Thursday, October 16, 2008

Thoughtful Thursday : A life so frivolous

Ever wondered why the most squabbles happen inside a car?
Ever wondered why 4 people of a family travel smiling on a bike?

Ever wondered when vacations became exclusively exotic foreign locations?
Ever wondered when going for 2 months to a cousin's place stopped being the best vacation plan?

Ever wondered when phone numbers were exclusively home numbers and not numbers that could make you talk on the road, in the temple, while driving, while sleeping?

Do you remember the smell of sea water, or the feel of the sand giving away beneath your feet at the beach?

Ever wondered when you last refrained from a fight?
Ever wondered when you last smiled?

Life is a struggle.

If you are in Mumbai, or for that matter any metropolis,
traffic, pollution, stress, irritation, frustration, depression, are all elements of your character. It is a fight to get to work. Push and pull inside a local train, which by and far is the most convenient mode of transport compared to having to waste 2 hours stuck at the same place in a wretched traffic jam. It is a fight to work. Your peer wants the job you are doing and will pull all tricks in the bag to make you look bad. And what do you do? Pull tricks out of your bag to retaliate. You so want to buy that house. Who cares if you get a matchbox at the price of a mansion? All said and done, it is a roof you can call your own. But, the income is down and out, with crisis after crisis mounting one on top of another. With the low demand that ensues thereafter the prices rise even higher. A never ending loop indeed! Till one day, unable to bear the pressure you resign and give up. Ever wondered why begin the rat race in the first place? Ever noticed how the quest for something better eventually leaves you worse than before?

If kids as I described yesterday could be carefree when they do not know whether their next meal is assured, why do we worry about a life so frivolous? Think....

I'll conclude with one of my favorite poems - Leisure by Davies....Since I need to sleep now, or I'll be late for work!

WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—
No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

1 comment:

Pappoos said...

Excellent!!