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October 27, 2005

Of Distractions and Duties.

During one of my long chats with mom on the phone, I lamented about my need for more gray matter. I told her I felt dumb especially after sitting in a meeting where everyone had some interesting new idea to offer while I nodded my head in a knowing way and pretended that I was a 122 times smarter than I felt. My mom replied in that wise tone that moms tend to assume when they advise their dumb daughters,

"I think you are too distracted. You just got married. Not everyone in the meeting just got married".

While I pondered on the delightful possibility of a touch of logic in that declaration, my mom continued,

"You had LTCA, Tamil classes, your reception-party, blogging(!)...you just have too many irons in the fire. Maybe you need to concentrate on work now and not get distracted like this."

So, I sort of convinced myself that I was not actually born dumb, I also tried to sort out a few other questions in my head. So, let's first distinguish between what we are supposed to do, our duties and our distractions - I would assume, in Bits, my classes were what I, as a responsible student, should have attended and OASIS (our culfest) was what one could term a distraction. In Lex, LTCA was probably a distraction and my work was what I was meant to concentrate on. You get the picture? Now, if I rewind a bit and think of everything that has meant a lot to me, it all had to do with the distractions and not the main course (Its easier to categorize chapters of my life this way as main course and dessert - yes, very insightful of me, thank you).

I mean, the really enjoyable and sometimes really meaningful moments of life - what we call "defining" moments - were these so-called distractions. I remember the night outs during OASIS, not my classes. Maybe we live life, as k put it, for these brief breaks of adventures, the rest of life is just something that takes us to yet another "distraction" and each distraction enriches our lives more, makes it more memorable for us. But then, we need to give our daily routine its due credit. It's because these daily chores are such a bore, that we enjoy our adventures, our distractions so much so that we look forward to the next one. And this thought helps us live through our humdrum days, a spark that brightens our dull nights and makes us yearn for more.

So, here's my big thank you to all the distractions in my life. May I never have so few distractions that I actually concentrate all my energy into the daily routine of things!

8 comments:

kamal said...

amen.

Would it not be awesome if everyday was filled with a distraction, I am going to call distraction as something you really want to do. So imagine waking up and doing exactly what you want to do and not rush to the routine, wouldn't that be awesome, I guess we will need to draw a line somewhere between distraction and responsibility. The problem with all this is we need financial independence.

End of Blog to blog

Parth said...

Getting married is an excuse for sleeping off in meetings? :-) Great, I am going to use that

Narayanan Venkitu said...

Yeah, Your mom was right..I would say the same to my daughter..oops..I am a dad..and not a mom.!!

Distractions in life are always fun. All of us need fun and a change from the mundane lifestyle.!

RS said...

kamal: true...although if life were only full of distractions, I guess I would yearn for some routine :)

parth: The India marriage trip was so hectic, being at work is like being on vacation so much so that I have to remind myself it is *not* exactly vacation time!

narayana venkitu sir: True and thanks for dropping by :)

dinesh said...

Ha, how true ! But I've always wondered if it's just me and a few other jenmangal like you that depend on the distractions to take them through the day. It's always been that way for me...in lexington, just like you,I had to have LTCA/Cricket to take me through and now in NJ, I am looking hard to find that distraction. But I feel some people are gifted to be able to lable something as "responsibility" and focus on that single mindedly. I don't know when I will be able to do that ! But I am not giving up hope yet..

RS said...

Dinesh - I've seen some people totally comfortable with leading a life without distractions - just a mental state that we find difficult to adapt to, I guess :)

Zeppelin said...

hmm...i know i am commenting a little late on this... but just felt compelled to share my thoughts.. :)

plus spam panni romba naal aachu.. heheh

like you and dinesh said, its very difficult to get life through for me, without these "distractions" ... its like eating sambar saadham without some curry, thair saadham without oorga... :)

but i guess sometimes we just have to decide which is more important...well, important is not the right context.. what i meant was we have decide on the right balance between "responsibility" and "distraction" and try to keep that healthy...

cos now, after all, we need to fulfill our responsibility [meaning, working + earning] to enjoy our distractions [LTCA, etc.] right ? :)

RS said...

phil - exactly, well spammed :)

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