NOBODY

When you meet people, the very first thing they ask you is WHAT DO YOU DO ? or WHAT ARE YOU DOING ?

I have been thinking about this a LOT since a VERY LONG time... More so lately with my Hindi classes, when I was conceptualising a lesson on the board for my student, I saw that she would like to know what the person did first and where he comes from next, his or her name features much later in her priority of questions.

This made me reflect a lot more on my original thought, certainly Mr. Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, The French mathematician who coined the term work in 1826 will turn in his grave with my philosophical questions related to the matter... Yet What kind of a dam can stop the flood of these questions ? and My head rings on with the question WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT FOR US TO KNOW WHAT THE PERSON DOES ???

Does it help us identify how we fit into the person's work life ? Does the work a person does give us a glimpse into how he thinks reacts and lives ??? Does the work by any chance imply an unsaid hierarchy in society ??? a miniature kingdom of our social circles ??? Or is the work one does is what he is ??? I do Understand that one's personality reflects in one's work; is it vice versa as well ???

If you are in the ZERO ACTIVITY or NO Work Mode does it place you on the last step of the ladder where it is Marked NOBODY in caps and bold ???

I just enjoy the way people go off balance and desperately feel for ground beneath their feet when my response to their question is "I am not doing anything..." The immediate 2nd question almost all the time is Ohh So You are a House wife... making the question sound more like a statement, to the horror of most I tell them That A is not in India and leave them with their own Question as I remain with Mine.

“I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody.” - J D Salinger