The Insane Gift

"Are you mad?" came the question. 

I had the insane gift. 

I was laughing my lungs out. "Are you mad?" came the question again. I had heard something which seemed very funny to me and I was having a hearty laugh. Almost ROFL. Though they found it funny too, they were of the opinion that there was a limit to laughter. I never knew there was a limit to laughter! Who ever set a limit to laughter? And when?

This scenario is not unusual though. I have heard my friends ask the same question. But now this gets me thinking. 

Try this or at least imagine ;-) ...

Go to a busy road nearby and stand in a corner and...cry. Wail if you wish to. What happens? People will rush to you inquiring about what happened. They will console you and sympathize. Even those passersby who have no clue of what is happening will stop by to sympathize. You seem to be a damsel in distress and that is normal...in alignment with our social norms.

Now, on a different day, go to the same road, to the same spot and start laughing. You can start with a giggle and ascend to a roaring laughter. What happens? People start staring at you. They become apprehensive and start whispering amongst themselves. They may ignore you if their senses permit, but you sure do run a risk of some of these people chasing you with sticks. You are insane. Or else, why would you laugh for no reason? 

Look at this ridiculous world. A world that tells you that, if you laugh too much, then you will cry the next day. What better way for the world to strangulate you mentally even before you start laughing?!

We are surrounded by people who complain and find opportunities to be sad even though they enjoy more privileges than most other people in this world. Sadness is accepted. People who sulk are comforted while those who laugh (apparently for no reason) are labeled insane. We all came with a license to be sad..right? Then why on earth should one laugh so much? After all, we were born crying.

Why do people find it so difficult to accept the fact that our Creator wishes us to be happy? Why do we measure our laughter in ounces even when we know that it is good for health? Why do we believe that tragedy is the truth of life and comedy is an imagination of storybook writers and film-makers? Why do we have to wait to become senior citizens, die more of boredom rather than cardiovascular problems and then start off laughing clubs to force some laughter out of ourselves in the name of therapy? 

"Are you mad?" comes the question again.

Maybe I am. Isn't it far better to be happy and be labeled as insane rather than keep whining all your life to be accepted and pseudo-sympathized by fellow whiners? 

Remember, O sane world..that many species other than humans can cry too. But none other than humans can laugh. Its a gift. 

Are you on a wild goose chase?



Rita Menon
Guest Author

After a lot many painful bad days of being in a conflict within myself…I figured, what I want in life. Is it easy for all of us to know what we actually want? Or what we think we want is a perception of what society wants us to have?

When we are young, out of school or college, all we want is a job. Once we have the job which gives us acceptance in the society or with the friends circle the next step is to get a wife or husband. Get settled, have a house, get married!! What would be the next transitional goal in this life you live? It’s an easy guess, Children and boom! You have lived a perfect life – job, family, house and of course, society’s acceptance.

Have you ever stopped and asked yourself what you really want? Leave aside the thought of being accepted by society. And just asked yourself, what do I really want in life?

All the things mentioned above are indeed a part of life, steps in the journey you call life. But these cannot be the end goal you try and reach. End goal should be happiness, whatever it takes to reach there.

Happiness is again tricky. What gives you happiness at a certain stage in life, will not continue to keep you happy all along. So how do gauge what will make you happy in the long run? Each one has their own take on what happiness is..depending on your upbringing, your friends, your family and the people who influence in this short life you have.

Solution, live life for the moment, pursue what you want to do.. What you think will be right and what will make you happy for that moment. The only question I ask myself in my impulsive decisions is - will I ever repent this? Will look back and say that ‘this was a bad decision’. If I I know the answer is no, I will do what I feel.

 

"I am so excited to have the first Guest Post on this blog. Let me introduce Ms.Rita Menon. Rita is a dear friend, a good conversationalist, a writer and when time permits, she works for an investment bank and currently resides in the US. Thank you so much Rita, for the cool conversations and this post. Looking forward to many more..."

                                                                                                                        - Unnikrishnan

Letting Go...

It was just another day at work for me and I was heading back home late evening. I stood waiting for the bus at the bus stop nearby. After long hours of lecturing, I sometimes choose to sit down at the bus shelter as the waiting period could be anywhere between 15 to 30 minutes. However, on that day, unlike the other days, I wasn’t feeling like sitting down. I was feeling unusually energetic and agile. As I continued to marvel the unusual energy I was experiencing, my mind began flipping through the day’s events and even the food I had consumed. There was nothing different. So where was this energy coming from? What was the secret of my agility?

It took me a while before realizing that I was not carrying my backpack. For some reason, that day, I had left my bag at home. That was what was different. So the secret to my agility was not any extra shot of energy but the lightness of my own body due to the absence of the backpack.  Suddenly, I felt a little insecure without my bag. I usually carry the books that I read and a bottle of water wherever I go. Their absence started making me feel uncomfortable.

It was then that I started relating my situation to what most of us do in our life. We carry invisible backpacks with us all the time consciously or unconsciously. The baggage would be containing negative emotions relating to the past. Bad memories, the emotions associated with those memories, anger, hatred, jealousy, vengeance, so on and so forth. Moreover, we keep adding to the baggage every single day. I know of a young man who even maintains a dairy, in which he records every incident that hurts him in some or the other way, along with the date and time! He vows to take revenge.  I wasn’t surprised to find that the pages of his diary were getting exhausted. Each day there was something new for him to add on. Inspite of being a really good human being, this baggage has been robbing him of his life force. It has begun to take a toll on his health. He knows the perils of carrying this baggage, yet not willing to let go of it.

We maybe be attached to our respective backpacks and may feel insecure in its absence, but what it really does is that, it weighs us down. The sooner we choose to let go of it, the better. We are souls meant to fly high with our wings spread wide, not crawl on the ground and be miserable throughout our lives. But the choice is ours. We do posses the power to let go. It is easier said than done. But when it is done, we will be re-born again. It will become a true cleansing process for our soul.

On that day, at the bus stop, the positive energy that I was experiencing from my agility, gradually overpowered my insecurity. I finally reached home…safe and sound. And I no more missed my backpack.

Something called...Love

Since the time I have been writing, many of my close friends have been waiting for me to write something about the most sensational topic in the world...Love!

I wonder why they are so curious to know what I think about something so strange. Perhaps, the very fact that it is strange is what makes people interested in it. I have been reading a couple of articles written by my friends on their blogs and have been thinking of putting down my thoughts too. Finally, I have convinced myself to sit down and do it. I have finally failed in my attempt to evade the topic!

To begin with, let me tell you, I am an idealist. I have an idealistic approach to everything in life, including Love. I have always believed that Love is sacrosanct. But strangely, it has revealed itself around me in many different ways that are not so congruent with my idealistic beliefs.

I know of some of my very close friends...their fragile hearts were smitten with Love. And as Kahlil Gibran says it, ' then came Satan and drove them out of the Paradise of Love '. Their hearts shattered into a thousand pieces. After the tempest died, they sat in the darkness hoping for a ray of hope. Some of them just gave up on it and let the wind blow away the shattered pieces lying strewn all over. Some optimists, picked up the pieces and tried putting them together as though playing a jigsaw puzzle which they can never comprehend.

On the other hand there are people who can conveniently trample over those fragile hearts and confidently justify their actions. These people seem to be like jugglers juggling with hearts.

I know that atleast when it comes to Love, there are many idealists like me. And for us idealists, assimilation of certain modern day theories become difficult. But I have realised that this thing called Love has a 'psycho-socio' dimension to it. And if we take this into consideration, it may seem that the concept of Love has been treated with a lot of hypocrisy. It is said that Love has everything to do with the heart...originates from the heart and terminates at the heart. But looking at the trend, one may be rest assured that every thing in between the beginning and the end has something to do with the brain, society etc... and least with 'heart'.

Yes, for idealists its hard to believe that distance can break relationships, but the fact is that in many cases it does. Its impossible in the story books for the princess or the prince to fall in Love with someone else, but outside the books, its very much possible. One of my very good friends recently told me that its possible for a person who is in Love with someone to have an infatuation for someone else. My idealism questioned this.. but that fact is that it happens. I have heard people say, "its perfectly fine to have crushes outside your relationships". I wonder how?! The other day I read an article in the paper which states a new discovery by some scientists somewhere in the world that flirting..even outside your relationship can be good for you. Don't scientists have anything better to do?

And I must not forget to include one of the most important aspects which can make or break relationships. Money! (i now think Love has a psycho-socio & economic dimension too!!) I guess the more we look into it, the more factors will appear...achievements, capability, dreams, space etc etc all play their respective roles. It always begins with the heart...and then there is everything except the heart, in it.

Finally I am forced to conclude that Love is not absolute. It is subjective...subjective in terms of perceptions, decisions & experiences. Each one can interpret it differently and experience it differently. Its best if we remember that it is not an Axiom.

As for me, the more I try to figure this out, the more complicated and dreadful it gets. I feel my understanding of Love when I was 15 years old was far better than what it is now because... it was innocent. I was ignorant of the darker sides of paradise. I could only see the beauty. I could believe only in the purity. Maybe that's why its said...sometimes ignorance is bliss.

And now, leaving each one to his own, I return to where I belong...the story book...where the Prince & the Princess are locked in the sacred bliss of Love. The perfect Love which the 15 year old within me still believes in. I will rather be happy with my eyes shut than be sad with my eyes open...