Living Outside the Box (#TOIWriteIndia)

Submission for Write India campaign. All Copyright Reserved.

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It had been more than an hour since Varun had sat down in front of the TV hoping that there would be something interesting to watch. And for an hour, all he could find were shows peddling stress in different packages.

 

Sometimes they were documentaries accusing that the rain forests and its animals were dying because of "us". Varun questioned that because he had never cut a tree, lovingly tended a kitchen garden on his apartment balcony and even did his bike emission checks regularly. Why, he had been donating Rs 300 every month to Greenpeace for the past five years. Chances were some dolphins may have gotten saved because of his contribution.

“Yea, you almost got me there.” Varun responded to the documentary and shook off the subliminal suggestion of guilt.
 

He had switched to another channel. There was a show now accusing “us” that some minor girl got raped because "we' did not take action. And if "we" were to redeem ourselves then “we” must send an SMS to a number displayed on the screen. A fine print read that the telecom provider would charge Rs 5 for the SMS. Guilt was a powerful tool to get someone to do stuffs.

***

Varun had received the customary education of about 15 years and although, he was never the school topper, he had learnt one very important lesson. It was to do his own thinking and not let the world decide his karmic balance-sheet.

He looked at his own actions in relation to women in particular and other people in general. He has a lovely, fulfilling relationship with his girlfriend of 6 years and by the end of the year, they were getting engaged to be married. He had always respected her and they were both sensible enough to know how to take care of themselves. Being matured, sensible, educated people they had long acknowledged that they did not live in a perfect world, and that there are dangerous elements in the society. But these handful of people were not representative of the general population. He questioned back to the channel, why don't they cover a more usual scenario where a group of friends go to a club and the guys dropped their female friends home safely after the party.

Because, this story was boring!

There was no masala in this story! Every one just had a good time, came back home safely and slept off. Where was the action and excitement in this? Nobody even tried to feel up a girl who was drunk! Now what kind of a boring story is this?

“Well almost got me there, you mind-screwer”

He switched the channels to a soap opera.

He saw a fully bejeweled lady, called Maya, gesticulating wildly to another guy in a Sherwani named Sanjay.

'What the hell is going on between my husband and that bitch?' Maya's patience was at its lowest ebb and she was ready to burst.

Sanjay knew that she was serious. 'Look, Maya. There is nothing going on between the two of them. Just a little bit of healthy flirting, I'd say.'

'Flirting? Healthy flirting? Really Sanjay . . .' she rolled her eyes in disgust. 'That's what you men call it? There is nothing healthy about flirting, Sanjay, not for a married man.

Healthy flirting is a term introduced by perverted men who want to lend legitimacy to their extramarital dalliances. Flirting invariably has a sexual connotation to it.' She got up from her seat and walked around the room gesticulating and muttering something to herself. Suddenly she stopped, turned back, looked at Sanjay and asked, 'Did my husband sleep with her? You are his friend. Did he ever tell you anything about it?'

'Yes' Sanjay said. He came close to Maya and placed his hands on her shoulder. His look was not of sympathy but the twinkle of sensing an opportunity. There was a suggestive split-second shot of Maya's cleavage.

Varun switched off the TV and having retained enough sense, quietly got up from the couch and walked to the balcony of his fifth floor apartment.

It was a day off for Varun, in lieu of working throughout the previous weekend. His friends were at work and he found himself alone in his house.

It was not a bad feeling.

Varun welcomed such days of solitude where he could un-connect from technology. It helped maintain his perspective and he felt a stronger sense of self-worth and in-control of his actions. This was far more beneficial to the society.

He remembered some Facebook story where a Father asked his 3 year old daughter to put together a torn world-map. The daughter did it in a few minutes and told the Father that on the other side of the world-map there was the picture of a man. When she pieced him up properly the world was fixed. 

Varun loved that story.

He loved it at a very primal level because it suggested a very do-able step for him as an individual in responses to all the questions put towards us as a society. It put the focus on an entity where he had some control - himself. It did not urge us to tackle a big, malicious, nebulous machinery of world economics of which we are a part, but a more physical, immediate and in-the-face entity.

This was an entity which went to bed with him, woke up with him in the morning and stayed with him when he fantasized about Megan Fox. This entity was more immediate and nearer to him. The aparition of “us” which killed rainforests, raped girls and broke traffic rules did not even have a tail which Varun could grab. All it did was laugh at him when he tried to fight it in a losing battle of perpetual hide and seek. Long back, Varun had chosen the Ghost that lived with him rather than an evil monster. He could at least feel it, talk to it and, sometimes, it even listened to him.

That did not mean the ghost always listened to him. Varun lit up a cigarette*

The day was becoming.

It was around 11:00 am and the winter sun felt nice. Varun loved sunny days. He loved to see the colorful apartments enlivened by a spray of bright sunlight. The trees were greener and brighter. The sky was bluer. And life, as a whole, was more delightful.

Varun loved the emotion of delight.

It was a strange emotion because its very essense is subtlety. Delight was much like the warm, winter, sun. There were things that it was and there were things that it was not. For example, it was not like the glare of the summer sun. Neither was it obvious as a pink sunglass. But what it was, was a general feeling of benevolence. It was like the warm love that was just there, without any reason. It was a sense of happy completeness in the present state of here and now. And one should just bask in it, without trying to find its source - just like the warm, winter sun.

Varun looked at the watch, it was 11:30am. He had a whole day in front of him, one which the Bible encouraged people to rejoice and be glad in. That was a good plan, Varun figured out that he would just rejoice in this day and be glad in it. But he had no idea how.

Keep the focus on the intention, not the how. Just let it go and be happy and glad.

“Go with the flow?” Varun asked the Ghost. “What do you mean, go with the flow? There must be an agenda, which, when complete, will mean that I have had fun. So do I watch a movie? Or do I invite my friends for a drinks and dinner? If I do these things, I should be anointed happy at the end of the day.”

You lousy duck**! Get off those agendas. You dont need to complete lists to be appraised that you had fun. What would make you happy now? Will making a list of things to do , and doing them make you happy? If yes, go ahead do it.

Varun felt The Ghost was making sense.

Alu ka Paratha!

“What?” Varun asked, startled at the inspiration that hit him.

Make Alu ka Paratha.

“But I dont know how to make Alu Ka Paratha? What if it turns out to be lousy - uncooked but burnt?” Varun asked.

 Who would know? You are not inviting anyone for lunch. The idea is to have fun and you love cooking. Results? ... well we will see what comes out.

Varun thought he should open YouTube and watch a video on how it is made, but The Ghost will not allow it.

It would be more fun to see how he would make it. It would be more adventurous to grop around his own mind and figure out the recipe himself. Afterall, it was just a simple Alu ka Paratha, not some exotic sweet with four hundred and thirteen ingredients! Discovery and invention - that was the whole essence of creativity. Yes, it did possess the inherent risk of failure, but it also promised excitement and ....fun!

“And I am only making a few Parathas for myself,” Varun thought.

That put the whole endevour into perspective.

“And even if the Parathas came out bad at least I would know how it is done and next time, it would be better. BUT who knows, maybe I am a born Paratha cook and they may come out great! The only way to find out is to make it.” Varun was not sure whether it was the Ghost talking or him.

Varun felt his empty stomach growl and immediately laughed out loud at a phrase that came to his mind. Maybe this is what they call the risk-taking appetite.

----- The End-----

*None of the characters endorse smoking. They just smoke because they are addicted.

** Word censored.