Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy

Noun: Hypocrisy

1. An expression of agreement that is not supported by real conviction

2. Insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have

We hate hypocrites. All of us do. The only problem with the statement is one of introspection and metaphysical cognition and other higher things we never understand. Ah.yeah. The problem is only with the understanding part. The problem can be very lucidly expressed. And something that can be expressed can be typed too. And so here goes...Hold your breath. This is the moment..The curtain is going up..The stage is going to be bared...aaaand..Voila!

We are hypocrites.

Ok. Sorry for the hype. Well, am sure you almost guessed what I was arriving at anyway.

(After all everything in this world survives at one point or another through the undeserved advantages bestowed upon it in the guise of distorted perception caused by the exaggeration of its actual nature and value. And I am a student of biotechnology. Ok. Sorry. I was a student of biotechnology: The perennially hyped up area. In fact I remember somebody saying ATGC should be replaced with HYPE. So I am at home with hype. No problems at all. (Well for the uninitiated, ATGC stands for Adenine, Thymine, Guanine and Cytosine, the base pairs in a DNA strand. And because this anyway came up let me warn you. Never believe what a biotechnologist says. Because we are always optimistic and we think anything is possible. So if you can’t resist being naughty and end up having AIDS you are going to die even though biotechnology would “promise” a drug. But we will test on you anyway and if you get suspicious we will just say that you would be helping your children or grandchildren by helping us with the tests that entails subjecting yourselves to our whims that are justified only by our nonexistent knowledge. Ok. Fine. Enough of that. That was for fun. We biotechnologists are really nice and good people. Seriously good people. Though may be a little illuded.))

We have problems with understanding it because we have problems with understanding anything that juxtaposes us with other living-feeling-thinking-beings which have similar problems with understanding. Our antennas which always just work fine just go berserk when they sense a homo -sapien with a similar set of antennas in the proximity.

I am sure empathising and sympathising would always remain elusive skills. In this case practice would only help us to realise that it is so tough that it is almost impossible.

Consider the following.

Noun: Festival

1. A day or period of time set aside for feasting and celebration

2. An organized series of acts and performances

What does the word “festival” brings to our mind?

Fun. Frolic. Celebrations. Holiday. Dresses. Sweets. Phone calls. SMSs. Post card greeting. Electronic greetings. Relatives. Friends. Family. Neighbours. Bonus. Crackers. Cakes. Heavy food. Religious rituals. Tours. Trips. Picnics. Malls. Movies. Restaurants. Gifts. Happiness.

Does the season of a festival bring joy to all, irrespective of the caste and creed and job designation?

May be.

May be not.

To put my question differently, does a festival bring only and only joy to all?

Consider the fact that among the things that I listed above most of them, a vast majority of them, entails the presupposition of the presence of both money and the means to spend. Definitely that is not true. At least it cannot be universalised. (According to Kant’s theory of ethics universalisability is one of the criteria something has to satisfy to be concluded ethical, the other being reversibility. Can you believe it? I learned that in an mba course.)

My apologies for what my point is going to be.

Let’s say it is diwali time and we are all busy getting excited. There are all sorts of offers that are getting advertised on every possible media. Marketers are so skilled that we all buy stuff that we don’t even remotely need. There are exchange melas and discounts and freebies and zero interest loans. In fact when we enter any big store during the festive season we find it filled to the brim with people (So crowded they are that sometimes we will get the delivery of whatever we are going to by only after some days.) The place is so crowded that the sales men and women are literally dishevelled. It’s these people that we bombard with our questions

But never does it strike to us that its festival season for those sales people too.

Electronic shops: What is the price of this? Of that? Of both together? What is selling most? What is the warranty period? When will we get the delivery? Can we test it?

Do those people buy new stuff because it is a festival season? Do they get to change the television because the one they have has become old? Do they get to buy their first colour television?

Apparel showrooms: Can we try the dress? How is the cloth material? Will it shrink? Will it fade? Will it last?

Do they get to try on new dresses they always wanted to wear? Do they get to buy their children the clothes which they find other parents buy for theirs?

Sweet shop: Which sweet is fresh? Do you take bulk orders? Can you pack the sweets separately in 5 boxes?

Do they get to buy gulab jamun? Do they get to give sweets to their family and friends?

Jewellery shop: Is that KDM jewellery? Do you discount wastage? Do you take old gold?

Do they get to buy ear rings for their loved ones? (Er..Pardon my emphasis on ear rings alone..In my opinion ear rings are the best of the varied accoutrements that the female species adorns itself with. And men wearing ear rings is extremely gross because nothing can be more genuinely and brilliantly feminine than an ear ring and men are just desecrating it by wearing it. It is also a desecration when it’s worn anywhere other than the ears. They ARE ear rings after all. Anyway if there is one piece of jewellery that holds its own it is an ear ring. Even without the associated ear an ear ring independently looks splendid. I have a whole lot of opinions about ear rings. I will not be able to do justice if I talk about it here J . If you don’t believe me well then sample this. In my opinion the best ear rings are those which hang. Not sure what they are called. Drops? Or droppings? hee hee Well. Not just anything that hangs. It should not be very big to seem gross but it should be big enough to slightly oscillate when the head turns. So there. I could go on and on. So you better believe me)

**That was to lighten up the conversation, in case you didn’t notice it.

We don’t think any of those (in italics) do we? Sure that doesn’t mean that we are hypocrites. And my point is not about the poverty or the differential spending potential of the population of the different economic strata. No. My point is this.

Festivals are one of the greatest hypocrisies because in the name of joy it sure must be causing discomfort to a lot of people.

Somewhere in the minds of people who cannot buy and spend the way others surrounding them are able to, there must be a little uneasiness and anger at the whole design. Sure that is applicable anytime. But festivals heighten and deepen the perception of the divide.

No. We are not guilty by intention of course. (Since I used “we” It becomes incumbent on me to define it. Well, lets say it includes us who have internet connection and the time to read blogs).

But I am sure this doesn’t pacify the guilt that we feel isn’t it? Very similar to the temporal pang of guilt that we get when a kid wipes and cleans our table in a restaurant. There is no logic to it. There is no spurt of action after it. There is no tangible means to atone for it. There is nothing that can be done. There is no reason.

We do just one thing. We forget it in a minute.

No. That doesn’t make us explicitly bad either. My point is however hard we try we cannot stop ourselves from hurting, from causing some sort of pain to somebody. It is so because we never know how and what and where. It is so because our antennas don’t work. It is so because we have to survive. It is so because the system is vast and complicated.

Most of us agree on right things. We passionately support equality. We claim to be very nice people. We claim to have never hurt anyone. We claim a whole lot of things. (Well for a start we should ask our friends and family about that). The most ironical thing is that even if we actually truthfully honestly wholeheartedly try those, there is no way that it is possible.

It is so because we cannot help but celebrate festivals.

It is so because most of us are innocent.

Sinfully innocent.

Void

Void
Noun: Void
1. The state of nonexistence
2. An empty area or space

There are a lot of voids that we can bother ourselves with.

There are a lot of voids that we don’t see. (“Of course! Silly! Obviously one cannot see a void. That's is why it is a void isn’t it?” If you just thought that please make sure you talk to me. I am sure I would like you. “Ha! Big incentive!”. Now I am sure you thought that too if indeed you had thought the first one. Did you actually believe it? Gosh! You ARE naive. I was just humouring you. Silly. (see the point? We could have really stupid conversations  ).

There are a lot of voids that we can choose to consciously ignore. But there is a glitch to this stratagem. I know all of us know it but being the masochist-cum-sadist that I am, though I can pull it off as a ruthlessly honest person instead, I am always irresistibly tempted to rub it in. How the hell are we supposed to “consciously” ignore something (imagine me miming the quotes with my hands in the air. I know. It is a highly irritating gesture. But come on, where is the fun if we can’t be harmlessly irritating? Anyway to be irritating in any other way is bad right?) . To consciously ignore something is trying to be brilliantly oxymoronic. Oxymoronic because it IS oxymoronic. And “brilliantly” was used sarcastically. How dumber can it get? My above criticism applies to all such phrases. “Try and forget”, “try to let go” etc. To put it more bluntly, “forgetting”, “forgetting”, “letting go” refer to passive end states. And “trying” is a conscious activity. How can it possibly lead to a passive state? In fact in my opinion the effort would only add to the irony, add to the anxiety, add to the despair. In a way the voids that we don’t perceive (which of course says that we never knew the value of the thing that caused the void and we would never know it either, which is ironic too) are way better than the ones we try to “consciously ignore”.

I fervently advocate attachment. (I would any day have a go at the people who claim that detachment is the first step to spiritual enlightenment. Hypocrites. Even if I accept that it does, what is one supposed to do with spiritual enlightenment? Can it be securitised and traded? If not then thank you very much I don’t want it. Well then this is a totally different area and it warrants a dedicated debate. In fact if my English and writing skills were better I would attempt to write about it...it is like one of those things we would like to be even though we know it is not probably meant to be ) . I keep thinking about it. The phenomenon of missing. I miss somebody because somebody is not near. No. That is not it is it? It is because somebody not being near causes a void. A temporary void may be. Void nevertheless. It is a peculiar phenomenon. Sometimes it is even crippling to the extent of causing an emotion almost near despair. Despair that comes out of the feeling of loss. Loss of all the precious times which could have been spent with our people. Re–living past memories, thinking about the various conversations, of the times spent, of the things done, of the laughter, of the fun, of the sense of belongingness, of the felling of security, of the sense of purpose, of living. These are symptoms of missing. Manifestations of void. One of the most frequent arguments I hear is “ It is stupidity to keep thinking about the past” . But aren’t we defined by our past? It is our memories that makes us what we are. And whoever said the symptoms are sad? It is beautiful. Yes. It does makes one long(ha..that was a pun!) But that is the whole point isn’t it?

I love movies.
(Gotcha! Hee hee)
OK. I do love movies. All kinds. And somehow I feel some of the most moving ones have some element of death to emphasis whatever it is trying to emphasis.( In fact, just now I saw the movie “The lives of others”. Good movie. But somehow someone had to die. I was wishing for the movie to end without anybody dying. But no. And I expected it. Take any good movie. (Yeah..not all of them of course. But the sample space supporting my hypothesis is quite enormous. It would be statistically significant. I suppose an ANOVA would prove it.) Forrest gump, Crash, City of angels, etc (I know a whole lot of movies but somehow they are evading the probing tentacle of my memory..Its funny when it happens, when we can’t remember things we KNOW that we know..Funny brain..anyway) ... any movie in fact. Same thing goes for books too.

Death is the fluorescent highlighter.

And I see the logic too. It does move me. The impact is enormous. The perception of the theme enhanced.
Voids are undesirable. Death probably creates the worst kind of voids.

Doesn’t the very thought scare the living day lights out of us?
That is what is scary about voids. Sometimes they just cannot be filled. Nope.
Being the sadist I am, if given a choice, I suppose it would be preferable to pass into the void ourselves and cause voids in others rather than getting voids inside us. Yeah. That was hypothetical. So chuck it.

May be for somebody not doing a particular job creates a void. May be for somebody not being in a particular building creates a void. May be for somebody being idle creates a void. May be for somebody not hanging out in a pub creates a void. May be for somebody not flirting regularly creates a void. May be for somebody not doing certification exams creates a void. We never know what creates a void.

May be everything has the potential to create a void. But they are probably the kind which we don’t perceive.

Missing people create voids. And they are the kind that we try to “consciously ignore” (or rather think we are forced to do so).

A relationship (ahem..any relationship) that doesn’t create a void (as in whom we don’t miss) doesn’t exist in the first place. If there is something about some people that really scares me (usually I am too thick skinned and numb skulled to even notice that I am supposed to be intimidated) is the casualness with which they handle “some” losses. It’s unnerving. Probably it was never a loss for them. I have been told that it’s natural for people to fall apart. That is the most alien thing I have ever heard. Extra terrestrial. (at least in the movie the alien was cute) May be voids are subjective.

Voids teach one his/her priorities. It is a simple matter of changing the perception rite? Instead of trying to ignore it if only we had the prudence to look at our most troubling voids we automatically know where our hearts lie. And then we only have to revisit our priorities list. Do some process re-engineering. And then “consciously” try to destroy the void. (“Bah! Theoretical idealistic Crap”. Yes. Absolutely. I like typing such stuff because things that are not there are the ones that attract us. Now what was that quote..something like “That which is seen is temporal. That which is unseen is eternal”)

May be we are utterly helpless with some voids. But not all of them. (may be good grades would help. Considering chaos theory and the profound educational syllabus we never know)

I see only one solution. The snag being that the solution takes as its entourage considerable discomfort and irritation and it also demands as a prerequisite certain disregard for the collection of thoughts and emotions commonly termed the “ego”. I am sure it would be a great challenge. How much can one tolerate looking like a fool to himself? So the solution is probably not pragmatic at all. Another Theoretical idealistic Crap. But at least I find it really heartening to know that there is something we could do. Because the most powerful and most dominant emotion caused by a void is helplessness. (I am sure there will be a consensus on that..helplessness is the most irritating of emotions. How many times have we felt it? Helplessness even in the most trivial of scenarios like we being in a bus and our silly bladders finding themselves overloaded, are most disappointing and disconcerting.)

The greatest injustice that we could do to ourselves is letting voids form.
And the theoretical unpragmatic idealistic crap of a solution?

Never let go.