Maybe we are more fond of Gandhis, Jobs, Hitlers or Tendulkars. But there was only one Gandhi, one Jobs, one Hitler or one Tendulkar. That's it. Rest are the nobodies who are there to get defocused from the picture. Sometimes I feel that the world would be very boring, if it was filled with plenty of Gandhis or lots of Jobs or more of Hitlers or ton of Tendulkars? But thanks to the nobodies, the world is far from boring. It's way more buzzing than it should be.
Despite this, we are obsessed with the concept of One Hero. If that wasn't enough, we also invent The Villain. And then we celebrate the herohood. I wonder how the aspiration of becoming the Hero or finding the Hero became a socially acceptable and popular goal. Some days I find this superhero craving burdensome. What if... I don't want to be a superhero. What if... I don't want anything grandeur. How about, instead of dreaming about being a Gandhi, we simply try not to be a Hitler? Isn't that a way more sensible and achievable goal? I feel that it's a way better middle-ground. Because if so, then most of us have already won. Rest of the life is not a race anymore to be somebody but it's more about celebrating who we already are. Celebrating the nobodyhood. Just writing this is so refreshing!
One old chap once said to me, "why get so fussed about problems? Just like how you cry out loud to accept your own imperfections, how about we accept these as the imperfections of society. We didn't create problems overnight. It took time for us. Your smartass generation will take a little more time and invent new problems for next generation. So until the new ones are invented, live with the ones you have. When the new ones would emerge, the one bothering you right now would disappear. and trust me you'd miss them. We don't need heroes. We just need time." Some of the days, I totally agree with him. And then I wonder how about a story of nobody who is not a problem solver but a problem-co-exister... if there is a word like that.
So... I need a story of a nobody who hardly has anything and it's all okay. There is no massiah coming. There was no massiah ever. Not in personal life. Not on a world stage. A story where we are all melting ice-creams. We are taught to dream of becoming an iceberg. But seldom we notice that the icebergs are melting too. In hindsight, when we manage to keep this dreaming business aside, we also realise that we carry a flavour. Over the period of time, but much before we are super-old, we learn that there is fun in enjoying this very own flavour too... and we learn to cherish the joy when we mixed with the neighbouring flavour and occasionally made sundaes. A story that tells me that that's all what there is.
In sum, I want to read a story of nobody which is not spectacular in a popular sense, but it tells me how some nobody navigated thru the tiny miniscule day to day challenges which seemed like a world war more often than not! I think I will relate to that. And if you look carefully, there are so many nobodies who win that war, every freaking day and go back to being nobody as if nothing happened and get ready for the next day to fight it all over again, even if it looked like being stuck in a Groundhog's Day. In a grand scheme of things, I find this part way more spectacular. Imagine this... whatever the drama that maybe unfolding on the inside or outside, these nobodies get up every day, lay the brick. Get up next day, lay the brick. and keep doing it. They did it when we were turning from apes to humans, they did it when hunters were becoming farmers and causing a chaos, they did it when some dudes were going crazy to conquer the world, they did it when the world was playing war-war, and they are doing it now. Just laying the brick. Nothing grand. One brick at a time. One day at a time. That's the mantra.
You see, these nobodies make the whole world proud. Nobodies actually make up this whole world. Nobodies run the world. While writing this post, I looked around to notice the people whom I'd generally fail to notice. There's a bus driver, a postman, a gym instructor, a traffic police, parents, security guards, the folks incessantly swiping up or down or right or left. The guy coding for a unicorn, an investment banker, teacher, artist sketching in a tiny book. They are all nobodies. Nobodies... Most of whome may hardly crave for being the topper in their class. Nobodies.. who are perfectly awesomely average. Nobodies... made out of the same flesh n blood. Nobodies... who get affected by rain, heat, storm, virus, food, etc, etc, etc, and etc. Nobodies who are hardly perfect. Nobodies.. who laugh, cry, outrage all at the same time. nobodies... Who are generally on track.
Irony with these nobodies is that they might get only one or two things right in their whole lifetime. Some of them will know that's good enough. and some of them will run behind finding what is good enough. I think this should be taught in the schools too. On the side of showing pictures of somebody and asking children to get motivated and get inspired, one should also tell them that... these somebodies were one in a million. They can consume them some times when they must. But they don't end up doing an overdose. Just like how news can be depressing, over-inspiration can be depressing.
I think that the pursuit of winning the world cup, winning the match, being the topper is injurious to nobodyhood. It's unreal and unnecessary. If there is only one topper, then who are rest of them? Why create a format where there is one person who has a possibility of being happy? How sadist is that! Instead, how about we tell the kids in school, "You all will get to do some shit. Whatever you get to do, do it right. That's it. That's your bloody job. If you all do it, the world will be a much better place. There is no topper and there is no loser. You get what you all are... not what you alone are. Look around you. The grocery store, the train station, the book shop, the construction site, the science labs, offices, the banks. These are nobodies who work here. I doubt how many of them dreamed of doing exactly what they're doing right now as a job. But they are mostly doing their job alright. That keeps our world ticking. These are micro-inspirations. These are real and relatable inspirations. You need them like the healthy diet that you need every day. Learn absorbing these micro-inspirations. There are no books about these nobodies. These nobodies are books in themselves. Learn to read them. Go talk to them. That's all you need."
