As i said. . I've been watching the IPL.And have been getting steadily depressed watching the performance of the team i was supporting: The Mumbai Indians. Just the other night, i remember feeling extremely sad watching the Mumbai indians getting their butt kicked by the Kings XI Punjab team..I stopped, and realised what i felt was hopelessness, a feeling as though everything was lost. Never mind that the Mumbai indians had played brilliantly in several matches, that there were several matches in hand and that they had virtually made the playoffs, or that, the fate of the Mumbai Indians had absolutely nothing to do with anything as far as I was concerned. I felt downtrodden, depressed, ashamed even. And the absurdity of the whole thing struck me, hard. . really freaking hard.
How many times has the win/loss of our favourite cricket/football team or Tennis/golf (?:P) player changed our mood for the better/worse ? How many times have we made important decisions in the backlash/euphoria of these emotions ?, and how many times have we wished we had done otherwise ? I mean, I cannot honestly say that the emotional overflow(:D) from some sporting event has not affected my mood and changed my life in a significant way. No one can. And i would be willing to bet on the fact that, yes, sporting events do affect our lives. We do gain pleasure from watching, the team we support defeat their arch rivals, and worse yet, we do get irritated and irritable when our team loses a game. The false sense of achievement and the vicarious disappointment we feel, carries on to the next human interaction we have, which influences the next and so on. We may decide not to work that day because, after all we won the game !, or on the other hand, we may be extremely crabby and snappy, disappointed by the loss. And it is quite rational, i think to9 assume that even neglecting the positive feedback that could decidedly aggravate our 'artificially created' bad mood, the fallout of even one cricket match or football game could effect important, permanent changes in our lives.
But accepting this premise, only puts us in a deeper quandary. . What then ?? This is the eternal catchphrase of the laissez faire. . . accept the status quo, for rejecting(and replacing) it is too time-consuming or difficult, or not worth the trouble. . . I have often tried to imagine (and actually tried as well, for a period of a week and a half), as an experiment to lead a meaningful, wholly productive life sans movies, sitcoms, social networking sites and euphoria inducing substances, and come to the conclusion that it is impossible. . At least, for a person conditioned in and by this society for this long, it is impossible. Of course, the possibility exists, that I , personally cannot pull this off, but then the question still remains, what does man do, the average, normal individual ? How does he live a semi meaningful,or rather pseudo meaningful life ( assuming that this plane of existence is the entirety of life, we can come up with a broad definition of meaningful that can be 'worked' :D) productive life. . Or is he/she destined to lie on the couch watching TV ?
As usual, there are several answers. Anarchy, Spartanism ( well. . you get the idea ... :D) and other ideologies swim in ones mind, wearing two piece bikinis on their flawlessly sculpted bodies, throwing water on you, chiding you, teasing you, begging you to come into the water (Couldn't resist. . Mea Culpa), and lots of people would gladly jump in, forgetting their poor wife(one piece, two kids :D) who stood by the pool. . .
Different is always worth checking out, but then divorce proceedings are always so messy and Spartanism and Anarchism both reeeealy want you :D, so yeah that's a bloody bog in it's own right. .look at your wife and i'm sure she's nice in her own right :D.. What i mean is, there's a way out, a very simple one. . come closer. . closer, i'll whisper it in your ear. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MODERATION. . . .
It's like eating the whole of your birthday cake. . Okay, yeah, it's yours. . but that doesn't mean you have to eat it all, not unless you want to christen the day after your birthday, Diarrhea day :D. . Just because a system is flawed doesn't give us the license to curse it for every single thing that goes wrong with our lives, which is something, that a lot of us are only too willing to do. Cricket is a drug. . Okay. . understood . . But it has a range of influence. . the time for which the TV is on. .Ok, , maybe more than that. . But. . it's gotta end soemtime. . and that's for you to decide. .
Lots of people live their lives waiting for that perfect system to get established in the world, or for that perfect algorithm that tells you how to live your life. . And that's just Bullshit. . it's our life, and it's doesn't have an algorithm. . We have to change things for ourselves, by ourselves. . every minute of every day. . .
Get on with it. .
PS: Mumbai Indians !! \m/ , Despite today's brilliant game plan which involved Pollard and Bhajji hitting 26 off the last over, just cause Mishra did 23 ( Mommmeee :D)
PPS: People never really think through the algorithm premise. . 9 times out of 10 it points to no free will and determinism. . .
PPPS: THe marriage/hot chicks in the swimming pool analogy didn't work out, going deeper revealed too many complexities.. like your current marriage is a childhood betrothal, that's the same for everybody else too :P
PPPPS: Of course, a rough analogy, disregarding the absurd aspects (:P) would say that man is never satisfied with the status quo, and is always looking out for something better. . .which is true for a certain class of individuals. . Rational Rebels. . But then, what would be the link that joins this particular class of individuals with the marriage/society analogy ??
PPPPPS: enough for now. . If you get any leads, please do call/message/mail
PPPPPPS: Yawn. . .G'night. . .
ofcourse, whatever pours through the five senses affects our lives in some way or other. it doesnt matter whether you are interested in sports or not but if you happen to see a match and if you happen to side by a team then definitely you will feel exhilaration/ disappointment on their performance
ReplyDeletebut then it is our choice to do what we want to do. you dont have to be couch potato. maybe you can sketch/read books/listen to music/ do whatever you want instead of that. it is surprising how much people would love doing these other things and yet all they do is sit infront of tv.
let me tell you why i think it happens. it happens coz we think that our existence is dreary. and so we turn to tv where we can be vicarious and put ourselves in the position of the good guys and then feel happiness through this.while watching that sitcom/that movie you see it as if you are the one out there doing those things which you dont have the strength/intelligence/courage/boldness to do in real life.
instead of fighting these flaws in our nature we try to nullify our guilt(at not trying to improve) through imagining ourselves doing those things.and that gives us a lot of satisfaction.
@apurva : Precisely. . .
ReplyDeleteWhy did you stop your experiment of abstaining from those things? Have you accepted that there is no escape from the vicarious lifestyle?
ReplyDeleteEven understanding is an escape, but yes, i have accepted that there is no way you can live a completely coherent life, in terms of being non vicarious.
ReplyDelete