Eximpress

I have a weird habit; whenever I am free and have no targets to meet, I listen and not talk. I can sit in a corner just staring into empty space; making me slap myself for such non-productiveness. To keep a check on it, I always go around the internet and try to find things that catch my attention. These can include anything from quotations and short stories to hypothetical alien shields and out of the world inventions. Recently I came across an elaborated version of a quote that instigated my neurons. Here’s how it goes “Remember! Work for a cause, not for Applause. Live your life to express, not to impress. Don’t strive to make our presence notified, just make your absence felt.”

I found this very charming in theory; it makes a very beautiful picture in my head. But when I think about everyone around me; I find the very thing absconding. This afternoon I had an informative session on “Effective Technical Writing” and so I thought about putting chronological order to use.

From the time we are born, everything is presented to us in a result oriented way. The parents have a beautiful smile on their faces when you give your first smile. They choke with tears of joy when they hear the first “dada”. Everyone claps and hugs when you sit on your own, have a numerous phone calls made when you walk a foot and fall on your bum. Everyone just keeps aiming higher and higher.

School comes and there are no gold stars for keeping mum. Everyone has to learn the laws of living. If you can’t express, you are nobody. If your expressing fails to impress, you are even worse. If you can’t score, there are others waiting to shoot. I have always considered our education system very superior; it has everything to make us grow. At the same time, I have never appreciated it’s superiority since it is burning a hole in creative minds. Grades, Marks, Appreciations are as far as the eyes can see. Days are over when parents used to sip tea seeing their kids playing in the sand. Time has come for piano lessons and karate classes. “Ignited Minds”...the cliff I see from...”Igniting Minds”.

By the time we are in college, principles are soaped off and honesty is down the drain. A person who doesn’t copy is considered a fool. In corporate world, as put by one of my colleagues, cheating is stamped as “Following Best Practice”. After all, would you re-invent the wheel? There are faculties to impress; there is a special heart to win. There are a thousand classes to make you efficient in body postures and styles; I fail to name two who actually listen to the expressing heart. Well, first impression is the last impression and the clock is ticking.

If someone comes and says that those were the years of learning; that everything was required to stay ahead, I would think further ahead. “No dignity” will be what I come up with for “Responsible” elder life. One is working because there is a boss to promote them. One is going to the temple because there is a wish in heart. One is doing good deeds because almighty is watching and karma is being distributed. Everyone is trying to live in the society, not in their deeds.

Boman Irani said in the 3 Idiots “No one remembers the name of the person who came second. This is the world of cut throat competition, if you can’t win, you’ll be crushed.” No one have the time or the eagerness to care what a person might be hiding under the pile of silence. Rarely people will chase after you and encourage you to work, there is a cost involved and there are positions to be snatched!

"Ex(Im)press", the walls are getting pushed and the good will is fading into the night. There will be no one to set examples, there will be no doomsday; one has to create his own destiny. Today, I ask myself to have more compassion, to have a little more affection. Although the night is cold and the winds are fierce, there is a candle fighting for warmth. The trust might be gone, but the waiting heart is strong. My trainer said “Hope makes a good breakfast but a bad supper”. But, if I can have a beautiful supper, I will gladly accept.