Did You Speak To Your Parents Today?

After
Reading This Story, You De nitely Will.
Anirudh Arun
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Jul 11, 2015

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Hello, said Ma, in her cheerful evening voice. It was 8.30 p.m. She was probably
having dinner.
Hi, I said. What are you up to?
Im watching NDTV Good Times, she said. I zoned out. There was talk about
beaches, food or something that didnt interest me. My television which was a
mute, stale discussion about rising communalism was more interesting. I
grunted to keep myself in the conversation.
What did you eat? she asked.
Rotis, rice, raita, some paneer thing I said. I didnt ask what she was eating;
how did it matter anyway? I replied with the same words every time she asked
me. And she asked me every day, sometimes twice a day.
I visited Radha aunty today, she said. I asked her how I was related to the lady.
Ma said that she was my aunt in some convoluted way. Im sure Ive asked her the
question before. Im sure Ill ask her again. The conversation went on for two
more minutes. She asked, I answered. Then she said goodnight. I hung up.

Image source

You talk to your parents every day? said the voice from across the room.
Worse, I said. Ma calls once. Dad calls once. At least. Sometimes, I talk thrice a
day.
Ouch, she said. She played with her phone. What do you guys talk about? she
asked me.
The usual. What we ate, what we did, who we met, are we going out, when are we
coming home next, whats on the news, how Modis Twitter profile is so active
She grinned. I dont know why parents love making such small conversation. I
simply refuse to discuss such things.
What do you say? I asked her.
I dunno She got back to texting whoever she was texting. We have this
understanding.
I just dont pick up those calls, said Joint, plonking himself in front of the tele.
See? he said. Dad Calling . The phone vibrated for forty-five seconds and then
fell silent.

Doesnt that feel horrible? I asked him.

They understand man. If you tell them, theyll understand youve got stuff to do.
Why would you want to have shallow talks with them?
We have shallow talks with everyone, no? I asked, turning towards her.
They threw me blank stares, almost as if they expected me to erupt with laughter
and tell them I had them for a moment. They shook their heads no.
If your girlfriend wants to tell you what she is learning to cook, what will you
do? Hang up on her?
Its slightly harder there, he said. You need to feign attention. Continue with
your stuff.
What do you actually like talking about then? What is important in this world?
Physics, genetic science, economics
Why Philosophy, mobile technology, politics, energy!
They make our world man These are pointless trivialities we bother ourselves
with. They just expand to occupy our time. He then turned up the volume of the
television, and we returned to our own mobile devices.
My eyelids were closing. I should go to the bedroom, I thought. Im gonna crash.
Good night, I said.
Good night.
Night
The irony of the situation rushed into my head; as I walked to my room, with my
laptop cradled in my arms, my eyelids stopped feeling heavy. I smiled and
continued my walk into the bedroom.
oOo

We drown ourselves in innocent conversations without life-changing

implications all the time. We time our lives with clocks, we go to the gym, we eat
dinner together, we build routines, we laugh at stupid things, we kiss and forget
about it, we read books, we wish each other goodnight, we ask our loved ones
what they had for dinner.
It is only necessary in this overpowering void. In the beginning, there was only
emptiness. A human being was cast into this vacuum and told, Make what you
want of it!
Voids can be intimidating. Imagine you are in space. There is nothing around you.
You are floating; there is nothing to anchor you. Your feet are useless. You are
spinning, faster and faster. You cannot control it. There is nothing to grab, there
is no air, no sound, nothing. You are just a mass of flesh, alone without meaning,
without purpose, without anything to hold on to.
So humans began developing society, and complex systems to act as girders and
beams. We developed chemistry and math, mythology and music, wars and
painting. These can be seen as a gigantic framework protruding into space,
attempting to spread into this supermassive black-hole. But that is as much as
they ever will be a framework.
In order to make them useful in order to endure this void and perhaps live in it
humans must find ways to use this skeleton made of science, values, art and all
cumulative knowledge to access the world. While we access the universe, we
populate this minimal framework with habits, fleeting actions, whimsical
decisions, words and thoughts that mean nothing. These help us fill the world
and make it bearable.
The worlds of science and music and fantasy exist only so that you can carry on
with your meaningless telephone conversations. Remember that.
Pick up that phone-call. Talk.
Good night!

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7 Comments

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Urjita Singh Miranda House

How stoned were you while writing this?:-p
Like Reply

24 Jul 11, 2015 8:14am

Anirudh Arun Field Engineer at Schlumberger

Urjita - one of those few sober nights of clarity, I swear!
Like Reply

1 Jul 12, 2015 5:38am

Sharon Christy Madurai, India

That was beautiful, an exquiste piece of literature. Thank you very much for
that. "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you
something else is the greatest accomplishment of all" - Emerson. Don't
worry about other disheartening comments, only you know how precious
these conversations are, you and those who were never privileged enough
to have them even if they wanted to. I especially enjoyed the musing
adage. Kudos! Would love to read more by you.
Like Reply

1 Jul 11, 2015 8:45am

Sahiba Aggarwal Operations Manager at Calicom, Inc

very intriguing and beautiful piece of literature
Like Reply

1 Jul 11, 2015 9:22am

Sachin Singh
When I started reading this, I thought it was something about parents, and
why they are important to us. Then I went further, and got confused with
who was speaking to whom. Sometimes it was she, sometimes it was he... I
read the same the same part twice or thrice, and then I lost interest...
I don't knkwwhat the rest of the content was, but I would like to say,
Never ignore your parents. For you they may be just parents, but form
them you are their whole world. It will not hurt you if you talk to them and
ask them about their well being. They are growing old, they need you. Its
your time to take care of them. Don't be too selfish towards your parents.
Like Reply

9 Jul 11, 2015 2:03pm

Sneh Lata MITS,Rayagada

same feeling while reading it
Like Reply Jul 11, 2015 9:15pm

Humeyra Zafar Editor at NSS (National Social Services)

exactly i felt the same...........i thought its conversation betn him n
her then comes they....

Like Reply Jul 12, 2015 1:01am

Anirudh Arun Field Engineer at Schlumberger

Thanks for the honest comment. I understand how you could've
lost my thread of narration. Being more direct could've helped, I
guess.
Like Reply

1 Jul 12, 2015 6:05am

Show 1 more reply in this thread

Aayushi Bansal Gurgaon, Haryana

Hey..thank you for writing this piece...i never comment...just read...this is
my first comment, ever ; to just say thank you ...finally there is someone
you agrees that everything around us is meaning and pointless...a clutter to
fill the void...
bdw have you read albert camus' theory of
absurdism???
Like Reply

2 Jul 11, 2015 6:13pm

Anirudh Arun Field Engineer at Schlumberger

Aayushi - I'm glad you brought that up. Yes I have. I strongly
recommend Camus' "Myth of Sisyphus" and Sartre's "Nausea".
Read them, if you haven't!
Like Reply

2 Jul 12, 2015 6:07am

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