10 Mar 2014
I am somehow just willing myself to stop this long
not-so-self inflicted sojourn or hiatus from penning my thoughts to reality.
Wonder, as usual what to pen down… Again wonder why this problem has a predilection
to hunt me out time after time. I do wonder whether I am the front runner
amongst the most confused or then directionless citizens around.
My experiences
with the Sick and Needy.
Should be as good an abstract topic as one can hope not to be assigned. But then, was not
it my deep rooted commitment to take the path less travelled. That single adage,
is enough to will unforeseen or unknown obstacles and as the common man would
label it simply, ‘problems’ onto oneself, for no rhyme or reason. But then who
ever doubted that the road most and frequently travelled would yield any less
of its share. That, has its own and more than its share of obstacles and
problems. Only probably, they are easier to choose from amongst the ‘whole set’
of options available, with most, if not all, being “the Short Term maturity policy or investment”, named after its twin-named
financial ventures with its equivalent virtues, hereinafter referred to as Choice ‘A’ vis-à-vis the Long Term aim of slower benefits against
more efforts, time, patience and uncertain, unsure future, hereinafter referred
to as Choice ‘B’.
It’s
now been frequently in the past few years that I have started feeling emotions
far more than I have grown up to face or accept. The varied emotions, other
than anger or sorrow are something that have not occupied my faculties as much,
as they seem to be doing in the recent past and present too. Getting emotional
was not the Super-Man that I had conjectured growing up, and always aspired to
be. Perhaps too much of emotion is still not a Man’s cuppa, according to me,
even today. I still aspire to be Superman. Whether I do or not is beyond the
capabilities God and Nature have bestowed on me, especially the toll the many vagaries
and exertions of an overly active and outdoor life have had on my constitution.
But
coming back to the point on experiencing emotions.. it is something of a new
phenomenon which I have been blessed with, of late in the past few years. It
may probably be my empathizing with the people around me and being able to understand
their present and even visualizing what the future they will be undergoing,
looks like. Or then is it just me imparting color to the rather stark realities
that we all undergo, in a very severe and drab life most of us lead and face. I
do have to state that a rather disquieting fact I have been silently noticing,
is that God has blessed me with a fairly strong sense of premonition, which has
more often than not proved to be correct ‘assessment’ on hind sight. This is a
rare insight which I feel has to be accompanied by sound wisdom, which again is
a rarer quality. The combination of the two is very essential for a satisfactory
response to any given situation affecting an individual or a group. I by no
means lay any claims to possessing the requisite Wisdom.
This ability accompanied by the willingness to assess
and contribute to the betterment of the people around us, is a pre-requisite
for any change to take place, for the better. Genuineness is another rare
quality in today’s world. Rare, I believe because it is suppressed by mist of
us.
All
of the above qualities are considered Rare, primarily because of the masses of
this country, India, overwhelmingly albeit myopically choosing to exercise Choice ‘A’ for the Short Term, even when it is not in the interests of that
individual, in the Long Term. The Wisdom to differentiate, between the two
Choices, even when Long Term personal interests matter, is lacking, out of a sheer
sense of laziness and indifference by the vast majority. Qualities inherited
genetically, propounded brainlessly and vainly and passed on through the gene
pool, unabashedly to the next generation to further strengthen the ‘strain’. This
nation has become a cesspool of such individuals and their accompanying
qualities, that the discerning few are fighting an almost impossible battle for
basic ethics, rights and entitlements. Energies which could easily have been
utilized for higher growth, gets wasted due to such mass mindsets.
Hope.
This is one of the fundamental bastions holding out against such mass mindsets.
Hope is tenacious. Hope is unrelenting. Hope is brave, tough, resolute, unflinching
and insurmountable. Hope clings onto the smallest of cracks on the stiffest of
precipices. It is on hope alone that the Rear guard action of higher values,
aims and goals for the betterment of individuals, groups and society is fought.
Empathy,
is again one of the pre-requisites for understanding our environment.
Understanding the environment is one step towards the betterment of mankind and
our surroundings.
Our
environment and the constituents of such environment have many sick and needy populaces,
in heavy numbers. Most are recipients of adverse destiny while the rest are self
created architects of their chaos, ably aided and abetted by adverse
circumstances which smell out such decisions to further add fuel to the
brightly burning fire. This then invites the oft repeated adage, “kismat hee
kharab hai” or my destiny is adversely inclined or words to that effect.
