Ok,
this is a diwali and new year message with a difference. For, unlike all your other "well-wishers", I am going to wish you a very happy but uncomfortable new year !!
Now, it does seem like an irony, to be wished, and to be wished to become uncomfortable… but that's exactly what I am wishing for you. However, I still claim to be a well-wisher. Here's how…
You are reading an email, on a computer screen. Hence I make a few safe assumptions – you are educated, you are good at English, you have access to computer and internet, you have a decent income or the opportunity to make one whenever you wish to. However, I can also make another safe assumption – you are comfortable. But then, isn't that supposed to be good?
… a young dark skinned man was traveling on a train. He was educated in England, had a great family background, a good committed wife, decent income, and could travel first class. By all current definitions, he was 'comfortable'. And then, all of a sudden, he found himself thrown on a railway platform, his luggage strewn beside him. He was brown, and he was punished, and he was told he didn't deserve first class. In a moment, he found himself in the lap of the 'uncomfortable'. You sure know who I am talking about. The uncomfortable led this man to lead the largest mass of mankind that has ever been led in the history of India, and rise to claim his position in the annals of mankind's history as the Mahatma – The Great One.
… another young white skinned man was traveling on a train. He was also education in England, had a good family background, was a successful journalist, and he also could travel first class. By all current definitions, he too was 'comfortable'. And then, all of a sudden, he found himself in the midst of a rebel attack, and found the train guard shot dead. He assumed a leadership position and led a little band of soldiers to fight the rebels, and though he was captured, he escaped and returned. Soon, he was to give the world famous speech on the steps of the parliament, and in the hard times of the IInd World War, he would be the last standing bastion of Europe against the blitzkrieg of the Nazis. The uncomfortable made a young man into Winston Churchill, one of history's most admired leaders and diplomats.
I could go on and on, the examples abound. But it isn't needed.
We are comfortable. We have a good education, a great family background, a lovely family, decent or better income, a respectable career, and can travel first class. And surprisingly, its this very comfort bubble that we live inside, prevents us from breaking through and reaching out to the larger reality that awaits us.
Since I was born, I was asked to behave in a way that was comfortable. I was asked to dress in a way that was comfortable. I was asked to learn in a way that was comfortable. I was asked to do everything in a way that was comfortable, both to me, and the society at large. And soon, I started thinking that to be comfortable was the way to be, and was the way to go.
But really, is it ???
Leaving the question to you, but making another safe assumption, I wish you a happy and uncomfortable new year. One that stretches you out of your comfort bubble, makes you gasp for breath, gives you a nudge in the chest, and shoves you into unknown skies.
For out there, outside the bubble, lies our greater reality… the coveted destiny.
My hearty greetings to you and your family for Diwali and the new year.
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