Zamir Ahmad
The politics of our land was never without surprises. Sometimes the surprises are gory and sometimes they are amusing. They are, however, seldom pleasant. A recent such amusing surprise turned the meaning of interlocution on its back. Interlocution also means gate crashing, if one of our leaders is to be believed. And if he is to be believed a bit more, he has suddenly discovered that he owns his own party and knows how to party even with the gate crashers. His erstwhile associates are relieved that he didn’t spoil the party in its midst and, therefore, seem quite relieved to relieve him. Does he care? Newspaper reports suggest that he does not.
‘To talk or not to talk’ has always remained the nemesis of the separatist politics here. This dilemma has not only divided the conglomerate many a times, it has cost the nation some precious lives as well. The quiet talks, the track two parleys, the engagements and the discourses have not even raised the proverbial storm in the tea cup as far as Kashmir imbroglio is concerned. They have instead caused quite a few casualties. Of persons and personalities. Of ideologies and credibility as well. It is important that those who claim to lead us know the cost our nation pays for their idiosyncrasies.
There is a Norwegian fable shared in a book, “Perseverance: How To Develop It, by H Besser that merits a quote here. It may not suit our leader but it may help us to think twice before embarking on a journey to “nowhere”.
The fable is about a man who left his hometown to rejoin his fianc?e. They were to get married when he arrived. On the way he chose to take a different route because the direct route to his fianc?e was boring and lacked adventure. Eventually, the man forgot about his original objective of meeting his fianc?e and spent years on a journey to “no where.” More years passed before he realized how far he was off of his original path. As he retraced his steps to get back, his fianc?e stopped waiting and married another person. By the time the man reached his original destination, he was much older, alone and poor and had nothing to show for his long journey.
Perseverance, as anyone would tell our dear leader, is not a stand to sit upon. It is important to know what you want to achieve and stay focused on it. The distractions and the gate crashes not withstanding. It is important that a life-long journey of adventure and quest has a befitting finale. Your reason for accomplishing something must be big enough to keep you focused on the direct route regardless of what is going on around you.
Do ideals, goals and dreams have a shelf life? Maybe for the individual ones but not for those which are an outcome of national aspirations.
Mirza Galib has beautifully and very forcefully explained the importance of perseverance by saying: Wafa dari bas hart e ustuwaari asl ieman hai; marey butkhaney mein tou kaabey mein gaarho Brahmin ko. Author, H Besser, in his above cited book says, those who cannot persevere along one single line that will guide them to one particular goal are all like this man who lost his fianc? to adventurism.
