The Menace Of Mediocrity

So what are you? What do you do for a living? Tara asked. Ved nonchalantly replied that he is a Product Manager in a tech company. They had met after 4 years. Tara first met Ved in Corsica. They decided to play-act as anything but their real selves. So ved became Don and Tara was Mona Darling. Ved was so attuned to Nature, he used to talk to the mountains, dance in the rain, make up stories on spot and had a vivid imagination. Ved loved himself with such conviction that Tara instantly liked herself more when she was with him. They met as strangers in Corsica and promised to never meet again ever, but as fate would have it, here they were, 4 years and three jobs later.

Tara was very happy to meet him after all these years and they decided to catch up. But Ved? He seemed off. He was like a completely different version of what Tara had met 4 years back. This version of Ved was a mediocre professional with very set ways of doing things, with little or no imagination. This guy sucks up to his boss and over exaggerates his regular achievements. The more they started hanging around, the more baffled Tara felt. She already had everything and more that this Ved 2.0 was bringing to the table. At times she felt guilty for feeling this way but she knew she could not settle for this. The Ved she knew, had hobbies, extensive knowledge about history, was street smart. Ved would always throw random facts about the places they visited. Tara being a sceptic always looked it up just to make sure. But Ved 2.0 was a bleak personality who wore sleek formals and runs a rat race. He woke up in a robotic way, brushed his teeth in a certain way, dressed up and went to the office as a docile, obedient servant. So when Ved actually proposed to Tara, she could not bring herself to say Yes. Because Tara believed that Ved was not an average person whose life revolved around the success of the corporate world but a Visionary, an enigmatic storyteller, an artist. It becomes very evident in Ved's mannerisms that he is nothing but controlled chaos, forcing himself to fit into the mediocre mindset.

Tara was always sure-footed, so she knew that she could not settle for someone who was not happy with himself. There is no harm in being mediocre, if one is satisfied with it. But to shift into a whole alter ego and try to fit into society's standard of dignity did not sit well with her. Tara pushed Ved to realise his potential and he resisted vehemently. They said things to each other that both of them could never take back, so she let him go.

Tara ko aur bhi bohot kaam hote hain. She needed to finish her degree in psychology, her master's on Bharatnatyam, visit new places and complete her research on why Medusa's rape by Poseidon was devalued in history or rather upheld the patriarchal construct of demonizing women that were sexually abused in the first place. Yeh alag story hain, baad mein likhte hain .

So yes, another year passed. Tara shifted to Amsterdam. She woke up from a phone call from an unknown number. And as she enquired who was on the other end: It echoed " Don, Don, Don".