Selfish New Year

 It’s good to be Selfish!

                               ~ Srikant Rao

 

You can take nothing for granted. Nothing really happens unless we make it happen. Not even the apocalypse. I'm aware that we as humans are really working hard at that... but obviously since I'm writing it post 21st Dec 2012, our efforts are not good enough.

 

So much for the Mayan prophecy. It served only as an excuse for some over enthusiastic Hollywood studio to toy with their newly learnt Computer Graphics (CG). Alas! The ships in his fable too were "Made in China". No wonder, it didn't really work - both the movie as well as the prophecy.

 

Anyway, 2012 came and is on its way out. 2013 is now staring at us. Is there anything we will do? OR will we wait for things to happen?

2012 as any other year was eventful. We lost so many artists - and there were jokes about turning the focus towards the politicians.
Meanwhile, Parliament as usual - hardly worked and one of the sporting GODS retired – it was meant to happen someday – but our GOD took his clue from the Mayan calendar and guess what? Our “Sherlock Holmes” generation caught it.
There were scams galore, media was kept busy. There were "exposes" and fake surprised reactions to such "exposes". A new political party was unveiled, as if we didn't have enough. Everyone's learning from the "Remix" generation, I guess.

 

But we are all left with the "Halo" effect. The one thing that everyone seems to be venting about OR showing concern about is the "Respect for Women" in the guise of the Delhi Rape case. Seriously, did we really need a trigger to think about that? In India??? And why is everyone ashamed about INDIA suddenly after this ONE case that got reported? What about the innumerable cases that went unnoticed all this while? But the real question is – why being ashamed of INDIA? Who is INDIA? Is it not YOU and ME? Are we ashamed of ourselves? Well, we must be. There are enough things I can write about... but I want to talk about three things that I will FOCUS on this New Year.

Obligation

Respect &
Freedom

It is the difference and the true meaning of these three words that are completely LOST. We must understand and reclaim them.

Obligation: The dictionary meaning of this word is "An act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound; a duty or commitment"

We as citizens of this country are obliged for the well-being of this country. Instead we are lost in being obliged to our relatives, keeping up with their never-ending expectations and then fret over it. As a society, we have never UNDERSTOOD our obligation - to keep our locality, city, state and country CLEAN. And I mean CLEAN in every possible way. It includes muck in the mind - Not just muck on the streets.

Respect: The dictionary meaning of this word is "A feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements."

In most cases, I've seen people DEMAND respect instead of earning it. The funny part is some people assume that, because they "command" some respect, others are "obliged" to act in a certain manner when they are around.

Abilities, qualities and/or ACHIEVEMENTS... will only assure true respect. And to achieve, we MUST DO something instead of just cribbing. I suddenly have started to sense that an entire generation has learnt something from our HISTORY... only I believe it's the wrong learning... We've all learnt to "PROTEST". Be it for the LOKPAL bill (that has still not been passed), or for the Nuclear Power plant in Kudankulam (I cannot forget people flocking the beach with the entire family. Media tried its best to hide the balloons and the balls but were not entirely successful. All this in the name of "jal Satyagraha" - what a joke). And now the candle protest for a girl who was raped and brutally murdered. Her family will never be able to breathe in peace henceforth. They had enough grief to deal with, but now, NO one in this country will let them "get over" this tragedy.

But after all these protests, what is the achievement? These protests, without results WILL not earn any respect. It will fizzle out like gas out of a soda can just as all these years of our independence has.

We now come to the most misunderstood word of our country - FREEDOM.

FREEDOM: There are two dictionary meanings that I want to highlight here.
1) Absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government.
2) The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.

While, at an esoteric level, the first point is achieved (I repeat, at an esoteric level ONLY), the second part is COMPLETELY abused, misused and misunderstood and hence NOT ACHIEVED yet.

In India, I do not believe we are really a FREE country where we enjoy "FREEDOM".

Forget the bigger issues, in our day-to-day life; we are not FREE to do anything. We are bound by what our chacha / mama will think. What will our "biradari" think? If I do this, will my teacher / boss / friend / wife / son / daughter / brother / sister approve of this behaviour? Etc. etc.

I'm talking about basic things like choosing a curriculum, school, to going out to have a good time. We are NEVER free to do anything WE want to do without being plagued by these thoughts.
And if at all we do and are caught (which, in this densely populated country is highly possible), we are forced to feel guilty about it for the rest of our lives.
We are always worried about someone else being judgemental about us for every act we do... including breathing (read snoring / bad breath etc.).
And again, we are bound by obligations of the so called "respected" individuals in our lives.

These may sound silly, basic and you may wonder where the connection is.

Think about it. If we learn to master these, at an individual level, without being "krantikaari" about it, a lot can be achieved.

I've been practicing these in instalments all these years, but in 2013, I will renew my focus on these and try to improve myself (including my immediate family).

Being selfish is healthy at times. I'm saying this without worrying about being judged.

Have a Selfish New Year!!!