Why..Why..But Why ???? (the question series) --- Reloaded

Post published on July 4th 2008

“ I entered the room and was asked to be seated. The room was well lit but was quite small; I never had an idea how a RJ room would be. It was my first interview after winning the film fare awards for my debut song. The RJs face looked very similar; oh good god, it’s my boss. What on earth is he doing here? I looked around and I was stuck in a room, which is similar to my office cubicle. He has got a smirk on his face. Out of the blue, he played the All India Radio music. He played it too loud, it was breaking my ear drums” Pooooooof. I hate that irritating music of All India Radio and that’s the reason I had kept it as the alarm tone in my mobile. Why do sequences in a dream appear with no correlation at times and why do dreams that conclude abruptly get linked with something that’s happening simultaneously in our conscious life? (The alarm that rang appeared as a song played by my boss in the dream). I opened my eyes and got hold of my mobile which was somewhere beneath my pillows. Gosh, its 4.05 pm and I am supposed to catch a train at 6.30 pm! (As if I didn’t know this would happen when I kept the alarm)

Hopped into a rick and asked him to take me to the station ASAP. The bugger went slow and stopped at the first gas station. I just don’t understand why these guys do this only in such emergency situations. We started moving again and got stuck in a huge traffic. The C.M. was on his way to meet his second wife who stayed somewhere closeby and the people who elected him were literally immobile on the roads. Mine was just a normal situation, but there could have been people who are desperate to reach somewhere. Why is this discrimination towards the public when India is supposedly a secular, democratic, republic and socialistic country? Though this has been the practice for ages, why isn’t there any politician or social reformer today to stop this from continuing? I stepped out of the rick to have a better view of the traffic and that’s when I noticed that the C.M.'s posters are all over the city. I asked the driver about this, he said that it’s the C.M.'s birthday and the entire city is filled with posters and banners of the C.M. Now isn’t that sick? Why isn’t the government spending all this for something useful? Why is it so important for people to celebrate an 80 year old C.M.'s birthday this way by polluting the city with his posters and creating such a havoc on the road?

After a long wait for about 20 mins, we started moving again. On the way, we experienced a similar stoppage, this time in form of a religious procession. Fortunately, unlike the earlier situation, this time the traffic officers had a voice in controlling the scenario. But why is there so much of exhibitionism in our country in the name of religion. If I am not wrong, according to the Indian Constitution, religious practices in the public are allowed as long as others don’t find it disturbing. For ‘gods’ sake, I was finding it disturbing, and I am sure most of them would be too. In this particular procession, there were people of all age groups, including children who should be less than 2 years old. I am sure the kids would be having no idea as to what was happening. Why is religion so important to people that they let their children suffer this way?

Finally, I made it on time, and I got into my coach. While I was making myself comfortable in the seat, an old Brahmin couple came in and got seated beside me. They were looking so cordial and during the journey, I had some pleasant conversations with the male member, while the lady preferred to keep quiet. My stomach started making noises by now and was waiting for the train to stop at a station to get dinner. The couple had already started having theirs which they had brought from their ‘aathu’(typical Brahmin slang meaning home). I got an egg biriyani and the moment I opened it, the lady opened her mouth. She asked me to go somewhere and have my food, as they weren’t comfortable eating along with me. I looked at them all puzzled; she then continued that it was the egg that she wasn’t comfortable with. I made up a sarcastic smile on my face and moved to the side seat turning my back to them with the intention of offending them. If these so called orthodox vegetarians can have milk which also comes from an animal, if they can wear silk clothes with the silk being extracted from worms, why on earth should they have a problem in a co-passenger having his dinner with egg?

I looked at my watch with my eyes still carrying the burden of sleep, its 6 am, I should be reaching any time now. But I wasn’t worried, it’s the last stop and even if I over slept, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. Even then, I jumped down from my upper berth to be on my slippers to get fresh. The old Brahmins weren’t there anymore; instead I found a young couple. I tapped my head twice to check if it was a dream. Nope, I am in my senses. The guy was good-looking with sharp features, but the girl was just the opposite, I could not find her looking good in my eyes. If he looked like a Greek god, she looked like a descendant of the Amazon tribe. But oh yes, beauty lies in the eyes of the damn beholder! They were very much in ‘love’ in the train and were not ashamed of it too with their rom-’antics’. Good gracious, why is this feeling called ‘love’ so blind? As I moved towards the toilet, I found a crowd near the exit. It will take the train atleast 15 mins to reach the station and I have always wondered why people crowd at the exit when they clearly know that the train is approaching the final destination.

This is what happens when my mind wanders, I tend to question myself frequently. The answers could be silly and sometimes self explanatory. and there are days when I ask myself, " Why bother? Why do you even think of all this ? Why…Why…But why? "