12 months ago, I was not the person I am. Neither did I want to be the person I have become. And this change is definitely not attributable to the “education” that I have received in the last few months. It is just that my experiences turned out to be very different from what I hoped they would be. And even when things turned out exactly how I wanted them to, most of these victories did not seem as dear as I had hoped they would be. The last year has been one of introspection – a lot of it. I will be the first to admit that not much good came of it. However, I find this form of intellectual masturbation satisfying in its own perverse way. No pun intended.
Let me try and pen down my take on a few things.
Family – As a silently rebellious teenager who wanted to get away as far as he could from home and family. My friends were my family and my family was a bunch of people who just didn’t get me. I find myself in very different shoes now. I have come to realize that my parents and my younger brother are the only people who have been eternally forgiving of all the crap I have pulled. My apathy and neglect towards them in my younger years never diminished their concern for me. Note to self: Family is very very important. Spend time with them. Do those small things which make them happy even if it cramps your style.
Job – If you are one of the smart ones, you are fucked. Once you figure out how to do your job well, the challenge ends there. It will be a matter of time before you are bored. Find a job that lets you try out different things or try doing things differently at your job. If you can’t do either, get out. You don’t want everyday to be a countdown towards the weekend, do you? And if you are not one of the smart ones then shut up and stop cribbing. You are lucky to have a job in the first place.
Love, Relationships and Women – Women have this funny effect of enhancing the intensity of your emotions. The highs in a relationship are incredibly high and the lows, incredibly low. Net, net you are neither better off nor worse off. So what’s the draw? I want to believe that the answer lies in the need to procreate billions of years of evolutionary biology but I am too much of a romantic to do that.
However, there are a few lessons I learnt along the way.
Money – Very intriguing concept. Forgive me my moment of indulgence but I believe I have a beautiful and elegant explanation as to why it is the most lusted after object of desire.
The lust for money is derived as it is the ONLY economic concept that does not lend itself to diminishing returns of utility. Every incremental rupee is always welcome. There are bigger, better, more expensive things to be bought and consumed.
That having been said, I myself am not immune to its charms. I believe money is important for a comfortable life. However, I hope I have the prudence to use it as a means to an end and not make it the end itself.
God – I believe in God. It is not terribly difficult for me to imagine a superhuman, supernatural force that is governing the universe. Religion, on the other hand, is a man-made construct created by certain classes of men to subjugate the others. Religion promotes fear, demands submission and does not lend itself to questioning. That’s not what God is. This space is too small for me to convey the essence of my arguments. This topic demands a dedicated post. I will write the same sometime in the near future.
Looking forward to the comments.
