Have you ever performed on stage or given a speech?
Hey…
I hope all of you are doing well…
Yes, I’ve had a few opportunities to present myself on stage with and without a group;
I presented a speech all alone twice and I had all of the fear before it, legs feeling like jelly, those eyes staring at me like I owe them something, but once in my zone I performed what I had to it was a speech about a religious leader the topic that I picked way back…
Another one was a rather small group that worked in an informal setting a few strangers and a piece of information that we shared and debated it to come to a standard conclusion,;
A mere two person discussion turned into a few people taking their side and my side, it was a topic that has such a deep belief that we all had views on it “God’s existence and his overlooking those who were unfortunate…”
And after the heat of discussion subsided we all had tea and called it a night as we walked away a bit better person, by learning someone’s side and some facts that even changed our beliefs…
There were instances that we had musical performances during schooling too, which were often in groups because they shifted the focus and stress from a single child to the group, which was fun and enjoyable even for the audience because they were a part of us too as they enjoyed it as much as us…
A few instances but they shaped a version that can be traced deviated from a standard path to what it is now expanding forever…
To experiences like these that shape us for the better;
What part of your routine do you always try to skip if you can?
Hey…
I hope all of you are doing well…
The part of routine that I can avoid or skip would be the stress associated with work that constantly looms over my head…
The constant pressure of preparing, of being active and on my toes has broken the foundation that I stand on;
Some days it feels like a break from it would be better,
But returning to it feels like a trap that I exited for a little while,
after seeing clear open skies I have to walk into the cage to be trapped yet again and work within these tubes that trap my existence within them for 10 hours daily…
Well there aren’t many podcasts that I’m in these days but there are a few that bless my ears…
One of the podcasts that I used to listen to was “Violating community guidelines” by Sarah Schauer and Brittany Broski;
I know weird names but they complimented each other and the funny instances on their podcasts were so hilarious that I often laughed out while working making people think that I’ve gone crazy 🤪..
48 episodes discussing the trends on the social media and what went on during the year 2022 and the end of it,
Started in January of ‘22 ending in December of the same year, Ive found myself to go back to it year after year and boost my mood and give me laugh whenever life pins me down…
These days I’m invested in a podcast called Alan watts daily wisdom and yes they’re sharing the timeless teachings of the philosopher Alan watts through ai in his voice to all the world to listen and view too…
Started a month ago and 24 videos in gathering a whopping 108k followers as we speak (on yt) I’ve found it very helpful and informative by giving me insight to live this life better in ways that are often overlooked…
Those times were the ultimate, we could play and be ourselves(our real self) without bothering anyone and do things that we liked instead of what we are right now,
how we act today to get what we want…
Leaving it at that,
My favourite subject was history, in specific ancient Indian history, which I found very interesting due to a dedicated teacher and her clear vision to impart everything that she learnt during her life to her students…
The lessons were long according to some students (45 minutes) but I couldn’t get enough of them ever, also there were people who hated it from their very core;
But there were others who loved it too and along with them we formed a group who were very much in love with it and wanted to learn as much as possible within a short period of time…
We went on walks, explored locations and visited historic sites along with our teacher and learnt all the facts firsthand…
Many years have passed and most of us still remember the lessons that she used to teach us and often we remember how much condensed information she fed to us within a span of two years…
The best years of our lives…
Hope you find a teacher/sir in life that sparks such interest and curiosity in you that has ripple effect all over your life…
I’m pretty sure most of the world is suffering with this disease of a very long screen time, hooked on Instagram reels, YouTube shorts and videos, clips on TikTok and many more…
Time seem to pass by so quickly when we are hooked on them that it feels unreal;
You started watching them at 10 at night and suddenly it’s 1:30 before you can see the time on the phone which was there all the time…
There are a lot of things that I use to achieve my goal of reducing screen time a few of them are->
Having a separate phone for doing writing without any distractions so that I can focus when otherwise I would find a way to stop writing and doom-scroll Instagram..
Tracking screen time on both my phones just to keep in touch with how much I used a single app and how much I need to cut back…
Presetting a timer on each app which I use a lot for example I set a timer for an hour on Instagram which is a lot less from 4-5 hours which used to happen without knowing…
Trying to avoid using phones for the first few hours I usually wake up and pen my ideas or any dreams that I had, which makes all of it interesting as it boosts my writing skills and also imaginative skills which help me remember what happened in my dream world…
And at last, I keep my phones a bit away from me like for charging away from me when I have free time so I’d have to walk to it to get it as I’m on my bed, which cuts the interest in getting up and grabbing it a bit more…
There’s so much fascinating things that happened in our past that piques my interest, but if I were to point out a single one of them it would definitely be partition of my country INDIA…
Aftermath of that are still faced to this day, I’ve seen people without purpose and reason just existing on this side and on the other side too, sometimes all one does is question themselves are they born on the right side…?
Being from a family whose ancestors travelled from what is now Pakistan and settled here in India a sense of love and friendship still exists somewhere in this heart of ours, even though a lot of bloodshed happened in retaliation of which we also picked arms and caused harm of equal or more intensity…
Imagine leaving your friends, your ancestral home, your neighbours, your world behind and travelling beyond the line that was etched onto a map and now enforced by setting up boundaries and on it army personnel letting you pass only after checking…
It was chaos, there was so much loss and the place that my ancestors settled was covered in grass that was as high as knees length which contained mutilated body parts of the people who resided here before us who became victim of the violence that took place which uprooted them from the very place that they settled in to raise their young ones…
It was such a horrific incident that the survivors still tell us the tales of the horrors they saw from their very two eyes and all of it plays in their mind like it happened last night…
A truly horrible happening that shaped our very core, fascinating all those who decide to step into this thought of process and try to feel how they must have endured it all…
There are a few sentences that i live by, they aren’t necessarily quotes, but they’re self-drawn rules that I live by, Well, I think each and every one of us should have some, rules or something that helps you set, what is right or wrong, in a situation…
Quotes are those who are written by a writer and such, and when you are one in the making, what’s better than looking at something that you wrote, to keep yourself in check, during times that you thought would be the end of you…
The said quote(s)…
1)
THE FALL TAUGHT ME TO GET UP AND MOVE FORWARD,
IT DIDN’T TELL ME TO STOP AND SIT DOWN,
IT TOLD ME THE REASON FOR THE FALL,
AND I DIDN’T STOP LEARNING,
NOR I’M STOPPING,
DIDN’T STOP YESTERDAY,
WILL NOT STOP TODAY,
WONT STOP TOMORROW,
BECAUSE,
I DIDN’T STOP LEARNING…
★Didn’t stop learning★
2)
CAN’T CRASH OUT
CAN’T CRASH OUT
CAN’T CRASH OUT
CAN’T CRASH OUT
CAN’T CRASH OUT
CAN’T CRASH OUT
CAN’T CRASH OUT
CAN’T CRASH OUT
CAN’T CRASH OUT
CAN’T CRASH OUT
CAN’T CRASH OUT
CAN’T CRASH OUT
✅CAN THUG MY WAY OUT OF THIS ONE, SO
I WON’T CRASH OUT
These two are the ones I often check out, there are more but those are some other ideas, prompting some other feelings…
For the time being, you can read them, save them, make them your quotes too…
Cheers 🥂
Love Waakiye 🤍
This is exactly how it feels when some prompt like this comes in… (Ai generated image…)
Even though I’m quite a reserved person, there are some things that give birth to nervousness within me….
Being the person that I am, I’m not that open to new experiences and if I want to experience new ones, it feels like my mind already has planned all of the outcomes even before I am to undergo the “Said” experience…
For example;
I once went to a theatrical play and I was running late, I had a fixed seat which I booked a few weeks in advance.
On reaching there a little late, the host had already opened with the introductions.
…….
As I entered and looked for my seat and saw someone else sitting in mine, on telling them this was my seat,
He told me he had a seat in the middle somewhere which he booked outside the hall, can I take that one..?
On telling him that I couldn’t because I booked this seat weeks prior and I will sit here;
Nervousness creeped in as he didn’t get up even after asking politely, and after that in a stern voice, after a few moments the staff came in as he stated to raise his voice against me.
Knowing this was a public place, and they reserved the right for our admission, as I showed them the ticket and he was politely told to go to his seat, which he refused.
On pausing the play for a moment all the lights were lit, and the said person was told to move to his seat or to be escorted out of the venue by security.
The smug look on his face now wiped clean as he murmured something in his mouth and squeezed himself to his seat in the middle..
That thing made me quite nervous.
But thankfully I booked in advance and the staff were really helpful…!
Overall, A good day that was.
Apart from me losing my sh|t there.
Cheers 🥂
Love Waakiye
The first pic I took as I reached the destination after transversing through roads that were small and had a great abyss on the other side; the hazy memories of those times stay just like these pictures in my mind!!!
Theres a reason I don’t go without a face mask outside my house, I might not be popular in any way but I have a lot of people that recognize me from way back, and to be honest being disregarded for being myself for the last two years, I chose to cut everyone but two, they’re my brothers and i shall till the end of time be available for them because they were too…
This is something that happened 8 years back and i still remember it crystal clear as it happened just yesterday…
There was a program that was supposed to take place in our high school and being one of those who was supposed to be a part of the management (student board), it was mine and this one girl’s duty to manage the smooth flow of the entire program without any complications;
Tbh I have been the type of person who loves to work alone, that way I can control all the variables and get the work done faster than having to spend time discussing and waiting for a half-baked response that would have no base or wouldn’t even have any concrete base…
Thats the type of person i was back then still am…
It was the schedule of this program we were told four weeks in advance that it was supposed to take place, and we were to work however we could within the school provided budget, so there were these 3 weekends that were in between the date we were told it was supposed to take place thinking we had enough time i took it to myself to budget, thinking of equipment that we’d require and had to acquire and all the technical things…
During our lunch break a girl from the board visited me being from the other stream, on enquiring about what was needed she told me to come to the cafeteria area during the last period if it was free, coincidentally it was free as the teacher that we had was on leave during that time;
On finding her waiting, the cute face, cat eyed glasses, grey and white school dress, and simplistic watch on her left hand in which she held an apple which she was gnawing on every other minute;
Being the socially awkward person I was back then, I just came up to her and put my bag down in front of her, we exchanged greetings and i asked “if the was something that she needed from the cafeteria?”
On hearing my offer,she thought to herself a bottle of apple ocean would be nice…! I said okay and got up and went to the stall that had what we needed…
As i returned with two coffees and a bottle of electrolyte water, she was surprised of sorts, no-one brought her things she said on a whim, but she did thank me for it…
As we began discussing the plan, how and what we would need for the smooth flow of the plan, before any other thing could leave her mouth, I handed her the document requiring all of the stuff needed, all the people that we needed to contact and along with it their contact details, and minimum budget required for all of the things and with them the alternatives if the one mentioned weren’t available;
Reading the document of 10 pages and in awe of me she asked “if i knew this was supposed to take place weeks before because all of us were told yesterday only…?
Yeah i told her slyly as i already knew something like this was supposed to happen around this time watching it from last 3 years and all of our seniors butchered it ruthlessly…
So I prepared it weeks before and finalized it yesterday, … There was silence for a few minutes as she scanned the document, and in awe she looked at me the moments after as I had cracked open my cold coffee and began sipping it;
How…? How do you already have things ready on which we have to spend the next week and a half…? We have all that we want and need, for the entirety of the plan, all that remains is going to the places, negotiating and buying the things that are needed, which could be done over this weekend…!!!
How did you manage all of this that too all on your own…?
That’s how it has been from the past 1.5 years, I’ve given my very best and you know how smooth the fest has taken place the last year too…
Before coming to you, I submitted a copy to the president of the student board and the teacher in charge too…
Is there something else that you needed…?
NO, I mean yeah, I thought we’d spent time jotting down things needed and spend actual time buying and arranging all of the items and such…
That is something that can be left on the teachers and upper management, the final negotiation and things are to be approved by them only..!
I pushed the other coffee that I bought towards her and as she opened it her face sulking as she took a sip out of it…
Having zero clue what has happened and what was supposed to happen, as the last bell rang, marking the day to be over…
I started to pack my things, As I told her, “there’s an afternoon class that I am supposed to take, and if i didn’t leave within 10 minutes I’d be late to that…”
Having no clue what has happened, she also packed her bag and started to stand up and walk towards the gate with me…
And on reaching outside the gate, my path went to the left and Her’s to the right,
In a low voice she hummed, “If you wouldn’t have done all of that we could spend the weekend discussing and planning all of it over the weekend at each other’s place or some cafe…”
HUH?, I asked, is there something that you’d like to add or remove from the list, maybe we can discuss it over call or something…?
Her mind running haywire that her plans were spoiled, She ignored my last line.. (My mind thinking she was trying to leech off my work just by being seen with me working on something…)
As we parted ways, She began walking down her and I went down mine, She met one of her friends and I met one of mine, Looking back at each other our eyes met…
NEVER TO MEET AGAIN..
(How stupid it was of me…)
Cheers🥂 (To the fool I was back then…)
………….
“Ever had a moment like this , when you realized something too late? Drop a comment, I’d love to hear your version of what could’ve been.“
Love Waakiye
This is exactly how I walked my way back home that day and whenever I remember how much I fumbled back then….
Waakiye 