Back in the days of Nokia 3310, we were developing short video content for mobiles, when mobiles were not even ready for it. I had made a character called Angry Bud-dha, based on my encounter with a bad-tempered,
elderly bank employee during my 1st year of college. I turned him into funny, meme-ish kind of short animations that could be sent as MMS (as a kind of revenge).
I look around now to see our world is run by so many of the same Angry Bud-dhas. All they do is prime us to make us angry. They have made the world much more angrier and much less kind-er place to be.
But more importantly I’ve realized that there is an Angry Bud-dha inside all of us.
We’re probably much more angry at ourselves than we’re at anybody else. Reasons could vary – we’ve been wronged, cheated or hurt; our own failures, pains and sufferings; our efforts, dreams or wishes remaining unfulfilled, and sometimes our judgmental behavior & self-righteousness is making us angry.
All these keeps the bud-dha inside us quietly pissed at all times. This bud-dha is the one who wakes up to answer the door whenever it’s knocked a little too hard.
We take out this Angry Bud-dha on others, on people in our lives – family, friends, on people we love and care about, and most on people we don’t know even know, understand or empathize with.
I’ve tried hard to control this Angry Bud-dha inside me. Most times i’ve failed, sometimes i’ve won. But the important thing was to be able to acknowledge and accept this bud-dha inside, and engage him in a conversation to make him less angry. Effin hard i know! As bud-dha himself says in the clip “Arre umar kya hai teri? Teri umar ke pote hain mere”
(You’re too puny to teach me anything)
But only by engaging this bud-dha inside can we truly understand the meaning of this great quote – ‘We first need to be kind to ourselves before we can be kind to others.’
The world needs to be a kind place.
For that to happen, we’ll all have to be kind to this Bud-dha inside us.
