I was a dream until one day I had my own dreams. My peers thought I'd outshine them; my parents expected my light would embellish them until one day it blemished me. 'Cause to shine is to build expectations and to build expectations is to be vulnerable. You ascend, albeit you know that the higher one goes, the more bones he breaks each time he falls. You trade your ambitions to build someone else's, snivel in silence and make endless excuses to defend each catastrophe until one day you find yourself becoming them, exhausted and devastated, on the verge of hitting mediocrity, and questioning why you couldn't be that anticipated one. All you wonder is if only you could stop that 7-year-old boy from striving those extra hours to top his class, rip apart the diary when he wrote his first story at 11, fasten those lips that whispered in praise of him, burn the books that told a 15-year-old boy that he can be almost anything in this world only if he aspires to. You pray only if you could dissolve into oblivion until one day you get to make a noise and yet remain unexplored.
Shayan Das
Success to him was to relish the failure of all the inefficacious attempts that altered forms (in the shapes of disheartening remarks, abominations, taunts, agitation, maladies and envious faces) faster than seasons but couldn't resist him moving.
Shayan Das
But I've lived—thrived half my afternoons wondering whether mom would prepare my favourite dinner for the evening; put up with distances hoping it would make the brief meetings monumental; got through half my exams pondering about the things I would do the night after the last paper; fought extra hours expecting it would help me sleep better. Lord, I no longer wonder why 'tis so easy to give up when you've got nothing to hope for.
Shayan Das
"Like a young sapling, my child", beamed the mother and went on further with a sigh, "As if you are a freshly sprung plantlet of rose, I'd water you, assume every minute necessity of you as my own, and defend you from every ruthless squall until you bloom to your fullest albeit the only flower I receive in my lifetime is at my funeral".
Shayan Das
Don't fall for someone who won't pull you up.
Shayan Das
I know she's my type of girl every time she tells me, "Don't love me for the beauty I have but for the beauty I create".
Shayan Das
Quotes by Shayan Das. Follow my Instagram account for related posts.
Darling, when you look at the moon or count the stars in the night sky, notice the gentle breeze fluttering your hair, the raindrops pattering on the rooftop, or relish the redolent aromas invading your nostrils, do these simple instances not tell you that you can still love things desperately even if you don't own them? That there can be love beyond possession, intervals, and distances—a love that assures that even if we cease to belong to each other, we can still come back as the moon, the stars, the breeze, the raindrops, the aromas and exist to be loved desperately by one another without the apprehension of losing.
Shayan Das
The best way to see Van Gogh's "Starry Night" is to stare at the center of the spiral for 20 seconds and then look at the painting.
"No, I won't eat," 5-year-old me would say and slam the door with vexation after being rebuked by his mother. "You eat alone," he'd cry in response to the persistent calls, knowing at the same time that mom wouldn't take a single bite, leaving him hungry. After an hour or two, mom would be back with the plate, feed him with her own hands, and home would be where it was supposed to be. The pollen grains, I learned, dare to fly, soar, and flutter in the wind only 'cause they know there will be flowers to catch them.
A bad day at school. 15-year-old me would bitterly answer a question from mom and regret the entire night for yelling at her for no reason at all. He'd sit beside her the next morning and greet her with a sorry. "I didn't mean to..." he would utter, and mom, cheerful as ever, would respond with a smile by that time. "You needn't," she'd say, and ask with uneasiness, "What happened at school yesterday?" "You could reply to me in that way," she'd add with assurance, "'cause you cannot with the world. 'Cause you trust I'm the only one who won't take it to heart". He'd already be in tears, embrace his mom tightly, and home would be where it was supposed to be. The love I sought for ages, I learned, is a mother.
Shayan Das, excerpt from 'The Love I Learned'
To be criticised demands far more talent than to criticise someone else.
Shayan Das