THE SERIOUS ISSUE

THE SERIOUS ISSUE

In my last post it was a light hearted look at a serious problem. That’s what I wrote while introducing it. I had ended it saying that it all appears Kafkaesque, a word derived form Franz Kafka’s look at the plight of the individual in an indifferent world. In his various works he tries to elucidate the fundamental dilemmas of human life. Of course his writings are dark and create in you a stifling effect and I guess that’s how he meant it to be whether it is the ‘The Trial’ or ‘The Castle’ or ‘Metamorphosis’.

My post was not meant to be a criticism of the state of affairs of the administration in the country. The opinions are divided. Some said they had similar experiences while others have had a more pleasant experience and even suggested I find my identity in another place. Leaving aside all this, let me tackle the issue of the ‘serious problem’. My post was purely metaphorical but I loved to narrate those incidents in my life as way of getting across to my friends and telling them that the humour in our lives is also a serious matter.

I have found in my interactions with my friends and readers that any issue finds its way into the realms of their comprehension when said in a light hearted or a humorous way. All of us will always prefer to have a good laugh rather than be morose and contemplative. I am not deriding contemplation. It is what we resort to when faced with the serious issues in our life. In contemplation we are revealed the realities of our existence and most of us avoid it for fear of what we may find.

I avoid preaching nor would I subject myself to one. Each one of us has his path charted out for him. No two individuals are similar and as such their paths also differ, for each one experiences life in his own way. The one thing that we can do is share experiences as travellers in this journey of life for we may meet some place when our paths cross. We may travel some distance and part ways or choose to stay together and travel along the same path till the end. In any case it is an individual’s choice.

When we look back, we always find those small happenings which at that point in time had driven us to exasperation. Such incidents continue to happen but we have grown to accept them with reduced reaction. When we develop the ability to laugh at these happenings life becomes that much easy. The lessons learnt never cease to enrich our understanding of the world around us. Thus an inane discussion on a beard or a motor bike, or for that matter my experiences in the ration office have interested my readers.  

When faced with an insurmountable problem we seek different ways of releasing ourselves from the predicament. In my experience at the ration shop while the man next to me found his release in sleeping it away, I went to the loo. A humorous situation alright when narrated now but a harrowing experience when it did happen. My Aadhaar card experience is more a search for an identity in the face of a system that refuses to recognise it. It is in the end that I state “What is there in identity as long as you know that you belong here”. I did want to carry forward the point that once you know yourself and recognise the person in you what is the need for an external acceptance.

A reality laced with imagination and humour is more acceptable than confronting the stark face of reality itself.