Dear Daughter, 

In a country where about half a million girls are not allowed to take birth every year, you were eagerly awaited. I secretly desired a daughter and I could not thank the almighty enough when you stepped into my life. First things first;

It will not be easy. And secondly, easy is boring. So don’t panic when the ride is bumpy. Take it on your stride and learn to iron it out. Most importantly, learn. Learn from your experiences. Learn from the books you read. Learn from the places you friends. Learn from strangers. Learn from the decisions you have taken and the visit. Learn from the homeless. Learn from the well-fed. Learn from your thrown your way and introspect on what you have gathered. And then you can make mistakes you have made. Assimilate knowledge from every opportunity that is your own life choices accordingly. Don’t let others make it for you. Not even me. If I ever try to impose my ideas on you, gently brush me off. Because, no matter how much I love you and how much I want you to be happy, it is your life after all and you should never hand over the steering to anyone else. It is convenient sometimes to ride on someone else’s back but the repentance which comes along with it is gigantic. You wouldn’t like that.

Learn to ask questions. The world will shut you down. It

will teach you the convenience of silence. But don't get lured by ease. You should not be afraid of asking a zillion questions to quench your thirst for the knowledge of being. You should not accept norms if it doesn't fit your sensibilities. You should not follow a practice if it doesn't answer your questions. Don't allow the world to tell you how certain things are done in certain ways. Just know there are no conventions big enough to fit your magnificent soul. Now this is very important. I am your mother all fine. But at the end of the day I am just another human being with my own piece of mind and I am not always right. I have unconditional love for you and I will always have your best interest in mind but you should not take even my words on face-value. You should also question my decisions and intentions. You should talk me through your piece of mind and we can together come to a conclusion. We will both learn and grow in the entire process that will require a lot of patience from both of us. Always know that me giving birth to you and taking care of you when you weren't able enough to do it doesn't give me the right to own your capricious soul.

Fall in love. English language is funny. Don't take "fall in love" literally. You

actually rise in it. Very few emotions are as beautiful and as powerful as love. Love can bend rules and flex eternal truths. It can entirely change how we look at things and completely change how we perceive ourselves. Fall in love with yourself, fall in love with the life you have been gifted, fall in love with what the world has to give you, fall in love with the numerous faces of nature, fall in love with a beautiful idea, fall in love with a magnanimous heart, fall in love at first sight, fall in love with overwhelming literature, fall in love with an exquisite art-form. Don't be scared to love with all your heart. You will be bruised and battered inside at some times, your emotions will be dumped in the garbage can at other times. Some incidents will shatter your heart to shards. Some people will trample it mercilessly. But don't allow that to make you bitter. Let that strengthen your character and prepare you to love with more vigor. Because, love, my daughter, is irreplaceable. And you can only love more. There is no other way.

Make peace with yourself. In our society girls are pitilessly judged. They are ruthlessly

objectified. Our society has not learnt to handle an independent woman yet. But don't let that fetter your dreams. Don't let societal muck and grease pull your spirits down. Because it is not the society that defines us but us who makes it. Always know that we create our own conditions. Neither can anybody dream our dreams nor can anybody stop us from dreaming and going all out to make them happen. In your lifetime you will meet so many people and they will be very different from one another and hence they will perceive you very differently. What you should know is that it is not your shortcoming in how they comprehend you but their own. You should learn to quickly brush away flimsy opinions and instead focus on self evaluation. You should question yourself. Questions like what you want from life, how do you want to see yourself, what makes you happy, how far you can go for someone or something you love, what new can you learn to be what you thought you would be, how you can better yourself, how you can make this world a better place to live. And you should learn to answer them honestly and act accordingly. That is how you will strengthen your self-opinion and free yourself from the necessity of validation. And this is not an easy task and it will not happen overnight. There will be days when you will fret about how someone you thought was so close to you said hurtful things about you to someone else in your absence. There will be days when certain comments from certain people will make you cry. But you should not victimize yourself and learn to rise above it. Just know you are not alone. It happens to everyone and it is on us how we want to act upon such things. And that makes you an individual. A unique one.

Invest time in things that broaden your horizon. Read a book, develop a skill, learn

an art form, travel to new places, talk to people belonging to different cultures and religions. Let your thoughts run free. Don’t tell yourself that what you can see is what is true. There are truths which are beyond your horizon at a particular point in time and that are why you need to keep growing it. Keep an open mind. Always be flexible to grasp new ideas and absorb unknown facts. Keep stretching the limits of your mind because mind has none. It is only the concept of time that gives us a narrow view of the world but books, places and people can help us erase the boundaries of time and that is why it is always a gain-gain to devote time to these wonderful means.

And now it is time to tell you about something no Indian mother would tell her daughter. Because even pronouncing “sex” is a taboo in India where ironically the population is uncontrollable. Your body is your kingdom and let nobody tell you otherwise. You have

every right to explore your body and embark on adventurous trips but don’t be a foolish

King. Follow your heart and your instincts and very importantly be aware of what you

are getting into. You have troves of information you will need anywhere you want to find them and more importantly you can always talk to me if you ever want to. I am only a

call away. Sex is a very normal expression of love and it is but very natural to share

your body with the person you have exchanged your heart with and don’t allow anyone to screw the sanctity of the physical union. Sometimes you will have sexual desires and let me tell you these are very humane. You should not feel ashamed of anything. There is absolutely nothing queer in any bodily urge that you will experience and it is all part of the process. Like I told you, you are the autocratic ruler and you will have every right to dictate your body. How you do it is your choice. Take your decisions wisely so that you don’t regret any bit of it.

Grow into a beautiful human being who you will be proud of.

Live your life with no regrets. Love with all your heart. Believe in magic because you are a proof of it. Glow in optimism. Bask in determination. Create moments that you will treasure. Whenever you want to come back home the doors are always open and in your home you will not be judged but only loved. That is all there is to life.

Love,

Ma.

10 things you should do to maintain a healthy Long Distance Relationship

With our generation choosing to pursue dreams, in a socio-economic structure where we cannot afford to be anything less than anyone else, long distance relationships (LDR) have become commonplace. And we get into it eventually to get out of it always choosing distance as our excuse. But, I believe, a long distance relationship can work if we actually want it to. There will be personal hurdles to cross. In which relationship you don’t have to? Yes, may be in LDR you have more of it. But where is the fun in winning against a weak opponent?

Some say, “Out of sight, out of mind”. Some say, “Distance does not matter”. I say, “If anything is worth fighting for, we should fight for it.”

Trust: Yes, I know, I am packing old wine in an older bottle, but, there are some thumb rules which don’t change with time or articles for that matter. Miles away from your partner, one of the few things you can do right is to have faith in the person you love. Not that you do anything different in any form of relationship but when you are in a LDR you have to up your faith quotient a tad bit more. If your partner says one learn to accept it as one and not add it up with an imaginary one creatively churned out by your dearest brain and make it two. Because in a LDR making up stories in your head will not help. If, you, at some point of time, can no longer trust your partner, just know that you have arrived at the dead end of the road called togetherness. As a breather, trust and distance are much unrelated and definitely not inversely proportional.

Continue with your life: It’s hard and you knew it all along. Yes, you will crave for your partner’s presence in your new life thousands of kilometers away but then, you cannot just keep on pining and do nothing else. Like wise men say, “Life must go on”. Give your best to the new beginning. Your new life deserves your earnest efforts to embrace it. Once you start loving your new life, you will be a happy soul and that same happiness will reflect in your relationship. Since you cannot help the distance, the only thing you can do is to accept it.

Adopt honesty and learn to accept truth: We never seem to get enough of telling lies to make the escape route from sticky situations easier and the only time we hate lies is when they are told to us. It is a humane quality and it will come to you naturally but try to abstain yourself from taking the easier path because the aftermath comes with a lot of frills. And getting emotionally drained when you are physically miles apart from your partner will surely be the last thing on your list.

Create a balance: Don’t make one virtual world for both of you where none of you fit in perfectly. Don’t make two separate worlds for yourselves that keep suffering from collisions. Make two subsets with a smooth area of intersection. In simpler words, create a balance between your new life and old love.

Cut the crap: In a LDR, you have to keep bullshit to the minimum. You can’t afford to breed negative emotions for long. You have to make an ardent effort to clear the air whenever you sense a tension growing through your wall of love. Don’t let the cracks grow bigger than what you can handle. If anything bothers you, speak up. Because even god doesn’t know your problem unless you pray. Pent up emotions will only poison the love potion.

Stop washing and drying your dirty linen in public: Refrain from making your relationship a social circus. Nobody cares if you are ‘feeling love’ or feeling ‘angry’. It is none of their business and rightly so. Don’t make insensitive comments or post stupid messages on your partner’s social profiles. Because the stains of misunderstandings and confusions created in a LDR is harder to get rid of. If you have to fight it out with your partner or shower him /her with excess love do it through a medium where it is only between the two of us. Take my words. It is much convenient that way.

Accept the time zones: Like you cannot know everything happening around the world, you will not know everything happening in your partner’s life which unfurls miles away. Some parts of it will be lost in all those kilometers. And it is perfectly OK to not know everything. Don’t make things hard for yourself because there will be latitudes, longitudes and time zones to make things hard anyways. There will be days on row when you will be so caught up with your life and then there will be days when your partner will be and to make it even worse these days will not coincide. And you should know that this is part of the deal.

Stop being a social police: Basically, stop being an asshole. The ‘blue ticks’ and ‘seen’ and ‘active now’ and ‘online’ and the ‘green dot’ fanaticism will  take you and your relationship nowhere. If your partner wants to talk to you he/she will. And if your partner doesn’t want to what is the point anyways. If you direly want to talk to your partner, just let the person know instead of adding unnecessary complication and creating imbalance in the equation.

Create magic: Normal is boring. And when you are in a LDR, you can’t afford to be boring. Spice up things with surprises. Write a surprise letter saying how much your partner means to you. Send a bunch of flowers or a framed photograph. Something. Anything. It is not about the scale of the surprise but your intentions to make it work.

Learn to let go of smaller things for the longer run: Yes, grow up, in other words. Look past mistakes committed and the calls missed. Take every chance you get to be there with your partner in spirit rather than fuelling your ego, say ‘I love you’ more often rather than squabbling over petty issues. Because, in a LDR you cannot afford to lose even a minute of the already cut down we-time.

A love letter I wrote to myself

I know I am not exceptionally gifted but I am exceptionally lucky to have all the 206 bones in the right places and all the organs working in amazing coherence. 

I know my maker forgot to add a couple of inches beneath my feet but he cleverly compensated it with a little extra gray tinge to my head.

I know I have an undefined body type with few inches less here and more inches there but I am smart enough to understand why. Yes, because I have been cut out not to fit into definitions but to stand out.

I know I have taken tons of wrong decisions with my limited farsightedness but my strong heart muscles have come to my rescue and taken the blows like a veteran warrior.

I know I don’t have a perfectly sculpted face but my pen takes up my case so perfectly. It can perfectly glide through paper etching flawless words to create an immaculately beautiful character.

I know I don’t have enough money to shop designer clothes, have a closet full of shoes or possess a chest full of makeup to become a different person but I have enough to go to different places and meet different people to understand who I really want to be. Because beneath all the fancy dresses and all the paints on our faces we are all about flesh, bones, the brain that never stops and the heart that incessantly beats.

I know I have lied and I am not going to coin a fancy term like ‘white lies’ to get away with it. But my conscience has been robust enough to accept the consequences and my ego has been benevolent enough to apologize for the all wrong done unwittingly.

I know I have not achieved great things in life or impacted enough lives but I have the stomach to accept my failures and a determination to make things work.

I know I have been and will continue to get knocked out of the ring by more powerful opponents but I have a strong gut to pick myself up and give my hundred percent all over again to make the story end differently.

I know I have met dead ends on my path to greater heights because I got tempted to take short-cuts but my strong legs and a stronger will have wheeled me towards more lucrative directions, absolutely mesmerizing sights and wondrous experiences. 

I know I can never be the daughter my parents would have loved to have but I have enough perseverance to keep trying to be the daughter they will always be proud of.

I know I have not tried hard enough to make new friends or keep the old ones but I have enough humility to acknowledge every attempt made and enough gratitude to value every effort people make to keep me in their lives.

I know I am not a perfect lover and I have failed relationships to vouch for but I don’t fear opening my heart and baring my soul each time because that’s my idea of love. 

I know I think too much into things, I know I drink too much, I know I debate with all ardency to defend the things I believe in and come out as headstrong, I know I am not too much into table etiquette and I don’t have too much grace but I have enough charm and a generous smile to cover it all up.

Every morning while having my coffee I cannot help wonder how miraculously perfect I am in all my imperfectness that I get shit scared of becoming perfect and I cannot help but whisper to myself, “I love you”.

This new year I did not resolute to become better; I fell in love with the faulty ‘me’.

                               

10 Things that will make you fall in love with Bangalore

Leaving the canopy of our home and setting sail off to some far away land is never easy. We fight with memories, we battle xenophobia, we combat our tear glands, our hands shake to cut the umbilical cord, and we struggle with every inch of our soul. But life, like they say, goes on. We do win over our insecurities and set foot on a journey to a new place where we meet new people and make new memories. Slowly and steadily the new place grows into us. We fall for it. We make it our second home because it embraces us with tender care and embalms our reluctance to end the war wedged within ourselves. Like Bangalore did to me.

Here are ten reasons why anybody would fall for Bangalore.

The seasons and the sun:

Like wise men say, “Weather is unpredictable. You can never be sure of it.” But I am sure you most definitely would fall in love with the Bangalore weather. If you ask me to describe it in a word I would fetch ‘addictive’ from my bag of smart words. It is always autumn in Bangalore. As a citizen of a tropical country that would most definitely sound fetching to you, wouldn’t it?

Source: en.wikipedia.org

 Coming Clean:

Well being one of the cleanest and greenest India cities definitely helps the cause of making Bangalore your second home. According to reports, Bangalore off late has been suffering a lot in this end with sky-scarpers and industries changing the equation in rapid progression, however you cannot take the glory away completely yet. With particulate matter count less than any other metropolitan city it is still good to go.

Source: www.weather-forecast.com

Foster the people:

Bangalore like any other metropolitan city is everyone’s and no one’s city just at the same time. But what makes it sweeter are the localites. Bangaloreans are hustle-free (except for the few shrewd landlords and their female counterparts who would knock you off your senses), easy going and lovable. They aren’t fiercely competitive and have a very disarming laid-back attitude towards life which would make you like them instantly.

Their innocence and charm would never go unnoticed. The roads in Bangalore may have holes but Bangaloreans have a wholesome heart.

Source: luc.lukephoto.org

I am sensing the location:

With Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Chennai located in close proximity Bangalore is a traveler’s paradise. With KSRTC plying in every possible route and keeping itself abreast of modern technologies you could be anywhere during weekends. In Bangalore, you would never feel stuck no matter how deep a hole you have dug for yourself otherwise.

Source: www.indianredcross.org

Taking all of my Energy:

Bangalore is bustling with energy and it isn’t hard to guess the ‘why’. With educated Indian youth driven by career opportunities migrating to Bangalore from all over, Bangalore is all set to become the youngest city in the country. So if you are single and the thirty TNT is hovering over your head ready to blow off anytime you better start your journey of discovery and adventure by moving your lazy ass (and your baggage) to this youthful city. You might not fall in love with the city but your chances of falling in love with someone in this city is rather high.

Source: loveizlyf.blogspot.com

 Land of opportunity:

And, statistics would nod its head. Besides being the IT Hub that it is, Bangalore houses 885 colleges (highest in India as of Nov, 2013) and a plethora of prestigious higher education institutes and research labs. Oh! You can choose to hate Bangalore but you definitely cannot ignore it.

Source: www.chemistryviews.org

All I want is Something New:

If you have a penchant for being your own boss you definitely would choose Bangalore over any other city in India. With its startup ecosystem ranked among the top 20 in the world and with a glorious history like Flipkart, Make my Trip, Tally, India hikes to boast of, it definitely has a lot to offer to the hot-blooded entrepreneurs who can “Make India”.

 

Source: itcnews.vn

Food, Glorious Food:

Bangalore isn’t the restaurant capital of India yet but it isn’t far behind. According to mathematical figures, a new eatery comes up every other day in Bangalore. You have the luxurious of restaurants together with budget friendly ones existing in perfect harmony. You have the illustrious chains and the experimental ones fitted in unimpeachable order. And nobody is complaining. When you are spoilt for choice you really cannot, can you?

Source: www.buzzintown.com

Passion Pit:

Bangalore is a city where passion is given that much-needed second chance. Bangalore has an answer for all kinds of enthusiasts. It is a Mecca for trekkers, cyclists, footballers, swimmers, athletes, potters, painters and you can go on. If you aren’t a foodie this would definitely trap you to fall in love with the garden city.

Source: bangalore.citizenmatters.in

Drunk out loud, Safe & Sound:

Bangalore sleeps early but it gets drunk before going to bed. With a whole range of pubs and bars to choose from and cheap alcohol at hand you have no much option, do you? And what comes handy is

 Bangalore’s safety quotient. According to a recent survey, it is the third safest city in the country (yes, one place above Mumbai) and you cannot deny the intoxication hidden in the edgy cocktail I just threw at you. Drunk and safe definitely makes a heady concoction.

Aren’t you drunk already?

Source: www.whatshelikes.in

An Ardent Letter of a Loving Wife to her Husband

Dear Love,

I thought of writing to you for a long long time now. But somehow every time the zeal got lost somewhere in there. Sometimes sleeping together takes its toll on creativity. Sometimes being there for each other all the time make us take things for granted. Every pat on the back, every tear wiped, every hug given, every cup of tea made, every dish washed just seems meant to be.

 But today I would like to take time out and thank you for all the countless little things you do round the clock that go unnoticed and unappreciated because you make them look like your duty. But now when I contemplate I surprisingly dawn upon the fact that they aren’t (and silently I fall in love with you all the more).

Every day in a married life isn’t Diwali. There are fair shares of ups and downs and there are days when you wish things weren’t the way they actually are. But the intent of reaching the finishing line holding each other’s hands is so strong that we are being able to make it through each day taking them one at a time. We fight almost every day. But deep down we aren’t fighting against each other, we are fighting it out for each other and that is our little well-kept secret behind getting stronger with each passing day. Sometimes I am crazily angry with you. I attempt hurling things at you, I shout incessantly but the way you hug me tight throughout the entire ordeal just lets me know we are here to stay. Sometimes you shout at me when the floodgates of your patience are broken apart by my childishness but in between all of that when you break into your signature wicked grin I know the storm is over and unguarded love is on its way.

Sometimes I struggle to understand us. But every time you make me realize it isn’t that difficult. It is about loving each other, having faith that we can make it together, having patience with each other and accepting each other. Sceptics would say that it’s easier said than done but you make it easier for me any which way. It’s seems easy probably because we really intend to make it work and we never give up on each other. You have taught me to accept things as they are and not expect them to be the way we want them to be. And that probably helps us to give each other that space where the ‘us’ can breathe. You have taught me that A will not be in A’s position all the time and so is with B. They will get jumbled up and A will end up in B’s place and vice versa. But that is when we have to hold each other’s hands tight and clean up the mess. No journey is a smooth sail. Every journey has its own adversity. A journey without adversity isn’t a journey at all. It is a conducted tour. You have taught me to enjoy the troughs and the crests. You have taught me to find a rhythm in the ups and downs and let my hair lose with the tune. And that is why I find journey so beautiful and seamless.

Every morning I wake up beside you. It is a comforting feeling. I know the day ahead wouldn’t be the way I want it to be; I would get delayed to office, I would not get the results I direly wanted to, I would break down under pressure, I would not get the time to grab my lunch, I would fight with people, but right at that moment when I open my eyes to your face all my creases get smoothened. That is the magic they say exist. Every day it isn’t perfect but nevertheless it feels perfect right at that moment. We have stark differences. You abhor reading books, I so love to. You love watching sci-fi, I love romantic comedies. You love scotch, I love wine. You love blue, I love black. But right at that moment everything seems at sync. Right at that moment every cosmic plan to bring us together seems divine.

People say that when you are about to get married your world seems to crumble, you get cold feet, you seem to lose sanity but none of that happened to me. Your assuring gaze told me all would be ok. Things will change but only for the better. I knew I would have four feet instead of two to walk towards success. I would now have four hands instead of two to guard my dreams from breaking. I just felt at ease with the transition that was unfolding in front of me with the promise to be there shining bright in your eyes.  The enormous and unbridled wave from your sea of love safely swept me over to the other side of marriage. I was aware that it would not be a happily ever after but I knew I was embarking on a roller coaster ride that cannot overthrow us. That’s what gave me strength to take on the war. The war we are fighting every single day, yesterday and today. I only hope we would raise the winning trophy together some fine day.

All Yours Truly,

Wife.

I am Mr. Lonely- 10 Best ways to beat loneliness

Are you the slightly offbeat sociable type but you often find yourself stuck in the wrong place where you don’t actually fit in? Are there a thousand words crumpled inside your small intestine but you don’t have a like-minded ear to pour them into? Are there zillion unhinged ideas running steadfast in your cerebrum and hitting the proverbial dead end because you don’t have the perfect (read lunatic) partner in crime to execute them? Are there myriad of  far-out things you want to try out, an equal number of intriguing places you want to visit and another handful of queer cuisines you want to lap up and then you bundle those deep-seated desires inside the crevices of your soul because no one around you is as weird?

Well, it happens. And it happens to all of us at some point of time in our lives. We find ourselves immiscible, we try our best to harmonize but all our efforts fall out of tune. And that is exactly the orifice through which loneliness creeps in slowly and steadily into our lives.

If you find yourself in a similar soup right now or you find yourself in it more often in your path towards the who-knows-what you got to read this because I can assure you this is exactly what you have been looking for. For you I jot down ten cool ways to battle the blue bug we sometimes call “loneliness”.

1.  Loneliness and desperation over the ages have given us the best of literary pieces. When you are down, when you find yourself trying too hard to fit in, give up your efforts on being just one among them and  be a writer instead.

Well every story is not meant to be told, every poem isn't heart-rendering, some pieces are just meant to be drafted to tear them into pieces and aim them at the nearest dustbin the very next moment.

The best way to channelize your loneliness is through your pen. Trust me, there is some magical balm that oozes out of your pen every time it touches its soul mate (we

cliched “ly” call paper). Well, you don’t need to know your grammar, your vocabulary can be a skimpily clad super model but how does it matter?

P.S.: If you are just as bad as bad can be, make a to-do list (at the ‘least’). It will help and you can take my word on that.

2.  Binge on delicacies. A mango cheesecake, hot and steamy aloo paratha or a plate of tangy pani puri can be it.

Go out and treat yourself. No, it is not weird to go to a restaurant and gorge on the best things it has on its menu with no one by your side. But you worry not. I have a trick up my sleeve for you too. Yes, cook delicacies instead. I do it all the time and every time it works wonder.

Bake a cake, make an exotic dish, create your own trade-mark flavour.

The entire process is so exhilarating that you would never run out of fizz.

3.  Exercise. No, neither am I a Gym Manager nor I am the Yoga Guru. But it does help and I can assure you that. Metabolism, blood circulation is passe. Exercise can heal your heart (and the good thing is literally too). You can vent your loneliness through a little hop and run.

And when you are in good shape you feel better too.

4. Pack your bag and go hiking. Yes, in India travelling alone is a pain in the ass (especially for girls, I know) and you may not be a pro either. For you, there are a lot of associations and clubs who organize hiking and camping. You just need to stuff in your absolutely-musts and get set go. That’s easy and to top it all it will leave you wanting for more.

A tryst with nature is all that you can ask for to kill your loneliness. Amidst nature, you need no one (and it is better that way, trust me. Who wants a nagging partner or a wailing baby in the thick of a serene jungle. Not me, not you either).

5.  If you are a lazy ass, you too can go places without really going through all that trouble. Pick up a book. OK, you aren't the reader type? Watch a phantasmagorical movie instead. And immediately you will be flown off to a different world. Your own imaginary world and you will be lonely no more.

6.  Stand in front of a mirror and talk to yourself. I know you must be giggling. But it works. We talk to the newspaper man, the milkman, the pesky neighbour but never to ourselves. It is a healthy exercise. We try to understand the world around us but we hardly try to understand ourselves. We live our entire life trying to make people happy, people we don’t talk to, people we dislike, people we don’t even know exists. However, we rarely work for our happiness. And we don’t because we don’t know what makes us happy. And we don’t know because we have a communication gap with ourselves.

If you don’t have people to talk to what the heck. Talk to yourself. About things you want, about places you want to be in, about food you want to gulp down, about people you want to hug and then about people whose noses you want to break. Enact the dream that may be a dream forever. Play-act the conversation that you know would never happen. Communicate with yourself. That is the key.

7.  Tend to something. Yes, a pet may be.

If you aren't a pet person resort to gardening instead. Taking care of plants and animals is far more rewarding than a fruitless party with poppycock people. You will know once you start doing it.

8.  Take a ride. In your car, on your bike or  your bicycle. Any damn thing you have. Let the air flow through your hair and enter into your soul.

OK, you don’t have any vehicle to carry you? Carry yourself. Plug in your earphones and go zoom. Take a walk, run through or jog your way. Cleanse your mind, purify your soul and push out the lonely demon inside you.

9.  Pursue your passion. Take up salsa classes you so wanted to. Learn pottery, paint the canvas red, let some music play,go click click. To vent away loneliness through creative avenues is the best thing that can happen. At the end of the day you will feel so satiated with the entire experience that you will want to be lonely for the rest of your life.

10.  If all else fails, take the road most travelled. Go shopping. Go on a date with yourself. Buy yourself nice things. Make yourself look good just for nothing or none for that matter. Give yourself time. Fall in love with yourself all over again. Rediscover yourself. Be your own darling.

When you become perfectly comfortable with yourself you will need no company.

Well, we don’t invite loneliness. But when it slowly casts its shadow on you, you should not panic but be prepared to fight. And now I am sure you are, aren't you?

Now happily sing to yourself, “I am Mr Lonely and I need nobody.”