Pransu Raj Kaushik
A funeral ground is one place which brings me face to face with the ‘truth’ of life. Whenever I attend a cremation as a mourner, my thoughts are tinged with a sense of unexplained peace. ‘Peace’ that seems to throw up a question as to why should a person be so aggressively and negatively competitive when one ultimately will have to end up as ash and dust? There is no denying the fact that ambition is a necessity of life to achieve an identity. But, ambition fulfilled by negative methods and aggressive intent is hardly of any use as the amount of hardships and associated liabilities while achieving the same is ultimately a waste of hallowed time that constitutes ‘life’. Life is too beautiful to be wasted and clogged with unnecessary haste and artificially created turmoil, it is to be experienced in totality and without inhibitions.
What does one have to say about the maniacal and hypnotic zeal of some religious bigots to achieve so-called martyrdom by means of suicide attacks, resulting in the deaths of innocents who are not the followers of their form of religion? If jant or heaven is supposedly so beautiful, then what has led to one being born in the first place? Neither does an individual suicidal act lead to ‘heaven’ nor does it bring an end to one’s persol woes. The recent suicide of PhD scholar of Hyderabad Central University, Rohith Vermula has hurt tiol sentiments all across. Politicians, as they always do, have found an opportunity in this tragic incident to stoke divisive emotions. Now, is that what the late scholar envisaged while taking the drastic step? I am sure he might not have. But, in reality his suicide has further allowed the divisive forces to scratch and deepen the already existing fault-lines. Another ripple effect of such a publicized tragedy is that it has encouraged three young medical students in Tamil du to commit suicide in protest against the alleged apathy of the college magement where they were enrolled.
I firmly believe that life and emotion are interlinked. When an individual is in a positive state of emotion, life is as well lived as it can be and it is the reverse when negativity shrouds our emotiol state. Now, why does an individual become negative? In simple terms, negativity emates when our wishes or ambitions remain unfulfilled or are able to only reach an unsatisfactory level. It is a known fact that present hectic life schedules have led to a highly and negatively charged emotiol state. Constant hankering after materialistic achievements, so-called status in society, comparing self with others have led to an ascending graph in the scale of emotiol turmoil. Why do we have to fight it out trying to outdo and outreach each other when our basic requirement is to lead a happy and healthy life?
A wine connoisseur enjoys his drink in small sips. Similarly, life is like a glass of vintage wine to be enjoyed in ‘sips’. The sips in this context are the small, microscopic moments that we experience. How many times have we sat down idle to appreciate a visual delight or a so-called and an otherwise insignificant event? Significance should not be measured in terms of our affordability capacity; it should be immeasurable, infinite. I sometimes wonder as to how someone can put a stop to this never ending craze and greed. It all closes down to emotion I believe, and which track it has decided to take. Whether finding happiness in bits or on the contrary, always dissatisfied with everything, decides our state of ‘being’. I have persolly found peace, peace as realized when I experienced my father’s death in reality. One moment he was alive talking with me and in a whiff he passed away. I will perhaps never be able to explain my real feelings after he died. But one thing that I have gained from his death is that whatever and however one lives life, ultimately the fil destition is always the same. So, it is upon an individual to decide if he or she wants to be another participant in this made ‘rat race’ or the tortoise enjoying life in a slow but determined manner and ultimately reaching its destition without fuss, but with a contented heart.