The Unnecesary Necessity ..... The Missing Stair
Live in India and you will immediately have an inkling of what I intend to talk about. Society here doesn't approve or for that matter permit a private life. My life belongs to my family , and my family matter is of concern to the neighbourhood. The neighbourhood affairs are important for the district functioning. The District Matters are forever in the agenda of the State and then how can the State be detached from the Country. Even if we don't take the matter to such macro extremes the simple truth is everyone is interested in everything and everyone around them , everyone is mostly polite to everyone else in a social setting ( though cursing under ones breath is a well engaged in activity ) and everyone has an opinion which always has to be right - on everything. Frustrating way to live ??? .... Undoubtedly !!!
Coming a close second is the unwillingness of an average Indian in India to change. Is it then a wonder that renaissance never happened in these parts of the world ? We are set in our age old thoughts and beliefs and it would be blasphemy to change anything in our lives, be it our thought, action, food habits, attire, for that matter even our furniture arrangements ( I seriously know of a family where the patriarch gets a headache, if the furniture isn't where it was in the morning, when he returns from work in the evening ). When I was little we had two things to look out for in my vacation home ( maternal grandmothers home ). The toilet had a low roof with a normal sized door. Anyone who had to enter had to bend their head to avoid a nasty bump on their forehead. he second was the missing plank that formed the third step of the flight of stairs leading to the storeroom in the attic. Going up the stairs and coming down them involved jumping over that missing stair.No matter how inconvenient everyone who stayed there had no problem bending to get into the toilet and jumping over that missing stair. The occasional bumps and the trip overs by unsuspecting visitors or forgetful family were brushed aside easily with " Oh ! Its always been that way". No one seemed to be inconvenienced by the blocks and everyone just circumvented their way through it. Everyone was so used to the defects being there that the thought of getting it corrected hardly crossed their minds.
Now how many of us would have come across a walking and talking "missing stair". I am talking about the male chauvinist uncle with his firm ideas on women and womanhood. The ostentatious aunt who makes sure everyone squirms in their seats with personal tales of not so long ago publicly replayed at every family get together. The irritating insurance guy who you try to avoid any which way but manages to show up just when you thought you had lost him. The oh so perfect colleague who has loses no opportunity to exhibit your imperfections and goes on to publicly take calorie counts every time you put something into your mouth.The wife of your partners boss who has a take on how you have to raise your children , and how everything you are doing is not what needs to be done to raise perfect children. These are people who for some reason take pleasure in upsetting you and it need not necessarily be because they are vindictive. Its " just the way they are ". These are people who are unavoidable in our lives. Do we tell them how we feel - mostly we don't. Like the physically missing stair in my grandmothers house we just avoid it or at least constantly try to.