Confused Confucius

I am a confused person these days, to be honest have been in this state all my life, except for brief periods of revelations when I thought I had discovered my calling. These interludes were rather brief and interspersed at various stages of the four odd decades of my existence on this planet. I can only talk about myself, though I have a sinking feeling that there are many who would in their private moments share this state of confusion of mine. The confusion essentially relates to life in general, but can get very specific at times, for example the ladies are generally quite at a loss in their choice of the couture for the evening party. It is left for the spouse to clear the air more often than not. Then the confusion of the kitchen, selecting the menu for the day is equally time consuming with even the hubby and the kid not coming to the rescue. But irrespective of the fare on the table, criticism is likely as it is indeed a herculean effort to cater for both kinds of palates at the same time. These are the routine mundane kinds of confusion, and then there are some which have national or at times international ramifications. Election time confusion of which is the better of the devils to be entrusted for running the country for the next five years. The choice that you made more often than not makes you rue your decision and questions your own rationale behind the choice.

My recent confusion is borne out of the raw deal which the armed forces have been receiving over the last few months. You guessed it, it relates to the pay commission or should I call it “pay omission”? In a democracy the civilian hierarchy is supreme, this is an established fact. But here, there is a deliberate attempt to ensure that a career in the profession of arms is not just unattractive but downright second grade. Having made a choice over three decades ago (counting my RIMC, NDA and IMA days also), today I am not too sure whether I would find it as challenging as it used to be. The rank structure of the army is only sacrosanct for us in uniform; the outside world has long gone past all that. Our obsession with this hierarchy reminds me of a joke; my friend bought a pup and named it “Lt”. I was amused and asked him as to why this particular name, he responded that he wants it to learn the correct manners and be on the ball all the time. The next time when we met, he had rechristened him a “Capt”, apparently a promotion for a good job done so far and expecting to do even better in the future. It soon became a “Maj”, having pleased his boss no end with his exploits, loyalty and alertness. Now there appeared to be a change in his attitude, his responses were excellent whenever the friend (his boss) ordered him about, the rest of the family he simply ignored. The friend was seized of this malaise and felt may be another promotion would motivate him. Couple of days later, the dog was nowhere to be seen, on my enquiry; I was informed that my friend had shot it dead. The friend then clarified that on having been promoted to “Col”, the dog started to behave in a very strange manner, he was very friendly to all the outsiders but would not only keep barking at the family members but would on occasions not desist from sinking his teeth as well. Thank God he had stopped at that rank itself because beyond that I shudder to think what would have been the consequences!

Of late I have started fancying my chances at literary pursuits. I have interesting credentials to staking this claim, two articles in “The Hoot” in succession! May be this too shall pass muster! Yes I have had some exposures earlier as well, an article in the “Deccan Chronicle” some seven-eight years ago for which I was awarded a microwave oven. Some articles in “The Signalman”, our school chronicle and a silver medal in the USI Gold Medal Essay competition a few eons ago. I wonder if I can...

This is the confusion then, I do not know if I shall get over it soon or languish in the morass.