Food for thought..

“Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth, more than ruin, more even than death....Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.”

Bertrand Russell

In a world which speaks only one language, that of might, thought seems like an absurd, old fashioned, obsolete term whose only use seems to be that of adorning useless talk shows which do not end in anything conclusive, absorbing “intellectual” (I tell you they should ban the damn word, from what it originally meant it is fast coming to mean anything that is complicated bordering the in comprehendible) writing or the forte of a man crying hoarse to save the world, whom no one ever listens to (UN anyone?). Who has the time to think? The world is fast, if you stop to think, you had better stop there. You are gone. (The French would know this well, they actually ‘thought’ before stating their stand on the Iraq issue, now how absurd is that! Imagine, they actually applied their smart, smug brains to the events unfolding and worse still, gave George and American Holy War thumbs down. See what happened to them. Everyone hated them. Ok, not everyone, at least everyone who mattered anyway. The rest? Who cares?). Thought is a dangerous thing; it essentially puts you on the differentiator. And that is bad. In a unipolar world ‘progressively’ moving towards phasing out variation in men, that feels safe when they conform to an unspoken rule, someone with ideas is not a revolutionary, he is insane. And insane men are not good for the society; they corrupt the whole process of refining men. Does it mean we’re near the goal already? Sure we are – look at Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon or scores of other places, where mindlessness has underscored its victory.


Maybe I’m looking at too large a canvas, maybe the relevance is lost on you. Maybe you will not believe it that it is safe to shut your mind out (you may not credit yourself with intelligence then, but then, you’ll be smart!). All this world politics is too complicated, you may retort, besides world politics (today) is inherently mindless – I agree. Look back at our own place; look at the state of governance. Each time one ruling authority replaces the other, the degree of thought reduces some more. Most states have already managed to achieve the desirable, they have already shun thought; it is not applied to any aspect of governance – states have become ‘progressive’ –Akshardham, Godhra, NBA, scores of Mumbai blasts, the never ending North east crisis, Bihar stuck in a time warp, and Karnataka – what can I say about this place. I have seen the progress unfold in front of my eyes, the capital being the jewel in the crown. (We are the nations IT capital, a true cosmopolitan, home to 1 million immigrants and churning out IT professionals by the minute. Do I hear someone talk of non existent infrastructure, spiraling cost of living, abysmal public transport, rising crime rate, a shocking real estate condition and a government that has decided to veto out its part of the thinking, leaving the place and things to take it course? What rubbish! Things are progressing, fine and correct. This is a problem with too much thinking; it breeds cynicism, too much negativity. You become anti social, anti state, anti nation. What the hell, you become anti mankind! Don’t think too much. Too bad).


Again too vague, then what about us? We, the ‘thinking’ species. Thought, our sole point of our elevation over other life. (Or maybe, our nemesis, our tool of self destruction – that’s why it’s being put out see, it could ruin us). We who are a generation that thinks it’s fashionable to be western unconditionally (they’re cool, for some mysterious reason) and still want to be good Indians – patriotism is a good attitude (what’s that? It’s something that everyone has. What is that something? It’s an attitude. Now come on, don’t you know what it means? Don’t you have one?) – a la Rang De Basanti, Swades, Pukaar. We are a generation who are insecure being who we are (lots, lots will cry hoarse and hate me for stating this, I know) and we show it when we make Lagaan and still wonder why we didn’t win an Oscar (we even cry racism like a wronged child not being given what we deserve). We are a nation that jumps when the US even mentions ‘treaty’ and cant wait to sign the dotted line (Hey! Who wants to read what’s written, no time to think of that, besides, its stupid to think remember?) and then we go sour when they pick a certain neighbor for all the perks. (But of course, we don’t want to think, and ask why?).

What about the ‘I’? The ‘me’ in us. I am afraid to commit as I do not know what I would think sometime down the line (if I think at all), I do not know if a job is right for me (I’m unhappy, but I don’t know why?) and I do not know if I’ll stick to this place. I am bored out of my wits but I do not know if this is the normal state of mind anyway (I’m afraid to ask). I want to be rich, but I also want instant gratification. Why? I do not know, everyone wants it. I am a confused something who is yet to figure out what to do with life (what the hell is life anyway?). I only know something’s not ok, I tire easily and wonder when I lost the real me. The world moves fast around me, yet everything is slow in my mind.


Maybe its time to ask Why? Why not pause to think? We are a scared race, yes, that’s right, we who have inherited this world and brought it to this, we are afraid of the consequences of all the mindlessness (in our lives, our city, state or country, in every facet of our lives). We are afraid to think as thought is logic, and logic is brutal, unforgiving and crystal clear.

Maybe its time to go back to our actual functioning, maybe its time to ‘think’. Maybe its time to put our fears and escapism behind and look at things, long enough to retrospect and ACT on thought - rationally, as mankind was expected to. Maybe its time to make thought a habit, as we once did with thoughtlessness. Come on, it can’t go worse than it already is right? If things will change, this time, they have to – for the better.