The weather has been rather tiring this winter. My plants and I have suffered the most. The plants get dry (the soil) very soon because of the wind but it’s so cold that I feel sorry giving them water! All of them look a little shriveled up but they are fighting a winning battle against their recently turned foe “the weather.” My mind has taken a great thrashing in the boxing ring of survival (Hence my calls for help in my last blog write up!)
The sun has been annoyed with me and is punishing me for all my complaints against him during summer! I have learnt a lesson (a common one “too much of anything is bad”!) The other day when the sun had deigned to come out, we were all in the field. I loved it- I refused to wear a cap or dark glasses- I just soaked it up like a parched desert (forgive my mixed up metaphors!) The green looked brighter; the water clearer; the people all around me wonderful and the world was shining with happiness and joy.
Today has been a good day so far. There is a spring in my step and my befuddled mind has cleared up considerably as against the foggy sky of Alexandria!
As I waited for the lift I felt something tapping at my feet like a rap on the door. Surprised I looked down to see my old friend the potato. He looked a little battle scarred but nonetheless still firm and handsome with plenty of eyes all over him!
“Hi!” I said happily
Without a word of greeting he plunged in to criticize me behavior.
“Where were you all these days? Don’t come out to visit me at all! In fact on Friday you went for a walk with your husband and you didn’t even look at me!” all these were fired at me rapidly.
Without waiting for a reply he continued, “You know how difficult it is for me to leave my bed and family and come to meet you!”
“I hid in the corner in case someone picked me and threw me in the dustbin and that would have been my end!” he continued grumpily
There was no point in arguing with him. I just picked him up carefully and walked out towards his bed….
“I have been very down and I didn’t feel like coming out at all. Everything was just the opposite of today!”
“You mean it was hot and sunny …. What I wouldn’t do for such days” he said longingly
“No! No! I didn’t mean the weather I meant my mind” I tried to explain
“Pooh!” he said irritated, “the problem with you humans is you give too much importance to your mind! Look at the other species; we don’t have any problems with our minds! Mind is just an overrated engine with plenty of buttons to be pushed. All you need is to push the right button and everything is hunky dory!
How could I explain to my friend that human life is much more complex than theirs and the number of buttons are so many it sometimes takes a whole lifetime to discern and choose the right ones.
Promising to be a more sociable person I laid him down on his bed and covered him with warm mud so that the fog and mist swirling around would miss him and leave him in peace.
As I walked back home I wondered if Pots was right. Do we really give too much importance to our mind and allow it to rule our lives like a dictator?
A quarter of the world is fighting for democratic rights; shouldn’t I too fight and get my democracy back? After all I have a heart and a soul and a body; shouldn’t they have a fighting chance to rule me?
The mind has had fun with me. Tossing me to and fro between despair and hopelessness but has left me to pick up my pieces and glue myself together again. It has been a tyrant but maybe it has lost a battle for I am out of the pit.
Whatever be the verdict today I know I have been pulled up from my lightless pit only through the help of my family and friends. I have at last realized the value of society….
The Parallel World 