In pursuit of stillness
As you grow older, you come pace-to-pace with your slowness, and thanks to a sudden twist of fate, you find what the Hindi poets call tehraav (stillness). This interesting change can explain why days feel shorter and time seems compressed. A notion that is alien to us during childhood. How the years fly—fuck, it’s already November of 2023! Feels like yesterday when Chris Rock took a slap from Will Smith like zen monks were supposed to. Anyway, when we were little, we got bored a lot and a 30-minute period in school felt like eternity. Nobody knew it back then but everybody’s favourite hobby was waiting for the school bell to ring, to snap us out of a deadly combination of boredom and dread. Adulthood doesn’t have this aural luxury, hence there is nobody left to time time. It’s flowing and flowing whereas we are seeking stillness.
Interesting to note that even if every little thing that the British did in the Indian subcontinent was for their benefit—building railways for transport of their loot, building schools to help them administer better, etc.—their work was elegant. No haphazard job. That said, during the British Raj, there were 25 major famines here. Before the British Raj, there were 17 famines in 2000 years in this subcontinent. And since independence, there have been 0 famines. Similarly, when the British left, less than 1% of the population had access to running water. All things said and mourned, their architectural/infrastructural work had the elegance of the Romans who once invaded them.
A dear friend of mine—who shall remain unnamed given this blog is high on integrity and low on gossip—once shared an insight that no other graphic designer would have. As you know, nothing motivates desi boys and girls to hit a nearby gym quicker than the impending sound of wedding rings. Even the biggest laggards tend to cut down on sugar and adopt healthier lifestyles weeks before they tie the knot. But my friend was a firm exception. When I asked him why he isn’t keen on shedding kilos. After all, won’t it be nice to look nice during one of life’s most pivotal moments? His response (verbatim) almost 4 years ago – "People lose weight during wedding days, not because they like being fit but because they want to look good in wedding pics. I don’t need to worry about that. I already know Photoshop. I can simply edit my wedding pics and make myself look like an underwear model."
Bollywood is all about dreams. Unattainable dreams, if you may. Most of the people who aspire to make it big in that world seldom make it out whole on the other side of the story. Only a handful of success stories remain. Rest get washed away by their own tears. That’s Hindi film industry in a nutshell. It’s unlike any other film industry in the country, including the ones in south India. Bollywood is unique in this regard. There is space for very very few at the top. Hollywood, despite bringing in more eyeballs and dollars, has more open slots at the top. Dizzyingly popular Bollywood actors are called stars, not because they are as spectacular as stars at night, but because they had their stars aligned. In other words, they were extremely lucky. And they know it too.
Somebody asked me recently how come I don’t have anything to share about the ongoing war. My response was limited: I don’t know. If I had the time (and more importantly, energy) to explain, I’d have elaborated that feeling bad for others isn’t my favourite pastime anymore. My long-distance concerns for anyone suffering anywhere in the world don’t mean anything at all. If anything, it’s a narcissistic display of driving attention to myself, particularly on a contagious village like social media. If you pay close enough attention, there are always conflicts and there are always narratives—both are games played by powerful men. You and I are just pawns in their stratagem. If you genuinely care about those who are suffering, you must learn to loosen your pockets and send them money. That’s the least you can do. Your lamenting reels and your finger-pointing posts aren’t helping anyone except you with your desire to produce content for your sake.
2023 is the year where I started out by sharing that I am keen on composing a book out of my blogposts with your help, of course. Months passed by and the project got stuck on the design/illustrations side. We are barely two months away from 2024 and the book is nowhere close to fruition. It’s fair to suggest that it’s not going to happen anytime soon. Too much occurred over the past couple of months that I sometimes (silently) accept that some things aren’t meant to happen. There are always other plans in place. Besides, you can only give it a try.
Past thought: A book can't change your life unless you are writing it.
Future thought: A book can’t change your life unless you finish it.
If you wish to witness how talent can only take you as far as discipline can, do watch the much-despised clash between Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis at French Open in 1999. This match pretty much showed us decency is priceless. Petulance comes at a heavy price. From being one set up and 2-0 in the second set, Hingis went on to lose the match. And if that wasn't bad enough, she never got to win the French Open, the only singles grand slam title missing in her fantastic repertoire. Also, post this match, she appeared in the finals of four GS (singles) over the next 4 years, not clinching any of them. All this before retiring prematurely at the age of 22. She did make two comebacks later but her days of dominance in the singles were long gone.
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