Life! does thou pride thy absurdity? That we mere fools linger to thee...
This is not an excerpt from a Shakespearean dialect or a piece of wit by some 100-year-old scholar of convictions. It is an amateur collection of grotesque conjectures by this writer, compiled through an odyssey of philosophical experiences in life.
Life is insensibly swift and mean. The absurdity lies with the fact that it spurs beings to hasten their speed, but also places obstacles to slacken the expedition. Man is God’s masterpiece, yet he does not stand at the pinnacle of perfection. Blessed with a criterion for right and wrong, it facilitates him to judge. It is due to it’s tactless usage that he tends to tarry with preposterous consequences — “What am I doing, Do I need to, I have to.” As a contrast, it is due to various idiosyncrasies that one tends to look back and linger with the game of futility played by life. There is a perpetual circus going on in our heads, entertaining all mechanisms and systems away or around the vicinity.
The limbic system — the key performer — goes on conjuring with bundles of emotions, desires, memories and all other relative figments of human nature. The juggling of this behaviour makes us do many acts not expected. We might anticipate others to or simply gag or blame ourselves at this feat, but ‘thanks’ to this vicious cycle, the lingering trait proceeds. This way, it is fairly amusing to see ourselves emerge as virtual clowns.
Surroundings play a major contributing role in out relentless actions. The issue involves family, friends, colleagues or objects of material fancy.
Every-day simple examples can elaborate this phenomenon. Our life here starts like a PG-rated movie where all malice is under discretion of the elders. As maturation progresses, restrictions are removed and what we follow or forget is on behalf of our own instincts. Take gossip, as a case. Technically, one does not want to, but a friend’s phone call gets inevitably saucy to learn what attitude Miss X was wearing or how corny someone’s presentation was. Similarly, one doesn’t have to lie, but fake integrations spring forth automatically as the situation demands.
Another scenario comes into being. We co-exist with our worldly foes. For personal comprehensions, these are people who are detested, disliked and despaired in accordance with varied degrees. Its reasonably foolish to expand valuable time even loitering in their thoughts. If relations are so impossible and uncompromising, why does one still want to be glued to past quarrels and unfairness.
In this marathon of time, we are still retarding along paths of status, wealth, luxury, power and diversities of materialistic assortment. The ‘can’t-live-with-or-without’ social structure is where people throttle their intima to build a mantle of gaudy display. Health fluctuates with the rise and fall of short-lived provisions.
We meddle arbitrarily upon the fallacies of never-changing standards of our ambience. Moreover, circumstances force us to do so. They are as quaint as the irreversible inherence of living in Karachi. What a great show of reflexes does one show as a mish-mash of abusive literature rolls down one’s tongue, particularly when a conniving bus driver steers his mechanical beast to overtake and puff diesel smoke at one’s agony.
We speak of Karachi streets, but what about the garbage and scum lying undisturbed in our posh localities? Unfortunately it is only during some project assignment or a divulging revelation upon the counsellor that a sector might become trash-free.
Our educational architecture is rooted on sustained principles. It is a common cry of every discerning student for the course books to change. The concern is of prior notation to the English text. The same prose, short stories, plays and novels run like a hereditary trait. So what if Rudolf Rassendyll was crowned King of Ruritania centuries ago!
Apart from the mentioned, there is a category that needs special attention. The regard is to persons who are nice. No, not the dictionary ‘nice’ but the ‘naive-individuals-chumped-at-ease’ nice. The simpletons who believe that life is an Utopia of kindness. First to field and last to yield. A slight word of flattery and leave the rest to a cajoled, melted smile. There are conceding times when such eccentrics realize how misinterpreted their goodness is. But the stereotypical mould is what makes them carried away to social modalities, losing self justification.
There can be a long-tarrying list of such exemplary illustrations. However, the summation is that our craving disposition has an endless desire to ‘wait and see’, physical co-existence and habitat are an attractive source to goof around without advantageous effect. So whether we dilly-dally along the way for the sake of addiction, attention, compulsive obsession or mere time pass, silly conclusions only finger towards the laughing stock. It is the sagacious that discriminate and decide whether to throw such absurd afflicting comics upon the self or not. After all, laughter ends with tears and aches, that’s when all the ludicrous lingering is seriously lost.
Life! does thou pride thy absurdity? That we mere fools linger to thee... 
