Never forget three sorts of people in your life –
Those who left you in difficult times.
Those who helped you in difficult times.
Those who put you in difficult times.
Because, as life progresses, you may have to treat them accordingly.
And somehow, it’s the first sort and the third sort who will always try to gaslight the situation and turn things around to make you feel as if only because they left you, you made it, or because they put you in problems, you made it. They are both deluded.
Also, just because I put the ‘leaving’ sort first doesn’t mean they are number one Almighty. Rather, they are someone who acts like the Almighty. The first and the third sort share a lot of commonality, for they sail in the same boat and are governed almost by the same force of C for Crooked. I mean, you didn’t help a friend in need, but you hope that this friend will fulfil your needs. You ditched a brother who was on a sinking ship, but hope this brother to ship you out of a ditch.
Remember the year 2012? A lot happened in my life that year, including the publication of my first book ‘2012 Is Light Years Away’. The above was around that time when I took an unplanned trip to Goa. Known as a little piece of Portugal in India, I was relaxing my body and my mind at a particular beach in Goa under a red umbrella while my mind was swirling with all the s**t that was happening in my life.
Grainy mobile pics because I forgot to take my camera!
I am not much of an alcohol drinker, I have said that before. But that does not mean that I haven’t earned a veteran status in it. In simple words – “been there, done that”. To despise the extravagant indulgence of something must mean that you have seen its shortcomings so you don’t encourage it for yourself or others.
I believe in the motto of moderation. Let’s put it in another phrase – I am not a drunk.
I drink only when I want to celebrate and enjoy the pursuits of life. I have some friends who own pubs, distilleries, bars and vineyards; they don’t consider themselves drunks either. They serve drinks to people all day and night and yet understand the motto of moderation.
People who remember old Bangalore must have heard of the NASA pub. With just a handful of popular pubs in the city back then, I was fascinated with NASA pub in the 90s, waiting to turn adult just to go to this pub. This pub had one of the best interiors; looked like something where astronauts would go. Of course, this pub no longer exists, but somehow Bangalore became the pub capital of India, with the record of most pubs in Asia.
I am not claiming that I had something to do with this, lol. But many will agree that the kids of my generation had this spirit that uplifted the pub culture in the city. I like the very idea of pub-hopping for music and architecture more than getting drunk and acting stupid.
Hard Rock Café is my favourite one in the city. Trust me, I have seen a few HRCs around the world and the one in Bangalore has one of the best interiors. Also, in recent years I have gained this particular curiosity and interest in learning the process of making Scottish Whisky in the Highlands.
At a pub in Bangalore last Christmas Eve!
So in Goa too, I took on the task of drinking beer instead of water. I literally held a drink in my hand all the time and drank beer like water for a week I was there.
Being the poet I am, I couldn’t help but metaphorically see this red umbrella as a shield under which I was peaceful while the sky of stupidity was falling around me. This to me was skyfall. Also, James Bond’s Skyfall came a few months later. Oh wait, wtf…
A piece of Portugal!
Skyfall to me is when all your near and dear ones turn against you.
Skyfall to me is when your friends are no longer your friends.
Skyfall to me is when although you just came back from the UAE a few months ago and had stood on the tallest man-made structure in the world (Burj Khalifa), some people who have not stepped out of their zip code will still treat you like a failure.
Skyfall to me is when I realized that having stalkers is not the same as having girlfriends. People who say female gaze and female ragging doesn’t exist clearly aren’t getting some. I mean how can you believe in something that you yourself may never experience in 100 lifetimes?
A piece of Portuguese faith!
Skyfall to me is planning my first book’s release in the United Kingdom at the London Book Fair, buying tickets, paying for the visa, make bookings, but not allowed to happen (three guesses why).
Skyfall to me is watching my lifestyle in crisis and at the same time seeing all kinds of pop culture maniacs stealing ideas to make pop culture content that looks very very similar to my hard work in my books, yet when I log into my author account I see ‘zero’ sales.
Skyfall to me in learning about extremely expensive and notorious spy software like ‘Pegasus’ (google it), which can be installed on personal computers or smartphones by virtually anyone anywhere in the world to control your devices and in turn your life.
Skyfall to me is being 26 years old, at the cusp of adulthood, the right age to start doing great things, get married and find your equilibrium in life, and someone telling you that you are too old. I mean they prefer the ‘young and stupid’ you over the ‘wise and potent’ you. What kinda person do you think finds 26 an old age and should be out of a young man’s game? Maybe a child sexual predator who thinks everyone above 17 is old? They are that wolf.
Travel back to Portugal time!
Skyfall to me is when you know that those who can influence the four pillars of society – people, politics, police and press can use them against anyone for whatever reason.
Skyfall to me is keeping a fictional possibility open, where entities ‘acting’ God, from a different realm, able to shuffle the codex of the ‘Matrix’, steal your thoughts, pass them to others and then rearrange the codex is a possibility. But you can never prove that to anyone because the world is still stuck talking about flying UFOs on television. It's like – the watchers may be watching us, but who is watching the watchers? Are they 100% perfect? Everyone thinks that their own moral code and beliefs are virtuous.
The closest evidence to such a thing is only found in religious books where they talk about demons (or fallen angels), but you wouldn’t want to take that religious route either because you don’t want to give them the attention they are expecting.
Skyfall to me is noticing that some people are so lost waiting for petty religious miracles, that they will not even notice the miracle walking on the Earth right before their eyes.
Vasco da Gama, Arch of the Viceroys, Old Goa!
All in all, Skyfall to me is living and dealing with a world of people who grace less intelligence and are spiritually less mature than you but have more power and resources than you. As simple as that.
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