Rat race is for others, etc.
The word of the day is impermanence. It’s one matter to suggest that nothing is going to last and quite another, to not do anything about…
The word of the day is impermanence. It’s one matter to suggest that nothing is going to last and quite another, to not do anything about it. Obviously, everything changes with time. Our thoughts, our actions, our results. Nothing remains the way it once was. Almost all the elements surrounding us are temporary in nature. As sentient beings, it’s our collective responsibility to accept this permanent piece of truth. Impermanence relieves us of the burden of tomorrow. All we need to do is acknowledge the cycle in place. Day-to-night. Winter-summer-to-rain. High-to — medium-to-low. And so on. Just remember that nothing is forever. No, not even diamonds. In fact, chakna is the only thing that is forever. Rest are bound to either evolve or end. Even permanent tattoos are temporary unless you’ve tattooed your teeth. So, what will happen if we don’t notice these glaring realities of our world and carry on like fools? I am not sure but maybe the word of the day would be misery.
Absolutely nobody can prepare you for a life without your dearest — a lot of emphasis on the superlative here — ones. More so when it comes to pets. My wife’s family in Bangalore lost their dog last week; she died in her sleep after struggling with bad health. Cookie was an adorable soul and left an imprint on me although I’ve met her only thrice. Goes without saying that my in-laws were devastated and it took them a while to come to terms with her departure. As an observer, it’s a weird sadness. Think about it: when the pet was around, it was difficult to let it know how much you loved it. And when it’s gone, it’s impossible to let it know how much you’re going to miss it. Either way, it’s a trap of silence because language turns utterly useless here. I called my ma-in-law the following day to see how she was doing. A supremely humourous woman otherwise, she kept choking throughout our conversation. Perhaps in her grief, she asked us to distance ourselves from Ranga. “He will die somebody and leave you with nothing but heartache,” was her concluding sentence in chaste Tulu.
If everybody is going to be in a rat race, who is going to keep the score, huh? Personally, I don’t compete with anyone — not in office or anywhere else. I don’t even believe in the bumper sticker nonsense of ‘my competition is with myself’. People close to me tend to diagnose this as lack of ambition. But they are sailing in a different boat altogether as their metrics are in line with the heartbeat of our generation. It’s not their fault that they subsist on more. In my book, you aren’t answerable to others as long as you’re aware of your strengths and weaknesses. This principle has its roots in my school days when I had a lanky friend named Abu. He was the fastest kid I knew; he ran like a gazelle. Ridiculously quick. However, he never once participated in any of the athletic events for annual day. He just felt he doesn’t have to.
People should vote not because it will change the country instantaneously but because it will boost our democracy in the long run. Besides, you vote for yourself, not for the greater good of enfranchisement. Of course, political biases and petty discourses tend to corrode the unity of the nation. Blame it on the dismal standards of election season. Yet, it’s only when people stand in queue (and not ask kyun) and do what they think is right, is when we progress toward an assimilative society.
I don’t know where we are headed as a country — too vast a nation to condense to generalized opinions — there are more people in this country than there are in the continent of Africa — but it’s safe to assume that the past had some eternal lessons for us to emulate. Thanks to the prevalent toxic environment of division (not diversity) and fears (not facts), hardly do we get to excuse ourselves from the cloak of gloom. No wonder one has no choice but be nostalgic and lament for the days that seemed humane. People apparently cared for each other. This was before people ceased to be people and turned into a type of people. The curse of identity somehow surpassed the strength of character. I remember from my chawl days how we flocked to those who were great at what they do, not what they are. His caste or religion didn’t matter as much as his skills. Which could explain why a Muslim-dominated area crowded a Hindu doctor’s clinic while completely ignoring a bearded doctor who had the word London (in brackets) in his qualifications.
Speaking of slums, it’s a grave injustice to language when words go undocumented. You might be familiar with Bambaiya lingo and might drop some cool words here and there thanks to Gully Boy’s musical success. But that’s not the whole scene; picchar abhi baaki hai bantai. The amount of imagination that goes behind coining new words — that last for a few weeks only to either disappear or upgrade to something else — could be mind-numbing to those who understand how far a journey language undertakes to survive. And yet, if there is nobody from the academic sphere to study these amazing twists of tongue (and logic), then humanity as a whole is at a loss. For instance, take the word ‘machaand’ (a big incident) — it’s been around since I was a kid and it has its base in the Hindi word ‘machana’ meaning ‘killing it’ (not literally, obviously). On the other end of the spectrum, I remember using ‘shot’ (headache) which is hardly in circulation nowadays among slum kids. Words come and go but the language remains. Whether somebody cares to note down or not.
Ever wondered whether a tree wishes for the clouds to provide it shade the way it provides relief to the creatures underneath? I thought of it while meditating recently and it occurred to me that I always wanted to have an elder brother who would protect me in school from the bullies. For the longest time, I felt genuinely envious of those with big brothers around in school. Interestingly, I never had the chance to notice what was happening under my own shade; all this while, I wasn’t fulfilling the role of an elder brother for my quite neglected younger brother.