CHOCOLATE TWILIGHT!!!

In the depths of a relationship lies the most amazing times past and at the zeniths of its hopes lies the potential of a future so astounding that it could transform the individuals involved. May be that is why we, as a generation, are so fearful of commitment! As if the profoundness of feeling wasn't enough to scare people away from the prospects of a dual existence, there is the scope of feeling "half" instead of "whole" more often than one would like, that keeps one in the shoes of a single-no-so-ready-to-mingle for a long long time.

But once all those barriers are crossed and the heart has finally taken the plunge into the hopeless fathoms of love, those rosy chocolate twilights turn vanilla pretty soon! As the lines of a popular song portray the ache of a forlorn heart, missing the sweetheart not along; my mind fantasizes about the contrasting feelings...

How it must feel to be with that special someone and not have a single worry in the world, how the cold nights must feel warm in someone's embrace, how someone's presence must give you courage to be yourself yet still be better, how someone can make you forget all your sorrows and inject you with optimism (the like of which only "John" can have when it comes to getting "Garfield" to work out!!!)...

Those twilights must be chocolaty, that setting sun must be the color of roses and carnations, those peeping stars must stir up some romance and ignite intense feelings towards one single being! However, all this can't be long lived. As much as I like to believe that after Shrek4, Fiona and Shrek finally had their "Happily Ever After"; its simply irrational to imagine that their relation was always tinged with the aphrodisiac tastes of chocolate!

But then again isn't the realization of distance a sign of intimate nostalgia? Even when the chocolate flavor is gone from the relationship and what is left behind is the blandness of vanilla, aren't there some chocolate chips still remaining behind? Just like life isn't in 'Black or White'; same way love can't be 'Chocolate or Vanilla'...it has to be choco-vanilla!

Those musical twilights have to be full of ambers of the sparks that once flew,making them Chocolate once again...

Alone or Lonely?

It may all sound the same to a tortured soul trapped between the chasms of boredom and solitude...but loneliness isn't the same as being alone. While the first is imposed upon you by situations, you get to choose the other. While a lonely person is prone to desperation, a mind that chooses to be alone is in for an intellectual treat at times, for a conversation with self can be more intriguing than dialogs held with geniuses!

But isn't solitude a euphemism chosen by those who can't really take the pressures of being social? And isn't gregariousness a desperate effort on part of those who can't take the chance of being left alone with themselves?

As much as the ambiguity enthralls me, not reaching a final stance on how my opinion should be about the topic is not really what I appreciate in myself! So dropping the cynicism and choosing a rosy view of it all would be the way to go...

NO! Solitude is no euphemism...only a mind sure enough to sustain facing itself can choose to stay alone rather than in company of many distractions. For what an empty mind is capable of is too obvious to all of us who have been bored at some point in time. Its not about how one feels about things, its about how one IS! My choice of being alone can be dictated by my need to be with myself, have some "Me time" and pamper myself with all my narcissism. But for some, it could be because the going gets too tough and halting and recuperating in the rat race becomes an essential survival technique!

And NO! Gregariousness never has any tones of desperation in it! For it requires so much positive energy that anything petty has to get dissolved in the process. Approaching another person, establishing a rapport and then multiplying what you just did with one to a million. This is nothing but pure art! And it emerges out of sheer will to know the world, to indulge one's curiosity and to use every skill one may possess to win over someone. Even if its an attempt to escape solitude, what is the harm in that? After all, we all can't be Rhett Butlers, with our amused opinions of the world, who can relish the intensity of thoughts that being alone with self brings. Some of us are poor Scarlett O'Hara as well, who valiantly fight against one's own selfish nature to put up a show of gregariousness, to get others to like her.

Now in what light one sees being "lonely or alone", is purely dependent on one's own perspective about being strong or being weak!