I See Ghosts

“Are you alright, Utkarsh?” I asked.

“What?”

“I said, are you alright?”

“I was.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means, you are irritating me!” muttered Utkarsh angrily.

I knew he was grumpy because he hadn’t slept well and I wished I could punch him on his face for yelling at me, but I didn’t feel like getting into a fight at that time. Faintly, I patted his back. “I’m Sorry, mate” I said. “Tell me what happened?”

Finally, he explained, “I met two kids today. Both of them were in tears and had a very similar problem. They told me that their classmates laugh at them daily. When I asked the first one specifically, he told me that one night he saw something strange from the window of his bedroom. He was sure that it was a ghost and the very next day he told his classmates about it. Since then they have been teasing him.”

I spoke, “Oh C’mon man. Are you insane? Don’t tell me that you believe in ghosts. Ghosts are a myth and if he’ll talk rubbish like this in his class, other students will laugh at him. It’s obvious.”

“He is not the one I am worried about,” said Utkarsh, “It’s the other one.”

“What did he say?” I asked.

“He told them that he wanted to do something different in life.”

Why is this world full of conformists? Why are people so resistant to think out of the box? Why are the distinctive people treated as freaks? Is it really so difficult to go unconventional in life?

Going by my personal experience, I would say, “I don’t know, but I see a pattern when I talk to people.” It’s sad to say that the people who have accomplished “big” in life never advise me to take conventional ways but the ones who “work under them” admonish me to toil so that I could “work under others” in life. Once I had a team meeting with a renowned startup-guru who was also a product designer at an eminent firm. He told us that students now-a-days seriously lack a taste in innovation. (He used a word for them, I can’t write here :p) So, Why is the number of people with innovative careers decreasing day by day? Is an orthodox society the main reason behind this?

Maybe the problem is what we are fed from the beginning. In a country like India, where bollywood & cricket are the only interests of people, actors are the only ones who we look up to in all chat shows and press conferences, the population is immensely affected  by them and their lifestyle. Fun, love & relationships, the core of almost every bollywood movie, have occupied a major part of our lives. On the contrary, in western countries where all sorts of movies are made, professionals like Zuckerberg, Phelps, Gates or Vujicic actively interact with people, students have inspiration in all sectors.

Sadly, a country which needs leaders, is nurturing a follower mindset within itself and the people who dare to think beyond are considered similar to “weirdos” who see ghosts. But as they say, only if you see the improbable, you can do the impossible. I have immense respect for the people “who see spooks” in such a “normal” world. For the ones who think these people are lunatic, “Yes, I see ghosts too and I’m proud of it.”