“Just a minute...”
said the kid, when his dad announced, “Come on... wind up,... time
to leave, it is getting dark...”.
The Kid looked around, and
only then he noticed, 'Yes! Indeed, it is getting dark... Strange, I
didn't notice it earlier!'.. and then he took a small distance from
the mound of sand, a good sprint, and a jerk-kick at the mound, and
enjoyed watching it collapse!
It was now the turn of his
dad, to look for something that he failed to notice, from the very
same thing that he was staring at,... all the time!
That kid had been taken
for an 'outing'... And the choice of place turned to be the sea
beach... But once he set his foot on the wet sand, he noticed
something 'wonderful'!!! Wet sand can hold itself, its grains
together! Now, he saw, he can make something out of it...! He
decided upon a 'h-u-g-e' castle ('why feel shy about the size, when
the only material needed is in 'abundance'!', he told himself)...
The dad,... was 'ousted,
from-any-choice' except to watch at the mad and intense pace at which
the child set about on this 'task'... He strained every bit of his
being,... to focus and bring out the best product.. The child's
reach seemed inadequate when it was a long tunnel-like path way
through-and-through that castle, by carefully carving out lumps of
sand with his tiny hands.. the dad tried to help.. but 'NO!!'
shrieked that kid... and the dad withdrew his 'reach' by the hand...
The dad 'noticed'.. his hand had preceded the 'spelling out of
intentions' firstly, and the kid was too engrossed to be able to
'make wild guesses', about the 'sanctity of his intentions'!...
It was almost finished,
and the kid took a two-feet distance to view at the grandeur of that
'castle', and at the same time, 'verified', if the dad too... was
beyond the security-cordon of the same 2-feet-distance.. .. He
looked at his dad, and saw the admiration at his handiwork...
That was when the darkness
decided the 'dead-line'...
And the dad kept wondering
all the way home, “How did this kid manage to ...
so-cheerfully-kick, at the very same thing that he was guarding so
zealously , moments earlier???...!!!!” Dunno!
.....
I happened to call up a
very close friend of mine, to find out what his cardiologist had to
say, when this friend had told me, a fortnight ago, “I am going to
take this fresh reports, and see if I get a concession for the
quantity of tablets that I swallow 3 times a day... these
blood-thinners!”...
'Oh!...,' he said... “I
could not get my self to meet that cardio... other things came up,
two travels of two weeks each, and the 'schedule' got upset... Next
month, I plan to get back to schedule, wait till my body
'also-looks-good' and then try to impress that cardiologist...”
The pills were on, for over an year... and to restore the blood,
.... quality food, obviously, a bit less-likeable... were
contradicting each other! The pills won the race and the 'schedule'
to regain blood, plus health, lost ... That was the after-effect of
stents he was wearing.
....
“Okay..” I said,
“take your time... it's your schedule... so you decide.....”...
He did not 'sound' quite
okay with what I said... I too knew it.. There was an
understanding between us, ... when I talk to him, I can have
'my-way' of putting things across... no niceties needed!
So, I tried... “See, we
are so used to looking at the schedules in terms of 'urgency'.. and
more than that we look at it as 'some action to be initiated and
done-by-us'... that.. 'to-be-done-by-us' ... that is more out of our
very life style... usually the 'expected-output-at-workplace', its
related work-pattern, and then the life-style dictated by gadgets,
financial-resources, material outlook of ours.. which always
persuade us to deal with them as 'your-expected-action' towards
this-and-that... (Even a mother-in-law is no exception!)... See,
even the Vedic slokas like 'Matru-devo-bhava' got itself redefined,
to fit-into-this pattern of thinking... the
action-oriented-obligations!... (while the more practical and more
probable message was to the mom, perhaps.. ... 'may-you-evolve,
into a God-like-mom, so that reverence becomes a natural consequence'
!).
What if suddenly while we
are talking thus, and you ... for no apparent reason... suddenly
start perspiring..?
The mind is well educated,
by now... cardio-related-symptoms... Now we rush to the nearest
doctor, who, being a mere 'GP'... says, “beyond me.. better take
him to a cardio—preferably the best one around”... Now, the
schedule is decided by the 'urgency' of the situation (we are so good
at 'crisis-management' .. so good that we invite that
'stress/psycho-symptoms/tension/etc' almost at-will now!... The
stupid TV serials are good enough to assist us!)... The cardio now
says... “I will watch,... when he is... 'under-observation', for
48 hours, in that ICU”... No diagnosis can be insisted upon! And
when it is a 'specialist' we do not try to verify the literature
aspect or the grammatical inexactitude of 'watch-under-observation'
and things like that! A distinction is conferred on the nose inlets..
a tube to inhale the very same precious oxygen that the greenery
around supplies in abundance with rich quality!.. Now it is doctor's
schedule... so,.. we 'did not upset any schedule of ..
ours'... (Mind never raises any
'audit-like-questions'.. out of the purview of CAG to question
politics!)...”
I now tried to
'impersonalise' the appeal... and continued.... “We have that
close common friend of ours... so unfortunate he is... he cannot
alter his 'food-schedule' to allow 'even-a-few-bits' of that
Bengal-gram(chana daal), while deciding to taste a dish!... His
face, lips, and palms simply bulge out in few moments, distorting his
appearance even... apart from those 'side-effects-assured'
anti-allergy pills needed , with lots of precautions about over
dose!!!
Why not look at
rescheduling our mind's thought-pattern, to afford ourselves to look
thus: “the body needs this care... and therefore the urgency...
and therefore, my schedules ought to adjust with health-schedules...
and then try out those upsetting travels, food during travel, feasts
etc?”
“True!” He said...
“But,”... I continued,
“another problem is... when our own inner mind is in a
'fighting-mood' with our outer mind... armed with a dialogue, 'hey
you are neglecting your health too much these-days'...the very same
dialogue comes from close ones around...! We know, however good a
song is.. however much... we like it... two radio-stations,
relaying it at the same time from two distantly located broadcasting
stations, and our two radio sets, played at the same time, but badly
over lapping, is so irritating!!! And when this song 'you are
negligent' is coming from 'differently-abled' inner radio-station,
and from 'uniquely-empowered' outer radio station(close friends,
shouting as if from a distance!),.... is it going to be so
palatable! Now, we are in a mood to upset every 'schedule' we know
.. of all the radio stations, around, and within!!!
If this is the state of
health-care due to dis-ease-urgency... what is going to be the fate
of that inner-urge, which is related to 'spirituality'?? ( only a
part-time affair, when there is nothing better to do!)..”.. I
closed my blabber, ... thus!
....
'Speaking tree' provides
scope for 'two-in-one, 3-in-one... or even
'you-decide-how-many---in-one' type of fun.... Fun-within-fun...
takes away/takes-us-away.. to a very far away distance, while
'maintaining' the illusion, that we are doing our democratic duty to
cast our vote, and waiting for that elected-leader to do all the good
to us!
...
Zen masters, usually try
to dissuade.. Worst ones among them are crude even about that!...
A fellow, asked a
Zen-teacher... “Teach me!”
The teacher took him to a
water tank, asked him to place his nose close to the water surface to
smell and without warning pushed his head into the water, and tightly
held it there....
When it was sufficiently
ripe, he allowed the fellow to lift his head, and inhale deep....
Then, he asked, “while
your nose was submerged into the water for this long... what was
your priority?... to learn from me?”
“Hell no!”.. he
replied.. “all I wanted was to just-breath... to live!”
“Then,” the teacher
said, “come to me, when your urge to learn becomes
'that-desperate'.”
...
“Phir kya hua?”...
asked my friend Shri Balwinder..
“Kya phir-kya-hua?...”
I responded... “Arey yaar.. bahut der ke baad pataa chalaa ki
woh jo mai queue samajh ke khada tha... woh koi queue
hi nahi thaa... koi wahan akkal nahi baant raha thaa... woh tou
sirf... ek traffic-jaam tha... hamesha ki tarah.. jagah nayee thi
naa,... dhoka kha gaya!”
“Oui... ST ke dewaane”
he said, and had a hearty laugh!.. I too joined into his laughter,
more or less infectiously... not knowing why I laughed, with a
reassuring consolation that... I knew for certain... when he
laughs.... it has to be a good joke! (it was beyond
me, now to search for the 'proper queue'.. on this pathless path!).
...
Leisurely yours,
psn(22 January, 2014)
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