Consciousness

The awareness of my surroundings gives me a sense of heaviness! Yesterday, a man in front of my house was walking past crying 'I want to destroy' in pain! This is just one instance of exposure to the hatred, depression and desperation that is there in my not 'well-to-do' neighborhood! Regardless, even when I talk to people from the entire spectrum, it gives me a feeling that they are unsatisfied with life, moving forward not because of their will, but because they have no other choice!

The quality of life is also deteriorating with times! My grandfather was a man of style and passion. He enjoyed life to the full, was a social magnate and a very successful person. Even when he lost his eyesight during his last years, he would get dressed up, go out and sit in the garden (making sure that the garden umbrella was up!), make us read the newspaper (that we didn't really relish then!) and discuss issues with us! He had a well-balanced and complete life. I am quite young now, but as I am growing older, I am seeing that people in my times are all over-worked up, highly ambitious beyond their strivings which helps them stretch ahead but with paramount pressure and a sense of imbalance! The quality time with self, family and friends is decreasing very rapidly! This may be because my social circle belongs to a particular type and there is hardly any time to address all our issues in life!

All of us are shooting for growth and success and one of the direct measures of this is the amount of money we make! (Fortunately, in my academic and research inclined world, this is not totally true and we still look at the number of publications, quality of work, etc.)


Commerce and Economics govern the financial stability of nations, societies and its individuals - this has given rise to subtle policies that indirectly promote pressures on individuals to become rational machines and just perform in this beautiful world without any regard to one's intellectual, artistic and creative abilities. I have realized that my productivity is best when I am relaxed and happy but I am not relaxed and happy because I am not productive - this itself is a paradox and a vicious cycle! It is also true that as our race is surging ahead with times, we are becoming more objective and are able to manage more well-defined higher processes at ease with life (due to technology and collaboration).

I know that my current perspective is microscopic and I need more exposure and more quality time (yet again a paradox) to have a better understanding of macroscopic view of life! At least, we should try to enjoy life and live, love and let live our actions! One of my younger cousins once (when I was in ninth grade) wrote a letter to me (a postal letter from this country) where she wrote - 'the essence of being a person is to be content with oneself, love life and help others to love it as well!'