I've always been on the dramatic side and turning 25 is (gulp) as dramatic as it gets - for now anyway. I had different things planned - dancing till I drop dead (or my feet revolt), confrontations, pulling an all-nighter with my girls and such - you know, typical birthday stuff. As it happened, plans were a wet bag since it was a dry-day because of Visarjan. With clubs closed, I was dismally out of the dancing loop for the night. While scurrying Google for dinner places, I hit upon Hard Rock Cafe - it was open, of course, without drinks. What was initially a small group of four, soon expanded and from thereon, it was all party! Turns out, we didn't need drinks to be high.

While in conversation with my girls, they had strong opinions on my conduct this year, which admittedly, I'd agree to, considering the amount of emotional baggage I managed to pile on myself in a single year is more than my collective dating record. It had one good thing coming out of it though - I shut down several baggage-inducing operations, especially the ones that included overt displays of expressiveness.

I've long since wondered about expressions. I'm an expressive person - I write, I speak, I gesture, I sing and I'm generally exuberant. But what happens when you're dealing with a repressive personalities? When expressions hit a wall and there is little or no reciprocation? I've always wondered how to deal with that. Till date, I've battled on. I chose to express, even where is no reciprocation. I say my piece without encouragement. Few days back, I finally hit my limit - What's the point of it all? What am I proving to myself? What am I confronting for? What does it do for my sanity? What did I do? I stopped. Sometimes, it really is that simple. Just stop. Don't think, don't over-analyse, don't ponder over. Stop.

The other side of twenties is looking up!