The Necessary Noise

God is grand serenity and man is sheer noise

By Mukesh Sharma

The hushed sex noises made by two copulating bodies of opposite sex outside and millions of sonorous sperms dashing and darting, clamoring and competing with one another inside to hug one pliant and pluvial ovum out of legion, result in a baby who too makes ‘noise’ after coming out of the womb of its mother. Thus born out of noise, man lives with the noise and dies with the noise.

The Necessary Noise

 

Noise can be any audible or inaudible sound – rhythmic or unrhythmic, shout or silence, hullabaloo or hush, turmoil or tranquility, symphony or schism, harmony or hiatus cacophony or calm, decibel or desire, winged words or wishful wishes.

For the whole life, man battles with noise. His life shuttles between two noises – external noise and internal noise.

Noise emanating from any outside source can be rated as external noise. To man, it can be the language of animals speaking through their respective so-called nasal sounds. It can be screech of bat, growl of bear, hum of bees, chirp of sparrow, grunt of camel, mew of cat, crow of cocks, moo of cow, caw of crow, bark of dog, triumph of elephant, bray of donkey, quack of duck, howl of fox, buzz of fly, chortle of kangaroo, roar of lion, squeak of mice, shriek of owl, scream of peacock, bleat of sheep, sing of whales, whinny of zebra. A language becomes noise when one doesn’t understand it.

Nature too makes variety of noises; it can be splash of water; it can be wheeze of wind; it can be swish of the earth’s movement on its axis and around the sun; it can be rattle of leaves and trees; it can be burbling of a waterfall; it can be swash of waves of ocean. There is boundless knowledge/wisdom beyond the noise of nature.

Rhythmic repetition of sounds is called white noise that too can be counted as external noise. All songs/devotional songs are white noise used by all the religions. Man uses it as intoxicant, for it can send man to sleep,  delirium or disillusion far away from the reality of life.

Noise of crowd gives rise to hysteric frenzy that may lead to war or riot. It harms man more than good.

Noise made by TV channels/newspapers/films / social media is used by the vested interests to hack the mind of the people who buy their opinion from media and go by herd thinking. It is used for propaganda that further develops into a perception either in favour or against something/somebody. Netas use it for politics. Loudest noise maker is the greatest neta.

Internal noise is the coolest one – a gift of mother nature; it can be the noise of the heart beat; it can be the noise of rushing blood in artery and veins; it can be the noise of breath in and out; it can be the noise of desires or disenchantment; it can be the noise of hope or despondence; it can be the noise of love or hate; it can be the noise of sorrow or happiness; it can be the noise of pelf or  poverty; it can be the noise of wisdom or foolishness; it can be the noise of theism or atheism. It can be the noise of devil or deity.

It is this internal noise that makes or mars the life. There is deafening silence beyond this noise. Poet and writers feel it. Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Guru Nanak realized it. There is regime of God beyond this internal noise. Anyone who goes beyond this noise  be one with the God; one becomes God unto oneself. God is grand serenity, man is sheer noise.

Overcoming Fear

Overcoming Fear

No one instills fear into you. It’s you who put fear in yourself. It’s your own perception. And solution to get rid of fear lies in you only

By Mukesh Sharma

Once upon a time, there was a notorious dacoit, Ragha. He was feared most in his area of operation. Once while passing by a village in the dead of night, he came across an empty house with a buffalo tethered to peg in the front yard of the house. Little away someone was asleep on the cot. The dacoit untied the tether to take away the buffalo. The sound of low of buffalo woke up the person. He was a young stout and sturdy boy of 16. He jumped to his feet and grabbed the tether. The dacoit tried to free it from the grasp of the boy but in vain. Soon dacoit realized that he was no match to the strength of the boy. Dacoit played a trick and shouted: “Be careful, save your life, dacoit Ragha is coming.” The moment the boy heard that, he left the tether and hurried inside the house. It was the fear of Ragha that defeated the boy not Ragha himself in person.

Crippling fear

Commenting on fear, Ralph Waldo Emerson says:

“Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.”

Through the said story, fear can be defined as an exaggerated comparative self-perception of a situation, circumstances or an individual that weakens oneself against the other.

So and so is powerful neta, I am a nonentity. He is an IPS, I am an ordinary citizen. He is a big man, I am a small man. There are over five lakh candidates, I can’t make it to IAS. It is not my cup of tea. This kind of feelings  create a fear that declares one loser well before the event/happening.

No one instills fear in you. It is you who put fear in yourself. It is your own perception. Solution to get rid of fear lies in you only.

 Why does it happen so? Answer can be traced into your childhood. When a baby comes out of the womb of its mother, doctor taps the baby to make it cry. It is here that first seed of fear is sowed. Don’t go in dark, there is houa; don’t go near water, you will be drowned; don’t touch the dog, it will bite you; don’t talk to a stranger, he might harm you; don’t do this, God will be unhappy, and so on.

Needless to say, an Indian baby grows  up with fear; it’s life keeps shuttling between dos and don’ts. Thus fear further gives rise to different types of fear: fear of losing someone, fear of loss, fear of insecurity, fear of failure, fear of defeat, etc.

It’s natural for a  feared man to go for the retreat option – no fight,  no defeat;  no business, no loss;  no attempt, no failure like a pigeon that shuts its eyes and thinks that there is no cat.

Napoleon Bonaparte, a great conqueror says:

“Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.”

Here is an interesting anecdote that reveals the true self of Napoleon:

Once Napoleon faced an impossible situation. His army was at the bank of a river which was in full spate. Napoleon wanted to conquer a country which was across the river and abutting the river there was a high mountain. To reach the enemy, the only option was to cross the river and climb the mountains and then descend on other side. And it sounded impossible. There was fear of drowning to death. However, Napoleon ordered to cross the river and the mountain in the dead of the night to catch enemy unaware. While crossing the river many boats capsized and sank. After reaching the other side of the river, Napoleon ordered to sink all the boats – no option to go back – no retreat. Then Napoleon addressed his army: “we have no option to get back now. To live, we must conquer. March ahead. Fell upon enemy like a tiger in this darkness and conquer the enemy”. And Napoleon humbled his enemy in no time.

Obviously, fear exists so long as there is retreat option, so long as there is an escape route. Once that option is not available fear ceases to exist.

Originating from mountains, a river has no option of retreat; its passes through many crevices and falls, terrains and troughs, hills and plains, Jungles and cities; it negotiates hundreds of  turns and  twists. Nothing distracts it from its path to goal. Nothing halts its onward march. And finally it meets the ocean.

There is solution beyond fear of problems. There is dream beyond the fear of distraction. There is profit beyond the fear of loss. There is success beyond the fear of failure. There is safety beyond the fear of insecurity. There is love beyond the fear of hatred. There is victory beyond the fear of defeat. There is life beyond the fear of death. Jack Canfield rightly says:

“Everything you want is on the other side of the fear.”

Nothing overcomes the fear like option less purpose and oneness of efforts to serve it. Nothing is impossible. Hope never dies and possibilities never end.

Beware of Jealousy

 

Beware of Jealousy

Jealousy sickens Self like diabetes, it corrodes the society like rust; it eats away a country like termites

By Mukesh Sharma

History reveals that JEALOUSY has done more harm to humanity than any virus or natural calamity. Jealousy killed the mighty demon king Ravana; it wiped out powerful Kauravas in Mahabharata; it assassinated Archduke Ferdinand of Austria that triggered off world war-I; it caused the failure of peace efforts, German invasion in Europe, and Japan aggression on China that collectively resulted in World War-II; it is most likely to be the cause of World war -III too. Jealousy helped the Britisher to rule over India for 200 years; it bifurcated India into Hindustan and Pakistan; it is the cause of rampant corruption in India. Jealousy erodes self-confidence, kills the trust, ruins relations, weakens the nation and eats away the whole life bit by bit.

Beware of Jealousy

 

 

Through his one of characters, Iago in Othello, Shakespeare says:

“ O! Beware my lord of jealousy, it is the green eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on”

As a daughter of Ego and Avarice, jealousy has many siblings – Greed, Treachery, Traitor, Quisling, Betrayer, Double Crosser, Snake in the grass, Sheep in wolf clothing and megalomaniac.

These siblings of jealousy are spreading their genome very fast; their stock is rising in each society and country day in and day out; they are the cause of the most of the sufferings of the man across the world.

It is not easy to recognize a jealous man, he may be one among your near relatives; he may be one among your close friends; he always wears the mask of well-wishers; he may be around you round the clock like Brutus back-stabbing Julius Caesar; he may be Jai Chand betraying Prithviraj Chauhan; he may be Raja Ranveer Singh of State of J & K who provided army and arms to the Britisher to end the Sikh rebellion in Punjab; he may be Mir Jafar; he may be Jeevaji Rao Scindia who sided and helped the Britisher and got killed amazon Rani Lakshmi Bai . Jealousy is like a virus, it may lie dormant within you too for years without your knowledge.

Notwithstanding, a jealous man can be recognized by his characteristic qualities only; he is talk active but sounds reticent; he doesn’t think beyond his selfish interest; he appears quiet and calm and remains busy in selfish calculation and never lets anyone get the wind of his ill-feelings; he never loses the opportunity to make a great show of affection; respect and concern, particularly, in front of others. As a man of good pusillanimity and patience, he always waits for the right time to act and react; he hates to see people above his status, and conspires to bring them down; he loathes anyone rising to his status and plans to push them down. Out of jealousy, a jealous man first targets the known people around him and then increases the circumference of circle of jealousy step by step after achieving the ‘targets’. However, a jealous woman is jealous of all women above her status.

Jealous man always pays false compliments through empty words devoid of meaning; he is master of pretensions; he knows how to play possum; he sends forwarded message on whatsapp; he will never send self-written message or call you up personally. Just to ingratiate himself, he visits hospital if you are admitted there. He conveys his condolence and does attend funeral. If invited he does attend weddings. With an eye on food and arrangement, he is more interested in observing the political and social clout of the host than the blessings to newly weds.

A jealous man hates to see you more happy and successful than him. However, he pretends otherwise. If you tell him about your some achievements, he will try to belittle your success by giving false examples. On the contrary, he will boast about his success and exaggerate it to stoke your envy. On social media – facebook / watsapp/ Instagram, he will seldom like your post of some achievement; even if he comments, he comments through ‘emoji’. If you keep posting the posts of your ‘success’, he will block you.

Psychologists contend that specific gesture and posture do debunk a jealous man. In sitting posture, he often tends to cross his legs. He is anxious to compete with the known people above his status. That is why the most of the people are unhappy because of the happiness and progress of their neighbors. The awkward predicament and problems of the neighbor pleases such people. A jealous man is a copy cat; he imitates the style of renowned people; he often spouts mugged up proverbs; he often speaks up the crammed quotations of famous personalities to show off his ‘knowledge.’

Needless to say, jealousy sickens self like diabetes, it corrodes the society like rust; it eats away a country like termites. Commenting on this deadly silent killer jealousy, Swami Vivekananda says:

“Jealousy is a national sin in India”

Beware of Jealousy!

‘My’ Woman and ‘Other’ Woman

 

‘My’ Woman and

‘Other’ Woman

MY WOMAN is man’s social need and OTHER WOMAN is man’s physical hunger

By Mukesh Sharma

 

All through ages and scriptures, the woman has been eulogized with the winged words. Paeans have been sung in her honour: God is within her, she will not fall, says the Bible. The holy Koran puts woman as a mother on the pedestal higher than God. The Hindu religion deifies her as Goddess Minerva, Lakshmi, and Durga. Says Diane Mariechild, “A woman is a full circle. Within her is a power to create, nurture and transform.”

However, keeping in view the plight of the common woman on the ground, all flowery statements can be dismissed as sheer intellectual dandyism.

 

It’s a fact that in man’s world, women are classified in two categories: MY WOMAN and OTHER WOMAN. MY WOMAN signifies - my daughter, my sister, my wife, my mother or any relation related to ‘My.’ And any woman who doesn’t fall under the category of ‘my’ is ‘OTHER WOMAN.

MY WOMAN deserves all the needed care and caress, pamper and preferences. She is respected and is made hon’ble woman. She gives birth to man’s legal heirs and furthers his lineage. Undoubtedly, she is indispensable part of man’s social system. And the man is essentially a social animal.

Behind the most of the successful women, there is force of ‘my’. It may come from father, brother, husband or son. If ‘my’ does not spring from any social relation, it may emanate from any ‘friend’ i.e. ‘my friend’. Nevertheless, the force of ‘my’ from a friend doesn’t come for free. The woman enjoying it must pay the ‘price’; she must compromise her ‘principle’. In his Uncle Vanya (1897), says Anton Chekhov:

A woman can become a man’s

friend only in the following stages - first

an acquaintance, next a mistress and

only then a friend.

 Moonshine is not possible without the sunshine. Exceptions are rare. 

On the other hand, OTHER WOMAN is the most coveted woman for the man. She is leered at public places; she is looked on with prying eyes; she is ogled in the assembly; she is touched up in metro; she is groped and grappled in jam-packed buses; she is harassed at work places; sexual advances are made wherever she is.  Moment she is out of her home, she is raped by words, thoughts and action. Total reported cases of rape in 2019 were 32,033 – 88 rapes every day. Figures may be phenomenally high with unreported cases across India.

Irony is OTHER WOMAN is not safe without the force of ‘my’ of the man. At any stage of age, she is considered as ripe for rape. Reported cases of child rape in orphanage and children shelter home don’t surprise the common people, particularly, in India.

It’s an acknowledged fact that to an ambitious OTHER WOMAN, even if she is talented and educated, it is not easy to make a niche in man’s world. Every Kangna will have to pass through the  casting couch; off the record, she will be referred to with choicest words – harmkhor  is only on the record. ‘Me too’ revelations by scores of ‘celebrities’ tell the plight and predicament of ‘OTHER’ WOMAN in man’s world.

When this OTHER WOMAN is left to fend for herself by the ‘MY’, she has no choice but to embrace the ancient profession – selling her body in man’s market. Like other languages, English too has umpteen derogatory words to make a mention of such OTHER WOMAN – Prostitute, whore, harlot, hooker, scarlet woman, street walker, hustler, one night stand girl, lady of the evening, gold digger, etc. Each noun is self explanatory and a jibe against OTHER WOMAN.

OTHER WOMAN who don’t want to adopt the ‘profession’ prefer to find a Sugar Daddy – a man double the age of a woman who has enough means to support the other young woman. She lives with the man like his wife. For an elderly man, a young woman is a trophy wife. Man’s law has coined the phrase for such relationship as live-in partner. Man always has upperhand. A woman is destined to crouch and cry under the weight of man.

Though the law cries hoarse to tell the world that woman is not second to man, she lives under watchful eyes of man as a daughter, wife, and mother. Gender sensitization is just an eye wash. She becomes “Bharat ki beti” after her brutal rape and murder only like Nirbhay. Even capital punishment is wanting to deter man to repeat Nirbhaya in different parts of India. Leave aside the man of alleged low bred or of base origin, even the man seemingly gentlemen in broad day light may turn out to be a beast in the dead of night. What matters is opportunity. MY WOMAN is a social need of the man and OTHER WOMAN is his physical hunger.