The Vicious Cycle

The Vicious Cycle

Just a few days back, a state-wide anti-government bandh was called followed by a transport strike. In response to the above mentioned anti-rule protests, ruling party declared an anti-strike protest march.

I was on my way back from office and my office bus got stuck in midst of these anti-rule protests and anti-protest protests and it just occurred to me how tremendously looped our society is! And not just in politics but in so many aspects.

The political makeshifts invite more chaos than peace; they seem to cause more trouble than profit. A lot of decisions are made and a lot of criticism follows thereafter. From an intellectual perspective, the looping here feels strategically correct. But digging one level down, it is observed, mass victims who are mere spectators of the big show get caught in the crossfire. Especially in developing countries, life of every common man is so intractably entwined with higher level politics, that every nook and corner finds a hapless target. It is such a vicious cycle where we blame people elected by us only. Or is it not so black and white there? Idle thoughts creep in.   

And like I said, this is not just in politics.

Ninety of our hundred people complain about their mundane lifestyle. We wake up in the morning, groggily get ready for the same work that we do every day. Why can’t we have a little more variety in work? Majority of us have this exact same concern and yet the very next day, we follow our regular routine, putting little or rather no effort in making a change for us.  To understand the practicality of matter, a change in job or adding shades to it is often not in our hand. True. But experimenting different approaches to our mainstream job, putting in a little flexibility, nurturing one’s many other side stream wishes give vent to this otherwise monotonous roll. Or is it that we actually prefer easy and bitter? Mind wonders.

Following hormone tricks, we fall in love where we should not. Like a moth to a flame, we get drawn to futile lanes. We hurt. We strive. We learn. We forget. And again, the forbidden flame beckons. We follow the same idle lane, looping through the very construct of protest and anti-protest, duped. So what is it, really? Is it all about easy, bitter and gray?

The known riddle keeps on playing. Yet each time there stands struggle, working one way out just to get in again. The déjà vu feeling keeps coming back but to no rescue. Question remains – When does this loop end?