The Ghost In The Mirror

The whole world seems busy these days... Kerala had a few Temple issues - wanted the treasury of one to stay closed quoting some coiling divine serpent that is there protecting it while some wanted the doors in another to open a little wider for women to enter; Tamil Nadu had its share of sex scandals - one where a singer 'me-too'ed' a lyricist and got crushed for doing that and later a Pollachi abuse issue that got politicized eventually. With the elections around the corner, parties are busy trying to solicit one another to form united alliances of utter confusion and as we go higher, we have people from the winged force flying unused rusty jets into politics-created war zones, getting shot to demonstrate the need to replace our fighting planes with a few new ones that are currently stuck underneath a s(c)(h)ammed deal and for the NEWS too, as we, the distracted, detracted nationalists, hail the pilot whose plane got gunned-down, returning without even a piece of that ejected seat. This to me, is so unfair. 

This last particular event especially, took me through a memory lane. A long time ago I rode my bicycle up a post and crashed it into another compound and my Dad I must say, was not particularly pleased with what I did to the cycle more than what had happened to me after the crash and I remember getting whipped as well for wrecking our neighbour's compound with my cycle. Today while reading about this guy who crashed a MIG purchased with my Dad's money (well, he pays his income tax you see, which must have gone into purchasing at least a sq.mm of the tail wing of the jet) into enemy territory and on the contrary, getting hailed for doing that it seems so unfair that the way we look at things have changed in the last couple of decades since I crashed my cycle into my neighbour's wall. At least I came back with all the scrap metal I managed to find when I crashed; and this guy just returned empty-handed (he did not even bring back his ejected seat!) with nothing more than a gun-sling moustache intact and I got busted while this guy gets hoisted... Duh! How fair is life?

Talking about 'fairness', we are all only as good as the world allows us to be I suppose. Little do I believe anymore that everyone has a destiny and if anything that happens, happens only for a reason. Everything that happens, opens only opportunities for other things to happen as I get to see these days. It is left to us to see those opportunities, use it or let it go. You cannot just shoot down a flying opportunity like you can shoot down a fighter jet using automatic guns and radars. 

In life, opportunities come, opportunities go... and it flies off if you don't seize it. 

The problem with opportunities is that we at times, mistake, misinterpret and misplace opportunities. During a recent episode, quite sadly I saw some people I 'ass'umed (yeah, made an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me') were friends and my close circle, turn into opportunists who decided to break trust and good faith to keep themselves safe and secure. While most cut off and remained at dignified distance in absolute silence, some did harness the courage to come to me and declare that they were cowards left with no choice. Fool I must be to trust those words. Well they did have choice. Everyone has a choice... even the a-hole who does not make a choice, does have a choice to not make a choice at the end of the day. However life is such and such is life. Beaten yet not fallen, bruised yet not hurt, shot yet not hunted... just like the fellow whose jet got shot who is a national treasure now.   

Yet trust me, every choice has its consequence, even if it seems like only a shadow that you can ignore with a shrug today, it will hover someday like a dark nightmare that will wake you up screaming. Everything we do will make us think - if not today, someday and I will wait in the darkness for that day to come, to flash a mirror right at the faces of people who don't get to see themselves today and let them see clearly who they really are or capable to be. Today I cannot speak anything about this and if I do, it will be like an idiot trying to sell mirrors to the blind on a moonless night. Values I try to speak of, have already been exchanged for promised treasures and instant pleasures. Let me not disturb those who find these short-term reliefs comforting. Let me not disturb any of those. Trying to make people see through these, at this time, will be like standing in the middle of a whore-house in full swing and preaching about sin. Today, the noise around is too loud and their eyes are fixed at a mirage of permanency and they will never see nor hear whether I yell or shout. Everything for a while and life echoes... ces't la vie. 

Every passing day does not take us into the future; rather it takes us to the past where we leave an unpicked piece that must be gathered to solve a puzzle we are stuck with in the present. A day will come when many will return to search for the missing piece and when that day dawns I will be right here waiting; with a mirror in my hand, to roll my gun-sling moustache and to laugh as they try to recognize their worthless faces.  

Until then, let them shame Sodom and Gomorrah with their ways and make their fathers proud. Go forth and multiply as you please.