Life Through a Pinhole

Once I was born
My parents put me in a box
And my teachers sealed it tight
I learnt about my country and culture
The best of the best in the world.
I enjoyed the festivals of life and death
Ate curry and rice with lots of spices
I felt at home
And carried it wherever I went,
Never feeling an urge to look out side the box

As I travelled across the globe
I saw every one else
Inside their boxes too
With the motto
We are the best
Looking at me
The alien, the underdeveloped, with despise
Just like me looking at them.

As I grew and got educated and specialized
The box became smaller in size
From science to biology
To molecular biology
To neuroscience
To adrenal gland
To medulla
To a small protein
That controls the gene expression.
That fascinated me
Enticed me
Allured me to spend all my life with it
Inside a tiny box within the box

My window became narrower and narrower
This tiny part of the box became my world
My source of happiness and pain
My frustration and my salvation.

Once in a while
I look thru the pinhole
And see the mega world outside
The glories of sunrise and full moon
Bipolar artists giving colors to life
Toddlers dancing to the beat of music
Video and audio clips playing
In My space, Orkut, and youtube
Monks learning more than me but without books
Waves kissing the beaches
While the stars look at them with the pang
Of a long distant lover.

Like vishwaroopa darshan by Yashoda
I see the creation alive and in motion
Decorated with wild mustard flowers, lotus buds
Cherry blossoms and ice crystals on red fruits
Cows giving birth without painkillers
And old people waiting for the passage of return
To be born again and again.

I look this world with amazement
Without understanding and realizing
The vastness of creation outside my box
But it is too vast
Beyond perception
Beyond comprehension
I better go back to my box
To my adobe and to my paradise
To feel at home
And become more specialized
By knowing more and more
About less and less.

Babru
April 1, 2008