THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

KIRAN’S KONTRARIAN KORNER

- Kiran Karnik

THE MOVING FINGER WRITES…”. Omar Khayyam’s ode to the irreversibility of events was taken a step further – the inevitability of destiny - by the lyrics of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans (popularised through Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much) “Que sera sera, Whatever’s to be will be will be”. Today, it is often moving feet that write destiny: its inevitability challenged by people who challenge pre-ordained fate by migrating from village to city, or from one country to another.

The story of the human species has itself been one of constant movement, with great migrations over vast distances. Originating in Africa’s Great Rift Valley, humans have spread around the globe and, who knows, may soon move to the Moon, or to other planets in the solar system, or even beyond. We Indians are ourselves the descendants, in part, of hardy migrants from Central Asia and Iran (Persia).

Today, we continue to see vast movements of people within the country, mainly in search of better livelihoods. The big metropolitan cities have long been a magnet, not only for the nearby rural populace, but also for those whose homes are further away. Employment and entrepreneurial opportunities on a vast scale are what these hubs of industrial and commercial activity offer, along with the excitement of urban life. Yet, who could have imagined that tens of thousands from Assam and the Northeast would migrate to distant and so-different Kerala! This, even as that state itself witnessed the movement of a few million to Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia.