When the world asks you to play safe and smart

It has been a while, since I had any controversies attached to my rather peaceful life since past one year. Recently, there has been a big one. And, it is so insulting on the part of my employer, that I feel disgusted to even mention it here. So, I have simply stopped thinking about it anymore. But, this circumstance has given dimensions to some new thought process of mine. I have got many lectures from my parents and friends, about “playing it safe”. 


“What if they are unfair to you, you are not the only one suffering from their injustice.” 


“You should ignore such things, keep a safe path, don’t raise your voice against the ‘autocrates’. I understand they are wrong, but we are still doing ‘naukri’ and are their ‘naukars’. We should play safe, instead of raising voice against things; we don’t know what that would result into. Just be quiet and do what others are doing. Suffer!!”

Well, I guess, now I know why I don’t gel well with people around me. Most of the people I know, want to play it safe. They want safe jobs, come home to their safe relationships, drive safe cars, make safe investments, have safe thoughts and they attribute all this to have a safe and secured life all through the way.

My all time favorite quote has been the Darwin’s theory of “Survival of the Fittest.” These people are finest example of this theory. They love it, dictate it all to the core and then breed further to make the most of the population to be their kinds. They are actually playing very safe and smart.

Nevertheless, there are other kinds of people too. And I am talking about the group that lives its life in thrill and adventure. The kind of people, who just don’t think out of the box, but literally live outside the box. These people thrive on adventure and thrill. They want change, newness and bring revolution to the life, at any given stage. They adore innovation and creativity. They love to explore unknown and unseen horizons of life. They push their limits to maximum capabilities in order to achieve something they think of, which no one had ever dared to think, let alone achieve it. These people develop into visionaries, who have a habit to understand and perceive something beyond where we stand today.

Yesterday, I was watching the movie “What the bleep do we know, Down the Rabbit hole?”. There was a scene when Dr. Quantum (cartoon) traveled to a two dimensional world. This was a place where everything was in two dimensions, the houses, the offices, even the people. They had no understanding about cubes, spheres, or anything that has to do with a third dimension. There was only forward, backward, left and right. No above and below. The people never knew about a third dimension. And when they saw Dr. Quantum made up in a 3D, they got scared, ran away, screamed and thought him to be a ghost. Just one amongst them, stepped forward to talk to him. She asked him queries about her doubts, about what Dr. Quantum was, and how was he so different, etc. She stepped forward to grasp the concept of 3 Dimensions. She went forward to allow Dr. Quantum to make her see her world from ‘above’. And, when she saw it, she was baffled, by exploring the beauty of what was unknown and ‘unsafe’ for her.

I am not asking you to become a dare devil and do things stupidly. Please, don't take me wrong here. But, what I am trying to say is, it may happen that you firmly believe something, right from the core of your heart. You know that by every means you are right. What I have learned about human mind, is that whenever a person is doing something which is not right from his senses or something which may harm him by some other means, there always comes a warning to him, from some unknown mysterious inner voice. But, it will come, which he may chose to ignore or accept. And, when he ponders upon his thoughts, in peace, he always gets to know the answer, whether it is right or wrong.

The people who live outside the box have some enhanced capability of this. But, since they are in minority, they are often not understood or supported by the mainstream population. Obviously, they are not rebels, but are accused of being rebellious, just because they can not embrace the common understanding of rules, regulations and policies. I have been termed as one, so I can say that affirmatively.

Such people are not anti to the policies. Also, they do not require any group support to prove their points. I have seen many youngsters, who feel that by getting a weird hair cut, tattoo or weirdest dress, or by misbehaving with others, they can prove to be brave and different from others. Yes, they are different, but not in a positive sense. What are they contributing to anyone by doing this? Neither to themselves, nor to anyone else. Such behavior is just an expression of their own anger and resentment turned inside out.

They don’t change the world. Instead, they dangerously tend to follow the path, which may be derogatory and harmful to themselves and the world around them. I certainly don’t intend to talk about such people here.

If you want some flattering examples to make my point clear here, then I am talking about people like Albert Einstein, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and some others, which you may not be knowing, but can find at wikipedia. I am certainly not comparing myself to them. But, they are a kind of design model, everyone can relate to, so I preferred to use their names here. I could have chosen to write instances of people I feel as my role model, like for me it is my mom's younger brother (my uncle). Anyways, my point about such people are that, they never tried to be different or go against anyone. They simply “WERE” different, they thought in a different way. Their actions were not dependent on any particular individual’s behavior. They had their own mindsets, which they followed with compassion and devotion.

The only thing that separated them from others was, their will power to stand tall against the anger, repression and negativity surrounding them. They believed something, and they followed their belief with complete commitment.

I have seen people who are rehearsed of playing safe and smart and become frightened of such innovative thinkers. And, in their fear of getting overpowered, they try to suppress those who are staying out of the box. But, when the time has passed, the future turns back to look and salute at those who stayed out of the box, and marked a new beginning for others playing safe inside the box. When our future can admire them, why can’t the present do the same? When future generation can see that those people fought for higher ideals because in their heart of hearts they truly believed that things could be better, why can’t people see the same in present?

Today there are millions of people who would change the world with their beautiful open-minded hearts and their incredibly brilliant minds, especially the upcoming teenagers and young adults in their early twenties. They feel that there is no point in even trying because the current political and cultural environment is so against them. I would be lying if I claimed that what you see as extreme hostility towards change was not at a peak right now. You are right. They do not want to change again, but you are right, it is time for another change and you are the ones to help bring it. Do not be afraid of the backlash. If I start counting it for myself, I may have severe injuries all fresh and reopened again and again. People accuse me of being non-compromising and non-adjusting and of being 'hot-headed'. I listen, but I may be insane or something, because such taunts and torments don't seem to change me at all. And, then people call me 'adamant'!


I can only say what I do. Though, it has made my life much troublesome than peaceful. Still, I have my faith This may not be the right time for me to preach such things. But, no matter what stage I am in, I'd always suggest you to stand tall and do what you know in your heart is right and just for all, not just what benefits a chosen few. You know that ignorance can no longer rule the people. 


You know that blind obedience is no longer a viable option. I certainly don't follow or obey anything, which doesn't support my thoughts or satisfies my quest for acceptance.

People say that the signs are all here and Armageddon has begun. How selfish to assume that your God will come carry you off to heaven, therefore you do not have to care for the people and planet that are going to be left in the wake of your final choices. Who is to say that is not the ultimate test of who stays and who gets to ascend to a better place? If you had to choose who were truly worthy of burning in hell or going to heaven, would you pick those who were killing in the name of God or those who were crying out for love, equality, and to save the planet?