Wicked Sunny: The Curse of being a DaVinci

I read somewhere that Leonardo DaVinci didn't sleep for most of his life.

Today I can understand why!

DaVincis are one of the highly creative but also equally cursed souls on this planet.

Just because they have a different perception, they are mocked, ridiculed and criticized by this so called 'civilized and educated' society.

From Bruno to Galileo, from Pluto to Leonardo himself, all DaVinci types have faced the brunt of being the outcast, just because they were diverse and my case is no different.

All of last month, I was in New Delhi attending a workshop on electronics and Robotics. It was tiring but a very important journey. Robotics in India is just in its nascent stage and many private institutes are trying to bring it into the limelight.

Since I am a DaVinci, engineering and robotics run in my blood (though I easily get bored with the theory part). I required some practical knowledge, before indulging myself further with the plan of launching the first creative Robotics magazine in India.

After the workshop was over, I had to attend my cousin’s wedding in a small town nearby. The attitude of my relatives regarding my robotics workshop was very demoralizing.

Just because they cannot manage to do more than one thing at a time, they believe no one else can multitask.

Just because they run after earning money day and night, they expect everyone else to do the same. There is a limit of narrow mindedness but they had even crossed that.

During the wedding, for personal reasons I remained silent for most of the time. This was due to reasons from my past:- the reasons which still don’t let me sleep at night; the reasons which had triggered my DaVinci gene and made me realize my true potential.

But my silence instead triggered a chain reaction of events followed with insult, criticism, and mockery. During that whole period, I remained quiet because I have been taught not to disrespect the elders. Anyone else in my shoes might have retaliated in a very offensive manner.

I realized how difficult it would have been for DaVincis in the past, when the word of the Church was the law and anyone going against it was tortured and punished. Bruno was burned alive; Galileo spent most of his life in prison and even Leonardo’s life was hellish.

It doesn’t matter how hypocritical the word Democracy is; sometimes it makes perfect sense that I live in the biggest democracy of this world – Thank God for that! At least they haven't impaled my head on a pole for just being different, yet.

Every person is limited by perceptional boundaries. A frog living in a well, - cannot imagine the meaning of "ocean", no matter how much you try to explain it. Unless the frog experiences the ocean, it will never believe it exists.

In the same manner most of us try to gain comfort by following others around us, by imitating our surroundings, by setting ideals and goals pertaining to things and people which we desire or which we lack. The more we lack, the more unsatisfied we are with our life. I believe some people can never be satisfied. They believe they have everything, yet inside they are not and can never be happy.

So I don’t blame those who point a finger at me; instead I forgive them, because I can understand their perceptions and their limitations.

For DaVincis all this insult and mockery are normal. This didn’t happen for the first time, and won’t happen for the last time.

A true DaVinci is the one who picks himself up after every fall (mind you we keep falling for a lifetime), and still manages to resurrect his or destiny. For the rest, all will perish in the mist of time. Millions have come and gone on this planet,; who remembers whom?

P.S. - Even DaVincis are never accepted by their generation. Somewhere down the line, hundreds of years later, someone will pick up a DaVinci’s incomplete work from an excavation site and only then realize its true brilliance.

Till then if you are a real DaVinci, hang on, it’s going to be a rough ride.

I wish to end with this Urdu Poetry from Mirza Ghalib (another DaVinci who was never appreciated by his generation) –

कोई उम्मीद् बर नहीं आती
Neither is there hope for me,
कोई सूरत नज़र नहीं आती
Nor can I see my beloved’s face,

मौत का एक दिन मु'अय्याँ है
The day of my death is fixed,
नींद क्यों रात भर नहीं आती
Then why can't I sleep at nights?

आगे आती थी हाल-ए-दिल पे हँसी
In past I used to laugh at my pain,
अब किसी बात पर नहीं आती,
Now I cannot even smile in any way.

है कुछ ऐसी ही बात जो चुप हूँ
There is a reason that I am silent,
वर्न क्या बात कर नहीं आती
Why do you think that I cannot talk?

क्यों न चीख़ूँ कि याद करते हैं
Why shouldn’t I scream while remembering you
मेरी आवाज़ गर नहीं आती
If my voice doesn’t reach you?

हम वहाँ हैं जहाँ से हम को भी
I am at that place from where
कुछ हमारी ख़बर नहीं आती
Even I don’t receive my own news.

मरते हैं आरज़ू में मरने की
I die in the desire of death,
मौत आती है पर नहीं आती
death comes and yet doesn’t come

काबे किस मूँह् से जाओगे 'ग़ालिब'
How will you enter God’s abode, O Ghalib
शर्म तुमको मगर नहीं आती
if you are not even ashamed of your deeds?