Friday, January 29, 2010

The Ugly Happiness !~

A few days ago, I was coming back from my tuitions. The city, though small, is quite fast. 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers and the ever increasing, luxurious 4-wheelers, all were moving as fast as they possibly could (taken into consideration the mish mashed traffic on Indian roads) and through all the possible places they could possibly fit in. I had no idea what all this rush was for. The scene could very well be described as an amalgamation of anarchy and technological advancements.

I was making my way through this unorganized mess at peaceful pace. Red back lights, Flashy headlights, Buzzing Horns, crossing civilians on a normal day you tend to ignore these entire things but on somewhat peculiar days like this particular one, you inadvertently shift your focus on the finest of these details. On my way back to home when, I was keenly observing all these intricacies, I bumped into an Old man. Instantly, I jumped back when I noticed it. He was wearing a Greasy Kurta torn at places. He had an untidy, long, grey beard and ruffled grey hair. He stood there spreading both his hands wildly as if he was about to give someone a hug of a life time. There was a beaming smile on his face and it reflected in his eyes which sparkled in exuberance and delight (though it was hard to comprehend what possibly could be the reason for it). He obviously was a poor fellow living a life of misery (his cloths made his condition self-descriptive) yet he seemed to be having time of his life. This sincerely puzzled me.
All of a sudden he started moving in circular motion still spreading his wings (At least he thought so) and the beaming smile on his face seemed to be plastered. Every now and then he said something in a strange language that probably only he could understand. That’s when I actually realized that this senile man had lost his senses. But as has been my habit, I began contemplating the thing MADNESS, and what exactly did happiness mean? The senile dude looked really happy...
We all live a life fighting against things, small and big, to make our existence as convenient one. But, the toughest fight we have is with our Thoughts, our conscience. We set for ourselves rules and regulations. Limits and so called standards. We define a term called success and a term called failure, where the two are so strongly interlinked that it is not possible to differentiate between them easily. This is what we will consider success and it will be a failure if something goes wrong. Human beings as a species, have a knack of defining everything that comes their way (something should better be left undefined as it depends on the pursuer how he explores it). And in the process of defining things we stop taking life as it comes. Instead we waste our time reflecting on past and speculating about the future.  And whenever we find something adverse with our definitions we are disappointed. As we always chase an illusionary happiness defined by our limits and standards we suppress the urge for momentary happiness. When our body continuously lives in the present, the mind either dwells in the past or the future. 
That man probably lived his sane life suppressing the momentary happiness that life threw his way. He probably kept worrying about the future and grieving about the past. He may have hoped for a successful love life or a prosperous professional life (in short a successful life defined by certain standards) but things might have gone otherwise. Since he never lived in the present and when this illusionary success crashed on the floor of reality, his life all of a sudden lost all its meaning. Baffled by the reality and unable to accept the failure, he lost his sense of future and past and all that remained was a present. And the deeply suppressed momentary happiness now exploded from him like air from a fully blown balloon. 
Now you may say, Is this what happiness means? Is this what living in the present means? Well NO! Living in present doesn’t mean forgetting the past and neglecting the future. Your past acts as a guide for your future endeavors. In short it’s your existence. Where as your future gives direction to your present, it tells you where you are heading. But at the end of the day, things have to be done in the present with guidance from past and the outcome will be reflected in future. 
The man that we are talking about has lost both his existence and the direction to live further so, though he may look happy on the outset, he has no idea what price has he paid for this UGLY HAPPINESS     






Mayank Rajput
28-jan-2010
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15 comments:

Nikhil... said...

hmm i am speechless and your grammar is improving bro :P

anamika priyadarshini said...

You know what i liked the most in this??

your calling the old man as 'the senile dude'
:)

-NainA- said...

Maybe he does know the price he paid.. but he still displays the so called "ugly happiness" bcoz he hasn't been left with a choice.. this ugliness may feel like a bliss to him after what he probably has gone through.. maybe this is his final choice/resort/escape.. no wonder its ugly eh?

think about that :P

By your description of the man and his behaviours.. he probably was a lost poor soul.. either mentally challenged.. or he pretends to be so to earn a little something as a reward for reminding ppl the harsh truth about life.. either ways.. its really sad..

hmmm.. i'm going wayy too deep :P lolzy lol..

chhadd yaar.. :D mast blog hai ;)

I loved the part "We all live a life fighting against things.........the mind either dwells in the past or the future." I read that para like.. 4-5 times.. Its what stands out for me atleast.. The ultimate reality.. I feel that way too.. many times.. hehe.. I loved this blog =)

Keep it up :D >:D<

Prachi said...

cool.. this is so deep and completely meaningful..

I loved this one very much..

>:D< >:D<

Monk Avant Garde said...

@ Nik thanks Bud

@ Anamika Hey thanks for visiting the blog an for your quite unique comment :P

@ Chunnu will reply to your comment later in detail :P

@ bunnu Luv you >:D<

Aditya said...

I thought if commenting on this..
There were 2-3 points in my mind as well..
Bt someone from somewhere called me...and i lost my thoughts. :p
will try to recollect them and post them here as well..

Good one..you're improving.. Keep writing !!

mediocre said...

good one brother, enjoyed reading it.

Bhoomika said...

Well.. what to say .. i loved this blog. Its so beautifully written and described that i could imagine the picture oh all what is going on while reading. :)

betty-NZ said...

We never know the circumstances of others' lives, but the fact that they survive says much.

Monk Avant Garde said...

Heyx bettyl well don't you think that living and surviving are two different things ?

neelamrajani said...

its so deep n meaningful :)

gr8 loved it :)

Monk Avant Garde said...

Maybe he does know the price he paid.. but he still displays the so called "ugly happiness" bcoz he hasn't been left with a choice.. this ugliness may feel like a bliss to him after what he probably has gone through.. maybe this is his final choice/resort/escape.. no wonder its ugly eh?

well Chunnu actually we can never tell exactly
what happened with someone unless we know them well we can only presume so it has been written based on a presumption

Prerna Munshi said...

Too good a post!

Meaningful & soulful to the core!

shraddha said...

i hope, i do not look like that to others!!

sigh...

Unknown said...

neat stuff...ur writing has a lot of visuals....that's a difficult thing to do