After much being coaxed and derogated to write something, I finally sit down. But what the hell? The sunlight’s not on my desk now. I should rather move to the dining table. Well the glass top is way more cold than the warm wood, and F##K!……
I stubbed my toe on the chair! Everyone’s worst fear on a wintery morning. Hell it pains. I should have probably sat and watched those remaining episodes of Death Note…… Chuck it!
Hi Friends!
This little conversation to the self up there might sound…. “That’s me!” well this is exactly the “Stumper” I want to talk this time.
I was watching the movie Scent of a Woman the other day. They are checking in an airport and Charlie as Lt. Col.’s new aide grabs his arm to direct him:
Lt Col. Frank Slade (Al Pacino): Are you blind?
Lt Col. Frank Slade (Al Pacino): Are YOU BLIND?
Charlie Simms (Frank O’Donnel): Of course, Not!
Lt. Col.: Then why do you keep grabbing my goddamn arm! I take your arm.
Charlie: I am sorry.
Lt. Col.: Don’t be sorry. How would you know! Watching MTV all your life!
Well this was just an eye opener, I would say to lots of things WE people are still to learn. And by WE I mean the endless line of engineers trying to convert their calls to a B-School (and still not knowing either of those fields), the button-down power-dressed MBA dude banging his head on the screen trying to crunch numbers, the bored up guy/gal placed in an IT firm in Gurgaon sitting in his office thinking WTF!, Unplaced people, Commerce/Arts/Entire Spectra of Lovely University Courses, basically) or that fast life living Metropolitan kid that thinks such a fast life is what I’m meant for. Just the average big dreams Youth of the day near or far, city or nowhere.
We are the Millennial kids of the Information Age. And information for us is like the medieval day Honor. We show it around like a badge on a bag! No wonder the other day I was sitting in a placement interview and the first thing the HR and I discussed was the quickness of Twitter to spread Info. Yes Information is Knowledge. Knowledge is Power. But as the Spidey movie teaches us, “With Great Power comes Great Responsibility”, we need to do a lot in this domain. Not for the regular do-things-for-the-society-kind but for ourselves.
The recent post on my FB Timeline by ‘Humble – The Poet’ does point somewhere in that direction. The post starts with:
“Women don’t need our protection. The idea that women require protection not only degrades their position, but also inflates the idea that we actually have the power to do such a thing in the first place.”
And more importantly ends with:
“There are parts of the world, where that preparation and precaution (to protect oneself) aren’t luxuries but necessities to survive though harsh environments. Most of us are fortunate not to be in those positions, and many of the uglies they face on a daily basis are ignored until they hit our doorstep.”
This is where the responsibility starts from. Our daily lives seem more of a struggle to survive through lack of opportunity, lack of time or lack of ways to have fun. And in this rush of things to WANT, our perceptions have got way SKEWED to the level that minting bucks is the only source we see to survive through. The ugly truth is that things we were taught as children to stay away from are exactly the ones that are running the society we live in. Be it corruption, nepotism or cheating or even to the extent that protecting our own women is now seen as an act of sexism. There’s no difference in Indian and Bhartiya mentality. They co-exist in close quarters and as I see it are a function of how we see ourselves responsible for these little things that take monsterous sizes and effects.
The self-responsibility starts at Believing that yes minting bucks is the only way to survive AND doing what I REALLY WANT is the only thing I should be doing (being Lazy-Ass/Horny/Gangsta doesn’t count!). Maybe that’s when we can have less frustrated individuals who even when making a moolah of a package won’t go wasting their life over the LACK of FUN! Maybe that’s when we won’t have men pushing themselves on women. Maybe that’s when we would stop projecting women as objects of display.
And for the least realize that fears should be better than stubbing-my-toe-on-a-corner. There’s a guy I don’t like in the friend circle who recently joined army. He exclaimed once, “This is a place where we make man a Man”. It was statement of humor for the group but I somehow felt how right he was. A much unheard term these days called Rites of Passage was what he was pointing to. With our fathers and grandfathers absent from our homes we really have forgotten what it is like to idolize someone and learn what truly being a Man means. This might sound a bit incriminating but we have achieved a generation of men ‘raised by women’. And these are the same men who have forgotten how to respect them. Amongst other aspects, this is one thing that comes in the realm of Information that we all really need to know.
I hope the whole thing can be summarized in one way. We should really look to personas like this:
Than this:
(I love Mr. Downey Jr but post his drug-fueled life. He’s given us some masterpieces of acting recently).
So one big question can still be (if you really interested) where the hell do you find some liberating information.
Inside Yourself
AAAAHHHNNNTTT! Wrong answer. (Come on who u kidding. We still don’t know our ways around a sewing a button yet) One needs to look a little behind to the generation who created the companies like Apple, or Nations like our Own, or Dams-Hill Stations like a few renowned Engineers. And specifically they did this through entirely simple systems, no Google no Twitter no WikiWorld. Simple sense and those little things that helped them do what brought them contentment in what they did. One lot that can be of help is our Grandparents. They know a few things better than us. 😀 And a site probably. This might sound lame but in the ocean of modern sense that overflows everyday on internet, I found this a secure lighthouse. (For Gentlemen check out artofmanliness.com.) For Ladies you can go probably look at GQ.com. (Ain’t I a pig?)
So Happy Gathering Info then! 😀 😀
The Thought Spout 