It is a strange phenomena !

Being exposed to the misery of another, depletes one, of his or her own energy. It is actually physically weakening. You are considerate and accommodating to the troubles of others, you wish to solve their problem for them, you wish to take away their pain and anguish… and you do to some extent. But..at the end of it all you actually end up depleting your own energy.

Is this a natural or am I being difficult, one often wonders. Am I being practical in believing that this is how the universe functions or am I missing out on something.. How much can one give in solace and understanding. How much will be the desire and the necessity in situations such as this. Who will determine what needs to be done. And who will decide that enough has been done.

How is one to ascertain whether what you give is taken in the right spirit. How does one determine whether the issue is genuine and deserving of attention. And how will the other party be convinced that what you give is being sufficiently understood. What if it is not. What if it is looked upon as a pretense, an act. Would this challenge trust. And what if it is challenging trust. Does this one incident then, become a reckoner for future association.

Years and years of togetherness and belief in another to crumble with just one incident, would be harsh would it not, for the association. Or would it still survive despite everything. And if it did, who would give the greater understanding. Who would be required to bend first and why.

I am perplexed in thought. A thought which I have hypothetically built to illustrate an inconceivable example. There is no cause for it. There is no burning problem. And neither is any one in anguish or pain. Just… a thought..

And may it remain just that.. a thought …

रावन और कंस

रावन और कंस को

एक दुसरे को गाली देते ,

एक दुसरे पर दांत पीसते ,

एक दुसरे के सामने खड़े होकर ताल ठोंकते

देखकर बहुत खुश न हो

की अच्छा है साले आपस ही में कट मरेंगे .

मसीहाई का दावा नहीं करूँगा ,

पर दुनिया को मैंने जैसा देखा - जाना है ,

दुमुहीं , दुरुखी , दुरंगी,

उससे इतनी मसीहाई तो करना ही चाहूँगा

की रावन और कंस अगर आपस मे लड़ मरेंगे

तो किसी दिन

राम और कृष्ण आपस में लडेंगे .

Ravan and Kans - Ravan, the mythological evil character of the Ramayan, who abducted Sita , the wife of lord Ram. And Kans, the king that wanted to eliminate Krishna as he was born.

Do not be too exited to see Ravan and Kans, abusing each other, grinding their teeth at each other and standing before each other in challenge for a confrontation. And live in the hope that both evils will fight and eliminate the other.

I am not professing to be some kind of a Mesiah, but the way I have seen and known the world - two faced, double path- ed, in two different colors, I would want to be obliged to say this -

That if Ravan and Kans will fight and eliminate each other, then the day is not far when Ram and Krishna shall also engage themselves in fight and confrontation !!

Just an element of blank verse, or a-kavita, which my Father so disapproved, but succumbed to it because the world of kavita also changed, to demonstrate the vagaries of the world we live in. This double faced world, where even the delight in seeing evil vs evil and its resultant elimination of evil therefore, cannot be looked at with any satisfaction and happiness, because someday after that, the good may be confronting the good too. A sorry state of affairs !!

You do not have to go too far and deep to see and acknowledge the consequences of this very simple philosophical analogy expressed in the poem by my Father. I need not expand in explanation by giving you examples present in our today life. But not just within our social moral self, look beyond and into the geo-political scenario of the modern world. The turmoil that exists. The situation, communities and countries and cultures find themselves in. Do they not reflect in their present condition, the conditions of the poem ?? What was considered evil at some time by some and what was then encouraged to fight another perceived evil, has now created a situation where what was once perceived to be the good, is fighting against another perceived one time good !!

A poet and his poetry is one that conceives and predicts in most uncanny reality, the past the present and the future, with almost ethereal accuracy… the strength and value of a poet and his work shall always reflect this prized possession !

With love to all .. with poetic justice ..

Amitabh Bachchan