Legend of a layman

Legend of a Layman

By

Harun-ur-Rashid

This is the tale of a man of mediocre calibre who always indulges in daydreaming. He has lofty thoughts but lacks the prowess to materialise them. What he has to do (apart from his professional duties) in this mundane world haunts his mind. Is he going to live and die like a layman? He has asked himself the question a hundred times. The answer, however, has every time been negative. But how to live a meaningful life has remained a mystery to him. He wonders why most people are engaged in the race of ‘survival of the fittest.’ He is reluctant to concede the fact that if he does not dominate the others, they (the others) will dominate him. He also wants to defy Darwin because he believes that only ‘surviving’ is not enough for a human being: he (the human being) has to ‘live’ a dignified life, worthy of the ‘noblest creation’.

In fact, the man has always had expectations far beyond his means. He marvels at the advancement of civilisation but laments his limitations that he is not at all capable of contributing anything to it. Sometimes he daydreams of preaching a new ism or religion as, according to him, the existing isms and religions have so far been unsuccessful in their bid to establish perpetual peace for mankind on earth. But unfortunately he is neither knowledgeable enough nor blessed with any divine qualities to do so. Thus it remains a far cry for him to mitigate his craving for doing something for the entire humanity. And he has come to the conclusion that, for the rest of his life, he will wholeheartedly be praying for the salvation of the departed souls that have brought mankind to the present status of improvement.

Meanwhile, despite being merely a ‘nobody,’ he is critical of the national and international organisations for their failure in eradicating fully menaces like poverty, conflict and war, which are the main obstacles to progress. He however speaks well of some noble efforts made in this connection. He maintains that it is quite possible for the nations of the world to completely remove these obstacles if they are really sincere. To him, investment in developing and manufacturing weapons of mass destruction and in warfare is a sheer wastage of money and this can, instead, be utilised for the welfare of the suffering humanity. But he is disheartened to think that there are a powerful few who will not allow this to happen. He simply feels sorry for them and wishes that there would one day develop a good sense among them and they would shun the path of destruction.

The man in question is a keen observer of things and living beings. Thanks to his early education with science background, he has acquired some knowledge about properties of matter and characteristics of organisms. But this has rather made him more philosophical than practical in his thoughts. As a result he has barely escaped from being an atheist. He just wants to be content with the proposition: ‘God’s in His Heaven/ All’s right with the world’.   

This man is perturbed by the persistent debates between the government and opposition parties on different burning issues. He oscillates between the views of the two as there are reasons in favour of each of them. However, he becomes frustrated if, at the end of the day, a wrong decision is made by the party in power for their vested interests. He thinks that for the overall progress of the country both the ruling and the opposition parties have to make the greatest sacrifice.

True that the man has a different frame of mind; but this does not mean that he is not aware about the go of the day. He knows very well how much money matters in life or how much he has to be responsible to his family, to his office and to society. Nevertheless he is not inclined to hankering after money (i.e. making money through any means – fair or foul –) or becoming negligent to his duties due to the difference of his mentality. Rather he goes on making relentless efforts to keep cool and carry out his responsibilities with utmost sincerity.

It is obvious that such men may exist in various social contexts and build castles in the air. But it is also perceptible that they are not harmful to others which is of course laudable as there are many, unlike them, who resort to destructive deeds. It can only be anticipated that had these daydreamers been more hard-working, they would have succeeded, to some extent, in achieving what they aspire to do with the help of little luck.

Note: The writer is a Senior Journalist of Financial Express and Assistant Professor of English at Uttara Anwara Model University College.