Necessity and Choice

At any given point of time, some things in life are done out of necessity, whereas others are done by exercising the privilege of choice. This behaviour is seen in all walks of life and at all Times.

Cycles used to be a necessity for a generation that couldn’t afford vehicles. And by cycle, we mean travel distances, planning of the day, carrying things on cycle, multi tasking, and trying to optimize other things. In this web of life, wherein cycle had been an intrinsic ingredient, relationships with people, flora, fauna, seasons, time, and self are different. People who used the cycle as the only means of movement, didn’t think of it as a sustainable tool – it was a ‘default’ tool of movement. The cycle might have also indicated slowness, frustration, effort, staticness for some. People then desire ‘speed’ – and with it – other faster modes of transport like privately owned vehicles.

By owning vehicles (which become a necessity), we gain speed, do things faster, quicker and are not tired to pack in more. As speed of life increases, we come to a point, wherein we relook at the cycle as the most sustainable way of movement. This point, is a point wherein it is easy for us to exercise the alternative choice of moving by cycle without jeopardizing our economical conditions – in other words, whether we own a cycle or a vehicle doesn’t make a difference to us.

Think of rural conditions in that manner – what seems quite sustainable and exotic to us to look at – ways of living, building houses, moving, storing, cropping patterns etc. – is a necessity for the local community to live in that way. When the local community look at the urban situation (us), they aspire to be like us, but we have known the perils of moving with speed.

Expand the above relationship of rural – urban by relating respectively to developing nations – developed nations. Ideas of sustainability endorsed by developed nations are already lived by developing nations out of necessity. Sustainability might appear as a conscious choice (and exciting/ thrilling choice) for developed nations. For developing nations, it is downright equation of survival.

Bhav

I prefer mentioning a marathi word here as the title of this article. Much, much “noise” is created in today’s world of information.

Can you “feel” what you are doing and what you intend to do? Can you express those feelings through thoughts, words, actions, life?

Thus, what is your fundamental “feel” that you wish to harbor/ nurture and consequently express to the environment? Is it “love’? Or something else?

I may not be a superb person or an intellectual one or a powerful one or a perfect one. Dash it! But I must “feel” myself and what gives me peace. This requirement is essential because it results in spreading this peace to all.

Just try and be simple, caring, loving to all. Try to immerse yourself in that feeling of love. See how it makes you radiating!

Bond

This is not “My name is Bond…James Bond!...” sort of a thing!

Bond is a chord – an umbilical chord with anything that we wish to hold valid. This bond with something is necessary – either with a person, place, work, idea, or any living form. I am not interested to decode what this idea of ‘bond’ means – decoding can be done, but what’s the whole point in decoding, if it is going to lead you to the feeling of “nothingness”?

Tired of the result of decoding, I am deciding to embrace the feeling of bondage. Yes, we all are eccentrics. We have emotions and they are not in our absolute control. I feel something about a person – either hatred or love or something in between. One can’t suppress feelings.  If I choose not to feel pain, I end up not loving anybody! What is the point in creating such a rigid boundary of “protection” to ourselves that one ends up being lonely and hurting oneself?

Pain is inevitable – because it is a sign of attachment – a sign of existence (body + mind). What we seem to be doing, is to be afraid of the impact of thoughts on us – for they are powerful and create a reality for us….Reality maybe a perception – differing from person to person – It maybe also be Absolute in Itself, perhaps different from human perceptions – It is definitely “fuzzy”. But why should we be concerned so much about it?

We are thrown in a fuzzy scenario. We encounter events, people, situations and we form perceptions/ meanings inherently for our own survival needs and consider them to be true. Nothing wrong with that, for that’s the way things are. IF there’s no logical reason why Universe exists and why It keeps changing, similarly, we need not find any absolute reason for our own existence and purpose. We simply exist – reason or no reason. In this existence, there is going to be an aspect of taking decisions and facing consequences – or shaping reality for us. There is not one single focus or purpose by which one must lead a good life. It is a mixture of peaks and crests – of thorns and roses – of nights and days – of pain and love.

If ever there has to be some direction to existence, then I feel it has to enhance our circle of connections/ feel with the environment. To hold on to the idea of complete absolute truth seems like a nightmare to me nowadays. I can’t erase meaning – I can’t erase pain or love or hurt or guilt or determination or anything. I may however choose to focus on some aspects of thoughts/ feelings that give me bliss predominantly. That’s all I can do. And practice Hope.

Objects and Novelty

Very often, that ‘past’, is treated as an object – of appraisal, appreciation, romanticism or hatred. Similarly, people may give similar reactions to the ‘object’ conveying the idea of ‘future’. Very briefly, I wish to state some observations regarding this tendency to ‘objectify’ things:

Why do we objectify things/ people/ situations? In objectifying, we indicate bracketing and labeling a phenomenon into some kind of a compartment which we may or may not refer to. Labelling/ bracketing indicates “exclusion” of events from the idea of “us”. The event appears unrelated to my existence and probably it does not bother me if the event exists or not. In other words, I seem to believe that the event and me are completely independent of each other and therefore I can choose to say/do/handle it in whatever fashion that I wish to consume. 

Related to the above tendency is the tendency of fragmenting everything into bits and pieces. Why this happens is a complex thing to understand – but definitely, the tendency of fragmentation is on the rise with increasing exposure to virtual environment and reduction of personal time for reviewing our own deeper selves. 

If we do not seem to consider how “experiences” or thoughts get informed by situations/ people/ time/ context, anything and everything starts to appear data/ information to be consumed or discarded or surfed or only commented or spoken about….Where is the emotional connect? We refer back to the need of being grounded and anchored in experiences – how are these experiences formed? It is ironical that this question begs to be asked! 

If we attempt to see the ‘past’ (of an object/ people/architecture/space/context/landscape) as a “value” that indicates a relation to the environment, and which informs our thinking and conception of a form, then we do not see objects as having set boundaries of place and time – they become fluid and contextual. That is the process of decoding objects/situations, so the interrelationships are understood and expressed in ways befitting the contemporary situation. Important therefore, it is to realize the link of geography to history and philosophy. 

As with situations, so is with people. How much can you empathise with me? Have you made an effort to know how my thoughts and values are shaped by the environment? Have you made an effort to know that somewhere my thoughts are a mirror to your questions and answers? In this way, have you realized that we are all connected in terms of thinking and responding to primordial desires of existence and transcendence? In my pain, do you see your pain? In my happiness, do you feel your happiness? Or are my problems and accomplishments different that yours? 

Students exhibit a tendency to consider everything as a “wow” factor – something thrilling or different – if Past is something of a thrill to them, then it demonstrates a complete disconnect in them and whatever conveys the idea of Past. 

Should the painting (Warli or anything), or the waffle and daub or the cow dung be seen as objects of mere appreciation and reassembled to just make something different? And what do you end up mixing bits and pieces of one context with another? What do you create as a product – assemblage of all contexts? Is that what is designing? Is it so easy to manipulate emotions? 

By objectifying, plucking/ distorting something as humble and sensitive as a cultural-social work of art/architecture, unfortunately we somehow disrespect its value.