My own brand of ITUTU

I have been asked, to write about something that more closely relates to the age bracket I belong to. I’m guessing, that would mean writing about love, and relationships, and friendships, and how I loved and lost, and how now I found the one. Or, how my friend left me in the doldrums for his promiscuous girlfriend and how that changed my perception about friendship and watered the seedling of mistrust. Or how that first boyfriend, broke my heart into a million pieces. And how, ultimately, I could rise above it all, to become a stronger person. I TRIED. I tried to write about the lost little 16 year old I once was. Or the things I have learnt in the process of getting my heart skinned. I FAILED. I'm not saying I haven’t got my heart broken, or made mistakes. Some of my decisions have most certainly been far from desirable. I may even go as far as to say that I might serve as a cautionary tale for a very well written book that must be titled “decisions one should never make”.

 But, I have never really belonged to the age group I should ideally belong to. That’s not necessarily a good thing, but that’s just how its been most my life. I have never been the nail painting, pink loving, boy chasing 16 year old. And I am not, the working during the day, drinking during the night, reading Chetan Bhagat, saying TO HELL WITH THE WORLD , using phrases like I LIVE MAH LIFE THE WAY I WANNA” sort of 25 year old. I generally don’t have a problem enunciating words in their entirety. MY has never really been MAH for me. And I have confined myself to saying WANT TO and not WANNA.I hate conformists, and I would probably be quite a rebel if I tried to change the the English language to sound infinitely cooler.

Which is of course the need of the hour. I, unfortunately, am a simple conformist. Conforming to how our predecessors intended language to be. Does that make me uncool? Probably. Do I think being idiotically cool is necessary? I think not! I have never really been a fan of idiosyncratic coolness. I have dated the cool guy who needed to pull up his pants about 8 bucks north and learn how to chew properly before he could even think of rapping! I thought I would grow to like his style, but the only thought I left that relationship with, is – Newton was so wrong. Some things do defy the laws of gravity, and not just on the moon! Alternately, Robert Farris Thompson, who is a professor of art history at Yale university,suggests that Itutu, which he translates as "mystic coolness", is one of the three pillars of a religious philosophy created in the 15th century by Yoruba and Igbo civilisations of West Africa. Cool,or Itutu, contained meanings of conciliation and gentleness of character, of generosity and grace, and the ability to difuse fights and disputes.

Yet, no where in these civilizations, do they refer to gravity defying pants, abusive music, and language altering abilities as a prerequisite of eternal coolness. So, maybe, there is hope for me. Maybe, I am my own brand of Itutu, even though i refuse to conform to the modern idea of nonconformity. Maybe, I am in-equipped to live with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain. And maybe, just maybe, I don't need to.

Miscellaneous Friday, January 20, 2012 5 comments

What goes around comes around?

Off late, my mind has been grappling to comprehend and rationalize the concept of destiny. So to speak, destiny means the predetermined or inevitable course of events, or the ultimate power or agency that predetermines the course of events. Having read this, the ultimate dilemma thus poses itself, whether I believe in destiny or not. I have been asked this question on several occasions, and my response to this question, on all occasions has been a feverish denial. But as i travel the course of life, inching my way forward, I have been forced to revalue and rethink my stance on the subject. The very definition of the term implies that as an individual, no matter what choices one makes in their life, the final outcome has been predetermined. By this logic, one could conclude that the pillar of humanity, free will, is a mere illusion. I had a hard time accepting the redundancy of free will.

 But on the other hand, I couldn't just dismiss the entire concept of destiny because it seemed inconvenient or incomprehensible. The other possible justification to destiny, is that every decision we make, leads us to an alternate path, changing our destiny in effect to that decision. This rationale, would propagate that we as individuals, make one unchangeable decision at every juncture of life, and that decision takes us on a path where our destiny would depend on the next unchangeable decision that we make at the very next juncture of our life. This rationale, though slightly more comprehensible, pegs another absolute question. What then is karma? Is it just a sequence of decisions one makes which in turn determines the path one lands up on? And if this is true, what is the role of the dispenser of fruits of karma if our destiny is predetermined anyway? Or is destiny nothing but the fruit of karma dispensed by the supreme power?

As an average 25 year old, it would be infinitely simpler to just give up and stick to my feverish denial, wondering in secrecy what the answers really are. But then, the little that I read about destiny and karma, I realized, that in every religion, including Spiritism and theosophy, these notions have long been present. Every culture, every religion, every philosophy, believes in some variation of the same ideology, just phrased differently if at all. What goes around comes around, you reap what you sow, even the law of cause and effect for that matter! For the time being, it suffices to say, that I neither accept or reject these theories. However, If we all truly believed, that our every action, would come back to haunt us, in the most basic and thus unimaginable way, the world would be a far better place. And on that account alone, I accept, that even without merit or proof, the intertwined theories of destiny and karma, seem downright tempting.

Miscellaneous Tuesday, January 17, 2012 3 comments