From the pen of an occasional-hopeless-philosopher

When I was little, I was spellbound by a story by the name of "Phoolkumari" that, first my mom and later some story-book taught me. Ever since then, I have carried it in some corner of my heart — well preserved, untouched, unforgettable. I say I don't know why, but actually I do.

Come to think of it, anything that touches us, affects us, makes us feel nostalgic, somewhere carries something that we can truly and deeply relate to. It is, but, human, to feel ecstatic at the fact that someone else too feels about something exactly the way we do. Having said that, Phoolkumari's story that mom'd often narrate to me at bedtime, is what it is for me, because I have seen it come into action, too many times to ignore. For the uninitiated, the story goes something like this:

Phoolkumari was the darling daughter of a king, a pretty little princess, so cheerful that her vivacious laughter could light up the environment, spring up new flowers and what not. She liked being happy and so, didn't need a reason to be so. Everybody loved the little rajkumari for the purity of her heart and her cheerful nature.
   One day, the princess went out to the garden with her father, just for a stroll. While she was her usual self, the king wasn't. There was some major issue of the kingdom administration perturbing him and he wanted a little peace of mind to spend some time thinking, on his own. Phoolkumari, on the other hand, was loving the greenery of the place, the colorful fragrance of the flowers, the cool breeze and the chirping birds. All of a sudden something—something probably amusing—happened and Phoolkumari started laughing. She was a child, and thus couldn't gauge the tension on her father's face. She tried to share her moment of amusement with her loving father, hoping to make him happy too, but he instead ended up getting angry and shouted at her, "are you mad? Why do you always have to laugh without a reason?!"
   The king's words were such a blow to the ever-so-loved and happy princess, that she couldn't even smile again, forget about laughing. Days went by and the whole kingdom joined the king and the queen in their anxiety, over the princess's lack of response to things. They yearned for her smile, the king cursed himself inside for having been so harsh with a little girl. He made his best efforts to cheer her up again — people from all over the country were called in to entertain her, if someone could bring her smile back, he was promised a huge award.
I won't get further with the story, but in the end, one of the entertainers, a stand-up comedian, did succeed in making the princess happy again. And the whole kingdom celebrated that day.

Unfortunately, we are no kings/queens/princes/princesses. We are ordinary people and if we're not happy, we're not happy, the world doesn't give a damn. And that much is fair enough. My problem is with the people who don't let us be happy, who have to be doing something or the other that distresses us or worse, spoils the day. And believe it or not, intentionally or unintentionally, we all or almost all, make someone unhappy with our words or actions quite often. You, me, everybody. I wonder why. There is a goodie-good person residing inside all of us, that knows what might unnecessarily hit the other person adversely, yet, it don't care to think too much. We don't.

I give both thumbs-up to straight-forwardness and honesty, one shouldn't lie. Fake compliments too are best  avoided. But of late, I have started to think, how important criticism really is? Even honest criticism for that matter. If I don't look good some day, how important is it for someone to comment, "ye kya ban ke ayi hai?" or if I got a new dress that I am happy to be wearing, how wise is it for someone to play the spoiler by saying, "yahi mila tha kya?" OR say, a girl and a guy are in a supposedly serious relationship, and a happy one at that. They maybe poles apart from each other, but happy still. We, as spectators, obviously don't know the deeper nuances of their relationship. The girl maybe very short-tempered and the guy, a wise man; the girl may be hurting the guy everyday 'coz of this and the guy maybe the sweetest she could ever get, who deals with her patiently, and so on. We wouldn't get to know such things as outsiders. Then what fun do we get in comparing them both, maybe looks-wise, and casually commenting, "the girl is way too good for the guy man. Just look at him!!" We may mean no harm, but is it fair? Is it wise? Say one of them heard such things being said behind their back, how'd it feel? Would they be left totally unaffected?

I don't want to project myself as some melodramatic Phoolkumari with all this. These might sound like instances drawn from nowhere, bearing no coherence or little relevance, but I hope you know what am getting at. These aren't personal experiences, but things that still go around. Wonder why?
Maybe we could just let others be happy as they are and not poke our noses when not invited? Maybe we could keep our honesty at one side sometimes and not be outright critical/cynical about someone; it isn't that we don't commit sins greater than dishonesty anyway.

Maybe we could avoid indulging in mankind's favorite activity of describing others' faults to them. 'Coz admit it or not, the good old philosophy of "being honest" has been misinterpreted by everyone as "being unnecessary critical". Maybe we could let a person be happy if he is, and not be what the king was to the princess in that old story. Maybe. I'm not too sure. Happiness, afterall, is easier to lose and difficult to gain.

P.S: Please don't mind having spent your time reading this if this made little sense to you. But then, the title had enough to warn you in advance: 'from the pen of a "hopeless" philosopher'.