Whenever I go to a book exhibition, I always find myself staring at this particular section named ‘Self-Improvement’ books. Not out of excitement that ‘new’ books have been added to the collection but out of amusement to find that many of these ‘new’ books written on very well-known topics still happen to find their place on the best-seller list. All of us would have time and again heard from our parents, teachers, and friends about the possession of those virtues being important. And we know that, over the time with consistent effort and persistent practice we can build them if we want to. Then, what does these ‘How to…’ books preach in special? Not that I never read any. Out of curiosity, I did pick up one of them when I first started reading. After that, I never repeated that act again. But I have seen people collecting a bundle of them which makes me wonder. Whether you read a book on how a gun fires or how a rocket soars to find out the success mantra behind them, it still remains the same – ‘Newton’s 3rd law’. Similarly, behind all these so-called ‘Self-Improvement’ books, the success-mantra remains the same - ‘Observe, Learn, and Practice’. Then why read dozens of them? I can only attribute it to one’s poor memory. Let me know if you can think of any!
All said, ‘Nobody writes for the benefit of others’
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Clothes… to… Computers
I was washing my clothes the other day, when this crazy idea came to my mind.
I never knew that this act of washing clothes has become such boredom. Or may be there is some other reason behind the thought or some logic which said, ‘Go ahead’. Whatever be the case, I couldn’t stop admiring the brains of the guy or the group, who made this possible. Who made us all believe that clothes are an essential part of our life. So much that the presence or lack of them makes half the news of the world today! I started wondering why clothing is so important to us while it is to none of the other millions of species living on earth. All of them go in search of food and most of them make homes to protect themselves from other species. But, why is it that only human beings have this concept of clothing? (I am not able to convince myself that it is for protection against climatic conditions that we use clothes!).How did we all come to believe that clothing is equally or sometimes more important than the other basic necessities and that we lose our dignity without them? Is this the result of any selfish motive of ‘few’ people behind it who made us all buy this idea without any protest and carry it across generations without a second thought? I know not. May be I am missing something. May be we are so different form the rest of the species that we can’t do without these things called ‘clothes’. Not that I don’t see any advantages of clothing. We do spend a lot on buying clothes while many make a living on making and selling them, not to mention the fashion shows and advertisements that follow. And, people say clothes add a lot to our personality while many die to watch people wearing little. But all of a sudden, I get this feeling that we all are so much pre-occupied with clothes that none of this seems too much or something that needs a ‘re-think’. At this point, I knew I had to put a stop because it is really tough to even imagine a world without clothes. Try once. Someone in future generation may get a similar crazy thought about using computers or mobiles. Think once! Are we really ‘over-using’ things or it is just a figment of my imagination?
*cross-posted at www.gather.com
I never knew that this act of washing clothes has become such boredom. Or may be there is some other reason behind the thought or some logic which said, ‘Go ahead’. Whatever be the case, I couldn’t stop admiring the brains of the guy or the group, who made this possible. Who made us all believe that clothes are an essential part of our life. So much that the presence or lack of them makes half the news of the world today! I started wondering why clothing is so important to us while it is to none of the other millions of species living on earth. All of them go in search of food and most of them make homes to protect themselves from other species. But, why is it that only human beings have this concept of clothing? (I am not able to convince myself that it is for protection against climatic conditions that we use clothes!).How did we all come to believe that clothing is equally or sometimes more important than the other basic necessities and that we lose our dignity without them? Is this the result of any selfish motive of ‘few’ people behind it who made us all buy this idea without any protest and carry it across generations without a second thought? I know not. May be I am missing something. May be we are so different form the rest of the species that we can’t do without these things called ‘clothes’. Not that I don’t see any advantages of clothing. We do spend a lot on buying clothes while many make a living on making and selling them, not to mention the fashion shows and advertisements that follow. And, people say clothes add a lot to our personality while many die to watch people wearing little. But all of a sudden, I get this feeling that we all are so much pre-occupied with clothes that none of this seems too much or something that needs a ‘re-think’. At this point, I knew I had to put a stop because it is really tough to even imagine a world without clothes. Try once. Someone in future generation may get a similar crazy thought about using computers or mobiles. Think once! Are we really ‘over-using’ things or it is just a figment of my imagination?
*cross-posted at www.gather.com
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