Nah...Not Really!

People take themselves and their pursuits very seriously. I think I do too! There is this weird not-so arrogant sense of self. Or maybe it is arrogant, but the mask of sensibility prevents it from coming out like that. Who knows!

I doubt, though, that anybody else takes us this seriously though. Now, there are two ways that this fact comes to light. First, we receive higher intellectual levels through reading, listening, or meeting people and then realize that we aren’t that important. Second, somebody rubs it off our face and bruises our ego. But this eventual realization happens for everyone without fail.

I remember this instance when a lady threatened a shop owner that she will blow his shop off because the custom “chooda” or marriage bangle that the shopkeeper had got done for her was wearing off so quickly. I mean she literally said- “dukaan tod dungi mai tumhari!” Of course, the shopkeeper got pissed. The scene is vividly clear in my mind, and I also remember how hard it was getting for me not to laugh at the turn of events. My mother was with me, which probably stopped me from adding further drama with my ill-timed humor.

You come to think of it, I mean, what value does a meager “chooda” hold? But the lady took it very seriously. Similar stuff happens when it is about our jobs, things we do, things we achieve, or whatever!

I mean, we are so concerned about how we breathe too- the smell in it! Nobody will notice it until you have some sickness and send waves of torture out or somebody gets into your mouth to smell.

We try and engage with small things in life that help us feel powerful in our own minds. Like buying coffee at the airport when we drink tea all the time or saying that we absolutely love “black coffee” or 90% dark chocolate even though we cannot stop ourselves from making a face every time these things touch our taste buds. But it raises eyebrows- it makes us special, and we like that. For that fleeting moment- if we feel that someone may take a note, we go for it and feel happy!

Outward appearances play a major major role in giving us this sense of self. For many of us- especially those in good jobs- I think our “work” also gets added to it. Like, taking our laptop out while traveling shows how busy we are. Maybe we are busy, and I am just judging- who knows!!

Our own sense of self defines how we look at things too. Taking an example from my personal life; now that I am a self-proclaimed “businesswoman,” sometimes I think- do I look like one, will this random person on the road feel that I am someone important; or say when I take my “MacBook” out and check the time on my “apple watch” will I be considered special or elite? Sometimes I have to take up such shenanigans to sound important to a group of people; sometimes, I feel “I’ll create my own identity” and then let it be.

I know this is weird, and it makes absolutely no sense given how these things contradict each other and yet have the same end goal- to feel important.

I mean, why would anyone give a damn about me? Why should they even? Am I Amitabh Bachchan? Nobody would even give a damn about him when put against their own lives!!

In all honesty, I am not sure where I am trying to go with this, but the thing is- we all need validation, no matter how much we deny it. The thing about “I don’t care” speaks loudly that you do because otherwise, you wouldn’t be mentioning it in the first place.

So just relax, be human, a little less self-absorbed if you can be, a little more respectful of others if possible, and just be happy because at the end of it- we all die, and we all are forgotten- some sooner, some later but we all are!

So, it’s OKAY!!