Thing of beauty, joy forever
I always get Keat’s words, beauty and joy, interchanged in his famous
line: A thing of beauty is a joy for ever. That’s natural, I feel, since
there is something deep beneath us where these words are interrelated,
hence could be interchanged.
As I was slowly pacing along these words, my focus walked out of the
book I was reading. Looking out the shutters, I could see trees and
vehicles whisk away. It reminded something I have read elsewhere. Our
minds too resemble fast-moving objects, flapping all the time.
Now that brings three people in my life into this moment: my brother,
my teacher and his teacher. They shared three stories in three different
occasions – simply beautiful, joy in time.
Whenever my brother gets time he goes to his orchard in our ancestral
home. Our relatives welcome him, and settle for some hard drink. This
time it was his turn to cash in, and he chose not to. So that day he
didn’t have his round.
“I did not want to have that. I was already intoxicated by nature. I
was more than happy to see how flowers have blossomed in my little
garden. That was enough. I didn’t need anything else to get
intoxicated.”
My teacher’s story happened in a plane. Despite silence the flight
audience was a hive of activity. Many passengers were busy watching
movies, some reading, and some writing. My teacher didn’t have mood for
any of that. High-altitude clouds in the sky were mesmerizing.
 “If I watched the movie or read a book, I would miss that splendid
scene. That was one of the best movie scenes I have ever watched.” My
teacher’s teacher narrated this story from an old book. It was about a
king who was traversing in a forest. In the royal chariot he could see a
mango tree with yummy fruits all over. Never had he noticed this tree in
his own garden before. So he thought of getting his servants to pluck
the fruits on the way back. But when the king was back, what he could
see was a tree in utter misery. Branches and leaves were thrashed and
scattered. King was angry as well as anxious to feel all his hopes were
shattered. Before he could think of anything, he spotted another tree.
That tree remained just intact because, the king could notice, it bore
no fruits.
“Without a single word uttered, the king took the lesson. The tree
faced misery because it bore fruits. He became concerned about his royal
status. He was a powerful king, and that meant he is prone to foreign
attacks and invasions. He lost sleep and finally decided to become a
monk. Whenever asked, he used to say the mango tree was his teacher.”
These three events seem to be different with each other. But they
give one message: beauty and joy. When something is simple the beauty is
much penetrable. That beauty is beyond words, and joy cannot be put into
words.
But can we be happy when things are simple?
One of my friends described the way he will be happy: get into his
car, turn air-conditioner and the MP3 player on. Then he will be slowly
sipping his glass of whiskey, his eyes closed listening to music all
alone. More or less this is how most of us enjoy aesthetic works. Going
out with friends, get some snacks and get into some theatre. Munching
the popcorn we sometimes take time away to dwell in our mobile phones
too. After the film is over we go to a bar or a restaurant and laugh out
loud. Funny enough, we have mobile phone earphones hooked in ears too,
despite radio blaring in public transport. All this is natural, but the
question is if we really enjoy?
It’s like watching a cricket match, while listening to a commentary.
We watch two matches: the match itself and the commentary. Actually we
don’t watch a single match in complete concentration.
Are you enjoying your glass of whiskey or the music? Are you enjoying
your popcorn or the film? Are you enjoying the drink or the
conversation? Are you really enjoying your mobile phone music? Honestly
speaking you don’t enjoy anything at all.
Everything - it can be heavy traffic buzz as well as sweet birdcall
in the jungle - has something to offer. Sadly we don’t notice that.
We are forgetting the simple beauty and hence miss joy. We need
sophisticated entertainment with add-ons as much as possible. That’s how
rock and metal come to be instead of simple music. That’s how video
games and Barn Buddy come to be instead of wandering along meadows. We
think all this is so exciting and so blissful. But in the long run we
get glued and get trapped. Hardly do we notice how fake we have become.
So there you and I are, petting a hungry tiger inside us. It is
getting hungrier day by day, and we do everything possible to feed it.
That’s how entertainment industry has become a money-spinning giant.
That’s why there is a thing called ‘mega teledrama’. Earlier we were
quite happy with weekly soaps. But now we cannot wait that long.
Amid all this I see myself among a crowd casting a pained smile.
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