Don't's

What you mustn’t do..

1.Complain and grumble about the traffic jam.
Traffic situations exist, get used to it already. Stop questioning aloud why no body is doing anything about it. If you can’t do something about it shut up and suffer in silence. Also set out early if that’s what it takes instead of acting like it’s your first day in the city.

2.Let drivers get away with the ‘there’s too much traffic hence we won’t go there’ excuse.
If they drive in a city like Mumbai they should know by now that there is traffic everywhere. If they don’t want to do their job they should sit at home quietly instead of hindering others who want to do theirs.

3.Say “Oh you get that in India?”
You get everything in India. If you don’t know that you are plain ignorant and haven’t been to India in a long time. And if you haven’t, do you really think you deserve to pass comments?

4.Say things like “Indian girls are so hairy.”
Because so are the Indian men. And no, we don’t love that either. And so are foreign/white/Caucasian women. Many white women have hair which they don’t even get removed because they think it’s of the same colour as their skin. But of course you pretentious Indian men choose to ignore that just because…I don’t know, they are white?! So vain.

5.Start off with something and then say “Oh no I don’t think I must tell you rest” or say “I’m in shit but I don’t want to tell you about it.”
If you started off, have the courage to finish it right up till the end. If you don’t have the courage, why start at all? What kind of sadistic pleasure do you get teasing a story and leaving the other person bursting with curiosity to know the rest? Oh wait. You want the other person to beg? Get a life dude.
If you are in shit and want help, talk about the shit you are in so that you can be helped, rather than giving a one-liner and expecting people to understand what you’re going through by leaving them to go crazy with assumptions in their head. Two words for you – Drama. Queen.

6.Ask people to remind you about a gift you have to give them.
Why wouldn’t you remember yourself if you have to give someone a gift? You’re putting the other person through such a hard time by asking him/her to remind you about it. If the other person is important enough to you wouldn’t you remember to give the gift yourself? Or are you lying about having a gift at all? Oh then you mustn’t coz just so you know, the other person’s life will go on perfectly fine without your gift. You lying about it? That’s what’s causing the problem.

7.Lie that you will be going with someone to someplace only coz you’re scared that by telling the truth - that you don’t want to go, you will offend him/her.
In such instances it is really better to say the truth than stand someone up. Promising to be there and then not showing up is way more offensive than just saying the truth at the start.

8.Say you’re behaving the way you are (moody, cranky, annoying) because it is ‘that’ time of the month.
Come on (women), let’s stop taking advantage of the fact that we always have this excuse and the boys don’t have one such universal, constant shield to defend them. It’s so passé.

9.Get angry and unforgivable on someone’s ass just coz he/she forgot your birthday.
Not everyone has a good memory. Not everyone is good with numbers. And you sure as hell know that forgetting your birthday in no way means that he/she does not love you anymore. So why make such a big deal? It’s not the end of the world.

10.Force people to follow/like your status/picture/profile/blog/life..you get the drift.
It is okay to tell/inform people about such things but forcing them to like it is simply annoying. Shouldn’t the person feel like following/liking/loving your whatever it is because they really feel like, from within? How does such an enforced act make you feel happy anyway?

11.Say you will do things that you can’t or know you’re not going to do.
Get over yourself. The world will still go on if you can’t/don’t do something. Just accept it and be honest about it rather than letting people rely on you for a bit only to make them hate you later. If you can’t do something say you can’t, you will still be treated like a human and life will still go on, for you and for everybody.

Finally, it is okay to preach what you don’t do. What’s the harm in that, if it nonetheless manages to provoke thoughts and change lives? After all, the world is filled with such people. Wait, don’t take that seriously, I was obviously kidding.

Happy New Year!