EVERY WAR IS FIRST FOUGHT IN THE MIND











It was a busy narrow-street. On both sides of the street, there was hardly any space left for people to walk. Everyone was maneuvering his way through the chaos, and so was I. Just then, a friend of mine, who happened to pass by on his motor bike, sighted me… He spontaneously parked his bike on the side and crossed over to my side to talk to me. Even before I could remind him to park the bike little away, where there was some open space, the motorist behind him yelled, “Akkal nahin hai kya?”

I instinctively knew it would provoke my friend… Yes, it did.

“Tameez se baat karo,” my friend pointed his index finger.

“Gaadi hatao,” the motorist screamed…

“Nahin hataunga,” my friend challenged.

By then, the motorists from all sides were honking incessantly…

I pressed my friend’s hand and gently whispered, “Let’s take your bike a little ahead and talk… It’s better for all of us.”

Luckily, my friend did not show any resistance… He crossed over, started his bike to park it a few feet away in the open space…

It’s all over in a couple of minutes… A potential roadside-battle, with its unknown consequences, had been defused, just in time…

After we parted our ways, I was thinking aloud: “Who provoked whom? Was it my friend by blocking the way to the other motorist or was it the motorist who had yelled, “Akkal nahin hai kya?”

Both did, in a way.

My friend was not deliberately causing inconvenience to others… He simply wasn’t aware of what he was doing at that point of time. The other motorist, who must’ve been already stressed out on the busy streets, too, was not aware of what he was saying… Had he been aware, he would have gently requested my friend, and that would have been the end of the matter…

The statement, “Akkal nahin hai kya?” wasn’t called for. Yes, my friend’s reaction, “Tameez se baat karo,” too, wasn’t called for… Because, at that point of time, my friend really did not have the ‘akkal’… I mean, the awareness, the wisdom.

Mercifully, the contest had ended up in the second round, itself… “Gaadi hatado,” and “Nahin hataunga.”


It only takes a small spark to set a forest on fire… So, too, for the World Wars to break out! Someone, somewhere has to be a little more careful, prudent, patient, tolerant, forgiving, compassionate… and, above all, a little less serious…

All that is needed to avoid infernos and wars is a bit of ‘akkal’ at the outset…

Others’ words are just words, unless we give meaning and life to them. Therefore, it’s said, “Every war is first fought in the mind, and then in the battle-field.”



GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Jatinder Sondhi


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