To The Crazy Ones!

Questioning the concept of normalcy

- Smt. Sujatha Rao

For a greater part of my life, my worldview was quite rigidly set. I had a mental code of appropriate behavior for almost everything. Coming from a small, underdeveloped town in the South, these were all picked up by me from my surrounding environment through my impressionable years.

Hence, I either feared or ridiculed everything that was not conforming to this 'set theory" of mine. At times, I secretly envied people who were brave enough to challenge such theories. But, I would soon turn this envy into scorn.

Over a period, I started becoming unconvinced by many social mores. The first thing I remember is how one of my strong theories got busted, when initially I avoided a good-looking, rich, well-dressed, lipstick-wearing colleague of mine thinking she was too "hifi" for my liking, only to be swept off my feet by her kind, modern and non-judgmental way of thinking later on.

That slight crack let the light come in, and the city of Mumbai with its multifaceted dimensions opened my eyes to the real meaning of 'not-judging-a-book-by-its-cover'. It also opened up my mind to the beauty of living a life under the shroud of liberating anonymity, which lets you live your life without anyone poking their noses into it. As the life unfolded over the next few decades across multiple cities, I saw my worldviews changing slowly, but steadily.