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Musings
The Bigness of Small Things
 They
say, think big…, do big…, become big…, make it big…! Is ‘bigness’ really
that big? What about the ‘small’? Why isn’t it in currency in popular
lexicon? Why is it so out of fashion? Would there be this big hallowed
life, to which we all hold so fastidiously, without the small germ cells?
Does not the smallest of DNA segment determine big characters of living
beings? Would there be our awe-inspiring earth without millions of smaller
elements uniquely placed in the order of things? Even the unfathomable
universe is made more comprehensible by millions of tiny atoms in
inseparable bonds.
Nature, from where all lives emerge, thrives in smallness! The vastness of
the ecosystem lies in the numerous small organisms and microorganisms that
are uniquely placed to make life subsist on this lonely planet. And the
life-giving rain nurses us with its tiny beads. We wake up to be lighted
by small bundles of energy emanating from the big, bright sun and the
‘small’ stars carelessly twinkling away, soothe our nights. What would a
rose look like without those soft petals? Ask a bird about the warmth of
its nest and it will tell you about the numerous little twigs.
What would people be without small ideas, small achievements, small
milestones and small failures? Imagine civilization without that small
little spark of fire or those small spokes in the wheel. From hunting and
food gathering to agriculture and industrialization, human beings have
travelled far. How a step at a time has constituted a giant leap for
humankind! Aren’t we all aware of the colossal power of the splitting of
small atoms into even smaller ones and our failure to foresee its
consequences? Let us not sneer at the small; they teach valuable lessons!!
Envision cultural heterogeneity, without the little igloos or the small
hieroglyphic letters. The magnificence of our dreams, having the potential
to shape and reshape existence is built on thousands of small imaginings
both permanent and transitory. Beautiful poems that fire our souls are
constituted of small words, so profound and moving. The most complicated
of verses can be broken down into sensible knowledge.
Our contemporary life would collapse without ‘freedom’, an idea small
enough to be a part of every foundational knowledge and ‘big’ enough to
define our cognitive existence. It is difficult to imagine what life would
be without those infinite little patches of experiences that make our
loves and hates, successes and failures, gains and losses, upsides and
downsides so inimitable and enchanting.
Why rush for the big? Why live a frenzied existence? Why hanker for
greatness? Why can’t we play well our little designated parts so that this
big world can be redeemed of its manifold large catastrophes? I think of
‘small’ leaders, working in small locales for small causes. Baba Amte,
Mother Teresa, Medha Patkar, Ela Bhatt, Aruna Roy, Shanti Sinha, Sandeep
Pandey, Rajendra Singh and many more, touch us in their numerous little
ways to make our lives worthwhile and more real. Let us salute them!
My thoughts wander to children – their tiny hands and their small
penetrating eyes. I appreciate their potential for one day they would
visualize and achieve the ‘big’. Let us revel in the ‘greatness of
smallness’.
– Sujata Ashwarya Cheema
July 4, 2004
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