Ignorance.....

Is it wrong to admit one's ignorance. How does the world look upon a person who admits "I do not know". Often, people make this claim of knowledge, most times superficial; and strangely love to bask in the glory of a know-it-all. There are things that are obvious or intuitive for them. How I hate those words? Dig them deep, and you would find that they are as hollow and empty as can be. I am not against being hollow and empty. It is just this simple fact - feigning one's emptiness that is difficult to digest. So, looking at ignorance, it can be classified in two ways.

(a) Destructive ignorance

A case where ignorance is NOT bliss. There are so many wonders and beauties in the world that being ignorant of them would simply amount to losing out on the better ways of life. Again, people who are smug and happy with their present state of affairs and sensibilities would get bored of it all as time progresses. Here, is where the wonders help one in coming back to life. Hence, it would be destructive if one were to ignore "the callings" that would finally lead us out of our mundane vegetating life (a complaint of many). It is how we make out our life to be.

(b) Constructive ignorance

Have you ever wondered or pondered about this. The more and more we get immersed in our passions that have become our ways of life, the more and more we realise as to how ignorant we are. The knowledge out there is a vast ocean. Be it music, technical, other art forms, literature, whatever. What we claim to possess would be one miniscule droplet of water in the ocean. Ignorance unites one and all. The moment, we think that we are perfect, we know-it-all, it is gone. Perfection would always remain an elusive state. "It is hard to improve upon perfection". So, how can one be perfect?

Blessings...

Do we count our blessings. We have been blessed in so many wonderful ways. There would definitely be the downs too, but aren't they blessings too for a better way of life. The lessons learnt would be invaluable to us in the long run.

If this be so, then why is it that a man/woman is never really happy and contented with the existing state of affairs. Why don't they try to see as to how blessed they are? Its always like this. The creation of a vicious circle in life by the people themselves, that would only make life seem all the more "unblessed". Here, I go on certain incidents in life that I guess is universal.

1. Childhood - a wonderful phase in one's life. Wonderful in its own sweet ways. The closest an individual gets towards counting his blessings. Simple things move the child. It is happy for simple reasons. Simple reasons make it throw tantrums.

2. Adolescent Blues - a confused soul. Wondering as to what he/she would be doing for life. Needs to take those decisions which charts its professional career at a rather tender age. Engineering/Medicine/Commerce/Arts/... It is when he/she starts making those indiscriminate generalizations on one's own capabilities. Also the time when one comes into terms with the process of "growing up".

3. Youth - even more confused. What career option would be the best for him/her? Which would get us more money. How can I be happy? Do I need money or satisfaction or both. Which career would be personally stimulating and satisfying too. Is it all right for me to compromise on my career for money?

The time when he/she starts yearning for the right someone somewhere. A process, a long journey, when the fictitious him/her becomes real. It has its own ups and downs. When it seems that the right life partner, or if I dare say so, the soulmate would make things wonderful.

One must indeed realise that it doesnt take long for the right person to become right or wrong. It is all in the mind. One must nevertheless, be willing, to overlook the negatives in the right person. As long as there is respect and love, I guess it is all fine.

4. A new beginning - The person is no longer alone. He is with her and she is with him. They embark on a new journey together, full of dreams, romance, aspirations, and what not. Sadly, in most cases, the honeymoon period is very short. Once, they begin to live together, the other's faults seem to be unbearable. Responsibilites of parenthood, stability in career, disillusions in romance, etc. seem to bother them a lot.

5. Mid-age - seemingly crisis prone. All those dreams of youth lying unrealised and sacrificed for the family's interests. Disenchantment sets in. The soulmate is no longer the soulmate. The relationship has become more of a marriage of convenience for them. It is more for the sake of their children and society. Romance is gone. Yet, the society thinks that they make a wonderful couple and is envious of them.

6. Retirement Blues - the world thinks that you are no longer fit to do work. People take it real hard. Infact, it is one of the most blessed states in one's life. They can do whatever they want to during that time. The children have gone away. Now, it boils down to the stage in life where the significant other is more of an acquaintance. They seldom talk to each other. Every point of discussion ultimately leads to what happened in the past and fights. Fights can be romantic. But then, fighting daily over seemingly mundane happenings of the past is totally unromantic.

7. Old age - they are all alone. The children are well-to-do. The parents have been successful on that count. Yet, they are failures. The love is lost. They love their children so much that they would never blame them. They would blame themselves. The children would make it a point to call them up once in a while. The parents survive on their savings, if any. They yearn for the company of their grand-children. Yet, they are deprived of the same because of a MIL-DIL problem or the arrogant SonIL or because the children are abroad . Finally, they die a peaceful death in their sleep or a violent death because of some fatal disease.

So, life does seem to be cruel, right? Where, each phase, seems to be confusing, hazy, disenchanting, tortuous, what not? There is no concept of settling down to a better way of life. The mistake lies with us. We need to count our blessings and learn to accept things as they are now. Further, we need to be grateful for our upbringing, our parents, our family, our friends, our education, our downs for the lessons, our share of ups, everything. Yearning for a better way of life would be at the cost of losing out on the present important days of our lives.

PS: Well, the author has given the worst possible scenarios in each phase. It might not be so. But then, it might very well be a reality too. None of the events are real. They have been weaved in the mind of the author to hopefully drive the point home. The author must admit, that he is not immune to the ways of the vicious circle. However, in the best interests of the readers and himself, it is but natural to sermonize; with the hope that we never get deeply entangled in the vicious circle of life that there is no way out.

PS2: If some instances do touch a raw nerve, then it can be safely assumed that we are not heartless. No one would love to get ensnared in this circle where life becomes a struggle. Let us hope for the best for all.

Disasters..

Nature has its own catastrophic way of getting back at mankind. The Tsunami disaster that more than just shook South-East Asia earlier this year; and now the Hurricane Katrina. I must admit, the author had only vaguely heard of the tsunami (was an important quiz trivia in those geography talent quizzes) and didn't really know the modus operandi of the hurricane/other cyclonic storms. Both these events have been devastating for sure. Lives and property have been lost. All this would be a not-so-gentle reminder, that, despite what all that mankind can do, nature still holds the upper hand. Irrespective of the sophisticated weather-monitoring systems in vogue today, such disasters continue to happen.

One gratifying thing that I noticed during both these difficult times, was the spirit of humanity in action. Sadly, the same spirit lies pregnant inside the womb of "My life, my blues, my family, my work, ...etc" most of the times. Sometimes, I do wonder if human beings have lost that vital sense to think beyond just their lives. No, no, I am not advocating any of anti-Roark sentiments out here. But then, do we do anything at all towards Mother Nature - to whom we must be more than just grateful. Do we acknowledge and count our blessings. Definitely not, in most cases. It's always the life of a cribber. Nothing could possibly satisfy us. There is always a yearning and a craving for something beyond the present. I guess I am digressing out here. I will address this in a separate post.

Coming back to disasters!! The world has come together in providing relief efforts, and thankfully, most differences are forgotten. Is'nt it ironical. The world needs disasters to stop fighting and come together. The affected regions receive attention and finances too. There is an unprecedented spurt of development in those regions. This is in a way good. But again, one of the ironies of life. If no disaster were to happen at that place, that place would have been rusting its way to under-development. This was coming straight from one of the relief camps of Tamil Nadu, after the Tsunami disaster. Villagers living just outside the affected regions, were wondering, as to how unfortunate they were because the Tsunami didn't affect their lives. They felt that the relief efforts post-Tsunami would really benefit their "fortunate" neighbours. Strange are the ways of the world.

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Hurricanes are beneficial too. They provide rain to those regions in the world which would otherwise have been very arid. Nature's feedback mechanism of driving the heat from the hot equatorial regions to the tropics helps in maintaining the heat balance in the earth.

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This blog is dedicated to the people affected in these two disasters. Sadly, nothing can be done about the lives and property lost. The survivors need great fortitude in beginning a new phase of life. Here's wishing them "All the very best".

Pottermania....

This post was inspired by that unknown little Mexican (presumably) girl who was sitting out in the open, glued to one of the Potter books, with not a care for the outside world. She was understandly lost in her own "Muggle" world. I must admit, such is the amazing reach of Rowling and Harry Potter.

The purist would find it difficult to accept Rowling and Potter. The children of yesterday (the youth of today and the older generations) would find it difficult to digest the fact that Rowling might very well replace Enid Blyton as one of the greatest children's writers (which might very well turn out to be a reality).

Rowling Vs. Blyton. Does it really matter as to who wins.

However, the very fact that such girls (for that matter, children) exist in this world proves to be a gratifying factor. Nowadays, it is difficult for children to develop the healthy habit of reading in this increasingly net and visual based entertainment era. The fantasies that the human mind can weave are unimaginable and visual effects often tend to spoil/limit that creativity to a great extent.

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Lastly, this blog is dedicated to that little girl.