TABOOS

 It’s very surprising to me that I an introspective and shy person am now so fond of blogging. What exactly do I intend to achieve by this? I don’t know. But I intend to find out. For now I think it can be placed in the sane group as singing in the bathroom. You sing supposing the music (though not always) reaches your ears alone but secretly hope to catch a word of praise from an eavesdropper. Likewise while blogging I can share my innermost secrets and hope that they are read. During writing the last line I was struck by a rather unique aspect of our minds. Sharing a secret with no one and sharing it with everyone has the same meaning to the brain. Nah, I was wrong. Anonymity is the real issue here. But I feel there's something in that line.

Anyway I was going to write about taboos. Recently my sister had been to a debate comp. where the topic was “sex education in schools”. And strangely I, a supposedly ultra-modern person with all the knowledge and maturity I was boasting about, meekly changed to another topic. Why was that? I have been trying to think about the reason for a long time now. What is there in the topic of sex that, despite all education, elders shy away from discussing with the younger? Maybe it has something to do with how one is brought up. I was brought up in quite a conservative family in these regard. But a large appetite for Hollywood movies, English novels, and an early onset on adolescence hastened my acquaintance with sex. Furthermore completing a course of psychology and dreams made me see its effects on our varied day to day actions. Although how crude (forgive the choice of words) and base, sex could get I knew quite late actually. And yet here I am ……..mumbling the word whenever it occurs in a general discussion even though the context may be describing whether the person is a male or a female. I think such prudishness is pretty hopeless. But I can’t do away with it. I have tried many times to raise the topic near my brother and sister (both my juniors) and have failed. Probably as I am thinking the main fear we have to face with this topic is that the little ones have now come of age and that believe me is a terrifying thought for any parent or elder sibling. Once gone we sorely miss our childhood and hope it stays on with the young and we get to exercise the elder’s prerogative for ever. Thus we turn a blind eye to the fact that now they are not so young after all. Strange isn't it? But honestly what ever is the ancient force that’s holding us back should be done away with. Ironically taboos like those related to sex, deviant sexual habits, religion etc are the very topics that should be addressed widely and ones in which teenagers should be made aware of.

Hence I feel sex-education should definitely be introduced into the curriculum. But before that a more important issue has to be dealt with first……..that of teaching the teachers how to tackle this sensitive subject. Believe me many teachers screw up while teaching of a solitary chapter on reproductive system and over react to the expected giggling of students. Telling a class of girls and boys about sex will be a hell of a job for them. And heaven forbid if any of them decide to dictate notes and take class tests. Kids may get furious and decide never to make love in the future!!! What I mean is that introducing youngsters to sex is not enough. The introduction has to be done in a very systematic and matured manner so as to prevent any misconceptions.

I think I have made a pretty clean statement without blushing. Let us hope I have the courage to carry out what I have said. I certainly will give it a try sometime. For now its 5 in the moring and I better go to sleep now.



 

CHANGE

Of all the factors that shape human destiny perhaps the strongest is change. Empires and republics grow and fall because of change. Indeed the whole history of the universe can be summarized in the following words: “it has changed”. Though artificially simplistic it conveys a powerful fact ………nothing is permanent. Everything changes—may be for the better or the worse.

Yet we resist change. We dislike to disrupt of the familiar and fear to embrace the unknown. We like things to remain as they are. But what we don’t realize is that in the process of fighting change we transform into something rigid and rigidity never succeeds. Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you. But changes should not be made to an existing working system on counts of novelty alone. That is where many err. Blindly mimicking something, almost always leads to downfall. Instead of being swept away we should try to make an impartial judgment as to which of the alternatives is the better one. Maybe the one followed for years is followed for a reason. There are many things here which require a more deep analysis. After all if man succeeds in finding this elusive balance between tradition and invention many needless problems can be solved. An open minded dynamic society is perhaps the answer to an everlasting prosperity of the human race. Big words, aren’t they?



 

FRIENDS

I am off to take a late night bath. Have not been able to for the whole day because a friend was there with me since morning. This brings me to the topic for now----“friends”. By now I have made it pretty clear that I don’t like company. I don’t like being made to sit with people and chit chat while there may be a thousand more things I could spend my time on. Is man really a social animal or he is made to be one. I mean how many people get to cherish the purity of solitude early in their life so that they can impartially judge whether it’s better to be alone or to be in a group. After all we are primates and the highest primate next to us the orangutan is a confirmed loner. Friends and gossip are great for relieving your mind. But beyond a certain measure they begin to throttle you. And I feel everyone should be given a chance to spend some time in solitude. I can surely say the time spent that way is my best part of the day. Have to take that bath now. 

MARRIAGE

Today I was having a discussion with my sister whether marriage is a necessary part of life or not. As for me, I intend to spend my life unmarried. It’s true that marriage brings someone into your life---someone you can share your closest secrets with. Someone when with whom you will never feel lonely. Someone to share your feelings of joy and happiness.

But I feel its marriage has its side effects which for certain individuals can far outweigh its benefits. First marriage is an obligation made for life. Recently rising number of divorces might suggest that you can step out these obligations whenever you feel like, but let’s take the thing in its true spirit. I for one am extremely paranoiac about commitments. Maybe because in the past I have made some and have failed to keep it leading to quite bad experiences. I feel only a person living in the present can make a promise for life. I am not one of them.

Secondly marriage is a burden. You may love the person you marry but you have no choice over the child that will follow. What sort of character it will grow into nobody can tell but you have to take the responsibility. Though working partners are the norm of the day the male is still looked upon to take the earning responsibility of the house. Now while all alone I can throw my job if my boss or colleagues piss me off and look for another one. But that I cannot do once in wedlock as “I have a family to look after.”

Thirdly I never want to stop being a child. After all my readings and vast second hand experiences it is my conclusion that the careless gaiety of a child is too precious to be squandered for the glittering “maturity” of a man. Call it the peter pan complex but I love being I 20 year old kid. I believe a matured child is the perfection of the human race. Love and Marriage come along and ruin it all.

The fourth reason is derived from personal experience. My father was and is a voracious reader (though he keeps telling me I am much more). In our house we have around 10000 books all personally bought and collected by him. It’s his habit to note down his name and the date of possession on each copy. What’s interesting is that all those before his marriage are worn down by repeated use. Those after have their pages hardly turned over. I have often seen him pick up a book with great interest and then put it down to attend to some problem of the house. I don’t want the same to happen to me. I feel most of our lifetime is consumed in solving problems whose architects are we ourselves. After marriage one must either give up hope of higher dreams or be contended to live a terrible life in which he neither gets his dreams nor marital happiness. What is such a life good for?

I don’t know. Maybe there is more to marriage than a cynical and bitter person like me could understand. After all as John Nash said,

“I've made the most important discovery of my life. It's only in the mysterious equation of love that any logical reasons can be found.”

May be I am yet to find it. May be I am too strong or too mad to be swayed by my emotions. May be all are not strong enough to live their life themselves and need a companion to relive their burden.
I am and I work alone.

 

DONT KNOW WHERE TO START OR WHAT TO DO

At the very start I need to tell this that if I sound deranged or imbalanced you were not the first one to judge to that. I have been given lots of names by many people. Indeed I know it myself and am proud of it. The kind of life I have led will make men drop dead from sheer mental exhaustion. If I seem awkward at a few times what the heck. I suffer from a hero complex. I believe I have the power in me to set things right. Remember when Uncle Ben parker told Peter Parker "With great power comes great responsibility”, I felt somebody was telling me those things. What exactly is my power????

Well I don’t know if u can call it a super power but I have an amazing power to study and grasp things in a sec that would take normal beings days.I believe I have read more than any of my generation and age and I am not boasting. I am equallywell read in literature, physics, math, history, philosophy, computers, law.......the list goes on.

 

And I don’t know where to start and what to do. Comical,huh? I believe all the knowledge that I have acquired should not waste in vain in some corporate office. But everything in my life seems to go in that direction and I don’t seem to have any control over it. Prospects in the future look so bleak, dull and terrifying. And I feel I have been put in here for a reason more than just to earn a secure and comfort life for me and my family. I feel I have a mission to accomplish. Reader, if u like laughing go right ahead and I shall laugh with you. But I can’t change who I am, can I? For the time being I am utterly confused and have a single motto in life…..”KNOW THYSELF” for that is the only thing worth doing.