Part IV

So she thought she had him all figured out, like the rest. Wasn't she by now accustomed to meeting a million of this kind every other day now. The moment someone showed who he or she was, the moment they let down their guard and got all plain and simple, as the poor things were, that was the moment she lost all human interest in them. A read book, an open page, a fallen leaf, a glass of water..These were simple things. Simple everyday things. These didn't need exertion on her part. But a novel, a memoir, a poem from the depths of being and understanding, a dried parched leaf with only traces of fiber showing there once was something there that resembled life, the ocean..These were more her. These were the things likely to hold her interest. What story does that fallen leaf tell you. What secrets of time does the ocean whisper. What did the author want you to see when she spelt out her emotions unabashedly for all to see. What mystery does your heart hold. What ability does your mind have, that your eyes shield so smartly, letting only flashes of brilliance escape occasionally, thinking that no one would've caught them anyway. It was that spark and that spark alone that kept her interest in people. The social niceties with all others were just an obligation. The social price one pays for being in a society. Not that she was mean to anyone, not that she meant harm. Neither was she prone to ridiculing someone nor shunning some old hag. She was the friend of all, foe of none, unless by your own making. She hated none, loved some. But in all these people, her kind, she found only few.

Crave as she might, wish as she might, her kind, she found, were but few. It needed a different bent of mind. A certain madness, if I may say so. A certain agility, a swiftness of mind only few can claim and a sparkling wit very few possess. This she craved and seldom found. And this, this young man, certainly promised naught. So off, she wrote him and bothered not, to dig deeper or search harder. He was, for that matter, a simple bloke. A common fellow with no sharp stroke, of mind or body or language or wit. And so she wrote him off, with good reason, she thought.

Too late..?

It's easy to mistake a serious demeanour for a serious mind. But not necessarily pardonable in a thinker. It's easy to lose oneself in the world we perceive and build walls of, around us. It's not necessarily the truth. What then is the truth? What we perceive is our truth. But how sharp our perception is, depends on how far we're willing to go for the truth.

Art is beautiful, cinema and theater sublime. Music is divine. But life...is a study. It can only be understood by experience. To think most of us (me included) are so blithely unaware of the lives around us. Of the causes, people and issues. It's easy to be swayed by the glossy section of the magazine / paper and read about the latest on Katrina and Ranbir's promotional relaionship, or talk about Angelina's pout. It's hard to take our attention off the gloss and shimmer and force ourselves to look at the people in Vaddithandra and their plight. It's hard to be concerned about some fishing village folk in Santabommali. It's so easy to forget that we ARE a part of all that's happening to them by not being involved and voicing our opinions. By not using our independent free mind to understand all of this, we're against them, by default, and pro - industrialisation at any cost. We see the majesty of a factory. We think man has achieved so much. We forget the lives at the grassroot and force our views of development on them by leaving them no choice. We believe we can decide better, what their lives should be and if they're worth anything and whether they need be included in the whole debate or not (it is after all, their land, their source of livelihood and their life). But these don't seem important. Not in the path of development.

And we're living in a democracy. An ineffective, inefficient democracy which a substitute to monarchy only in that the royalty has been replaced by the vested interests of conglomerates. And most of us are still only concerned about the ipad / tablet / xbox.. It's a pity our choices and lifestyles impact the livelihoods of others even whose existence needs to be forced into our awareness, let alone conscience.