Appearances are so deceptive, and when I say this I am not talking about others but about myself. On the outside, I think I appear to be a calm, composed and a cool-headed person, but this is not really what I am. A peek inside my mind reveals my true nature. I have a radical bent of mind with explosive views on social, economic, political and spiritual matters. Except my wife, everyone else will be rather surprised by this self-assessment, but as I said in the beginning, appearances are deceptive. Sometimes, even I am surprised by the dichotomy between my personality (which is 'cool, calm and composed') and my views (which are rebellious, radical and explosive). Both are poles apart.
My radical views would be amply revealed in my forthcoming books and I must say that at least some of my colleagues, friends and relatives are in for a shock at the kind of views I hold. I have never expressed these views in my interaction with them as I felt that my views are rather hard to digest if I were to speak out off-hand or in a casual manner. My books will introduce and initiate the topic in proper manner and prepare the ground for a gradual and appropriate revelation of my views.
But, bluntly speaking, I consider myself a born rebel. I remember two instances which reveal the streak of rebellion in me. The first instance is when we were staying in Malad and I was a school-going kid. I remember one day I was cutting my finger nails at night and my mother scolded me and ordered me to stop cutting nails at that hour. When I asked her why nails are not supposed to be cut during night time, she just said we should not cut them, that's it. So, I adamantly told her that I will cut my nails and continued cutting my nails. At which she got angry and snatched the nail-cutter from my hand and gave me a hard rap on my back! I backed out, but kept wondering why nails were not supposed to be cut during night. After I grew up, I was free to do whatever and whenever I wanted to and I have been cutting my nails any time of the day or night!
The second instance also happened during my school-going days in Malad. I and few of my friends in my neighbourhood had this habit of going around for a walk after dinner. One day when we had just started off on our usual round and walked a few steps, a black cat crossed our path. All the friends backed off, saying we should not proceed further because a black cat crossing the path is a bad omen. I was not convinced and demanded to know why we should not go ahead if the cat had crossed the path. Since they could not give convincing reply, I called them fools and cowards. I went ahead and crossed over to the other side of the line of cat's path and told them to see for themselves that nothing had happened to me. I called them to follow me, assuring them that nothing would happen to them too. All the friends, although a bit hesitant and wary, followed me one by one. Nothing untoward happened to us afterwards, and a myth was busted.
These are just two instances which I vividly remember but there might have been many more which I do not remember. There are hundreds of ways in which you can rebel against things that you do not approve of or do not believe in. And you don't need to be waving a flag marching down the street shouting slogans to be a rebel. You can be a rebel with your silent but rebellious views and actions.
My radical views would be amply revealed in my forthcoming books and I must say that at least some of my colleagues, friends and relatives are in for a shock at the kind of views I hold. I have never expressed these views in my interaction with them as I felt that my views are rather hard to digest if I were to speak out off-hand or in a casual manner. My books will introduce and initiate the topic in proper manner and prepare the ground for a gradual and appropriate revelation of my views.
But, bluntly speaking, I consider myself a born rebel. I remember two instances which reveal the streak of rebellion in me. The first instance is when we were staying in Malad and I was a school-going kid. I remember one day I was cutting my finger nails at night and my mother scolded me and ordered me to stop cutting nails at that hour. When I asked her why nails are not supposed to be cut during night time, she just said we should not cut them, that's it. So, I adamantly told her that I will cut my nails and continued cutting my nails. At which she got angry and snatched the nail-cutter from my hand and gave me a hard rap on my back! I backed out, but kept wondering why nails were not supposed to be cut during night. After I grew up, I was free to do whatever and whenever I wanted to and I have been cutting my nails any time of the day or night!
The second instance also happened during my school-going days in Malad. I and few of my friends in my neighbourhood had this habit of going around for a walk after dinner. One day when we had just started off on our usual round and walked a few steps, a black cat crossed our path. All the friends backed off, saying we should not proceed further because a black cat crossing the path is a bad omen. I was not convinced and demanded to know why we should not go ahead if the cat had crossed the path. Since they could not give convincing reply, I called them fools and cowards. I went ahead and crossed over to the other side of the line of cat's path and told them to see for themselves that nothing had happened to me. I called them to follow me, assuring them that nothing would happen to them too. All the friends, although a bit hesitant and wary, followed me one by one. Nothing untoward happened to us afterwards, and a myth was busted.
These are just two instances which I vividly remember but there might have been many more which I do not remember. There are hundreds of ways in which you can rebel against things that you do not approve of or do not believe in. And you don't need to be waving a flag marching down the street shouting slogans to be a rebel. You can be a rebel with your silent but rebellious views and actions.
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