The Boss speaks

Here is what Bruce Springsteen spoke way back in 1987. As I read it today I felt like asking myself which room am I sitting right now?

“I had certain preconceived notions of what I thought the rock and roll dream was all about. And I was very immersed it in my early twenties. I guess later on I realised that’s only a starting point … I realized that you can’t live within that rock and roll dream that I had in my head. If you do, then you’re really betraying its very promise. You’re bullshitting. If you try to, then you become some self-indulgent decadent asshole. Its not a worthwhile thing for a man to be involved in…

“The whole rock and roll thing has become such a big thing and has meant so much to so many different kinds of people and has taken up such an enormous amount of time in people’s lives that it’s real out of proportion. There’s a certain loss of perspective to the whole thing….

“I think at the moment in ’75 when my dream in its own funny way came true, I had to deal with the consequences. At that particular moment I realised I did not want to live inside it. There was nothing there except an empty room. There weren’t many other people there. Now my job was to find my way out of it. Because that was the only way I was going to be worth anything to anybody, including myself. That was the only way I was going to be able to maintain my own vitality and life.

“Once you’re inside that dream room, things about you that are important and relevant in the real world to your friends – the people who will hear your music – will just strangle and die. And so will you. But it’s very difficult because that room is always very comfortable and there’s an illusion of safety. It’s really a very dangerous place. There’s no real security there and there’s no life there. There’s really nothing. So then you’ve got to create something else. In my writing after ‘Born To Run’, I’ve been trying to find that alternative: where does the man with the guitar fit? Where’s my place in the world? I guess that’s all anybody’s trying to do, no matter what their job is.

“It’s not even a result of being successful, or being a famous guy who plays guitar. It’s something that people wrestle with their entire lives, no matter what their job is. Everybody has a choice whether to stay in that dream room or go out and build something that’s real. You can stay in there real easy. All you need is a six pack of beer and a television set. You can just let yourself go in there. I guess that particular moment was my moment of confrontation with it, but it’s not a unique or unusual situation for anybody …

“I guess in my music, one of the things I wanted to do was provide that set of consequences. I wanted Saturday night and Sunday morning – but I also wanted Monday through Friday. Because there’s a lot more Monday through Fridays than there are Saturday nights and Sunday mornings.

And those are the days you’ve got to live with. Those are the days everybody’s got to live with. So I wanted a music to live with – truth and consequences!”

Woodcutter's Vows

There was once a poor woodcutter who toiled day in and day out just to make ends meet. One day, as he sat under a tree, tired and hungry, a yogi passed by. The woodcutter begged the yogi to take a break too. The yogi agreed and the two sat besides each other under the tree. The woodcutter then asked permission to ask the yogi a favour. He said that, as a yogi, you no doubt met god often enough, so would you please ask God a question next time you met him?

The yogi was amused and asked the woodcutter what was his question. The woodcutter said that no matter how hard or how long he worked, he never had enough to eat. He wanted God to tell him why it was so.

The yogi promised him that in two days he would have his answer. He then told the woodcutter where to find him and went off on his journey. Two days later the woodcutter went to the yogi and sought his answer. The yogi replied that God told him that he had fixed the quantity of food that each person could have in his lifetime. So the faster one ate the food the quicker he would run out of it and die. The woodcutter thought that an empty stomach was a silly way to live longer so he wanted to know if he could choose to have all his food supply upfront and then decide for himself what to do with it. The yogi thought for a while and then said that he thought God may not have a problem with that.

So the next day when the woodcutter woke up he was surrounded by mounds of food. He was delighted and began to prepare a huge feast. And for the first time in his life he ate and ate and ate till he could eat no more. But there was still lots and lots of food leftover. He thought that there was enough time to eat the rest and so decided to step out for a stroll.

In the meantime, all the wonderful aroma of his cooking had attracted scores of mendicants and they were now all squatted around his humble hut. When the woodcutter saw this he thought it was unfair that there was so much food inside while outside these poor souls were hungry. So, even though he knew the consequences of finishing all the food inside, he generously invited all of them to eat till not a grain of food remained.

Later that night he lay down to sleep knowing that his end was near. But he was happy and felt fulfilled, so he went right off to sleep. When he opened his eyes next he realised he was still alive and whats more he was amazed to see that his house was still filled with mounds of food. He was totally perplexed and went running straight to the yogi. When the yogi heard his story he smiled and said that all the grain in the house was from the share of all those scores of mendicants the woodcutter had fed last night and that it was now his.

It is said that the woodcutter lived for several more years. Each day he finished every grain of the food he had feeding those that needed it. It is also said that he chose never to eat a full meal in his life ever again.

Windtalkers

Its interesting how good a mimic the wind is. It blows and makes all sorts of sounds. Last night it blew and my tent flapped and swayed and it seemed that someone or something was walking outside. And the other day it rustled through the pine needles and we thought that we were next to a water fall, or a fast flowing stream. Then again as you sit in the evening staring at the snow peaked mountains lit by a full moon, you think you hear someone playing the flute, or whispering a song or just lamenting a loss, but if you listen carefully, its just the wind, blowing and doing mischief. Its the softer wind that really does most of the mischief. The stronger wind is louder but it has no range. Just one steady blowing, humming sound. Rightnow it is back to blowing softly through the silver oaks and methinks its tinkling me a sweet lullaby.

Silent Prayers

We have been having some issues with a leopard. He has been sighted almost daily for the past few days. In fact he was within leaping distance yesterday and that too at noon! The previous night he was much closer. His pugmarks were spotted in the morning just outside of the eastern most tent. His persistance to be in and around the camp site and his being spotted moving about at midday tells me that this unnatural behaviour must be driven by hunger. Or an injury is interfering with his natural way of life. While I am worried about having a wild animal so close, I am nonetheless praying hard that he returns to health and his natural way of life as soon as possible.

Sounds of silence

Just sat in the forest and listened to the sounds. At first the forest seemed full of sounds, many many sounds just surrounding me. But as I closed my eyes and concentrated, all the sounds basically boiled down to two groups of crickets. One group shrill, the other a notch or two deeper. Because there were so many of them, it seemed the forest was full of sounds. Then as I listened, i heard a third sound, a distant faint hooping sound. Maybe it was a bird. It tweeted, hooped and was gone. I opened my eyes and saw a tiny lizard slither among the dry leaves. I also saw a few tiny flowers gently swaying, fluttering, and just below a tiny bee darting around, but i heard no sound. Does that mean that they made no sound at all, or did it mean that the crickets just drowned their sound?