As much as I enjoy lying on my bed, taking in the heat that I have no choice against, seeing as the electricity board seems to think its funny to impose load shedding only in the hottest months in the year, I won't deny joblessness does call for philosophy.
Not that I am saying that philosophers are all jobless, but it seems our mind is so occupied with menial things at other times; what's for breakfast, why doesn't the train ever come on time, why are the lectures so long, what if he likes me, why is my friend being an ass, why doesn't that loud lady on the bus shut up, who the hell invented homework, who the hell changed the TV show timings, why don't they ever show Deathly Hallows on HBO...etc.
But then thinking up a philosophy lesson while lying on my bed seems to be the perfect thing to do on a lazy afternoon in a tropical city with no electricity.
What's funny is, when a particular thing is a part of our lives, we take it for granted. And when it's no longer there, you want it desperately. The human mind is so fickle, so irritatingly relaxed about such serious things, and realization is always late. What strikes me is the universality of this. How, weirdly, this applies to us all.
What goes on in that huge walnut of ours? What's the programming hard-wired in us that makes us so universally indifferent to life? A child wants to be an adult, an adult wants to be old, and an old man wants to be young again. This vicious cycle clearly indicates our tendency to ignore life as we have it, for the want of a better one and so, it's no wonder we end up never being happy.
The brain is smart; it makes you believe that all that you do is leading to a better life, a better future, when all you are really doing is counting down your days. Choose the right subjects, choose the right stream, choose the right profession, choose the right partner, and keep choosing till death is your only choice with just enough time to look back and brood over all the wrong choices you have made.
How about not worrying about what you are going to be doing for the rest of your life, but making choices that make you enjoy the next minute wholly, solely, completely, boundlessly? After all, there is no guarantee that there will be a next day, definitely not in a crazy city like Mumbai. So if you aren't sure of the next minute, how can you make a choice for life?
The walnut of ours has been so conditioned by society, a society that thinks only of the future; a society where mild, helpful foresight has been converted into literally living in the future, that that's the way we think now.
Maybe what this world needs is a bit of spontaneity. Life in the present is so beautiful, if only we'd start living it too.
But then thinking up a philosophy lesson while lying on my bed seems to be the perfect thing to do on a lazy afternoon in a tropical city with no electricity.
What's funny is, when a particular thing is a part of our lives, we take it for granted. And when it's no longer there, you want it desperately. The human mind is so fickle, so irritatingly relaxed about such serious things, and realization is always late. What strikes me is the universality of this. How, weirdly, this applies to us all.
What goes on in that huge walnut of ours? What's the programming hard-wired in us that makes us so universally indifferent to life? A child wants to be an adult, an adult wants to be old, and an old man wants to be young again. This vicious cycle clearly indicates our tendency to ignore life as we have it, for the want of a better one and so, it's no wonder we end up never being happy.
The brain is smart; it makes you believe that all that you do is leading to a better life, a better future, when all you are really doing is counting down your days. Choose the right subjects, choose the right stream, choose the right profession, choose the right partner, and keep choosing till death is your only choice with just enough time to look back and brood over all the wrong choices you have made.
How about not worrying about what you are going to be doing for the rest of your life, but making choices that make you enjoy the next minute wholly, solely, completely, boundlessly? After all, there is no guarantee that there will be a next day, definitely not in a crazy city like Mumbai. So if you aren't sure of the next minute, how can you make a choice for life?
The walnut of ours has been so conditioned by society, a society that thinks only of the future; a society where mild, helpful foresight has been converted into literally living in the future, that that's the way we think now.
Maybe what this world needs is a bit of spontaneity. Life in the present is so beautiful, if only we'd start living it too.
