Ease

Not quite 'easy' .... this one at-least!

It was supposed to be a 'simple' word.... The only blunder perhaps, that I might have committed, when this word 'came into my life at first' (yes, that kid age.... 'Engleesh-medium ischoool' it was so... for most of the unlettered people around me, when they quizzed 'kaun se madarsey mein padthe hain aap?'.... the name(iscoool's name) did not matter much.... they were more concerned with what kind of mannerisms I was going to acquire during adulthood..... whether that amenable 'gaontee'(rustic).... or that 'stiff-collared' angrez-literate-babu, who spews out jargon to instill fear in gullibles, and makes a living 'only-thus'!) ...

Even when that 'strict' notice from the School-Principal was read out in a stern voice 'those who speak other than in English, except language classes of Hindi, and regional 2^nd language, will be penalised with a 'fine''... we kids dealt with it easily... For instance, I distinctly remember my ever—resourceful-classmate, when asked soon after this notice... by our teacher 'What's wrong with your feet?'.... (he was limping a bit... it was afternoon-session... during that lunch interval, we had a hectic game Kabbadi, we played rough, unmindful of consequences... serious pulling-of-each-others-legs, while at that game!)... that kid replied without even batting an eyelid.. “Teacher, I have a moch in my paun...” We never found it necessary to strain ourselves to find out that it was 'sprain'... for... the only place we had to strain ourselves , ... at that age... was when we had to ease, within a given time... not at our leisure. And that 'paun' is easy-altenative for 'foot-and-not-feet' (the teacher could ask about our feet, but we were expected to be precise to the exact foot! So dealing with which of the feet was a feat for us... then... a sudden forced shift to 'peak' in English.... I am sorry.... it was just e-speak!).. But admirably enough, that kid let that 'paun' into a wonderful rendition, like those long monotonous long notes (alaaps), which are let into a droole of 'n' in a beautiful descending note, during a vocal performance at a musical concert....

....

Some where in between, we were told, what is simple is not always quite easy!

(Example was: there is a finger to fold, the tongue to be doubled a little inwards, with that finger, and the air in the lungs to be let out in a gush, through the so-folded-tongue... but not every body manages to produce a shrill note that they call as 'whistle'!)

...

So, that 'easy' soon turned out to be too fuzzy ..... to make out. In those days, 'posh' people used to say 'I would like to ease myself'..... I wondered... is that why people squirm in their seats....? that urgency to ease... and they find it a bit uneasy thing.... due to a 'dis-ease'? Well this kind of 'dis-ease' is not that easy to disclose like those 'voluntary-disclosures'.... the embarrassment is quite understandable, when somebody is asked to sit in that vacant bus seat, and this fellow tries to 'turn a deaf ear' and secretly wishes, the driver might step on to the horn.... (Oh! How to 'explain' that being seated is an uneasy thing with this dis-ease!)... When some people squirm for quite sometime, restlessly, and I wondered (during that kid age) what is going on in their minds, when being seated in that 'reserved' seat is just 'all-about-parking' our bottom properly! Long journey in a train requires us to be 'seated' far better than in a brief-bus-journey!

Now, with high tech-techies that we find abound(or in abundance... whichever way it is)..... their relativity with 'IT' has made it easy for them to go easy on difficult courtesies like 'wanting to ease oneself'... for that 'matter', they even effortlessly manifest the slightest of un-easiness with that prefix of 'sh' to their 'it' and 'pronounce' it jointly! That is why they are so casual about 'great' as 'gr8' etc... Some of them, I have to admit, use 'Oh' when they are into 'admitting' their own folly, as an extended-prefix ... So evolved they are ..... from that 'easing oneself' with a strain once upon a time! (If you feel that I am stretching things too far... the 'topmost' villains {of our today's movies} look down to discover that their pants are wet,.... right up to the ankle, .... when they are face-to-face with that point-blank range piece of lead, waiting to be discharged 'easily' by that hero-cop, who find this method of dispensing justice more practical than producing the villain at a court!

..

That illusion of 'Nothing is easier' kept shattering with the need to knead the intrinsic meaning of ease! The confusion compounds when we come to spiritual path.... Aghoris and their activities simply sets aside all our earlier illusions.... the stories that we hear.... they got enlightened 'just like that'... one touch, one look, etc... As if this is not enough, the far eastern Zen Masters scare us, when they go beyond that 'stripping us of easy-go-life'!

I joined that 'junior-NCC' at school.... This time I kept wondering at the commands “Attention” ('standing' implied...) but that 'At-ease' was explicitly prefixed with “Stand” (obviously not taking any chances.... some 'wise' guy might construe it to 'suit-his-convenience' and squat or lie down to be 'truly-at-ease'!... But I could not muster enough courage to ask that 'usthaad'.... their awesome 'looks' instilled great fears in most of us, and we were wearing just shorts, not even full-pants!)... Much later, those wonderful English movies ... the War movies... one high-ranking officer to other... dialogue was in style.... '(please be)...at your ease.....officer' (they had high-level espionage related issues to deal with .... not these rigid physical posture of 'attention'). We were initiated into that wonderful 'Indianised' (desi) version even as we just reached college level NCC! The 'caution' now seemed to me, to be addressed to 'mind', ..... way beyond the physicality... 'Saavdhaan' (be cautious, exercise caution, attentively enough)... and that 'Vi-shram' ('bereft of strain or stress'.... as I would like to look at it... 'shram-vihit' ... the same attentiveness, retained and intensified, by relaxing just the body... they even add 'aaraam sey'... when, during the next few moments they are going to elaborate on 'concepts'!!! I was at once awed by the depth of clarity thought of--about 'going easy'--, by the training department of our armed forces!).... Only that a few of the 'casual' co-cadets found it hard to suppress their giggle, when non-hindi speaking ustaads shrieked it to sound like 'Sou-dhan' (hundred-wealth), and 'bay-sharam' (shameless!)...

That 'easy' is inextricably entangled with words like comfort, discomfort, uncomfortable, etc...

Dexterity acquired with hard work makes it look 'easy' when we see people perform at trapeze or that gymnastics of Olympics... Sometimes, the 'easiness' of others is suddenly the cause of a 'dizziness' (was it a short form of dis-easy-ness?) for us (like...when we find that Michael Angelo saying “take infinite pains to create something that looks effortless”... what else can we infer, when we find so many reports of 'suicide' cases alongside the publication of matriculation/plus-two results, and kids let the 'life go out easily' despite their hard work for that upper-cut-off, where as, the previous people had a 'easy-go-life' whatever the results (it was just pass or fail... at10^th class... fail means... try and try again... no great hurry). Here we find ourselves in a great hurry to counsel them back into life first, rather than looking at the philosophical or spiritual aspect of 'easy' life!

Now, having come this far (or having reached this far..... look at it whichever way you find it easy/easier), I wonder..... if I have been 'easy' on some of us!

psn(8^th June, 2012)