Skip to main content

Strange Notions in an Empty Head

NS was a terrible time for me, not simply because of the brain dead and physically arduous trainings, but also because of the time it allowed me to philosophise about life. If you were not training and you did not have a PSP to squander your time away, chances were that you laid on the bed in your bunk thinking What next? Why am I doing this? Is this what life is about? What is life? What am I meant to do with my life? Is life about being happy? What is happiness?

One question eventually lead to more questions and as expected, it was possible to come to answers for some and come to dead ends for the rest. This kind of thinking did to some extend build some maturity, not just in me but in most of my friends (which is why I have been having a change of mind that girls should serve NS).

Then after NS came NUS. NUS threw even more questions at me about life as I found little meaning in solving the grotesque equations that lay in front of me. But NUS was smart. Unlike NS, NUS knew how to keep me occupied, how to keep me busy so that I did not have enough time to answer these questions (which would most likely have discredited the school). And in that way and in a 'Just let me get through this shit asap' attitude, one and a half years flew by.

Then just few days ago, in an unusually lull moment in my NUS life, I suddenly had this thought in my head. What the hell was I working so hard for? A good job? Yea maybe. A good quality life? Makes sense too. Get married, have a family? Hmm perhaps.

All that for what? So that I can go to heaven when I die?

Seriously, thats all?

The last part did not make sense to me. What was the eventual purpose of following such a strict religious cum societal dogma, following a plan of life and a set of rules unquestioningly, following something that we at closer inspection was driven more by fear than by motivation? Yes I do admit that we cannot afford to waste our lives away partying and drinking. But for a moment, I was thinking and am still thinking, I only have one life? Why am I mugging it away?

And the reply inside my head is automatic 'Don't study, you will be poor. Then you will have no roof, no food, no pride.' This followed by a surge of fear in the heart.

The day I overcome these fears, that will be the day I will be truly free.

Comments

  1. i always knew you were emo in kilo bro. oh, hi ludakris

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Journey to the West : Mind Your Language

"Lettuce, tomatoes, onions and spinach", I pointed out to the lady wearing the apron behind the counter. She looked at me questioningly. "LET-USE, TOE-MAT-OH, OH-NION, SPEA-NATCH", I repeated with better enunciation. She looked back down at the the multiple compartments of colourful mix of vegetables, leaves and fruits and methodically grabbed some from each, while repeating the names of the ones she grabbed. "Let-us, Toe-mado, Ah-nion, Spee-Nuch", she clarified. I shrank a bit in embarrassment. With every passing day in the country, my belief that the English education that I received in a former British Colony, that set high and rarely achieved standards in English for its students, was of substandard quality, strengthens. In a well intentioned effort to assimilate, I have over the past couple of months tried to mimic the pronunciation of the Texans. "Howz'it goin man?" "Ye'no"   "Can I ha...

An Eye for an Eye

"Something that three or four years ago you told me was one of the touchstones of maturity: being nice to people even when they’re not nice to you…" - William Styron It was an plan that came out of nowhere. Perhaps half depressed by the winter and half depressed by the inactivity at work, there was sufficient turmoil in the mind to create these type of plans and then let it fester, until something that started off with a what-if turned into a why-not. It would have been the perfect revenge for the past hurt and humiliation that was yet to completely heal.  The circumstances were similar. On one side, an eager visitor who had traveled far to say "Hello" and on the other side, a host, bewildered and surprised by this visit. In the first case, the host would not receive the visitor, who would turn back humiliated and vowing never again. Now the roles were reversed and I was the host. What if I agreed to receive? What if in reality I did not plan to receive? ...

Another Day at the Office

"I am sorry, but are you good at IT?", she inquired with the most apologetic of expression. I gave her an incredulous look. Seriously? This was the second time I was being asked that question in one month and I took offense. It was almost as if the world judged that the only reason my race would be allowed to venture overseas was to fix other people's computers. "No. I am a production engineer", I replied, half wondering if I should clarify it had nothing to do with human production, which my people are also well known for. "Oh. That is a pity. Our printer broke down and we were wondering how to fix it", she said pointing to a piece of contraption that lay on the table nearby. Men being men, I offered to help. On walking over and looking into the inside of the contraption, I saw what most millennials see if they were to ever see the inside of the multiple devices they are perpetually holding onto; abyss. I doubted she would give me a discount f...