Epiphany

I have been away for a while. I didn't like it particularly much. In fact, I hated it.

I hate the fact that I am back in India in this sweltering heat. I hate the fact that I have lapsed into same mood swinging patterns. I hate the fact that I have gained whatever weight I had lost. I hate the fact that even after paying four hundred buck plus tip, the barber cut my hair too short which I had cultivated with so much effort, despite my clear cut instructions.

So you see, in simpler terms I am pissed off.

This is the time when I should have been spending my weekends in Paris. Or Nice. Or Rome, for that matter.

Khair, this might all be true when I travel to Europe next month.

So why was I away?

I was primarily away because of a sudden epiphany. I had realized that most of the people who blog ( closeted cases like me) are very miserable. They have no real friends, social circle or love interests to keep them busy elsewhere and so they turn here. They ( we) bitch. We sulk. We do everything in out power to be not happy. ( lot of assumptions and self projections there). I wanted to be different and break free from these types. Since, I am back here it means some ties are stronger than we think and we have to get back to them, even if we don't want to.

Regular readers of this blog might notice that introspection is an activity I indulge myself in quite often, which leads to a lot of psycho analytic babble and discovery. But this time, my findings were triggered my something different.

While I was away, in Europe, I got to meet a blogger. For real!I used to follow his blog as lot. Not just they are reflective but they are also full of juicy details about his seemingly rocking sex life. This person comes across as extremely intelligent, well read and slutty in his blog. He lives in a city where there is hardly any discrimination, rather it's considered to be one of the gay havens of the world. I was quite curious to see him going by his blog he seemed like Mr Perfect.

And I met him indeed. I don't like to get personal and give out details, but suffice is to say he was nothing like what he comes across in his blog. He was nervous, inarticulate and quite miserable. ( I am mean, I know) My point here is not to denigrate him but to bring out the fact that a lot of times we are not what we write on these pages. I am far from perfect, or even nice. I know my shortcomings more than anyone else can see, and I hate that. When I looked at him, with all his developed world gay insouciance, the freedom he has to live his life the way he want to, the works, I didn't envy him. My mind went back to his posts about his rambling in the park. Who goes to a park in that city?? There are multiple clubs, sauna, and internet sites than one can imagine. And you can pretty much do what you want to. Legally.

One has to be really old/ ugly or closeted to be in that park.

And he was not old or closeted.

What hope do people like me have in this country like India then?

Hello!! Knock Knock!

One of the things that I promised myself at the beginning of this year was to be more consistent with my blogging.  I had all the excuses in the world for being busy or not having a 'life' but seriously, none of them were true. One can write when one has to. You don't need any promises.

So here I am thinking that it better be late than never, and writing about something that has fascinated me a lot in the recent months.

No, it's not a guy.

Is it just me or all the gays find this whole law business intriguing and interesting. Truth be told, I have been a great fan of  'Boston Legal' and can never get enough of it, and 'Ally Mcbeal' was the first show I honed interpreting the american accent. So what was about this new show that has got me hooked?
"The Good Wife" is a misnomer, just like what series creators did with "Desperate Housewives". They deliver you something else when you least expect it. I will be bored to give you details here since that's what wikipedia does if you already don't know about the show. And if you have not watched the show, let me say you what you should know which is not on wiki. ( See how smart I am saving both of ours time)

The show is nothing like my other favorite show 'Boston Legal'. It's inspired by real life events with a twist and most court cases featured are not facile. Each episode requires constant attention to get full understanding of nuances and it's not all fun and games standing before a judge, having 'jibber jabber' like Alan Shore made us believe in Boston Legal.

It's a real joy to see Julianna Margullies as the protagonist in the series but the surprise package is Archie Panajbi playing the role of in house investigator Kalinda Sharma.

And boy, does she look hot??

I mean she is so hot that I can turn straight for her. But it's too bad she plays a Gay. Irony of sorts!
What really astounds me is the level of good writing that goes into this show. What we get to see in India is hundred of years behind. In fact, most of our movies don't have that kind of layered characterizations, and they feed us stereotypes after stereotypes based on their little understanding of places beyond glam parties.
Has anyone noticed that a lot of time the dialogues are literal translations of english cliches? The 'Karthik calling Karthik' dialogue where Farhan asks Depika if she would take advantage of him if he gets drunk. How lame is that??

How I turned straight and saved myself!!

When I started this blog, I deliberately chose to avoid writing about my sex life ( or lack of it ). I fancied that writing about my sexual orientation would have been limiting myself to just that facet of my personality, which has a lot more rainbow colors than just pink. In my defense, I always perceived myself as a bit of intellectual. Someone who would want to discuss politics, world history, economics and languages. My interest in cooking, fashion and being 'fabulous' was more seen as an attempt to be a 'Renaissance man'.

So why am I writing this all?

Since I arrived in the dutch capital Amsterdam, there was a transformation in me. It convinced me I was not gay.

I wondered why I had the opposite reaction by not becoming 'gayer' while being in country where not just gay marriage are allowed and celebrated, it was a place where the term liberal got a new meaning. ( I recall having read somewhere that homosexuality was tolerated since late eighteen hundred in Netherlands and it's just not a recent phenomenon). I had all the time energy and money to 'whore' myself. There are gay clubs, bars and cruises of all kind catering to all tastes in abundance here. Initially, I was very excited to go and check out the 'scene' and I had also created a profile of myself with new location so dutch guys could reach me.

When I was in home (in India) and not working, I was glued to my laptop just like everyone else. However, what was worrysome that I spent 95% of time on internet on being online on chat and gay community websites. ( I don't mean porn here) I have almost chatted with everyone whoever logged on Delhi gay chat room in last three years. ( It didn't mean that I met them all) I was way too discerning and conscious of my self image. I still am. ( Once a fat kid, always a fat kid)

I always wondered what straight people did for hours on web. There is only so much you can play farmville or mafia wars or facebook. There is so much you can read in news. What did these guys do? I think now I will ask this question to my straight friends. So, coming back to my original schedule, I would spend all that time doing something that I didn't need/want or get.

In retrospect, it looks foolish that I squandered so much time where I could have done so much stuff, read so many books, learn so many new things. But as they say, things are always clear in hindsight.

I was running away from myself and my life.

A life which had seen turbulence so severe in those years, that i was in denial. I was in denial of what was wrong with me. There are things you could fix. But one needs to know what to fix.

I considered myself as some sort of hyper sexual person who can't get enough of it. I had to do it. I was in auto pilot mode in most of those time and it had become reflexive. I felt guilty that not only I am wasting time on something frivolous but I started seeing myself as a pervert. ( I had to compulsively label myself all the time, even now!)

So there I was spending endless hours, doing frivolous things which I thought I would continue to do with more vigor in the free sex land of Amsterdam, which seemed like a gay mecca ( Are we allowed to use religious terms with gay?)

In the early days, despite the work load etc, I would log on on my new profile and wait for people to 'reach' me. I used to get bored of this within five minutes of logging in ( notwithstanding the fact there were not many people 'reaching' out to me which was not quite unlike what I faced in Delhi).

So it was not about rejection or not being liked, I hypothesized. ( not many people like me anyway)

It had to be something else.

Ohh, it had to be the food. Anyone whoever has the faintest idea of power of spices would certainly agree that our food intake determines our proclivities and urges. ( says ayurveda). I was subsisting on cold food, mostly salad and dairy products which lacked the fire of a Rogan josh and butter chicken.

I nailed it. I felt so happy that I had got to the bottom of problem which is 'degaying' me.

I had to start eating my regular indian spicy food in order to be 'up' again.

That happened soon after when I moved to a serviced apartment with a kitchen where I could eat all the spices I craved.

But to my disappointment, my hypothesis didn't hold much water when it was subjected to real world.

I got worried. What if I become straight in the place which is supposed to be European gay capital? ( Actually it's Berlin I think, but- hey, It's almost as gay)

Khair, I thought these are all symptoms of a prolonged jet lag and since I didn't have any male steward in my flight, this might have been exacerbated by that fact, so why not go and check out all those 'happening' gay places?

I decided to go to a very popular sauna, where unlike Delhi gay parties where people strictly come to 'dance', here one can leave all pretenses and just do it then and there. (They have all the facilities like cabins etc). The sauna is opened day and night and is most crowded on Sunday afternoons. Therefore, armed with all this information, and a little trepidation I stepped in the building on a cold sunday afternoon thinking how I would hide the fat around my waist.

There were guys.

Many guys!

Guys of all ages, shapes, sizes, color and 'sizes'!!

Some were extremely goodlooking and I could almost imagine myself making homemade porn with them. ( Then I'd leak it like Paris Hilton, and become a world famous bitch).

But now comes the important part. Everyones was prowling in that place. No one would force you but in glance and nudge will be enough to get you some time alone with that guy. In my case, I planned to play it very cool and act as if I came here a thousand time.

Planning and execution are two different things. I was too shy and always attracted wrong kind of guys. ( Old/ Skinheads/ bears with huge piercings/ basically average or weird looking guys). The truth was none of those future pornstars in my home production were giving me any 'bhaav'.

It happens.!

Life is a bitch!!

My looks are not determined by me!!!

I rationalized and went about my business. So without giving any further details, let me say I didn't come home 'dry' that night.

But this whole trip made me very sad. I could see eighty year old trying to get an erection ( no exaggeration). More than seventy percent people there were over the age of fifty. I couldn't understand how these people living 'here' could be so desperate and miserable.

Now, I know free sex is not just a gay territory and straight people indulge in it as much as us. But one thing that kept cropping in my head was if these guys were not able to find someone and lead a 'normal' life, what hope was there for people like us. Do we have to fight all our lives and in the end get to the same stage where they are.

This put me off so much from the word 'gay' that I almost started imagining a parallel straight life. A life where things are simpler.

You fall in love. ( I don't know how that happens).

You get married. ( and feed 1000 people on that day you never wish to see again)

You have kids ( I am happy being uncle to my niece)

You have Teenage Kids ( is there anything worse than that?)

You Die. ( Leaving everything to those kids who don't like you in the first place)

I think this is how a perfect love story unfolds in a straight life.

Since, I was not getting attracted 'enough' to boys, I thought- why not turn straight and see the other side of the fence. I mean I like girls. But just not in that sense.

How long will it take me to 'degay' me since half the work has already been done with that sauna trip?

I think my denial phase has begun. I haven't turned straight yet. ( nor I think I will ever be)

But it's just a thought.

A very random beginning

I am in denial. The last three months that I spent away from home has been my escape. Escape from myself and my memories.

Every night for last four years, when I picked up a book ( always fiction set in non-indian setting) it was an attempt to flee from what I faced every day. Bickering family, non-happening career, zero social life and non existent love life. It was comforting to know in those pages that there were far weightier issues than those present in my life. It had become a ritual and the only thought that used to come to me while drifting to sleeps were those characters, their lives and their problems. It was my comfort.

Since last three months, though I got a few books assiduously with me for my sleep, I haven't touched them. They were not required. In fact, I did not have to think of an imaginary world in order to get away from my present. I was living in it.

I did not have to run away.

Every morning when I would open my eyes half asleep, I would look around think about what I had to do for the day. I had perhaps imagined myself always like this since it does not feel unreal. Unreal it is. This is not my life. This is not me. Yet, I feel there is so much of me in the role I am playing now. Just like my past life was a dream, a bad dream.

But all good things must come to an end. These three months have been unreal. I escaped from myself which I think it did me a lot of good. I did not ruminate over my life and it's travails. I was damaged. It healed me.

Now, I am good to go forward.

or so I think!!

p.s. New years never make any difference to any one, so I will save you the obligatory wishes.

In which we resurface

So I have been away. If I start giving reasons on why I was away, I would not have many. But the primary and most important reason has been my laidback attitude. When I am writing this post right now, I am thinking ( in the age old ways of psycho analyzing myself) what has changed that has made me write this post. Probably it’s the onset of autumn. There is slight dew in the air, days are brighter, sunlight is crispier and there is a strange sweet smell in the air. I wonder how these seasonal patterns correspond so well to hindi calendar. Tomorrow, I guess is the first nav-ratra ( going by the stall selling pooja samgri), and though I have no interest, inclination or belief in these things I feel nostalgic of the days when my mother would send me buy some last minute thing that she had forgotten.

Khair. Enough of reminiscence! I have cribbed a thousand times on how my life is so boring and uninteresting that I have nothing to write, that I feel guilty now that so many interesting things have happened recently and I have been darn lazy to write about any of them/

First things first. I got myself tested for HIV. My second time. It was something I had been planning, procrastinating and afraid to do for long for simple reasons. Every day, I would pass by this lab and stop and look at the sign board thinking wheather I would need a prescription to ask for the test, and what the people at the counter, the lab assistant who may take my blood sample will think. Will that make me look gay, or they will think I am a promiscuous bitch?

I am sure they have better things to worry about than these things when its their daily routine to come across jerks like me. So there I was, two weeks back at Lal path labs mustering all my courage. I asked the lady at the counter for a HIV/ ELISA test. ( I had got it done first when I found a hicky on my chest which looked a lot like what caposi sarcoma looked on Tom Hanks in Philadelfia.) The person who took my blood sample was as nonchalant as I expected him to be. Though I wanted to run away from there asap, he made me sit and hold the cotton on the point where sample was taken. And did it feel like eternity, sitting there surrounded by that eeky spirit and phenyl air?

I am sure most of you have seen the SATC episode where Samantha ( Btw, did any one check out the new movie’s pics? They all look fab.) gets her test done and she is anxious to get her results while waiting in the hospital lobby to be called any moment to get that counselling. Dr Lal labs saved me from that torture since they have online reports. I can’t begin to imagine to collect a test report finding oneself positive. With my heartbeats going up and staying there, I opened and found it was negative. It was negative. ( on second thoughts, I think if I was a better writer, I’d have begun with the suspense of the test and not broken out the news that it was negative in the first line itself. The way I see it, I too can do it. Just that I am lazy. J )

Hmm, the second thing. I finally met the designer and my notting hill moment did not just stay as an audio conversation. He was actually very nice and cordial and horny . I had already gotten over with the whole thing, so it came as a positive surprise. Peace.

Last month, I also decided that I needed to beautify myself so I invested in a chemical peel session. And I just looked like Samantha when she had got her peel done. ( for those who havn’t seen SATC, go watch it. You have no excuse). It was horrible. I had to be not only indoors but confined to my little apartment. I face resembled a desiccated currant, and no way I could have gone to work looking like that. ( yes, being a style icon does have its downsides). Thankfully, the swine flu scare was at its peak and I cleverly excused myself from going to work by telling people that I have Cold. Anyway, my ordeal lasted for one whole week and I could see a lot of suppressed smiles on my neighbors when I picked my morning newspaper ( only time I went out of home in 7 days). For those who are interested in knowing the results of the experiment can write to me, I will send them before, after and ‘in between’ pics.

P.S. I have been thinking of late why I chose 'TLOB' as my blog alias. I had finished reading the book when I started this blog. To rediscover my quirks, I went back to the book and fell in love with it. I will write a review soon, I think, at least, my alias deserves that,