Welcome to the Hotel California

If we didn’t have rules about things, wouldn’t we be a happier lot? If we could just be what we would like to be and not be judged by ‘common yardsticks’ or have to follow norms for the sake of conformance? Conformance to what and why? Why do we encourage ‘sameness’ as a society, especially our society? Isn’t it the pressure to conform to societal rules, be part of the crowd, meet common expectations, that bogs down the ‘individual’ in us? Do we ever get to find out what would make us truly happy? Aren’t we always chasing what society believes would make us happy? Is it surprising then that those who follow rules are happier because they are fooled into believing they are, and those who don’t are not, because they are made to feel they have no right to be? I don’t know if this harangue makes sense! More and more, I find myself revolted at how we are in effect not ‘free’—if we do not have the freedom to something that signifies the purpose of life itself—freedom to choose what makes us happy.

That’s end of serious topic for the day! Coming to more travel news… I am leaving for Milpitas, California next weekend and will be there for a month or two for a work project. I have heard so much about the US that it seems like I’m going to meet a friend about whom I know everything, including its faults! But let’s see if it makes friends with me (If it has malls and sales, am sure we will get along just fine :))