WE ALL HAVE OUR OWN DENTS















There was a lovely Kannada proverb, which, I used to hear people toy with, all around my village. One of my aunts, particularly, would toy it with her own inimitable rustic-flavor:

“Ellara maneya dosai… Votttttey!”

Means, the dosas in everyone’s house have holes (pores)!

But, you are free to extract your own meaning out of this old saying of my village…



We all have our own dents…

Our character defects, our family problems, our social ills…

We are no saints…

We have our dark secrets, our endless conflicts, our shares of rows, woes and foes.

Because there are walls, doors, windows and curtains… no one can see what is going on inside our houses… nor can anyone hear it.

There are walls, doors, windows and curtains around our minds and hearts, too…

We have our respective personal-flaws, the relationship-flaws – misunderstandings and fights, fears and insecurities…

Yes, we all… the rich and the poor, the wise and the ignorant, the teachers and the taught, even the sri, sri, sri, sri… sri’s!




While I have my dents and pores, 


the so-called holy-men have their own…



Only difference, maybe, is this: I may reveal mine; someone else may not… Or, it may be vice versa: I may choose to hide mine…

Yes, I do, I do.

My character is what I am in the dark…

Yes, what you, normally, don’t get to see… Rather, what I - for the reasons and fears best know to me – choose to hide from your eyes…

And, I know this, too: You, too, do it… exactly the way I do…

Don’t you, dear?

Come on!!!



Today, I was seeing and feeling these dents - these pores in my dosa - more and more…

But, then, the old wisdom of my village, “Son, take heart, everyone’s heart and mind is dented. Don’t torture yourself,” – yes, it came to my rescue…

If that’s how dosas are supposed to be…

That’s how we all shall be…

Beautifully dented!



GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Neetu Sharma Sachdeva

Comments

Nilsesh Patel said…
Nicely explained. Nilesh
July 5, 2013 at 4:30 PM
Prashant Kumar said…
I remember another story u had posted... 'Flawed Pot'.
-- Prashant
July 5, 2013 at 4:49 PM
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