2017 Tag

1. What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before?
Went on a road trip with friends
Led a team of eight writers

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No

5. What countries did you visit?
None

6. What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017?
Good health

7. What date from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory?
October 31

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
There were no achievements this year.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Moving back home

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not particularly

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A purple lipstick
A pair of earrings

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My brother’s

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Mine

14. Where did most of your money go?
Food

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Getting a raise

16. What song/album will always remind you of 2017?
Nothing in particular

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
1. Happier or sadder? Sadder
2. Thinner or fatter? Fatter
3. Richer or poorer? Richer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Self-care

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Self-destruction 

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it at work.

21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?
Friends

22. Did you fall in love in 2017?
No

23. How many one night stands in this last year?
None

24. What was your favourite TV programme?
Big Little Lies
Ishqbaaaz
Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon
The Good Place

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No

26. What was the best book(s) you read?
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Nothing in particular

28. What did you want and get?
A raise

29. What did you want and not get?
To stay in Delhi

30. What were your favourite films of this year?
I can’t remember. OK Kanmani? Girls Trip? Not sure.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
27. Took my brother to Dilli Haat. Went for a fancy dinner and got a very disturbing phone call from my ex.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Getting the job I applied for in April

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017?
Dark lips, dark circles

34. What kept you sane?
Rediscovering my love for Hindi TV. Korean dramas.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Barun Sobti
Park Hyung-sik

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
At this point, it's hard to choose just one. But probably Aadhar.

37. Who did you miss?
Myself circa 2015

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Everyone sucked.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017.
Control your life, or someone else will.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?
"I'm sorry, the old Taylor can't come to the phone right now. Why? 'Coz she's dead!"

Stolen tag

TEN things you wish you could say to people right now (don't take names):

1. I’ve never met anyone as incompetent as you.
2. You’ll never be able to replace me.
3. How do you know so little about me?
4. Your opinions are trash.
5. I cannot stand you anymore. 
6. Please don’t die.
7. I am not worth ruining your life over.
8. Stop these weddings.
9. I don’t want to talk about it.
10. Leave me alone.

NINE things about yourself:

1. I'm addicted to Hindi TV shows.
2. All my faves are problematic.
3. I love lipstick.
4. I’m a pessimist. 
5. I don’t think I can maintain a blog anymore.
6. Imposter syndrome.
7. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to write a novel.
8. I hate cooking.
9. I’m a good liar.

EIGHT ways to NOT win your heart:

1. Diss everything about Bollywood to me.
2. Force me to listen to English songs.
3. Tell me to calm down when I’m upset.
4. Tell me I’m not like other girls.
5. Overshare on Facebook/Instagram.
6. Make me choose between you and my friends. 
7. Call me in the middle of Bigg Boss.
8. Say something against my brother.

SEVEN things that cross your mind a lot:

1. Why am I so tired?
2. Did I not sleep enough?
3. I’m not drinking enough water.
4. Where’s my phone?
5. I should have been an actor.
6. Am I hungry?
7. I want to be famous.

SIX things you wish you had never done:

1. Wasted six years with someone.
2. Wasted all my early 20s in that job.
3. Given up on that job application two years ago.
4. Been played by SA.
5. Been so easily emotionally manipulated by my parents.
6. Quit.

FIVE turn-offs:

1. People walking barefoot.
2. Bad grammar.
3. Losing it after drinking too much.
4. Morning people.
5. Long hair on guys.

FOUR turn-ons:

1. Angst eyes.
2. A flair for the dramatic.
3. Dancing skills.
4. Hands.

THREE things you want to do before you die:

1. Publish a successful book.
2. Kiss a stranger.
3. Star on Grey’s Anatomy.

TWO smileys that describe you:

1. Hands on eyes.
2. Tears of laughter.

ONE confession:

1. I hate everything.

For the second time in four years, I have failed myself. There are no words.

Questions

I understand that life is all about balance, but why does nothing ever happen the way we want it to? Why do we self-sabotage, why do we never learn from our mistakes, why do we let history repeat itself? Why is so much of our happiness dependent on our decisions when all decisions that we make are the wrong ones? If your 20s are about making mistakes, how do you suddenly stop at 29 and 11 months? At 30, how do you not keep making bad choices? Why does 27 feel so old? Why does everything feel like a personal attack right now? Where are all the happy people? Why does no one understand anything? How do I tell them that I will not survive this a second time?  

25 things you didn’t know about me (and probably don’t care to either)

1. I do not miss blogging as much as I thought I would. When I first stopped blogging regularly, I would sometimes find myself composing posts in my head while something worth writing was happening, but not anymore. 
2. But I miss my blog friends a lot. We’ve all more or less stopped blogging and it’s just not the same. I knew this could happen, of course, but I made the rookie mistake of thinking we were going to be different. 
3. I really wish I hadn’t stopped studying French.
4. I am crazy superstitious. I don’t cross the road immediately if a black cat crosses it, I spit three times if someone jinxes something – I am obsessed with jinxes – and I don’t drive over nimbu-mirchi on roads.
5. I cannot get off Twitter because of work, but I think Twitter influencers are pretentious and insufferable. No one talks like that in real life.
6. The basics of Bengali that I learned trying to impress my boyfriend at 18 come in handy now that 75% of my team is Bengali. 
7. I don’t know how to achieve this – given my profession – but I really want to delete Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram from my phone. 
8. My family got our first dog when I was 6, and the second when I was 12. Both of them died of natural causes after several years with us, and now I cannot even imagine getting another one for the fear of going through that all over again.
9. I am one of those people who think therapy is magical and everyone should go to a therapist, but I’ve tried it twice – once at 16 and again at 26 – and I hated it both times. It did nothing for me. 
10. I regret not getting a masters in psychology. 
11. My best friend is still my best friend, but we barely talk.
12. I have been very lucky with my friendships – I got great friends out of school, college, and my first and second jobs, so now I’m worried that my quota of making new friends is full and I won’t be able to make any going forward. 
13. I have a crush on Cole Sprouse but it makes me feel weird because he’s two years younger. 
14. I do not like Goa trips. 
15. I have smoked up four times in my life and I enjoy it a lot more than I thought I would.
16. I still hate the taste of alcohol and cigarettes. 
17. I used to be very worried about burning bridges (I still am), but this quote makes me feel much better – “May the bridges I burn light the way.”
18. I also love the malaphor “We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it.”
19. I love books about sibling relationships. My favourites are both by Jandy Nelson – The Sky is Everywhere and I’ll Give You the Sun.
20. When I found out that Gillian Flynn wasn’t working on anything after Gone Girl, I promised myself I wouldn’t read her first – Sharp Objects – till she announces a new book. I am saving it for my rock bottom. 
21. I really, really hate Chinese food. And all my friends love it.
22. I am always surprised by how homesick I get even today, though it’s been seven years since I first moved out. 
23. This year marks a decade since I finished school and that makes me feel super fucking old. 
24. My family is from UP, but I grew up in Rajasthan. I am constantly surrounded by people who are so proud of their heritage and so entrenched in their culture, and I feel like I have no sense of it, despite being from two states that have so much of it. 
25. I am not a fan of dessert.

2016 tag

1. What did you do in 2016 that you’d never done before?
Got a tattoo
Went paragliding

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No

5. What countries did you visit?
None

6. What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016?
Discipline

7. What date from 2016 will remain etched upon your memory?
Nothing in particular

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting that tattoo, not chickening out of paragliding

9. What was your biggest failure?
Everything else

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not particularly

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Tattoo

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My brother’s

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Mine

14. Where did most of your money go?
Food

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Tattoo
My brother moving to Delhi

16. What song/album will always remind you of 2016?
Nothing in particular

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
1. Happier or sadder? Sadder
2. Thinner or fatter? Fatter
3. Richer or poorer? Poorer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Impulse control
Vacations

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Give in to temptation

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it at home, sleeping.

21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?
Friends

22. Did you fall in love in 2016?
No

23. How many one night stands in this last year?
None

24. What was your favourite TV programme?
Veep
The Good Wife

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Yes

26. What was the best book(s) you read?
You by Caroline Kepnes

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Nothing in particular

28. What did you want and get?
Tattoo

29. What did you want and not get?
Everything else

30. What were your favourite films of this year?
I can’t remember. Dhoni? Dangal? Not sure.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
26. Took four of my closest friends out to lunch. Went to dinner with another friend.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Not gaining back the weight I lost in 2015

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2016?
Red lipstick saves the day

34. What kept you sane?
My brother. Books. TV

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
No one in particular

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The gender equality debate
Demonetisation

37. Who did you miss?
Home

38. Who was the best new person you met?
S, from work

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2016.
Growing up is not optional.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?
Can’t remember anything immediately.