Sunday, December 27, 2009

same difference

if you don't do anything different, you will, by definition, do the routine. - meech
so what does the above zero information sentence mean? a lot actually.
i have seen and known people who had the potential and were genuinely interested in living life on their own terms, but ended up in a 9 to 5. now, some of them vehemently deny ever having such ambitions, some are busy transferring them to their newly acquired next of kin, and some have locked them in safe deposit boxes to be opened at an appropriate age.


well..whats so wrong about that?
hmm there are many questions hidden in that question mark. lets take them on.


whats wrong with 9 to 5?
not much, apart from the fact that it makes you schizophrenic. you cannot spend more than half your waking life doing something you are not passionate about, and still call it a quality life. i know its hard to believe this. when you see almost everyone around you doing the exact same thing, the question of it being right or wrong kinda fades away. but all you need to dig out the dirty truth is a rational mind and some guts. if you need clues, here are some. do you look forward to the weekends? yes? get scared. do you plan nice long vacations every year? yes??? damn, too late for you.


but i love my job.
really? are you sure? if you are sure then let me ask you. are you sure? :P
nobody can beat us at fooling ourselves. we will lie, cheat, distort reality and fabricate evidence to gratify ourselves. anything that will maintain the status quo and prevent a big change. this is especially true for the lucky (or unlucky) amongst us who are very well compensated (toppers in college, successful businessmen, highly paid (laiki peksha jasti :P) software folks, etc). i am not saying that you hate your job, but there is a difference between changing outside world to fit your inner reality and changing your inner reality to fit the world you are stuck with. basically there is a very faint thin line between fighting for the life you want and accepting what you've got. again all you need to dig out the dirty truth is a rational mind and some guts.


i like this idea of doing something different, but haven't found my calling yet. so i will do the routine till the passion of my life dawns upon me.
and that brings me to the meaning of the stupid quote at the top. dude, it seems like a good plan. but sorry, ain't gonna happen. the Routine (by that i mean graduation > job > car > marriage > house > kids > bigger house > bigger kids > their graduation > ....) is self perpetuating. thats the whole point. once you get into it, you are not allowed to get out. so be _extremely_ careful when you take on new responsibility. when gautya said "possession is the root cause of all suffering", he was not kidding. do you have any idea how much commitment a washing machine demands?? let alone a wife or kid.
so question yourselves a thousand times before getting them :P


NOTE: obviously this post is for myself more than anyone else. i have realized that it helps to bare the facts once in a while. it makes it harder to deny them when the time comes :D

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8 Comments:

Blogger Deepak Iyer said...

Most people are going to curse you for writing this [:)].

Maybe since this was supposed to be more personal than interactive, but we haven't addressed what is wrong with not doing anything different. I haven't thought this through completely yet, but it is possible that the world changes due to people who are different, but it runs due to people who are not.

BTW, gautya said attachment, not possession. Small difference there, and I'm guessing you knew what he meant anyway.

7:03 AM, December 27, 2009  
Blogger siddhya said...

hehee ya i am not expecting a lot of comments on this one. :P

its not something as big as changing the world or keeping it running. its bigger :P
making sure that you are not running your life out of fear (of disturbing the routine) or sheer dumbness (fear of disturbing your peace of mind), might turn out to be very useful.
once you do that, even if you work an assembly line for the rest of your life, you won't see me complaining :)

with 2500 years of mis-interpretations between us and him, we will never be sure what he really said anyways :P

5:41 PM, December 27, 2009  
Blogger Maitreyee said...

The fact of the matter is ... only the gutsy weirdo's will do something different. As much as you say you don't want to follow the routine, it is not easy to step out of tune and dance to your own music. It takes a loooot of detachment from parents,relatives,friends,easy lifestyle, to really do something different. And generally most people find that difficult. So unless you are courageous enough to break all attached strings and be ready for a looot of flak, it is not possible to do something different. You may even know what your calling exactly is. But it takes immense guts to follow it. And those who do are usually called weirdos in the "normal" world :-D

12:15 PM, December 28, 2009  
Blogger siddhya said...

so people who can think independently and have the guts to follow their will are weirdos. whats the definition of normal? stupid and meek? if it is, should you really care for such a societies habits? even if _all_ your loved ones are in it.

btw. your comment tells me that you can think independently and the fact that its not anonymous tells me that you have decent amount of guts. be careful, u r crossing to the dark side :P

2:05 PM, December 28, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

such human being are wierdo for their lifetime... posthumous are termed mahatma...
-amit

2:46 AM, January 24, 2010  
Blogger siddhya said...

hehee. weird is anything that one doesn't understand and is not like him/her

but forget the weirdos for a min. whats the definition of normal? stupid and meek?

1:46 PM, January 27, 2010  
Blogger Maitreyee said...

In short, meek/stupid/normal are different hues of any particular attitude, looked at from different perspective pedestals.

1:02 PM, March 26, 2010  
Blogger siddhya said...

@mait: ekach vakyat khup avhagad shabda alet :P

12:22 AM, May 21, 2010  

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