I watched the movie Swades again yesterday. The movie is really magical. Mohan, a scientist at NASA, visits a village named Charanpur in India to bring Kaveri Maa with him. In the process, he comes into contact with the villagers and their problems. Slowly and gradually, he gets so connected to the "pain" of the villagers that he comes back to the village and starts working for the villagers. He is quite convinced that life in that village is not worth living, and therefore has no doubt in his mind about returning to NASA. What happens in the process?
When Mohan comes into contact with the people, he feels their pain. Generally, we stay in our island of "I" and hardly ever allow anybody to enter that "I" or venture out of that island to enter into another island. We feel safe on that island. Entering the water is too risky. This fear makes us reject. We look at a beggar on the street, the rickshaw puller on the street, a young boy selling ballpens at the traffic light, a mother carrying her son and begging money, a farmer committing suicide, exploitation of kids by their parents, gender discrimination, inequality, and reject all these. We choose "happiness" over reality. We make our own mental stories of happiness, which get shaken when we encounter the same "pain" in the form of disasters and crises in our lives. Then we are stuck on our own islands and desperately look for some baba, astrologer, or alcohol to get rid of that pain.
Mohan has made his own concepts of life. Life is all about giving our best to the project we are working on. Why should we be concerned about other things? That's the job of the administration. We are doing our job, working hard in the office. That disconnection takes away love and compassion. That's why when we spend time with those people, we connect to them and feel their pain. Normally, we are so busy in our routine that Monday to Friday or Saturday, every minute of our life is spent at the office, and by Sunday, we get so tired that we just need to take rest or meet our social obligations. That's why there is no space for experimentation. Frustrated and consumed, we seek pleasure in social gatherings and shallow discussions.
Kaveri Maa was intelligent enough to force Mohan to spend that time with the villagers so that he would understand their pain. Not everybody has a Kaveri Maa in their life. Most of us will spend our lives in a routine and die confined to that island of "self". However, each one of us can experience that vastness of life with little courage and awareness. We just need to be truthful to ourselves. When we venture out of that island of self, we make ourselves vulnerable, but vulnerable for what? Vulnerable that our own mental stories may be shattered? Isn't it better to realize that falsity early so that we do not waste more time on that? What's the use of living that false life and realizing the falsity of that near the end of our lives, when we can't do anything? Moreover, that vulnerability is again a perceived vulnerability. I have come across hundreds of people whose lives are driven by love and compassion for others. I have always felt that they are richer than the richest. A mother may bring up the kids with utmost difficulties, and yet the happiness of bringing up a child is immense and incomparable. These people carry the same happiness when they connect to others with love and compassion, and even if they are moneyless and powerless, they have that satisfaction and confidence on their faces. They can say with confidence, looking into our eyes, that they know the meaning of life.
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