Art of Appreciation, Life, and beyond

Unravelling the Mystery of Life - In a Nutshell

Inspired by Professor Ramesh Dutt's narration

“Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved.” - Adriana Trigiani

This above quote is one that I read on a huge photograph in the study of our house behind Dad and Mom’s work table when I was hardly 6 or 7 years old.  It intrigued me beyond reason and I asked Mom to explain it.  She did in the best way possible to a young girl that she believed was thinking beyond her age, but she did not dismiss me, she explained it.  I remember her telling me that life is like a treasure hunt, you never know what you will find at the end of it because you find something new at every step and you move forward.  That is what a mystery is, something you know nothing about but you live each day unraveling it and sometimes you find something beautiful and sometimes you do not but you move on to the next day.  Life is not a math problem that will have a definite answer in the end.  I understood that at that age and as I grew, this saying stayed in my mind and helped me through life’s trials and tribulations and I believe I am who I am because of what I learnt from my mom, my mentors through my journey, people I met, books I read, my experiences, and most importantly, my greatest teacher, LIFE.

This morning, May 18, 2019, dawned with me having a brief dialogue with Professor Ramesh Dutt, my favorite Dutt Saab, about the art of appreciation, the existence and dearth of it, the importance of it, his experiences, both bitter and sweet, and life and its purpose in general.  At this time, when he seemed a bit disappointed about not having the appreciation for the kind of recordings he sends, I told him how much it meant to me to listen to him and a while later, he sent me this 20-minute recording about all that we spoke about and about life in general and how he perceives it and here is my take on all he said and what I understood from it.  Another piece inspired and dedicated to this wonderful human being, Dutt Saab, who is like a father-figure to me.  I record and write these for I believe these are teachings and great learning for our generation and the generations ahead of us.  The Youth Brigade or Youngistaan as we call them requires this treasure cove of advice and direction.  It might seem redundant and useless today, but as per my experience, they will always come back looking for it someday and I want to make sure that day, I have put all this out into the universe to return to them.  Dutt Saab spoke about the art of appreciation and I understood what he said as below.

Art is generally perceived as that which is created, perceivable, can be heard, felt, written, performed or seen.  This is indeed a very myopic view of art, one seldom forgets that the most amazing and relevant form of art is the art of living and most importantly the art of appreciation.  The performing arts and fine arts sector can flourish and exist only if there are takers for it, i.e., people who can like it, appreciate it, and talk about it.  So any art that does not receive any reciprocation or appreciation is as good as non-existent or a failure.  The most important part or the other half of the world of art is appreciation. In order to be able to appreciate, one needs to know and possess taste, ingenuity or skill to appreciate, cleverness, depth, and broad-mindedness.  One writes, paints, sings, performs, or does any form of art and expects to be appreciated for that is what makes them achieve perfection and inspires them to continue.  Unfortunately, in today’s disposable society, the art of appreciation is missing as technology which is to be a boon has become a bane, superficial nature, farcical natures, and show-off is the fad.  People have forgotten to genuinely speak their mind and appreciate anybody for they seem to have developed narcissistic tendencies wanting to hear only about themselves and speak of none else.  The gorgeous contraption we live in called the Universe was created for us thankless human beings who are adept at ignoring it, destroying it, and not appreciating it.  God was an amazing artist who created all of us and everything around us.  Let us learn to appreciate everything and everyone around us for each one of is a unique piece of art who is capable of creating something beautiful, be it a painting, a movie, a song, music, poetry, story, or just a beautiful atmosphere for others to live and prosper in.  Every minute we live can be a work of art and learning to appreciate this is an amazing virtue.  Dutt Saab goes on to address a few questions that were posed to him and I summarize them in the best way I could interpret and understand to put them out there for posterity’s sake.

What is attitude? I read once what Albert Einstein has said beautifully.  He wrote that “Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.”  Attitude, in the negative sense, is the virtue of one who is superficial, empty, who has low self-esteem, or has achieved using wrong means or achieved success overnight.  Success can be achieved multiple ways, with or without hard work, it is how we sustain it, accept it, and behave that defines us as a human being.  Arrogance and exclusivity are two terminologies of great importance when we speak about attitude.  The person who carries himself as if he is a god of the game after achieving the peak of success is an arrogant one and arrogance leads to destruction and fall some or the other day.  Exclusivity on the other hand will help you sustain stability and remain grounded by not letting success get to your head.  Many actors of the cine field are great examples of arrogance and exclusivity, Rajesh Khanna for example who fell due to arrogance while Dilip Kumar, Sachin Tendulkar, and Abdul Kalam are great examples of exclusivity because they remained grounded. The one who has depth is the one that lasts.

How do you deal with the peak and trough of life?  Fame is nobody’s relative.  It will leave just as soon as it comes as it is a man-made status and it shall go away no sooner people find a fancy for someone else especially if you develop arrogance.  As they say, “Higher the rise, bigger the fall!” Just like Sahir Ludhianvi’s poetry in the film Daag, “Wealth, fame, respect, and love, none of these things are permanent in this world, I am here today where someone existed before, this is an era and the one gone by was too.”  The intelligent and wise are the ones that understand the truth of this existence and move on accepting life as it comes.  Remaining grounded i.e. with your feet steadily on the ground at the throes of success are the ones who will sustain in life and the others shall fall.  This requires one to have an ocean of positivity within and the will to never let success get into one’s head and lose themselves.  Politicians, bureaucrats, stars, celebrities all go through such peak and trough.

What is the meaning of life and the purpose of it? As somebody once said, “There are no facts, only interpretations!” Everything in life is less of fact and more of an interpretation.  For example, God’s appearance; each one of us see him differently or perceive him differently while the atheist will not even believe his existence.  It is irrelevant how we were born? Where we came from? Is this a rebirth? What were we before?  None of these questions are of any relevance to your present life.  Dutt saab never delves into all this.  As per him, he considers his parents as his Gods as they brought him into this world, a perceivable and tangible fact indeed.  Their souls remain with him always.  When a common man hears this, they will feel he is challenging God, but they fail to understand that this is his way of living and each of us have a right to live life on our terms.  One needs to figure out what one needs from life…respect, wealth, fame, or peace of mind.  If you want respect, wealth, and fame you need to be cut-throat in life chasing them; however if you want peace, calmness, and ease of life you live the life of a gypsy, a wanderer, a wayfarer, or vagabond living life one day at a time as it comes accepting everything that it offers you and everything it does  not.  End justifies means and means justifies end.  In order to reach our destination or goal, one needs to have good intentions, but unfortunately, the world does not believe in that.  The main intention today is only to become successful or achieving the goal not the purpose or intention behind it and neither is the purity of the need.  Every human being perceives the meaning and purpose of life differently.  The main purpose of life should be to attain, sustain, and regain happiness; but this is the most simplistic view or formula of life.  The idea of happiness is again perceived as materialistic, which in itself is not happiness.  Happiness is only a by-product of what you achieve or attain.  True happiness is that which you gain by doing something for someone selflessly which you do not get by doing for yourself.  This needs one to be revolutionary, one to be selfless; unfortunately, this does not exist in today’s world.  So, as per Dutt Saab, living peacefully and letting others live peacefully is the purpose of life and I truly am in sync with this truth.  All this talk about heaven and hell, and good leading to heaven and evil leading to hell is more or less a hogwash for everyone looks up to the sky above for answers.  Imagine when you are 40,000 or 45,000 feet going above the clouds flying in a plane, do you get to see heaven or just an unending expanse of blue skies and clouds?  The temperature generally is in minus temperatures and you never see anything you have heard, international flights go higher.  This is a thought that is great to maintain our good spirits, but not something that is tangible or factual.  At the end of the journey what matters is how you have lived life.  One leaves behind only the legacy that he or she has written, what was the quality of life they lived, the smiles that we put on someone’s face, or how we made someone’s life easier or made the world more habitable for someone else.  As Abraham Lincoln said, “In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”  This should be the purpose of life.  Of course, these thoughts and expressions may differ from person to person for this is a complicated topic in itself.

One of the main purpose of life should be staying away from sadness and hopelessness.  One of the most alarming problems troubling many people today, especially the youth or the world around is depression.  This is becoming a widespread epidemic in today’s world and it has a lot to do with lack of communication and lack of appreciation.  The world is hung on how many likes we get on our Facebook or Instagram posts and misses appreciation of people.  Something gets recorded in the subconscious mind and torments you.  Life is very simple and following the KISS formula as I call it (Keep It Simple & Sweet) is the way forward and mantra to live life with no hazzles.  “Life is really simple, we insist on making it complicated,” says Confucius.  The three pillars of life for Dutt Saab are Music, Nature, and Common man, which keeps him grounded and happy all the time.  He celebrates no festivals for the day he is happy beyond limits is a festival.  The more we stay away from unnecessary arguments and problems, the more easier life is for us.  I read once somewhere, “Oh! What a tangled web we weave!”  This echoes exactly what we as human beings do, like a spider that weaves and gets caught in its own web we create problems and get tangled in it on our own.  Let’s just live life as it is, simple, uncomplicated, happily enjoying and appreciating the beauty of it and the beauty around us. Life is indeed a beautiful and mysterious journey unfolding each day something to shock, awe, and inspire us.  Today was one such day for me, learning unfolding in the form of Dutt Saab’s bayaar.   I have echoed the thoughts of Dutt Saab based on his life, his expressions which is perfectly in sync with mine and hence I take the pride and privilege to write this.  I would like to leave you with a beautiful thought I read….

“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” - George Bernard Shaw