It does matter to me that we live in times where yelling wins and silence loses and where political guile outruns an honest pat on the back. We live in times when you bug if you hug and are sought if you have the mind of a villain. ‘Put back the clock,’ I say, ‘or at least give me the power to remake my world as I want it to be.’

Don’t sell a yell

I don’t just mean an escape from those TV anchors who yell their guests into lumps of disgruntled protestors because when I talk of remaking the world without its characteristic yell, I also mean the show-offs and many others. Drive your fourteen year old WagonR on a Delhi road and you’ll know how Sedans, SUVs, MUVs, and the oh-so-big cars yell you out of existence. Go visiting some friends in their DDA flat and you literally enter a film set as you walk past the wrought iron gate that you think is an unnecessary monstrosity. Pop into the virtual world and hear even the simplest of simpletons yelling about his trip to Timbaktoo and selfies with whoever-they-are-they-are-someone. Some years back it was only Chanchal and Mann who wanted to yell out what many called great songs, but now temples, mosques, gurudwaras, and even churches do their yelling bit on days they call their own. Come on dammit, these are all my days and I have a right to live in peace. 

The world yells to sell so much that selling yelling is fast becoming a lucrative business… and thus we have come to a stage when politicians, fringe group leaders, activists, anarchists, and even TV anchors rake in big bucks if they specialise in yelling.

So, yes, let us ‘make in India’ a different world where we stop yelling.

The Mind of a Villain

Enter a government office and you’ll know you are being psychoanalysed layer by layer. The questions in these office analysts’ minds are generally hovering around the reason of the visit to the capacity of this person to pay a bribe. If you think this is the real mind of the villain, you’re right… and the list isn’t short. Look at the way commuters or shoppers look at a lovely girl and you’ll know what a layer by layer psychoanalysis in a villainous mind is all about. If you think it is the hoi polloi that love shady mind games, you’re wrong. There are CEOs, judges, politicians, administrators, doctors, and even self-proclaimed saints who have the mind of a villain.

If I ever had the magical formula to remake the world, it is the mind of a villain that I would first peel layer by layer and replace a few crucial ones with a better genetic endowment.

A Kiss on His Bruise

For once, just try and look into eyes and you’ll sooner than later be able to identify bruises that speak of a soul that is hurt. Carelessly flung words hurt. Opposition for the heck of opposing hurts. A hand of friendship offered with some ulterior motive lurking in the shadows has the potential to hurt.  Infighting hurts. To be deliberately misled into a wrong act will invariably hurt. False allegations hurt.

These are all bruises that living moments are full of and they prevent most of us from going on with whatever good work that we were doing. No, I wouldn’t want any of these deadly acts to stop… I wouldn’t want us not to be hurt or bruise or bleed… I want them all to become powerful stimulants or catalytic agents than remain a debilitating chasm in life. I’m sure if Tagore were here he’d have written lines that talked about waking up in a world where a mere kiss on some such bruise would convert it from a handicap to an advantage. He would want a restructuring of this sort for sure.

I’ve always been a hugger

Some time back I had tweeted these lines as my mantra for good health:

Hate less
Love more
Fight less
Hug more

Simple fundas
Keep you healthy!

I’ve always believed in the dictum of a hug. Hug books. Hug reading. Hug simplicity. Hug travel. Hug local customs. Hug transparency. Well, the list can actually be endless but all that I want to specify is the connection of a hug with actions that enhance the quality of life. Let us have the sensibility to know that the examples I have listed are better options than wanting to hug blasphemy or hatred.

So let’s go ahead and remake a world where the right form of hugging gets a rebirth or is resuscitated or energised, whatever the case be.

She’d break your dick off like a twig then stick it up your arse

Ah! This one is simple enough and I’ve taken J D Robb’s help to clarify that what we need in this world are women-folk who not only know what their rights are but also have the right concoction of aggression and finesse to do just what this sub-heading suggests.

The truth is that it is women submitting to over-bearing and loutish men that leads us all into a world that becomes contorted. So what we need is a world tweaked slightly, remade, to balance it nicely and properly.

Well…

Well then, remaking our world isn’t really as difficult as it might seem to a few of us. All we need is conviction in our own minds. Let’s start. Now!

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The India Today Conclave #TheWorldRemade

The India Today Conclave #TheWorldRemade

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I am participating in the #TheWorldRemade activity at BlogAdda in association with India Today #Conclave15

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Arvind Passey
27 February 2015