Comedy
of Errors
The great playwright, Shakespeare, would not have
written the famous play ‘comedy of Errors’, had he been born in the 21st
century, according to my knowledge and experience. We have stepped into the 21st
century that is blessed with the information technology, and which connects the
whole world to us within no time. We all, young and old, rich and poor,
invariably try to be on par with the speed of time and the speed of technology.
But it is very difficult to cope up with the changing scenario. No doubt,
material culture, which gives us an identity apart from other identities, is
driving us crazy and thrusting competitiveness on us. In spite of all the
comforts and luxuries surrounding us, we face stress, loneliness and boredom.
Befitting one to the changing circumstances requires a total new mental set up
and a new psychological approach. We Indians have a different approach to
material culture because according to our Indian philosophy, indulging oneself excessively
in materials leads to bondage instead to salvation. Tossed between the Indian
philosophy and the traditions on one side and the global consumerism and the
information technology on another side, it is pretty difficult for one to fuse
these ideologies and lead a balanced life.
My husband is very much a
techno savvy. When a new electronic gadget surfaces in market, he is very much excited
and elated to know about its features in detail and possess it at any cost
before somebody flaunts it and speaks about. One day he was very much impressed
with a pooja performance done by a Brahmin priest who was making use of his
mobile phone for Mantra chanting during the pooja ceremony at my neighbor’s
house during Ganesh Chathurthi. After
the pooja ceremony, my husband got that mantra downloaded to his mobile from
the mobile of that Brahmin Priest. With lot of enthusiasm, one day during
Dasara Festival, he commenced his Pooja with that downloaded mantra chant. I
was watching him silently with mixed feelings. Instead of using mobile for
mantra chanting, if one chants mantra oneself with whole heartedness, it certainly
creates involvement and registers peace in oneself. But life is changing so
fast due to the new gadgets that formatting one to these changes is really very
challenging, exhaustive and endless.
Coming to reality, I noticed that the
pooja was going on; the mobile was chanting mantras dispassionately and
unemotionally. I observed my husband intently, who was doing pooja, total involvement
in the pooja was missing on his part. My mind was raging,
soliloquized to myself; trends are changing very fast these days, so
one has to change with time. Exactly, at that moment flowed in the film lyrics Dagabazare, Dagabazre………….( from the film of Salman
khan,Dabang) cutting across the mantra flow from the same phone, followed by a
peel of laughter by the children who were attending the pooja.
Gayatri
Desai
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