MaskMan! why do people wear masks ??..

Down in dumps I took my seat. The day was long, so exhausting. I could think of nothing but resting my overcooked body. I didn’t want to meet any one. I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to smile. All I wanted was to close my eyes and question him, the GOD, why? Why he created the world? A world that has no place for truth! What prompt him to create a place where human acts pusillanimously? Why is there a place for lie? Why can’t people be just real? Where has the authenticity gone?

image courtesy-  gaurdian.co.uk

I was deeply immersed in my thoughts when she snapped her fingers. I turned my face slightly to look at her.

“What is that you hate about people?”  Hate about people? I didn’t have to think much. I knew the answer. It was same thought that had been meddling with my head since morning. It was something that I had always hated in the people I interacted with. I put the Q & A with the almighty on hold and moved further to look at her.

“What?” I wanted to hear the question again before answering. May be I needed a moment to frame the answer correctly.

“What about the people that you hate?” She repeated and closed the window. It started to drizzle as soon as the train moved.

“They wear masks.” And I replied.

“Interesting.” She said.

“When you think, ‘Oh! He is my best friend. I know him completely.’ And then your so called best friend does something that kicks you in the teeth. It makes you to think if you actually know him entirely?”  I explained.

“Happens with everyone, its regular!” She folded her legs and sat cross handed.

“That is the time, the moment when you realise the person was wearing a mask all these days.” I continued. Where has the authenticity vanished? Why people act differently with different sets of people. Has being real become so tough?  

Is it by nature, human wear mask or is it the society that has forced each one of us to wear a mask?

My colleagues at work act differently when they leave the office space. At times it is difficult to deem them as the same people when we meet in the non office hours. Even worse, I in fact felt the difference in behaviour of my parents as I was growing up. Do they wear mask all the time too?

“What you expect from life?” I had asked one of the colleagues at lunch early in the day.

“A stress free, happy and simple life.” He had replied. Each one of us craves for stress free life. I too want to live happily but does it mean I don’t want anything else in life? Don’t I yearn for luxuries? Luxuries that are only a small aspect of life and there is much more to it. I do, I definitely do. In my opinion everyone does. And then I asked him about the same.

“I would be happy if I find luxuries falling in my place in the journey of life.” He had replied.

 What did he mean? I wanted to ask. Is he leading a life without any goal? Is he happy with whatever he has? Or he simply didn’t want to share his aspirations with me. May be he was afraid of telling his desires as if I were going to ridicule him. Who am I to scorn him? Whatever it was I stopped the conversation at that time. I don’t like people who lead aimless life. I assumed he didn’t lie.

Meanwhile, the girl in front of me was listening patiently. We continue to discuss though at times I felt, discussion was heading nowhere. It was me who was contributing to the discussion. She played the role of a listener. It almost went on to eternity before she shoots back at me and I was completely taken aback. I didn’t think about it before. Words trailed off into silence before they could come out of my mouth. I didn’t know what to say? She had asked-

“Is this the real you or you are a Mask Man too?”

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