S K Bhat
Living a low-key life, high on ideals had always been a fond liking of most our ancestors who lead a simple rustic life engrossed in mundane things and yet enjoyed every bit of it. Farming having been their primary source of income had become more of a way of life for them rather than remaining just an occupation. But of late that way of life has ceased to be and the consequences are here to be seen as the trinity of modernity has converted the man into a machine rendered ever in quest for money little caring for the sense of satisfaction. The hectic routines have left the man really sapped and without energy to do something actually meaningful and really gainful. But in the face of all this, the miserable condition of the people busy only in irrational and senseless materialistic pursuits speaks for itself. It is this state of emptiness inspite of plenty that the man is sure to switch from the mad rat race and bargain for a better personal order where his life’s satisfaction and peace of mind would be restored to a centre place as he would then have such a sensibility to wonder about his own short comings and administer the suitable remedy appropriate to his lacking.
Here is a real life account, supporting the premises, of a man who distanced himself from the mad rat race, albeit, very late in his life. Even though he experienced a momentary bliss it was bit too late for him.
“I wasted my life”, confessed a former CEO of a reputed steel company to this scribe long back, while revealing, “since I retired a year ago I bought a chunk of land on Bhilai outskirts and am doing a bit of gardening, a bit of farming and the way I am enjoying it I often feel that all these years, while working as a top executive in different steel companies after my Masters in electric engineering, I had just wasted my life for it is here and now that I have begun to find a real work satisfaction. As my mind gets engrossed here I feel I have, at last, found my calling”.
This coming from an otherwise highly successful person does not go without profoundly meaning attached to it. This practical anecdote quoted, the premises of which hovers around the futility of mad rat race that people have set themselves in, is of one A K Fotedar who had earlier shared his experiences with this Scribe but is now no more with us in this world as he passed away within few years of his retirement.
Another beautiful human interest story worth telling, elucidating the premises though revealing of a very touching resolve, is of a man who actually distanced himself from the mad rat race and look how he turned the surroundings around him.
Even as a degree in engineering from IIT Delhi, a Masters degree, and a PhD from Houston were just enough for Alok Sagar, an ex-IIT professor, to lead a life in limelight, he instead settled for a life in oblivion in order to help the hapless tribals through his little bit, living for 32 years in the remote tribal villages of Madhya Pradesh, serving the people living there.
Actually after teaching at IIT Delhi for just two years, where he groomed numerous students including Raghuram Rajan (the ex-RBI governor), Alok resigned and started working for tribals in the Betul and Hoshangabad districts of Madhya Pradesh. Now for past 26 years, he has been living in Kochamu, a remote village with 750 tribals, lacking both electricity and roads, with just a primary school to boost of the governmental decentralization measures..
What makes Alok’s story truly inspiring is his simplicity. He owns just three sets of kurtas and a cycle- spending most of his day collecting and distributing seeds among tribals. Closely associated with the Shramik Adiwasi Sangathan, he spends most of his time working for their cause.
Alok has been reported to have planted more than 50,000 trees in the region as he believes that people can serve the country better by working at the grassroots level. “In India, people are facing so many problems, but authorities are busy proving their intelligence by showing their degrees rather than serving people,” Alok was quoted by one National daily as saying. Incidentally the very National daily cared to quote him only when it had to, out of News interest obligations, carry a news of an interesting incident revolving around Alok’s imminent arrest when his low profile had nearly brought him in trouble at the hands of fame-seeking mainstream world (the same world which he had quit years earlier). Actually during Betul’s recent district elections, local authorities grew suspicious about Alok so much so that, left with no alternative, he had to reveal his long list of qualifications which surprised the district administration beyond their imagination that they had to verify the same only to find its veracity and it is here the media got its act going.
From these anecdotes and real life experiences we can safely conclude that living a low key life, high on ideals is the best way out of the current mess. Besides being the only option available which help increase longevity, it can actually safeguard the man from unnecessary burn out at an early age. And in this context, perhaps the best alternative could be in the detached wisdom of our ancestors who adopted farming as their main profession because farming is the only work life where apart from being close to nature, one needs not submit to the whims and fancies of the people. One is completely free and because of its in-built independence one can genuinely be true to self and others; never compelled to take recourse to lies and habits that may result in guilt.
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