I had to watch something this weekend. And so, I watched the first installment of the After series. Honestly, I watched it in two installments. Because all those stories that claim true love comes with a slight dosage of toxicity. And I couldn’t handle it.

So, I watched until the toxic level rose. And then when it did, I switched the TV off and resumed doing what a weekend does.

Toxicity is now glorified. It is not that all relationships or people are free of it. It always is there creeping in our lives. We are toxic at times and we sometimes we do not realize that. The real question that we should ask ourself is – in real life, would we have had that patience of dealing with a toxin? Come a slight inconvenience and we always look for a way out.

That pull and push struggle itself is toxic. The human mind works in mysterious ways and we are dissolved in our toxic existence. And so, if I may dare to add, much as we extoll the opposite, in our hearts we all like someone with a gray shade.

As I was casually browsing through books, reviews, Wattpad, I realized how many gray shades of characters are worshipped at an altar these days. Now, if all this had happened half a century ago, the morality of the character would have made him the enemy. The very idea of how the female lead character could have a future with a villain was preposterous.

Times have changed. Now people believe that morally gray characters can save the day. And even the entire story, the whole world revolves arounds characters like Hardins, Nicks or Damons. 

We can safely say that gray is the new shade!