Mythological Motivations

Let me say I am weak at mythology. All my experiences with Indian mythology are limited to the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Nandan (a Hindi Children's monthly), Chandamama, B.R. Chopra, Ramanand Sagar and Anant Pai (rather Uncle Pai!). Introductions with Norse and Greek one's are further constrained to the odd articles here or there and the occasional stories found in folk-tale collections.

Still, there are some mythological characters that just stick on you. Some, who while lurking in the background, away from the great heros, present a fundamental heart wrenching reality in their own microcosm. Be it Astavakra, Eklavya, Jatayu... they are the ones who often steal the show. While the great events often adapt themselves as phrases in the normal language, its the small characters that many a time remain sketched in minds and memories, reminding, reinforcing in a sacrosanct way what you always knew.

One such character I came across while in school was that of Icarus. One of the first few and one of the only characters I remember from greek mythology. But the story then had immediate implications for me. It is not uncommon for a child to disobey his parents. But to learn of the fatal implications of such an act, could bring rude shocks. Insubtly. My very first feelings for the character were pity. He knew the follies of venturing near the sun or the damp, there was no tangible benefit which attracted him there. But he travelled, he went right upto the sun, right till he had no feathers to fly. I had left the story there, sympathising, living with the character etched in my memory.

As I came across the character a little recently quite by accident, I was reminded of my first encounter. But the emotions which the story evoked, were not the same. What Icarus displayed to me was a fundamental lack of rationality. An irrationality that can be linked from global warming to the next promotion. It tells you why a child risks disobeying his parents at the risk of a spanking. It displays an an irrationality that pervades most of our problems and defines most of our solutions.

When was the last time you ate that last chocolate cake knowing its not good for diabetics, when was the last time you overslept, procrastinated, stayed up late at work for that promotion, ignored global warming to be problem of the future while starting that car. I don't profess to know why you did this, but certainly, if you have ever exchanged a small short-term gratification for a long-term loss, you know why Icarus travelled to the sun.

[continuing another half written article - completed and published on 28th May 2.48 a.m.]

Irrationality and immeasurability in the world of the defined, rational and measurable is what keeps us human perhaps. Research(links would be provided if asked for), has shown that most gifts are overpaid for and represent a waste of money. Given the option what would you like, money splurged on expensive gifts or drab demand drafts.

Imagine for a second a world in which Icarus does not ever fly to the sun, imagine the world where we don't take risks, imagine a world with no global warming, imagine nuclear disarmament, no hunger, no unplanned chocolate cakes, no surprise gifts, no Edisons and Teslas, no imagination, no mythology, no motivation. A world devoid of discoveries and filled with improvisations. A world that runs with six sigma precision, a utopia.. a dystopia.

What Icarus stands for is recklessness, a playful spirit of disobedience, a capacity to take risks, a carefree spirit that lives for the moment! Even at the risk of life itself...

The Profanities of Existence

A desire to uniquely place myself undergoes the ritual daily manifestation. Whenever I get my overly large posterior off from the mattress and manage to get the bulging adipose away from the quilt. It takes effort to bear the chilly morning and see your watch telling you that the time has passed for lesser (and slower) mortals to reach the class today. It is that time when the desire is strong, a desire to transcend beyond the immediate needs and requirements – the profanities of existence. A desire to weave eloquence in the undertones of getting up, brushing your teeth, forgetting to comb your hair and rushing to the class, missing the lecture for the nth time this week (Actually its only 5 times a week, but n shows better effect!) . It is then that reality dawns. Transcending the daily routine and wishing for something higher might take more of my time but I realize the HR issues plaguing my life. As the day passes that I seriously realize the need to employ someone other than the full-time employed Mr. Nobody who takes care of all my chores presently.

Wishes to transcend do not translate the wishing away to physical reality. As I aim for the higher purpose (All I think of is high! I practice it too. You really have to see the pile of junk in my room to see that I only believe in things going up), I realize mundanities have made it a habit to hamper solitary contemplations. Soliloquies on what I would do in the absence of quotidian demands on my precious seconds. Perhaps someday, I will get down to finding time for it. Someday I will read the pile of BS (that’s Business Std., what did you think?) lying on the cupboard. Someday I will even get that list of papers I wanted to check out, perhaps even write those DVDs and get some of the laundry done. If I am really lucky, perhaps my 7-book strong book collection will get some much needed dusting. Someday my table will not resemble the eternal dumping ground of all things torn and wasteful.

I discern a few words now and then: costs, processes, culture, equity, value-chain, realignment - the words fly by as I try to catch hold of them. Some of them just come by to spite me I think, to make me realize the futility of getting Mr. Nobody off the job. That fellow has unreasonably high replacement costs. Life goes on, on autopilot. There is the steering wheel somewhere around nearby, but when no one’s holding it, it’s a bit difficult to exactly pinpoint the location. And autopilot is comfortable. You even get to say, you enjoy the moment, that you see the present as a gift. Even put on display some other remarkable facets of imbecile wordplay. To put on the greatest spin, perhaps I can even correlate it in a Calvinistic fashion (the only Calvin I know is from Calvin and Hobbes) to building character. The higher the time it takes you to dig out that Kotler, the more is it a test of your tolerance and perseverance and the more is your inherent ability to withstand stress and the onerous responsibilities of physical labour. The daily effort in finding a place to sit, to lie down is enough to keep one on one’s edges in a character-building roller-coaster.

I do not wish to belabour the point, but it also indicates altruism of character that distinguishes a benevolent personality. Consider this, the total amount of junk in the world is going to remain constant. And if I fill more junk in my room, I make the rest of the world cleaner. If not absolutely, then atleast relatively in a Birbalesque fashion of making a line seem smaller by drawing a longer one next to it. If my room serves as a reference point, most people would be praising the excellent civic spirit of cleanliness in the city of Mumbai.

And think about the drive for cleanliness I spread around. Consider the inspirations and ramifications of the piles of plenty that permeate my room. The day is not far when case-studies on waste management will advise whom not to emulate. ‘Clean it up!’ speech sessions (to be inspired after an inspection of my humble abode) will quote me as example on for a possible futuristic scenario.

Again, to start cleaning up now for worldly ostentation would only show a cheapness of spirit and lowliness of thought. It would be plain and simple cruel to the environment. My room has generated its own healthy little ecosystem. A couple of lizards, incidental mosquitos and a variety of visitor insects dot all corners, building their homes, carrying out their whole life-cycles. Think of the decorations of the spiders, the intricate webs – to destroy them all in one ruthless stroke of maniacal sanitization, would rob the world of its colour and vibrancy. I simply do not have the heart enough to do it.

By the way, to all those on a perpetual cleanliness drive, I would just repeat the old cliché – Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Only next……