Saturday, April 23, 2005

loosing my Appreciation

Today was quite a day of realization…. Actually just a very simple thing that came across as a huge change in the way we tend to miss out the nuances of other peoples’ lives.

My office (or should I say my father’s workplace where I have joined… we wrote about that earlier) is undergoing a renovation. It’s done now but when I sat there watching all the mayhem, I was observing the way these souls were toiling. The carpenters hammering away for 6-8 hours, non-stop, the painters stroking their brushes furiously and the polish-walas… well… polishing stuff. I was trying to imagine their thought process while they spoke nothing as they worked. What will the electrician be thinking while he plugs on the bulb? What’s on the glass-fitter’s mind? The kind of lives each one of them live as they chisel their masterpieces (of course on an individual level). Well, you can say I am bored and have nothing to do, which is the truth to an extent. But it’s a hair-raiser none the less. Think about it man, these guys would have been such intricate parts of all the brilliant structures that have been built through the course of history. What would stop them from boasting about their hand in building say the Adlabs multiplex or cross-roads or the huge mall at Malad and Ghatoper?
This one carpenter had just been casually chatting to the others about what a cumbersome job it was to make the shop hoardings for Big Bazaar. Just amazes me no end. The minutest details are so well taken care of. Just for a few minutes, put yourself in their shoes and think how you would feel if you were to pass I-nox and look up at the paint job that you have done. Listen to the comments about what a fabulous structure the new cross-roads is. And now, think of it as if you never cared. Never have you looked back at this design that you have watered with your sweat and hard work…. Unimaginably cruel I suppose. But that’s how it is for them. They obey the orders of their employers and do their bit, collect their wage and move on, never to turn around and appreciate their own ‘baby’. Im saying this because this is what has come from the horse’s mouth. I cant forget that unpleasant smile that this fellow threw as he stared at the empty paint can and said in a sheepish voice “kya farak girta hai saab, ho gaya, acchha laga to theek hai, bhagwaan ki daya.”

And here we are, trying to appreciate the ‘art’ of a bloody lunatic who has made random hand-prints on a white canvas… sold for a million bucks… crap! When oh when, dear lord, will we start realizing the true value of the ‘innocent artist’? Nevermind, hota hai, chalta hai, dunya hai.

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