WHEN COBWEBS BECOME CHAINS

 



“When you bring the light into your dark house,

that’s when you see the cobwebs and spiders.”

OSHO

Diwali is just a few days away. The other day, this young kid from class X1, did not turn up to my class. There was no message from him, nor any response to my messages. So, when he turned up for the next session, I asked him, “Why were you absent?”.

The boy replied, “Sir, I was busy with Diwali cleaning.”

“But, why didn’t you inform me, and why didn’t you respond to my messages?”

“Sorry Sir.”

No further questions... We moved on...

The next morning, the lady, who lives a few floors above my classes, called up...

“Sir, you know, Diwali is coming... I am getting my widows cleaned (Read: washed with running water!). Hope you accommodate for twenty/thirty minutes.”

“No issues, ma’am,” I said, “Please go ahead.”

When you clear the mess in your house for the coming Diwali, beware... you may end up messing up someone else’s. Earlier this lady would not take into account what happened to people who lived below... I had gently and firmly conveyed how, being a little more sensitive to your neighbours’ feelings, would help all of us feel a lot better. So, this time, the lady asked for my permission, which I happily granted...

Well, there, definitely, is a more civic way of going about cleaning your windows... You know, what I am saying. Still, when you really want to clean up with your buckets and hosepipe – well, I have no problem... I will accommodate... “Happy Diwali.”




A few months ago, when my wife and I were in the waiting area of a doctor’s clinic, we met with an old friend. Diwali was months away when we met. Still, she was telling us, why in their family, it’s an annual ritual to check and discard the ‘unrequired stuff’ before every Diwali... “The useless stuff  should go away to make way for the new stuff.”

Our habits, invariably, start as simple cobwebs of the mind; and, if not cleared in time, the same cobwebs can end up becoming our heavy chains of imprisonment...

Yes, O my boy, I am happy you’re busy doing the ‘Diwali cleaning’... Yes, O lady, I am happy, you’re busy, too, cleaning windows for the coming Diwali. May the light come in... Not just for you and your families... May it come for all of us. For, as OSHO says, “That’s when we are able to see the cobwebs and the scorpions in our dark houses.”



Can’t wait to celebrate this festival of lights...

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s: Pixabay/OviveiraTP/geralt

 

Video: MankindPharma

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