Humanity

We are going through troubled times - as if I told something new! This would be the umpteenth time when I have decided to give way to something brewing up in my mind, with this sentence. As is the wont, I must thank my lords for keeping me in good shape and letting me think the way you will get to know in a short while. I don't take any responsibility for incoherence of my thoughts and any disturbances caused in minds other than my own. And for those who must think good of my opinions, deserve nothing better than a slant smile. So, what brings me here - to the keyboard? One picks up a keyboard only in two situations; either he means business or he means nothing. I mean business when I get to my desk in office to slog out for precisely 549 minutes everyday. You would do well to keep a track of this 3 digit number, which as a matter of fact, has become the most important part of numerology which makes some sense to me. You would also do well to brush up your basic skills in maths and calculate for me(?), total number of minutes in a day. When you get down to measuring the attributes out of hundreds, you would know that it's no big deal to see a guy talking like the way I am going to talk now!So, in a way when I am supposed to mean business, I have decided to let go of my saintly guise and "mean business". You won't know the repercussions of my actions until you have been "billed" anytime. There are two keyboards which get my attention throughout the day - one for the entire 549 minutes and other for the rest of the time during the day(my suggestion to calculate total number of minutes in a day is coming handy here!) unless I "mean business" in the mornings or when I am watching Rakhi Sawant's histrionics on TV. The 549 minutes keyboard is the privileged one today!

Just the other day, I heard someone talking about humanity. Although I never give even an iota of chance for any thing to enter into my mind for contemplation, I happened to think over it. I thought, thought and thought. And then I thought again. What is humanity? I still remember how I planned to get rid of the fear of public speaking. Every morning, through one of the
chores meant for morning ablutions, seated(or squatted?) on my two limbs for the enigma of "Newton's law of gravitation" to unfold, I used to cook up a random idea in my mind - be it any conversation or topic of relevance (or irrelevance?) and start speaking. Until I was finished, I would keep on blabbering, imagining a multitude sitting in front of me and listening to me piously. That day I repeated it for humanity. Voila! the multitude was there, but not the words. Although my usual performance was over, I got out unsatisfied. This was the first time I went completely blank in my performance. Not even a single word. With a heavy heart I set out for the drudgery and kept thinking while my bus honked its way to my workplace. That day it took quite a long time to reach office. I got down the bus and it started itching - in mind. I thought of asking the guards -after all they are the ones who keep seeing the sea of humans everyday. But I decided to give myself some more time. Maybe some other day, in some other performance, I could run away with all the accolades.

And now today, I realised what's humanity.Of the may friends with whom I loiter inside the office campus, one happens to be complete extrovert. He is one of the type who may compel you to rethink your decision of hanging out with him. But what else can I do, when he is the only option to contend with. While having lunch, he expressed his desire to confess something. It must be pointed out that the way he was sitting, it seemed like he is sitting on a banked track. Before he could confess, my question had presented itself in full authority. He had a sheepish smile on his face, when he said he had a boil at his backside and so the posture. I could feel his pain, not because I have had the experience but because he was my friend. And that precisely was the moment when humanity struck me! I could have laughed at him, but I preserved it for some other time. Time was ripe to show humanity and that I did.

Now think of our ancestors. We have learnt so may things from them. They devised so many things, out of which, faith and belief had a major share. Apart from fire and wheel, inventions of repute have happened in "our" era. So, our ancestors had nothing else to showcase other than the fire and the wheel.Now we take pride in developing the iPod wheel. We have learnt about society, togetherness and what not from our ancestors.So, how could have the concept of humanity come to dwell in their minds? I have an explanation and readers would do well to keep in mind my warning issued at the start of this writeup.

Long time ago, in a fair, a person would have come from a far flung place, so that no one could have known him. Public around him would have been curious. As soon as he would have taken his seat and squealed, curiosity levels would have sky-rocketed. Who is this fellow and why did he wail? Others would have gathered around him just to have a glimpse of the never-before-seen-squealing-man. The drama continues. Nobody seems to care as to why did he squeal but every one's busy finding out the reason by themselves.It was not the only squeal and the man himself blurted out - "Oh! my boil". Nobody seems to have guessed the exact location until they see his hand move in that direction. It's again a boil in the backside!As if to feel his pain, every body's hands moved in the same direction. And someone in the crowd(has to be an old man) couldn't keep his words in his mouth -"How are you son?Do you need any help?"As is the case with any society, young ones are spoon fed with morals like these. The old man was elevated to the status of the "grand old man" and was bestowed with choicest of nicknames in reverence. He was now the father figure and an expanse of thousands of miles beckoned his legacy.Children like us were swept away by the wave of righteousness and landed in the safe hands of freedom. It is with that authority, I have summoned myself to question the unquestionable.Everyone of us is expected to exude humanity but I have turned round the corner and erased my past memories which would have always led me to a known outcome.If I were not educated, would it be possible for me to distinguish between what should be done or not or vice-versa? Humanity as such doesn't exist.It never existed in the first place. So the reason behind the question "where's humanity" is entirely misplaced. We have associated with ourselves an abstract idea, which is based on expectations. That in itself is a source of great misery. So, to get peeved at the loss of humanity is entirely foolish!Thanks to our statesman Dadaji, we have come to expect it from everyone, when it's only an accidental show of concern for someone else's boil in the backside. And thanks to the man who squealed it out, otherwise Dadaji would have remained oblivious of what had really happened. I guess, my friend with his sheepish smile could have helped in that situation.