind education and knowledge. That is for the less fortunate ones. The colour of the skin rather than person’s inherent qualities like confidence, talent or even education determines his or her destiny. I am surprised that no one has thought of suing these in-your-face-liars.

However there is a far more serious issue here. And I am not even talking about the validity of their claims when they insist they a person with a dusky-complexion can become a white-skinned foreigner within a week or even life-time use of their products. The inherent desire of the Indian or Asian skin-coloured that desperately wants to become fairer at whatever cost is the underlying factor that is being exploited to deaths by advertising firms. In the wake of this reality, can we really blame them? Fairness of the skin is associated with beauty, intelligence, competence and all the goodness that heavens have to bestow. We may have made inroads into science and technology, have the best international schools, colleges and B-schools churn out bright alumni year after year, yet we are unable to wipe out this deep-rooted regressive belief and instil pragmatic thinking and self-confidence that is not dependant of racial background.

A dusky girl is considered far more unlucky than her male counterpart for the obvious concern about who will marry this poor dark girl? Although the evolution of metro-sexual male has given rise to fairness cream for men, men by and large get away from being typecast in skin-colour moulds. After men need to be tall, dark and handsome but women need to be tall, fair, slim, beautiful and what-not. Women-centric serials start with the concept of having dusky protagonists defying the trend but a few episodes down the line they strangely turn a few shades fairer. Hot model Bipasha though known as the dusky siren is ironically never portrayed on-screen in her true skin-tone.

While we Asians spend our time trying to lighten our genetics, our western counterparts spend hours in sunlight to get a darker skin tone. Talk about the grass being greener on the other side! Here’s a satirical anecdote I read recently in the magazine section of a leading newspaper. I do not remember the name of the author, unfortunately. An Indian mother prays to God about getting a fair bride for her son. God more than answers her prayer when her son comes home with a foreigner much to her dismay. Maybe she did not want such a “fair” bride after all. About time to start wishing for more meaningful things in life.

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