Few years ago, I heard the term "paper money". Since then, I
concluded that every piece of paper is bought by money. It is the only
thing that keeps you in the hemisphere of mortals.
Since
the time of Adam and Eve to date, everything is pretty much transferred
on to the paper, in various forms; documents, notes, journals and the
holy scriptures etc. Presently paper is ruling our lives; from birth to
death, despite of the different religions, races, colors, cultures
and traditions.
When a woman is handed over by the report
of her pregnancy, from that moment onwards, she is a certified mother.
But who knows the real story behind that report? It might be conceived
without her will as she is too young to handle a child. It could be an
illegitimate child or a forced child. Are all the family members happy?
There might be debates and warnings about the gender of the newly
born. What will happen if it’s not a boy? The moment the baby is born,
faces a brunt of cocktail feelings depending on the situations but no
one really cares. The birth certificate proves that he is alive. But in
what sort of conditions? That's the least of one’s concern. There are
times when children are thrown in the dustbins without any name and
address etc, which leads them to orphanages etc. They too have no
standing in the world until they are not accepted on the piece of
paper. Even though it’s a blessing if those kids are adopted on the
paper, but no one realizes the pain when they come face to face with
the fact that their own parents threw them away.
With
time, the child grows up in various situations. From the first day to
the end of education, he works hard to get a piece of paper known as a
degree, to stand on his two feet to make something out of himself and
at last he succeeds which makes everyone happy, but no one sees the
pain and problems which he faced in all those years. What were his
fears? How he overcame them? In what stress, he had to study? No doubt,
one gains knowledge for oneself but it does not have any value in the
professional life without that paper (degree).
Once, he is
out of the academic period, he starts looking around for a job. If for
any reason, he does not have those required papers, then despite of
the fact that he has studied uptil Ph.D, he won’t be offered by a job
or at least a job of his caliber.
Finally the period of
marriage arrives, which too is based on the paper document. Otherwise,
that relationship of hearts has no authenticity. No one looks at the
cracks, the pain, the pieces and the bleeding of the bonds. As far as
the paper exists, all seems well. No one thinks if the girl or boy was
forced to marry. No one thinks if they are actually made for each other
or not? Are they satisfied or not? But just as a face saving tactic,
no one admits the wounds given by those ties. People meet their soul
mates apart from their marriages too, yet they are bound to that paper
and they can’t unite.
Finally when death embraces us, our
souls are freed from the bonds of this world, but again it is bound to
the death certificates. Otherwise, you are not counted as a mortal.
Behind that certificate, no one knows how many tears were shed at the
loss? How many soul mates were parted? How they had lived their lives?
How children will spend their lives without their parents etc.
These
are just 5 major phases of everyone's life. We all go through them at
one stage or another. If we magnify the topic more, then we can see
that the paper is not only ruling our personal lives, but it’s more of a
ticket in this world. If we have to travel from one place to another,
we need visas, tickets and boarding passes etc. Without it, you can’t
move about freely. If you are ill, your history is written on the paper.
If you are wanting to by a property, it’s done by a piece of paper. If
you are buying things, you are given a piece of paper as a receipt. If
you have to file an F.I.R, that too is on the paper. Otherwise, an
unwritten report has no value. Even in the religion, it is said that
there are angels sitting on our shoulders, assigned to note down our
good and bad points and present that daily to God.
Last
but not the least, even on the Day of Judgement, a Book would be kept
in front of us with our deeds written in it, and on the basis of which,
we would be sent to the hell or the heaven.
No matter
how many reasons you give for the importance of those papers and their
legalities, the fact remains that our lives are "wrapped in the paper"
which is bought by money at every step of our lives, without even
having a shadow of our feelings, strained relations, memories, losses
or face saving tactics on them.
