Page 123 - Musings 2020

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A Rebellious Conversation

Akash Palrecha 2017B4A30559P

Harsh is a rebel for everyone else and a very normal person in his own view. He sees
everyone do a particular thing and, on a whim, decides to not give it a try at once. He is of the
opinion that since everyone is doing it, there must be something really stupid about the whole
affair. Unless something is timeless wisdom, like wearing a pair of blue jeans because it lasts
long, he won’t do it. Almost every conversation with him gives the other person some
unusual thing to think or worry about, although he is diplomatic enough not to sound outright
arrogant. He talks like a rebel and has the natural courage to act like one.

It’s 3 PM, 9th April 2019, and Harsh is just back to his room after a long day of regular
classes. The weather is good, and it’s one of those early April days of the year when there has
just been an unexpected rain, and the heat has died off of every tree and hostel room. The air
has the soothing smell of moisture that appears just after a gentle drizzle, the trees look bright
green, and it’s a beautiful time to take a walk outside and have a conversation with a friend.
Harsh likes to take out time whenever such opportunities arise- he believes it adds up slowly
to make a brighter life. Outside the temple, he meets Rahul, his favourite buddy to strike up
hour-long conversations about anything and everything. Today’s subject was courage,
creativity, rationality, and whether they’re in some way, exactly the same thing.

Rahul goes on, “Why did you take that year off after school? You had college admissions.
Why waste a year so that you can just loiter around town?”. “I didn’t do that, Rahul. I loitered
around, yes, but only in the literal sense. I tried making use of every second. After school
ended, I realised I was only an Adult according to the government, but not according to
society’s standards. I wanted to figure out things before going to college so I could make the
best use of my 4 years at the place. It doesn’t make sense to explore life in an institution:
you’re bound by rules, they have goals for you, you have boundaries around your brain, and
your creativity is directed, not undirected. And what’s directed creativity? I’m not sure if such
a thing exists. I needed to give my brain some space, the equivalent of a year of time that I
could as I please. So that’s what I told my parents, I have been fortunate that they have been
very accommodating. I started off the year and just kept doing everything I could get my
hands on and everything that was even mildly interesting.” “Wait, stop right there. You just
randomly wasted your time over random activities of no value?”. “No, that’s where almost
everyone goes wrong. People think that they’ll just come across something they like one day,
and then do it for the rest of their lives. That isn’t how it works. That’s like reading General
Knowledge when you’re a kid and choosing science as a stream after tenth grade because you
think you like reading amazing facts. No, you don’t do that! Nevertheless, it helped me
understand so many things about myself, about people my age, about people older than me,
about young people, about creativity, about courage, and the essential fact that everything
will work out.

You just have to be engaged with life.” Rahul goes on, “Sometimes I feel like you’ll hit rock
bottom someday with these eccentricities of yours. You can’t keep doing what you do forever,
something will go wrong someday. The society has made norms for a reason, and the reason
is that they always work. Why won’t you just do that and be fine with things?” Harsh looks at

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