YES, IT IS NO ORDINARY LAMP...






Pic.: Anand Ashokan


I had last watched the animated Disney-movie, ‘Aladdin’, when my son was a little boy. Like everyone else, I remember how his heart would light-up every time Genie popped-out of the bottle... grew big, bigger and the biggest... and shrinked, once  again... With his elastic movements, he regaled our little boy as much as he regaled us, his parents... Disney’s animated-characters seem and sound so real that, leave alone my little son, I – all of age 36 then – did not realize that great Robin Williams was speaking from Genie’s body!

Though I haven’t watched the movie for close to twenty years now, I still remember some of its brilliant dialogues. One of them is so profound and inspiring; but, ironically, it comes from one of the most unlikely characters in the movie – the Merchant!

“Do not be fooled by its commonplace appearance,” reminds the Merchant,
Like so many things (in Life), it is not what is outside, but what is inside, that counts.” He continues, “This is no ordinary lamp. It, once, changed the course of a young-man’s life... A young-man, who, like this lamp, was more than what he seemed – a diamond in the rough!”

Every time I think of this scene, the truth hits really hard at me: Appearances can be very deceptive...

In Life, if I am of the opinion, that, profound words are spoken by only the sages and the  saints, and not by the hardcore merchants... then, I am being fooled...

Likewise, if I am of the opinion, that what I see in my hand, now, is all that I own... then, I am being fooled...

If I am of the opinion, that, what I am is what I appear to be, now... then, I am being fooled...

My son is a young-man, now. Incidentally, he pursued studies in animation and has just started working. I don’t know if he remembers this dialogue of the Merchant...

“It is no ordinary lamp,” I love this line, “It, once, changed the course of a young-man’s life, who, like this lamp, was more than what he seemed – a diamond in the rough!”

The Merchant reminds you, me, my son... all...

Yes, we are no ordinary lamps!


GERALD D’CUNHA



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