Lock Down Day 7: Break The Chain!

"Break the chain!" "Break the chain!" "Break the chain!"

Everywhere you look, this is the slogan that resonates constantly - be it the social media, ads, pamphlets etc. But right now, this message means just one thing. Break the chain of spreading the infection. Social distance yourself, so that the virus cannot spread around.

But let me tell you something. "Break the chain" is a slogan not just applicable to this pandemic alone. There are many other places/scenarios this slogan can come in hand and should be put in practice. This is a slogan that has an enormous impact, and in fact, it should have an enormous impact on all our lives. Each one of us including myself has something in our very self that chains us to the past, and which has to be broken for the good!

There are many values and believes that are passed down to us through generations. Most of them are great and necessary for sustaining order and love in our society. Humans are communal beings, we need each other for our survival. And this is best understood during this pandemic. However, like the two sides of a coin, we have also been told many things that may serve us more harm than good by our parents, who got to know those through their parents and they from their parents, and it goes on to way back. But we still caress these thoughts and beliefs with the same respect as the good ones passed onto us.

"Thappad", a recent Bollywood movie, talks about breaking a particular type of chain, prevalent in countries like India. In a society where it is considered to be 'not a big deal' if your husband hits you, this movie comes as a revolution emphasizing to us that it is INDEED a big deal! The movie has done an amazing job, the actors have truly enacted out the emotions so well, that I truly applaud the entire team for such a wonderful effort. But what I fail to comprehend is, humans being such intelligent creatures, we still rely on entertainment to teach us certain values, especially when it comes to situations that demands self-respect and dignity.

"Trials of Gabriel Fernandez" is a Netflix crime documentary series about how a little boy was brutally abused and murdered by his mother and her boyfriend; and how complaints of the child abuse fell through the cracks of the system in the US. Through evidence collected for the trial shows that the child's mother was abused too when young, and she let the chain grow by repeating the same to her son.

These are some of the grave things I'm talking about in breaking the chain, but truly thought-provoking to know. We are all susceptible to many small things within ourselves on a daily manner. It can be the way we were talked to by our parents/caregivers/teachers when we were young (for no fault of theirs, I have to admit), or certain ways of responding to situations that we've grown up in, some of which may not be exactly the healthy way to adopt, but we still tend to do so in our lives. Let's, however, break that chain with us!

I fail miserably sometimes, but I still want to break the chain. If I see my daughter color outside the outlines of her images in her coloring book, I don't advise her do it neatly and try to color only on the inside. However, I do tell her, "this is what the outline is for, to contain the colors inside. But if you're happy coloring this way, be proud of it and don't let other's take that feeling away from you."

What's the chain you're breaking at the moment or wish to see broken? Let me know!!

Until then, take care everyone. Stay happy, healthy and safe!!