Yes. I am the one who wants revolution. The one who is running after change.
But wait. I can’t change. Anything.
Right now, I am in the process of figuring out how to make it happen.
I called myself secular, and I believe I am. I get connected to individuals who talk and think like me, and I want to kick away anyone who doesn’t. I never ask for anyone’s surname when I first meet them because I don’t believe in casteism. But what’s next? What will I, or anyone, get out of this?
I think I just blow my own trumpet, but it’s of no use. Because other than boasting, I can only keep myself satisfied that yes, I will be the change one day. Only I don’t know when that day will be.
You must be thinking why am I honking about myself only? Who cares what I like or who I am, right? But I’ve heard that change starts with you.” I am in the middle of the process, but I have no no expectations.
I make friends who meet my expectations, but i can’t make my family meet those expectation. But my family and I, we’re poles apart.
They believe in babas giving gyan, sitting there on their television boxes. And I? I believe Sanju baba is not a terrorist.
They belive in getting up at 4AM in the month of Kartik to bathe under the stars with cold water, to fulfil their “Manokamnaas“. And I believe in getting proper sleep and getting up fresh so that I can work hard the whole day to fulfil my manokamnaas. You know what the best part is? They have now given up on me, and I’ve got the tag of an atheist by my own loved ones. Its because I don’t go to temple daily, I don’t listn to recitations from the Geeta, blah blah blah.
These are small things, they can be tolerated. Anyway, I don’t mind being called an atheist. But the conflict beings in our perceptions. Conflict of denomination. To be honest, I fight and I contradict my parents as much as I can but in the end they are the parents and they are ‘always right’. This is what I’ve been told while growing up: “Parents never give bad advice to their children.” Which simply means they are always right. And the most basic rule is you can’t cross swords with them.
Getting back to why I say that I can’t change anything. This is because I can’t even change my parents’ perception, those who are closest to me. And here I am talking about revolution. Funny, isn’t it? But if you want change, you have to start from your own or your home. And to do that, you have to pull your parents down from the position of God. Otherwise you’ll never get the chance to change what is not right.
I can totally understand if some of you disagree with me. “Be practical”. I know that not everyone is the same. Some have changed their perception and started believing that the concept of caste and creed takes us nowhere. But some have grown up with the rote learning that Brahmins are at the highest position and Shudras are at the lowest. They also have mentality that all the Hindus not following casteism are the real enemies of Hindus, and all Muslims belong to Pakistan. They believe that Muslims will slowly they’ll take over our coutr, so it’s better to knock them down and keep them at a distance.
I disagree. But I can’t make a change. You really need to push yourself hard to be the change. You know what? I truly believe that when you get the ability to change the perception of your parents (your Gods), you can be the change. Because upbringing matters alot. It can affect the pure fragrance of our present and our future. More power to the fact that we are human beings and we can be wrong. We strongly and heartily need to believe in humanity, not in divinity.