The Privilege of Insecurity

Photo credit: Devabrata D Maitra
Memory tag: Reaching for the moon with a little more the equivalent of six pence in her pocket.

A few weeks ago she had the opportunity to read an article which calmly stated that a few people, especially teachers and people connected with education had to bear the privilege of insecurity to foster creativity! She was awestruck by this simple, profound apparently self contradictory statement, given the fact; insecurity was the centre of my personal dilemma. She was a past master at hiding an inner storm and the habit of a life time had made her a picture of adventurous contentment! She had set out to reach for the moon with a little more the equivalent of six pence in her pocket. She was no fledgling but approaching the age mid century mark and could by some label happy freak be said to be having a mid life crisis! But the freak would be widely off the mark, hers was a longed for, calculated leap into a seemingly insecure future at a time when people are putting the final honey glaze on careers and retirement benefits. Beset by a near congenital book reading malaise, she realized her dilemma was far from unique at any time anywhere! Seemingly, she now could apply for the metaphorical membership to club famous, if she scaled the heights she aimed for!

The mentors seemed to leap out as she turned the pages... Prabhupada, perhaps could not but obey the indescribably sweet notes of the divine flautist and went on to found the ISKCON movement giving up the comforts of a settled life to spread the message of Krishna Consciousness at midlife! Charles Darwin willfully ignored the security of the life of a clergyman to grab an opportunity to sail the dangerous waters of three oceans and evolution just because he wanted to add a little to natural history! Were they at least half crazy to walk out for just the moon and six pence? In retrospect they saw no reason not to bungee jump into the future to go back to their first love. Perhaps like the artist Paul Gauguin they all ask,”Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?”. Gauguin in 1897 used this motif to paint perhaps most famous canvas in Tahiti. He gave up all to pursue painting and perhaps died in the attempt. The Moon and Six Pence is biographical sketch by Somerset Maugham on Gauguin. One of her all time favorite adventure stories that sails with indomitable courage on sea of insecurity is the Kon-Tiki Expedition of Thor Heyerdahl and five fellow adventurers. These sea faring, mad Scandinavians and a parrot travelled to Peru, constructed a raft from balsa wood and other native materials, a raft that they called the Kon-Tiki. They believed human beings had migrated from South America to Polynesia. Nobody in their right senses believed this was possible, though old reports and drawings made by the Spanish conquerors of Inca rafts, native legends and archaeological evidence told a different story. This meant an 8,000 km journey across the Pacific Ocean in rafts carrying entire families and basics to begin a new life! The Kon-Tiki Expedition took a 101 days to sail the sea route of human ancestors with Kon-Tiki landing on the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands on August 7, 1947. What could be more insecure than a small speck on the open Pacific privileged to follow in the wake of human migrations? The moon and six pence?