The Philosophical Chat

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If someone asks me as to what constitutes the universe, I would without any thought, say ‘Humans and the interaction between them’. It may be true that universal laws control everything right from the electrons to black holes. It may also be true that God is the creator and the answer to those questions for which man has not been able to give satisfactory answers. Delving deeper into science leaves us with no other answer except God and delving deeper into God, his origin, his power and grandeur leaves science as an answer. Whatever be the controlling element, amidst the chaos life has taken birth. The combined efforts of God and science landed men onto this earth. The world wouldn’t have been as entropic as it is now but for their capability to interact with each other. What started as a way to protect oneself from wild beasts and nature’s fury has now paved way to man controlling the universe through communication.

Gestures are the story of the long lost past; face to face talks are buried in the recent past. Today is the time when human communication is undergoing a rapid change - progressive or not to be decided by the future. Electrical and electronic signals transfer the voice of men and women across borders of nations. The depression of keys on the keypad encapsulates speech in text, smileys simplify the expression of feelings; time passes, messages get exchanged and work gets done. Well, the initiator of this discussion is the We Chat contest on IndiBlogger that asks about the five people I would like to chat with.

Chatting is not something that I am used to but still given an opportunity to interact with the people who matter to me including the imaginary and the dead, I wouldn’t deny the offer. The list of people would be big enough to entertain you for around one hour. Grab a popcorn., sit back and read in  a relaxed way as I talk about those people ( not just five but many more ) with intermittent breaks taken to talk more about humans, chatting and communication, with a philosophical touch at times and in a humorous way at other times.

Chat Session 1

Many movies often start by portraying the life of the hero as a child highlighting those circumstances and people who would shape his future. Taking inspiration from there, the first chat session shall delve into the depths of my childhood, trying to identify those people who are responsible for the current ‘me’ and finally trick them into a chat session.

To start with, I wasn’t one of those usual kids you find everywhere - shouting on top of their voices when not provided with things they demand and running around in the playground getting immersed in dust and play. I was rather a very quiet kid who stayed at one place, not talking too much or crying unnecessarily. The God positioned on the high shelf, the teacher who caught me tightly when I tried to go back to my father on the first day of school, the ayah who ignored my complaints and the auto driver who forgot to pick me up from school would participate in the first session. Before moving onto the chat, I would try my best to introduce them; justifying their inclusion in the session.

When I was a child, we lived in a small  two room rented house. There wasn’t enough space to keep the big photos of God and so they were placed on a high shelf, occasionally interrupted with arti and prasadam. As every other child, I too thought that God comes out of the photo frame when no one is watching, eats the prasadam and blesses the occupants of the house. And one day, it did happen. Though I don’t remember which God it was, one of them came and consumed the prasadam and went away silently. I remember telling it to my parents but I’m not sure what the reply they had given at that time was. Now, God (regardless of which God it was), deserves a chance to chat with me as I am nothing but his creation. I used to get several doubts, most of them unanswerable by science, for which God was the only available answer. Infact, even if science had an answer, my parents would attribute it to God unaware of scientific advancements. Hadn’t God given his darshan that day, my mind would have been a storehouse of unanswered questions. Moreover, God resides everywhere including the minds of the designers, programmers and marketers of WeChat. Wouldn’t it be unfair if God is not allowed to enjoy his own creation?

Humans are nothing but a lump of flesh if they don’t get proper education. The school was the place where I met the teacher, the ayah and the auto driver. It was the first day at school and I didn’t like the idea of being left at an unknown place occupied by unknown faces. My voice wouldn’t go mute. I expressed my dissent with screams and shouts. But they wouldn’t listen. My father left me in the hands of the teacher and she wouldn’t let me go away. My agony failed to melt her heart. I accepted defeat and what followed then is unknown at this moment - the remainder of that day has been erased from my memory.

My parents say that the next day on reaching school, I said that I would stay with the teacher only. I can’t help but wonder at the complexity of my brain. What was undesirable one day was the only thing I wanted the next day! And then entered the ayah into my childhood. Every time, another student beats me, pinches me or robs my pencil, I would go straight to the ayah seated at the entrance and register my complaint. But the complaints were supposed to be filed with the teacher. Moreover, the ayah ignored them. The teacher got fed up with me and gave work to the cane. The wooded creation inflicted pain to my tender hands. Since them the piling up of complaints at the entrance had stopped.

Food was something that couldn’t impress me. The dal used to be separated from the rice and my tender hands would take the rice grain by grain and put it in the mouth. My parents asked the teacher and the ayah to look into the matter and so they performed the assigned task with perfection. I’m not sure what they did but I remember that I filled my stomach completely that day.

Now comes the auto driver. It became difficult for my father to drop me at school in the morning and pick me up in the evening every day and so, I was made to go in an auto. He performed the task well except for one day when he packed his auto with the other kids but not me. My worried mother asked my father to take control of the situation. The auto driver realized that I was left out. My father’s scooter and the auto had arrived. I had chosen the auto as it was more spacious and comfortable.

Now arises the question - why the teacher, the ayah and the auto driver? And the answer is that they deserve to be scolded by God for not taking care of his creation properly!

The story ends and the chat begins.

The invitation

Dear God,

You being the Supreme power would have realised by now the contents of this letter. Regardless, for my satisfaction, I wish to invite you to a chat session with the teacher, the ayah and the auto driver. I would like you to question them as to why they failed to take care of me properly. I hope that that I (your creation) would receive due justice.

- Your creation

Dear teacher, ayah and the auto driver,

I have arranged for a chat session with ether creator. Your presence is appreciated.

Thank you.

Here begins the chat

God: You’ll are the people who were assigned the task of safeguarding the child. Right?

Teacher: Yes, Almighty!

God: Do you think that you’ll have successfully completed the assigned task?

Ayah: Yes God, we have.

Auto Driver: Any problem?

God: The child claims that he was not attended to properly and has asked me to question you on that matter. What do you say?

Teacher: We are your creations, just as the child is. With you in our hearts, can we even commit such a grievous mistake?

God: So, will you be able to justify your actions in relation to the child.

(Silence prevails )

(God continues )

God: Well teacher, why did you beat the child when he went to the ayah?

Teacher: God, I remember you asking me to ensure that the child receives proper education. According to me, the role of education is not just to impart facts but to provide the child with knowledge that would enable him to move on the right path unaffected by distractions and reach the goal. The children around were the distractions, learning the alphabet was the goal from which he deviated. And so, I thought that the cane would teach him a lesson. Forgive me if I have done any mistake.

God: Ayah, why did you ignore the complaints of the child and driver, why did you forget to pick up the child from school?

Ayah: We still remember those days when we had to sleep with empty stomachs. You appeared before us and said that we have a task to perform, which if completed would free us of the sins of our previous lives. You asked us to impart courage and independence to the child. My husband intentionally did not pick up the child from school to instil courage and he succeeded. The child didn’t cry. As a reward, he enjoyed a ride to home in a spacious auto; which on normal days would be packed with kids, bags and baskets.

Auto Driver: And my wife in an attempt to make him independent ignored his complaints. Slowly the child got accustomed. He ignored some of them and became friends with others.

Teacher: Do you still think that we should be punished for failing to perform our duties?

God: Not at all! The child wanted to know if your acts were in response to the tasks assigned or if they were the unavoidable human errors. Isn’t it, my child?

Me: Ye…s

God: Child, do you want to ask anything else?

Me: Yes God. May I know why you still address me as child?

God: For my eyes, the entire world is populated with my children. Meet me after 50 years when your hair turns gray and I shall still call you a child.

The conversation was sufficient to teach me everything about life. I thought that I was highly knowledgeable. But I was proved false. There is much more that I have to learn. I am nothing more than a drop in a huge ocean.

I wish to halt the discussion here but fear breaking my promise. But before moving to the next chat session revolving around the next phase of my life, let me talk something on how communication has evolved.

As already said in the beginning, gestures were what the early men used to express, talk and exchange. Right from the coordination to resist the attack of a wild beast to expressing love, gestures were the only thing they used. If understood by the other humans, the communication was a success. If not, it was still a success as the gestures that would follow would also be interpreted the wrong way again and the whole conversation would become meaningful for all those involved. The inference of the gestures would be driven by the thoughts in the mind. The mind hopes that every event happen in the desirable manner. As a result, communication succeeds and the heart smiles in triumph.

The world of joy could not withstand the effect of the evil pervading every corner of the world. Symbols etched on rocks, wood or even the ground started replacing or atleast supplementing gestures. The symbols derived from the natural world were obviously less ambiguous. Group of people who could interpret a set of symbols in a similar way came to be known as a civilisation. Slowly, the vocal chords accompanied the symbols. They strengthened the notion of civilisation and language. Communication that once bought people close split them into distinct groups. Language gave way to religious beliefs, customs and practices. Walls were built between people which became higher and higher with every passing day. God watched all the chaos and communicated his displeasure with nature that could do nothing but stand as a mute spectator. The future had much more in store for communication.

Recovering from the previous chat session, I move onto the next phase of my life, identifying people I wish to chat with, inviting them and finally bearing the brunt of the discussion if necessary.

The years that followed those early days of childhood did not appear anything special to me. The excitement of going to school or the fear subsided with every passing day. Praises and scolding from teachers and the people around me have become common. Fast forwarding, I was in my college and was returning home after a tiring day. But still, I felt like reading something. I grabbed a magazine for my friend’s hand and turned a few pages. The title of a story - ‘Happiness in Death’ caught my attention. I remember reading every line of the story with attention and thinking about it later for many months. It was the story of a man and…

- INTERNET CONNECTION LOST --

-- BLOG POST CORRUPTED --

Chatting is infact better than blogging! Let’s connect on WeChat!

This post is an entry for 'WeChat with Anyone, Anywhere!' contest on IndiBlogger. Visit, WeChat's youtube channel here.