Compared to what?
Noam Chomsky can talk on any given topic. Politics. Culture. Society. Humanity. Peace. War. History. You name it. But there is one subject he has never touched — at least not of what I’ve read/seen so far — and that is the infinite realm of nothingness. Besides, he is touching 90 and deserves a break. When Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld created arguably the greatest sitcom ever with a somewhat ambiguous indication that it was supposed to be about nothing, they couldn’t possibly acknowledge the depth of their idea. Needless to add, George Costanza played the perfect messenger in that unforgettable episode.
The reason why we are meandering around this today must have something to do with an assumption which affects us all. Clue: The word is something. We are all chasing it in different forms in our unique style. A few of us are after peace. Many of us are after happiness. A lot of us are after success. Quite a lot more are after stability. With the way things are, it’s not incredible how there seems to be no end in sight to this run. Why? Because everything must be about something, right? No space left for nothing anymore. However, it doesn’t mean that we abandon the word completely. We keep bringing it up to fill our conversational gaps.
“What were talking about?”
“Aaah, nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Exactly.”
If a match ends with a 0–0 score, does that mean utter failure? Not, really. In fact, both the teams get one point each for their time and effort. The zero in there weighs more than it does in the physical world. In case of a knockout match, the players drag themselves into extra time because the journey counts. In other words, nothing matters.
Take for instance these thoughts where something is built on the basis of nothing and vice versa.
- Nothing like a deadline to cure laziness.
- Nothing like religion to remind us how a sheep is better than us.
- Nothing like killing a mosquito to feel better about yourself.
- Nothing like having absolutely nothing to post on social media.
- Nothing like a song from the ’90s to make you accept your greys.
- Nothing like advising others on relationship because it’s not your fight.
- Nothing like pain to massage our humility.
- Nothing like your little toe down there to really hurt you.
- Nothing like a sneeze to show us who is the boss.
- Nothing like a cool breeze to brighten up a Mumbaikar’s humid day.
- Nothing like silence to troll the fuck out of us.
- Nothing like a referee who already knows the score.
- Nothing like forgetting what we remembered a few microseconds ago.
- Nothing like blank pages waiting to be filled with humour.
- Nothing like dancing like nobody’s watching before you go viral.
- Nothing like dreaming of death and waking up to wish your dreams come true.
- Nothing like suppressing the yawn during a meeting.
- Nothing like grief to keep alive and kicking.
- Nothing like dark circles to unite us.
- Nothing like bad economy to divide us.
- Nothing like confidence to make a style statement.
- Nothing like a doctor who ACTUALLY listens to you.
- Nothing like listening to a gorgeous song for the very first time.
- Nothing like a Twitter poll to reinstate the power of democracy.
- Nothing like having loosies during weekend.
- Nothing like witnessing both the sides of the debate get it wrong.
- Nothing like a warm supper that remains warm till the last morsel.
- Nothing like a journalist getting owned by facts.
- Nothing like a houseplant withering away under your gentle care.
- Nothing like good cinema to forget your non-existent problems for a bit.
- Nothing like finding the purpose of your existence on a Tuesday morning.
- Nothing like a dose of sexual morality to expose who we truly are.
- Nothing like falling in love with a photograph all over again.
- Nothing like being abandoned by your guardian angel.
- Nothing like the post-war depression the survivors face in the end.
- Nothing like the blanket of victimhood to keep people warm inside their bubble.
- Nothing like the pressure to say something witty and flopping horribly.
- Nothing like growing together with each enjoying their meal in silence.
Anything else?
