Cry Of The Peacocks

Cry of the peacocks, made me come out of my house, I was surprised to hear them so close to my house in Suratkal, during my short trip last weekend. I tried to spot them but probably they had been hiding somewhere in the bushes. Towards the right to my house lay empty uncultivated fields. The coconut trees shook nervously in between the fields and green grass had grown to a considerable height after a good rainfall. In between them, they hid, I suppose.
All of a sudden, I realized that all this land has been sold to some builder, who will, in next couple of years shall transform it into a gated community or a commercial complex may be. The paddy fields will house huge apartment complex, swimming pools will replace the lakes and wells, coconut and mango grooves need to give way for malls filled with electronic gadgets, fancy clothes and shops having pictures of Swiss alps, Niagara falls, Massori and all the greenery from every other part of the world.

And then, people like me, will have to adapt to this new change, this new technology, because that’s what we are supposed to do as Humans. Humans only know to adapt, to change and if you fight against it, deny adjusting to the changes, then you are tagged as insane in midst of this so called sane and developed world. Probably this is what Virginia Woolf meant when she wrote in Mrs. Dalloway through the voice of a character, Septimus - I hate human nature; The act of pretending.

How much we pretend, how much we bound ourselves within phrases like-

"Don’t speak that way...”

"Don’t act like this..."

And of course, there are all those wonderful mannerisms around us to guide our behavior.

But in the process, we are only adjusting and adapting to the new look of the world. I also recall how, nicely Aparna sen had captured the mind of a schizophrenic patient in her movie "15 Park Ave". She had compared Mithi’s (Konkana) state of mind with the Iraq-America issue. A war that will demolish an "Ismail marg", "Abdul road" or say "Baghdad" and will be rebuilt as "15 park Ave" or "time square".

And the old Iraq will remain in minds of few and then become a history and then an imagination. Mithi (Konkana) denies coming out of this imaginary life that she has built for herself, she is happy in it with her husband and five children, and wants to live in it. But then, she isn’t normal, she assumes things and she is tagged as diseased.

But who actually is diseased? One who wants to live a life of his or her own choice? Or one who keeps on adapting to changes till death? There is such a thin line between sanity and insanity. Or rather should I say being Human and abnormal?

And back to what I see, I may still find my small foot prints in the fields. Today, when I look at the mango groves; I recall events from my childhood of having stolen some mangoes from them and even getting caught. When I see the channels between the paddy fields, I recall my tiny hands, with some more for company catching fishes. And then here today, the peacocks, monkeys, foxes, where will they hide? Will they ever sing again near my house? Will the peacocks ever spread its feather to display its beauty that probably it is unaware of? All this events from the past and the present will remain only in my thoughts. And being a human, I need to be sane enough to adapt to the changes and begin preparing myself to accept the shopping malls and the apartment complexes.

And slowly, unknowingly the present of today will soon vanish into an imaginary world.

So convenient!