Much ado about nothing...

A myriad of thoughts cross the mind whenever the writing bug bites. But what to choose and what to leave... As has been brought to my attention, the previous posts all started with some link to childhood. So i decided to start this one with a tribute to old age...

Just like anyone else, I have always loved my birthdays and just like everyone else, I have always detested growing old! But how old is actually old?

Is it the "NUMBER"? (those hateful candles on the cake...)

Is it the "LINES"? (even though laughter gives them...)

Or is it simply the core of your heart...

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to come across a concept of 'having an old heart inside a young body' through an exceptional movie. Though the movie circled around much more complex notions, this was something that appealed to me!

How would it feel to be a 20 something and feel like a 70 something inside? As scary as it may sound, I am sure it has its privileges.

For starters, you will have something as elusive as "experience" at your service!!! How i would love to tell people "believe me, i have 'been there, done that'..." Nobody takes a 20 something seriously. Why? Because we are optimistic!

But hey! Age can drive that out of you. With a 70 something heart, one could be at least realistic, if not cynical about the world. What a charmer would that make you!

Now as novel as the concept may sound, we all have met our fair share of precocious people. Even though the gap between their age and their intellect is not as gaping as a chasm of 50 years, it is usually impressive enough to disarm most people! I would love to assume that it was some dream in a dream in a dream, that showed them the world with older eyes and filled them with such wisdom. But that is simply me being naive!!!

These precocious beings are certainly superior as far as intellect go. Possibly a bigger fraction of their brain works while we struggle with a mere 5%. Or better yet, they just use their 5% more constructively and understand the world at the age of 10, while it takes most adults, decades to decode the riddle.

With so many 'perks' attached to being old, why do we worship 'youth'?! Because 'youth' reserves something that 'age' can not cherish. (saying INNOCENCE would be a huge folly!!!) Its "Being Young" itself...

Defying the numbers, denying the lines and forgetting all the proprieties that are supposed to come with age; feeling young is what keeps us all going! At 12, I am eager to turn 13 (teens rock!). But at 19, 20 starts sounding dreadful! But what if 20 is the new young?

At 21, I feel liberated, however at 25 the clock starts ticking! But what if the clock is made to go in circles without ever giving the time?

What if there is no what if and all that matter is living the life to its fullest and enjoying everything without thinking if it suits my age or not!

Reading comic books, watching cartoon movies, tying 3 ponytails, dressing up to look "cute" and not "hot", engaging in gossip about crushes and not discussion of true love, discussing new dresses for you virtual doll and not the challenges facing an MBA student...these don't keep the innocence intact, but fuel the flickering fire of youth inside all of us!

For to be young at heart is to live forever and make your own experiences along the way... So what if you will never understand this world of adults, its viciousness, its realism, its inadequacies... you will understand always what it is like to live across ages with eyes open wide with curiosity and wonder! You will know always that the child inside you was never forgotten and "numbers" or "lines" could not defeat you!!! :D

Forget And Forgive!

Of all the good things one learns in life, "forgiveness" is probably the most difficult and most noble. As a child, I never understood the big deal about "forgiveness". Especially when someone used to quote Gandhi, to stress upon its importance, I used to feel the urge to be as unforgiving as I could be!!!

Forgetting, however came easily to me (like it does to most people). You learn so much in school, and you forget the correct answers when there are just 5minutes left to attempt the one word answer type questions (in a 3 hour long exam!)... You learn to drive a bike with a perfect balance and develop a good reflex for brakes and race, but you forget it all when first time on the highway u see a truck coming your way... You learn to love and respect your parents, but you forget it when your plans to go to a friends party are thwarted for being grounded... You learn what it is to be like "you", but you forget it when someone special enough comes along and want to make "we" with "you"...

But forgetting can't be that bad, if everyone does it so often! And so i believe in "forgetting and then forgiving" instead of "forgiving and forgetting". Of course 'Phoebe' does it the best way; she forgets and doesn't forgive (in that episode when she dreamed about Ross beating her in a Chess game and then turning into Cameron Diaz; she forgot it was a dream but remembered that Ross was on her "list")... But that is possible for F.R.I.E.N.D.S, for us lesser mortals, life demands a lot of forgiveness and allows very little forgetfulness.

However unaccommodating you want to be for those who wronged you, you are lead into believing that it will go uphill from there and some "forgiveness" is warranted for. No one expects you to turn the other cheek anymore when slapped on the first one, but no one expects you to turn around and fight back (or okay, hold a grudge even!) People blatantly expect to be forgiven (as "Sorry" has become a 'commodity' and no longer is a 'product'); and what more, they expect you to forget, they ever wronged you!

Detesting the things work around on this planet never solves a purpose, though! The simple formula thus, for self gratification and inner peace is "forget and then forgive". Ever wondered after a week of cold war with a friend, "what the hell was the reason for the fight, to begin with?!?!"...or..."maybe it is time we made up, i hardly recall what we started fighting for, hope she doesn't either!!!!"... That is the scene when 'forgiveness' can come on stage. When all the hurt and anger and disgust is no longer attached to a reason, isn't it easier to forgive?

Recently i watched a movie in which two desolate lovers get each other erased from their memories for the fear of hurting bad. But when they do realize what they had done, they get back together and forgive each other for all the meanness they served each other, everyday with! Therefore, even though "Forgiveness" is the noblest virtue we all learn, "Forgetfulness" is perhaps the greatest armor, nature has bestowed upon us. For to survive the heroic deed of 'forgiving' each time someone stabs you, a great amount of 'forgetting' is essential to protect your vitality!

After all, its not TIME that heals all wounds, its the inadequacies of the human mind that makes living with those wounds easier.

THE GAME OF CHOICE!

What is "choice"?

For a kid, it is a valley of candies and éclairs...

For a teen, its a line of attractive crushes drooling over you,to choose from...

For an academician, its an e-library, stocked with millions of books and journals to quench her thirst for knowledge...

For a student, a host of universities, to pursue further studies with...

For a soldier in war, life or death...

"Choice" could be limited or unlimited. It could be a thrill or a dilemma. It could be overwhelming for some and underplayed for many. Some get excited by it, while some struggle with the confusion it creates. But is "choice" for real?!?!

As a movie buff, a dream crushing scene that comes to my mind is that of "Matrix Reloaded"; when the Architect discusses "choice as an illusion" with Neo. While the possibilities and opportunities that life presents all of us with, seem like choices, they are nothing but culminations of events that originated minutes or even years before.

And isn't "choice" really the options we create for ourselves?

Recently, while reading an article in a prestigious business magazine, I came across an interesting viewpoint about choice for consumers. It really appeals to me, how every consumer becomes a subject of interest to a marketer and how any change in her behavior leads to development of theories! The article claimed that "choice" in a company's offering is nothing but a consciously generated product/service mix that the company wants its customers to buy. An offering more is simply a waste of effort and an offering less in too stifling to the customer. While I subscribe to the idea, there is much that is like a gaping hole in the entire scenario...

Why is it that people behave a certain way, the way they do, in the face of choice?

Why is it if given a choice of 10 colors in the same teeshirt, i may always pick up the brightest and my friend will always go for something in the range of "blue and blue"?!

The questions are not behavioral or psychological, but rational. For "choice" is nothing but what we are. If as a glutton kid, my life revolves around candies, that describes my "choice". If as an ignored and not so attractive teen, my fantasies revolved around multiple beaus, then that is my "choice". And if as an adult, i desire everything that increases my possibilities of a "Happily ever after"; then the whole world is my canvas. I can "Choose" to be whatever and whenever.