Truth or Dare

Let me take a few seconds to explain what this game entails. I call this game a choice of the brave hearts. In my definition, a brave heart is someone who defies all odds through mental resistance. Today, I have decided to challenge myself to this game in which one has to make a choice between revealing the truth and performing a dare, every time one is at the receiving end of a question. And to make this experience more revelatory, I have decided to talk about the existing truth every time I choose a dare and, similarly, when I choose to speak the truth, I shall also take a dare that will hopefully add to showing me where I stand.

Here are some truths and dares I decided to brave...

Round 1
Choice: Truth

Q: What do you fear the most in life?
A: Regret. I fear living a life, looking back on which, ifs and should haves would have transcended all its barriers.

Dare:  Go out, now, and indulge yourself in any one thing that's been on your mind, but you let procrastination get the better of you.

Round 2
Choice: Dare

Dare: You just threw a chocolate wrapper and a bunch of used paper napkins on the ground. Go and apologize to the man, there, who is sweating it out to keep the streets clean.

Truth
Q: Have you ever disregarded or discriminated against someone who holds a lower status than you?
A: Yes. I have, a lot of times, intentionally and unintentionally, taken people with a not-so-strong background and position in the society, for granted.

Round 3
Choice: Truth

Q: What would you prefer: a) A zombie apocalypse or b) A world in which the purpose of a human life would be defeated by war and the evils of the human mind will intoxicate the world?
A: A zombie apocalypse

Dare: Pick up your phone. Scroll down your contact list and give a call to those whom you are no longer on talking terms with because of ego clashes, insecurity or whatsoever the area of conflict may be; but, in one corner of your heart, you wish to bury the hatchet and reconcile, and talk your differences out.

Round 4
Choice: Dare

Dare: Starting now, don't use any electronic devices for the next 24 hours.

Truth
Q: Do you agree that your digital life has, in more ways than one, intruded into your personal space and marred the relationships that have taken years to take the shape that they have?
A: Yes, my relationships have been affected, by the technological revolution, in a way that has altered the base of my relationships, inadvertently.

Round 5
Choice: Truth

Q: What, according to you, is the one thing that adds to the charm and worth of your life?
A: The ability to be unique and yet be able to relate to the finer nuances of the living race, at large.

Dare: Work toward creating a world in which all lives matter, equally. Make sure to start by simply heeding the unspoken pain and suffering of all those lives that cannot help themselves.


Revelations are like ceasefires that try every possibility of glorifying our individuality by staring in the face of life. Quite unlike what many of us would take this game of Truth or Dare to be, it is best aimed at inducing self-awareness as opposed to making one laugh his/her gut out while the game lasts.

Turning 23 with the joy givers

Growing up, my birthdays followed a stereotype of cutting a cake that, with a lot of difficulty, would bear my 9-letter-long name and wearing a fancy outfit to school and standing out in the midst of all the uniform-donning students. The highlight of every birthday celebration during school years was enjoying watching all my classmates and teachers, alike, croon a birthday song with the highest level of zeal and gusto, while animatedly, clapping their hands. I would be doing great injustice to my classmates if I didn't mention how we would look forward to partake in the ritual of distributing chocolates in the class. What lovely memories these are!

Quite unlike the situation that is prevalent on birthdays, while one is a child, celebrating a birthday as a grown-up entails different idiosyncrasies. Birthdays, at this point, become an annual ritual, just like any other, where everything that makes one happy, including the many obligations one tends to live with, forms the crux of the day which makes the biological clock sail into a new year. My birthday, this year, was a little different. I decided to spend it with a bunch of stray/abandoned canines at an animal shelter home called Animals Matter To Me Rehab Centre. The day of my visit coincided with the day on which the organization was going to reach out to 1200 stray dogs through a sponsored food programme, which saw many animal lovers and social workers come together and take their love for the four-legged animal to another level. All the individuals that contributed to the completion of the task came from different backgrounds; but, the one thing that equated all that were in attendance was our common love for animals, and the fact that each one of us represented the same school of thought; Animals Matter To Me.

I spent a lot of my time, a day before my birthday, mulling over what should be bought for the dogs at the facility. Carrying some packaged food, along, seemed like the best option, given the fact that the sniffers were going to be fed hot snacks earlier in the day. The dogs pleasantly greeted me when I reached their facility. Hundreds of food packets, equally loaded in two vans, were kept ready to be sent out for all the strays in the area. What seemed like a noble act, at first, turned out to be a well-defined step, serving a bigger purpose of shaping the perspective of hundreds of pedestrians that bore witness to this act of kindness. Some of the dogs in the facility were seriously wounded and needed extra care and attention. A lot of the dogs were under treatment after facing high amounts of abuse as stray animals. A few of the dogs were abandoned pets who were found on the roadside in a deplorable condition. The canines that were deemed fit and healthy, and acted like the perfect hosts for the day, were up for adoption. The friendly and gamesome animals that these dogs made, they won all our hearts over with their conduct. I soon began distributing the food I was carrying along, among all the canines. The sight of seeing 20 tails wagging, in unison, every time I reached out for a new packet of food, was absolutely priceless. Never did I think that a bunch of dogs could manage to entertain me much more than I could possibly entertain them. Some of the dogs that were caged, due to ill-health, howled and desperately wished to be a part of the fun and merrymaking.

On my way home, I made a few halts to distribute the food, I was carrying from the facility, among  the strays. By the time I reached home, I was filled with an inexplicable sense of joy and contentment. Looking back, I felt happy prioritizing this visit over any other plans. I couldn't have asked for a better celebration, on my birthday, than getting to spend a few precious moments with some pure and innocent souls, who let me in on how they spread joy, day after day. I felt a little fatigued when I reached home, but not without a reason. My pooch, who was waiting for me to get home, was ready to shower me with his sloppy kisses and show me how he had eaten into my bouquet of flowers and covered the floor with its petals just to welcome me.

Forgiving a thousand times over

In a recently concluded lecture in my college, all the students were asked to describe their most embarrassing moment. My brain went into an overdrive thinking about all the occasions on which I had felt bad about myself. There have been times when I have also been left feeling humiliated, so much so that ''embarrassment'' has ended up being a euphemism for my mortification.

As humans, we often harbor dreams of being perfect in every possible way. And there may have been moments when we have been our most vulnerable selves. Also, we end up chiding ourselves for overlooking all the possible ifs and buts, every time we are left grappling with the undesirable outcome of an action that is based on the I-cannot-not-think-of-anything-better assumption. There are moments when walking around wearing an eyeliner that has smudged takes a toll on oneself. All the questions that occur in one's mind, following the moment of embarrassment, revolve around what the folks around would think of an unintentional lapse that is converted into a mammoth misdoing. The sequence of events that follows the lapse sees a dip in one's overall confidence, resulting in generalising his/her awkwardness. The length of time that these thoughts plays on one's mind is enough to relegate one to the place of a sub-human, who deserves no chance to live. An alternative to this drill is forgiving oneself as conveniently and swiftly as one forgives all else, preventing the fear of failure to loom large over one's blanket of confidence.

The day was hot and busy. The sun was shining brightly over the hour. My car was parked outside a stationery shop. I was inching toward the back door of the spacious stationery outlet to get some printouts.  While I was walking , I glanced at my ex-colleague, who I have always held in high- esteem, and is someone who has constantly pushed the envelope with her high standards of professionalism. I greeted her like a long-lost friend. I was quick to conclude that the aura around her was the exact same as I had experienced before. I had managed to take the printouts in under 5 minutes, after having a brief chat with my former colleague. As I made an exit from the shop and started walking, steadily, toward my car, I stumbled upon a big rock that left me flat on the ground. Looking up, from the level of the ground, everything looked chaotic. I managed to get on both my feet within 5 seconds of falling down. In the distance, I could see my former colleague-cum-friend asking, with the help of finger gesticulation, if I was okay. I gave her a sheepish grin and gestured to her that I was totally fit. As soon as I got inside my car, my legs started trembling and slowly began to show the brunt of the infamous accidental stunt. I tried to recreate the scene in my mind minus the embarrassment. I refused to accept the disgrace that was caused to me in front of someone I knew well. I refused to forgive myself for something that brought along a great deal of embarrassment.

When I was asked to recount my most embarrassing moment, I did not slip into deep contemplation for the lack of an embarrassing moment. In fact, I have been embarrassed more out of choice than out of compulsion. Do I wish to overlook my mistakes and forgive myself because I have no choice? No, since that would cause remorse every time I make a mistake. What I really wish to do is learn to accept myself more with every passing day to ensure that my mistakes lift off the facade of perfection that is wrapped around my mortality. Doing this would help me channel my inner mortal and make me happily forgive myself for all the times that I may have lapsed in the eyes of the world. And, not very late, I shall proudly show my pyramid of mistakes to all those that consider forgiving an act of the weak.