IT IS WRITTEN ON MY FOREHEAD





















In one of our Workshops, we, always, play this popular game: Six young-ones volunteer to take part. They are mostly the outgoing type…and, they are all excited. A white head-band is tied around each one’s forehead, on which a word is written: ‘Leader’, ‘Dependable’, ‘Responsible’, ‘Cautious’, ‘Joker’ and ‘Fool’. None of them knows what is written on his forehead… but, everyone knows what is written on others’. And, each one is supposed to treat the other according to what the head-band proclaims: “I am a Leader… So, treat me so”… “I am Dependable… So, treat me so”… Or, “I am a stupid Joker or a Fool… So, fool around with me; don’t take me seriously!”… And, it goes…


The game is: the six of them have come together to plan for a week-end picnic… everything about that… right from the picnic spot to the minute arrangements…


Now, the young boy whose head-band reads –‘Fool’, in real life may be a very responsible and dependable person. Similarly, the young girl whose forehead reads – ‘Leader’, actually, may be an over-cautious person, even a joker in real life. Still, who one really is and how one really portrays himself or herself to be before the outside world… are two different things. Finally, the world will treat us exactly the way we have presented ourselves before it… 


The world is not to blame… No, never!




Who am I? … It is written on my forehead, always… and, I go around the outside world revealing my identity and urging them to treat me accordingly…


We all do it, darling… Yes, we all do. And, yes, we started playing this fun-filled game right from our baby days…


We have become students or teachers… We still play the game…


We have become staff or bosses… We still play the game…


We have become house-holders or clergy… We still play the game…


You see, all this started as our habits… Habits grew to become our character… And, now, our character is all set to manifest into our destinies…




Nothing just happens in life… 

Nothing just out of nothing…
 

Everything comes from something…



If the world treats me as a Leader or as a Dependable person, it is because… over all these years, right from dawn to dusk, I have been revealing my identity to the world outside… by my speech and actions, my behavior and conduct. And, I have been doing it over and over again… so much so… it is writ large on my forehead now: “Hey, I am a Leader, believe me”… Hey, I am Dependable… believe me,”… Or, “You know well who I am: I am a Joker… A Fool… and, you better believe me!”


Oh yes, yes, there is no choice before the world but to believe in what I am saying! 



So, what is the moral of the story, dear? Why is the game played? Just for fun?


Hope, not!




GERALD D’CUNHA


Pic.: Navya Anand


Comments

Manu said…
One more from u... keep it up! Manu
May 9, 2013 at 6:27 PM
Umesh Nayak said…
It is a serious game, no jokes, dear!!!!!
--Umesh
May 9, 2013 at 7:58 PM
Vinay Shettigar said…
Needed this badly. Thank u. Vinay
May 10, 2013 at 11:02 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...