A Little Shade of White on a Big Black Canvas - Everyday Philosophy - 2

 Rohit is a little boy who works in a tea shop near my office. If you have heard the term Street Smart, He is Street Smart Personified. He doesn't know how to type, so he uses the voice input function on my cellphone to search for videos on YouTube. He barely went to school. His only education is visiting various offices and factories in the area, meeting people, calculating bills, and seeing things happening around him. 

One day he came to my office. He wasn't in that cheerful mood, which was indeed his greatest quality. I asked him the reason behind it when a tear rolled down his cheek. He said that his employer slapped him as he forgot to add cardamom to a customer's tea, who especially demands it. I was angry at the owner of the shop. As a person, I have always condemned that kind of behavior. Anything that questions one's self-respect should not be allowed to enter one's life.

"Don't you feel like giving him back? You are strong enough." I asked him.

"No Bhaiya, he is a poor man himself. He'll definitely lose customers if I commit these kinds of mistakes frequently. And if I slap him back, what difference will remain between him and me? I'll improve myself instead of hitting him."

Those were the words of that thirteen-year-old boy.

I have read countless books on philosophy, spirituality, and religion. But none of them hit my psyche so hard. That boy, who barely went to school, taught me a great thing that I need to think about, absorb properly, and follow religiously.

Every day I see or listen to things that break my heart and shatter my soul.

The pandemic, which became life-threatening a couple of years back, brought forward the reality of many people around us. I have seen people with humble backgrounds selling their souls for some cash. People were hoarding things that were considered darn necessary at that time. They didn't even think that doing these things will lead to someone's death.

When I see all these things or when I listen to all these things, I come to a simple conclusion- This world is a big canvas, which turned black in color because of our ill-doings. It used to be shiny white once upon a time. With time, after passing various shades of grey, we have turned its color into black.

But if you observe that big black canvas for a little while, you'll notice some little specks of white in one corner or the other. Though it is as small as your strand of hair, the good thing is - It's there. No one notices that little Whiteness. So today, let's put some light on what's white.

You just put your head up from whatever you are doing, and you'll see hatred all around, without even looking for it. You have to look for love, but hatred will come looking for you. This hatred spreads in the form of a chain - link by link.  So the people who are not acting as a link in the formation of that chain are that little speck of white on that big black canvas.

Let me try to clarify this.

Ragging is something we listen about in our day-to-day life. People who go through that kind of trauma, think that when they will be promoted to the next year, they will be on the other side and will find some unique and creative way to conduct ragging on their juniors.

But then comes one or two who have a different mindset.

They think that whatever happened to them should be stopped there and then. They act as link breakers. Instead of holding personal grudges, they break that negative link which forms a disastrous chain

Or those mothers-in-law who were tortured and ill-treated by their in-laws in their younger days. She, instead of treating their daughters-in-law the same way, takes a stand for them in various situations - acting as their strong support system.

People with this link-breaker mentality are the minute specks of white on a big black canvas. And this little piece is written with the hope that soon these little white specks turn most of the canvas white.

Love, Laughter, and Peace

Himanshu R Nagpal

ps- If you like reading this, please click here to read the first article in my series of Everyday Philosophy.

The Law of Uniqueness - Everyday Philosophy -1

Gurpal, a man who has seen better days in his life, taught me something invaluable a few days back. He runs age-old hardware and sanitary store near my place.  On his counter table, you will find door handles and stoppers, locks of different sizes with their respective keys, and some other fast-moving products. Though his stock always remains covered in multiple layers of dust, his display items are always shining. I went to his shop to buy a plastic tap as the old one started leaking that morning. Before me, there was this old plumber standing, who came to buy a new lock set for his bicycle. He got what he wanted, paid the money, wiped the sweat appearing over his brow, and went away.

After a couple of minutes, when I was still looking at the various taps, he came back complaining that he can open this new lock with his old keys. Gurpal smiled as he explained " That's the problem with these cheap products. They are not unique. If you buy the branded lock sets, which of course a bit costly, you will not be able to access it with any other key. They have thousands of unique dyes, unlike the cheaper ones. They have only a dozen dyes and they are often repeated."

You know what, Bruce Lee once said "Life is the greatest teacher if you are willing to learn."

And Gurpal taught me a great lesson that day.

Cheap goods are actually cheap because they lack uniqueness.

If you consider The Almighty or the creator as the owner of a big manufacturing plant, you may notice that his (or her) each and every product is unique in itself. Either the dye is unique or the raw material composition is different. Either the colour is different or the size is different. Some are soft and some are hard. Some are rigid and some are flexible. Whatever the difference is, each and every product is unique in itself. Period.

As a product category, we humans are the most complex category the creator has made. We can solve algebra problems and can make as well as repair complex machinery. We have this component called the brain attached above us, but most of the time we use it to criticize ourselves. We shut our minds and shut our eyes, and we blindly follow the road our cousin walked on. Why? Because he got admission into IIT and now has a seven-figure salary package. We read about all the top-notch business tycoons to replicate what they do when they were young. But, my friend, we don't understand that we are made in a plant with a unique composition, hence, we have a unique application.

When you understand the fact that you are unique, you actually start feeling a different kind of freedom. You start realizing that things like competition and jealousy have no such use in your daily life. Your never-ending  'FOMO' will disappear in thin air. You will be accountable to no one. You will be answerable to no one. That's the beauty of the feeling of uniqueness... If you can feel it.

Getting back to the story, the old plumber bought another lock of the same cheap brand, this time making sure his old key doesn't fit in his new lock.