Onwards and upwards

Life, I say, is like, well, Vicks Vaporub.

Didn’t you expect nonsensical metaphors here? You haven’t read my earlier blogs then. Please do. πŸ˜€

Okay, so back to Vick Vaporub. You rub it on your chest, your neck, around your nose, may be if you mistook it for Zandu balm, then on your head. You do it when you are sick. It makes you feel better. And it makes you better by evaporating itself, when it leaves your skin.

Life is something that you rub on yourself superficially. Haven’t you heard people (especially brown-haired, satin-skinned, beaming-eyed woman) telling fat nerdy bearded geeks – “You’re sick, Get a Life!!”. So typically those geeks would try and get a life… by rubbing it superficially… they’ll go and swim, play a game of pool, or watch a movie, or chase girls, play guitar, sketch, paint, flirt, write, drink, drive, act, debate, code, design, orkut (v), discuss etc… Drinking following driving in the above line is purely incidental. (To be legally safe, the author does not take any responsibility for the urges emanating in the readers mind) πŸ˜€

So yes, it seems they got some life rubbed on themselves. But they still feel sick. Because, life, like Vicks Vaporub, makes you feel better only when it leaves your superficial skin. When it evaporates.

But, why?

Because, it has to get in to you, to be able to treat you, to be able make you feel less sick. And it can get in you only when it evaporates, only when it enters your lungs through your nose. It opens up what is clogged inside. That something, which is preventing you from breathing freely. That something, which is making the head heavy. It enters you, settles down and you start breathing freely.

Life is also like that. There is nothing intrinsic about those get-a-life-actions that will give you a life. Let it be, putting some colors on a canvas, or some charcoal on paper, or letting the visuals of a movie reach your eyes, or letting your body float on a swimming pool, or writing poetry for a woman, or putting your leg hard on the accelerator while driving on an empty highway. There are no measurable units of life in any of those acts. They are just superficial rubbings. You have to let it evaporate, let it leave your body, and enter you on its own.

But you still have to start by rubbing it in, and have faith that it will get inside you on it self. And remember that it would not get in, if you don’t rub it, to start with. You have to make the effort and let it go, and have faith that it will enter you … relief will follow πŸ™‚

Good punch line for the Procter and Gamble guys … right? “Relief will follow” πŸ˜›

So, life, like Vick Vaporub, being volatile, will leave your skin and go onwards and upwards, and finally get inside you. πŸ™‚

So, what’s the conclusion of the metaphor? It is not new. Somewhere in the planes of Haryana, some 5,110 years ago, a saarathi told a dhanurdhar – β€œDo your job well” πŸ™‚

5 thoughts on “Onwards and upwards

  1. Alok S. Deshpande says:

    Really good observation! The same thing applies to appreciation of art in general. I have seen many people who attend various music festivals just to show off their interests(superficial rubbing!). They don’t even mind spending many bucks for that. Whats the point in all this show off? We cannot fool ourselves. I am not saying that they should not try out the fields they have not been exposed to but they should really make a sincere attempt to understand/appreciate for their own. (getting the thing inside!!) Many students opt for some branch of engineering just because it has got wide “scope”. Instead, we should introspect and spend a good amount of time to find out what we like. Being true to oneself is the main point !

  2. Jeet says:

    oho.. too much :p hihi.. i like the “do your job well” part too πŸ™‚

  3. Aditi says:

    very deep… (pun unintended).. :)… i like the way you can make zen things seem so everyday and more meaningful in that form..

    btw.. havent spoken to u for a long time.. hope alls well… do get back in touch..

  4. Pingu says:

    Life is like Vicks Vaporub.

    Profound! My new mantra for life.

    Saved the post.This is one post I will need to read,now and then,again and again.

    Ghushe Bhaisaab,thanks.

  5. Jim C says:

    Hi there,

    there are spam links in this post –

    view-source:http://blog.ghushe.com/2008/02/23/onwards-and-upwards/

    search for ‘levitra’.

    Please edit post and remove links – as it’s pointing to my website, and affecting my business and google ranking.

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