Paradise Regained

Just going blank, is a good thing, you feel life going by you, with nothing at all to expect, maneuver, deliver and achieve. But unfortunately we can’t carry it one for more than a few split seconds cause honestly; the mires of human mind tangle you into them so much so soon that you would just get up and get going on your next job. I define job as anything that requires an effort.

This time I had the privilege of visiting my hometown; a barely 100 people population village in a district called Pauri in Uttaranchal, India. I really don’t know what I missed not being a part of that serene yet bustling village in my younger years, but I knew one thing that in the midst of the city noise I had lost my innocence.

Since my childhood I had this bunch of expectations associated with me. I was to never say never and adorn the ‘smart kid’ cap at all times. I am born eldest in both my paternal and maternal families, and match the definition of the ‘ideal’. My whole life role was set in front of me by my elders (I would not only say parents). Life moved on. I did not have time to turn back, came school, studies, friends, boyfriends and I kept meeting and exceeding expectations. I always thought as if I owed my families a lot and I was the responsible one. It made me extremely practical and shrewd. Thinking with my heart was a history. There was never a moment when I was not buzzing with thoughts of future plans, responsibilities and achievement.

Then came that day, weary of my 3600 metres above sea level drive to my village, I sat down on a cliff overlooking a deep gorge, I felt dizzy, my mind thought, driving past the hills must have done it, and then it all went BLANK!

My body felt so free and full of energy, something was elevating me. It felt like God had run a cleaning tape on my stereo head. He wanted me to be restarting my life and live it once for myself. I had never felt it before and knew would never feel it ever again. I wanted to clench that feeling as I heard my mother calling me for evening socialization.

The misty drizzle was getting heavier but it felt that a lot of clouds were lifted off my head.

Q8 Driving : a sweet pain!

Driving in Kuwait!

Apparently, getting a driver’s license in any of the GCC countries is terribly frustrating for the Asian community, the day u get it, u need to celebrate your freedom!! It feels kinda awkward after coming from India where u don’t even need to appear for a driver license test and you get the license in your hand, though a handful of money goes into the wallets of couple of people.

All said and done, I got my Driver’s license for the State of Kuwait in March 07. Now-a- days they give a GCC DL wherein you can drive on the Kuwait license within the GCC, so it is a relief that if u visit Dubai or Bahrain on the weekend, you can just rent a car and save on the huge transport cost of taxis or a chauffeur driven rental.

Another clause in the Q8 DL is the 3 month probation, if u hit ur car / have an accident within the first 3 months of the DL being procured by you, bang!! they take away yr license!! My better half was thoroughly terrified, he bought me a brand new sedan, and I wanted to drive it on my own, just the day we bought it!! But he was unfaltering: accompanied driving or no driving at all!! Sometimes life can be difficult, but then it is for u to understand how it could be in yr best benefit!

Driving in Kuwait is as I call is like evading the road terrorists! U need to be on the lookout at all times, the roads and traffic is very much regularized and you don’t find any traffic policemen on the roads for sure, but you have to be extra careful, one wrong clip can cost a life or maybe more! The normal speeds are 110 kms / hr and if you drive slower say at 80 kms / hr, u have all the reasons to get bumped! Kuwait has the highest accident rate in the GCC!!

Initially when I drove to work, I felt very overwhelmed by the fact, I reached safe and coming back home, I would thank God for His mercies, how so much u take life for granted and don’t really see that God really makes a lot of effort, keeping ur life risk free!

It humbles me.

A seven year itch?

In our day to day lives, we use phrases which we don’t really know where they came from and it is a deep sense of ‘Ignorance is bliss’.

On our decadal anniversary (we met for the first time that day, I know its so girlie stuff!) Three days back, I had one of my girl friend say, oh so your seven year itch is over, and I merrily replied yes long time back, but least did I even ponder for a second if I actually knew what the ‘seven year itch’ was anyway? I mean we use it like a cliché but do most of know its basis?

According to the phrase, after the first seven year in our love relationships, marriages, live-in etc, are over, we get more stable, but this is what most of us have always presumed, and presumption does not have any basis, so get the real supposition: The 'seven year itch' refers to the urge to be unfaithful after seven years of relationships with a desire to satisfy one's sexual urges ('itches').

I again presume that most of you may also resort to a dictionary of phrases and idioms to see the real meaning behind it, well most likely you would not get it, it maybe incorporated now but it never existed as a phrase before 1950s as The Seven Year Itch was a three-act play, written by George Axelrod. Billed as a romantic comedy, the play was first presented by at the Fulton Theatre, New York City, on November 20, 1952. (Yipee!! all supa cool things happen on 20th Nov)

In 1955, 20th Century Fox released a film adaptation starring Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell running this phrase down in history forever! The entertaining film is best known for the definitive performance of the radiant Marilyn Monroe with a little girl's giggly voice basically portraying herself as a blonde bombshell, and known simply as The Girl. The film's promotional tease photographs packaged her as the sexually-endowed girl next door - an ideal fantasy figure for all the committed yet weary spouses.

So now that we had a successful film adapted from a play, and we had a phrase to follow, psychology came to play, people actually started believing that it was true, I have a short except from a website that reads:

Relationships: Got the seven year itch?

“When my husband and I were married seven years, we would always hear, ‘Uh oh, the seven year itch!’ or ‘Do you have the itch yet?’.

The question: what is the seven year itch and is it real?”

The website answers: The seven year itch is actually a real phenomenon which occurs in many couples, although not always at seven years. One interesting fact to note is that the average median marital age of divorced couples is 7.2 years, which is where they came up with that number. Why seven years? Usually by the time you get to seven years, you have children. The strain of increased responsibility is enough to get you itching…..

A whole phenomenon from nothing, kudos to human imagination and applied logic!