The tyranny of our times

Hi, before I begin with anything else a very happy Dusshera and Durga Puja to all u guys. I am a bit late, like a day or two but I guess that kind of delay is okay. Today what I wish to talk about has a lot to do with festivities, happiness, giving, taking and the feeling of joy and jocundity all around. Well a word of caution for all of you who think that it is another cliche write up which will tell you how happy we all feel at this time of the year, how it is the celebration of good over evil and how blessed we are for all of it.

I do not wish to get into the folklore of these two festivals as it not of prime importance at the given moment. But what is worth noting is that they have a lot to do with gaiety and happiness as any other festival true to its name. to cut the long story short my question, do occasions like these spell happiness for all, all and sundry, everyone around us? you might tell me that ''well mam, that happens to be very subjective, doesn't it ?'' No it does not. I will tell you why.

First have a good look at the pic and allow me to tell you the story behind it.

Underprivileged India bystanders gather ghee or clarified butter from a road after it had been poured onto a palli or fire in the village of Rupal some 45 kms. north of Ahmedabad, early 21 October 2007. Palli is celebrated on the ninth day of Navratri or nine nights Festival, in which ghee collected at some 27 spots from all over the the village is poured on a holy fire kindled atop a wooden frame, which is carried through the streets in a procession. (AFP Photo)

As a part of my job profile I had to work with this pic on the eve of Dussehra (lets call it D for reason of convenience). the time wen all kith and kin were calling up, text messaging to shower their blessings and congratulate me. and as far as i am concerned something in me was sinking. i could not believe my eyes. Okay its not about, what comes first to the mind. What every normal person worth his name will tell you, there are poor people and there are rich and thatz how the world is. but then the world sucks, and don't pardon me for this unpolitical language. I hate it, tell me something when was the last time that you felt bad to spend, to indulge. Or should i ask, did u ever? Coz I do, almost everyday. I feel bad for whatever meagre that I am blessed with when I see the people who are not. A friend of mine tells me that life is not fair. Okay might not be. My granddad tells me its to do wit karma, u sow what you reap. either in this lifetime or the next. maybe, I am too small to deal with the Karmic cycle but then all said and done this aint happenin, not for me at least.

You kno wat our nation is the country that is the highest cinema making nation of the world. Our Bollywood spins more flicks than any other nation in the world, and that is when we are still a third world developing nation. You all must be aware of the kind of money that gets pumped into the cine world. tell me, can we afford it, do we really need it, i wonder. all of it when so many of us go to sleep hungry while so many spent a 150 bucks to say that ''it was shit ya, wasted my money''. Don't we all share the same air space, the same roads the same globe. doesn't it feel sickening to see so much pain, agony, hopelessness all around us. I guess it does , for me at least.

For instance take the pic mentioned above, now how can society go on spilling tons of ghee on the roads when there are scores of people who will fish it out of the muck. what are they trying to prove, that they are affluent, they are powerful in terms of money. I might sound crazy but this is what drives me crazy.

A couple of years bak i had the misfortune to visit the acclaimed Akshardham temple of Ahmedabad, its famous for a lot of reasons but i remember it for the terrorist encounter that took place there. Now i could go on length about the place the kind of money squandering that goes on and a lot more jazz but will tell u something related to the next big D, Diwali. At D the entire temple is decorated with 10,000 lamps fuelled with Shuddh desi ghee, mind u Shuddh desi ghee. The guy who was takin us around said that beaming with pride and looked at us with a deep desire of being acknowledged. I looked at his face and gave him the expression that, shit u are nuts man. Who pays for all these ya, wat the heck, who really needs them. who is it who is on a life support of it. who is going to lose his appetite if this does not happen. no one. but then how the hell can you go ahead with stuff like this when u have lepers, old haggard men and women, little children pleading for alms right outside ur door. U are talkin of God, of love, compassion, sympathy and all u have on offer is 10,000 desi ghee lamps. You are the farthest you could go away from God.

I might be sounding very dissatisfied, but that is because I am. I can't comprehend the pseudo happiness that comes along with festivities and zeal to spend and show off recklessly that has become synonymous with it. How can we spend like this, how can we fake that we are happy or for that matter how can we be happy.

If I sound offensive then I am sorry. Take it as an inability to look at something from a view other than your own or else as the turmoils of a disturbed mind.