Tag: #essay

The Right Way of Enjoying Your Freedom

Freedom is a powerful word. It is the basic right of every individual and no one can deny it. But are you using your freedom in a proper way? Have you thought that your sense of freedom might deprive that of others? A G Gardiner’s ‘On the Rule of the Road’ is an essay teaching the readers on the right way of enjoying freedom.

The essayist narrates a situation where an old lady walks down the middle of a street ignoring the traffic rules and other vehicles. This causes a great confusion and she doesn’t seem to care about it. It is a dangerous situation where accidents can happen and people can get hurt. But when it was pointed that she should walk in the pavement not on the road, she replies that it is her liberty to walk wherever she wants. Just like this woman, there are many who seem to take advantage of their ‘liberty’. What we need to realize is if everyone does whatever they want in whatever way they like because it is their liberty, “then the end of such liberty would be universal chaos”. 

“Everybody would be getting in everybody else’s way and nobody would get anywhere. Individual liberty would have become social anarchy. There is a sanger of the world getting liberty-drunk…”

So, the traffic rules are made to ensure that everyone can enjoy their liberty. When the policeman at the intersection directs the traffic, he “is the symbol not of tyranny, but of liberty”. If you can’t understand the statement, think of this situation as the essayist provides. You may be in an urgency to reach your destination, but when the policeman stops you, you may think he is curbing your liberty. But, if you reflect on it, you will understand that if he doesn’t stop you, he won’t stop anyone and everyone will clash into each other. 

“You have submitted to a curtailment of private liberty in order that you may enjoy a social order which makes your liberty a reality”. 

“Liberty is not a personal affair only, but a social contract”. Does the statement mean your freedom is limited by society? No, you are free to do whatever you like unless it doesn’t affect that of others. You have both personal liberty and social liberty. You may dress however you want, dye your hair, eat whatever you wish, like and dislike at your will because it is your liberty. No one can question your personal liberty. Likewise, the other person has the liberty to differ from you. You have your own kingdom where you can do whatever you wish. But, once you step out of the kingdom, your “personal liberty of action becomes qualified by other people’s liberty”. 

You may want to practice music in the middle of the night, you may do so if you are on the top of Mt. Everest. If you do so in your house, you are disturbing the sleep of your family members. If you do so in the streets, you are disturbing your neighbours and they will object to this. Their objection will remind you that your liberty of practicing music is interfering with their liberty to sleep peacefully and so it shouldn’t be done. 

“There are a lot of people in the world, and I have to accommodate my liberty to their liberties”.

We often forget this and find fault with others. We should be considerate to the rights and feelings of others because it is the “foundation of social conduct”. We should stop focusing only on our liberties and start considering that of others and the responsibilities that come along with them. We need law to limit some of our liberty in order to ensure greater liberty.

“Liberty is not a personal affair only, but a social contract”

‘Of Studies’ by Francis Bacon.

We are told that studies are important but no one tells us why we should study, how we should study and what we should study. Francis Bacon’s essay ‘Of Studies’ answers all such questions. Firstly, 

“STUDIES serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.”

When we read books in our leisure time, it brings us delight. When we use what we have learnt in our conversation, it decorates or graces our speech. When we apply what we have learnt in our judgement and business, it becomes our ability. While men of experience can carry out and judge only some particulars, the learned make the best plans and execution of affairs. This is not to say experience is not important. 

Though we are bestowed with inborn talents, we need studies to perfect them and in turn the studies are perfected by experience. Our inborn talents are like plants which require pruning and this the studies do. Though studies give all the directions, they are also bound to experience.

“To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgement wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar.”

While men of experience scorn studies and laymen look up to them, only wise men use what they have learnt. We shouldn’t read just to argue; neither to believe everything given in the text blindly nor to boast about what we have read, but to scrutinize and to regard them carefully.  

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and few to be chewed and digested;”

There are myriads of books to read but how do we prioritise them? Bacon says that there are some books which only require some of its parts to be read, some books though read fully don’t demand close reading, but there are books which require our full attention and are to be read with diligence. 

“Reading maketh a full man; conference ready man; and writing an exact man.”

So, if a person writes less, he should have a good memory to remember everything he had read; if a person speaks less, he should have a quick wit so that he can escape his problems; if a person reads less, he should at least have wit enough to act like he knows the matter.  Bacon lists the advantages of studying each subject.

“Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend.”

When we read about past ages and of men, we come to know why they failed or succeeded; when we read poems which expresses huge meanings in small words, we gain wit; when we study math, we become clever in analysis of the problems; when we read natural philosophy, we gain deep knowledge of the universe; logic and rhetoric helps us to win arguments.

“Abeunt studia in mores” means studies become habits. When we practice what we read, it becomes a part of us, Just like how there are different physical exercises to cure the diseases of different parts of our body, different studies cure impediments in our wit. If a man lacks concentration, he ought to study math because if he gets distracted while doing sums, he has to redo the whole sum else he won’t understand. If a person cannot distinguish what is right or wrong, then he ought to read philosophy. If a person can’t get to the root of the matters and cannot defend his stand, then he ought to read law.  

“So every defect of the mind, may have a special receipt.”

‘A Fellow Traveller’ by A.G.Gardiner.

Have you ever thought of everything except human life as insignificant? Have you realised how we treat every creature in a different way? How different are human beings from other creatures?

A G Gardiner’s essay ‘A Fellow Traveller’ explores the themes of freedom, compassion and equality. 

“I do not know which of us got into the carriage first. Indeed I did not know he was in the carriage at all for some time.”

The essayist boards the last train from London to Midland town which stops at each station and takes forever to reach the essayist’s destination. By the time the train leaves the outer ring of London, the train becomes empty except for the essayist or it appears so.

The essayist explains the ‘sense of freedom’ a vacant carriage affords. We can do anything we wish to do. We can talk loudly, do a headstand, sing, dance or play for there is no one to question. We can open and close windows at our leisure and there is no one to protest. We can lie down on the seats as we wish.

“It is liberty and unrestraint in a very agreeable form.”

This freedom is agreeable because it doesn’t affect or harm others. But the essayist does nothing like he had told above. He does the most normal thing. He puts down the paper he had been reading, stretches and looks out of the window. It was a calm summer night. When he sits down to continue his paper, he recognises the presence of his fellow traveller. 

“He was one of those wingy, nippy, intrepid insects that we call, vaguely, mosquitoes.”

When the mosquito came and sat on the essayist’s nose, he was flicked by the essayist. He tours the compartment and visits each lamp by the wind. The way the mosquito enjoys liberty in the empty carriage and does whatever the essayist had previously mentioned brings out a strong contrast between him and the essayist. Finally, he decides that nothing is as interesting as ‘the large animal’ (the essayist) and inspects his neck. 

The essayist flicks him off again. The mosquito goes around the compartment and perches on the essayist’s hand insolently in the end. This ticks off the essayist and he pronounces the death sentence of the mosquito. The essayist states various reasons as to why the mosquito deserves to die. The mosquito is a homeless tramp, a public nuisance and he travels without ticket and constantly misbehaves. The essayist strikes a lethal blow but the mosquito escapes with an imprudent ease. This humiliates the essayist who lunges ferociously at the mosquito. But the mosquito escapes with his ruse.

No matter how hard the essayist tries, it was all in vain. He was played by the mosquito. The mosquito totally enjoys this little game he was playing with the essayist. Suddenly, a change came over the author. He enters into the spirit of his fellow traveller. The mosquito was no longer a mere insect but a personality with a wit “that challenged the possession of tis compartment with me (the essayist) on equal terms.” This makes us realise that every creature shares the earth just like us. It is a collective ‘us’ who lives in this world. So, we need to show compassion to each other.

“I felt my heart warming towards him and the sense of superiority fading.”

The essayist now brims with magnanimity and mercy. He was treated as a laughter stock by the mosquito but by being merciful towards him, he asserts his dignity and honor. The essayist retires to his seat. But the mosquito delivers himself into the hands of the essayist as if ready to be sandwiched. The essayist no longer desires to kill him for he has grown affectionate to him. 

The essayist draws near to conclusion with some of the best lines.

“Fortune has made us fellow travellers on this summer night. I have interested you and you have entertained me. The obligation is mutual and it is founded on the fundamental fact that we are fellow mortals. The miracle of life is ours in common and it’s mystery too. I suppose you don’t know anything about your journey. I am not sure that I know about mine. We are really … a good deal alike …”

These lines show that human life is not the glory that it is deemed to be. We are as uncertain as other organisms on the earth about our life and journey. We don’t know what we will see in our journey, how our journey will be, where our journey will lead to and where our destination really is. We all are vagrants on this vast planet just like any other creature.

When a porter snaps him into reality, he realizes that he has reached his station. He gets off the train and closes the door.

“As I closed the door of the compartment saw my fellow traveller fluttering around the lamp…”

‘On Running after One’s Hat’ by G K Chesterton.

“I am done with it! I am irritated! This is frustrating! Why does it happen only to me?”

We face problems everyday and life for no reason keeps throwing something at us. Even when our toe gets hit by furniture, we start cursing and stressing. No matter how trivial or challenging a problem is, we constantly worry about it. But all these problems can be romanticized as adventures after reading G K Chesterton’s essay ‘On Running after One’s Hat’.

The essay starts with Chesterton envying people who were in London when it was flooded. He says that Battersea (a place in London) has always been beautiful and the addition of water has made it appear like Venice. He imagines the boat that bought the meat to have moved with the elegance and smoothness of a gondola (a long and narrow boat). 

“There is nothing so perfectly poetical as an island; and when a district is flooded it becomes an archipelago.”

The optimism of the essayist makes him romanticize the flood which we would normally think of as bringing misfortune, destruction and loss.

“The true optimist who sees in such things an opportunity for enjoyment is quite as logical and much more sensible than the ordinary.”

Most of the instances which we perceive as inconveniences are completely related to our mentality and outlook. The essayist gives an instance for example. When there is a delay in the arrival of the train, the grown-ups complain while the children never do. This is because for children, a railway station appears like a ‘cavern of wonder and a palace of poetical pleasure’. The red and green lights of the signal appear to them as the new sun and moon. So if we view such inconveniences as children do, we shall no more perceive them as inconveniences. All the so-called inconveniences depend on how we view it. 

The second instance the essayist gives is running after one’s hat. Many find it unpleasant to run after their hats after being blown away by wind. They run after a ball in a game but not after their own hat as they find it is humiliating.

“When people say it is humiliating they mean it is comic.”

People find it embarrassing as they are laughed at by other onlookers. Their fretful pursuit serves as a source of laughter. But it is all right because everything a human does is comical.

He also says that running after one’s hat has the potential of becoming a sport and it can be an alternative to poaching. “He might regard himself as a jolly huntsman pursuing a wild animal,…”. The essayist imagines it to be a common sport among the upper class. They would have their personal assistants run after the hat on a windy day and it would provide them a hearty laughter. This will be less painful than animal hunting too. The essayist says that we should be relieved of distress if our actions can provide laughter for others.

The essayist recalls how his friend struggled with a jammed drawer everyday. So, he points out to his friend that he is always finding the drawer troublesome because he always opens it while thinking that it should be easy to open the drawer. He says that the main problem lies with his friend’s outlook. Hence, he advises his friend to think of himself as “pulling against some powerful and oppressive enemy” or as participating in some fearsome tug war. If he imagines such situations when pulling the drawer, then it will no longer be an inconvenience but an adventure.

So, if we develop a positive outlook on everything that we encounter everyday, maybe life won’t be as hard as we think. After all,

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”

‘Walking Tours’ by R L Stevenson.

“It must not be imagined that a walking tour, as some would have us fancy, is merely a better or worse way of seeing the country.”

R L Stevenson’s ‘Walking Tours’ guides us to the method of enjoying a ‘walking tour’. The essay which starts with relishing the ‘walking’ ends on an unexpected note of self reflection.

Miles and miles of walk may sound exhausting but it is not so when one reads this essay. If a tour is all about viewing landscapes and picturesque places, then a train would make for a satisfactory travel. But a walking tour starts with hope and spirit and ends with replenishing ourselves with peace and spirit. A person will find pleasure after pleasure during the walk.

When going on such a tour, one shouldn’t be an ‘over walker’ for they will not comprehend the purpose of the travel. To cover a long distance by walking fast is merely to brutalize one’s own body. An over walker will neither enjoy the evening sky nor the journey and his physical exhaustion will put him to sleep. 

“It is the fate of such an one to take twice as much trouble as is needed to obtain happiness and miss happiness in the end…”

To enjoy the walking tour to the fullest, one has to go alone. For if one goes with a company or as pairs, it will be more like a picnic. In a walking tour, one should enjoy the liberty to stop and then continue. 

“…you must be open to all impressions and let your thoughts take color from what you see. You should be as a pipe for any wind to play upon.”

In the beginning of the tour, it might be difficult and one would have the urge to give up. In this case, one is to take off their knapsack, enjoy a short break and “ give three leaps and go on singing”. This will improve the mood and soon the spirit of the journey will enter them. If one constantly ponders over their anxieties and worries, which like the merchant Abudah’s chest never empties, they will never be happy about the walk. 

There are instances where one will be joined by other wayfarers. Of them is this one who walks fast with a keen look all concentrated on setting the landscape to words. There is this one who stops at each canal to look at the dragonflies and each gate to look upon cows. There is another who is busy talking, muttering, laughing and gesticulating to themselves; definitely composing the most passionate oration and articles.

There will also be that person who will sing even though he is not a master in that art. It is all fine until he comes across a stolid peasant. This person may be misunderstood for a lunatic for no reason can explain their gaiety to the passers-by. This is completely possible in a walking tour for when surrounded by pleasant things, a person will definitely skip, run, and laugh out of nowhere. Here the essayist quotes Hazlitt who had said,

“Give me the clear blue sky over my head, and green turf beneath my feet, a winding road before me,…I laugh, I run, I leap, I sing for joy.” 

Though the essayist had quoted it, he is against leaping and running because these actions breaks the natural rhythm of respiration and break the pace. But when one is on an equable stride, there requires no conscious thought to keep one going and it neither does engage the mind. A walking tour gives us a sense of physical wellbeing, a delightful play of fresh air, contraction of thigh muscles and makes him relish the solitude. 

“He becomes more and more incorporated with the material landscape, and the open air drunkenness grows upon him with great strides, until he posts along the road, and sees everything about him, as in a cheerful dream.”

The essayist stresses on bivouacs as a necessary part of the walking tour. One may dally time as long as one wishes to. It feels like prolonging the time and slowing it down. This is what we people in the industrial era miss. Being in a constant race with time, we have forgotten to live the time. 

“You have no idea, unless you have tried it, how endlessly long is a summer’s day, that you measure out only be hunger, and bring to an end only when you are drowsy.”

The essayist draws near conclusion with a talk on an evening’s rest after a long walk. We throw ourselves into the hands of nature and bring down all our guards.

“And it seems as if a hot walk has purged you, more than of anything else, of all narrowness and pride, and left curiosity to play  its part freely, as in a child of a man of science.”

When the night leaves us alone, we are free to reflect on the way we have led our lives. We are all running after our desires and greeds, we have failed to understand how ephemeral life is.  The essayist puts out lines which makes the readers to question themselves. 

“We are in such a haste to be doing, to be writing, to be gathering gear, to make our voice audible a moment in a derisive silence of eternity, that we forget that one thing, of which these are but the parts — namely, to live.”

“We fall in love, we drink hard, we run to and fro upon the earth like frightened sheep. And now you are to ask yourself if … to remember the faces of women without desire, to be pleased by the great deeds of men without envy, to be everything and everywhere in sympathy, and yet content to remain where and what you are — is not this to know both wisdom and virtue, and to dwell with happiness?”

These lines make us reflect on ourselves. It urges us to ask ourselves when was the last time we were happy, are we happy, are we living, what have we left for the world. These profound questions are for us to think. Maybe there will be no answer. To think and to live our life from here onwards is all that matters. When times get better and when you are to live, go on a walking tour.

“And whether it was wise or foolish, tomorrow’s travel will carry you, body and mind, into some different parish of the infinite.”

‘Travel by Train’ by J B Priestly.

“I can pass, at all times, for a quiet, neighborly fellow, yet I have sat more than once, in a railway carriage with black murder in my heart.”

This quote is for you if you had ever hoped for your train journey to end fast, if you had met with passengers who roused your inner devils and had your patience tested by them. We are not always gifted with best travel companions and J B Priestly gives an account of different types of fellow travelers we meet during our journey in his essay ‘Travel by  Train.’

The first type of a traveler is the one who often arouses hatred in others.

“She is a large, middle-aged woman, with a rasping voice and a face of brass.”

Carrying heavy packages in all shapes and varying sizes, she pushes her way into smoking compartments. She glares at everyone around her until a poor victim gives their seat to her. She comes along with a ‘whining cur’ which is only less offensive than the lady by one degree. She wedges herself into the seat and the mood of the whole compartment is completely spoiled by her entry. It will be not long before she gets into trouble for there are few who are bold enough to call her out. 

“From the moment has wedged herself in there will be no peace in the carriage, but simmering hatred, and everywhere dark looks and muttered threats.”

The most common among the travelers who annoy us to varying degrees are those as follows. Firstly, the person who comes with a myriad of luggage packing every old chattel and household utensil. They buy baskets of fruits and bunches of flowers adding weight and misery to themselves and others. Then there are those who forever eat and drink during the journey. As soon as they take their seats, they pass sandwiches and pastry to each other. They talk with their mouths full, scattering food crumbs on those around them. 

“Some children do not make good travelling companions, for they will do nothing but whimper and howl through a journey,…”

Some children either weep throughout the journey or keep smearing their faces with chocolate and try to climb out of the window. There are also these ‘cranks’, as the author calls them, who insist on opening the windows on a cold winter day and on closing the windows on a hot summer day.

There are also these ‘innocents’ who always board the wrong train. Halfway through the journey, they ask if the train is going to their destination. When proved contrary, they get off at the next station looking clueless.

“I have often wondered if these simple voyagers ever reach  their destinations, for it is not outside probability that they may be shot from station to station, line to line, until there is nothing mortal of them.”

The author envies the ‘mighty sleepers’ the most who fall asleep the moment they settle in their seats. While other passengers have to spend their journey in a boring way, they go on adventures and quests in their dreams. But no matter how deep asleep they are, they always wake up two minutes before their destination and get off at the right station.

The author remarks that the Seafaring men are the best companions for they have the best stories to tell. But they are hard to come across. As a contrast, we meet the ‘confidential stranger’ who compels us to listen to his ‘interminable story of his life’ and some boring hobbies. Lastly, there is this elderly gentleman who starts the conversation by telling that “the train is at least three minutes behind time.” On the cue of the slightest interest, he recites the whole railway time table and the essayist warns the readers of such an elderly gentleman.

“Beware of the elderly man who sits in the corner of the carriage and says that the train is two minutes behind the time, for he is the Ancient Mariner of railway travelers,…”

Have you come across any of these travelers? Or do you belong to one of these travelers? Which is your worst train travel? It’s time to think about it.

‘With the Photographer’ by Stephen Leacock.

“Is it me?”, I asked.

Have you had an instance where you had wondered if the person in the picture is you? Has your photo been photoshopped to the point where it departs from resemblance to you? If so, the quote will be relatable. 

Stephen Leacock, a Canadian writer, is best known for his humor. Through his light-hearted and humorous writings, he brings out the follies in people. His essay ‘With the Photographer’, as the title suggests, gives an encounter between the narrator and a photographer. The narrator enters the studio and takes his seat. The photographer remarks on the narrator’s face and how he doesn’t like it.

“The face is quite wrong,” he said.

“I know,” I answered quietly, ”I have always known it.” 

The photographer further instructs on how to pose and this forms a funny narrative in the essay. This also reminds us how we are often told by the photographers when we go to the studio. The photographer keeps stressing on the narrator’s face which makes him angry. Unable to withstand such remarks, the narrator utters these words.

“Stop,” I said with emotion but, I think, with dignity. “The face is my face. It is not yours, it is mine. I’ve lived with it for forty years and I know its faults, I know it is out of drawing. I know it wasn’t made for me, but it’s my face, the only one I have–”…”such as it is, I’ve learned to love it.”

The passage also makes us think about ourselves. Instead of resenting ourselves for not reaching the so-called beauty standards, we should learn to accept and love ourselves for who we are. We may not be beautiful but there is no fault in it. It is no mistake. Learning to love ourselves is the first step to a happy life.

Not heeding to his words, the photographer takes a picture of the narrator when he was speaking. The photographer asks the narrator to come again on Saturday to get the picture. When the narrator visits the studio on Saturday, he is bewildered at the photograph of him. The photo no longer looks like him and the reason is because the photographer had retouched it. This ‘retouch’ can be considered as a photoshop of that age. He had used chemicals like Delphide and Sulphide to ‘retouch’ the picture. The photographer is proud of the changes he made in the photograph and how he made the ugly features of the narrator look good. This only angers the narrator.

“Listen! I came here for a photograph – a picture – something which would have looked like me. I wanted something that would depict my face as Heavens gave it to me, humble though the gift may have been. I wanted something that my friends might keep after my death, to reconcile them to my loss. It seems that I was mistaken. What I wanted is no longer done. …”

Spilling these words, the narrator leaves the studio with tears. Though the essay seems funny, it leaves a room for profound discussion.