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. ...
Brilliant as usual Tomichan :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kalpanaa
DeleteThe moment we realise that the thing we are pretending would have a rather negative effect on us might prevent us from pretending. Coincidentally I am reading thinking fast and slow, where the author talks about an experiment where the subjects when unknowingly make a smiling face become more likely to see positivity in even the worst situations and vice versa. So would it not be wise to pretend a fake smile when that smile can make us more positive in life? Sorry for that long a comment. I have more to say, perhaps need a seprate post.
ReplyDeleteIt's the positivity that i'm advocating, Pranju. Our pretensions are always on the positive side, aren't they?
DeleteI'm waiting for your post on it. Glad to have poked you enough to think of s post ☺
True and beautifully potrayed
ReplyDelete:) trying to convey more in less words.
DeleteAnother layer of pretense perhaps....we are full of these traps....! Was i
ReplyDeleteThe traps are inevitable, inescapable! Religious leaders and many others ensure that!
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