The Last Romance

Let me tell you about jab we met! Our first heady—or steamy, if I may—encounter: 'Unstoppable Double-Fudge Chocolate Avalanche'… yeah, that's his name, came calling. My first bite. A small but audible moan escapes my lips. My eyes, previously perfectly aligned, first cross slightly, and then glaze completely, pupils dilating into pure chocolate pleasure… just before my eyelids close in ecstasy. Sigh! I could live in that transcendental sphere forever!

Chocolate does something beyond description for me. The gooey brown swirls (or sometimes slabs!) of unadulterated happiness elevate me from the see-saw that life is and introduce me to this whole other realm of choco-nsciousness! I am not saying that chocolate is a substitute for love.Aû contraîre, love is a substitute for chocolate. Call it therapeutic, cathartic, aphrodisiacal, what you will. I have been told that if there was rehab or Chocoholics Anonymous for those of us who OD on it, I should be the first to enroll. But here's the thing. I don't want to quit… loving chocolates!

You see, as a certified chocoholic, I am entitled to compassion and understanding from the human race if I do not share my ambrosial delight with any one, an extra helping of chocolate in all its godly variety whenever and wherever, chocolate-flavored food including condiments, chocolate syrup, frosting, sprinkles, or any other form yet to be invented; and the indisputable right to use chocolate as a source of solace, placation, or bribery for personal and professional purposes of any kind. Wow! If this isn't unconditional love, then what is…?

I think the best a man (a presumed partner in all things ecstatic!) can do is supply the chocolates and hope that he will be considered somewhere between the Mmmmmmmm (yeah, there is a sinful chocolate by that sound!) and Hershey's kisses! Clarifying further… ambling along the beaches of Temptation Islands; a man finds a bottle that has been washed ashore. Curious of course, he opens it… and out pops a genie. She grants him three wishes. He first wishes for gazillion dollars,et voila! There were the gazillion dollars! Second wish… yeah, the Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe… and voila! There it was... finally, the third one… to be irresistible to all womankind, and whadayaknow! He turned into a box of chocolates! Need I say more…?

-Shruti Kothari, Director, Bespoken Words

From Pauper To Princess

Money, money, money! There must be more synonyms in the Thesaurus for money than any other word. Time, love, happiness to mention a few. But hey! How did this happen -- I have no money but time, love and happiness!

I always believed that love made the world go round. But unfortunately, I grew up, education ruined me and I realized it isn’t love; it is MONEY that makes this world that we live in go round and round and round! To quote my doctor mother, “Vitamin ‘M’ is more crucial to everyone’s health these days than any other vitamin.”

Sad but true. A new haircut, a revamped wardrobe or a dozen self-help books can’t do what some crisp moolah can to boost your confidence, straighten your back, puff your chest out and hold your head high. And as this realization grew on me with every job and every pay cheque that came my way, what also became clear was that the rat race that all of us so desperately run is against ourselves and more often than not also against any basic principles that we may stand for. So, after five years of making money and no love, I decided to quit! And I can tell you this – it never felt better! From a sweet thirty G’s a month to sweet nothings…It should have felt like falling off a cliff but it felt like I was being elevated by angels into this place where they sit and lay wagers on the rat racers below. Not a bad way to earn money and still be on cloud nine!

What helps is that my aim was and is to master the art of doing nothing! Or sometimes, something for some time. Yes, you suffer from bank account blues and you think liquidity is better than still waters. But a reflection on still waters is far clearer than on rippling ones. And most of us don’t even stop to catch a glimpse of ourselves, leave alone contemplate on our reflection.

Finally, I am living life queen-size and will continue to do so. Because of all the things that cost in this world, money often costs us the most!

- Shruti Kothari, Director, Bespoken Words

Life Is A Journey...

Life is a journey
Taken one shot at a time
Sometimes the pages turn too quickly
Sometimes the verses don’t rhyme

Life is a journey
Taken one shot at a time
Sometimes the past comes hurling
Sometimes the future seems like a tough climb

Life is a journey
Taken one shot at a time
Sometimes the tequila is done neat
Sometimes with a dash of lime

Life is a journey
Taken one shot at a time
Sometimes you get thrown a dollar
Sometimes a dime

Life is a journey
Taken one shot at a time
Sometimes it gives you a warm hug
Sometimes it sends a chill down your spine

Life is a journey
Taken one shot at a time
Sometimes you smile
Sometimes you whine

Life is a journey
Taken one shot at a time
Sometimes there is silence
Sometimes full of chimes

Life is a journey
Taken one shot at a time
There may be tears
But amidst all that, there will always be a reason to smile

-Shruti Kothari, Director, Bespoken Words