Golden daffodils and all that matters.
A pensive walk.
This is not a story. These are thoughts stitched together. Thoughts that rain down on me every day on my leisurely walk to train station (i.e. when I’m not running). I felt they needed to be aired out and thus here they are.
I enjoy conversations and people who know me well would agree how much I talk. I enjoy narrating stories especially when I’m bursting with one but am missing a pen.
Most stories are incidents that happen around me or to me, but sometimes I come across these rare ones while pondering. Not necessarily being pensive, but just questioning the normalcy of situations around us. Like who decided to name each of the days. I mean what does “Monday” even mean? I researched a little, ‘Monday’ is derived from ‘Moon Day’ from Old English. Well, that had an answer. But, why is the second month called “February”? Why do we have names for days and months, why not just a number? I’m sure all of this has a history that can be traced and answers can be found to every question I ask. Almost every question.
What I’m leaning towards is more than just a peek at the surface level answers google provides us with. I want to delve into the story of how Julius got the idea to have a leap year instead of extra hours in a day. (As any other concept this one was flawed too. It was oversimplified to the point wherein every year number divisible by 4 was a leap year, leaving us with extra leap years!) But the question here is adding a couple of hours wouldn't have mattered really, but instead, now we have an extra day to look forward to every four years. What was Julius thinking… “Let’s save the hours and enjoy one full day every four years! Yay!”
I would love to discover something at such a fundamental level. A discovery that becomes synonymous with everyday life. Of course, in the path of my discovery, I’m unsure if I’d be able to recognise the fundamentalism of anything I encounter. But that does not discourage me from continuing my journey to discover something new.
How many of us, today, feel that we have arrived at the peak? A saturation which is settling into our lives. That we as a generation have nothing new to discover and are just carrying on with the regularity of everything. All that we had to build or create already has been built or created.
A while back, I was visiting the TATE Modern Art Gallery and had a very interesting conversation with a friend. Quoting my friend, “Nothing new is being created in the field of art. By ‘new’ I refer to something ‘revolutionary’ new. Something that strikes me as completely original and triggers a thought which wouldn't have struck me otherwise. A ‘new’ which we haven’t seen before ever.” We seem to be advancing in techniques but the idea itself at the core of the advancement seems stagnated.
To declare that we are not progressing would be a wrong statement. Science keeps evolving every minute, technology is making headway every hour, discoveries are made every day and sometimes new fields emerge. But despite that, there is a stillness in the air. It appears that we are breathing stale, used air. Just like a car stuck in traffic with a gorgeous corridor to move along in, but only at a snail’s pace.
“Don’t you see? It’s Galaxy-wide. It’s a worship of the past. It’s a deterioration — a stagnation!” — Isaac Asimov, Foundation
Isaac Asimov in his books, the “Foundation” series, through pure science fiction, in the world ahead of us in centuries, throws light on how every empire arrives at a peak. This peak appears like the most developed the world can ever be and yet internally it is degenerating. A peak is just that. The highest point from whence on only a descent follows. Only upon arriving at the valley does one realise that there are more hike-able peaks in the horizon. Newer ideas emerge when the old dry out. Democracy only emerged when Monarchy at its peak, failed to appease people. The shift does not indicate that one system is better than the other. It is merely an extension of the peak, of how Monarchy had lost its pizzazz! Under it, we as a group, as a community had stopped growing and braver people inspired to think differently, bringing in new ideas and systems.
So have we arrived at another peak now? The world around us seems volatile, a rupture developing in hidden corners. Every idea, every sentiment seems like its hanging in a state of stalemate with nowhere to swing to. Needless to say, it might be decades or centuries before we finally come to terms with this inevitable trek down, to discover something new, but do you feel we have reached a point where we have begun to degenerate?
Food for thought!
Originally published at nivetofive.blogspot.com.
