Today, our fire alarm went off after dinner, and we reluctantly stepped outside. This has been happening every few weeks, and happens multiple times on the same night till fire engines arrive. Every time, it’s a false alarm. It is very uncomfortable being forced to leave your home when you don’t want to – whether it is for a false fire alarm, or for a wild fire creeping stealthily into other homes. Last year, we were evacuated from our home because of crazy wild fires all over San Diego. It was like the fire was creeping in on us from all sides. And even when friends are nice and hospitable, being forced out of one’s own home is very unsettling. We just needed a reason to get back home to pick something or the other. People said that we should treat it as a vacation from work, but it is really a vacation if you choose it.

Cribbing about the faulty fire alarm today reminded me of last year and what made that seem petty was the fact that at this very moment, millions of people have been displaced from their homes because of the hurricane season around New Orleans. They have been moved to shelters, knowing that when they get back a lot of their memories may have been washed away from existence, and when their kids grow up, they would need to tell them about things they otherwise could have seen – family pictures coming down generations, the box of a baby’s first things, recordings of get-togethers, and so many more. And surprisingly, something made even this seem petty. The fact that millions of people back home in Bihar have not even been evacuated or rescued. They are waiting for dear life, standing on their roofs, because their whole home has got drowned in water. They are standing there, not knowing which kid to keep an eye on, and whom to save in the family – an old parent or a young kid. Does life really have to bring men and women to such choices? These are choices we talk about hypothetically, and here, there are people who live these very choices. There are no bad answers in this case, as is in most choices in life. But don’t all our problems seem minor before this question? Where does all the education and knowledge help, when the most difficult choice is made by an uneducated man. Then, is education really worth the hype. Is knowledge all that prophets propagate? Because if he who wrote sayings that mark the wise, ever went through the trauma of that poor family, he would not have words to share. Penance and sacrifice are difficult, but a choice. Fate is not a choice.

And yet we smile when see the sun rise and go places to see the beauty in a sunset, because as a species, we humans are resilient.

The trodden path is known to all,
We will tread there if that’s where we belong.