Undercurrents

The temptation of the mainstream. The ease of being in the majority. It is so easy to flow with the tide of the mainstream.

The fish in the mainstream thinks it is going somewhere. And indeed, it is going somewhere. But the mainstream decides where it is going, not the fish. The fish does not have a say. But the fish does not care. In the annual report of the school (the fish school), they can still write page after page about what they accomplished in their journey. You can never complain about inaction to them. They will be offended. They were truly busy, working hard, swimming with the mainstream, to pursue the dreams the mainstream defined. The mainstream demands hardwork, strong muzzles, and a 24 by 7 commitment. Come to work with your sleeping bags, they exhort you, and of course they have even storage shelves for your sleeping bags, since most of the time you can sleep in the night at your desks anyway. The mainstream cares for you. They have 24 by 7 coffee and food, and many times even free. For your health they have gymansium, basket ball courts (of course, basket ball is a better fad than the local football and volleyball). The food in the cafeteria is specially designed for your health. The mainstream cares for you, and is even much better equipped to care for you, than your family. Your family? We are your family, the mainstream says. They of course sympathize with your family for the sacrifices you are making for the mainstream on their behalf. For all the time that you do not get with your families, the mainstream covers all of them, even your in-laws, with attractive health-care packages. After all, isn't it also for them?

But as for the fish who wanted to go the improbable, it has to face the odds. The ridicule of the mainstream, the strong disbelief of the very family the mainstream actually isolated from you, and even the society who can't comprehend why the hell you left such an attractive lead in the mainstream. Can you swim upstream? Are you trained to swim another way? Are you crazy? Come on. Be real! What is wrong with the mainstream anyway? Afterall, isn't life also favourable to the mainstream? Do you know how to dare danger in the upstream? The still small voice says that the daring and systematic encounters with the upstream can change the direction of your life, and the lives of the others who were left uncared for in the bylanes of mainstream.

Nemo.