The Objective Four Hundred

I have noticed that an artwork can appeal to me in two possible ways. It could take my breath away by its sheer granduer or it could be the subtlety of the message that is appealing; i.e it allows the onlooker to relate in more than one way. When presented with this freedom, things become a lot more interesting to the observer because in a sense, he participates in creating that artwork. If we do have to classify one as subjective and the other as objective, then an artwork focussing on subtlety has to be of the subjective kind. This post is about an instance where I have taken this freedom though it wasn't probably meant to be given.

I was going through the english translation of the Tamil anthology "Pura-naa-nooru", titled "The Four Hundred Songs of War and Wisdom" by Hank Heifetz. To quote the Wikipedia, the Purananooru is a collection of 400 poems that deal with the Puram (புறம்)(external or objective) concepts of life such as war, politics, wealth, as well as aspects of every-day living. Antithetically, the "Aka-naa-nooru" is a collection of 400 poems that deal with the Akam(அகம்) - Subjective, dealing with matters of the heart and human emotions.

In the preface to his book Hank Heifetz quotes the 375th poem of the Purananooru:

"May you live long in this world as a refuge for poets! Without doubt if you were not in this world, it would be empty, and poets would not endure"

Here the original poet is most probably praising a generous patron, a King or a wealthy merchant who has rewarded him. However, since the target of this adulation isn't explicitly mentioned, I can take the liberty of assuming that the "you" in the poem refers not to a specific patron, but to the very idea of an admiring audience, that fulfills the purpose of his poem by experiencing it. Taken that way, it is an expression of gratitude from the creator of beauty, for eyes existing to behold the beauty. Without minds that relish the poem, the poet has no refuge, his world is empty.

So by being a little subjective, I've ended up making the Objective Four Hundred pay a tribute to the onlooker, the source of all subjectivity.

Choice

I have to start this post with another childhood memory. This time it is a story from an Amar Chitra Katha comic; a Jain tale. It is about a king who is brimming with well earned pride after vanquishing his enemies and wants the world and future generations to know this. He climbs a nearby hill to find a suitable place to engrave his exploits, but he is stunned to see that hillside is already covered with the chronicles of countless other kings who lived and ruled before him. Overwhelmed, he comes down a man at the beginning of a spiritual journey. I have had a similar experience with the Internet and an online networking website, Orkut. Now I am not going to start off on a spiritual quest but the experience has made me think for a while.

I was browsing through profiles and one profile caught a modicum of my attention. There was nothing extraordinary about the profile. It laid no claims to any prestigious universities or achievements and in fact it wasn’t even the profile which attracted my attention. It was the one small photo of herself that this girl had uploaded. She was strikingly pretty and had a beautiful smile. She was single and like most girls said that she was looking for friends and not dating or a relationship. My curiosity was roused and I delved deeper into her profile. It was when I clicked on her scrapbook that my mind completely changed gear from drooling to introspection. How many guys were already there; countless and I literally mean countless. That scrapbook was the most vivid collection of personalities that I had ever seen.

A lot of the entries went like, “how dio u do???cann we b friends...” and “i'm working in an mnc as software professional kindly reply....take care bye...”, but here are some of the ones that tickle:

Scrap 1:
“One song can spark a moment ?
One flower can wake the dream ?

……6 Lines of…………..

One vote can change a nation ?

……9 Lines of…………

One life can make the difference ?
You see, IT'S UP TO YOU! ?
one scrap can make friendship”

Check out the emphasis on “it’s up to you”.

Scrap 2:

“The most selfish 1 letter
“I“
Avoid It.

Most Satisfactory 2 letters
“WE“
Use It.
.............up to number 8…….

Most Enviable 8 letters
“JEALOUSY“
Distance It.

………... Number 9…..

Most Divine 10 Letters
“FRIENDSHIP”

Since when is jealousy enviable? Anyway, she knows what you mean.

Scrap 3:

“really u hvng grt tastes on music n movies...ur list says me tat..wanna know more abt u...will u scrap 2 me?”

Yeah dude, that’s exactly why you have scraped her.

Scrap 4:

“do u use close up tooth paste or pepsodent???”

Dude, I doubt if she laughed for that.

Now I don’t know how many of these guys really got to be her friends, but they have showed me how hard it is come out as someone special. What can my scrap or profile do that theirs cannot? That was one thing that hit me. Another was the level of choice that this girl wielded by her sheer existence. No need to pump iron or slog through graduate school to have this swarm of guys around her. Speaking of choice and variety, the photos they had uploaded were no less interesting; Chiranjeevi, Abdul Kalam, AR Rahman, the dude’s baby niece (For the girls to go “choo chweet”), Swami Vivekananda and even Fidel Castro (wonder who he was angry with). All these diverse minds vying for the plain simple joy of a pretty face...

But then, on a second thought, may be her scene isn’t all that rosy either. She may get to say no a lot of times, but how many times can she say yes? And can she rewind if she screws up?