All Hail Nihilism

This is going to be a short post. Haruki Murakami is one of my favorite authors. And as I browse through one of his novels (A Wild Sheep’s chase, incidentally I have already read 8 of his novels), I feel the reason why I like his writing style so much, is because he focusses on the mundane, daily aspects of our life.

Not some glamorous world tour, not some fancy murder mysteries, not some adventurous secret agent like James Bond, or Ethan Hunt, or Jason Bourne. No fantasy fiction either (Though of course the book has a lot of magical realms or mystical things to it). Which means we wont find the Starks battling the Lannisters, or Neo finding his way out of the Matrix, or Frodo making his way to Mordor to destroy the One Ring.

No, rather most of his books depict a male protagonist, who is usually solitary and lonely facing certain unique situations (usually negative or sad). He usually cooks his own food, listens to some classic music, goes out for a brief walk in the park, occasionally goes shopping for clothes, feeds his pets, goes to the library and reads certain books, uses public transport to commute across the city, speaks with certain random strangers at times, and listens to the birds chirping while doing his morning walk. Or he might be busy cleaning his dishes, or taking his dog out for a walk.

Yes, these are the things which we usually do on a daily basis, but seldom pay heed to. We might catch up with a tv show, or go through the pages of a novel, or just lie down on the bed with a beer can and listen to some relaxing music. But more often than not, we crave for out of the world, materialistic things. We feel that the Euro trip vacation will make us happy. Or getting that new job, or a new girlfriend or boyfriend. Or purchasing the latest gadgets in the markets, or eating at the latest cafes or joints which have opened up, in order to be socially accepted and to upload pictures on social media.

Yes, our instagram and Facebook accounts matter more than having a long interesting conversation with someone. Checking into Cafes has become the Thing to do, as is checking into international airports.

While trying to seek the glorious, we have forgotten to pay heed to the little things in life, for those are ultimately which matter and which will result in bringing us happiness. For life otherwise has no meaning and no purpose. We are born, we do certain things, get into certain professions, create some relationships and then we die. In the rush to glory, maybe pausing for a bit, and taking a step back to reflect, might help.

Until later, from a nihilist. Adios.

Living the Mundane Life with Glory

Today was an interesting day. Not that kind of interesting. Majority of the time, I would lead what you would call a typical ‘dull’, bachelor life.

Go to office on weekdays, come back home, have dinner, go off to sleep. Wake up, repeat. And that’s about it. On weekends, I will mostly immerse myself into reading, playing video games and watching tv series, with an occasional outing with friends or eating out. Board gaming was a passion, but unfortunately, the sole proper board gaming café in Kolkata is going to shut down. I miss Mumbai in that respect.

But by reading Murakami, I am amazed at how he describes this so called mediocre, dull life in his books so well. Just a typical day, where the narrator, takes a shower, makes his toast and coffee, sits down at his table, usually alone and listens to some good music. Or he goes out for a walk at the local park, sometimes takes the train to a particular destination, watches people go about their daily schedule, such as the milkman delivering milk, the librarian maintaining her accounts, so on and so forth.

And you know what, that’s what life essentially is. It is not a glamorous show off of your latest Europe vacation, or posting those selfies in 5 star hotels on Instagram, or giving hash tags of Foodporn at expensive restaurants, or having the most expensive of scotch with your baes, or checking into every international airport on Facebook. We have become social media validation seekers, chasing a hollow, meaningless goal which only gives us temporary pleasure. And as Mark Manson mentions in his book ‘A subtle art of not giving a f*ck’, seeking pleasure will only make you more miserable in the long run. Rather, accept pain and suffering as part of your life, and seek to enjoy the process of doing things. That in itself will bring you happiness.

While the day-to-day activities might seem pretty mundane, 95% of your life comprises of it. We should learn to accept what we have, and not compare our lives with the so-called perfect social media life of others. You do not have to party at expensive pubs every weekend just to pretend that your life is more cool and happening at others. Pursuit your own specific interests, and learn to enjoy the process, no matter how strenuous or cumbersome it might appear to me .

Personally, I am trying my hands at cooking. Though I am not good at it, and I do end up making a huge mess in my entire kitchen, I have nevertheless managed to make few items, and I take pleasure out of it. Even if it drains me out physically. I have also started walking for at least 30 minutes daily, and it helps calm my mind and take my tension off from my hectic schedule at work.
I am reading a lot of good books as well, and it helps adding to my knowledge and experience. Here are the names of books which I am reading at the moment:

• Triggers, by Marshall Goldsmith – Corporate Self Help
• A Wild Sheep Chase, by Haruki Murakami- Fiction
• The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoyesvsky- Classical Russian Literature
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, by Mark Manson- Non Fiction
• Catalyst, by Chandramouli Venkatesan (Recommended by my friend Divya)- Non Fiction- Management
• The Gene, by Siddhartha Mukherjee- Non-Fiction/Biology
• A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin- Fantasy Fiction
• A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth- Fiction
• Faultines, by Raghuram Rajan- World Economy

And I have recently completed the following books:
• The Country of First Boys, by Amartya Sen (A collection of his essays)
• Lone Fox Dancing, Autobiography of Ruskin Bond
• Democrats and Dissenters, by Ramachandra Guha- Non-Fiction, History
• What Got you Here Wont get you There, by Marshall Goldsmith
• Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen by Porus Munshi

Yeah I know, that’s a lot of reading. And a lot of people ask me, how can I possibly read so many books at once, and that too on multiple genres, without getting confused or lost. Well, I really don’t have an answer, except for the fact that I have been reading since as long as I can remember, and it has become a habit. It is something which I am extremely passionate about, and I am sure I will carry on reading till the day I can. One of my next goals is to get a nice book shelf created.

Today, I went and visited Birla Planetarium in Kolkata. I remember I had come here as a kid. I saw a show in the dome, which resembles the one at Nehru Planetarium. The show was titled ‘Cosmic Collisions’ and was a refreshing experience to see the virtual night sky, all lit up.

Few more things which I would like to do, is to get involved into some social work, and also try my hands at theatre/drama. Lets see how it shapes up. Till next time.