Do this & you will Never end up at a Wrong Decision..

If he wasn’t angry, his hands would have been intact. If he wasn’t angry Jai would not have to die. If he wasn’t angry Kaalia would not have to prove his loyalty to the salt. If he wasn’t angry Basanti would not have had to pose as a dancer to the dogs.

Yes, I am talking about Thakur of Sholay. A wonderful classic masala film made in 1975. I saw it the first time when I was 15 & then 4 times more till now. Have you watched it? You must if you haven’t. Hey, wait! Where are you going? Don’t leave my blog in between, you can watch Sholay in a while.

Dhuk Dhuk! Dhuk Dhuk! Dhuk Dhuk! 

The tramples of horses can be heard. A brown horse is running ahead with a bearded & a bit untidy man sitting on its back who is being chased by a uniformed police officer on a white muscular horse. If someone had measured there speed then, I am sure it would have been found to be more than the speed of wind running past them. The man on brown is Gabbar, while the one on white is Thakur. The horses ran through the grasslands, to the river, to the hill, & to the grasslands again where Thakur jumped & caught Gabbar from his neck. Gabbar shrieked while gasping “छोड़ दे, छोड़ दे हरामजादे”. Thakur replied “गब्बर सिंह, ये हाथ नहीं, फांसी का फंदा है”. Gabbar was then presented before the court & sentenced to 20-year jail term. But the walls of jail weren’t able to hold Gabbar even for one full day. He escaped that night.

The following day when Thakur reached his home, he found his family dead. All of them dead. Gabbar took his revenge. On seeing those carcasses Thakur turned red & lost his control. He clenched his fists & rushed to his horse. When he got in the valley where Gabbar lived, he got caught by Gabbar’s goons who tied his hands to poles. Thakur fluttered, slurred but in vain. Then Gabbar came with two swords & demanded

“ये हाथ हमको दे दे ठाकुर”

“नहीं“.Thakur shouted

“ये हाथ हमको दे दे ठाकुर”

“नहीं"

The valley screamed in silence. Meat. The Thakur’s hands were now no more than just meat.

Thakur lost his hands & a great many miseries did happen further just because he wasn’t able to keep his calm. Just because of that one moment when he acted emotionally. And when one acts emotionally he acts foolishly. Haven’t the Bible said, “for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). And didn’t Chanakya said, “Control over the senses, which are motivated by training in the sciences, should be secured by giving up lust (kaam), anger (krodha), greed (lobha), pride (mana), arrogance(madha), overexcitement (harsha)” (1.6.1). A great man was once being asked “What is a right decision?” He just smiled & replied, “one that ain’t emotional." Any decision that is based on reason & ethics is right. Beyond these two if a third thing creeps in then it cannot be right. Even if everything goes well, the result is fine or as expected but even then if anything other than reason or ethic crept in than that decision would be wrong, because the motive would have been wrong. An action done with a wrong or vague motive is wrong in itself.

Emotions aren’t unrighteous though. God made them for a reason. If there wasn’t love, could a mother be so caring & protective for her child? If there wasn’t hope, could a fallen stood again on his legs? No. Never. The world would have been a misery without emotions. Tasteless. A recent study clarified that humans do engage in emotions because they activate certain neurotransmitters in their brain, those which are activated by consumption of alcohol & drugs too. So it is actually addiction & pleasure which one feels while engaging in intense emotions. Thus emotions are a means to add taste in life. Colors in life. They make us feel beyond the real; stirring our hormones, our imagination. But they become bad when they adulterate our decision-making process, or rather become a foundation of it. Another research highlighted on the fact that when part of the brain gets activated which is responsible for emotions, then the part of the brain which is responsible for logic & facts deactivates itself. It is due to this biological fact that humans aren’t able to think reasonably when they experience intense emotions.

So? If Thakur had known all of this, what he would have done? Let me guess. He probably would have sat down a minute or two, caught his breath, & then called upon the police to bring a complete force. He then would have led them to the valley of Gabbar’s residence & caught him along with his goons, & kept him in a jail better than the previous one, until the day of his hanging. Or he could have done a hundred other things which could have been more reasonable & thoughtful, than the one he actually did.

"There is Gap between a stimulus & a response. The key to both our growth & happiness is the way we use that Gap." - Stephen Covey

“Do not React. Respond.”