In Hindi there is a saying 'Bhonkne waale kutte kaat tae nahin hain'. Roughly means 'Barking dogs don't bite'. It's a bit similar to the English saying, 'All bark and no bite'. I have been thinking about this sort of creature who makes a lot of noise but has very little substance. I suppose what I am intrigued about is how does such a person end up convincing even intelligent people with their bark?

I vaguely remember this story in the news—but there are many such stories—where this woman pretended to be a rich celebrity and conned the entire celebrity world about her credentials, looting a lot of money. On the face of it, it seems ridiculous. A person shows up with the confidence of a celebrity, throws around a fake persona with nothing whatever to back it up, and people believe her? Seems dumbfounding, right? But my observations have given me the insight that fairly sensible people can be fairly gullible if they take people on trust, if they take everything at face value. If someone comes along confidently and says they are an expert at moondust, what will you say? Most people, as I notice, will say, wow, that's interesting! Would you care to come and do a talk on moondust?(!) That is right up the confident con-person's street of course. Con-person goes and gives a waffly waffle talk on moondust. Next thing you know they are asked to give another one of these talks somewhere else. And before you know it, they are everywhere. Giving 'talks' on 'moondust'. And people are buying it hook, line, sinker. You, a minority of critical thinkers, will firstly not be comfortable sharing your critical opinion. You know that con-person does not know shit about moondust. But you cannot say that without making everyone seem like a fool. Everyone cannot be one so it must be you! And if you make the dreadful mistake of telling someone, they will not look into the con-person's credibility or their credentials to talk moondust. Instead, they will turn on you! They will question your inability to trust people at face value. They will question your intentions. They will make you seem like the bad guy for pointing out the obvious fact that you can't see the emperor's clothes! What eventually happens is the con-person's influence continues to grow at the back of all this 'bark'. So much so that at some point it will seem ludicrous to even question if there is any substance behind it all. How can there not be, how could they be all over the place if there was nothing underneath...? You see? How that celebrity con could have easily happened?

I do like the idea of nice people trusting everyone in a land of milk and honey. But we do not live in such a land. So, I feel that it is the nice people who end up letting very bad people take over. It is obviously tough to stand against barking dogs, particularly once they have fooled some people with their conning tricks. But real niceness would mean standing against in spite of. Not going with the current.

I have been a bit of a deer caught in the headlights the last few weeks. One of the strangely positive things I realize about myself is that my hyperfocus kicks in when I have high anxiety—instead of falling apart I tend to focus deeply on whatever I am doing and become extra productive at it. I become a bit more creative with my writing especially if I am emotionally charged. That is why maybe when I am most down in the dumps, I tend to come out of it with something... Maybe it is a coping strategy of sorts. Another article of mine got published last week and it was born when I was going through one of these times. It is especially close to my heart because a piece of me got written into it... Happy to share with you here, my dear readers.

So... it's time for another round of wrap-up. Another season is coming to an end, metaphorically speaking, though I feel like it quite literally. I am busy tying up some loose ends, creating new beginnings for another series, lot of things are crashing on me (like my phone and toaster!), and lot of things are building up for the audience to want to stick around for another season. If you have been paying attention to the last season at all, you know that it's almost time for me to leave for China! I travel next Sunday... and before I am back I would have travelled to more places, seen more people, done more things, tasted more stuff,... than I have in the past 8 months! I am excited to take off but nervous till I land in my new abode for the next 2.5 months. I suppose you will hear all about everything... :)