C is for Coddiwomple

From a very young age, I fell in love with words.

My mother was a poet, and wrote incessantly.

That may have had something to do with it.

The newer the words, the bigger the words, the more unusual the words, the more fascinated I was.

2 of my older sisters left India for good.

Another went to Calcutta to study.

I wrote letters to all 3 of them.

I used all the new and wonderful words I picked up from the dictionary.

*Sobriquet* , *ennui *, *zeit geist*, "Floccinaucinihilipilification".

"We can't understand a word of Minoo's letters" one of my sisters wrote in a letter to my mom.

Nevertheless, I loved my big words. 

I thought I was making a super cool impression on everybody.

They made me feel superior.

I managed to find multiple outlets for my love for words.

For instance, when a family friend Janet taught me and my brother the guitar, I started composing songs, and writing my own lyrics.

I ended up with 30 compositions, and no college degree.

I also wrote freelance articles for Deccan Herald.

Cupid’s arrow struck.

Providing me with a new way to use words.

By creating romantic cards.

The cards were a simple folded piece of paper. Couldn't afford anything better.

"You're a magician" is what I might have written on the outside of the folded slip of paper.

"Whenever I see you, everyone else disappears", is what I might have written inside the folded slip of paper.

When I became a copywriter, I discovered I couldn't be pompous, or mysterious, or ambiguous with words anymore.

Multi-syllable words like palatable, delectable, and epicurean had to go out the window.

The finely-honed Shashi Tharoor part of me recoiled, but I got the memo...

 "Tasty", "yummy" and"finger-licking good" were the only way to go.

You can read about how advertising changed my writing here.

In time, I also discovered crosswords and scrabble.

Crosswords perfectly suited my introverted nature.

But I loved Scrabble.

I TRULY LOVED SCRABBLE.

In fact, I don't think there was ever a time in my life, starting from when I was a teenager, that I didn't own a Scrabble board.

Padmini and me would play a quick Scrabble game during the lunch break, when we both worked at HTA.

While Mira Prabhu and me would would play back to back games, sometimes all day long, every time we caught up with each other.

My most memorable Scrabble game was played with Eugene Titus one MAA Day.

A game worth recording for posterity.

My early and obsessive love of words, would result in me landing my first copywriting job on my 20th birthday.

I would continue being a career copywriter, until I moved to the U.S.

Today, I am a freelance Commissions Analyst, but I continue to express my love for words on my Minoo Jha Life Strategies blog.

And I also write on Quora, and on Linkedin.

If I had to pick a symbol to represent my childhood and youth,  I would pick a dictionary.

With its sobriquets, and ennuis, and zeit geists, and floccinaucinihilipilifications, and coddiwomples, it is a perfect symbol of my lifelong fascination with, and devotion to words.

And now, it seems to me, it's your turn.

If you had to pick a symbol to represent your youth and childhood, what would it be?

Maybe it would be a dictionary too.

Have fun thinking about that.

Actually, have fun pondering, contemplating, debating, considering, entertaining, weighing and cogitating what would that be.

Oh how I love words!

When A Me Becomes A We

When a me becomes a we

There's a sense of expectation

And a new energy

Which captivates you, and from which you don't want to be free.

When a me becomes a we.

When a me becomes a we.

When a me becomes a we

That's when, you may suddenly see

That a new way of thinking and living was out there, that you were blind to, previously.

When a me becomes a we.

When a me becomes a we.

When a me becomes a we

You give up being on your own, for a shared vision that feels right, feels wholesome, and feels meant to be

You feel empowered and ready

To journey together, and discover the experiences and joys of a shared reality.

When a me becomes a we.

When a me becomes a we.

When a me becomes a we

You shift from a self-focus, to caring about someone else's happiness and priorities

You are kind, you do your fair share, and make small and big sacrifices generously.

When a me becomes a we.

When a me becomes a we.

When a me becomes a we

You drop your old "Whatever" identity

And start living a life with more heft, more solidity.

When a me becomes a we.

When a me becomes a we.

When a me becomes a we

You make joint decisions, rather than acting unilaterally

You think of the other, whether it's how you spend your time, energy, resources, or money.

When a me becomes a we.

When a me becomes a we.

When a me becomes a we

You learn the meaning of empathy

And what it means to be trusted with someone's limitations, fears, pains, dreams, and vulnerabilities.

When a me becomes a we.

When a me becomes a we.

When a me becomes a we

Life takes on a new found dignity

And there's a new purpose, meaning, mission, and agency, born of your special unity.

It's a life-altering event that hints of divinity.

When a me becomes a we.

                                        ************************

Written for Valentine's Day 2024 - to celebrate all the mes who have become wes, current, past, and future.

💖

Rasam Reflections

We are all special.

We are all unique. 

10 different people can cook tomato rasam with the same ingredients, and each will taste different. 

Because each person did something different. 

Smashed the tomatoes before tharkaing it.

Fried the tomatoes with skins on.

Pureed the tomatoes.

Sauted the tomatoes till they were brown.

Left the dhal grains whole.

Pureed the dhal.

I remember my friend Mariam saying, when she cooked anything new, she would have multiple recipe books open - with the same recipe - and combine them all.

Isn’t this what most of us do, in one way or another? 

I have always believed everyone is creative. 

Even those who say they are not, I will observe creativity in at least 4 areas of their lives: the way they dress, the décor of their houses, what they do in their kitchens, and what they do in their gardens.

We are all special.

We are all unique.

Each of us brings something special to the table.

Our own special touch.

This is why we should welcome new and diverse friendships, however brief they are. 

Some brief friendships will turn out to be not so brief, after all.

Because friendships are like polar bears.

Some of them will hibernate.

Some of them will hibernate for a long time.

Some of my friendships have hibernated for decades.

But back to uniqueness.

Each of us is special and unique.

But we tell ourselves stories, such as “I have nothing special to offer”, or “everything has been said and done”.

Things are always old. 

Things are always new. 

Everything that is new is a spin on something old. 

Do you know there are over 40 Cinderella movies? The producers didn’t say, “oh, this has already been done before”. 

They knew they could create a fresh twist. 

Plus technologies have changed, possibilities have expanded. 

Whatever you undertake, it will be new.

New to you.

New to all the people who you are doing it for.

New to all the people who are witness to you doing it.

You cannot cross the same river twice.

Don’t tell yourself, “What’s the point of expressing myself? Everything has been expressed, and more eloquently.”

The fact that you are expressing that something will make it different.

Even between 2 people from the same family, there will be different styles and perspectives.

Don’t worry about success.

Just take a chance. 

There are no guarantees. 

Just opportunities. 

And dreams. 

And ideas. 

Sometimes, they all come together.

We live in a golden time. 

For free, we can create a blog. 

For free, we can write a post on LinkedIn. 

For free, we can share our latest thoughts and creations on X, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. 

For free, we can create and post videos on YouTube. 

For free, we can write reviews on Yelp or Amazon. 

The only price we have to pay is the price of our time, the price of our effort, and the price of our courage.

How many of these opportunities are you using?

Don’t let another day go by without sharing your specialness with the world.

Now go make some rasam. 

I know it will have your special touch.

It Could Have Gone

It could have gone

That I didn’t get to right all those wrongs

It could have gone.

⏲

It could have gone

That I was never able to say hello to my inner lion,  never grow strong

It could have gone.

⏲

It could have gone

That I never found my wings, and was never reborn

It could have gone.

⏲

It could have gone

That I never got to meet all the wonderful people in my life, of whom I have become so fond

It could have gone.

⏲

It could have gone

That I lived without thinking, or thought without living, and never looked beyond

It could have gone.

⏲

It could have gone

That I never got to experience peace in my life, or to to live this long

It could have gone.

⏲

It could have gone

That I never got to write and sing and dance to all those songs

It could have gone.

⏲

It could have gone

That I never stopped worrying about what people thought of me, my life, and how it was adorned

It could have gone.

⏲

It could have gone

That I never learned to meditate

and the same old same old problems and issues continued to daunt

It could have gone.

⏲

It could have gone

That sorrows drowned me, and made me hopelessly sad and withdrawn

It could have gone.

⏲

It could have gone

That all those times I lost my way

I could never be found

It could have gone.

⏲

It could have gone

That I couldn't adapt to changes in the wind, and my ship ran aground

It could have gone.

⏲

It could have gone

That I never got to strengthen important bonds.

It could have gone

⏲

And I am happy

So happy

That I lived this long

And I am happy

So happy

That I became this strong

And I am happy

So happy

That I was able to right those wrongs

And I am happy

So happy

That I got to strengthen those important bonds

And I am happy

So happy

For everyone and everything in my life

that came along

I am happy

So happy

Coz it could have gone

It could have gone

You know how it could have gone.

⏲

I have much to be thankful for.

And it is well,

It is well with my soul.

⏲

The Horatio Spafford song, It Is Well With My Soul, has been a source of inspiration to me at many different points in my life. You can experience the same inspiration by listening to it here.