Dum hai to pass kar!

This happened last week. While going to work in my office cab, I spotted a car just ahead. At the back of the car, a sentence was written. It read- “Dum hai to pass kar…nahi to bardaash kar!” Loosely translated, it would read- “If you have the guts, if you have the strength (dum hai), pass me, i.e. overtake the car and go ahead. If you cannot overtake, just stay behind the car and put up with me (bardaash kar)!”

Sometimes, you feel…as though the cosmic forces conspire to hand over the most topical message, gift wrapped and dispatched…just for you! The message can be sent through any vehicle, even the vehicle ahead! The more I pondered over this sentence, the more I was convinced that there was no greater teaching in life!

What does this line say? The first and foremost message is a “call for action”- “dum hai to pass kar”- “overtake this blessed car and surge ahead”! Isn’t this the message that Krishna conveyed to Arjuna? Arjuna, in your situation, you must be decisive and act…for any day, action is better than inaction- “karma jyaayah akarmanah”.

Krishna packs more punch into his argument-“Don’t be incompetent and put up with nonsense”, “klaibyam maa sma gamah”. Arjuna, you must do your bounden duty, you must fight- “kuru karmaani” and "yudhyasva".

The beauty of “dum hai to pass kar” is an additional, subtle point. Action should be “calculated and calibrated” and not done on an impulse. Rash daredevilry is also action, but obviously, it goes nowhere. Hence, the sentence says, “dum hai to”…“after having weighed all the pros and cons of the situation, including your own ability, your own strength, may you act”!

Now, we come to the second part of the sentence- “nahi to bardaash kar”. Sometimes, we face “choiceless situations” in life. Krishna calls this “aparihaarye”- “irremediable situations”. Action here is not of much use.  In such a situation, what should you do?  It is here that we get the great message of “kshamaa”- the ability “to cheerfully put up”, “to enthusiastically accommodate” and “to resiliently endure”. This is “bardaash kar”! Haven’t we heard- “what cannot be cured must be endured”?

All this flashed across my mind, even as the cab was stranded at Silk Board Junction for a good 45 minutes. The cab may have been static, but my mind was on a roll! Dum hai to pass kar…was like that prayer from Alcoholics Anonymous- “God! Give me the “strength” to change what I can, to “accept” what I cannot and finally, the “wisdom” to know what can be changed and what cannot be changed!”

I was indebted to the car ahead with its “dum hai” message for revealing life’s verities in a such a pithy and succinct manner!

The mind is a monkey! It can plunge "from the sublime to the ridiculous” in an instant! “Dum hai to pass kar” had an alternative interpretation. The most iconic song of the 1970s was “dum maaro dum, mit jaaye gham!”- “Take a puff, take a smoke, and watch all your grief and sadness melt away!” Truly, those times were modern to convey such a thought-provoking technique as a panacea for all problems in life. In college, haven’t we come across the smoker’s camaraderie, where one friend eggs the other to join him in those collective puff sessions? “Machaan! Pass the dum da!” This is exactly what “dum hai to pass kar” is talking about!

For the rest of us, the smell and smoke gave a severe headache. It was a nuisance.  What do you do then? This is where “bardaash kar” fits in! You learn to put up, you learn to tolerate. "Dum hai to pass kar, nahi to bardaash kar" was such a versatile statement!

I forgot where I was. I burst out laughing...enjoying my own ridiculousness, bordering on madness! The cab driver glanced at me. His eyes were a mix of worry, panic and alarm. Who knows? He may have even abandoned the cab and run for cover, wondering what kind of co-passengers he had. How do I tell him- that an entire universe was brewing in my head?

I love Bengaluru with its enormous traffic snarls. It gives you infinite time and scope to let your mind run loose and totally...totally...wild!