The Truth Called Life

There, there. Too many days since I wrote last I gather. This occasional writer of yours has stayed true to his name of being a busy human being. Or perhaps, just another man whose life has been burdened by the weight of his own expectations. Why do I get worked up so much and then caterwaul about it later, you’ll ask. Not that the thought hasn’t crossed my mind. I have asked myself the same question too. All this effort, all these valiant fights, all this being true to your nature of being a man who tries to create a name for himself; does it all really matter?

Won’t eventually all of us meet our maker? What would all these accomplishments matter then? What good would all these great strides that we made be? In a world, that’s full of pestilence and goodness, all the same, all of us hope to have an eventful life. Make ourselves happy; make our loved ones happy, don’t we all strive for that? We demand freedom. We ask for all good to happen to us. We also rope in the gods in our little adventure whenever need be. Until one day, our very last day, we realize that all this was just a vanity.

Your loved ones wouldn’t be there with you anymore. The empire you built from scratch wouldn’t be yours anymore. You see all that flash right before your eyes. You pray to the gods one last time. Let me see more of it. Don’t end my reign. Whom have I wronged? Didn’t I follow all your rules? Why am I being punished? And there, we breathe our last. Those countless days of valiant  effort reduced to dirt in one single blow.

Life has always stayed a mystery. We chase life with all our might. It is a horse let loose whose reins we all want to get hold off. But as soon as we near this horse, it only seems to be farther away. Is it really worth it; riding this horse? Won’t we all cease to exist after one day?

Rife are our lives with instances. Instances of mirth, instances of true beauty. And instead of celebrating these little things of joy,  we devote our lives to substantiality. ‘It wouldn’t count for me as long as I do not have something to show for.’ The world matters a little too much to us at times.

It is not how much of a niche we have created for ourselves in this rather short life we had. It is about, how much time we actually spent living. Don’t we want those final flashes in front of our eyes to be many happy memories? A collection of moments when we truly lived. It’s about going brave-heartedly to our death beds, looking at death in the face, and saying, “hello death! You may take me now. I have lived enough of each moment, each day of mine. There is nothing you can possibly make me regret. Yes, I have beat you already.”

Wouldn’t that be lovely? Celebrating all the little glories of life with a little smirk right before you depart. Perhaps that is what is life. Waiting for that one last day when you would get a chance to look back and introspect. Let’s give us a break and work on that, right and let not our distant dreams cloud our beautiful present.

We, The Messengers of Peace

They say that, all sad people like poetry, happy people like songs. I reckon that all this while my life never really gave me an indication to turn towards poetry. Although Whitman and Tennyson have been long revered by me as demigods, I never thought of foraying myself into this divine land they call “Poetry”. However, today was different. Today’s morning was different, rather. What I witnessed today wasn’t anything new. Forgive me for being less on emotions here, but what I woke up to today morning was another news of a terrorist attack. And what set this one apart from the rest of them was the sheer brutality by which it was committed. I still am trying to fathom the adversities and the torment these vile creatures are wanting to subject us to. 

Today was a day I was left severely grief stricken. I don’t know what makes this day different from the others, because every day is a day of loss for us. Every day a piece from humanity’s soul is lost. I for sure know one thing, that God never wanted us to be like this. We are no more his progeny. What we are, are abominable beings who are condemning ourselves to our own hell. While I stand today witness to one of the most heinous act humanity could possibly be responsible for, I proclaim that our end isn’t very far. For all we can hope is that this end be pushed further in the future by erasing the animosity and the reproach we have for our brothers, and we continuously strive to make this earth a better place. It is not the inspiration that Whitman or Tennyson have provided me, but the sheer levels of hopelessness that humanity has reached to, that has encouraged me to pen this poetry. Only if we could be more gentle creatures! 

The day was good, while I arose from my slumber, for all I could see were the rays of the sun,

Oh! What newness, what cheer they bring with them, only if I could see them all day long.

But this day was to be different, these rays were to be short-lived,

I was told of a story so cruel, the elation was all wiped out in a bit.

There I stood, witness to the monstrosity of humanity,

Where is it that we were leading us to, was this the end of it?

I wanted to be wrong, I wanted to be told otherwise,

But how could I be so juvenile, and force myself to be so unwise.

God made us all, he made us good human beings,

But never would he have thought, of all this pain and suffering.

Divided were we about his name, groups had been made,

We were the masters, and he the puppet now, and we excelling at our games.

These games were bloody; it would take lives.

A gun, a truck or even a human would suffice.

Were we not brothers and sisters, was that not what God told us?

Why were these times so scary, so dreary, so tumultuous?

I stand here a witness, to this mayhem being made,

All with a hope that humanity would not eventually fade.

I think of a better future, a future filled with love and harmony,

Where we live together as friends, harbouring no animosity.

This hope is not misplaced, for we have always risen against odds,

Tough have been the times, but when have we not?

Let’s rise with a strong heart, together we must be,

Because we are the messengers, the messengers of peace.

Life and Dreams

It has been a while since I last wrote here. A lot has changed since then. This country for the first thing would not go all “guerrillaesque” and start a political revolution against its government so easily. The irony which very well validates the revulsion from taking this step is that, we chose them! We brought them to where they are now. So we should let go off the hypocrisy for a while; at least till the time when we all are sane enough to comprehend the consequences of our own electoral choices. There would be a time which would arrive, a time fuelled by the torment of our actions, a time which shall force us to think otherwise. Therefore, I would keep my inner Ché hidden under a garb and wait for that moment to arrive.

For now, I would like to draw your attention to another essential issue in our land. The very fact that this issue affects almost every teen passing his secondary examinations, teens who are famously envisaged as the building blocks of the nation, is daunting enough for a nationwide introspection. Let me begin the case here with my example.

It has been a good five years since I was standing on my “first stair”. I had just cleared my secondary board examinations and had showed my utter dominance on humanity by being one of the toppers in my school. That is what they told me. “This is your first stair to a happy, successful life”. I believed them. Who is a man supposed to believe when he trusts everybody else but himself? It’s the world in front of him. That is what metamorphoses our lives majorly. Isn’t it? Every other decision we make is due to the care we think that everybody else shows for us. Its perhaps due to the tender age, the not so insolent mind we possess then. There is a blessing in our obedience, we force ourselves to believe. Well, my first step to this so called “road to success” was an ecstatic affair for everybody. My parents took pride in stating that I was their child and the jubilancy was clearly not misplaced. And thus began my journey of forcing myself into a sophisticated contraption of mazes, the path out of which is yet to be found.

Your first step might have been similar, or maybe not as ecstatic as I state mine to be. That is inconsequential, I must say. However, the second step we take after this first one is what shapes our lives in a major way. In my case it was a random flurry of phone calls which determined what I was to be my entire life. I was never consulted. Why would I be? After all, I was the herculean son who could even scale the Everest in seconds and still stay unaffected by the consequences of it. I was a son who wanted to carry his parents’ dreams upon his shoulders, thus very effectively staying in a state of denial from chasing my own dreams. Now when I look upon myself I think how that decision could have been averted. How I would have been up to something different altogether now. All this cannot be blamed to fate alone. It was a step marred by my own attitude. The confusion still prevails; a result of that foolhardy step once taken.

Right from Shravan Kumar to every Sharmaji ka beta, we have been presented with numerous examples to emulate. And we try to emulate them too. Some become a success in the process. Some a failure. The commonality exists in the way how both have lived to stay as passive spectators of others’ influence. This world is cruel, Lana Del Rey said in “Cruel World”. And she is right.

Your second step can be a rattling affair. You could be forced to jump onto a step which was never where you wanted to be, and you could be brainwashed into forgetting all your childhood dreams in a jiffy. And this glass monument which had your dreams inscribed, makes no noise when shattered. It’s because, you choose to ignore it. It’s surprising how an organism so fierce, so independent, can be such a pushover. How we let others influence us in such a way and be submissive to their every demand.

The unflinching resolve to rebel is just the thing we need before we chose to walk on this path of obliteration. Yes, I am right! Don’t our names get obliterated the very day we choose to tread on a road that has been chosen by everybody else but us. The resolve should be in our disobedience. It should hold an unchangeable form. I am going to do what I think is right! I wouldn’t be concerned about all those scaremongers who want to drive me to oblivion! Nothing is easy here. Imagine the struggle you make just to get your head out and witness the world for the first time, only to realize that the way ahead keeps getting tougher. Yet we move. We have our dreams. We carry them for years. And then it isn’t a second before we allow them to be trampled upon.

This is a beckoning to everybody. What you are doing right now may not be what you wanted it to be. You may be holed up in your little den, caught in the chains of familial and societal pressures of delivering and becoming a successful man. But never is there a right time to completely let go off your dreams. Become a chaser! Become a runner who despite of falling at every hurdle manages to finish the race and is a hero for everybody. Because a loser is the one who gives up, not the one who continues to be on his travail. He may or may not reach the end of this arduous journey of his, but at least he didn’t give up. At least he didn’t allow himself to be steamrolled under everybody’s expectations. He lived his life, chased his dreams, and died a happy man. This for you is life. It may be a thicket of thorny bushes at times or a bed of rosy flowers, but a traveller on this road would be happy only if he chooses his road wisely and learns that no other but him, is the only person who knows what is right for him. Walk fearlessly on this road with the tenacity to move on despite of all its difficulties, and I betcha, no one would ever be able to stop you from getting what you want!

This Deafening Silence

(Img courtesy: www.pinterest.com)

Well, from what I wrote I last time, many would presume me to be a writer with sardonic thoughts; one who looks upon the current state of affairs of the country with utter disdain. After writing that satirical piece of mine, I underwent a certain phase of introspection. While I wouldn’t demur from any of the points I ascertained, I also realised how patronizing I sounded then. This was more so because of the enlightenment I attained after the introspection.

So what was so special that I learnt then? I learnt something that every individual in this country needs to know. I learnt that no matter how detestable matters may get in this country, no one among us is really going to stand. I am no exception and thus, no one to talk. None of us ever wants to free ourselves from these bars; the bars which would always keep us held up in the captivity of negativity.

Sagaciousness is slowly disappearing in this materialistic world which only cares about things that are tangible. And in this frantic race for domination, India has slowly shown itself the way to moral and social depravity. This depravity is very much evident in the huge economic divide which has prevailed forever in this land and shows no signs of diminution. Poverty, unemployment, gender biases, red-tapism, calumny of each other in the legislature, molestation of women, the ever prevalent corruption; the list of these is simply unending. There is not a day when we don’t be a witness to one of these social demons. Yet, we prefer to stay tight-lipped on our opinions.

We have to understand that silence isn’t an answer here.  

You may be wondering, whether, is this an attempt by me to instigate you’ll? Well, that completely lies in your hands. We have been reticent for long now, and I have given you no reason whatsoever to act. Also, I don’t know what gives me the right to become so reproachful here. What I do know is that there is going to be no messiah who would incarnate one fine day, and bring things to normalcy. It is us who have to rise; flee from our confinements and work together to absolve this land of these evils. After all, what enemy can an army of 1.2bn soldiers cannot fight?

Until then this country is only going to stay a grotesque result of our own deeds.