A Thought

One of my friends argued strongly, “If parents are not able to save the hierarchical property or earn a property for their children (future generation), they didn’t live proper life or in a right way.”

It sounded so funny to me. There is nothing called right or wrong way of living or even good or bad way of living, and no one has a dictionary to live a better life. Standing far beyond the limits of time and circumstances, I can blame my parents that they didn’t live a proper life, as if I am living it as the best. What looks as luxury now for me might have been a necessity for them at that moment. My parents didn’t save or earn a property, but they gave me everything that is necessary to lead a dignified life. I can’t blame them for the way they lived. I feel that who am I to question their selfless living and unplanned giving? I can only revere the life they lived.

My father usually says, “I am meant to live a life as happy as the way I live by believing the principles of “tomorrow never comes and live the moment”, I never regret any moment that you people call where ‘I failed’. I have given or passed on the qualities of individuality and virtue to you. It is up to you to find your fortune with them. You have no rights to point finger on me for your misfortunes.”

When he said that, I was angry: How irresponsible he is! But after a while when I think, indeed, I have no rights to blame him for not saving a load of money spend for generations, as he has taught me to choose them for myself. If I didn’t choose them, I cannot blame him. Still, I can only admire my father for being who he is. It is not easy to be happy, content, and good-tempered all the time beyond many failures. When someone does, like my father, naturally the world blames that person as irresponsible and their life as wrongly lived one!

When I write this, I realize how ill-tempered with my parents I am, finding fault with the way they brought me up. Indeed, they did their best for me. I rever them for the way they are.

Is simplicity a sin?

A thought popped up in my mind, when I was talking to one of my friends. She said a statement, “now-a-days I see people using their intelligence to impress people”. The statement provoked me to write this topic.  I worked in an office for four years in one of the cosmopolitan cities of India. But, when I left the company I didn’t even feel like crying, none was so much affectionate enough to cry. You may question me why should anyone cry?

Of course, no one needs to cry in this information techno world. I am not trying to blame anyone here; I just would like to differentiate the relationship with the people. I also worked in a college for just 10 months, where my students and fellow staffs cried badly and made me cry very badly when I left the college. However, I still now maintain a good relationship with my students but not with my colleagues who worked with me for 4 years till 3 months ago. I don’t know how far someone can feel the difference on these two situations, but I do feel a huge. The relationship with those corporate friends is just intellectually chosen and intellect doesn’t have emotions. I don’t have an emotional solace of true friendship in that office, all four years I spent in that office was with false hope and fake smiles or I should say a grin. I am really happy that I left the place… So, I didn’t feel like crying.

Yes, my friend was exactly quoted in a simple statement. The people at the office express their intelligence to win friendship and in turn just intelligently the friendship was maintained as colleagues. I cried for losing some of my colleagues whom I thought as friends. Later, I realized the theory when I left the company.

In the above anecdote, the logic of simplicity and complexity in communication does matter a huge impact of our relationships. This logic is universal. Anyone whom we choose to be ourselves, have a simple and transparent communication with us and the relationship lasts forever. However, we also have an outer image to keep ourselves complex and strange to maintain the ego in social relationship and the relationship lasts for no time and has a purpose. Here, I would also bring a thought from aesthetics: something that has become more useless then that is more artistic. Uselessness is value of art and so the relationship.

Especially in corporate culture, there is an unwritten rule to maintain your ego with complex behavior just expressing all your intelligence and they are the successful people to climb the ladder of career. Thus, the world of intellectuals and geeks are really complex. They really lost their true simplicity in the crowd, and they become completely different and measure everyone’s life with their perspectives and intelligence.

Simplicity has become a sin in their world. It has become a pride to say that ‘I love listening to techno, instrumentals, wire, jaaz and rock.’ It has become a sin to say that I love listening to movie songs or any regional music directors. Not only in music in every things, books, food. To cope up with the demands and maintain the ego among the crowd, many of us wear a mask. The life in mask resulted in emptiness and we started hating ourselves and lost in the crowd losing our individual preferences. I don’t blame everyone, because I do know people who never give up their individuality and true to themselves at any cost. How insensible to be intellectual in front of everyone and loose ourselves!

We cannot enjoy things that are truly beautiful around us; we started cursing the rain as well the shine; we don’t listen to pleasant sounds; we don’t smell the soil or rose. It’s all mad ramble for money and fake image to prove ourselves rich in society. Ultimately, we realize the emptiness and become numb to appreciate the simplicity. The truth is simplicity keeps the heart and mind healthy. There is a long list of people who surpass the test of time by being simple in their communication and make their lives meaningful and pleasant.