Above all, do not mistake me for someone else - Friedrich Nietzsche
It is human to misinterpret. In a conversation, the absence of misunderstanding is a rarity, an exceptional incident, rather a fortuitous coincidence when perhaps all the planets of the solar system align themselves.
While reading this you will subconsciously fill (or not fill) the gaps between these letters and words by different colours of varying shades and that'd determine the picture thus formed. So I'm just providing here a template my dear reader, you are going to be the creator. You are going to create me uniquely and I'll live for a few moments in your mind. My existence will be at the mercy of the frame of mind you will be in while reading it.
But please don't over-misinterpret me. I know it's a futile request because you are bound to do that. Often you invent me and play all sorts of games with that image of mine (For example you see me as aBhishek and the next guy sees me as abHishek and so on and so forth. I think I am abhishek aspiring to grow up and become ABHISHEK, my ideal man, my hero.). You begin to like aBhishek without my knowledge and perhaps even without yours. Then you tend to associate extravagant expectations with him and try to truncate my persona in order to fit the reality into your invention. You refuse to acknowledge the existence of abhishek and his dynamics (because he wants to be ABHISHEK). And ultimately when you relent and submit to the truth, you don't do it without a feeling of contempt and derision. Then you reinvent me (according to your will and whim and your newly discovered truth) only to punish me for your premature (mis) judgment. The irony is that it is done, frequently done, without any feeling of hostility. This is normal. I admit even I do it.
Here is an interesting catch. It's very unflattering to realize that it was not you but your falsely conceived image that was loved and honored by one you valued. It is quite insulting and can cause a severe inferiority complex to a sensitive person for a long time. At the same time it's not your image but you who are subjected to post-disappointment sarcasm and scorn. Agreed that you receive affection initially but for a person of character the life of his/her image is not very long. Sooner than later the individuality asserts itself with an 'iconoclastic' force. Again, I agree that sometimes the image work works favorably for you when the order of the events are exchanged but I guess that's not very probable. I am saying this because people instinctively want to like you because they need the warmth of your intimacy to protect themselves from the dreadful chill of isolation, a pandemic threat to the post-modern man. So they look for the reasons to like you and they think that they have found their reasons, in your image.
We live in cosmopolitan crucibles and we communicate predominantly by a common language (say English) which promises to surmount the psychological barricades or gives us a delusion of cluttering up the cross-cultural fissures. But I feel that language is a grossly overrated tool of communication. I feel this because I've had experiences which has taught me and made me realize that the meaning of words vary not only trans-culturally but also trans-personally(if it means anything :) Especially the words which contain emotions in them greatly alter their intensity and thus meaning according to the frequency of their use or abuse by various users or abusers. That way the language facilitates not communication but miscommunication between individuals which can cause disastrous consequences. Its is said that actions speak louder than words. The communication becomes further difficult when even actions display the same behaviour. Then they lie louder than words. Let me elucidate.
Till std 10th I was in absolute Love with comics and cricket. I had an enviable collection of rare comics and I used to keep it hidden and safe from the predatory gaze of the world. Not even the girl who was my teenage crush had had full access to this treasure of mine. Now I've a nice collection of books at my place and even my father can't obtain the key of my bookshelf without my prior permission. Here you might like to daub my face with a dark shade of insanity for all I care but that's not the point. Suppose I give one of my books to someone then it's an statement, an act pregnant with message. But as I've already mentioned, the real creator of the picture is one who sees it. What if my special one fails to appreciate the hidden feelings behind this seemingly trivial gesture of mine? And this does happen with each one of us. And this does not leave a very good taste in your mouth. Relationships gets embittered, poisoned and die untimely due to misunderstandings engendered by wanton nature of words, actions and their (mis)interpretations. What you consider valuable might not be of same value to me because our values differ. We ascribe different values to different things as per our sansakar(yeah! they dominate our actions not our philosophy. Don't get confused over this.). You can find myriad instances where you would have felt the same way. The notable point is that we still communicate. And as the existence of life defies the law of entropy as if it doesn't even recognize it, we communicate, royally successfully given the potential of the cumulative threats to it. It does happen, I don't know how. But the credit should not be gratuitously imposed on language.
We communicate not because of but despite language.
True friendship and true relationship sustain the post-disappointment shock, they stand the test of time. "Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather is one of those things that give value to survival."- C S Lewis
Love happens not because of something, but despite everything.
I don't know if it was relevant or not but it is one of my recent observations. And it fits in the same pattern(not because of but despite) which often exposes the lacuna of causality. I owe this to Prof Srinivas who taught me Language and Communication in IITD. I couldn't understand his comment (you get jobs not because of but despite your being IITian) but it struck me because of its brilliant purple colour. You didn't understand that? Hmm... I had anticipated that. Words you see.
It is human to misinterpret. In a conversation, the absence of misunderstanding is a rarity, an exceptional incident, rather a fortuitous coincidence when perhaps all the planets of the solar system align themselves.
While reading this you will subconsciously fill (or not fill) the gaps between these letters and words by different colours of varying shades and that'd determine the picture thus formed. So I'm just providing here a template my dear reader, you are going to be the creator. You are going to create me uniquely and I'll live for a few moments in your mind. My existence will be at the mercy of the frame of mind you will be in while reading it.
But please don't over-misinterpret me. I know it's a futile request because you are bound to do that. Often you invent me and play all sorts of games with that image of mine (For example you see me as aBhishek and the next guy sees me as abHishek and so on and so forth. I think I am abhishek aspiring to grow up and become ABHISHEK, my ideal man, my hero.). You begin to like aBhishek without my knowledge and perhaps even without yours. Then you tend to associate extravagant expectations with him and try to truncate my persona in order to fit the reality into your invention. You refuse to acknowledge the existence of abhishek and his dynamics (because he wants to be ABHISHEK). And ultimately when you relent and submit to the truth, you don't do it without a feeling of contempt and derision. Then you reinvent me (according to your will and whim and your newly discovered truth) only to punish me for your premature (mis) judgment. The irony is that it is done, frequently done, without any feeling of hostility. This is normal. I admit even I do it.
Here is an interesting catch. It's very unflattering to realize that it was not you but your falsely conceived image that was loved and honored by one you valued. It is quite insulting and can cause a severe inferiority complex to a sensitive person for a long time. At the same time it's not your image but you who are subjected to post-disappointment sarcasm and scorn. Agreed that you receive affection initially but for a person of character the life of his/her image is not very long. Sooner than later the individuality asserts itself with an 'iconoclastic' force. Again, I agree that sometimes the image work works favorably for you when the order of the events are exchanged but I guess that's not very probable. I am saying this because people instinctively want to like you because they need the warmth of your intimacy to protect themselves from the dreadful chill of isolation, a pandemic threat to the post-modern man. So they look for the reasons to like you and they think that they have found their reasons, in your image.
We live in cosmopolitan crucibles and we communicate predominantly by a common language (say English) which promises to surmount the psychological barricades or gives us a delusion of cluttering up the cross-cultural fissures. But I feel that language is a grossly overrated tool of communication. I feel this because I've had experiences which has taught me and made me realize that the meaning of words vary not only trans-culturally but also trans-personally(if it means anything :) Especially the words which contain emotions in them greatly alter their intensity and thus meaning according to the frequency of their use or abuse by various users or abusers. That way the language facilitates not communication but miscommunication between individuals which can cause disastrous consequences. Its is said that actions speak louder than words. The communication becomes further difficult when even actions display the same behaviour. Then they lie louder than words. Let me elucidate.
Till std 10th I was in absolute Love with comics and cricket. I had an enviable collection of rare comics and I used to keep it hidden and safe from the predatory gaze of the world. Not even the girl who was my teenage crush had had full access to this treasure of mine. Now I've a nice collection of books at my place and even my father can't obtain the key of my bookshelf without my prior permission. Here you might like to daub my face with a dark shade of insanity for all I care but that's not the point. Suppose I give one of my books to someone then it's an statement, an act pregnant with message. But as I've already mentioned, the real creator of the picture is one who sees it. What if my special one fails to appreciate the hidden feelings behind this seemingly trivial gesture of mine? And this does happen with each one of us. And this does not leave a very good taste in your mouth. Relationships gets embittered, poisoned and die untimely due to misunderstandings engendered by wanton nature of words, actions and their (mis)interpretations. What you consider valuable might not be of same value to me because our values differ. We ascribe different values to different things as per our sansakar(yeah! they dominate our actions not our philosophy. Don't get confused over this.). You can find myriad instances where you would have felt the same way. The notable point is that we still communicate. And as the existence of life defies the law of entropy as if it doesn't even recognize it, we communicate, royally successfully given the potential of the cumulative threats to it. It does happen, I don't know how. But the credit should not be gratuitously imposed on language.
We communicate not because of but despite language.
True friendship and true relationship sustain the post-disappointment shock, they stand the test of time. "Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather is one of those things that give value to survival."- C S Lewis
Love happens not because of something, but despite everything.
I don't know if it was relevant or not but it is one of my recent observations. And it fits in the same pattern(not because of but despite) which often exposes the lacuna of causality. I owe this to Prof Srinivas who taught me Language and Communication in IITD. I couldn't understand his comment (you get jobs not because of but despite your being IITian) but it struck me because of its brilliant purple colour. You didn't understand that? Hmm... I had anticipated that. Words you see.
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