Miscellanea/Farzana Versey
Intellectualism is a part-time hobby, only they call it either a passion or a way
of life
If you flaunt beauty and sheer physical prowess,
you are accused of vanity. But what of those who use their minds with lethal power?
The worst offenders are the artists and the intellectuals. The
artists invariably believes that since god has provided them with
an easel, a canvas, a few brushes and some paint they are superior
to the rest of the species. Therefore, you are likely to come
across them looking either lost or with fire in the eyes. Both
these are legitimate expressions. No one will ever bother to insinuate
that they are either uncomfortable and constipated or have had
one too many.
And even if they have, it is only to deaden the voices of conscience,
to drown sorrows or to get further inspiration from Monet or Picasso.
Never ever suggest that an artist is a social drinker. Even if
he lives in a duplex apartment, he still believes that he is living
in a garret in a small lane of Paris. But don't judge the artist
too rashly. He is always ready to paint for a social cause. Don't
forget he is a thinker who has an opinion. So with one slash of
red he can convey blood, gore, mayhem. And if it is only that
one slash that graces the canvas, his work will be hailed as minimalistic.
Which brings me to the intellectual. His silences are long, his
words brief. Time was when you pronounced a person an intellectual
if his ideas set you thinking, or he had something original to
say. Today, anyone in front of a computer with his hand under
his chin is called an intellectual, be he in films, journalism
advertising (even client executives!) photography or even corporate
honchos. Barely has a sentence escaped their lips than there is
a round of hushed applause, 'He is such an intellectual.'
It usually means you haven't understood a word of what has been
said.
Intellectuals are freer individuals than artists in that they
do not necessarily have to sell their work. Intellectualism is
a part-time hobby, only they call it either a passion or a way
of life.
The ones who call it a passion always like to see things from
the psycho-sociological point of view. After they have had their
say, there is always a pregnant pause in which they chew their
own thoughts.
The ones who say it is a way of life look as though they have
swallowed a bottle of castor oil. And not even by mistake. All
their actions are deliberate. They walk slowly, talk slowly, eat
slowly. They are a great hit on the social circuit largely because
they arrive late and leave early.
Oh, I forgot, these days even fundamentalists of every stripe
as well as secularists of any sort are dubbed intellectual. Thinking
people use their aloofness as a defence mechanism and the moment
they have fooled the world that they are lost in a different world,
they might just strike to win.
This is all very well, but it often gives rise to a major feeling
of superiority. All of us value our mental prowess and I would
be a hypocrite if I did not myself confess to feelings of superiority
over, say a woman obsessed with external embellishments. But the
'Look at Me' kind of brain is likely to rock your boat and promote
himself as the most eligible anchor!
Illustration: Dominic Xavier
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