Anime Recommendation: ONLY YESTERDAY

I hear people saying that animes are for kids because they are “cartoons”. So I have come across this amazing anime that hasn’t been appreciated much. A mature and slow one that shall not be appearing in the dynamics of what people call “cartoon”.

MOVIE: ONLY YESTERDAY

Another wonder from GHIBLI STUDIO. Film by Isao Takahata and Produced by Hayao Miyazaki.

This anime is a slow burner and may get boring. But the thing that grabbed me till the end was its simplicity. The simplicity of the anime was so relatable. Unlike other anime, it didn’t have any supernatural effects, sad story or even any romance. It just had this subtle voice that made me recall my childhood.

The visualisation throughout the whole movie is like an ASMR and is damn satisfying to watch. It makes one feel alive and crave for such simplicity.

The maturity of the anime was pouring out with every scene. Every time when Taeko, the protagonist, would recall her past we could see how much far she has come and how little her past affected her. And yet at the same time, it was her past that moulded her and made her who she was in the present.

The best thing for me was the ending. Something that made me really emotional. And again, no, there is no extravagance in the ending either. It was just a SIMPLE ending. But the way the ending was executed, it really made a difference to me of how we see the world and our own life.

May be you can see yourself in Taeko, like I did. May be not. But you must watch it anyway. It will make one think that they lived their whole childhood “only yesterday”.

Letter

As I try to pen down the reason of my death,
I think of the times I laughed and lived,
But I can’t recall any.

I try not to write names or blame any soul,
but I cannot stop thinking about those times when my own people hurt me so much that I had to write this letter.

I put down the pen next to the paper that shall become just an evidence soon.

I try to tell myself, would anyone even read it?

They couldn’t read all these years when I was infront of them, breathing,
how would they read and know the feelings of a person lying in the coffin.

Wind

As the slow wind hits my temples,
I fathom over the grey skies
And think about the numerous kites
Flying over me.

The rain will pour soon
The birds are returning home
As I turn into page 185 of my book

Trying to concentrate among all the chirping.
As the slow wind hits my temples.

Episode 3. Short hair.

This will be the last episode of the getting bullied series of my childhood. Doesn’t mean that these were the only things.

As the title says, yes, I was bullied even for the short hair. My mother never let me have long hair as a child. I don’t blame her for this. I blame the mindset of the society that wants a female to have long hair in order to be included in the realms of society, doesn’t matter which age you belong to. Even a child isn’t spared.

And this practise of inclusion/exclusion is not limited to one gender but both.

How silly it would be to wake up as a human one day and you’re given this handbook of guidelines according to your gender, and you are commanded to follow all these otherwise you shall be an outcast.

My book of guidelines is still sitting there in the corner of my table, with only few pages read and few pages torn.

Episode 2. Flat chest.

The second episode of me getting bullied in school and how it changed my mind, forever.

The 14 year old me standing near the desk, checking her notebook during the recess.

A girl comes running to me and ran her hand quickly over my chest and shouted “flat chest”.

Now that I recall it, I laugh with a certain suppressed anger inside me. That I wish I could have voiced out but I didn’t.

I can only remember the laughs people had on me.

I laughed along.I thought they were laughing with me. But there is a thick line of laughing with you and on you. I never could define that line. I still can’t.
I was never enough for the society, my body wasn’t falling in the guidelines set by them.

I never realized or understood that my body doesn’t belong to them.

“Something is wrong with me”, the 14 year old told herself, as she looked into the mirror with teary eyes.

” I wish I was enough “




Thank you everyone to show such love and support in the last episode. It truly means a lot. And also thank you for understanding that I am not trying to seek attention but spreading a kind of awareness by my piece of life.
Many of you might also have gone through the same journey that shouldn’t have happened at all and which still affects your thoughts. If you have grown out of it, you are a strong person. And if you are still going through it, like me, you are also a strong person. Much love. ❤️

Episode 1. Skinny bones.

This is a kind of series that I thought of starting. Here, I will narrate the real life stories of how I was bullied in school. And how it shaped my mind.

“You are a stick”.

First of all, all bodies, all shapes and all humans matter.

I was extremely skinny when I was in school. And humans tend to be mean to things that are “different”, that stray away from the path of conventional beauty. Due to my frail body, I was bullied by my own friends. And all of these made me hate my own self, my own body.

Now you may say they were kids but so was I. My body couldn’t fit the “right” way as it was meant to be. But it was not just the kids but also the mature and qualified teachers. Even they didn’t leave any stones unturned to body shame me.

“Boys like thick thighs, you know” someone told to the 13 year old me. And I just stood their scorning my thin legs.

Every day I would pray for some miracle to get the body of that popular girl in school.

Just to be accepted?

After all these years, I have somewhat accepted my body, I have started loving my body. But there is still that 13 year old inside me crying for a miracle to be accepted by those who hated me for my body, for something that I had no control over whatsoever.

Two Animes That Made Me Cry.

Instead of my usual sad poetry today I would be talking about these two animes that made me cry, ponder over situations and feel those things that I never knew existed.

1. Grave of the Fireflies

This 1988 movie is based on the life of two orphaned siblings stuck in the situation of the WWII. Nowhere to go, no food to eat and with no one except for each other. These anime made me cry because I knew that this can be, and is, real. And That during those times many people died. Many children became orphans in split seconds. The character of Seita and Setsuko almost feels alive, that is the magic of Anime.

Not giving any spoilers. But you should definitely watch this master piece.

2. In this Corner of the World

Set again in the time of WWII, the movie shows the hard time people had to go through. But unlike the former one this one adds a kind of cute-comical element. Which gives the sad part even more effect.

If you want to have a good cry and create a artsy scar in your heart, Watch these movies. ❤️❤️❤️

Two kites

Under the blanket of thick clouds
As I lay my head on the grass
I saw two kites.
One orange and the other brown.

I close my eyes
As I try to memorize these scenes in my head.
Forgetting beautiful things is an art for me.

That’s why I couldn’t ever forget my childhood.

With my left hand I grab few grasses.
And have this urge to pluck them out.
But I don’t.

I smell the mild summer breeze with the smell of Jasmine.
I try to register the smell of it in my mind.
As quickly as possible.

As I open my eyes,
I find myself
In the enclosed room of four yellow walls.
With the fan above me making the usual mechanical noise.

Trapped

We all are Trapped.
We all are Trapped.

In one way or the other. Be it physically or mentally. Barriers exist both in the jails and and in our mind.

Sometimes we come out.

Sometimes we try.

Sometimes we fail.

But most of the times we don’t even know that we are Trapped.

Trapped in our own castle of thoughts waiting for our Knight in shining armour to rescue us.

And most of the times we become that knight.

Trapped in the realms of shadows waiting for the sunlight to hit us.

We all are Trapped.

We all are prisoners.

Sometimes prisoners of others and sometimes of our own.

We all are Trapped.

In relationships. In work. In choices of others. And in our own mind.

We all are Trapped.

Under the veil of convention

I am not the only one to say that. Relatives, classmates and acquaintances. ‘what happen to your face?’, ‘apply this and you will become beautiful’ (didn’t work by the way), ‘apply that and you will look pretty’ (didn’t work either).

I have pimples and acne scars on my face.

I have a bloated tummy. Short and damaged hair. Short nails that can’t grow properly. Reducing hairline. I am short. And also have ugly feet.

I know all these things and each and every other day I try to forget all these and start a happy new day but NO…..

There will be that someone who won’t let me forget how ugly I am

There will be that someone who will kill my sparkle.

There will be that someone who will destroy my confidence.

There will be that someone who won’t let my soul breath.

I try to distance myself from people to save my still-alive confidence. So that my sparkle doesn’t get watered again and again and yet again.

I know I am ugly. I didn’t choose it, it chose me.

I know I am ugly. You don’t have to remind me of that every time you meet me.

I know I am ugly. But…

I am beautiful the way I am.

I am beautiful in my own eyes and that is more than enough.

Everyone is and everyone will be. No matter what. No matter what people say. You and I will always be beautiful. We all might not become models but one day you will become a renowned photographer and will be asked for appointments to shoot models and I will become a writer to write about those photos.

Someday we all will be beautiful.

Someday beauty will exist only at heart and not on face.

Someday…