SOMETIMES IGNORANCE IS BLISS
1. Among the normal mundane, often trivial, more often than not senseless stuff that is bandied about on social media sometimes, although very rarely, does one get to see some really useful, heartwarming and touching stuff. One of these rare instances occurred recently, when I got a video from a dear friend, a retired senior Defence Services Officer, presaged with the message, “A must watch, heart-rendering video do not omit at any cost. Please forward to as many people as possible”. Although, the first impulse was to press the delete button thinking it to be one among the many invariably senseless forwards that keep floating on social media, something restrained my impulse (in hindsight I am glad that it so happened) and made me download and view the video. Lo and behold it was a young girl, brightly dressed, mentally challenged, singing our national anthem — “Jana Gana Mana” in sign language to the strains of the vocals, playing in the background. Watching the entire video had a surreal and electrifying effect on my mind, body and soul. The facial expression, demeanour and poise, shorn of any pretense of self-pity, generated calm, innocence and above all a deeply satisfied, contented look, untouched and unsullied by the negativities prevailing all around.
2. Looking at the video my mind went back to an event a couple of years ago when I was at an award function wherein I saw a group of young boys and girls in their school uniforms, wearing tri-colour wristbands sitting right in front of me. Their faces innocent, as children of that age always are, generated an extraordinary and unique sense of calm and they seemed to be communicating with each other animatedly, again as only children of their age are bound to and normally do. Bitten by curiosity I tapped one of them on her shoulder and asked her for her name, school and where she came from. The girl immediately responded, with a smile and with not even a tinge of regret pointed to her ears and lips with a shake of her head implying that they could neither hear nor speak. Mind you her response did not convey any degree of irritation at having been asked such an evidently stupid question (probably they were used to dealing with such situations frequently). Nor did it give any inkling of self-pity/deprecation or remorse at the cards that life had dealt them, being deprived of two basic senses, something which we ostensibly able-bodied consider as a normal and inalienable part of life.
3. I was drowned by feelings of guilt and cursed myself at not having been able to observe this basic fact in all the while that I had been sitting there of which a large part of my attention was focused away from the dais but on these young, bright and sprightly young Angels of God. The purpose of their presence became clear later when at the conclusion of the function they came on to the stage and sang the National anthem in sign language, in perfect unison. Their level of confidence, poise and the beauty and spontaneity of their performance would match the highest standards of professional excellence and appeared to be choreographed to the slightest detail, mind you with very rudimentary support and facilities.
4. The similarity between those two distant and apparently disparage events does not just begin or end with their involving mentally challenged children singing the National anthem in sign language and neither to the innocence displayed by them, which was but natural, but also to the poise and confidence reflected in the expansive brightness of their faces and their body language which was devoid of any inkling of remorse at having been deprived of two basic senses which we consider to be so essential to go through life. Perhaps being deprived of these two senses, while physically debilitating, had insulated them from the under-pininngs of the modern-day world by not exposing them to the machinations of the human mind and the complexities of the world that they live in. The lack of exposure to this murky underbelly and inability of a response (which many a times is a blessing in disguise) had rid their mind from complex, reactive, negative and unwarranted feelings enabling them to maintain the highest level of calm, poise and stability even in the face of such normally crippling loss of basic senses.
5. In this modern technological age, beset as it is with an information overload with its attendant complications, looking at these children made me feel that living in a somewhat sheltered cocoon is sometimes the way to a stable, peaceful and healthy life. Looking at these children, the thought, perhaps contrarian, that got permanently ingrained in my mind was that ignorance, despite its umpteen negative and extreme connotations, is sometimes definitely a bliss and a way to a more peaceful life. Of course, the question whether in a complex, intertwined, modern day world such ignorance, simplicity and poise would equip these children to meet the challenges of life is a larger question needing separate deliberation.
6. It seems that people entrusted with the task of charting out the discourse of society will have to, by collective effort, find a way so that the innocence, poise and simplicity of life is restored, and the complexities of life decidedly reduced even for the able-bodied, privileged and so called influential sections of society. It is time for concerted action to restore life its simplicity, thinking its clarity, society its contentment, beginning with childhood regaining its innocence.
