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The day it rained...
But the magic of the elusive becomes mundane as soon as it actually is ours. Admittedly, some patches from the misty swirls of the past certainly are worth their weight in fond reminiscences in the present, but so much of what we complain about in the present was the precise cause of our "discontentment" when the "good old days" were the present and we were hankering after what we now have in hand. We seem to live in a constant state of disillusionment! It is really a rather disheartening thought. Personally,, I have
nothing against competitiveness, ambition, lofty goals and the like, so
long as the race remains humane and nobody gets trampled underfoot or
under BMWs. But if some trampling and bruising is inevitable while we
strive to reach the important goals we marked for ourselves in the past,
I do not understand voluble, emotional grieving about "erosion of
values" in the same hypocritical breath. The trampling is openly
justified in the name of the changed parameters of what is acceptable
once we have reached one milestone and stumble towards the next,
grumbling and mumbling all the time about how much easier it was in the
"good old days" while we stuff our microwaves and make "bhelpuris"
of our golden oldies. Besides, what is so great about sitting inside a
Honda City when the neighbour has a Mercedes Benz? |
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There was the usual state of panic outside. For a different reason, however. People were running helter-skelter for some sort of a shelter to "save" themselves from the rain! Predictably, it did not rain after that, only dust descended earthwards, and the favourite exchange of "complaints" between everyone concerned was once again the non-appearance of the droplets from heaven. Oh! For that one "wonderful" day when it had poured... I see angry, dusty-grey clouds in the sky outside and plan to get drenched towards the late evening if the dust is accompanied by some rain. But whoever heard of rain coming to fit anybody’s plans! So enjoy the rain, whatever little there is of real rain and whenever. Who knows, the future might long for the rainy past. And who knows some years down the lane the only rain we know might be acid rain. In this concrete jungle that invites nothing but complaints and abuses — certainly not heavy monsoon showers of yore — is it not better to be ready with our paper-boats rather than mosquito-mats while there is still some real rain? |
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I
wonder what it is in the human psyche that is responsible for the
perpetual state of discontentment that most of us feel with regard to
our present circumstances. We are either whining about the "good
old days" or are hankering after the "two in the bush"
that are so much more beautiful and desirable than what we have in hand.