The Ugly Life

The Deep Dense forest was surrounded my villages. People walked from village to village for petty affairs and made paths around it. And when the sun unleashed its fury, the people walked under cool shade of the trees of the forest, relieved and happy. The cool breeze blowing through the forest caressed many a tired traveler and the bright ripe fruits hanging from the trees soothed many a parched throat. The forest was a part of their life... like the meandering river and the monsoon.

But nobody had ever gone deep into the Deep Dense forest. The young showed off by going a furlong too deep into it and the old told fables about it. They said it was dark as night and the trees made a maze no living soul had come out of. The children stared rapt in attention while the fathers and uncles laughed them off as folklore.

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But long long ago, the forest had borne a child. And for all the goodness of the forest, the child was a demon. It hungered for blood and showed no mercy. But it loved its mother. So she decided to hide it from the world for the good of everybody.

Nobody had ever seen the Demon that lived in the forest. It grew to be as hideous as the forest was beautiful. The caring forest kept it in its womb and fed it with fruit. She kept it hidden for she loved the people of the villages. And though she never told anybody, she loved the demon too.

The demon loved the forest who nursed it like a mother. And so did it abide by all that she said... and ate all the fruit she gave even though it hated the taste. But the demon cannot survive without its kill, and so it grew sick. It lay down in the forest's womb and cried. The forest did not know what to do, and she loved the people of the villages too much to set it free. So she saw her child suffer in pain and bore it silently. As the demon grew sicker, the forest wilted. Soon, the demon died and the forest grew thinner and drier.

The woodcutters could go deeper into the forest and maim her in her weakness. At last, they reached her womb where the demon had died. But it had turned to dust in the rain and the sun. So they cut the dry wood till nothing remained of the forest but barren land and tree stumps.

Today, the old tell of fables of the forest that was... and how it dried away. But nobody knows why.

This story is inspired from a Hebrew Short story titled "The Beautiful Life of Clara Shiato" by Yoram Kaniuk. While Clara was an extraordinary woman who learned to live and enjoy the demon inside her, not everybody does. And in this world, everybody has the right to a beautiful life like clara... even the forest, and the demon.

The Power of Media

I recently read a news article regarding army rule in Manipur and the suffering of people. It was a forwarded mail sourced from tehelka.com. Now there is no doubt what the people of the north east are going through. But the piece was a simple line of photographs, a stirring story, and a direct logical conclusion. By the end of the article, I became so convinced that I almost ignored the basic assumption of the whole article: Are the photos what they claim to be? This stirred me to think what is to be believed in a piece of news.

Today, with the rampant use of technology in every facet of our life has made the world accessible to us like never before. But conversely, it has also made us accessible to the world. The biggest leverage from this development has gone to the media- both the news and advertising media. Today, advertisements of everything ranging from corvettes to condoms reach right out to us, driving consumerism and creating niches and new markets. But that is another discussion altogether. What I want to concentrate on in this article is, the power that rests in hands of the news media, bringing to the common man, events from round the world; and more often than not, perspectives too.

The methods of persuasion through communication are as old as history itself. The power of communication is best highlighted in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar where Marc Antony, with a single speech, turned around public opinion to such an extent that the Roman masses became very angry with Caesar's murderers, burnt down their houses and made them flee from the city.

But there was always a limit to the reach of communication. There were gaps and misunderstandings. Today, technology and mass media ensure that the word reaches every individual of every village with the utmost clarity. This is a very powerful carrier to the spearhead that was there for centuries.

On one side, this has ushered the information age and empowered the masses. But on the other side, it has also handed a lot of power in few hands. And the most worrisome fact is the blatant use of that power. Today, we not only get news; we also get opinions, and perspectives- all sugarcoated and gift wrapped in a clever play of words. And there is no reason for the viewer to think that there can be other standpoints, from where things look different.

And the viewer couldn’t care less. He takes in a lot of it at its face value, unaware of the fact that each individual’s opinion makes up the public opinion; which in turn, makes or breaks governments, dictates share market and controls the democratic world.

Power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Today, with the play of money and power involved in the news media and press, it is no surprise that powerful hands control them. Behind the screens and under the tables, there is a lot going on beyond the scope of public sight. And the common man is fed with what suits them.

This again boils down to the classical clash of the democratic-communist ideologies. One believes in the freedom and liberty while the other maintains that man is essentially greedy and deserves to be kept under tabs. So all said and done, I do not really see a way out of this deadlock. While we cannot do without giving power to media, we cannot check its misuse also. So here it stays in the society as another of the “necessary evils”. But how many can we handle?

Errata: The news article I talk about in the first paragraph was from a freelancer published and followed up by tehelka.com. Thanks Swati.

Apples and Other Fruits

The Story: The apple tree grew all alone in the corner of the yard. It was near enough to the fence so that passersby could notice and look wishfully at the ripe red fruit; but far enough to be out of reach. This situation made the tree proud of its luscious red apples and he thanked heavens for making it so popular. 

Once the farmer got sick in the farming season and suffered heavy losses. He had to sell a part of his yard to sustain himself. The new fence went right by the apple tree. Passersby reached out to pluck its fruit and more often than not, carelessly maimed it. Now, he cried every day and cursed God for this bright red fruit.

I remembered this story while two of my friends are discussing the pros and cons of committment. For the past one hour they have been arguing with each other going round and round in circles. And for how I know them, neither is going to give up.

What they do not realize this is, they are all like the apple tree. They see two extremes of the same position, but different situations. And there are infinite ones in between. There are also other fruits. Just like there are millions of human beings in the world and each is unique. They might be in similar position, but not the same. No single philosophy fits two of them. There might be approximations, but no equation gives exact results.

And then, they do not realize the absurdity of approximations. These people we are talking about are humans, not near humans or humans rounded up to the second decimal. And for each, life has to be perfect... and beautiful. And beautiful lives are not made of mathematics.