I choose ugliness

Serena Williams is an athlete. Her legs are strong, her muscles well defined. Her legs are toned- not an inch of fat anywhere- but they are not thin. And without those legs she would not be the world-famous athlete she is.

Why then the need to photoshop those legs to the point where they resemble those of a Barbie doll? Why take a body that has been perfected by hours and hours of hard work, and replace it with something that looks like it will topple over if you shove it?

If that is beauty, I will choose ugliness anyday.

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A Drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

Every curve serves a purpose

Swimming, they say, gives you a total body workout. Have you ever seen a swimmer who doesn’t have a well toned body? Yes, I have. Thousands of them! They go under the name of Whales.

Vegetarian food is better for you than non-vegetarian food, they say. If you want to lose weight you better lay off fried stuff, processed food and alcohol. Does that mean that if I eat lots of greens, I’ll become as slim as an Elephant?

Human women were designed to be curvy- every curve serves a purpose. Why can’t we just accept ourselves as we are?

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A Drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.
Picture credit - Jacky Fleming

Not to take yourself too seriously

Everyone else was getting their hair done at a salon. But between meeting a deadline, feeding the kids, and keeping up with the daily chores, I had barely enough time to even wash my hair.

“You are looking fine”, my father-in-law assured me. “In any case, nobody is going to look at you.” He had a point, but I didn’t particularly want to be barred from entering the wedding venue either.

Then, inspiration struck. I piled my hair up, and held it back with a quirky flower clip. Strangely, it worked.

Sometimes, it pays not to take yourself too seriously.

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A Drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

Isn't it Healthier

“What happened? You used to be so healthy”, is the socially acceptable way to tell a person she has lost weight. It used to amuse me to have ‘healthy’ used interchangeably with ‘fat’. What’s ‘healthy’ about obesity- doesn’t it increase the risk of cardiac diseases and diabetes?

But when you see thirteen year olds starving themselves so they can squeeze their bodies into a dress two sizes too small for them. When you hear nine year olds talking about “getting a tummy”. Then you are no longer sure.

Isn’t it healthier to be a few pounds overweight, than grossly underweight?
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A Drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

I don't care

“Sera* called me ‘Tiny’”, I overheard my younger one telling his brother.

“Did you hit her?”, his brother asked.

“Why should I?”, he replied. “I told her I didn’t need her to tell me something I already knew.”

I worried about it for awhile, and at dinnertime, broached the topic again. “Do you mind being the shortest in your classs?”, I asked. “I am sure you will grow taller soon.”

“Why should I want to be tall?”, he asked. “I’m okay as I am.”

“But don’t people tease you?”

“So what? I don’t care.”

Wish more people were like him.

“What people in the world think of you is really none of your business.”
― Martha Graham

* Name changed

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This is the fourth year that I am going to be a part of NaBloWriM. The Plan is to elaborate (in 100 words) on a quote that touched my heart- let's see how far this takes me. If I can tie it in with the writing prompt, so much the better!

Being yourself

“You are getting so many grey hairs”, a friend commented. “Why don’t you start colouring it?”

I muttered something incomprehensible about colouring being high maintenance, and quickly changed the subject. How do you explain to someone that you just don’t want to hide the grey. That coloured hair, or highlights are definitely beautiful, but that you feel the need for neither. That you actually like the streaks of grey, because you feel you have earned every single one of them.

That, strange though it may seem in a world obsessed with the perfect body, you are happy just being yourself.

“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.”
― Marilyn Monroe

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This is the fourth year that I am going to be a part of NaBloWriM. The Plan is to elaborate (in 100 words) on a quote that touched my heart- let's see how far this takes me. If I can tie it in with the writing prompt, so much the better!

Am I flying correctly?

Why is it that of all the animals in the world, it is only the human that is so full of self doubt? Is my running gait right? Is my voice pitched right? Am I speaking in the right accent? Is this food good for me? Does that dress look nice on me? There doesn’t seem to be a single moment in our lives when we are not questioning something that we do.

Is it because we try to do so much, we rarely reach the stage where we do things instinctively? Or I am generalising as I often do?

A bird never asks, "Am I flying correctly?"
~ Mary Ann Radmacher

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This is the fourth year that I am going to be a part of NaBloWriM. The Plan is to elaborate (in 100 words) on a quote that touched my heart- let's see how far this takes me. If I can tie it in with the writing prompt, so much the better!

It shows!

“You’re looking hawt!!!!”, my friend exclaimed.

Can’t say I didn’t appreciate what was clearly a compliment, but I was also extremely amused. Me and hot- the words just don’t go together. I can be accused of lots of things but not of being “hot”!

Maybe she didn’t mean me. Maybe she meant my brand new running shoes. The Nike Frees that I had been lusting after for months. The pair that felt every bit as good as it looked. The shoes that epitomized “hawt”, now mine for keeps!

I guess when you are feeling really good about something, it shows.

Xulf, hair

A long plait snaking down her back, swaying seductively in time to her movement, the free end bouncing off her hips. She turns around, draws her hair over her face, and gives a wide-eyed stare from above her “xulf”. If Bollywood is to be believed, long, lustrous hair is the ultimate fantasy of the Indian male. 


When I was growing up, it was commonplace to see women with hair extending way past the hips. Indian women wear their hair much shorter now- it is rarely longer than waist length. But even in its shorter, straighter, more chemical avatar, "xulf" rules.
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There are words, and there are words. Some words can be easily translated, others need to be described.  In April, I’ll attempt to capture the Soul of 26 'Indian' words in a  drabble of exactly 100 words.

Glad to be me

At my sons’ school the other day, I ran into this perfectly gorgeous woman. Gorgeous as in drop-dead gorgeous. The kind of gorgeous that comes only with physical perfection.

With nothing else to do, I stole covert glances at her. And started noticing the details- the carefully applied make-up, the deliberately mismatched but frightfully expensive clothes, the way she kept smoothening her perfect hair. Was all that really necessary for a routine visit to school?

With a start, I realised, she’d never once smiled; didn’t seem to know how to. She is gorgeous, but I am glad to be me.

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

At what price Perfection?

"Look how fat I have become", cribbed a mother, pinching a love handle only she could see.

"Take it away from me", squealed another, when I offered her a piece of fudge. "If I have that, I will have to starve myself for the rest of the week to make up."

Both are mothers approaching middle age. Both look gorgeous, and not just for their age. But both are unhappy with their bodies. Which is such a pity.

After all, body perfection is not an absolute. And even if it is, is it worth the price it demands of you?

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.