Oh, You Silly Man

And you think you have developed. What is this development of yours? Do tell. 14 years of living in a jungle of concrete. 10 years more studying in a school that has taught you shit. Nothing that has real practical significance anyway. Probably 7-8 years since you reached puberty and boy you had sex! So please tell me when did you develop? Oh, probably you call yourself developed because while your ancestors travelled on foot, you are travelling in a car. But then you strive to run 5 Kms daily on an artificial treadmill. No? Ok, you call yourself developed because you sleep on a large fluffy bed while your ancestors slept on bare ground. Still your ‘developed’ doctors blame your fluffy bed mostly for your persistent backache. No wait, you are developed because you live much more than your ancestors. But do you live really or just drag? Today I studied a newspaper article about suicide. I wonder.

I crave to see trees, rivers in my surrounding. I think if I had to do some physical work and have a little exhaustion before sleep, it would be great. Then probably it’s just me. If you like the air and water of your city then there is no argument. It’s a fair choice and I don’t want to interrupt. Go on. But I think we as a society lost much compared to the gains. I envy the sages of ancient India that they could peacefully sit under a tree with various exotic animals around. I envy Leonardo da Vinci that he could study nature undisturbed.

This is not to tell that everything that men have achieved has no value. Knowledge always has value. It makes life liveable. It is pursuitable. And probably the path of knowledge inevitably leads here. But in my opinion the development has happened in the field of knowledge only. I can’t call my lifestyle developed compared to my ancestors. I would rather undevelop myself. Silly me.