Thoughts Unlocked

Nihilist: The world is pointless. It means nothing .It is here only because of an explosion that happened billions of years ago. There is no higher purpose, no aim and no final relevant end to humankind’s existence on earth.

The Dude: Huh… What were you saying again? By the way, this white Russian is marvelous. Cheers

Nihilist: I am saying that God is dead. There is no one to guide us. Also there is no free will, only what we are conditioned to do over time. Thus we can’t know what is good or evil. Thus all morality is baseless. How can we live in such a world?

The Dude: Yeah I get what you are trying to say. It is all due to the bloody government. They got the country into the useless war in the 60’s. I always said it was a shitty thing to get into but nobody listened. See, now it is so difficult for me to score my grass…

Nihilist: Yes, the government, the church. Everyone. They want to mislead us into thinking and believing that what they preach and want us to adhere to means something and is important. But it is not. It means nothing.

The Dude: Although the quality of milk you get these days has improved. What brand of milk did you put in this one?
Nihilist: We need to give meaning to our lives. We need to reject all that is thrust upon us. But then whatever meaning and purpose we give will again conform in a way to what was and is imposed on us. Since there is no free will. So it is hopeless. I am doomed, mankind is doomed. As the great philosopher said, it is the greatest crisis of humankind. There is no escape. There are no answers. There is no solution.

The Dude: What is the problem man! Everything OK with you?
Nihilist: Were you even listening to what I was saying?

The Dude: Sorry but I am kind of high right now. Still I got most of what you were trying to say. Here is what I feel. You see, I knew all this way back. Now, you can either go on thinking and fretting and doing your sad philosopher routine over and over again. Or you can choose to ‘Take it easy’.

You can either try, in vain, to find some higher meaning in life or go with the flow and enjoy what you can and when you can. When it is a given that all this world means nothing, then live your life that way you want to. Don’t conform to any rules or traditions or hierarchies or class or money or power. If you try to change the system then again you are trying to force your rules on someone else like you. So don’t do that. Make your own rules, ignore all the bullshit going on in the world and live your life as you want to.

What you call meaninglessness I call freedom. I need not pretend to be someone I am not. Earn money that I don’t need, starve myself to have an athlete’s body since I need not impress anyone, preach since I don’t believe in anything or anything worth telling others.

Chill man. Take a sip of this fabulous White Russian you made. Observe, enjoy the dance of Life and have a damn good time while you are here . Cheers !!!

P.S: Dedicated to all the Dudes of the world , especially S.C \m/

Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing…... (Macbeth), William Shakespeare

I praise, I do not reproach, [nihilism's] arrival. I believe it is one of the greatest crises, a moment of the deepest self-reflection of humanity. Whether man recovers from it, whether he becomes master of this crisis, is a question of his strength. It is possible. . . . (Complete Works Vol. 13) ,Nietzsche

When I am having fun or am engaged in too many things it becomes difficult to break through the huge barrier of my lethargy and move the muscles to actually write something. The bother to my writing neurons in the left side and creative ones on the right side was also too much .So here is a small thank you note to both sides for playing along. This won’t be long and so you can go back to your aimless wanderings through my past, future and maybe present as and when your whims so desire.

Bangalore was awesome, both in the absolute sense and to a degree due to the base effect. My certain not so great experiences last time, mostly with respect to basic survival and human needs, had put a sort of an apprehension in my mind. Anyways I can state that barring the traffic/pollution/ PG Accommodation all was well. Especially the Auto situation seems to have improved.

The best thing was the company of some of my best friends’ .Thus all the drudgery associated with your Job is nullified over the weekend (Well technically I just had the Sunday, Yeah Sales Job: What to do) It was as green and beautiful as always and I can officially declare that Bangalore is the greenest Big City in India.

Plus I can never ever thank the city (and Mysore) enough for changing the course of my Career. Whenever I used to pass by Baldwin Boy’s School the (now) sweet memories of writing CAT 2008, after that hilarious and awkward incident which just about annihilated my chances of even writing the exam, came gushing in. Not only my career but certain higher and for me more important callings in Life. Thanks for taking me in and treating me well :)

Move over to Bijapur where I am writing this post while staring at the funnily colored but cheerful orange wall of my room. To me all small towns in India look and feel the same. So move over regionalists, this is my country and my people. I am as comfortable here as I would be in Sitapur.

The best part is that I actually am on the road (in a rickety Bus) for more than 60% of my Office Hours. And I love it. Maybe it is the weather which is not as great as Bangalore but becomes pleasant often enough to make me smile. Or the sheer joy it is to look at Bright sunflower fields in full bloom smiling back at me. Today it was the corn and sugarcane fields which radiated hope and prosperity. Crossing over the River Krishna reminds me of my childhood drives to Ghaghra River from Lucknow. The coconut and palm trees, irrigation canals, sporadic showers, blinding white Dhoti Kurta attire of villagers , birds flying across the green hills … It all adds to the magic!!!