Each one believes he/she is the centre of the universe. Self-obsession in its various dimensions is a human trait. We see life and its myriad experiences only through the prism of our sensory perceptions. The mind, where you and I live and which is the real experiencer of pains and pleasures, emanates and receives actions and reactions and intereprets sensory signals only from the perspective of the individual.
Indeed, given this natural mental mechanism, there can no scope for any profound interests unless personal interest is served and secured. But that’s not just how it should be because there is a larger picture attested to it by the mystical and meta-physical accounts of realised souls down the ages. Indian spiritual traditions, particularly, lay much store by the suppression of ego which is seen as a veil that blocks out that larger landscape. But let me not dwell any more on that aspect as I do not want to tie myself up in knots in tricky territory.
So, let whatever wise ones are left mull over the Higher Truths. Our concern is the hurdle posed by the same ego in even seeing, much less realising basic public interests. That we are an apathetic and indifferent people with little sense of a coherent nation is a historical truth. Otherwise, we would not have qualified as the longest ‘serving’ (over 1000 years and running) slave nation that mankind has known. Of course, many think, and some hope this is changing of late. But lighted candles, mid-night vigils and media mania are no confirmation of a real awakening. Still, let us forgive our individual indulgences, drowned as we are in the dreary drudgeries of daily personal lives.
But what of the obligations of those who have risen to positions of power and popularity owing to public largesse? Alas, it is the parade of their egos that is most sickening. The pompous posturings of many such personalities are not only painful but puerile too. To them, who draw sustenance from people’s passions and pockets, only their own private interests and whims count. And they have this knack of making their personal problems and piques masquerade as public interest before an all-swallowing gullible crowd. Be they powerful politicos or popular stars, there is nary a conscientious thought to what such open personal wranglings mean to the people or how it matters to them. Not that the latter care, and that makes it worse.
Some make rational claims; some are openly religious. The former see God in the smiles of the poor while the latter go the path of devotion to a personal G. But the common denominator for religion and rationalism, if looked at and followed honestly as a higher calling, is the lifting of the ego veil and rising above one self. But reality is that all their thoughts, words and deeds are mere ego-tickling exercises directed at serving personal interests by exploiting a vulnerable mass. There are stars who hold an impending fall to hard earth as an emotional threat; there are politicos who shamelessly declare that it is the people who light their lives while constitutionally it should be the other way round. And for every such provocation, there is a dazed fan who may actually screw up his and his family’s life and livelihood to save his favourite idol or a crazed cadre ready to immolate self or launch into arson at a leader’s subtle behest. The past is littered with evidence.
It is all about a few prized individuals, their fates, fights and their fancies. Their egos are deemed national treasures. All official machinery, judicial time, pubic discourse et al are about protecting and pampering some self-styled VIPs. Power and popularity ensures that they don’t see things minus ‘my’-ness. Not even when the love and the loyalty of fans and followers cross legitimate limits. Nor do the people have the motivation nor mood to remove them from the equation. For nothing moves them more, not even their own plight, or economic and infrastructure woes, rapes, corruption etc than their pet idol’s petty problem.
So, happy ego-gazing! There are a lot of big ones out there!
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