Some bright thoughts on a gloomy smoggy day

 Feeling the heat? Don't worry, cool winds will pick up soon. Feeling cold? Worry not, the sun is just about to shine from the cloud's corner. Getting hunted? Don't worry there never is a prey who isn't a hunter itself. As the proverb goes, when it floods, the fish eat the ants. And as the waters recede and leave the ground dry, the ants eat the fish. The circumstantial winds are equally for and against all of us. So just dance to the tunes of life. Like grass does. Like flexible plants do. They dance and enjoy the most, open to the winds from all directions. No point in having a tiff with life. We may not have too much control over the music of life that beats around us. But we can surely take a jig and go for dancing the steps of our choice. Or even hop like a frog if you are dance-challenged like me. Hopping around is no less fun. Telling from personal experience.

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Guys, individual freedom has always remained a fundamental ideal since historical times. However, it is not to be achieved by casting off all society and civilization or by going back to a so-called 'natural state'. The perfection of man, his freedom, his liberty, his happiness, and the growing mastery of his own destiny, all are dependent upon a clear understanding of certain laws of nature and society. We have to accept that both nature and society have worked according to these laws to enable us to get the idea of this so called 'freedom'. So the pursuit of the interest of the baby should not turn us blind to the interests of the mother.

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Many a thing changed over the centuries. In fact almost everything changed to take a completely different shape and connotation. But the religious differences are the same. They seem beyond the pale of time. Blood-shedding and hate in the name of religion is the same. Is not it high time that the world community starts dismantling the hold of exclusivist religious principles on people and states? It is the time for an all-inclusive world religion, the religion of all humanity, humanism. It can have Allah, Jesus, Buddha, Hindu and other major Gods and deities of other sects in its fold. The main issue is how do we convince the beholders of Puritanism in various religions, particularly the fundamentalist Islamists, to see beyond the rigid confines of their unchanging tradition. Most of the religions are melting under the warm sun of internationalism. But the medieval icy blocks in the stream of Islam are holding their archaic laws and principles solidly crystallized like the polar snows. The question is, will Islam ever be lenient to the non-Muslims? Modern Islamists will have to dismantle the institutionalized psyche among the Muslim masses against the kafirs and welcome non-discriminatory universal brotherhood as His Holiness Prophet Mohammad envisioned. World peace and harmony depends on this question. If internationalism succeeds to liberate humanism buried under religious fanaticism, we can expect to have a peaceful world following the religion of humanism. In any case, religion has to be systematically dismantled to lay the foundation of a common world. China will attempt to do it with its atheist state policy. But that will turn this world a big jail. Better that it’s done under democratic principles.

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Pick up a dry leaf and take out the carpenter ant that has got into the toilet seat. I sometimes rescue even house flies and mosquitoes. They will be a nuisance, one may say. But the chance to be a savior is too big a reward for such deterrent considerations. I try to keep my foot on a hold as a beetle crosses, or a skink crawls away, or a frog hops away. I know a tread of caution is for my own benefit. It will save me from a fall sometime in future. If you learn to not walk ove insects and beetles on the way, you will surely escape the thorns and potholes of life that come your way. If you can rescue an insect or bug of your dislike from a basket, basin or drain, you are prepared to forgive people. These tiny acts of salvage hone the spirit of sympathy, love and care in you. They blunt the edge of apathy and neglect that sees us turning a blind eye to so many unbecoming things around us, where we can bring a positive change without creating too much turbulence in our lives. It’s better to have a little bit of time to stop and take out a drowning beetle. If not for this, you will hardly try to save a drowning man in future. Goodness is a habit. It can be practiced. The vast workshop of life has so many tiny tables for us to carry out our little experiments. To me rescuing an elephant and saving an ant is more or less the same. That particular savior emotion is the main thing. So watch your step and avoid crushing insects unnecessarily. You gain a lot from it. You learn to be careful and responsible. Most of the times when we think we are helping others, we are in fact helping our own selves.

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The first half of November is supposed to be the best. The winter is opening like a soft bud. The birds sing at their best. It proves it’s the best part of season. A beautiful, fluid mix of balmy cold and warmth. But we have turned it the worst. The metallic haze and toxic smog grips the skies like the steely talons of an eagle strung over the soft fur of a rabbit. The eyes burn. Throats ache. The sip of life, the air, turns a slow dose of death. The north Indian planes look like a huge prison. The sun looks pale and sick-faced as it peeks weakly over the polluted planet. But then even on such a sickly gloomy morning there are thousands of swallows flying in the sky. So many of them! With so many birds, it seems as if everything will be all right. The sky seems to bless the earth through these freely flying birds. It’s the time to plant more trees and flowers. It’s the time to walk a bit slower and do something that will leave the planet worth staying for the coming generation.

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Most of the time our hate for someone is merely an instrument to undo and hide our own guilt about the incidents and happenings which took us to a point of unbridgeable differences with that person. Hate is a very convenient tool. It’s fuelled by anger. With the tools of hate and anger, it’s very easy to put all the blame on someone else for the fallouts. In our own court, the hammer of hate and anger sets our conscience free while holding the other party culpable for all the wrongs that have befallen.

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All of us want to leave a mark on the running water and blowing air. And all of us fail. Only this unquenchable urge wins. But then maybe a bit of laziness is what we need after all this burnout. Slowing down helps avoid the explosion, both individual and collective. We have run too blindly and now stare at the edge of a blind drop. Treading carefully will save us. Walk slow and with poise.

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A little ant is dragging the huge carcass of a carpenter ant. Hasn't creation got an instinct for carrying burden ingrained very deeply in its fabric? There is an everlasting pull for expansion and more complexity. How can we avoid complexity of life then? Going against the primal instinct is a sort of reverse engineering. This is the evolutionary challenge. A kind of lavitation instead of gravitation. Fording the river. The ultimate salvation. The cessation of the urge to pull the burden and still be joyful. A state where every burden transforms into bliss. Pull your burden little lady. But don't forget to rest under the shade of the fragrant roses on the way. They are as meaningful as the weight you pull. And the journey turns joyful if you pause and greet the flowers on the way. And don't forget to acknowledge the presence of thorns on the path as well. Just be careful of them as they have their meaning also. They are there to help you watch your step and avoid a fatal fall. A bit of pinch now and then serves it purpose because it maybe avoids a fatal fall in the long run.

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A powder blue beauty is seen in the washbasin. A woodlouse, a dweller of old, rotten woods. Maybe it got its adventure too far and landed into the basin. Now it's a fun game, go up and slump down again. Maybe they take their struggles as easily as feasting and fun. So here it goes with its business. I take a pic and since it's a patient model for the shoot, it gets its reward. It gets rescued on a dry leaf and I leave it near a pile of dead wood. It's a very interesting little bug. Look at the range of its names: Granny grey in Wales, boat-builder in Newfoundland, Butcher boy in Australia, Carpenter in Labrador, Charlie pig in Norfolk, Cheesy Lou, Cheesy papa, Cheesy pig, Daddy grampher, Dandy postman, Fat pigs, Grumper pig, Granny grunter and scores of more interesting names. In every English county it has a different name. It can be a good pet for buggy parents. And is, most importantly, harmless for humans as it doesn't spread diseases. So raise a brood and give them as many names as your funny creativity allows you because they take name-calling very easily and in good spirits.

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The hare may have its huffing and puffing competitiveness. But it lives very anxiously. A tortoise, on the other hand, goes on its journey that isn't defined in terms of mileage and distances. It's both joy and motion at the same time. Welcome to the snaily pace of the tortoise world! Here you acknowledge the smile of a wayside wild flower and greet the lone beetle on its journey.

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And now dear earthlings, the winter softly coos: 'Dear, I'll cool down the burning hot field of realities that tortures your soft feet!' Open up to the invitation. Give mother nature a helping hand. She will put our house in order far too soon than we believe. But we have to do our bit first. Please resolve to plant a few trees and see them grow up strong with mandatory post-plantation care.

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