On his way, he walks past tens and thousands of people who from afar looked like they were coming towards him, but as they came closer he realised they had eyes for the horizon. Everyone seemed like going away from him if he looked back, and while the opposite view presented a momentary spark of hope, the thousands who walked past him made him understand no one was going to stay.

The boy had questions, which only multiplied every second. He had no ways of research except asking, for he was poor. He had no wise old man to ask to because he was alone. And he had no time to contemplate his loneliness because he didn’t have a roof.

Within that bustling street, he saw a man standing nearby, with his shoulder resting on a pole…

READ THE FULL TEXT AT: https://halfwaytoasphodel.com/2018/10/21/the-hallowed-quest-1/

There’s history to be learned from today, and today will be the history you’ll learn from on the morrow. It is a never ending cycle, and the history you will create tomorrow, inevitably depends on today.

Man has always struggled for change. From fights for rights to the right to fight, there’s one thing that has ever fueled the fire — problems. Socio-economic, racial, war based, gender based; you name it, we have it.

Ask people around you, then. What do they think is the biggest problem, the global society at large is facing? I actually did that, asking people whenever and wherever the opportunity presented. I got a multitude of answers, ranging from poverty to environmental degradation to political destabilizations, war, freaky elections and what not. None, however, gave me the answer I was looking for.

Case on point: I’m not a religious person — in fact, I am a borderline agnostic atheist. But I still know my fair way out of myths, be it Hindu, Christian, Egyptian or Greek. Those were the days of Ganesh Chaturthi, and while I was there at the mandap, a good friend came up to me and said,

‘You know, even our bhajans are so sexist!’

I asked her to elaborate. She referred to these lines in the Ganpati Aarti –

“Andhan Ko Aankh Det, Kodhin Ko Kaaya

Baanjhan Ko Putra Det, Nirdhan Ko Maaya”

‘Why only putra? Not putri?’ she scoffed.

Now, I have my own problems with religions, but had never considered this. In my opinion, this wasn’t a big deal. There was a fair chance we were taking things out of context. I had a bigger problem with religion as whole. So rather than go into explaining the verse and it’s context, which I was sure was never going to move her, I asked her whether she has done anything about her grievance.

Her reply, her action is what I find is very wrong with us.

‘Yeah, I tweeted about it, sent a message,’ She said.

This is where we fall short. It’s not the problem, it’s our attitude towards solving those problems.

People are more aware. That is good. But the problem is, somehow, it doesn’t get our legs moving, arms working and minds thinking.

Our idea of change is tweeting. Our idea of change has now become trending a hashtag. Our idea of change is a long written rant. And I know this article is pretty ironic in that case. Our idea of change has now become a mere topic of debate on social media. I have been on the web since years and been writing and sharing my opinions since the past three years. Trust me, I know what wonders words can do, and I have also seen how ineffectively lightweight they can be when it comes to changing staunch, set minds. I am not saying they’re completely useless, but the major power for change still resides in our working hands, lesser so in our typing fingers. Two lending hands of help are better than a thousand fingers tapping away furiously.

You see, we want drastic changes, positive changes along with rapid changes. Truth is, for all these three factors to coincide is rare, though not unheard of. Drastic and positive changes won’t come quick, quick and positive changes may not be as significant to the grand scheme of things, and quick and drastic changes may or may not be positive. We want change, but we don’t want to invest two major things into it: time and hard work. Again, when I say that, I keep out those people who actually devote their time, body and minds out there, in real life.

Our attitude has become of criticize, complain and cry. And I personally believe that criticism without offering a solution is whining — and whining will get us nowhere.

Protests. I then came across the notion that protests have propelled massive changes in history. Sure. But it was NEVER only protests. Protests are always a method of drawing attention of the higher echelons to your problems, or even letting them know that you know what they’re upto — beyond that, they are just a disturbance. A protest without a resulting discussion is disruption. Also, the nature of our problems have changed over the years. Most of the places where protests worked were when only a paltry portion of the bulk were not involved — and that happened because there was one umbrella notion of change identified. Take the case of Indian Independence. Initial Gandhi protests were unsuccessful simply because people didn’t join him. These days, people protest topic ‘A’ on a Monday, topic ‘B’ on a Tuesday. 7 topics of protest for 7 days, and no work done in any. This allows for the deviation of interests to allow for the continued stagnancy, while adding to the ever increasing entropy.

We then expect the governments to do change. Little do we understand that the government represents macro, and science has it, that no macro change is possible without micro change. In essence, it begins with you. A popular old Indian idiom goes, “As is the King, so are the subjects.” But in the time of democracy, it’s “As are the people, so is the Government.” Bring about a small change in your influence circle, by doing. Not by preaching. Refuse to elect criminals. VOTE NONE if all your candidates are corrupt or have a criminal record.

My fear is, if things continue this way, we will be dealing with a mess at 50, and will leave behind a trash yard for the next generation. About time we began to introspect for change, not investigate. GO OUT THERE. IN THE REAL WORLD. WORK.

It’s the 21st Century. You don’t have to fight for change, you have to work for change.