Tuesday, October 2, 2012

What More?


Much to my dismay, I continue to be bothered by unsatisfied people around me. They seam to loathe life even though it may seem for others that everything is going fine for them. They can’t be stopped when they complain about their lives, their fate, their bank balances, their bosses, their over achieving cousins, the employers, and this list is endless. This is a new phenomenon that I believe that people typically acquire in their twenties. I do not remember meeting any cribber during my early childhood, middle school and college. This bunch of bugs has suddenly cropped out in the last few years since I started working in the corporate sector.

The typical talking point of this unhappy lot is the high real estate prices, unco-operative bosses (read ‘bosses who don’t fall for honey talk’), NRI cousins, IIT/IIM cousins/friends, rich classy friends met at the hobby class/foreign language class, frequent globe trotting friends and so on.

Take the example of a guy who is making a cool six figure sum, drives a posh four wheeler, resides in an elite location in a fancy apartment and is married to a woman he loves…and he is only 28. It seems like everything is going well for him. Alas, all is not rosy as he says. He thinks he deserves a higher position in the organisation, drive a better four wheeler, a bigger house and his matter of choice of his lady remains ambiguous. What prompts him for such greed/desire to succeed/ resounding unhappiness/constant bickering remains a mystery.

Far from this maddening environment, I leave office perplexed my state of being. As I walk towards the bus stop where I hop on to my way home, I cross a subzi mandi (vegetable market). It caters to the middle and low class folk of the surrounding locality and does not present a very appealing ambience to the visual or olfactory senses. However it reminds me of my childhood in Madurai town which was then laced with open drainages and rampant vegetable/fruit shops. Another common point in the two scenes is the loose cow/bullock/ox that sways around in the road unaware of any chaos. All these things have a peculiar smell and sound that I still remember and am reminded of when I cross that vicinity.

Somewhere deep within, it (the walk though the stinky market) strikes a bell that reminds me of my past, and the paths that I have tread. It helps me to be grounded and stay close to reality. It obviates vanity and lets me enjoy the strides that I have made due to God’s abundant grace on me.