Pearl Rapose's BlogPosts

A decade and more of: uncountable tales, serious fights, embarrassing conversations, crying phonecalls, laughter filled outings, plenty of cakes, chais, thousands of selfies, crashing marine drive, mumbai locals,  pani puri hauls, makeup tutorials gone right, makeup tutorials gone wrong, perfume hoarding, writing notes, writing letters, emotional airport drops, truck loads of gifts,  bitching, gossiping, going gaga over Bollywood, knowing dark secrets, knowing funny secrets, loving, healing,  disagreeing, making fun of xyz, heartfelt apologies, doing the dishes on Christmas nights, gobbling on mummy's pulav, gujju jokes, gujju bad words, bird watching, hunting for mehndi waalis,  loving ranveer singh, loving music, sharing insecurities, building each other up, growing, evolving, unfinished  ... And that's what you get from a constant.

Everyone has their own definition of ultimate happiness. I used to think it is travelling for me. Which it is; and reading and writing coming close to it. But sometimes, the ideal definition we have in our mind keeps evolving. The ultimate happiness being the grand finale, and the road to it being a complete joyride too! Why can’t it be so? Why can't we have it all? I’m not saying that a full-blown, all-out corporate woman will suddenly start finding happiness in farming at some far-flung village. Or that a politically driven head of state would suddenly turn to puppeteering as his sole purpose in life forsaking all other agendas. But, I’m talking about the “happiness shift” if that’s a term. The finding of joy in something else, than in what was expected. The scope of change that you allow yourself to enjoy when you open yourself to life’s surprises. The fun you have while you’re on the way to experiencing something grander!!!  Also adding to it: a twist in the tale of how you...

After a lovely holiday recently I had one of my colleagues come up to me and say, "Hey, I hope you had a good holiday. You didn't post any pictures online so I was worried." I thought in my mind: does it mean that I have to post happy holiday pictures to prove that I had a good time?  A dear friend of mine is a frequent vacationer and probably has those conventional pictures from all the exotic and unconventional places she visits. Cumulatively it turns out to be great content for social media. The trick to her happiness however being, she never posts it anywhere. No Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp or Twitter validation of her happy life. The pictures she clicks are for herself, she says. Not for the world. She is in no hurry to show people that she is having a good time.  Apart from being inspired by this, it got me thinking about the judgemental side of those looking at the pictures. For example, one intrusive lady I know had the opinion that I had started dress...