This week was hectic. To say the least. Although I did manage around 3 hours of sleep everyday on an average. At one point, I was awake for 2 and a half days together.
And last week, I saw Bala’s Naan Kadavul. Two seemingly unrelated and incongruous topics.
But this is Sangu and Sangu can make oil and water mix if need be. (Using surfactants ofc, but I won’t go into technicalities.)
Where were we, aah yes. Naan Kadavul. The movie itself was worth the time I spent watching it. The time I ought to have spent mulling over some nanoscience related work. (With the aid of the previous line, I wanted to emphasize on the quality of the movie by suggesting how valuable those 2-3 hours were for me and how I still do not consider watching the movie a waste of time. Yes. I m 2 gud.)
But after watching the movie, I started discussing it in order to put mokka with friends. I was quite surprised to see that a lot of my friends who too had seen the movie, actually felt pity for the ugly ppls who were begging.
Firstly, I will justify the word “ugly” which I am sure all of you would have noticed and would have consequently made a random instantaneous judgement about my character. You see, you know, I know, and most of all, Bala knows those people don’t look very good (I don’t mean in the supermodel sense, but a bit more generally.) The characters are the result of a 3 year search all across TN apparently. So when everyone knows they are ugly, why do people have problems admitting it? There is a limit to being politically correct you know. OK. Toward the end of the previous line, you would probably have branded me a despotic narcissistic fuck who is insensitive to the sufferings of the downtrodden. I admit, some of these folks are in all probability, downtrodden. I hate to see downtrodden people also and I too have those fleeting desires to help them and relieve their suffering and be a hero and all, which I forget the moment something else crosses my mind. Just like most others. But still, why can’t I call them ugly? I mean, they may be the nicest people on earth and I can totally take that. They may be excellent company and I would love to be in their presence. But it would be idle to say they are not ugly. Note the point, a person can be ugly but can have a character otherwise.
What I am trying to say is:- Don’t judge a book by its cover and all. But at least be honest enough to admit the cover is bad. The moment you say stuff like “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, or “they are beautiful on the inside”, or simply act like they are the nicest people in the world simply because they are disabled/disfigured, you must understand you are actually insulting them. With your pity. And with your refusal to grant them anything like an individual character which you feel such people are incapable of having.
OK. I just put in the previous 2 paras to provide an alternate line of thinking. Even my ravaged conscience hurts from the exertion of the previous paras (for they did seem like genuinely fun people otherwise and I do not wish to insult them or anything) and henceforth I will stop calling them ugly, and will simply refer to them as beggars.
Anyway, as I was saying, I felt like laughing everytime I heard my friends feel pity toward these people. I couldn’t believe they did not see what was so obvious to me.
Let’s look at these people closer. They eat, metabolize, work off any excess (if at all) through their wanderings and then they sleep. Yes people, they sleep. Soundly. For hours. Without too many concerns. So that takes care of the physical being.
Now let’s focus on their mental being. These people are obviously low on aspirations. They know they have little to look forward to in this world and they are resigned to an existence wherein they live through the day hoping people will support their next meal, and if it does happen, derive happiness from it. They socialize to their own limited extent and seem to have little other desires in life. Something like what the Buddha said. Cut out on your desires and you will find peace. They have found it.
Now let’s take me for instance. Do I get enough food? No. Most of the time, I eat one+half meals a day only. One in the afternoon and the other half also in the afternoon. And thats all. My stomach keeps growling for the remaining day like it is now, but I am forced to ignore it being held up with other important things like facebook games (I only use it to play games. Right now hooked on Mindjolt.) Do I have a permanent shelter? No. Most of the time I am out days together trying to study and ending up playing facebook games instead. Do I get to socialize? No. For socializing, you need to meet like-minded people. And I have never met more than a handful in my lifetime. And also, bcos we are like-minded and all, one of the traits we share is being anti-social to the extent practical. So this completely rules out socializing as a means of recreation. Do I get enough sleep? HAHAHAHAHA
And now we come to my mental and emotional needs as a NRI student youth. First, I must worry about my inability to achieve that much desired status of being a chick magnet. I must consequently keep worrying about what an Archana, or a Samathmika or a Rachel or an Adel Mbangwa or a Josy Koo etc.. thinks about me. I must then get through my next few assignments for my modules in University. Then I must think of getting a good internship. Then I must think about planning my immediate career ahead and trying to evade the downturn. Then I must think in terms of what I want to be in the long term. For I don’t want to be doing something I am not interested in. Then I have to think about marriage. And then. Finally. A few months of what one hopes will be bliss (I am referring to the time when I will be married and hopefully enjoying sugam with wife and with an income in dollars and without kids). After which I shall have to get back to the grind of worrying about the pregnancies and kids. And once the kids are born, worrying about how I can live my life with as little interference from the family as possible. All this while, one must worry about trying to maintain your geth in the workplace. And then, eventually, the kezhabolt self will have to start worrying about which old age home the kids will pack you off to. And then start worrying about wasting money on a retirement package in order to avoid the prison like confines of an old age home. And then retire. And then find all that you own become worthless in a few years and yourself reduced to not even having money, which is actually the only thing you ever had. And then worry about all the time on your hands. And then go mad thinking about it. And after this, becoming a social wreck with not even your family visiting. And then in the last few days, when you are suffering from blood cancer or something, worry about what and all you could have done in your life but failed to do. And then, on death, possibly getting rebirthed/recycled and living life in the exact same sequence (adjusting for generational differences) once again.
And these bitches (my friends), who in all probability are also going to lead a life as described above, feel pity toward these beggars. Idhellam enga poi naa solluven?
9 responses so far ↓
K.Ramachandran // March 28, 2009 at 3:13 am |
Amazing !! you looked far into ur future, till ur next birth !! for e.g. , this kind of thinking is needed for environment conservation — ppl wouldnt damage their world, if they realized how long they needed it.
true. but on the other hand, ellarumey enna maari irundha olagam ennathikku avarathu??
buddy // April 1, 2009 at 5:44 pm |
rebirthed adjusting for generational differences
hehe.. thx man!
Idling in Top Gear // April 3, 2009 at 5:03 pm |
Well, the idea that an ordinary life is unnecessarily difficult goes back to antiquity.
Some 1000+ years ago, Adi Shankara sang,
“Iha samsaare bahudustaare”
Us normal dudes have to settle down and make babies just so the human race can survive – what great responsibility we have thrust on us and what little recognition we get vs the sanyasis that have it good!
If one has to envy any character in that movie, envy Arya’s character. He gets to smoke up all day, eat what he wants – including other people, if he so desires- kill at will and just be an ass to every one in visual range. Now that, my friend, is freedom! No grihasta will have that!
haha.. its a good feeling to know that mr.adishankara and i think alike!
and one of my friends at uni became so enthralled with arya’s character that nowadays he is going about telling everyone his life ambition and passion is to become an aghori.. others go ‘wtf??’.. thankfully enough, he doesn’t bother with an explanation. else the collective indian community manam will be gone with the ship!
Saranya // April 8, 2009 at 4:04 pm |
Long time reader..but first time commenting.. I should say I find myself thinking on the same lines many a times!
Good post!
Thanks. And do comment more often! its really fun to have others sharing their views..
Anjana // April 17, 2009 at 8:49 pm |
first time reader and first time commenting : ))-
what makes you think they are low on aspirations? and more importantly, have found peace?
hey! hope you increase the “first” in an arithmetic progression
rgd y i think they are low on aspirations, its a difficult question to answer. because i know they are low on aspirations from my observations and don’t necessarily have to offer justification for something that is mostly judgement oriented. however, i will attempt to give an explanation nevertheless.
they are low on aspirations because they don’t aspire to become engineers. they don’t aspire to become mechanical engineers. they don’t aspire for a job in mechanical engineering field that does not deal with materials directly and focusses more on design. they don’t aspire for job satisfaction whereby they avoid allowing their brains to rot and also have a potential for growth within the company. they don’t aspire to start their own company after a few years and become employers instead of employees. they don’t aspire to have a mature, non-bitchy, non-consumerist wife. they don’t really want to spend their first few years without kids so that they can have some part of their life to spend on themselves. they don’t aspire to hobbies that can give them something else to do to divert their minds. and because they don’t aspire to so many things that the lower-middle/middle/upper-middle class youth of today aspire to, i think they are low on aspirations. and as a result of having fewer aspirations, they have fewer criteria to meet before they pass away. and consequently contentment from their resignation to their state of life.
Anjana // April 18, 2009 at 9:45 pm |
yes, chokkathangam, but how do you know that
“they don’t aspire to become engineers. they don’t aspire to become mechanical engineers. they don’t aspire for a job in mechanical engineering field that does not deal with materials directly and focusses more on design. they don’t aspire for job satisfaction whereby they avoid allowing their brains to rot and also have a potential for growth within the company. they don’t aspire to start their own company after a few years and become employers instead of employees. they don’t aspire to have a mature, non-bitchy, non-consumerist wife. they don’t really want to spend their first few years without kids so that they can have some part of their life to spend on themselves. they don’t aspire to hobbies that can give them something else to do to divert their minds. ”
?
Anjana // April 18, 2009 at 9:48 pm |
and hope you increase the no. of visits to my site too. though not necessarily arithmetically.
Anjana // April 18, 2009 at 10:03 pm |
i meant that in a nice way.
Anjana // April 22, 2009 at 9:23 pm |
arre, where did your replies to my 2nd comment go…?