Birth of a Dream

It’s funny, how we grow up expecting some basic concrete certainties, how we take as given a few eventualities, and yet when they occur, we are thrown off guard, completely taken by surprise and left staggering and gobsmacked!

One such incident was when Dido became a mum. All of us knew that Anisha will come into the world in the first week of March. We were waiting, we were jubilant, and we were thrilled. But despite this, nothing had prepared me for the heart wrenching joy that I felt, when I held her in my arms for the first time. Nothing could explain the endless flow of my tears, the overwhelming wonder that I was drowning in, and the deep, inherent love that I felt for her.

Little did I know that this small bundle of impossible beauty that was sleeping in my arms, peacefully content, all of 2.8 kgs, would soon be ruling the house, and all our worlds, totally disrupting any order, method and discipline (or the lack thereof) that previously existed!

Everyone instantly had an opinion of who she looks like, what her gestures symbolized. Someone even declared what she was in the previous birth and in what circumstances she died. Not only that, everyone even started contemplating what she would grow up to be, and why, and who she would be like and how. It was as if her Janam Patri was being made in real time in an audio visual mode!

But I don’t see how all these things matter. I feel what really matters is that here we have a person, who is untainted with any prejudices whatsoever that all of us invariably get conditioned into having. She’s pure, she’s trusting, she’s amazing, and she’s ours. She is a symbol of hope for tomorrow, and a proof that love exists. And it doesn’t matter what she does, what she grows up to be or who she resembles..... What matters is that we’ll love her anyway, and love her immensely, and only hope that she learns to appreciate the simple things that really matter, like Hope and Faith and Love, and one day grows up to be the best she can be.. Nothing More, Nothing Less.

Branded For Posterity

Recently, Dada and I were talking about discrimination. We were discussing how deeply rooted discrimination is in all our minds. Which made me think, about how we’ve blurred the lines between differentiation and discrimination by strokes of prejudice.

Sounding too extreme? Let’s look at it this way.... What’s the first thing we do when we meet someone? Ask them their name? It could be Rahul, Aamir or Harmeet.

So he’s a Hindu, Muslim or Punjabi..... First step of slotting completed.

Next Question: 'What do you do?' The answer would probably decide how much worth you associate with that person. A professional? Awesome. An okay job? Not so great. Unemployed? Why, you must be brave to show your face in public!

Second slot allotted.

I could go on and on, but let’s not go there. By no means do I mean that we begin by asking politically wrong questions, nor do I mean that all of us have a devious, intentional, hidden agenda while making small talk.

My point is, all of us, in our small ways, simplify our life by slotting people into categories, to make it easier for ourselves to deal with them. In short, we brand them for posterity.

Examples? Well.... Bengalis are 'lazy' but 'cultured', Tamilians are 'intelligent' and 'hard working', Punjabis are 'fun loving'.... so on and so forth. We thus brand people, because it’s so much easier to deal with familiarity and what is unfamiliar is so intimidating.

You can call it generalisation, of course, but I’d say that even generalisation hints at prejudice. When you decide what someone is like, without giving them a fair chance, that does allude to prejudice, doesn't it?

I wish we could reach a point where we could, in the truest sense, be Open. Give everyone a fair chance to show what they are beneath the layers of labels that they possess, beyond the tags of community, religion, sex, race etc. In other words, just let them Be, for the sake of being....

My faith in humanity says this will happen one day, and this faith presently overshadows the little voice in my head that uncannily resembles reality. But while I have the faith, I shall hope for the best and keep my fingers crossed! :')

P.S - To be fair, though, I am half Bengali, and I am Definitely Lazy! :P