Of Apocryphal Banalities and Effacive Boundaries




Divisions have brought more unity than any other factor. Religious divides may bring dischord but it brings people of the same religion closer. Same goes for regional divides. If there were no Pakistan how many of us would be patriots? When have you cheered for your country more than in a cricket match. Everyone apparently needs a reminder of his "inherent" loyalties, which they claim are dormant ready to wake up like Kumbhakarn. You need an insult to the flag, or what is percieved as an insult to make you realise that its your national symbol and needs to be respected as such. Flag, the Indian Tricolor probably now inspires more fear than the Nazi
symbol during WWII. The best recourse is to salute it gravely from afar and then get going. Anything more to do with it is dangerous. Everytime you bring out your favourite T-Shirt youll be thinking...am i wearing green trousers...oh God and my undergarments are white, also im wearing a black belt...Good Heavens can this be construed as an insult to the flag??? Watch out next time u suck on an orange candy. Make sure ur not standing next to a guy eating vanilla whose standing next to a guy eating a green lemon ice candy.

Does it work on the same principle as "You dont realise the value of what you have until its lost"? OR is it because a bunch of out of work, down on luck, talentless, coarse, immature, bestial, easily duped, adrenaline junkies have nothing better to do than to cradle hockey sticks while sipping bad tea and watching the television in search of news that they can agitate against. They are certainly broad minded in some respects. From movie stars to art undergrads to AIDS activists - they spare noone. So division brings unity and the secular unity of the nation....that unity divides. A paradox if ever there was one much like life itself. A circle of irony and paradoxes that may give everyone what they want but in the wrong form at the wrong time leaving no one satisfied. Which i guess is as it should be, for if everyone was satisfied life would be stagnant and then there would be Armageddon. Stagnancy is death. change is the only constant in the world.

But to get back to the great divide. The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend. Not quite an apt saying but Ally is certainly correct. A kinship is formed when two people unite against a third. Think about it. You probably have the most fun when you get together with a friend and badmouth a third party. That third party could be your mutual friend to a teacher at college to Hrithik Roshan to Oprah Winfrey. But it forms a bond. It certainly does. Thats why so much male bonding (Ahem....No gay undertones implied) occurs on sports fields, battlefields and prisons. And unity is the one thing that highlights differences more prominently, sounds dischords the most vociferously, shrilly proclaiming the lack of verisimilitude. Differnt people going about their businesses, living in close proximity, having different habits, pandering to a different lifestyle -- no one pays much attention. But try ushering them under one banner in the indefagtible spirit of unity and you see a convoluted vortex like rainbow of discrepancies creep in. This point was elucidated to an extent in what has become a modern cult book - Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. I started reading it but the first couple of pages told me it was going to be a real piece of crap. Nevertheless my point is the same clause is emphasised, here in the guise of vagrancies in Men vs. Women. The best is to let things remain undefined
maintaining a balance where conflict exists to the point of inducing confluence.

The most remarkable alliances have their foundations in the tecton rocks of mutual hatred. But none ever last. In the spirit of constant change and dynamism once the threat is removed attention is turned within, and then when the cracks are magnified under scrutiny the strains on the bonds are too much, the alliances crumble. In this same spirit how long does a unity last -- a unity forcibly garbed around diverse and conflicting personas like a stifling coarse garb choking the very freedom so coveted by an individual? The inherent and subconcious awakening of this fact has lead perhaps to the culture of Moving On. No one fights or holds onto what they
once coveted anymore. The slightest signs of strain, the merest static of interference, the minutest signs of assymetry and people chuck the whole thing in the dumpster and move ahead -- no place for sentimentality (Yes, you are correct in assuming that i have relationships in mind while making this point.). No attachments, no bonds, nothing bereft if left. Which would be wonderful if one were a Jedi Knight in training, but alas the rest of the attitude bears little resemblance to those sagely warriors. The almost ephemeral balance that delicately holds equilibrium and semblance of sanity is too tedious a pursuit for people to devote any time to.

For example lets take what people call love. It cant be unconditional, thats just acceptance unfettered by any conditions. It cant develop gradually over a period of time, thats just a compromise, a mutually symbiotic ambivalent situation devised to provide comfort, convinience or a fluid maintainance of status quo. It is a delicate balance of several things that click and that you happen to like. Any one of your assumptions coming untrue would lead or atleast should lead to you falling out of love because once those anomalies are observed, it figures that this is not what you fell in love with.

While i view other relationships with not so stringent particulars, i still maintain that for their effective and effcient continuation a balance needs to be maintained. But things have become less like classical music and more like rock music...an octave higher or an octave lower which once made a whole world of difference now only induces perhaps the least imperceptible quiver of the eyebrow. People prefer to live safe while claiming to live vicariously. Because the one fact firmly ingrained in their subconcious is this. Things change and the apprehension and the agonisingly nailbiting wait for the other shoe to drop can drain the fun out of even the
present. Thats pessimism for you. And being a hardcore, die hard (optimism wld be never say die, so pessimism is die hard right? ok ok, bad joke.) pessimist thats the way i see it.

The epicentre of a balanced disc..or the fulcrum of a balanced situation is very very delicate. More so because of the dynamism and fluidity of the opposing factors. Hanging on with tenacity and yet knowing when to let go is important. An octave higher and an octave lower may be all the difference between Cacophony and euphony. Dont hold your point till apoplectic delirium sets in but do hold on. Collate the happenings around you, the alluric may be fools gold and what you let go may be the real deal.