How far can you go
How wild can you dream
How high can you jump
How deep can you dive
How fast can you run
How long can you sleep
How much can you eat
How happy can you be

The list will never cease to grow.
There is a time and place for everything.
But do I really need to know?
That there ain’t a time for nothing.


Not-So-Long-Back, 1911 – No electricity, No laptops, No internet, No Facebook, No shopping malls, No KFCs, No Android, No iPods, No hard rock, No playboy magazines, No reality shows,  No competitive exams, No Chetan Bhagat, No Arnab Goswami, No Anna Hazare, No sting operations, No 3G, No idea, … So what did people do all day? Huh? Chew on seeds?

Today, 2011 – No… no… wait let me think… umm… No intergalactic space tourism? We have Electricity, Laptops, Internet, Facebook, Shopping Malls, KFCs, Android, iPods, Hard Rock, Playboy Magazines, Reality Shows, Competitive exams, Chetan Bhagat, Arnab Goswami, Anna Hazare, Sting Operations, 3G, Get idea, … Holy shit! Where the hell do we have time to do anything else?

ALERT! We are always doing SOMETHING!

A message to all my fellow human beings => Our humble civilization is facing an imminent danger, of being plunged into an infinite abyss of commercialism and unnecessary entertainment. The threat is bigger than global warming or the expenditure that the Indian government undertakes in making terrorists comfortable in jail. It is because the threat does not lie in the physical world around us. The virus/worm exists inside our brains. (Statutory Warning: The following sentence contains imagery which might be unsuitable for people with wild imaginations. Parental Guidance is advised.) Every time you fall for its trap, the worm wriggles inside your brain like Kareena Kapoor does in ‘Chammak Challo’.

There is only one cure to this – NOTHING!

I’ll explain. In today’s modern world, we are always busy with something or the other. We are getting used to moving with the flow - We wake up every morning, brush our teeth, read the newspaper, go to school/college/office, work all day, return home, watch reality shows on television, and go to sleep. We buy men’s fairness creams because Shah Rukh Khan personally recommends us to use it. We wear branded clothes because it supposedly raises our social status. We contemplate day and night about why he/she didn’t reply to the sms, and if he/she likes you or not. We spend ages browsing facebook walls painted with non-sense. We do not have a single moment to do anything else.

So… When do we have the time to just sit back, and do NOTHING? I do not blame the wise old grey-haired men who decided that a day should not have more than 24 hours. We ourselves are to be blamed.

The fact is that we really need two extra hours every day, to do NOTHING.

Is it so important that we have to do SOMETHING all the time? I think that it is of penultimate importance that we do NOTHING sometimes and SOMETHING most of the time. Of course, nothing can replace the importance of doing SOMETHING, but something can be done by doing NOTHING.

So what if we did have two hours extra, every day, to do NOTHING?

Lets put on our thinking-caps (those nice red colored ones with a small plastic fan on top and soft-drink holders attached on both sides with straws hanging lucratively close to your mouth)

On some days, I’d like to follow a street dog, and watch how it does NOTHING all day – watch where it goes, discover new lanes and alleys with it, know what it eats, and the dogs it socializes with. And if it decides to enjoy a nice little siesta on the footpath, I’d sit beside it, watch it sleep, and try to imagine what it must be dreaming about.

On some days, I’d like to board a random train, and visit a random station – sit on a bench and watch all the people who board trains – families with heavy luggage and kids glaring inquisitively at the passing trains, busy people late for office, dejected people who have missed their trains, hawkers with their poems to grab the attention of people, and more, and more.

On some days, I’d like to get into an elevator of a crowded shopping mall, and stay there  - watch all the different people enter and exit the elevator, listen to their conversations about what they have shopped or whom they have met, or just middle-aged people sharing their fears about escalators.

On some days, I’d like to climb a tree, sit on a branch and watch the animals and birds – peek into the bird’s nest to see if any egg has hatched, discover where the squirrel hides its nuts, and how they treat me like an intruder.

On some days, I’d like to follow an ant trail – watch the different types of ants walking past me, try to classify them as soldiers, farmers, movers and packers, imagine what they must be telling each other when two ants meet, and wonder what they must be thinking about me.

On some days, I’d like to visit a park, lie down on a bed of grass, and act dead – see the people glance at me as they pass by, feel the ladybug climbing my feet, all the while staring blankly at the sky trying to visualize figures made by the clouds.

On some days, I’d like to walk through the street when it is raining cats and dogs – get drenched completely, watch people running inside shops and bus stops, school-children huddling under a single umbrella, and cars speeding by nonchalant about the puddle of water it just splashed over.

On some days, I’d like to take out the personal diary which I had written 5 years back – read about all the silly thoughts, smile at the childish infatuations, think about the revolutionary plans which I had made, and be besieged by the nostalgia of childhood.

On some days, I’d like to have just 2 hours extra – A time when I don’t have to do something – A Time For Nothing.


Image Links:
http://www.taxicardiff.info/wp-content/uploads/to-do-list-nothing.jpg
http://www.vincentchow.net/images/nothright1.jpg

This post was written with the help of 10 fingers, a pair of heavy eye-lids, a clock striking twelve midnight, and a little bit of input by the almost-asleep Xeno as well. Oh yeah, it was written for the Surf Excel Matic #GetSmart Contest being held on Indiblogger.