Life's Like That!!

Hey. 

This past week has been particularly stressful--the number of people affected by COVID-19 is on the increase, the economy nosediving, border conflicts, uncertainty about the examinations creating anxiety across the student community and parents; and as if these were not enough to make the common man--us--about where we are today as human civilization, an incident that shook most of us by surprise, and shock, is the death of the young, successful Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. A familiar face to many viewers as a TV actor from the daily soap PavitraRishta, he drew our attention with his MSDhoni: An Untold Story and the most recent Chhichhore. A happy-looking talented youth who managed to dent the 'nepotism' wall of Bollywood, estimated to have acquired 60 crore property, what could have ailed him? Depression? Lockdown and its uncertainties? Ignored, snubbed by the Star Kids Club? (which is not synonymous with 'film fraternity') or was it that an extremely sensitive youth who was deeply philosophical and spiritual, having achieved that which not many aspiring young actors achieve, considered life as nothing more than a mirage? Nihilism? Or was it the case of a passionate stargazer who became an existentialist and lost interest in living and/ or life? No one knows what it is. . . human mind is so strange. In any situation, it craves a specific answer. This incident is no different. . . but, the specific answer that would have comforted us even after the tragedy is not to be. 

                At times, the most intelligent of individuals get lost in this jungle of life. Perhaps, the one mark of a successful individual is in living and facing life with whatever it throws at you--irrespective of whether it is acknowledged as a mark of success or not. A student of literature knows it pretty well, I suppose. Europe, for example. The two world wars left a deep scar, a trauma on the minds of Europeans. A civilization that believed in the nobility of the human mind was facing the horror of war and antisemitism. Philosophers like Soren Kierkegaard, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche discussed Existentialist philosophy. They began questioning the notion of a God who, until then, was imagined as kind, with unlimited knowledge and unlimited power to do anything. This was one of the occasions that made Albert Camus revisit the Greek myth of Sisyphus in his novel The Myth of Sisyphus, published in 1942 in the French language as Le Mythe de Sysphe. Sisyphus is a Grecian condemned by the gods to roll a boulder up the hill eternally. This myth acts as a metaphor depicting the struggle of the individual's persistent struggle against an essentially absurd life-- life without any real meaning. But, like for many of us, for Albert Camus too, it is of utmost importance to accept this notion of the absurd in life and to find joy in accepting this apparent absurdity, in struggling against what seems to be a defeating activity. It is against this defeat that the individual gains dignity and identity. The sheer resilience to live, and live by what one believes in, which one shows in the face of most challenging situations, is most beautiful.  

                  To give a lending hand and keep a smiling face, are not merely superficial; it is a profound, organic way of life. I am very tempted to share a story by Nasreddin Mulla, a celebrated philosopher and a Turkish Sufi celebrating such simplicity of life, very much like our own  Tenali Rama and Birbal. This one is quite a take on the paradox of life:

                                    

                                 Why We Are Here?

          Walking one evening along a deserted road, Mulla Nasreddin saw a troop of horsemen coming towards him. His imagination started to work; he saw himself captured and sold as a slave, or impressed into the army. Nasreddin bolted, climbed a wall into a graveyard, and lay down in an open tomb. Puzzled at his strange behaviour, the men  – honest travellers – followed him. They found him stretched out, tense and quivering. ‘What are you doing in that grave? We saw you run away. Can we help you?’ ‘Just because you can ask a question does not mean that there is a straightforward answer to it,’ said the Mulla, who now realized what had happened. ‘It all depends upon your viewpoint. If you must know, however: I am here because of you, and you are here because of me.’ 

               Well, that's some heartening humor that could save us from grim sadness. Of course, many poets have celebrated this paradoxical beauty of life. Khalil Gibran has one such poem:

                                   

                                           Ambition

Three men met at a tavern table. One was a weaver, another a carpenter, and the third a ploughman.

 Said the weaver, "I sold a fine linen shroud today for two pieces of god. Let us have all the wine we want." 

 "And I," said the carpenter, " I sold my best coffin. We will have a great roast with the wine."

" I only dug a grave," said the Ploughman, " but my patron paid me double. Let us have honey cakes too." 

And all that evening the tavern was busy, for they called often for wine and meat and cakes. And they were merry. 

And the host rubbed his hands and smiled at his wife; for his guests were spending freely. 

When they left, the moon was high, and they walked along the road singing and shouting together. 

The host and his wife stood at the tavern door and looked after them. 

"Ah!" said the wife, "these gentlemen! So freehanded and so gay!If only they could bring us such luck every day! Then our son need not be a tavern keeper and work so hard. We could educate him and he could become a priest."

 

Well . . . Life's Like That!!!

 

             Dear Reader, do share some happy reading if you would care to . . . it's one way of lending a helping hand in the times of COVID-19!! 

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