The Drunkard's Sermon

Alcohol, the secret love affair of many. The love affair with such a beautiful thing is kept in secrecy since it is shunned by the worldly protocol. Most people will hide their love for alcohol as they’ve been told by family, religion and even society as a whole, that it is a downright bad thing. But then, what do they know?

The preachers and the family men will point fingers at alcohol since they feel complete with what they have. A family life or a religious approach to life may not be the answer for everyone. We all are different, different people with different lives. That’s why one cannot create same rules of living for everyone. That’s where societal guidelines and religions fall short. Such things forcefully impose principles without understanding the hardships of life that are largely subjective. So yeah, what do they know?

The politically correct minds will advocate their righteousness by stating that alcohol is the cause of family feuds and alcoholism is very much responsible for the devastation of many individuals. I cannot help but agree with them but that does not give me enough reason to completely zero down alcohol as something destructive. Excessive indulgence in anything invites disaster, and alcohol is not an exception. But their minds are extensively tamed and are afraid to think freely thus they will not cease to have blind opinions. In the end, it’s the same question which concludes it for me, what do they know?

If alcohol is just limited to some sips and some drinks. It is a boon; it quenches the thirst of a thirsty soul that feels helpless sometimes, it fills the perennial voids of life for some time and lastly it makes the less fortunate a little numb to their misfortunes. When I’m advocating this subject I know that I can be proved wrong by infinite proportions of people in the world, from the religious ones, to the successful ones and even the family oriented ones. It just proves that people can only talk and their opinions are poorly judged since we humans do not have the ability to feel someone else’s emotions, emptiness and feelings. We judge everything by our own life and every life does not make the same individual out of everyone. That’s why, what do they know?

As humans, the unchangeable roads of our lives remain the same. Some of us are walking terrains that are very rough. We may find ourselves helpless and that’s when a few sips of this bitter blessing will be our helping hand. While the people point fingers, talk and look down upon our blessing, we will keep surviving our life and with a drunk grin we will silently ask ourselves, what do they know?

Realization of Life

Somewhere down the line, in addition to just being an experience life also ends up giving you a realization. The realization is encountered by us mortals sooner or later. It’s when the desires lose their appeal and luster and man realizes that what happened just happened, and does not hold an everlasting importance since nothing is constant in life.

Now when we say that, whatever happens “just” happens we should know that the series of events in our life are just self-unraveling. Our efforts or actions are just ways with which we let our minds make sense of what happens. The actions are actually also a part of the self-unraveling trait of life, because our actions are governed by circumstances and circumstances are never certain. So yes, actions are a part of the unknown which only our life knows and we can in no way change the unknown, we can only face it.

During youth when we all are so full of energy, we tend to think of our achievements as our own. We tend to keep more expectations and start working even harder. Working hard is never a problem, expectations are, and when these expectations are not met as they do not coincide with life’s plan, there is sadness.

Whatever I’m talking about may not make sense to you, but just take a while, look back and think of a situation when you made a narrow escape and things just fell in place. Any such incident is a proof that life itself is striving to fulfill the unknown.

Experienced and successful people individuals who weren’t believers of the destined progression of life, eventually agree to the fact that everything just happens. This realization comes easily to those who do not attain enough success in life. They do not let their efforts have a purpose as they’ve understood that the ultimate control of everything is under life itself.

Everyone will develop this realization sooner or later, that’s why the King of Bollywood himself talks about it in his speech at Yale University.

“"Success just happens. Really. It is accidental and we take credit for it..." -

 -Shah Rukh Khan

Indian Relatives -The High Maintenance Girlfriends

There’s a thing about knowing a lot of people in life and especially in a place like India, where there’s an army of relatives that are a part of your life. Relatives, the people who’re your so called well-wishers, who will give you cash money in your birthdays on fancy envelopes, the people who will assemble at your place on your big days, give you free advises to show that they care, eat food and then talk about the same food when they’ve left. Relatives are the circus performers of human relationships that keep one amused and a little less lonely.

Maintaining relations with so many people is a tough job; there is a lot one has to do. Especially because in India formalities are to relations, just like spice is to food. The formalities can range for calling up your relatives on special occasions, indulging in a restricted small talk that does not hurt their sentiments in the remotest way and even giving the right amount of money on the right occasion. Indian relatives as you can see are easily much more demanding than your regular high maintenance girlfriend.

Due to the considerable amount of time I’ve spent outside India, I’m not good when it comes to maintaining relationships with relatives. I have to be told when to call whom and when I’m on the line, I don’t know what to say. So when I start repeating the round of questions, I somehow know it’s time for Changa fer (Okay then) to contribute to the tenor and the call to end. The case is different for people who’ve grown up here, some have a genuine liking for relatives; some have trained themselves to develop a liking. I on the other hand am still learning.

The problem with some people is that they cannot fake emotions. While we’re struggling and crawling through the hell holes of our life, apart from our own confused inner self, there is very less possibility of people stealing the spot light. When I’m living the life that’s not of a retired person there’s a lot on my mind, formalities somehow remain far from my state of mind. The only true affection is for those few people you meet every day while riding the unpredictable bull of your life. When you and your relatives are altogether on a different road with the restrictions of many rules of interaction, affection is over powered by formality.

Relatives should not stick to so much of code of conduct, because we all have our lives which bears its own set of orders, therefore having another governing system and that too in a relation is not feasible. The important thing is that even though you may not be in touch with your relatives but when you meet them you should be glad because that feeling of well-being in a social gathering is genuine as compared to the fake display of affection over phone calls.

In the end, I would just say that out of those 10 fake smiles in a social gathering, around 1-2 are genuine ones. Maybe that’s how relatives justify their role in life. Relatives are also the boons that can back you up in times of needs both financial or moral (not emotional). Because no man deserves loneliness in life and these relatives fill the void and keep you safe.

To My Fellow Virtual Inhabitants

So you wake up in the morning, as your consciousness takes its own time to wake up, as that sub conscious voice is blurting out some final thoughts before hiding away in secrecy. And while these mental activities are happening, you're just staring blankly while motioning your hand to grab your mobile phone. It was the same old early morning curiosity to greet the itch of social networking. How utterly connected you are, Aigh?

So you sit down all excited, grabbing this book you'd bought. The cover had been keeping you entertained for quite a while now. After much delay and suspense, it was time to witness the magic this book had within it. With just a page down, your hand moved, not to flap the page, but to check the mobile phone. It was time to feed the weeping baby of curiosity with a feed of social networking. Again, How utterly connected you are, Aigh?

So you drop yourself on that couch ready to watch the Sunday night movie, or that much awaited cricket match. The sexy blonde guest star or the smashing sixer by a tail ender, reminded you of that seducing lady of social networking who cajoled you to share the excitement with her. It wasn't an interruption, it was just an act to complete your excitement. Oh well, How utterly connected you are, Aigh?

There's no doubt about how utterly connected you are how willingly you are letting a mechanical medium suck your life up, little by little.