Pollution. Crime. Politics. Corruption.
I wish I could tell you how beautiful this world is. Did you know that there are camels in India which swim? Did you know that there is a small tea seller in Delhi who gives tea to beggars for free?
I wish I could tell you.
I wish I could tell you that there is a tree in Tamil Nadu which is taller than the tallest of buildings, and is 400 years old. And that there is a persevering little plant in my backyard which is using up all of its tiny energy to grow in the middle of a stone pavement.
I wish I could tell you.
I wish I could tell you how I felt when I first heard Shreya Ghoshal’s voice. It was as if some strings of my heart were in her hands, and she could reverberate them at her will. How I felt when the usually shoving crowd in the metro parted quietly to let an old man in a wheelchair pass.
I wish I could tell you.
The world is still beautiful, but somehow, we are exposed only to the negatives. It isn’t that people who want to create or bring forth happiness are extinct. But art is no longer sustainable for people to pursue. A writer has to first do non-creative work to earn money. An actor has to act in stereotypical serials to gain attention. A painter… probably has to give up his art altogether! By the time they can afford to actually practice their own form of art, the purity of it has been tainted.
When was the last time you paid for a medicine? When was the last time you paid for a course?
…When was the last time you paid for a song?
This is why art is just a ‘hobby’, and most of the respected, well-paying and sought-after jobs are about problem-solving. Through our choices of what we monetarily support, we inadvertently belittle art and happiness and support commercialisation of ‘problem-solving’.
There is nothing wrong with commercialising problem-solving. Everyone should get paid for what they do well. But consider the market forces. If we pay only for problem-solving, it is in the market’s interest to create more problems. Take the pharmaceutical sector and tobacco sector nexus, for example. If we choose only negativity, it is in the market’s interest to create negativity. If we choose to pay only for negativity, it is in the market’s interest to create negativity. Take over-emphasis of negative media reportage for instance.
So how about turning the wheels of market forces around? Pay for happiness so people can create more happiness? Pay for art so people can create more beauty?
#SupportArtChooseHappiness