Letting go

It started with Greys Anatomy. I got addicted to watching the tenth season airing on Zee Cafe. I had already seen some episodes from earlier seasons but didn't have a clear idea of the story line.
With too much of free time on my hands, the next step was buying the boxed sets of earlier seasons. So now I am on season 3.

And I know there were some characters that were killed, New characters added and season 10 just has half the cast of the earlier seasons. But the point is its still running. It's still interesting. At some point someone decided that the plot needs to be savoured. Maybe they discussed the possibility of ending it against giving it another shot. And maybe giving another shot worked with all the changes.

Well, Friends ran a decent 10 seasons without being boring. To be honest "How I met your mother" was dead in first few seasons but they pulled till 9. But it died a slow death, it lacked the finesse of Friends.

Another series I have been following since long is "Supernatural" after catching a glimpse of it while switching channels on AXN. Just a glance at Jensen Ackles and I was hooked. Apart from a super hot cast combination of Jensen, Jared and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, what it had was a strong storyline. I mean the whole Michael Vs Lucifer track was awesome. But guess that ended in season 5 and since then it's dragging, and frankly I never quite enjoyed watching it since. They do come up with sporadic good episodes, but it's done with. I don't know why none of the producers see it and end it decently. Why is there this stubbornness to reach the season 10 by just relying on pretty faces?

And that got me thinking about life and relationships, when do you decide if a relationship is worth saving or giving up on? Or in case you decide to drag it, does it deserve the slow death of HIMYM.
And who calls the shots of bringing about some changes to bring it back on track like Grey's anatomy, or let it drag and become boring like supernatural, just relying on pretty faces to see it through or in this case some aspect of relationship.

I know the comparison is bizarre. But it's not that incomparable too. You put your blood and sweat in making a television series, it's teamwork. The same holds true for relationships. You make a mistake in a series which your audience doesn't accept, you retreat and correct yourself. And wait, for acceptance. The idea is to milk the cow dry, till one of your writers say, I'm done. That should be the stopping point. The whole struggle is to give up before the audience gives up on you. Before your TRPs die, so that you go out with your head held high.

Relationships work the same way, you make a mistake, you retreat and try to savour the situation or wait till one of you gives up. The whole point is in knowing when to give up. When to let go. And letting go is the most difficult part. Sometimes you can work past the mistakes and still reach season 10 without it being a drag, or sometimes you just let go with dignity and move on. And when you do move on, it's a one way road, there's no looking back.

Reminds me of an old poem-

"Taarruf rog ho jaaye to usko bhoolnaa behtar

Talluk bojh ban jaaye to usko todnaa achchha

Voh afsaana jise anjaam tak laana na ho mumkin 

Use ek khoobsoorat mod dekar chhodna achchha"

So here's a question applicable to all relationships, 


Are you Friends and by default perfect.
Are you HIMYM, heading for a disaster
Are you Supernatural, pretty on outside but boring.
Or Are you Grey's anatomy, ready to reinvent yourself ?

Suburban Girl

"Archie Knox: Why won't you marry me?
Brett Eisenberg: Are you asking me to explain?
Archie Knox: Yes, I am

Brett Eisenberg: When I look at you, I see a teacher. But when you look at me, you see a student. Because you like to run away. It's part of who you are. Because, in the end, a girl can't grow up until she looses a father and leaves an Archie"

Background: Insomania Ofcourse! Why is my every thought related to insomnia?  In one of the episodes of HIMYM, Ted Mosby reminiscences that nothing good happens after 2 am in my case, the bulb always lights up after 2 am, in short all my major turning-points are the result of the introspective sessions I have after 2 am, when the coffee strikes my brain and I am usually curled up on the sofa with a book in hand or a remote control.
Some days back, it was the Remote control, and "Suburban Girl" playing on Zee Studio. Alec Baldwin commands you to stop and take notice so I did. Whats so good about the movie? In the strictest sense, its the typical Hollywood Drama/ Romance which would fail if a remake was made in Bollywood,but like many other flops that somehow teach me something suburban girl taught me something too.

Lesson: We always have choices in life, even the most pessimistic person on earth has a choice to alter his/her lifestyle, one just has to see it. I remember way back when I first entered the corporate world in one of the pseudo-intellectual sessions (The boring HR ones, that claim to make you a better person but basically suck) I was asked if I regret anything in my life and I said NO, I dont. In retrospection, I still dont. I could have made different choices opening up a different path altogether, kind of a alternative timeline but I dont wish for that. I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment of being alive, sufficiently mourned for all the sad moments, given the right amount of attention and love to all those I came across, made my share of mistakes and learnt from them.

So why this reassesment now? Well, lately I was wondering if all that I lost along the way was worth it? The kind of thoughts that seep through your subconcious mind and make u think at nights (Actually I think its coffee!). And I have the answer, I made the right choice! Not because its a temporary high phase, not because I need to feed my ego, not because I want to show the finger to all those who doubted me but just because I made it, I just realised that Right or wrong depends on u, noone else can judge ur decisions because noone else knows u as well as u do. I could've taken suggestions, closed my eyes and let destiny decide for me, but would that feel mine? That would have been an escape, a selection of someone to blame if things go wrong and in my dream world things never go wrong. (When they do, I just change the tags ;-))

Conclusion: Again refering to HIMYM:
" TED:No, it's not an adventure, it's a mistake!

 LILY: OK, yes it's a mistake. I know it's a mistake, but there are certain things in life where you know it's a mistake but you don't really know it's a mistake because the only way to really know it's a mistake is to make the mistake and look back and say 'yep, that was a mistake.' So really, the bigger mistake would be to not make the mistake, because then you'd go your whole life not knowing if something is a mistake or not. And dammit, I've made no mistakes! I've done all of this; my life, my relationship, my career, mistake-free. Does any of this make sense to you?

Maybe it doesnt, but to me it does :-) And thats all that matters at the end of the day. I stand because of the choices I made, not because destiny pushed me there and thats a relief. So in conclusion, just like the Suburban Girl, I am growing up (At 26 :-)),making my own decisions, laughing at my mistakes, falling in love with myself w/o the doubts of teenage and enjoying every moment of it, every tear of it coz thats how we learn. There's no escape to learning, no 'shortcut to happiness' (Another Baldwin movie, I loved). All of it is just worth it!