I have been very tardy about writing, and spending what little time I spend here in curating and commenting. To correct this lapse I am taking part this month to write 1000 words a day. I will link later to the newsletter which set up this context.
For the first day I used a prompt from my friend and writing guru Amit Verma.
Wrote this prompt for my writing community just now. Go for it if you feel inspired.
— Amit Varma (@amitvarma) June 1, 2024
Who knows, we could even get an anthology outta this? 🙂 pic.twitter.com/t9Hy1QeTUA
I am not comfortable talking about close family and friends on social media so I wrote to myself. And kept it with very few edits. I probably should edit, but somehow the raw way feels right for such a prompt. I would probably use the editing time to set up the attachments :D
So here is my entry :
Hey you! Out there in the cold, feeling lonely, feeling old ...
DON'T WORRY.
Do you remember the song? It's alright if you don't. I know what happened. I was hoping you the line might bring some recollection as songs made up the milestone of our life. Yes, "our" life. I am you. Check the photo clipped to this note. That's me, as in that's you. I mean we are one. I am writing down a quick note, along with an attachment about all the people close to us so that it will help you remember or at least reconnect with them. And help them too. As we say at work, onboard all of you back into your relations and your network.
Wait, don't run to the attachment yet. Let's first have a quick chat about us. Who we are, who we want to be, and how to use this, shall we call it a hurdle, yes hurdle, to our advantage?
I will confess up front that I am not going to reveal everything. It seems to me that this is a golden chance for me to try and set myself a bit different, more in line with what I wanted to be but for some reason stopped myself from being.
We are Brij, full name Brijesh. If you throw a stone anywhere in the city of Mumbai you will find someone like us. But hey, being average in Mumbai means we are cool dudes anywhere else ... or at least that's what we can believe. Our best friend is our spouse and we are very close to our immediate elders. The details are in the attachment but this is very important. The four of them depend on us emotionally so we must reconnect ASAP with them and provide them the support they need to bounce back. The attachment has all the information you need to reestablish our monetary connections. Do that first thing with help from our partner. Then reach out to your siblings, cousins and friends to check on them.
The only thing I ask of you is to remember that you and your partner are two peas in a pod. I don't want you to necessarily become me fully but do try and become the me that loves my partner and be the one she trusts. This is an absolute requirement for me. Please!
So what are our main issues that you need to look into? First, get fit fast. I had started the journey but in fits and starts, so you need to be more vigilant and sincere. My apologies for giving you this obese aging body. I had a lot of good intentions but without the required application all those intentions were just wisps of opportunities lost. So get your arse moving and get it right. We can do it... I have done it twice before. We just need to do the boring things right, like walk every day, and eat right. We don't love drinking that much and hardly ever smoke so don't go and start doing that, please. The one thing that has been we fear losing control, and hence drugs, or any other intoxicant was always out of the picture. I hope you appreciate the necessity of sticking to this.
Don't worry we have a lot of positives too. We are average, but happy average. We can shine if we want to but have been too lazy to push ourselves. Despite that, we have had the ultimate luck of having good people surround us and like, even love us. Do try and connect back to them. Don't worry though, we will make friends. And we will love helping people. I don't know how the world will be when you are reading this, but don't let any chaos outside change who you are. I have always believed in people around us, and if you show openness to them even the most cynical should be open to us too. Don't worry if some of them take advantage. In the final count, we will be happy with ourselves and our spouse, and that's all we need.
We love to read, we love music (of all kinds), and we love pop culture, sci-fi, and fantasy. Once things are settled try to read Lord of the Rings or the bound book of Phantom on the second shelf of the bookshelf. Maybe it might spark some memories. If YouTube still works, check out Smosh and Dropout.tv channels. I have been binging on those and you might reconnect back to them. Listen to the album Dark Side of the Moon, Nirvana Unplugged in New York, or old Malayalam songs. Remember that YouTube Premium (details in attachment) is paid for till the end of the year for you to enjoy this music.
We love computers and technology. It was my dream to write more and curate and spread thoughts and ideas to more people. I will not fool you by saying I did all that, I did not! But if you have forgotten most things I hope you have forgotten all the excuses I used to make or the various complexes I worked under. There was no logical reason for me to live under the complexes, but I did. No point trying to understand it now. You have the mind to do whatever you want to, and if you truly don't have the hangups I had this "hurdle" might be the best thing that could happen to us and our family.
So here's what I request you to do. Read the attachment on work and take the help of your partner (she is a wizard at tech knowledge) to get organized there. Don't worry about any panic there might be. We are great at panic situations. We used to suck at planned activity but when we need to react instinctively we always do the right things. And if we do it calmly we can calm everyone around us. All my notes at work are in the OneDrive or within a couple of days you should be on top of it. But remember to not scope yourself to that alone. You can be of help to bring everyone to the table and guide them out of whatever trouble we might be under after this mass disaster.
As you start afresh remember work is not your life. And remind your lady too. For too long these have just been words to both and it is high time we separate our life from work. Get writing, get creating audio. (psst there is a course we have in a month that should help us with this - check Gmail) Start attending conferences, not just work ones, but the nerdy kind too. You are good at it...and you can be a great help to others. But even if it does not please start putting out content. There is a lot in our brain we would like to put out. Nothing earth-shaking, but still, we need to do it. To give back to the world what we have enjoyed from the unnamed stars who wrote content that helped us.
Explore the world around you. We have been caught up in a narrow area of IT services and products for too long. Salary has truly been a drug for us, but we did need the safety of the income it provided. We still have those responsibilities so the income does need to flow. But cast a wider net to see what vocation calls out to you and make the best effort in that direction. Ensure that you do not listen to anyone saying it is not possible. In moments of doubt, write to one of the following, Amit, Prem, Roshan, Vikram, or Jiju and they will kick your backside and put you on the right track. Remember your Discord account (I keep saying all these sites ... I do hope they work) There is a great group of supporting friends you have there. Reach out to them and see if they need our help. Try new things but do it fast. Time is the only thing we don't have a lot of. I am sorry about that. I wish I had put this into practice earlier and you would have a more complete journal by now. In WhatsApp, there is a group Bohemian Rhapsody. That is our foundation, our childhood friends. Reach out to them for sure and group up soon so that you can help each other and the large community too.
In short, live your life free and confident. And fulfil the potential I could not. Make me proud!
