Pushing The Envelop

Did anyone miss me? No? Well no matter, who misses whom these days? Do we really care that much for each other?

Don’t think I am complaining. It’s a statement of fact. We don’t really have the time for that sort of shit, do we?

No of course not. None has. We have things to do, place to go, sights to see, people to meet. None of them is unimportant.

That keep the wolves away from the door. And that is vital.

The shrewd Indians of old knew of this. They advised:

Yaya kaya kavidha bahuannam prapnuyat.

That is “Obtain lots of grub by whatever means and methods you can.”

This grub that they speak of, it envelopes every normal activity.

Those ancient were quirky; they did not leave the matter there. They took it much, much further.


They were emphatic in stating: “ Annam Wy Brahma” (Grub is truth, God and everything)

So we can’t set the effort simply aside can we? No, not really. Not because they said it, but for it’s the truth.

Grub does matter.

But what if one has enough of grub for the time being (It never happens you say? Okay, consider it for the sake of argument then)?

We don't have anything on our hands. We are sitting with an easy conscience.

Well thats when we do ‘nothing’, and that takes up time too.

I am being very serious here. It’s no child’s play, doing nothing. It takes some practice, it takes some effort.

To me it’s a serious business. It’s the hardest of occupations. I sometimes despair of sticking to it.

Try it for a couple of hours. Just try it, you will soon find how difficult it is.

Habitually we opt for the other thing, that is, do. It’s easier than sitting still and unoccupied. The funny part is, it’s less dangerous too.

You watch the Chinese man sitting by the side of the road as if he has nothing else to do. There is a stupid and beatific smile hovering on his face.

He seems completely self satisfied.

You are disgusted. You think: There sits the “White man’s burden. He wouldn’t even shit unless told to”

All the while the man might be enveloping the whole world with his being and was even becoming the world in the process.

That takes some doing.

I say if anything is really tough this is it. May be this is why people prefer doing something else instead all the time.

In a way that’s nice too, having something to do all the time. Having something to occupy the mind, to structure time.

That’s all we could do to keep away from ennui. Fill the blank stretches of time with activity. It doesn’t matter what they are as long as they keep us occupied. There is safety in occupation. It pushes adrenaline into the system. It banishes fear for some moments. It creates oblivion.

It creates what?

-Oblivion. Haven’t you heard- something obtuse, oblong and obfuscating?

That’s rot, how could activity create oblivion, it’s the direct antithesis of oblivion. Who you trying to kid man? Don’t we need to be alert to do something, anything?

Alert to what?

To the thing, the immediate environment, to a whole lot of things.

Well, that’s oblivion.

Well then I am Idi Amin.

You don’t know how true that statement is.

Anyway joking apart, doing something pushes other things into the distance. Activity acts as a magical shield, protecting you from inner demons. But the demons may have to be faced sooner or later.

Really we run away from ourselves all the time. You now know the reason why.

While at work we are only aware of the structure that we built its nuances, its vagaries, its occasional blessings, niceties. We proudly call it life.

Structure is lifeless. It’s an imposition; it’s what some call the play of names and forms. It’s the web woven by our own misunderstanding.

Don’t call all this the antediluvian mystical crap. (It may be so, but it’s all true too).

All the time we go missing from our own lives. Some of us would never have the luck to find that in this life time. To me nothing could be sadder than that.

But none would realize that. We would still be having the personal swimming pools, the choppers for emergencies, the 52 inch Plasma/LCD TV’s, the master cards, the universal remotes.

But what exactly could be missing from our lives?

Nothing, we say promptly.

Correct that’s what is missing.

Nothing.

We wonder, what in the hell is all this talk about?

Well what indeed!








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