Along Came Bonny Meghali Barua
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Society!! The illusive maze that surrounds us all…We all say and we have always said in the past that we ‘belong’ to something called a society. A sense of belongingness permeates our psychedelic senses that we are a part of something, that we are not isolated, that we too are like others. Within this gamut of the societal realm we interact with one another with whatever social skills we have been endowed with to feel that we are a part of the bigger, homogeneous picture. The truth is that we always have this innate need to feel of being a part of an assemblage, whether we acknowledge it or not.
We are all running wildly towards a certain goal, a certain end but what exactly are we looking for? We all go through the same cycles of life: birth, childhood, manhood/womanhood, old age and finally the inevitable seducer, Death. We all know the inevitable stages of our journey, irrespective of whatever race, religion, gender or place that we belong to…So who or what dictates our actions? Is it that assemblage of strangers who nonetheless share with us our journey of life all the way… but in reality,are faceless, nameless and invisible? Or do we just use the terminology of “society” to really mask and blanket our own intentions?
We all have heard this from someone or the other, at some point of our ever-passing lives, that this seemingly harmless, invisible assemblage had something important to say or had a ground-breaking judgement to pass about our very intimate and personal life.
You want to become an orange instead of an apple? What on earth will society say? You suddenly realize that you dare to want something else from your life…a different life than the one you have been leading and pat comes the quintessential retort…What will society say? So I really want to meet this wonderful secret organisation called the society. Hey society! Why would you care if I suddenly decide to turn into a monkey overnight? If I want to be a monkey and if I am not harming anyone or destroying someone’s lives and dream, why do you care? And, dear Readers, this is a metaphor… I promise you that I am not turning into a monkey now or ever!
The point, however is, I do admit and acknowledge that we all have responsibilities towards each other and whatever ours actions may be, they do have a domino effect on others, in greater or in lesser degree. But honestly who has laid down the societal law, unbendable and unbreakable as they seem at times; that our own choices, our own life journey have to be moulded by that invisible melange of people? If I have made the choice of leaving behind a broken, abusive marriage, that is my choice…if someone falls in love with someone outside their caste, class or within the same gender, it is their life…someone does not want to become a parent…someone does not want to get married…. someone decides to leave their high-paying, stress-ridden job and do something which they think is worthwhile, it is again, don’t you agree, their choice and their life?! But here, one thing is for the certain, society, and however it may have manifested itself, has absolutely no power to dictate terms or rules over one’s personal choices.
Life is short…It is about being happy…everybody is in the business of “the pursuit of happyness”. So why the judging part? Nobody has given the right to a person or anybody else for that matter to hurt someone’s soul…nobody has that right. So instead of trying hard to live up to some society’s expectation, it is more important to try to live happily. We all do have a conscience, don’t we? Listen to it…and then act and judge accordingly. Society will be there and we will all be always an atomic part of it…But let’s not be afraid of what others are going to think of you…when you look at yourself in the mirror, you should be able to face yourself….Spread happiness, make someone smile…and maybe…just maybe, one day we will all be a part of one, big happy family…
