Saturday, December 27, 2008

Dawn Of A New Day

Another year wanes to the blitzkrieg of a realization that one-thirds of my life has passed by, with few things worth remembering and nothing significant accomplished for the third year in a row. The year has not been unique, or even kind to me. I have pondered and mulled over this many a time, over an assortment of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages in the company of ‘fine selected tobaccos’.

There is this pattern to everyday living, whose essence is the list of things one would want to do. Things, one needs to do in order to get a wee bit closer to our short-term and long-term goals. Things, one must do in order to succeed in life as defined by the not-so-set parameters of our so-called society. One continually analyzes these things, assesses limitations in achieving goals and revises the ‘list of things’ or overcomes limitations. 

This pattern, to me, has become constant, annoying. Like the background hum of a computer that one doesn’t usually notice unless explicitly spoken or thought about. I would go so far as to say that one’s life is measured by how well one executes this pattern caring two hoots for all else. Somewhere down the line, stark realities such as poverty in the eyes of a handicapped child forced to beg among layers and piles of human sputum and garbage-laced roads, and homeless people sharing space with homeless dogs have become secondary. Yes, they have become secondary.

Over the years, I’ve had this nagging feeling that I’m not doing enough to change things I feel strongly about, things that are secondary to our society and leadership. And when I did try, I was taught lessons on the importance of the self, the ‘I’. This conditioning has... tainted me, summing my life to negative.

In the face of it all, I wouldn't think twice to spend fifteen thousand rupees to liquid-cool my processor and lower its temperature by fifteen degrees.
In fact, in the face of it, I wouldn't twice that this money could be used to fund a couple of orphans for a year through an organization such as C.R.Y.
(I would pick the liquid-cooling system any day.)

As societies tend to haute-couture highs, economies to capitalist clans (Infinite profits/growth with the earth's limited resources? Another post, maybe.) and Machiavellian-leader-run governments to megalomanic machinations, we are left with a stark reality—the fragments of Equality that once were, is now dead. The ‘I’ matters more than the collective ‘We’.

This time, I want to make a difference.
This time around, all I want, is to effect change.

I hope for a better year to come. And if somebody out there is reading this, I hope the same for you.