Isaac Asimov a professor of
biochemistry who wrote science fiction books once said that “It is change,
continuing change, inevitable change that is the dominant factor in society
today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account
not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be...”. What follows is going to be fairly serious for there is profound depth in what he has said, but I m not going to be quoting more of Isaac - Sorry for the disappointment!
I am rather going to begin by
describing something I read out of a book called “Gora” written by Rabindranath
Tagore. Some quick bits about Tagore. He was a polymath (which refers to a really
intelligent (wo)man with expertise in so many areas that he/she could think like
no other of that time! Leonardo da Vinci is a famous example for this). Tagore was
the first non-European to win the noble prize in literature. He formed a bridge for Indian literature to the rest of the world. He has created a legacy and continues to lives on in many hearts and lives even today. So you can imagine what to expect out of a
book written by a man who could be described in all these ways. He stirs the
soul and creates a rattle ;)
Gora which means fair-faced is a
book with a plot that debates on the foundations of an orthodox society with
strict norms and how it can affect an individual’s welfare. It does so through
the unfolding of events in the lives of a few characters and weaves it through
their identity and how it is (if it were) influenced by their
surroundings. Briefly, throughout the story, one can see matches against any two
contrasting personalities – be it between a fierce spirit and a compassionate
spirit, a believer and a non-believer, a simple mind and a proud mind so on and
so forth, while at the base line always a fundamental question is addressed - Which is more important? An abstract non-tangible society that is built "essentially" for an individual or the real individual itself!. This thought provoking subject is set up
amidst the blooming of liberal mindedness in an essentially orthodox society (that
was India in the 1900s and earlier). The hero himself turns out to be an
extraordinary man deeply embedded in the dogmas of society, so much that he actually
impresses boundlessly when he speaks up for orthodox behaviour that our modern
mind (accepting equal rights and democracy to all) has been trained to shun.
His passion is so fierce & ideas so strong and clear, that is gives him a confidence, some of us can only dream of. I would sum up by saying, he makes a leader that one is
almost compelled to follow (personally for me, just out of admiration for his megalomania with an honesty - or so I think).
This is not a book review, I am but going to describe what I experienced at one particular scene through the course of the story. The scene is, a father discussing with his daughter the love
affair of his younger daughter brought up to be a liberal with a man who was
learned and practised in orthodoxy. The situation is much more complicated if
one discerns carefully the boy and the girl involved. But I am motivating to
just focus on the gloomy discussion that was in hand about what is right
and wrong in this matter of hearts. The union was not as simple as it presented
many complications to everyday life which even a liberal thinking man could not
fathom what to do about. Just at this grave hour, the man’s youngest son comes
hoping about and whispers something in his sister’s ear. On asked by his
father, what it was about, the kid shoos his sister not to reveal it and runs
back happily in oblivion to the fact that the daughter later describes to her
father that it was nothing but just something about an achievement he made in
school that he was so eager to show to everybody with a well-built surprise. And the chapter ends, presumably with the scene continuing in the grave note that the father-daughter pair was in. The author writes…”the boy had not realised that in this world the object of his
most secret thoughts could be ascertained so easily”.
Such a simple distraction in the
screenplay garnered a more than deserved appreciation and attention from me.
The introduction of the boy and his own little world into the crux of a discussion
so serious seemed to me as something that was more than what meets the eye. The diversity of worlds that is created when one breaks away from a child's innocence, created a moment of drama in my mind with chords striking and all that. It had
well, inspired me to even write this much convoluted piece!! I realised that while I was immersed in the discussion between the father and the daughter, it had worked up in my mind as such a big problem, when originally it is unimportant-abstract & non-real (from a larger perspective). But then, are they unreal? If I was a child - yes they are. In the unfortunate event that it is not so, I must conclude that whether it is real/unreal it is not easy to break away from. Philosophies of society and its decorum are difficult to interpret – the great Tagore has written this book on it and I have not even read it fully yet! :P The abstract nature can be compared to the understanding that is held to a non-science student about the fact that there are billions of neutrinos travelling across the
thumb any moment.
I m going to conclude the essence of this really, with this rhetoric question - can one live a child’s life
even as he/she grows up? Why is it that we have to think so much and complicate
a life that could be so simple and once was? Playing with balloons and running
in the gardens are not the soul sources of happiness. All the complicated hierarchy
that man is standing on today never occurs easily to the simple mind of a
child.
“What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare”
said William Henry Davies.
Innocence is a thing of beauty – it presents a life
full of surprises and free of worries but innocence stays with ignorance which is bliss but never pardoned under any law. Change is unfortunately
inevitable, one has to grow up constantly, constantly changing with the way the
world changes. However, that is a very negative note to end on. Get the best of both worlds. Play intelligent and hold onto innocence when you can, and at other times bend to steer clear !
