From & To Sathish #7 - Page 119

I have always been fascinated with my own actions and reactions, when it comes to dealing with the actions and reactions of other people. Many a time, I have experienced a kind of outer-body situation, when, a part of me, that tiny, rational, pure and altruistic portion of my soul, steps out of me, or rather away from me in disgust and asks me, ' Is this what you have become in the end? Is this all you can do in this situation? Was it necessary to react or over-react so violently when you could have eased the tension by trying to talk calmly or explain your thoughts to the person or person concerned?'

I hate to say it, and loathe myself for saying it, but I confess that I have yet to find an answer to all these questions, that I myself or a part of my soul regularly and repeatedly asks of me when the human part of me is involved in a kind of messy situation.

But, I have come a long way in the manner in which I handle myself in these situations, by just smiling and walking away. ( Please read running away rather than facing the situation).

I find that, walking away from situations, that are kind of messy and dicey, is a far better proposition, than staying put and saying something which will end up making the situation more grievous and invariably ends up causing harm to all those around me. Including me.

On those kind of days, I spend a lot of time dissecting the problem and analysing it from all angles, and yet, all I get is " Human factor ".

The next few chapters are going to be a bit messy and hard hitting ( Hopefully) and so I want to use this moment to give you and example about human factor and what it takes to be called a human, which in essence and reality is that we are nothing but an animal in the end, and like all animals are programmed to act and move with " Me, mine, I, us " kind of traits inbuilt in our genes.

Yet, we are more than just another animal, or a mammal species because, no other animal has built telescopes that can look into the farthest corner of the Universe and see Galaxies that are billions of light years away from Earth.

But, sadly, we human are not able to see, read and understand what is going on in each others hearts and souls.

At this point in time, I want to share with you an intimate conversation that I had with my childhood friend Dattatri a week ago, when he and his wife, Gita were here to attend a wedding of a fellow Rotarian member.

We met and sat and conversed in a coffee shop in Besant Nagar and during that time, he told me about his High Bp problem and that he was on medication for it for the past few years.

Now, I want you to know that this is a person to whom I talk about everything bad, cruel and evil about myself and only a little good about myself.

So, when he spoke about his high Bp and medication, I told him about a theory that I had been working on for a long time now.

I told him that no matter how well settled we think we are, by owning one or more houses, and with a large bank balance, and equally large balance invested in safe companies, there is still, a secret stress and strain that is constantly corroding our mental peace, and through that eating into our physical health, which eventually begins to show up as High Bp, diabetes, heart problems and in worse situations, cancer.

It is not us, but the disparity and all the evil that we see on a daily basis on tv and read about in newspapers.

Each time I see the news and watch as the reporters report about the latest spate of bombings in the gulf and up in the colder regions bordering Ukraine and Russia, all my eyes can see are the crumbled buildings and lost lives. Children, babies, and the old and most importantly, the innocent who have no clue why all this is happening to them.

But, we, and the world at large, turning a blind eye to all that chaos, death and destruction, go on with our lives as if nothing has happened or is happening to us and that it does not concern us, and curse and crib when the prices of fuel and gas begin to shoot up.

We can turn away, turn a blind eye and pretend it is all happening somewhere else, but all that news is entering our psyche and eating away at our humanity, asking repeatedly, ' Why aren't you doing something, saying something?'