Israel, Idiocy and Introspection...

Israel Khan is a cab driver in Mumbai. On the outside he is a man who would just get lost in an ocean of people but if one were to delve deeper into the person, he is just not another cab driver. He is a man passionate about life. His raison de’tre in Mumbai is his dream of standing on the same pedestal as the King Khan. A struggling actor/singer, who is trying to follow his fervor for Bollywood, wants to be completely naïve to the competition around. He is naïve, not because he is ignorant; but, because he is a person who would be categorized as a hopeless romantic. A hopeless romantic whose only passion is simply pursuing his career in the acting/singing arena as that is what he has set his heart on. Contrary to the use of the adjective of ‘hopeless romantic’, Israel’s doctrine of life is- “Umeed hi to zindage ki neev hai.” (Hope is the foundation of life). The striking feature about Israel’s personality was the courage and the innocence with which he wanted to run after his heart’s success.
Fifteen minutes in to a conversation with him and one would think that the man is drunk; yes, the man is inebriated with the zest for life. The words fear, security and inhibition do not feature in his dictionary. He has studied the Islam literature and the knowledge is used to pen down some of the best poems and ghazals that I have heard. Israel is a dreamer –a dreamer who in spite of never fallen in love can express the emotion of love so well through his poems. After conversing with him about his written work and his ideologies, I was almost convinced that we had many cerebral similarities. The differences were that his expressions were in Urdu and mine in English and, the more obvious one that he was pursuing what he wanted to and my path of life was covered in gravel of confusion.
He is the person that each one of us wants to be or has forgotten to be. Israel is a refreshing soul to meet and also the one that leaves you with a lot to ponder on. May the blessings of his Ammi and Allah make him successful in his pursuit of happiness!
Strangers bonding over love, life and philosophy may sound outlandish. But my encounter with Israel Khan proved that such experiences do take place, however you should have the will to explore!
Idiocy is now being synonymously used for wisdom, thanks to the release of a movie that talks about how it is only the “idiots” of the society who do the wise thing of following their hearts. Honestly, there is nothing new about this lesson. There is nothing new because every one of us is aware of this teaching and each one of us is an idiot; but over the years of growing up we have only forgotten about it.
I quote Daniel Gottlieb:-“I think we’re born square and we die round.” The thought to understand is the simple fact that all children are blessed with uninhibited wisdom, but over the years the sharpness of this wisdom is lost. “Behti hawa sa tha woh…udti patang sa tha woh…” is the song that keeps playing in between during the movie. My interpretation of the song is that each one us is on the look out for the “wise child” inside each one us. People lose their innocence and along with it their wisdom as well. If every one knew how to reclaim this lost wisdom, there will be a huge population of “happy idiots” everywhere. The whole thought process comes down to the fundamental attribute of humaneness. The more human a person is, the more likely that person is going to be innocent and honest about his/her path of life. The irony, however, is that the questions revolving around this simple understanding has given birth to many restless souls.
As I write about this thought, I am taken back to the time when I was of the opinion that I have the capability to provide a platform to an entire population of people who have not yet reclaimed their wisdom . Below is the verbatim of the conversation that I had about this “wonderful idea” with a few close friends:
"There must be a lot of people like us (me) who have yet to decide what they want to do in life. If in some way I could give these people the chance and the platform to decide for themselves their calling in life and also at the same time monetize this concept.....seems like a great idea...the people I am talking about here are the people who have always been confused about their lives like us (me)....how would a person who is not focused about his life can provide a platform to the people like him or worse than him....what platform and space am i talking about...the platform will be that time and freedom will be given to these people to decide the course of their lives....so what they just come to this so called platform and while away their time...no…they will make themselves useful by volunteering for the NGO that will be set up...they will have some talent of their own…their knowledge and experience which can be channelized some where to good use...will all this be a counseling session...no i would like these people to be a part of the entire venture....the "i do not know what to do in life" people turn out to be smart ones...can be used for something good rather than they getting stuck with regular jobs....an entrepreneurial venture to make future entrepreneurs...how do we monetize this venture....do not exactly know...is this thing too far fetched…yeah it does seem like that....am i reading too many books on entrepreneurship...and just because i have nothing else to do i came with this thought....probably i need to focus on my current job...and let things be the way they are....or scratch my brains for more "ideas" like these....i feel there seem to be too many things to do in life...too little time...NGO...Grilleria...write a book…travel.....and at the same time feel good about life and enjoy the entire thing....i do not know what holds for any one of us in the future...but Inshallah they will sure be some exciting times...."
Introspection has its advantages and this time it has brought back the excitement that I was looking out for. The New Year, it seems, has taken over the role of the harbinger of good and fulfilling times!