You, me and our Morality

You, me and our Morality.

by

MURALI MURTHY

Upto few years ago, In some dusty trunk of my house lied a heap of comics that I have read and re-read hundreds of times.
I read them when I was bored or because I didn't want to study and was surely a source of entertainment.
Comics were a quick getaway, as We lived those characters.
I speak for most of us 80s and 90s kids, when not even a day went without reading our favourite comics.

One of the most favourite one was Panchatantra - interesting short stories which ended with a moral.

Another favourite one Chandamama - It became an alternate to our grandparent's stories. Those bed-time stories often had a moral for us at the end of the story.

We were groomed and fed with loads of Morals since childhood. Our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, the books we read, everything and everyone were feeding us with morals, with good intentions to give us good upbringing and values.

They don't make those books these days, neither do we have Morals left these days.

What is Morality after all?As we all understand, it's a set of intentions, actions, standards, principles, code of conduct derived from / for a specific geography, region, philosophy and culture, for the sole purpose to enable people live in cooperation and harmony.
Morality are a bunch of unwritten rules to define the goodness in a society.

Moral or Ethics refer to what is Good, what is Bad, What is Right, What is Wrong.
That's how we and the society saw things as - Either it's right or wrong, it was simple binary for us those days.

Morals were universally accepted within the society we lived in.

We see Moral conflicts everywhere around us, people taking Moral high ground than the other, with differences in definition of what is right and what is Wrong.

Let's begin with the classical Moral conflict - A Vegetarian calling meat eaters immoral. While this eternal conflict keeps going on while both sides defending and using all convenient logic to put the other party irrational, somewhere in the middle came Eggetarians "Excuse me, Egg is scientifically not meat, so morally I am right"

A Vegetarian who vehemently argues and makes meat eaters feel they have sinned by killing a poor animal just to fill the stomach, brazenly goes on a cockroach killing spree, beats the street dogs with stones as he can't stand them! Hypocrisy at its best!

It's all about lust, isn't it.Lust for food, lust for power, lust for sexual desires, lust for money.
This lust towards something that we desire to or just our ego, makes us to come up with our own rationale to say We are right.

A Vendor bribing a company official or a common man bribing a Govt official, pre-marital sex, relation outside marriage, homosexuality - People indulging in any of these will have their own logic to defend what they do is not wrong, if not right.
A road rage, a road accident leads to two parties blaming each other.

Just because a particular sect worships an animal, it will be considered immoral for the entire country to be consuming that animal as food.

A set of People find a Govt ruling hurting their living in their perceived way, they agitate, cause ruckus and cause greater discomfort to a larger population.

Govt has the audacity to believe they have the moral right to bring any rule, as they are the elected Govt.
We better take the Politics away, as the common belief is everyone in Politics have lost shame, morality and ethics. Yet, each political party points fingers at each other.

Few people taking law in their own hands to punish what they believe as Immoral for a man and women to be together before Marriage.

People find Live-in relation, relation outside marriage, homosexuality as Immoral, whereas people engaging in such relations deny a question of Morality, but a freedom of their way of living.

While we all outrightly reject the idea of Terrorism and Naxalism, It's only a term given to them by us, and none involved with such groups would feel they are wrong but only fighting for an idea or a cause.

Men drinking and smoking has slowly over the years is acceptable and is no more a question of Morality, however women doing the same is still considered immoral.

What's the definition of Morality now? Who is the sitting judge to decide what is Right, what is Wrong? Or Who is Right, who is Wrong?

Morality itself has lost its context.
Morality makes sense when People from same culture, region stay in a community, as it is more likely to have similar mindset and realities.

Their upbringing, culture, assumptions, lifestyle becomes part of localized "common sense", hence forms the foundation of Morality.

In the present day world we live in, it is no more a localized environment. People have exposure to other cultures and societies, people travel places and import other cultures. In such a globalised world, the geographical limitations of a society has blurred causing influx of mixed ideas and lifestyle.

This forms a break in a pattern and understanding of Life in general, causing conflicts and differences in the society.

Yet there are examples of the likes of Zaira Wasim, who quit a very promising career in Bollywood as she thought its immoral to be in such a career.
Some might think it's irrational, and the same act is hailed as peak of Morality by others.

It is completely a different scenario with some of the African, European and Middle East countries, where the Morals are still intact. Whether we like it or not, there is a common understanding and realities among the people.

The question remains: who sits in judgement, if everyone have varied realities, their own definition of Morals and Ethics? Where will such conflicts lead us to, if there is no common ground of basic living principles?

Even if our perceived Morals is against other's beliefs, can We say Sorry to each other to bridge the gap?

The word Sorry is probably worth writing a new article all together.

How many of us genuinely say Sorry? Our Ego stops us doing so, as our perceived Morals makes us strongly believe we are never wrong and there is no need for a Sorry.
The Sorry might not be for the act or for what we said, it could just be for hurting other person's beliefs.

My wife says Sorry to me so many times, and most of the times it is embarrassing to receive a Sorry. She says sorry at the drop of the hat, to ensure I am not hurt with her views.
Ofcourse, she ensures I also say Sorry. Her approach is simple and effective "I will say Sorry, you also say Sorry. This will nullify the conflict or clash

Can we adopt such a simple method to keep the society healthy in large!

Writer's Hat

Writer's Hat

BY

MURALI MURTHY

Jayanth couldn't control his emotions and is elated as he just hung up a call that he received from Nirvana Films who offered him to write the script for their next Project starring Yash.
Jayanth gets busy writing for the movie over the next few weeks.

Jayanth is invited to attend a Literature Fest, where he meets Poornachandra.

"Sir, am a big fan of your works...I am Jayanth, am a writer"
"Who doesn't know you Jayanth...I know your works, have heard the songs you have written in many movies..."
"Thank you sir. It's an honour just to know that you have seen my work"
"You are very talented Jayanth. I am not much into Movie Songs, but I hear few songs because of the great lyrics it had. I wanted to get your contact and congratulate you, but somehow that didn't happen till now"
"I can't express how happy and lucky I am. It means a lot to hear this from such a great writer"
"Your work is worth all the good words you hear from me and others. So, what are you writing these days?"
"I have been busy writing for few movies now, I am also part of a new project from Nirvana Films, with whom I was eager to work for a very long time"
"Glad to know about your success, and best wishes"
"Thank you Sir. If I may ask you, what brings you joy, any particular topic you write about makes you happy?"
"Nothing in particular...infact I do not like or enjoy writing many things. Sometimes for commercials reasons We might have to pen down something. What I love doing as a Writer, is when I write for myself"
"Write for yourself?"
"Yes, I write for myself...I let my thoughts go free in those writings, no rules, no one to tell me the Intent/agenda/objective...it can be Anything, social, political, religious, story. I just write Anything I want, that brings me satisfaction. I usually don't publish them, I keep it for myself or let my close contacts read about it"
"Wow, that's something..I was always waiting for someone to give me work to write"
"Try it, write for yourself. Let yourself loose and start living the characters you write."

After an insightful conversation with his idol and someone whom he looks upon to, Jayanth quickly finishes all his work commitments and sits on to write...Jayanth choses to start presenting certain pearls of wisdoms, in form of short stories.

Jayanth starts with a key principle that he practices and preaches in his life, to put right efforts and right skills to succeed and there are no short cuts.

---

Akash, A young man from a small town finishes his education and migrates to Mumbai to build a successful career. After 5 years of struggles, he finds himself in a mediocre job, rude boss and a salary with which he can't make ends meet in Mumbai, forget sending money back home.

He changed 3 Jobs in 5 years, yet saw failures and dejected in life.
After some coaxing by his parents, Akash returns back to his hometown and takes up another mediocre job with much lesser salary.

Akash is desperate to make it big, visits many temples and prays for change in luck and fortunes.
In one such temple visits, Akash meets a well known spritual Guru - Sri Vasantananda.
Akash falls to the Guru's feet and seeks his blessings.
Akash explains his unsuccessful career and seeks Guru's blessings "Guruji, whats the secret of success. Please do something tell me theagic words that will help me make it big in my Career. I need some miracle, I am tired of trying."
Sri Vasantananda patiently listens to Akash, and asks him to meet him in the Morning by the River.

An excited Akash reaches the river side early in the morning, with a hope that Guruji will perform some ritual or give him some spiritual stuff that could change his life.

Sri Vasantananda arrives and asks Akash to join him and take a dip in the water.
As Akash takes a dip, Guruji pushes him inside the water forcefully. Akash is shocked and in pain, as he is forced inside the water. Akash is choking and is struggling, after 30 seconds Akash doesn't feel the pressure anymore, and pulls himself out of the Water and gasps for air and regains back his senses.

Before Akash could reach and ask questions, Guruji goes "What did you want the most when you were under water?"
"Air"
"That is the secret of Success. When you want success as badly as you needed Air inside the Water, you will fight it out and get it.
That's the secret of success"

---

As Jayanth starts to think of ways to end his short story, he hears a voice "Seriously? Is that how you want to convey a message?"
"Who is it?"
"It's me"
"Who? Where are you? I don't see anyone around"
"It's me, Vasantananda"
"What? Who is it? Is this a joke"
"It's really me Jayanth, your own creation"
"What? I just wrote this story and named a character, how could anyone know"
"That's what I am saying, I am your character"
"Is it me thinking, or is it truly the character I just created in a story talking to me?"
"I leave it to you...I am here to ask you the way you made me do things and rather a rude way to convey a moral"
"You are my creation, and I think this is how I want you to do."
"Is this how you want to encourage someone or help someone seeking your help"
"As a Writer, I just go with the flow of the story or the topic...We writers never come up with a plan or think through the entire work before actually writing."
"You mean to say, your creativity is natural?"
"I think so...I can talk on behalf of all writers, our mind is wired to think on the go. I just start with basic framework, and the topic / story keeps building on It's own"
"Where do you get inspiration or idea to start a new topic/story?"
"Inspiration is derived from what we hear, feel, dreams, movies, web series, instances in life or just life experience. I am confident of writing about anything and everything, take a very small idea or instance and build an entire story around it.
Like how Murali Murthy is writing this story as we speak, where even I am a character in his story, came up with all these conversations you and me is having, just like that without pre-planning"
"Oh, you mean even you are like me..just a character?"
"Yes, I am Murali's imagination. All three of us are just living in his mind, talking in his mind. That's what Mr. Poornachandra meant when he said when you write something passionately, you start living the character...the characters come alive"
"So, what was Murali's idea of this story?"
"Murali was always inspired with the brilliant concept of the movie Inception. He just wanted to write something with multi layered, stories woven inside another. And here he is, in the third layer of the writing.
From a Writer's point of view, he has linked himself with 2 layers inside and that's where it ends. The story is more from creative exploration point of view, to see the limits of how ideas can be given birth in real time and progressed as a readable content".

An experience called 2020

An experience called 2020.

by

MURALI MURTHY

As our grandparents used to say "I was there when We got our Freedom, and I was witness to the struggles of independence", probably we will be telling our next generation one day "I was witness to the struggles of 2020".

2020 will be remembered for long for the dent it has left in our lives, and will go down in the history books as one of the worst years.

As we come to the fag end of 2020 and just a couple of weeks to roll over to 2021, it has left lot of bad memories. As I see, Covid was just a reason and it took the limelight for otherwise a nasty year overall.

The Covid, the lockdowns, incessant rains, floods, hurricanes, cyclones, wild fires, economic meltdowns and protests...we kept hearing bad news one after the other. 2020 indeed has been rude, with many losing near and dear ones. So many lives lost, probably Covid was just a reason for many deaths. So many good people known to me had untimely departures.

While some of the professions / industries remained unaffected, who were confined to their homes and the only discomfort faced was their inability to go out. For many others it was about losing jobs, hefty salary cuts and losing livelihood...the scenes of scores of people migrating back to their native, gave a picture of India-Pakistan partition.

Many businesses shutting shop...many of my favourite joints - La Casa, Eurasia, Egg Factory closing down was indeed heartbreaking.

For many others, it was traumatic.
I saw my own businesses falling flat, a landslide fall right in front of me, I stood helpless and in pain. The agony of having to go through tough times dealing with payroll and payments when the bank accounts are dry, and personal finances at the rock bottom just adding to the wounds.

These depressing and agonising times highlighted the importance of mental health, with many getting into depression, losing composure.

Many of us experienced Anxiety attacks, extreme stress damaging general health.
The idle mind and joblessness made many act wierd and absurd.

And the war like buildup along the border with our neighbors; imagine if that had turned into a full blown war, it would have made things miserable.

Why did all these happen? Was it the Nature's way to heal itself or did Nature wanted to teach us humans a lesson? Or was it a balancing act?

Amidst all these struggles and sufferings, I believe many life lessons were learnt.
- We evolved and started to adapt new way of life.
- It made us be resilient.
- We learnt the value of money, importance of savings.
- We realized the importance of life.
- We taught ourselves to maintain hygiene, eat healthy, stay fit and boost immunity.
- We started to enjoy time at home, time spent with family, the joy of having lunch and dinner together.
- We learnt the significance of meeting relatives and close friends regularly.
- We learnt to spend only for absolute necessity.

Empty roads, less crowded spaces, birds chirping in the cities, avoiding unnecessary travel were blissful times indeed.

Life had become so mechanical and artificial. 2020 made us realize being conventional, conservative and orthodox are the best ways to lead a quality life.
Afterall, our forefathers who created basic principles of life and lifestyle are proved not to be fools.

The way shopping experience had dramatically changed with supermarkets and Malls Vs the present day shopping experience of hand picked vegetables, fruits and grocery in the corner shops. Imagine the amount of unnecessary things we would buy in those supermarkets, which spoilt us with options, choices and so called "offers".

And the Weekends then...blame it on hectic work through out the week and partying hard over the weekends. Now, weekends are peaceful time at home, sipping on a cup of coffee on the couch watching TV, or go for grocery shopping or just a stroll in the nearby park.

Life was indeed hectic and extremely stressful, no doubt, We all used to slog.

Covid has given us all a glimpse of our retired life. How we conduct ourselves, how prepared are we, what would we do when we retire, it's a trailer of our lifestyle 10-20 years from now.

2020 certainly changed our perspective towards life, it has made us introspective.

With all these life lessons and learnings, we will soon walk cautiously into 2021. Will we?
Or will we forget 2020 as a bad year and move on with our usual old ways?

We might just laugh it out and remember 2020 seeing each other in Pajamas and Shorts most of the time, úmpteen no.of movies, web series we have watched, masked faces, family get-togethers and friends meets on video calls, online meetings and online classes.

IPL was indeed an ice-breaker and a welcome change, it reignited many of us to start living life again.

We don't know what 2021 holds for us, I don't know what to expect in 2021...will the markets revive, will the industry get back to normalcy, will my businesses flourish, will Nature stop testing us and blesses the humanity with good fortunes?

I am optimistic and hopeful that 2021 will be better. I will welcome 2021 with hope, positivity and great energy.

I believe we are all the lucky lot to have survived 2020 and hopefully whatever last bit is remaining.

Hoping and Praying for change of fortune and luck for the Humanity!

Happy 2021!