The Importance of Not Being Earnest
“A good conversation or a good book?” I recently came across this question on social media and it had me wondering. A good book certainly sounds better than a good conversation since apart from giving pleasure it would also contribute to attaining individual knowledge.
Being a bibliophile and an introvert, choosing a good book over a good conversation came as an instinctive reply from my insides but then I thought for a while.
Why not a good conversation? Why not keep a book aside since it is not going anywhere and try to delve in a deep conversation with another individual? Couldn’t reading a chehra be as interesting as reading kitaabein bahut si if we give it a shot? Isn’t it worth giving a shot?
And while we are talking about conversations, why do they necessarily have to be ‘good’ in the first place? What element leads to clipping the positive adjective of ‘good’ with ‘conversation?’ Does it have to be informative? Does it have to be meaningful? Does it require our favourite kind of people, people we associate with or with whom we are comfortable? The answer is, No.
A conversation doesn’t have to be meaningful in the classic sense of the word in order to be labelled as ‘good.’ Even the trivial ones can impart pleasure. It’s the element of pleasure that we need to seek. The essence of ‘life’ lies as much in smaller things as it is in the larger ones, and both are necessary to attain happiness. Ever heard that cliche, “Why so serious?”
To cut it short, CHILL!
Two roads diverged into a yellow wood and you CAN choose the one less travelled by but take a moment to chill. Take a moment to gaze at the woods. Because you can go all those miles before you sleep, later. The roads aren’t going anywhere. Just as the books aren’t going anywhere.
Now, procrastination is one thing. I am not asking you to make sloth your spirit animal. I am not asking you to be a neurotic. But you gotta take some time out of your busy schedule for the unacknowledged, ‘supposedly’ meaningless, unimportant things in order to lead a balanced life. Cancelling that trip with buddies because you have to make PPTs for the upcoming project will not do. Confining yourself within the four walls because you rather want to spend your time doing something ‘constructive’ will not do. You gotta take time out for trivialities as well since the culmination of ‘sense’ and ‘sensibility’ as propounded by the Lady, Jane Austen herself is required to lead a healthy life.
Too mushy on my part? So what? It’s okay to sound like that once in a while. It’s okay to come out of your comfort zone and enjoy cheap thrills once in a while. It’s okay to drop that mask, climb that wall, cross those frontiers, and shout your lungs out at a football match, a night club, a pyjama party, a movie hall, the terrace of a building, a karaoke show, or a friend’s wedding once in a while.
It’s okay to swear in public once in a while. It’s okay to watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S. one more time. It’s okay to travel 15 kms on a two-wheeler with your BFF for a 5-rupee worth cutting chai from a local tea-stall once in a while. And keeping my views strictly personal, it’s okay to ignore online discussions on Politics or Feminism, and flirt with hot singles instead using pick-up lines that begin with “Damn,” once in a while.
Skip your guitar lessons. Skip your cooking class. Skip working out once in a while. Because you gotta break the shackles. Break the patterns. Break monotony. Break what binds you.
Gaze at the stars. Appreciate the flowers. Acknowledge the orange of Fire. Watch the Sun rise out of the waves. Watch the Sun sink into the waves.
Take a lover. Walk a kilometre on foot and judge everybody on road. Get drunk. Relax!
Distractions seem to have a negative connotation but distractions are important too. They keep you going. They add a flavor in your life.
Ever wondered why Shakespeare always had a ‘clown’ as one of the important characters in his tragedies? Ever wondered why natural objects don’t occur in geometrical shapes?
Learn from the Willow. Learn how it bends ‘temporarily’ in the Winters. And stands erect once the snow melts.
Am I talking nonsense? So what?
Did I digress too much? So what?
Tell me, a good conversation or a good book?
