Blue – the colour of life! Of all the colours that surround us, blue is the most abundant. A notion of serenity, blue is an abstraction of stability and reliability. We, the residents of the ‘blue planet’ love blue in all of its multitudinous shades. Blue has a calming effect as long as we see it but completely contrary feelings emerge when one feels blue.
Yes, feeling blue is not just a sensation of misery. Many a time, it includes a whole lot of dismal feelings, disconsolate thoughts, morbid moments and lugubrious experiences. One never voluntarily feels blue, but it is the challenging offerings of life topped up with the mindless malevolence of the people around that initiates the cycle of feeling blue, which, if not put to check at the right time ends in the form of “I quit”- a trendy disencumbering of the self just as a donkey is unburdened of its load; the only difference being that the latter is done on reaching the destination – a small addition but that which makes all the difference!
The kind of mechanised lives we live might well insinuate towards its triteness. Once afraid of being overtaken by machines and robots, man himself advanced towards being one till now, where a robotic life is the key feature of each one of us, our lives nothing but live manuals. Our journey through life is akin to passing through a labyrinth. There is a complex network of irregular passages, all looking alike. Deception is the key player of life. It deceives, and misleads, sometimes so hard that in an attempt to make our way out, we choose the wrong path and end up in an abyss of despair. While some of us no sooner surrender to the stark realities of life, others take their own sweet time to understand life, bask through its several layers and ultimately emerge out victorious. Yet there are others who succumb – succumb to the challenges that life throws at them. They kneel down not to get up again but to get to the ground forever.
To our utmost disappointment, a majority of those who belong to the third category comprises youth! Youth – maybe just another word for countless aspirations, myriad dreams, infinite hopes and endless expectations. But nowadays, much of what youth gives back, most unwittingly, in response to the aforementioned is utter dismay caused by their own consternation towards life which is not easily allayed. Numerous hapless names, big and small, popular and lesser-known, and many a time some far away from the social limelight in shanty dwellings have come up on the forefront as those who fed their thanatos as if ‘born to die’! It often intrigues many of us to know as to how young lads and lasses, who don’t even give up in the games that they play with utmost resolve, so easily relinquish their grip over life. The inexhaustible courage, the urge to take over, and the fiery spirit that characterise youth, the recklessness of their being, the dauntless demonstration of bravery in chasing their dreams – all boils down to nothing. Sabotage!
The question that remains unanswered is ‘why’ – Why is the trend of people(in general) and youth (in particular) ending their life so faddish? We often wonder if they who ended their life felt no internal struggle, no desperation, no confusion, and no bewilderment before willingly leaving a world which is at least much more certain than the one they chose to enter? Or is it that they are quite certain about finding the peace there that they could never attain in this world! But who has seen Death? Who has come back from the grounds to narrate the good or bad experiences of being there? But who knows, maybe during their last shallow breaths and long exhalations, they do realise the catastrophe brought about by their own hands unto themselves, their entire life boiling down to a total fiasco! And maybe in the midst of this realisation occurs their long final exhalation while the Death Angel is gulping down the last remnants of their soul. Alack! For the realisation dawns upon the perpetrators of self too late. But, the carrots are cooked! And there is no ‘undo’ button to reverse the circumstances.
Zendagi Migzara – Life goes on, regardless. But it doesn’t. Life doesn’t really end for those only who willingly choose to embrace death. It ends for those who have seen the ‘now dead’ once come to life! It ends for those who have raised the former painstakingly. It ends for those who gave up their present to secure the future of those who couldn’t see their future except for the blanket of troubles surrounding it, hardly realising that darkness is always followed by light. No rocket science though but perhaps too bit of a heavy dose to trespass little minds – that suicide is not the way out of the trials of life but a gateway to the trials of hereafter! Ending life is not synonymous to ending the trials associated with it. Its repercussions are way too much – both for the one who is gone and for those left behind.
The colour blue may thus be seen akin to life. When painted on the wall, it is known to be calming and relaxing while the same colour associated with a feeling evokes doleful sensations. The best definition of life seen this way may be a pivotal interplay of black and white where the absence of one necessitates the presence of other. This is why the crisp air that normally energises us sometimes feels like piercing the edifice of our being. The majestic flight of a kite inspires or else gives out ominous feelings. The sweet chirping of birds at sunrise mesmerises and many a time is no less than a noise. The crimson coloured leaves that beautify the autumn give out a feeling of blood-stained creatures. But herein lies the beauty of life – good and bad intertwined to give it a sweet and spicy tinge.
We, the residents of the ‘blue planet’, who love blue in all of its multitudinous shades should therefore learn to embrace the darker shades of life along with the brighter ones. After all, it is always better to walk around in bit of a haze to attain and appreciate the final limpidity of mind and heart. Period!
Asma Majid has done Masters In English Literature from University Of Kashmir