The Outspoken Taco

Some time ago, Instagram (most likely plagiarised from TikTok) brought onto itself a new trend – How Did I Go From This To This Challenge. It spread like wildfire this trend and the Gen Z way to say it is a  glow up . Influencers, vloggers and content creators who make Reels and TikToks skillfully depicted a difference between their prepubescent chub and their sunkissed selves now. It determines the positive role puberty has played on their jawline, face, height, waist, stomach and every party of your body that hasn't been objectified before. When I saw these thirty-second videos, I wanted to (so badly) be one of them and be proud of how I looked right now. But I knew I couldn't because I thought I hadn't glowed up yet. You see, the figure, the hair, the clothes, they all contributed to a glow up. And when you'd see those videos and you'd see the men and women now, you'd want to be it, too. Sometimes, I thought to myself,  how did you go from this to this? Do yo...

For some time now, I've been wondering about the person I'd be if I had a best friend. You know, the kind who is your forever friend, your person. I wonder if the six-year-old #BFF trend and its lyrical captions could sustain the idea of promises and permanence, eternity and emotional stability, perhaps even dependency and growth. Although it was a stretched millennial trend and thoroughly annoyed most of us, I think there was something more to it.  This trend was like the other waves in the ocean – it created a storm, leapt fiercely at our hashtagging capabilities and with time, became a calmer ripple that restored the equilibrium within the watercourse before a newly-stirred, ferocious storm grew again and the social media world was hit by a different trend with perhaps the same duration of attention. I don't blame us for our short attention span. After all, we are the vagabond-kind; the dumpers and rarely the dumpees of trends. With modern attainment and teenage mood swi...

I wonder if there are real beings out there reading my work and thinking about all those things that I thought about. I often end my sentences with prepositions. It is not grammatically correct, but it is slang.  I wonder about a lot of things. When I have a deadline due in two hours, I wonder the most. Sometimes, I even get lost. I ask myself if I know the way back and I do. I trace a path and mind you, it's a long one. Sometimes, I think of bees and stop when my thoughts turn vile and dark and horrid. I return to the start point and commence my journey again, this time in awe of my wanderlust powers. I like getting lost. It feels good to be nowhere and know no one. Where do you think you're going? well, for starters, I'm not thinking. In fact, thinking involves a process, a trail of thoughts leading to the endpoint, preferably a solution or an epiphany. But when you're wondering, you're walking silently down an aisle of doors that hold different thoughts and dream...

             They say change is a universal constant. All while being inevitable and ironic, it is what we need. Believe it or not, change is not on anybody's to-do list; all the uncertainty, the unreliability, the what-ifs. For most of us, change is new and even though it is absolutely necessary we go through with it, we're always given an option, right? We live in a world brimming with difficulties every day and yet the change that tip-toes our choices oscillates between options that are either comfortable or  less  comfortable.  I believe that our choices create new experiences for us, they enable us to understand just how brutal the real world can be but also, how well we are able to overcome the hiccups that make us stronger, and more independent.  *Cues Run The World by Beyoncé* But for many, change, be it with time and momentum, isn't really a choice. It's.... a compulsion. They don't like change, but they haven't really had ...

We are the same waves born from different tides. We are one ocean but home to different species. We are harmless but defensive of our element. We aren't the same but we belong together.  Her part of the ocean is silent, waiting to make its move. On a deserted, breezy Sunday, you can hear her lap at the shore, claiming what's hers. She is calm when need is and shows her disappointment when she doesn't reach out to you. On your worst days, she embraces you with her warmth amidst the coldest winters. You don't know where she stops; almost invincible. She is vast in her heart but then, her heart is you. Beyond the horizon, you see her thriving. You can't see her, you never will. But that's the beauty. Her tranquillity is not unheard of. She doesn't reach heights but lengths. She is everywhere, in your heart, in your mind and wrestles your body into staying. Above and around her is humidity, sweltering heat, and squawking birds but inside her, she waits to drown ...

Someone once asked me, “What is the most controversial thing you’ve been heard talking about?” Feminism. Equality over equity. Gender as a societal construct. The marginalisation of women. The unfortunate normalisation of gendered roles in society. Economic disempowerment. The constant, undirected, and unfocused subjugation and objectification of women. Overpowering masculinity. Chauvinism. Patriarchy. Girl Power. The importance of defiance in an oppressive society.  As familiarity seeps in, one may notice that all of the words mentioned above revolve around the incongruous gap between men and women; the gap which has been nurtured and nourished by the sociocultural attitudes of our society; the gap that tightens the corsets of women, engulfing our bodies into accepting the harsh and painful realities of today’s world – the stereotypical and sexist ideologies of beauty and boys, of thinner waists, of flatter stomachs, and bigger breasts. The untouched concept of training women to l...