Nobody Cares

I am home for my transient summer vacations. All’s been swell, as the dormant hedonist in me is being sated with all the luxury without even having to lift a finger. The self-indulgence has been on an all time high, so much so that I just woke up at 2 o’clock in the afternoon in the rural surroundings of Rumtek, where people get on with their lives at 4 o’clock in the morning. By this time, that news must have spread to every nook and cranny, by the neighborhood granny who visited us today morning.

Being home, seeing neighbors and observing the milieu that I have been inhabiting for the past week has brought a whole new perspective in life. I see people buying new cars when they already have one just to prove to his brother that he can afford an extra like him too.  I see people going to swanky eateries and uploading their photos adorned in their chic get-up on Facebook to seek validation from others in the form of likes and sycophantic comments. I see people purposelessly toiling away time dressed up au courant and frowning and jeering on pedestrians on not doing the same. I don’t mean to patronize here, in fact I was like that a few years back, but now I know better. Or at least now I know that I know better.

One of the best life lessons I ever learnt was realize that nobody cares, and even if they do, you shouldn't care that they care. Got a new car? Nobody cares. You'll get some gawkers for a week, but in reality they don't care, they're just curious. After a while, it'll be just another four wheeled hindrance among all the thousands of others cramming your town. People will care about your car just as much as you care about all of those. Bought a new iPhone? Went on a cruise? Boarded a flight at so and so airport? Nobody gives a flying fuck. Don't base your happiness on people caring, because they won't. And even if they do, they either want your stuff or loathe you for it.

I am not implying that there aren't people who genuinely care about you. Of course they exist, they are whom we refer to as our parents and genuine well wishers. Parents- simply because they have to, they have been inherently burdened with that. But the well wishers are people in your life who will defy the odds and give one-two fucks about you. But if they value you, they'll value that you value it (stuff). Befriend them. Work with them. In fact, you’ll find your true love in that lot too. If you do, marry him/her.

Don’t ever equate money with happiness. It is TRIVIAL, okay not that trivial, at least in this present world but it is not everything.  Money is vital for a swift survival, and I am certain every one of us has been bestowed with just enough to sustain life (at least the ones who are reading this); so the idea is to not to be stupid with it.  Never incur debt in order to appease your interminable vanity (remember that thing about nobody caring about your stuff). Sometimes circumstances arise when you will require money, and don’t kid yourself they do. Therefore, sometimes debt is inevitable, but what I am trying to say here is to avoid it where it can be avoided and make sure the debt you incurred is not going in vain.

For instance- some of our parents have drawn a huge loan for our educational purposes, so make sure the field of study you are pursuing is the one you really like and then give it your best…don’t go into something half-hearted and then chicken out later. If you are acutely ambivalent, then take that money and backpack to Europe or someplace else, you’ll learn more than you will do sitting through a course you don’t really enjoy. Even I am not really sure on what I’ll do for a living, but deep down inside I have a feeling I am born for this computer stuff- I have a mild proclivity for Human-Computer Interaction, Front-end designing but not so much of coding…nevertheless this is just my undergrad stream, I might discover my knack in something soon and then I can build upon it.

I am not good at culminating my thoughts and making it more concrete, but I’ll give it a shot. You know what? I’ll just let this blank verse I penned few months ago culminate this idealistic article:

"In my own denizen I am a prisoner,  

A prisoner of my insatiable hunger, 

I see, I hear, I want and I get, 

Drawing from the cornucopia-  

The cornucopia of nothingness 

I attain fleeting solace 

But then again, it is all so less! 

So I yearn for things 

to fill my emptiness 

With shallowness!"