Cursed by Inactivity

The country is in the throes of a debate of the question of reservations. Lots of people have given their opinions about it. How its good or how it is bad.

But have we stopped to realize how this all has come to pass ?

I call it the CURSE of INACTIVITY that we have invited on ourselves.

We are so bent on doing nothing that it surprises me sometimes as to why does a person exists. I think it has to do with how kids are brought up. The focus is only on studies in most of the houses. So, little by little all the inquisitiveness of a person, all the curiousity to check out things get stifled in the books of learning. Parents are happy if the kids are studying and doing nothing else.

Living all the life in the comforts of home a person reaches a kind of blind faith that everything is ok outside. If someone makes noise - they look up with a frown - why is someone making noise just go back to what you were doing. As such it becomes difficult for them to fathom that something else also happens in the world. At max, they will go and meet friends at coffee shops and crib about how some people have been making noise all around. They will agree that yes - things are not ok in the country and just go back to their homes.

I remember when I started biking long distance. Till the time I was in the city commuting to the office on bike, it was ok. There were stray comments on how I should become 'responsible' and get a car. But when I started to travel long distance, the bedlam of protests grew more. People would come up with 'expert comments' as to how dangerous it was.
"Have you travelled on the highway?" I would ask.
"No." was the answer.
"Do you know people who have travelled on the highway?"
"No."
"Then how can you say it is dangerous?"

Its the ostrich mentality. Stick your head in sand and everything around you is ok , seems to be the thought. The richer someone gets - the more smug they become that everything is ok - after all everything is ok in their house right ?

So, when suddenly people making noise about giving reservations, they faces go up from their books (or comps nowdays?) , startled ... how can it be they say. Everything is ok they say. But is it ? How many people have actually travelled around India ? Of them , how many people have actually helped out people from rural background ? INACTIVITY.

All of a sudden, they find themselves surrounded by people brandishing some millenia old numbers saying how they have been oppressing the masses. Suddenly, when the likely hood of loosing their seats in colleges or companies rears its head, they start looking out. Coffee table discssions increase - but the eventual outcome is just INACTIVITY.

"No... it cant be happening" they say. "It wont happen to me" they say. "It wont happen in pvt sector" they say - and go back to the comforts of their homes. INACTIVITY.

A few people shrug of the inactivity. They look around and realize that the cure being bandied about is the medicines from quacks. They come out and realize that coffee table discussions are not going to achieve anything. They start doing something. They try to pull out the ostriches - but to no avail. The ostriches agree - yes there is a problem. Being the intellectual elite they start arguing how the actions cannot achive anything. They find fault with all actions. To them, if the problem does not get solved in 1 day it is the wrong solution. Finishing their arguments, feeling smug for having delivered the fantastic speech about how its going to fail, they go back to their houses. INACTIVITY.

"Oh ! I will go abroad" they say if confronted. "I dont want to get lathi charged" they say. "Its not gonna work" they say. And then they go and crib about how bad the world is. Do they still have the right to crib ?

In India, people follow Hinduism in some way or the other. Buddhism, Jainish, Sikhism are all derived from it. Even Christians and Muslims follow it - because its more of a way of life than a religion. Its Epics are known to everyone - none so well as the Bhagwat Gita. One of the things it says is "Do your duty , and leave the fruits to me".

Are we doing our duty ? INACTIVITY means that no - you are not doing your duty. So, dont bemoan your 'fate' or blame the gods, as we are most likely to do , when your would collapses around you.

If you read this and still dont want to go out and make a difference - then I pity you, because one day the house built of a pack of cards around you will come crashing down. But even that , I feel will not move you.

Ask yourself a simple question : "If i was to die tomorrow - have I dont everything I wanted to ?" Its the basic philosophy that drives me. Tomorrow if I die - I dont want to think "Shit ! I did not do that and that and that". Get out of your apathetic state of INACTIVITY and start doing something. Educate someone who does not have the means of getting educated. Be Bold. Take on the false promises of Politicians and make them eat crow. Make your difference in this world. If you ever fall in the trap of thinking how can 1 person make a difference, or that your work will make a very small difference, just multiply that difference by a billion and see the results. Shrug off the Curse of INACTIVITY. Do Something.