From the beautifully manicured garden that I have built for myself in the balcony of the spacious and comfortable 21st floor apartment that I stay in I looked out and saw this scene laid out in front of me…
In the far off distance was this all glass monstrosity that architects in India nowadays feel “looks so wonderful”. For them happiness is the money they make for building these stupid ass edifices that will be testaments to the stupidity of Indian architecture in the 21st century. Buildings that house the IT warriors of the nation, warriors who are forced to bring beach umberellas to sit under when inside these buildings so that they are shielded against the amplified heat and glare of the sun outside. For heavens sakes we are in a tropical zone in most of the country, who told these idiots that glass is cool for our climate? The IT warriors aren’t complaining because they have those lanyards with proximity cards proclaiming which IT major they work for hanging around their necks… they’re infact very proud of these “ID cards” I’ve seen them hanging on to dear life around the necks of said IT workers at the most inane of places… the toilet at the local mall for instance… like somebody tell these chomus this is how cattle are identified at ranches, branding…
Then comes the low elevation 2-3 storey buildings that the early settlers had built and that has today turned into a complete chaos. When they initially built the small homes there was land around each tenement and people lived here a healthy open life. Today if you open a window chances are there would be war… you were trying to grab the bottle of nariyal tel from my bedroom… aiyo let it be no only nariyal tel only he is borrowing naa not like he grabbed your ass… walls are so close to each other now, after repetitive rebuilds, that mice have had to vacate the spaces between buildings… and dogs wag their tails up and down not side to side anymore… I go for long walks and on occasion find myself passing through the narrow lanes of this colony… and instinctively I start running… wondering why did I come this way, again? There is always somebody throwing dirty water out of their houses onto the streets, after all who cares “as long as my own house is clean!”, let there be slush outside… there is always a garbage truck parked or driving through collecting garbage from each house, dropping it on the road while making its way to the next house and repeat… and there is always a race between bikes and cars in the narrow lanes to see who can crash into me first… luckily I’ve survived and come back after every such adventure tourism escapade… so far
Then there is the no-mans land… this is owned by pigs and dogs and garbage of all shapes, sizes and antiquity. I suspect some of this garbage if carbon dated might get us the first polyethene bag that was ever made in the world… There is so much of plastic waste rubbing shoulders with construction waste and dead animals in this no mans land… the garbage disposal/removal squad is happy… they have landfills all over the city no need to carry it to far off places. In fact I have had to call up the animal carcass removal squad often times to tell them “bhai there are pigs lying on the road for a week now. Please wake up, pull out the wagon, come and pick the rotting dead bodies up”
Then there’s this arterial road which is the racing track for puny men in their overcompensation_for_the_puniness gas guzzlers. I find it quite strange how this 650 metres of winding roads infested by pigs scurrying across and children walking to and from coaching classes is the only place that these gentlemen find to drive their over-compensations. At speeds that are clearly not safe. A few days back one car crashed into a pig and the bumper tore off, kids inside had to be taken to the hospital, driver ended up with a fractured leg. The pig just ran away. Then a few days later another car turned absolutely upside down while taking a turn at high speed (overcompensation I told you)… the shattered glass from the windscreen was lying on the road for 4 days and then I called up the municipality guys they sent a truck and got it swept away…
On this side of the road again you have garbage, followed by the open air urinal followed by a bunch of rocky outcrop that seriously resilient people from the expensive societies around (my place and the one opposite) climb onto every evening and sit and watch the sunset from. I mean I can only imagine how beautiful the sunset could be with the stench of rotting pigs, garbage and the collective urination of every Swiggy/Zomato delivery person adding to the aura.
Finally there is this path that leads to the slums where all the help comes from. Help that has decided that in exchange for the jobs they get to do at the huge housing societies nearby they will provide entertainment to the residents, free of cost. The music (I dare not say noise because there is passion involved) is not loud it is LOUD. Almost as if speakers in you own house going full bat shit bananas. And it goes on till early mornings.
The redeeming factor in all this doom and gloom is the path that leads to the slums. A bunch of friends, a broken bat that one of the society aunties gave away to the maid, a cheap rubber ball and life is set. Surrounded by all this bleakness, overcompensation, negligence, greed, apathy and hopelessness a bunch of kids show you how to be happy. Be in the moment, be happy with what you have, in fact be ecstatic with what you have. Just the bat connecting to the ball is enough for them to be joyous.
It explained to me why India is at number 126 on the world happiness index below countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. I am the representational model of the country. The whole 10000 feet view that we take is where we fail. If I had not looked at the glass monstrosity in the distance, or the labyrinth of short buildings nearer, or the garbage dump closer still, or the open urinals, or the winding roads with over compensating drivers on them, I would have seen just the happy children playing, I would have seen the bee that came to sit on one of the flowers in the balcony where I was standing and making all these pointless observations that only give me reason to feel unhappy about the world…
The key hence, to happiness, is to just look at your immediate vicinity and try to discover ways to find the best in this sphere alone. Zoom in and look at your immediate surroundings and try to make the best of those rather than worry about stuff that is far out and inconsequential. At best make an effort to improve yourself and do not worry about the rest of the world… garbage can be picked up when some other unhappy soul calls the municipality, people can be taught to not litter and pee in the open by someone else, glass buildings can be torn down and rebuilt in a more ecologically viable fashion on the recommendations of some other fool… you focus on your own world, your own happiness… How does it matter if person R is right or wrong, how does it matter if person M is a dictator or not, how does it matter if one religion is under threat or the other way around, how does it matter if all Mr. M’s are saints or satans? You be happy with what you can control, your own microcosm… the day we understand and accept that the only business worth minding is our own we have found happiness…
Like Gandhiji has said “if everyone sweeps their own front yard the whole world will be clean”.