and then some...

Everything in this world is linked to every other thing in this world. This profound sounding statement could be extremely simplified if one simply ignores it. It is not very easy though to be totally unconscious of this great cosmic truth if one is born and brought up in India - a country whose society is close to becoming a showroom model for selling a commodity called 'confusion'. I will not be surprised if very soon we see people landing in this country to assess the value of confusion and how it sounds, looks and feels. Everyone is confused, everything is confused and every moment is confused in India.

The other day I, along with my neighbours, went around the market place to purchase an idol of Lord Ganesha to be duly implanted in one of the free rooms in our community. While we were scouting around looking for a good looking Ganesa idol, we were confused if the Elephant headed god's trunk should be pointing left or right. Some one said right. Then the confusion was about right of what? Is it to the right of the person facing Ganesha or is it to the right of Ganesha himself which would then be to the left of the person facing Ganesha. The vendor of the idols threw in his own knowledge of the great Puranas - the idols imported from Pune will have the trunk to the left of Ganesha and those made locally would have their trunk to the right. "Do you want a Pune Ganesha or Hyderabad Ganesha?", he wondered. We wondered too. It was a wonderful question. How would one decide which one to buy? Since we were in Hyderabad it only made sense that we bought those ones made in Hyderabad. But then who would buy the ones made in Pune being sold in Hyderabad? Ideally, no one. Why are they being sold then? May be for the people from Pune who migrated to Hyderabad and are desperately trying to retain their puneist roots. Good Lord Ganesha !

But this is just one of the many instances of the prevalent mood in the country, that of confusion. Women, for example, are greatly confused. There was a time when womanly sense used to make all the difference to a confused situation. Not any more. On one hand, they are constantly being reminded of what it means to be an Indian woman. On the other, they have seen the world outside and do not really know what to believe anymore. 'An Indian woman should always take care of her husband' the wise old mother tells the younger woman. 'Not necessarily', thinks the younger one. In the world we live in, women are empowered and as an empowered manager of situations, a woman should really be using her husband as a tool to deliver her objectives.  But the old mother persists. So now the younger one is confused. To ensure both the conflicting objectives - of taking care of the husband while meeting the objectives of the empowered - are met, the confused woman tries to burden anyone else but her husband with the tasks that would help her meet the objectives of the empowered. And now every one is happy. Or may be not. The husband is now confused as to why he is left out of the scheme of things. The wife is confused as to why the husband is confused despite her solving the problem. But the Puranas are no lame stories, they also burden the masses with the definitions of 'right' and/or 'wrong'.  So the confusion remains.

Politicians are another breed that is totally confused. No one understands whether it is good or bad to sign a Nuclear deal with America. They all fight and then vote. They decry the falling moral values of politicians in other parties and then extol the moral integrity of the same people when they switch parties. They quote liberally from Vedas, Puranas, Great leaders, loud speakers and from anyone or anything that could be quoted to justify their stand. If the people they are quoting are not significant on the popularity scale, they first make a case for the greatness of the 'quoter' and then go on to quote him. They seem absolutely focused on the present and their quotes, stands and coat-stands are all based on the need of the hour. They never aim at continuity and so, to that extent, they seem absolutely crystal clear about what they intend to do with the nation over the next five years. It doesn't matter that they make an about turn in the next hour. They make it look it only natural to be making conflicting statements. They confuse people who try to put it all in perspective. 'What perspective?' they ask. Focus on the present, they say and then quote from Buddhism if that helps. 

And then there is the vehicular movement on what could be termed as roads. No one knows why it is so difficult to lay roads. No one questions. No one answers. The vehicular movement is more about the state of mind than the state minding it's business. There are rules that no one understands. There are 'traffic' police who aim to control few individuals on the road while rest of them just go about showcasing their individual states of mind. 'Can I make a left here?',the driver of a car asks. 'May be you can if you really want to!', seems to be the general answer from anyone around. No one knows why a left cannot be made or for that matter a right. 'He can make a left and right if he so wishes', some one adds to the confusion. The driver, the policeman, the direction giver - all of them are equally confused. Each one is as confused as the other - 'What is the metaphysical significance of making a left or right here? What does the great culture of ours say about such situations? Do the Puranas have sections on traffic management?'. The questions are innumerable, possibilities are limitless. Confusion abound.

There are more areas to talk about. Actually there is every area to be talked about. It doesn't change. The only continuum seems to be of confusion. 

'It is about choice', the wise man says. It is indeed. There seems to be an inherent thread of awareness amongst us Indians of the silliness of the whole idea of civilized living. What use following rules when you are hungry? What use taking a firm stand on one issue or the other when at the end of the day it is just a matter of survival? It is not that God has made these rules, for the rules made by God are all about survival and far more important than rules made by men. What if survival becomes easy when all men follow the same rules? How can all men ever follow the same rules? Is it not the whole essence of this country that each one chooses to follow his own path? And that is why we have so many religions, languages, dresses, shapes, sizes and colors?

Why then a single set of rules?

Niren