Walk to utopia
Weekends are everyone's favorite part of the week right? Somehow I've also started getting Friday and Sunday evening blues in addition to the Monday morning ones.Also,I've discovered that I can't stay cooped up in my room for more than a few hours.That invariably leads to depression.I typically spend my day in the library or a classroom till nightfall.Today,however,isn't one of those days.
At some point in the evening,I had too many questions going on in my head.What am I doing here? Why am I so disinterested in everything? I make up my mind to do something but that is generally all.It never gets done.Is something wrong with me? Have I made the wrong decision? When will I ever be sure that this is what I really want to do?That this is my horme?(Greek for passion)
The questions echoed from every wall till I felt as if the room was shrinking on me.I need to get out of here,I muse.A walk.Alone.Perfect.
I set out of the campus,trying to empty my mind of everything.I will not think about anything related to me during this walk,I resolve.I walk along,looking at what surrounds me.
Being a Friday evening,the roads swarm with vehicles whose owners seem insane in their determination to somehow beat the Bangalore traffic.I look at the people.Do they look happy? No!
It's just that they're glad they don't have to work for the next two days.All the pent up frustration is evident in the way they drive.
I stumble upon a loose stone on the footpath and stop to look again.There are construction workers here,working upon a humongous monster of a building.I look at their faces.Again,I only see discontent.Worse still,they seem to envy the IT workers and their vehicles.If they only looked harder,they'd see the unhappiness behind the charade.
I move on.Huge companies line either side of the road.Some of the buildings are exquisite:Patterned glass and shiny metal seem to gleam in pleasure.But the people I see are nowhere near happy.Electronic city.How ironic!
Amidst all these gigantic buildings,a small one catches my eye.The company is called "happiest minds".What a name! I wonder if these people are truly happy,although deep down I know it's just like the other ones I've seen.Yet,I don't want to ruin the illusion.I walk past it,not wanting to know if I'm right or wrong.
I'm greeted by a deserted road.A huge field extends on one side of the road.Here,I see people of all ages engaged in some kind of sport.By far,this is the happiest group I have seen.Maybe they have problems too.The point is,at this moment,they seem happy.
The light is fading away rapidly and I know that my pathetic hippocampus will not be able to lead me back if I stay any longer.I retrace my steps,pondering over what I've seen.
I came hoping I'd find utopia,but the truth is that utopia doesn't exist.But,why then,does everything seem dystopian?
P.S:Much as I'd like to end this here,there's something more to it.I know there are times when we're happy and times when we're sad.But if we're sad for the majority of the time,isn't there something fundamentally wrong with what we're doing?
It reminds me of these lines:This planet has a problem, which is this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much all of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.
At some point in the evening,I had too many questions going on in my head.What am I doing here? Why am I so disinterested in everything? I make up my mind to do something but that is generally all.It never gets done.Is something wrong with me? Have I made the wrong decision? When will I ever be sure that this is what I really want to do?That this is my horme?(Greek for passion)
The questions echoed from every wall till I felt as if the room was shrinking on me.I need to get out of here,I muse.A walk.Alone.Perfect.
I set out of the campus,trying to empty my mind of everything.I will not think about anything related to me during this walk,I resolve.I walk along,looking at what surrounds me.
Being a Friday evening,the roads swarm with vehicles whose owners seem insane in their determination to somehow beat the Bangalore traffic.I look at the people.Do they look happy? No!
It's just that they're glad they don't have to work for the next two days.All the pent up frustration is evident in the way they drive.
I stumble upon a loose stone on the footpath and stop to look again.There are construction workers here,working upon a humongous monster of a building.I look at their faces.Again,I only see discontent.Worse still,they seem to envy the IT workers and their vehicles.If they only looked harder,they'd see the unhappiness behind the charade.
I move on.Huge companies line either side of the road.Some of the buildings are exquisite:Patterned glass and shiny metal seem to gleam in pleasure.But the people I see are nowhere near happy.Electronic city.How ironic!
Amidst all these gigantic buildings,a small one catches my eye.The company is called "happiest minds".What a name! I wonder if these people are truly happy,although deep down I know it's just like the other ones I've seen.Yet,I don't want to ruin the illusion.I walk past it,not wanting to know if I'm right or wrong.
I'm greeted by a deserted road.A huge field extends on one side of the road.Here,I see people of all ages engaged in some kind of sport.By far,this is the happiest group I have seen.Maybe they have problems too.The point is,at this moment,they seem happy.
The light is fading away rapidly and I know that my pathetic hippocampus will not be able to lead me back if I stay any longer.I retrace my steps,pondering over what I've seen.
I came hoping I'd find utopia,but the truth is that utopia doesn't exist.But,why then,does everything seem dystopian?
P.S:Much as I'd like to end this here,there's something more to it.I know there are times when we're happy and times when we're sad.But if we're sad for the majority of the time,isn't there something fundamentally wrong with what we're doing?
It reminds me of these lines:This planet has a problem, which is this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much all of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.
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