Sunday, June 26, 2011

My right..my left

My right to live and die..My right to laugh and cry..
My right to go leave .My right to stay

My right to solitude..My right to attitude..
My right to water..my right to food..

My right to be sad ..My right to be bad..
My right to be mature..my right to be a lad..

My right to love..my right to hate..
My right to wake up early ..My right to stay late..

My right to write..My right to fight..
My right to blindness ..My right to sight..

My right to live and die..My right to laugh and cry..
My right to go leave .My right to stay

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Hapiness /Sadness - a nobler emotion?

"raahi manwa dukh ki chinta kyun sataati hai..dukh to apna saathi hai..
sukh hai chaon dhalti aati hai jaati hai..dukh to apna saathi hai "

I have almost got used to starting every conversation with the disclaimer that "this is my personal opinion and I have a gut feeling that you might diagree..but hear me out "..So I will use the same disclaimer in this piece .
The genesis of this thought is something illogical and totally whimsical like /love on my part for old hindi songs. That would not have been as funny if it was not for the fact that most of the songs I like are the so called "sad songs" of Rafi.
Now ,once as I was humming a particuarly tragic song ...one of my freinds interefered with my line of intoxication and butted in"these sad songs depress you..You should listen to happy songs..hapiness is much nobler feeling than sadness"!!

All the three canons of her(sad songs make you depressed, you should listen to happy songs, hapiness is a nobler feeling than sadness) seemed so wrong to me that I at once dismissed her as a lunatic and continued with my musical pursuit.
But long after that I thought over the last canon.."hapiness is a much nobler thought than sadness"..
I really didnt know wat to make of it. Is it so ? I mean what do you mean by a "nobler" thought? Does noble signify purity? depth? genuiness? beauty ? truth? emotion? ...
If weighed on these terms ..in what way does sadness fall behind hapiness as a nobler thought? Even in the case of "inspiring" works of art,mechanics , pure science ..sadness and tragedy seems to score much higher than hapiness! So why is it that we dismiss sadness as a "less nobler" emotion than "hapiness"?
Infact I would go a step further and classify hapiness as a kind of dumbing down drug compared to sadness as a cup of refreshing cofee. Sadness goes deeper, tears you bloodier and somehow shakes you more ! It wakes you up from stupor and somehow touches the basest of your feelings. Sadness makes you realise that deep within you there exists a different and a a powerful personality.
I would dare hapiness to do the same. Except for a dose of euphoria that neither lasts nor does something worthwhile ..it does generate nothing. In a way its overrated . The way sugar is overrated. The way butter is overrated.
I am not saying that there should be any absence of hapiness in our life .but lets not give it the credit for something it doesnt deserve..just because it looks good and smells fresher.
Lets look beyond the skin of an emotion before we decide its nobility.