Authoring Ambition

At my age, probably it is not easy for me to vibe with a young girl of 16; times have changed and so also are people and their thinking. My niece today thinks about herself, her future much more than I did when I was at her age. Her concerns today are quite different from mine some three decades ago. Though it is not a good idea to compare people from two different epochs, and yet I feel certain things in life cannot be ignored or taken lightly. Ambition is the hallmark of this generation, and every young man and woman today may swear by it. But it is for us to realize that the very word ‘ambition’ has been much maligned after Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, and therefore it needs some qualification.

Unfortunately ambition is considered something that we should not give in to, because the fruit of ambition could be the fate of Caesar or Brutus. The modern generation, however, is not going to accept the theory of Shakespeare, which is some five hundred years old; modern thinkers and sages might just propose a contrary theory, saying that anyone who does not have ambitions may not succeed in life. The concept of thinking big is in reality an offshoot of this kind of thinking, which is fast catching up among the youth. It has not spared my niece either, though her ambitions are most often toned and molded by family members and friends. But there is fear that this ambition might go out of control if it is not kept under certain tension.

Choosing between two schools is indeed an important factor to realize the dreams and ambitions students nurture deep within; however the schools are merely the media which provide the proper ambience for nurturing of the dreams. The schools are only instruments in shaping the destiny of the youth, but they do not determine the destiny. It would be fatal if we were to consider that the schools are ultimately responsible for our future orientation. For a student who is serious about his/her dreams and ambitions, any school maybe good enough to flower forth, and for a frivolous one even the best of schools may not help much to reach the dreams.

I realized how the peer pressure could throttle the steady growth and nurturing of these dreams in the youth, when a few phone calls threw my niece haywire; it is true that friends would love to stay together and support one another during their school days; however they would soon realize that they cannot stick together all the way; sometime or other their ways will part, and each one will have to find his/her own way. Her friends had informed her that they were joining a “good school” as opposed to the “bad school” that my niece was joining. This thought that she was not admitted into a good school had caused enough of tears, and it took quite a while to make her understand that what makes real difference is self-determination and hard work, and not merely the schools.

The dreams and ambitions of the youth cannot be shaped by peer pressure or convenience; sometimes we hear young people wishing to be what their friends wish; this is a temporary arrangement, and it will soon fail, because the interests and orientations of each youth vary considerably. There are a lot more calculations and reading the signs of the times, which help the parents and other family members to arrive at a particular path to help the youth to reach the goal they have set for themselves. Trust in the guidance of the family, especially of parents, will be a great asset in this lonesome journey of the youth, and it is sure to bear rich dividends at the end. The youth will need to fall back on the resources of this trust and confidence in the near ones, especially when the going is tough. I believe this has been a tough moment for my niece, but I know she understands the dynamics of this process.

Tear-jerking

All of us indulge in crying at one time or other; I am not talking about the babies crying for food, or when they lose a game, or when they get a whack from their parents or friends. I am talking about adults shedding tears, in silence, and in public out of overwhelming pain and agony. There are many adults who are not initiated to crying in public, even when their life-supports are snatched from them; when they lose their dearest ones, when they lose all fortunes due to ill-luck. I feel sad for them, because there is no greater catharsis than by shedding the burdens through tears, and no wonder for most of us, it comes so naturally.

Women are said to be more prone to shedding tears, at the slightest excuse, but researches show that men are no less. In some societies, men shedding tears is considered sign of cowardice and unmanly act, and so even when they go through untold agony, they are to retain not only their emotions under control, but also their tears. I wonder how these men are able to suppress all their vital emotions and still be able to go about as if nothing on earth has ever happened in their lives, and I would not be surprised if these people suffer from not only grievous psychological, but also physical ailments. The unexpressed emotions will have to find a suitable outlet in some form or other.

I don't think we all should imitate the Rajasthani women, 'rudali', the hired cry-girls, who are often invited to cry during the death and funeral procession of persons. These are professional women, who can cry convincingly and courageously for a price, as if they had lost their own dear ones. These people probably may have an extra dose of lacrite enzyme which secretes far more tears than most of us. Scientific researches have also shown that there is no better way to clean the eyes than by shedding tears; there cannot be a better eye drops to “cleanse” the eyes, than the tears of one's own eyes.

Many of the Indian films are often dubbed as 'tear-jerkers', and if that be the case with popular films, then probably the Bengali films might win the first prize for tear-jerking. Every ten to fifteen minutes, the audience are presented with a crying scene, which may impel the audience to join the crying hero or heroine. But such films do faithfully what the Greek tragedies, and to a certain extent Shakespearean tragedies too, had done, to provide scope for catharsis, purging of one's emotions, so that at the end of the play the audience is able to go home with a sigh of relief, that all that happened on stage were only imaginary.

Another great consolation for those who find it hard to control tears, even at ripe old age; I understand for women it comes more naturally, but for the men it may require some effort. The consoling factor is that the Gospels say that even Jesus shed tears; though John makes that pithy sentence about Jesus weeping for his friend Lazarus (And Jesus wept! Jn 11:35), Jesus is also described to have shed tears for Jerusalem. We know Jesus also would have shed silent tears as he spent the long hours of night along with His Father. It is not that we need to invite tears for no reason, but when they do come, it may be to our benefit, not to stop them!

Worldly-wise vis-a-vis Truly-wise

A friend of mine quite casually gave me a name, which I found quite amusing! Idiot. She even felt so bad and embarrassed at giving me this beautiful name. I am not kidding, I like this name very much, and as I just look at this word, a lot of associations float in my mind. Needless to say, idiot is synonymous to fool, and having gone through the Shakespearean literature, especially his plays, I realize to be a ‘fool’ or an ‘idiot’ is a rare privilege. The Shakespearean ‘fools’ are often just the opposite of what we might think them to be; they infuse wisdom into characters, in their associations, and they cannot be taken for granted. It is these clowns and comic characters who, while providing the much needed comic relief, provide an insight into the plot.

It is said that often we come across fools who appear to be wise, but in reality remain fools; the wise may appear fools, but beyond their deceptive appearance may be truly wise. The philosophy of being a clown is that it is better to appear a fool, than to be! But in reality, most of us spend most of our time, energy and resources to appear wise, and at the end realize we have been fools. It is in this connection that it is a wonderful thing to appear a fool, and at the end realize that beyond the foolishness, we have insight into reality, which can go beyond the flimsy side of life. It is only the people who acknowledge themselves as fools, who can reality take a dip into reality of life, where we may discover pearls of wisdom.

Is it a crime to be a fool? In our society, foolishness is often associated to lack of adequate knowledge (ignorance, or avidya, to use a Vedic word), lack of common sense, lack of presence of mind, not being prepared to respond promptly to situations and circumstances. If we apply these criteria to foolishness, then every computer should be deemed wise, far better than human persons, who may not have much date at their finger-tips. Believe it or not, every one born as a human person has a large size of foolishness ingrained in us; the degree may vary from person to person, but no one can claim that s/he cannot be considered a fool. Denial of foolishness maybe the first and major symptom of being a fool par excellence.

If ever we claim ourselves to be too wise for this world populated with foolish men and women, certain per cent of the blame will go to the world and our social upbringing. When we are born, we enter into the new world as tabula rasa! We know almost nothing; instinct tells us that for survival we have to start breathing, and begin to suckle the breast of our mothers. But at this stage we are quite happy to be ignorant about the ways of the world, and are not much bothered about it. As we grow, we realize that not knowing things is not a positive element, but a matter of shame. So we make frantic efforts to overcome ignorance, and begin to project ourselves as wise men and women.

Am I a fool, and an idiot? I see all around film posters on 3 Idiots, a film by Amir Khan, and though I do not know much about the film, yet I could remove the 3 and make it four, adding my name in that list. In fact, if I am not mistaken, all the three ‘fools’ depicted in the film belong to the Shakespearean model, and therefore cannot be equated with the commonplace ‘wise-appearing fools’. When it comes to the final analysis, what matters is not how we appear to the world, but how we appear to ourselves. If one has a reasonably positive self-image, no wise-fool can make him/her part of his/her own clan. And ultimately that is what matters in life!