Importance of Irrelevance



Few years back there was a huge controversy when one of the political scions of India spoke about ‘poverty being a state of mind’. While poverty is very real and tangible for a segment of population which is below the poverty line and do not have access to a reasonable level of nutrition, health care, housing, clothing etc., for others it is just a matter of degree. It is a matter of degree, for example, as in what kind of medical facilities one has access to ranging from just about basic to ‘luxurious hospitalization’ with best facilities in foreign locations. The end point remains the same, to be cured of whatever was ailing us. Whether we talk of food, housing, clothing, transportation, etc. one can identify the extreme ends of this spectrum and beyond, as far our imagination and experiences take us.

However, we as individuals always find it very difficult to identify the optimum point for ourselves. We always seem to be aspiring for the higher or a better level. However, is it possible for oneself to pitch ourselves to a point of ‘irrelevance’.  A point where we say we are grateful for what we currently have, having more would be fine but as of now it is irrelevant. It is a state of mind when having satisfied our hunger with good amount of food, we feel satiated. We are not looking forward to having more food, however good and tasty it may be. That I would say is the secret to being happy.

It is to repeat a cliché, ‘most of us are living in the past or future’. I’m sure one comes across people who live in the ‘busyness’ of the day, having no time to think of the past or future. Whether it be a beggar on the street or a street urchin, a big businessman, a politician, a doctor, or a preacher, they are so busy living their life in the present, in the today, that they have little time to worry about the ‘other’ times. These are people who are ‘happy’ in the real sense. Whether they have 10 rupees or 100 or 500 in their pocket is of little concern to them, it is immaterial. They have reached the point of ‘irrelevance’ with respect to money.

Can we reach a point of ‘irrelevance’ with respect to other things also which bother us, relationships, people, places, public, politicians, parents, kids, neighbors, communities, religions, etc. Whichever thing is bothering us at a particular point of time, we drum ourselves to the point of irrelevance. Keep saying to ourselves, ‘It is not really relevant to me now, it’s not important, there are things more important to be done now…’.

Having said that, even for myself it is just a state of mind. Sometimes, when something really irritating has happened to me, I seem to be going back to it time and again, going around in a loop, whipping myself into a frenzy over the issue. It is very difficult to goad myself to the point of ‘irrelevance’, but, it is a good thought nevertheless, an ideal state of affairs, I try to latch onto, the point of ‘irrelevance’. Sometimes, I am successful immediately, in the now, and, sometimes later. It helps to think of myself as a speck in time and space, given the enormity of both, and, the issue fades into insignificance. It is only a question of time. There are umpteen cases of people, who were on the verge of suicide but were pulled back in time, and, have been living happily ever after.

This too shall pass is the mantra for tiding over the bad times and trying to ‘live’ for the good times, savour the feelings , the sensations, try and commit them to memory so that one can recall them in bad times. Everyone has to have one’s own mantra. Yours might be different and better!!!

Please share! Sharing is caring!! Looking forward to your comments and insights!!! 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cultural Interventions in Modern World - Justified or just a Moral Compulsion

Image
'Culture' is something I've decided to write about in this post. The question of 'culture' has always intrigued me to no end. Especially, when you attend Cultural Fests or other such events which deem to propagate the 'culture'. Is it something static that has remained the same over the years, decades or centuries that you intend to propagate? Or, is it something dynamic that changes in response to the changing times, influence of other cultures, technology, or myriad other factors that affect daily lives? Do we think we can expect people to move about their daily lives in strange looking head-dresses, gowns, painted faces, garish costumes etc.? Do we expect people in such ensembles to work in say, computer labs, banks, schools, universities, companies, etc.? Do we expect our children to dress, behave, speak, dance, and, sing in the same way? If the answer to any of these questions is 'NO' then how can we expect to 'prop...
Read more

GLORIOUS CERTAINITIES - CRICKET !!!

Image
  Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainites, they say, as also the   ‘Gentleman’s Game’ or ‘Gentleperson’s Game’, in this age of being gender neutral. But, for the first time in international cricket, a player has been declared out (timed out) for not being able to take to the crease in time. Ergo, the gentleman, ergo the game. I mean, one did not allow the player to participate in the ‘game’, isn’t it? What the ‘phew’… Another rule that I find very funny in cricket is the requirement that if you hit the wickets and bails are off at the first hit, then to run out the player you have to pull out or dislodge the stumps. I mean with DRS and so many other technologies in place it can easily be determined whether the ball hit the stumps for the player to be declared run out. Where is the need to try and uproot the stumps! When we were young and used to discuss fast bowlers, one would claim that ‘Bro! So and so fast bowler starts his run up almost from the boundary’. I mean, i...
Read more

Want Tasty Food, DIY Buddy? Why we cannot make Food more Tastier?

Image
Food and drinks have been a primordial habit with us? And, after we are weaned of ‘mothers’ milk, it is as ‘Sadguru’ would put it ‘What goes into us come from the mother earth (including the five basic elements – water, fire, air, aakash (ether) and will after a certain period of time return to earth.’ While the basic philosophy and dogmas related to it can be questioned and argued, the, basic question remains as to why some food🍲 is tastier than others. So, here I am going to argue purely from an operational point of view as to what are variables involved and how many different permutations are possible, and, is it possible to make the best (tastiest) food? Let us see (stereotypes) – Food made by mother always tastes best, Grandmas make the best savories, pickles, jams, marmalades; Wines think French, and, whiskeys, brandys from England etc. etc. Today I will take just one of these stereotypes and leave my readers to contribute the rest and maybe peace will prevail. So here we begin…...
Read more