This post draws heavy inspiration from Eddie Vedder‘s “Long Nights” song. I recently watched the movie, “Into the Wild” (2007). It is such a terrific film and would recommend it to anyone that liked “One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest“/”House of Sand and Fog“/”A Perfect World“. “Into the Wild” introduced me to Eddie Vedder’s work and his captivating baritone vocals.
Coming back to the topic, the year 2007 and 2008 have been highly experimental to me. In professional sense, I should term it more of a Sabbatical (not exactly). In personal sense, it is more of transitioning out of “adolescence” to “manhood”. I am still learning to adapt myself to extremes of environment.
If year 2007 was about ranting on lack of proper adoption and implementation of fundamental rights in my Country (by birth), year 2008 is transitioning out to be “accepting reality”. Then and there, my rebellious alter-ego thinks about bringing about a change and building awareness among my brethren.
“He who thinks about changing the world never thinks about changing himself” – Leo Tolstoy
I am actually not a big fan of the above quote but can use it at selective situations to comfort myself on the ineptitude of certain systems (especially, the Governmental setup in India). It has been quite an experience to get a feel of how things get done in Government setup. I will tell you, you really don’t want to put yourself in a situation when a paperwork from Government Office is required. It is such a pain! This is the time when the above quote comes in handy to soothe me and I think about the efficient system in evolved Democracies.
Year 2007 also made me realize that India is a fledgling or young democracy (in diplomatic terms). In rude terms, the Indian setup is still unfit to handle its independence. In philosophical sense, it is an evolving system. The sense of Nationalism that crept in during the independence struggle has now paved way to regionalism and dirty caste-ism. It is a miracle that India has seen successively elected Governments through suffrage. Seriously!
In terms of professional experience, it taught me how my own Countrymen balance between family and work. Information Technology (IT) is largely a field that is modelled under the demands of western thought process. This reminds me of Pavan K Verma’s statement that an Indian leads a visible split-personality life. He is expected to abide my the interests of his parents, conform to societal protocols, meet the professional demands at work and on top of it lead his family. This is not an easy game to play in community centric society when there is a large disparity in the expectations of his professional world and his personal world. Yet, the Indian male somehow manages to put up a brave front. Imagine, if it is a challenge to a male in a largely patriarchal society, a women faces twice the challenge.
This should explain you why Indians can’t be {frequently} seen sailing a private Yacht at Seville, rock climbing at the Canyons, backpacking to Guatemala or volunteering at Cambodia. They have different set of priorities. A list of priorities that has not been defined by the individual but by the Parents and Society. One has to pick what is good for him/her – rather than being fed.
I worked in Hyderabad for six months and in Bangalore for three months. In spite of my short stay, I still find Bangalore a better choice than Hyderabad. People in my profession, though they program in machine interpreted language – still connect with each other through native common language. I did feel the reality of not speaking the common language. Lingual discrimination among my Countrymen still exists. Nevertheless, I met interesting individuals cut across languages.
This also taught me that when you get deep in to the semantics of a language, you are indirectly getting absorbed in to its culture as well. I am a Tamil by birth and largely use English as a medium of communication. I have seen myself drawn towards the thoughts of Western Philosophers or works than me taking a conscious effort to browse the archives of Tamil works, of Philosophers or Revolutionary writers or Artists. My thoughts are indirectly {more} influenced by Western works. Ironically, to me, if you don’t strike a chord with the common man of the region, then you are missing out on the basics.
More than anything else, I think I have learned to see life from my own lenses rather than the one borrowed from Parents or other individuals! In spite of meandering thoughts, I have fairly sustained on self-reliance though not exactly on the principles of communal thinking. I have learned to respect it even though I have voiced my own views on topics with regards to influence of superficial interpretations of religion in communal life. It is better not to provoke simple minded individuals. If they weren’t here, I don’t think life would have existed on earth. When I say, simple minded individuals, I refer to the ones that are moulded by communal and family values. If all were radical or free thinkers, bondage among individuals would not have prevailed! To me, it is the diversity in the spectrum of minds that drives life.
Cynical thinking is now paving way to acceptance – which i believe is a positive move. You don’t have to introduce logical thinking in areas of relationship. I love pristine emotion sans mind-games. Idealism is running in my genes. Partly, I can attribute myself more as an Artist than a pseudo-Intellectual Mercenary.
The bottomline, to me, is all about living life irrespective of wherever you are!
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