Photoshopped Guddu

The landscape of my thoughts , brushed and inked on my blog, took a new turn in the later part of 2013 . Some new experiences and some new revelations have been a consistent phenomenon . I write what I see and conclude , sometimes , I am able to better my own convictions and some get inked in time . Today's post is a continuation of my last post . Some more kinds of people . I covered the "almost folks" , the "udhaar folks" and the "comparison folks" . Two more kinds of folks will be discussed  today . 

The "Photoshop" folks : I was a part of a group picture a few weeks back , the person who took the picture , told me , that she would send me the pictures after she has fixed and "photoshopped it" . I had no intent of looking , who i wasn't , but I wasn't surprised. This triggered a thought . Everyone is into fixing the image these days , from multiple layers of makeup to fix looks, our best picture for facebook, our best look for a party , best "looking" bedsheet for the bed, the grandeur of the dining table and of course the vehicles . Everything is seen from a perspective of how it "looks" to the other person and not how it "feels " . We don't "Fix" our images casually or subconsciously , look at how deeply this attempt to fix appearances is getting ingrained in our personalities, we see mirrors more often, people use rest rooms to fix looks , fix hair . People don't constantly fix the "now" , they photoshop the past too . Imagine knowing someone for 3 years and you realise that all that you knew about the person was his/her photoshopped version of the truth . All the three years were a "made up selective " truth . Another three years later , you realise  that this "photoshopping " was a constant part of his/her persona . Such people constantly photoshop , today, yesterday , last week , last decade , they can photoshop everything but the reality is that there is always a mirror. The mirror of the consciousness . My fav lines by Qateel Shifai on that ...

जागा हुआ ज़मीर वो आईना है ‘क़तील’, सोने से पहले रोज़ जिसे देखता हूं मैं....

This photoshopping gives a lot of relief also to people who do it , they can pluck out a beautiful love story out of a selfish relationship . In retrospect, it is very easy to photoshop and hence when you hear a life story, consider that there are some intentional edits to photoshop . People add events to their past which never even happened but adding them made a lot of emotional /visual appeal to the story of their life . That all said , there are people who say everything as is , very few and when people do , value their trust they place on you . Next time , when you hear something a close friend tells you or an acquaintance , try and estimate the amount of "photoshop". A javed akhtar nazm is apt to complete this point . 

कमबख्त भुला सका ना ये वो सिलसिला जो था ही नहीं, वो इक ख्याल जो आवाज़ तक गया ही नहीं

वो एक बात जो मैं कह नहीं सका तुमसे, वो एक रब्त (connect) जो हम में कभी रहा ही नहीं

मुझे है याद वो सब जो कभी हुआ ही नहीं, अगर ये हाल है दिल का तो कोई समझाए

The "Mob Folks " : Everybody is born as one single individual, but by the time he/she is mature enough to participate in life, he/she has become a crowd. But most people are not aware of it. If you just sit silently and listen to your mind, you will find so many voices. You will be surprised, you can recognise those voices very well. Some voice is from your grandfather, some voice is from your grandmother, some voice is from your father, some voice is from your mother. Some voice is from the priest, from the teacher, from the neighbours, from your friends, from your enemies. All these voices are jumbled up in a crowd within you, and if you want to find your own voice it is almost impossible; the crowd is too thick. Your name and identity adds to this confusion , Imagine your name being Naila Masroof or Apeksha Gupta , our names and identities force fit us into compartments of personalities . 

In fact, some have forgotten your own voice long ago. They were never given freedom enough to voice your opinions. They were taught obedience, they were taught to say yes to everything your elders were saying to them. Sometimes i feel like asking , Nobody ever told you to search for your own voice; did anyone ask you  “Have you got any voice of your own or not?” So your voice has remained very subdued and other voices are very loud, very commanding, because they were orders and you had followed them — in spite of yourself. You had no intention to follow, you could see that this is not right. But one has to be obedient to be respected, to be acceptable, to be loved. Naturally only one voice is missing in you; only one person is missing in you, and that is you; otherwise there is a whole crowd. And that crowd is constantly driving you mad, because one voice says, “Do this,” another voice says, “Never do that! Don’t listen to that voice!” And you are torn apart. 

This whole crowd has to be withdrawn. This whole crowd has to be told, “Now please leave me alone!” The people who have gone to the mountains or to secluded forests were really not going away from society; they were trying to find a place where they could disperse their crowd inside. And those people who have made a place within you are obviously reluctant to leave. But if you want to become an individual in your own right, if you want to get rid of this continuous conflict and this mess within you, then you have to say goodbye to them — even when they belong to your respected father, your mother, your grandfather. It does not matter to whom they belong. One thing is certain: they are not your voices. They are the voices of people who have lived in their time, and they had no idea what the future was going to be. 

When I meet people, i try and find the "unique" the "Khudrang" person inside the person but you will be surprised how many people never discover the "mobless" them. 

and now a different topic ...Of the 5-6 emails i get in a year from people who stumble upon this blog , only some responses are worth recollecting. This topic is being added on request by a reader from Wolverhampton, Ms. Jess Mahal , who asked me to post the question she asked and my answer , on the blog . 

Summary of email/question : You write about few disconnected things , poetry, spirituality , food , and emotions , how does your reader know what you really want to talk about , do they connect ?

Manish : Short Answer , They do perfectly . Let me explain . If you google , you will find out that of many creative arts , music , painting etc have classes in your neighbourhood , however you won't find a class for poetry . Poetry is just a collection of percolated philosophies, they are not just short lyrical expressions, they are well thought through philosophical experiences . More or less everyone is born with a religion , which points to a holy book, one God , One holy place and God is usually a reference point in the past . What if one doesn't see "god" in a book, in a building , in a place or in any ritual , he /she sees god as an experience . Now come to food , let's take a food I like , Dal Makhani , If you taste a spoonful of it , your taste buds imagine the ingredients in it , all of it and in what shape , form , taste and temperature are they impacting  your taste buds . Even with same ingredients and method , same taste may not get repeated. The impact you feel is your own personal experience , Dal is a unique phenomenon and so is your absorption. Now come to emotions, can you describe the feeling you had which was unique yet very distinct . I am sure there are a few . Now look at something common in all these things i described , it's an individual experience , the narrative one builds going through the journey . I seek experiences and write about them , first for myself . If you like them , read them else they won't seek revalidation . 

Today's song . A birthday tribute to "The Gulzar" sahab ! what a narration of emotions..... beyond words ...

कभी-कभी यूं करना, मैं डाँटू और और तुम डरना........ उबल पड़े आँखों से मीठे पानी का झरना। ......