Who's Left to Hate?

As Eddie screams the last few lines to the much famed song "Jeremy", I can't help but reflect upon the message that has often been the focal point of pointless aimless thought chains. A teenage boy, viciously entangled in his own World of deception, negligence, abuse(?), finally seeks redemption. And as the guitars blazed to take the climax to an entirely different level, Jeremy finally gets what he seeks. But was there any other way? Jeremy, is but an allusion to the thousands if not millions of souls who lead themselves down the dark alleys of an angst ridden World. Vindictiveness/revenge/hatred is as much a fallout of the failures of society to accomodate an individual as is the individuals' refusal to relent. A sort of evil-symbiotic phenomena where each of the forces rally for the single ended purpose of creating another Lost Soul. And when the task's (un)done, there's the media and society at large which dissect and finally ask themselves "What went wrong??". Only to find the answers and embark on yet another renewed chain of similar unfortunate events.
Even now it's not too hard to feel the strong under-current of spiteful sentiments brought about as a result of collective misinterpretations. After numerous Jeremys, I can only but draw the conclusion that humanity in itself is quite an unrelenting race. It's either our way or the highway!. You live to enjoy depending on which side of "our" you exist. I would like to believe there is hope but that's not much, I fear. Either a lot of people suffer from superiority complex or inferiority complex, it doesn't really make much of a difference. The end result remains much the same. Every moment an individual or a group of people are being ostracized for not conforming to the principles of the greater mass of others. It reminds me of the story which one of my Professors had narrated in which he went on to highlight that it all ends up being the question as to whether or not the group of people you are accepted by, are in greater number or not! The forces existing in society are by and large couteracting against each other to create an uglier World. Starting right from the very basic primary school classroom to the city and further on between countries. Self-interest seems to paint every other human sentiment with a colour which make it hard to identify anything besides a paranoid fear of being victimised. And as the wise Yoda spoke, "Fear leads to hate, hate leads to anger, anger leads to pain", it is but for us lesser mortals to fall into this vicious circle over and over again only to wishfully desire that next time round we might have learnt enough to Live and let Live.

TSD

Yeah well, I happen to be talking about Total Sensory Depravation. It’s been just about a couple of days since I happened to encounter this term (am not vouching for any sort of medical or scientific backing w.r.t. this term!). It featured on one of the rare professional-guidance chats I have with my cousin brother. Not that I despise the prospect of having such conversations (esp. since my opinion is rarely seeked), on the contrary they are often laden with quite a few unheard-of terms and what-the-legends-have/had-to-say, which I for one would certainly not encounter. The term in context TSD, was introduced to me as part of my mental preparation for them lots of management entrance exams (apparently for a brighter future). TSD, ladies and gentlemen, happens to be a state of existence wherein the individual is to sever any and all connections that his/her brain happens to make with the outer-World (am not quite sure about what that means either). Yeah, sad prospects it beholds for most of the masses for sure. No reciprocation of love if you’re part of some amorous entanglement, no talking to friends, no brooding over tasks (I particularly took a fancy to this), blah and blah. In short, Just put your life on the back-seat, will ya! So well, as the conversation progressed, I couldn’t help but think how closely my state of existence is already on par with the TSD state. Is it because of a natural loner tendency? Is it ‘cause I’ve more or less let down each and everyone around by letting their expectations from me fall face down?! Sigh, not that I did much good trying to figure out what could be a possible cause. I just heard him out for another half n hour and sipped on the beer which he so graciously offers each and every time.
The significance of the conversation was to show me how I could concentrate much better if I practiced TSD religiously, atleast till the exams were done with. Hehe. At that point my mind was spinning in freaking circles such that I had absolutely no idea as to what much greater relevance concentration is possibly going to bring along in tow. The next morning though, reflecting on the previous night’s conversation I kind of partly agreed with its ramifications. NO! I am not going to hit on some virtues-of-being-a-loner binge here! All I’ve got to profess is that TSD just seems to be a sub-set of the ”Lesser distractions in life – More Peace” doctrine. If you find yourself nodding your head vehemently in contradiction, then well, go on save yourself – just don’t take it out on me.

Oh, and before I forget. TSD doesn’t hold any guarantees to a better life (not to mention the complete lack of scientific backing!)

He (my cousin that is) also mentioned the fact how having your own kid prancing around the house serves as a huge-huge de-stressing factor once you reach that age. Firstly, that age, is quite a hypothetical stage in a person’s life and he too seemed to dismiss my asking about the same with a vague answer, “When you have everything and still keep getting f***ed up in the head”. “Deep”, I thought. Secondly, having a kid means being party to an act of procreation which in itself happens to be the consequence of a through and through social entanglement, namely – Marriage. “Excuse me, but weren’t we hovering around TSD just a sec. back?”. Yeah well whatever, I just took another swig and let it be.