One of the scenes that remain indelibly etched in my memory is from a novel of Malayalam writer O V Vijayan. Father and little son are on a walk. Father tells son, “Walk carefully, son, otherwise you may fall down.” Son: “What will happen if I fall?” Father: "Relatives will laugh.” I seldom feel comfortable with my relatives. In fact, I don’t feel comfortable in any society, but relatives make it more uneasy. The reason, as I’ve understood, is that your relatives are the last people to see any goodness in you. On the other hand, they are the first ones to discover all your faults. Whenever certain relatives visit, my knees buckle and the blood pressure shoots up. I behave quite awkwardly. They often describe my behaviour as arising from my ego, which used to be a oversized in yesteryear. I had a few such visitors the other day. The problem was particularly compounded by their informing me that they would be arriving by about 3.30 pm and actually reaching at about 7.30 pm. ...
For, an unpoisoned mind perishes too quickly (in today's world).
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the profound & thought-provoking post.
Not just in today's world, dear Indian Writer. Didn't Jesus advise people to have the cunning of serpents?
Deletekiss of life !! kiss of death !! A matter of perspective !!
ReplyDeleteLife and death, good and evil... poles merge, Aram, in the wider perspective.
DeleteReading this, I am reminded of Sylivia Plath's 'Kiss me and you shall see how important I am'.
ReplyDeleteVery few people were aware of the neurotic side of human life as Plath was. Thanks for bringing her here.
Deleteoh.. deadly! Reminds me of Jack the Ripper!
ReplyDeleteNot to such an extreme, Panchali. I was looking at the inevitable intermingling of good and evil in human life. Can innocence survive in the human world?
DeleteGood one...but as soon as I read the title, I could only think of Cadbury's jingle! :D Maybe it's time to have that ;)
ReplyDeleteYeah, you've just reminded me of the Cadbury ad.
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