Bring Back the Music

(Published in Banking Services Chronicle May 2008)

“If you sang in tune with me, I would deem life to be a success.” This is a wish partners have expected of each other in every age. But the present age has turned this wish into a lament. Differences of opinion have always existed. In the past, however, compromises were seen as a way of life. Today, a compromise is construed to be admitting defeat.

Earlier, victory and triumph were associated only with the ruling class. The masses had an inveterate belief in destiny. They were magnanimous in defeat because they never aspired to victory. The democratization of society, however, changed things. Even aspirations became democratized.

When everyone decides to be a maharajah there is bound to be a chaos. The harmony of an orchestra is lost. The notes are jarring and one feels as if one were imprisoned in the Tower of Babel. Everyone tries to fish in the troubled waters. They lure you every now and then on your mobile. And then you blame those unsolicited calls and SMSes as uncouth interrupters.

The music has certainly been lost somewhere. We live in an age when we are afraid even to eat and drink freely. It first started with water. When the firangis came to India they carried bottles of mineral water. Today Bisleri has become an everyday word with a large number of us. The buck doesn’t stop there. When you go to parties you have to be cautious of certain food. Even in five-star hotels. And then those “clean” precautions. No sugar. No fat. The list goes on and on.

When things come to such a pass, it’s time we introspected. It’s time we realized that the wages of sin are visiting mankind. Not in the form of death. But in the form of a dead life.

The doctors of this disease prescribe a medicine called “sustainable development”. But taking this medicine exacts an exorbitant price: giving up our aspirations. Are we ready to pay that price? Pay we must if we have to bring back the music lost from our lives.