Parag Phukan
I always had a desire. A strong and passionate desire to reach out to the ‘thinking’ readership to share my thoughts and to inform them about whatever little I have learnt and seen over the years, and in the process, get feedback of the readers to enrich my knowledge. The famous novelist Paulo Coelho had expressed in his widely read novel, Alchemist: “When you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” Probably as a result of some‘cosmic’ conspiracy, the esteemed newspaper, The Sentinel, has given me this opportunity to be with you all through my weekly column,‘Pot-pourri’.
The title of my column says it all eloquently. As you know, the dictionary meaning of Pot-pourri is a scented mixture of dried petals of roses and other flowers. But our pot-pourri will be a mixture of many thought petals expressed in the embodiment of words. The column is planned to be a mixed bag of many petals; ranging from the present-day social scenario, popular science, relationships, travelogues, history and heritage to hitherto unexplored aspects of the Northeast, etc. The readers are sincerely requested to suggest topics of their interest that can also be worked on.
Technically, homo-sapiens (human beings) are a part of the larger animal world, subdivided into mammals, birds, lizards, reptiles, etc. It is amazing that 96% of what is found in our bodies also exist in other mammals like pigs and horses. Our DNA is 97.50% and 98.40% identical to that of a gorilla and a chimpanzee, respectively. The only thing that makes us different from all other animals is our brainpower, which gives us the unique ability to think, articulate and express ourselves. Human beings express their thoughts and emotions by verbal and non-verbal communications. Animals other than humans cannot think; they can only react to a situation through their biologically wired brains controlled by genetic repetitive behavior. However, some animals, especially mammals, use limited body language to indicate their certain moods.
A famous poet had once exclaimed, “I could not sleep at night because of the pressure of unwritten poetry.”We all have suffered from the pressure of unexpressed thoughts in life, probably many a times. Well, people who haven’t, unfortunately, may be devoid of a thought process of their own. Unexpressed thoughts, bubbling and brewing inside the head, can drive one crazy leading to a pressure cooker-like situation in which pressurized agitated steam looks for a vent to escape out. Otherwise the pot would burst at some point of time. I know of a few old friends of mine who failed to say three simple words, “I love you,”to someone on time and are still suffering! Many blissful conjugal lives have become hell because the stakeholders could not express their feelings and views clearly, one to one, in a mature manner to establish a healthy line of communication, even in some mundane matters. Some prefer to go inside a cocoon of their own making to avoid the situation. Our failure or decision not to express ourselves has never solved any problem.In fact, it may finally manifest itself in some other ugly form.
So the bottom line is: Express yourself without fear or favour, with sincerity and clarity. If the mind conceives something, verify it from various angles and then express it. However, please ensure that your expression doesn’t harm and hurt the receiver. As it has been written in Sanskrit, ‘Satyam bruyat, priyambruyat’ (Tell the truth, but tell it nicely) should be the guiding principle of expression.
Many a times, we fail to express ourselves for fear of rejection or non-acceptance. Fear of failure always rules the psyche of mortals. But the panacea is to convince yourself and convert your thought into a conviction. Convictions of many great souls like Socrates, Galileo, Buddha, Jesus or Gandhi were initially rejected by the society blatantly. They were ridiculed, branded as mad, poisoned, jailed or crucified.But they were unperturbed and carried on with their courage of conviction and made the world a better place to live in.
As it is in the case of a flower, surely it would be comfortable to blossom completely and to spread fragrance instead of remaining in a tight bud of darkness and suffocation. Any type of expression through creativity brings in solace to the soul and happiness to the mind. And happiness is the penultimate goal of every human being. Humans love to express themselves in many ways like singing, dancing, painting, making an art-craft, playing musical instruments, writing poetry or a text, speaking as in a seminar or discourse, creating something innovative or even cooking experimental dishes and decorating and keeping the house tastefully by a housewife, and so on. As it is said that a parachute works only when it is open, the human mind works only when it is applied. So let us apply our minds; express ourselves, do something creative and be happy.
In the process of evolution of the human civilization, spoken words were the predecessors of written words. Speaking one-to-one is a much stronger way of expression as spoken words come along with body language of gestures, postures, smiles, frowns, etc. Telephony definitely doesn’t have this advantage. Unfortunately, written words are handicapped with inadequate tools of expression, but that’s the second best thing we have in hand. However sincere a writer may be in reaching out to his readers,something will always be missing because the writer and the reader do not happen to see each other. So, I may kindly be excused by the readers if I fall short of my expression to communicate completely to their satisfaction. But I promise to do a sincere job and your feedbacks would definitely complete the chain.
(The author of this column is a former Vice President of Reliance Defence& Engineering Ltd., Gujarat. Presently he is a freelance writer, management consultant and professional trainer. He can be reached at paragphukan13@gmail.com.)