'I don't like meeting people,' I explained when a friend asked why I showed little interest in meeting him after a long period.
People are clichés wherever you go. They keep repeating themselves. The repetition may take slightly different avatars. Some do it in the name of the Christ, some others in Krishna's. Or Allah's. Or some Baba or other fraud.
Fraud is a perpetual cliche from which mankind has no salvation, my friend said. Your problem is that you looked for salvation from them. Silly romantic dreamer! He laughed.
So I am a fraud too? I asked. Living in an illusion!
Aren't all people doing just that? Living in one illusion or another? In perceived paradises? Maybe paradise of wealth, power, positions, Babadom, kingdom of heaven... Clichés. What else?
Solitude is my cliché, I said.
You are a cliché trying to run away from other clichés, he said.
People are clichés wherever you go. They keep repeating themselves. The repetition may take slightly different avatars. Some do it in the name of the Christ, some others in Krishna's. Or Allah's. Or some Baba or other fraud.
Fraud is a perpetual cliche from which mankind has no salvation, my friend said. Your problem is that you looked for salvation from them. Silly romantic dreamer! He laughed.
So I am a fraud too? I asked. Living in an illusion!
Aren't all people doing just that? Living in one illusion or another? In perceived paradises? Maybe paradise of wealth, power, positions, Babadom, kingdom of heaven... Clichés. What else?
Solitude is my cliché, I said.
You are a cliché trying to run away from other clichés, he said.
We all are actors on this stage haranguing our cliches in front of an audience full of actors.
ReplyDeletePrecisely. We have no escape from cliches: our own as well as others'. Life is the cliche. We can only make the cliche look colourful.
Delete"Solitude is my cliché"
ReplyDeletewell written and rightly said.
Solitude was the refuge of many people... Some went as far as the Himalayas in search of it...
DeleteThis conversation was an interesting read.
ReplyDeleteSab moh maya hai - world is indeed an illusion. Every individual has his own version and many times it overlaps with others. Even who is a recluse is busy creating his own illusory world. Humans existing for the last 200000 years is a fact that turns us into cliches...whatever number of permutations and combinations of thoughts are possible have been perhaps explored.
Yes, Bushra, the species has been around for tediously too long and turned into miserable clichés.
DeleteSolitude is often mistaken with Loneliness. Lonliness is marked by a sense of isolation.Solitude, on the other hand, is a state of being alone without being lonely and can lead to self-awareness. so you are not running away from any cliche, in my view. Your thought always provokes my grey matter sir. Awesome you are.
ReplyDeleteSolitude is my conscious and informed choice and hence i'm not running away. But maybe i'm running away from other people.
Delete"Solitude is my cliche". I'm going to steal this line from you whenever I want to avoid social engagements, which is most of the time :)
ReplyDeleteAll the best, Hema. Society is for those who are more crustaceous.
DeleteYes, cliche indeed.....we run from one to some other cliche...preferring our own over that of the others....
ReplyDeleteI wish you were more active in this space.
DeleteI know intelligent people find useful occupations 😀
We're all running away from something. We're all hopelessly cliche'd. Ah, nice read this one. I know my appreciation sounds a little cliche'd. But hey, now it's out in the open.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny isn't it, that life makes running away inevitable? 😊
Delete