I think a lot. Not necessarily the most intelligent, or creative...or mind blowing things. But never the less, I think a lot. As a result, I mostly look like this....
| Maybe.....without the question mark....... |
I look like this even when I am not thinking too much. Basically I have a habit of scratching my head. I suppose I got it from my father. So, during exams, to avoid losing too much time fiddling with my hair, I take them off. Ingenious, I know! Besides, I can wake up in the morning, skip the bath.... and run off!!
Yeah, fine! So I am this super genius who gets absolutely ammmmazing ideas to do stuff that ends up making me look and smell like an.....alien(I haven't smelt an alien though..).
So WHATT? Isn't it?
Here's what. I went to my mess for an evening snack, after I had shaved my mane. One of the mess workers noticed my shining scalp and asked me why I had shaved. I told him that I do so when an exam is approaching. On this, he asked jokingly-"Do you believe that by shaving your head, you'll score better?". My ego was hurt man!! In my head, I am this man of logic, never following any blind bull-crap that many elders and peers warn us against doing. I have gone to the extent of crossing a black cat's path. The cat had a bad day....
Yeah, so I told this guy that I shaved because of my hair being a distraction, specially during times that demand 'extremely focused' attention, for instance, during examinations.
This incident with this guy stirred the contents of a topic that has been wandering in my head for a while. Blind faith... Specially after the recent murder of this activist, Narendra Dabholkar in Pune, on 20th August.
What did the guy do? He'd been this rational fellow(Rightly called a rationalist) who went about advising people against blind faith. He was working on this Anti-superstition bill. Some people were against him for his stance. So what did they do? They put a bullet into his head...and chest.
Very simple. The assassins are still roaming free with a reward of some 10 Lacs($ 16000) on their heads.
Every 'odd' day, one hears of some very random thing about not doing some or the other thing on a particular day of the week That doesn't mean that 'even' days are spared. Don't give cash to anyone on, say Tuesday. Or "don't consume non-vegetarian food on, say Friday.". Some or the other reason seems to find a day in the week and sits on it. This is just the tip of the iceberg. My mom's been advised by doctors to include eggs regularly into her food. Each time I remind her of this, she says something like..."Today is Friday/Wednesday(Not sure which one) and I don't eat eggs on 'whatever day it is', son.". I quote this case as it's my mom here, so at least I don't offend some random bloke who might run behind me with a knife for getting offended by my statements about him.
And yet, there is something that pulls people to inexplicable faiths and practices. If a girl has some 'stuff' wrong with her stars and constellations, she'll be married to a freaking tree!! Brilliant! So now the tree is going to take all the negatives of her 'stardom' wandering in thin space. It would be wrong to consider that extra alphabet in your name, or maybe the lack of it has no reason in your success!! Neither that fancy aqua blue ring, nor the alien green one, or the one with the pearl. They all cumulatively conspired to bring you all your riches, if at all they did bring you any riches.
I had to sit through this presentation that a friend of mine gave on 'Placebos'. The presentation albeit, wasn't great, but the topic is definitely apt to describe all the cash and piece of mind that one might have spent in pursuit of a happy life, only to look more like Bappi Da(Bappi Lahiri...just in case..). Despite this, our faith rests more in those who give us nothing except a lighter wallet, fake consolation and a hippie make-over, than in simple, obvious and effective logic, that may only cost a few moments of activity from your grey cells.
But no! Simple things don't work!! There needs to be something ritualistic, complicated, that we cannot understand(I somehow don't ant to use the word 'apocryphal') that explains how everything fell into place. It looks more convincing, I suppose?
As Stevie Wonder sings in his song 'Superstition'
"When you believe in things, you don't understand, then you suffer..."
Superstition ain't the way!
No comments:
Post a Comment