Someone attacked me vehemently where I was accused of denying the gods recognized by all and sundry and introducing these strange deities of 'Hubble and Hadron,' thus debasing the quintessence of juvenile minds. I fleetingly felt I will be served hemlock next! This was my reply today:
On 'Myself:' trying to follow 'bizzarro e fantastico' a man who "withdrew himself from the company of men." We are dealt some cards in our life, we need to make the best from the hand that is served.
On 'Creation:' The greatest impact that changed my thinking was this portrayal of 'The Creation of Adam,' by Michelangelo. I don't believe in the story depicted in the picture though I love the art and imagination behind 'The Creation of Adam.' Adam was the first man according to the Book of Genesis. I like Michelangelo's 'Sistine Chapel,' it has given material shape to our allegorical legends. I consider him the revivalist author of the greatest human myths. Michelangelo gave Jesus the shape we recognise him today with; he gave new life to the anonymity of scriptures by real life portrayal of scenes from Genesis. Michelangelo created two of the most influential works in fresco in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling and The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Though Michelangelo was petty and abstemious in his personal life; "However rich I may have been, I have always lived like a poor man." He "often slept in his clothes and boots." These habits may have made him unpopular. "His nature was so rough and uncouth that his domestic habits were incredibly squalid, and deprived posterity of any pupils who might have followed him." He may not have minded, since he was by nature a solitary and melancholy person, 'bizzarro e fantastico' a man who "withdrew himself from the company of men."
On 'My Hero:' Socrates, according to Plato's "Apology," Socrates' three accusers, Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon, all leading members of Athenian political society, indicted him on the basis that he 'corrupted the youth' of Athens and denied the power of the state gods. The offenses charged did not necessarily carry the death penalty, and Socrates himself suggested to his jury that he should be fined thirty minae (the equivalent of approximately eight years of wages for an Athenian artisan). The "Apology" also suggests that the vote on Socrates' guilt was very close, and that his jokes about his punishment resulted in more jurymen voting for his execution than had voted to convict him. Apparently in accordance with his philosophy of obedience to law, he carried out his own execution, by drinking the hemlock poison provided to him. Socrates has been revered since his execution as a beacon of free speech. My motto 'Lets drink Hemlock instead of dissociable dogma.'
On 'How I work:' I know that the world is not made on a human scale; yet I wish that it was. To counter this impediment what I do is to create the world around me on a scale that is human. I don't go and conquer stars, I live within my limitations. When I get kicked I don't mind, it is part of my human scalability.
On 'Eco-nature:' Man by nature is mean, when someone destroys what we have made we call it vandalism, but when we destroy nature we call it growth, we should know how to live at peace with the nature.
On 'Prayer,' yes the best is by showing gratitude and humility: A single gratifying contemplation is the most ideal prayer.
On 'We are old,' we should act old:' We don’t withdraw from living because we grow old; we grow old because we stop living.
On 'The finest vocation': If you give a fish to a man, he'd eat for a day, but if you teach him to fish, he'd eat everyday...
On 'Brooding over failures:' I've botched more than anyone else and punched and performed far below my weight, and have repeated mistakes of blind trust over and over again in my life. I give the knife in the hands of my friends and put my untended jugular right under its sharpness. My jugular has escaped a near clean slit a lot of times. The butchery of others blunted by will and purpose. I have wasted time following shadows, living in the past and trying to recreate it just for the heck of it! That single realisation that I am so imperfect is the reason that I have remained sane, contented and extremely loyal person. That is why I accomplished a little more against all odds. Able to exceed and perform beyond what others expect of me. Be an iceberg, what others should see is only a portion of what is there in you. Exceed expectations, let them bully you, you will have the last laugh even if they are not aware, you will discover peace within you.
On 'Intellect:' To know that I do not know enough is the preeminent desire that burns me to the core. To envision to know when I do not know is a syndrome that I have abhorred.
On 'World is hunky-dory:' The world is not all brightness and colours. It is a very hideous, revolting and spiteful place. It is not premeditated for us. We are not supposed to fly, yet we fly. We are not supposed to be sea faring we are after all land primates, yet we conquer seas. We are not supposed to travel 120 km/h, yet we create machines to do exactly that. We are not supposed to climb Everest, yet we do. We are not supposed to rocket into space and defy gravity, yet we do. We defy the restraints of nature, that is what we are. World will beat us and bring us to our knees, the world will make sure to keep us there permanently, if we don't rebel against submission and stand up to fight every inch of the next challenge. Our scale is small the world as a part of Universe is huge, the two need to co-exist. We all are hit hard, it is not vital how hard you are hit, it is significant how you keep going against all misfortunes and adversity. Keep moving and regroup your spirits high even in the worst of times, that is how you are able to exist peacefully within you.
On 'Wealth:' It is most unfulfilling thing in life if you cannot share it. Most don't, know your affluence and carve it up, it is about giving and not taking, if you want to be happy with your riches. By nature we are mean, we cannot share with everyone, so we need to target those who you are happy to share with and let them partake. Open your heart and exchange love.
On 'Love:' Love to death, just do it. Ghalib explains it adequately well for me:
Bazeecha-e-atfal hai duniya mere aage, Hota hai shab-o-roz tamasha mere aage.
The world is my play ground, I see the game all around.
Hota hai nihan gard mein sehra mere hote, ghista hai zabeen khak pe dariya mere aage
The deserts ruined in heaps of sand, Before me the oceans drown’d.
Mat pooch ke kya haal hai mera tere peechhe, Too dekh ke kya rang hai tera mere aage
Never think for you I’ll fade, Just see by me your shade.
Bazeecha-e-atfal hai…..The world is my play ground,
Imaan mujhe roke hai, jo kheenche hai mujhe kufr, Kaba mere peechhe hai kalisa mere aage.
Always ripped are two halves of myself, Goblin pulls me and bars me the Elf.
Bazeecha-e-atfal hai……The world is my play ground,
Go hath ko jumbish nahin ankhon men to dum hai, Rehne do abhi sagar-o-meena mere aage.
Limbs are numb but rem is not, Don’t let the gush of tipple drought
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ayj7qWVi9g
On when do I work?:
I don't; I think, I work around things that pleasure me and art that interest me , very early on I made a conscious decision 'work' will not dictate my geography and my little time on this planet. My work revolves around my writing, my ghazal, my extraordinary love for people and my ability and willingness to help myself by helping them. Yet, I am no prophet like a 'sinner' I walk my life. Puritans, pious, self righteous usually keep away.
I believe that one big 'hit' of a iron monger to uncurl and thousands of tappings of a jeweller are still not comparable ; I am no jeweller though not an iron monger too; I go where no one else will go, will risk, fail and try again fail again but will reach somehow like an ant trying to climb at the pinnacle of my diminutive essence. I will be fooled and be readily available to be fooled again. A design fault that I cannot help. I fail more often than succeed. My decisions are from my heart and not the head; but once face with annihilation my head works just enough to change the tide that lifts me instead of washing me. The shock and awe of my foes who lay the 'trap' is my only little victory. I do think why should I have placed myself to escape ruins in the first place, it is my innate genetic foolishness. Cant help it.
Overall as mediocrity reigns supreme in me, since no honour is ever sought or evoked, my gregarious live wire personality and interests make me a chaotic but a very creative and a productive person who can arrange a few morsels and few bubblies to share every night with friends.
I don't think I will be able to live a day more without my books, my intense reading, my primitive thinking and spending most precious time wasting as much as I can; Don't worry; I am extremely contended person not looking for skies, but conscious of my gradual walk down to place as 'star dust' where my primordial components belong too.