Why so serious?

Yesterday while watching BATMAN DARK KNIGHT, I wondered why this dialogue-“why so serious” became such a humongous hit, one which will remain etched in the memories of everyone who has watched the movie for a long long time. What was so special about it? What made it such a cult dialogue? Is it the landmark performance and the remarkable style of Late Heath Ledger (who played joker)? Well yes, but only to an extent. According to me what makes this dialogue so emphatic is the fact that it reminds us of the way most of the things should be taken in life – UN-SERIOUSLY. Sometimes we take a lot of things a bit too seriously. Deep inside us there lies a fear that the situation is very grave and should be taken seriously lest it gets worse. But does that help?
Let us discuss about a recent incident that shocked India:-
On January 24, 2009, the Sri Ram Sene attacked girls in a pub in Mangalore. A group of 40 activists of the Sri Ram Sene barged into the pub "Amnesia — The Lounge" and beat up a group of young women and men, claiming the women were violating traditional Indian values. Two of the women were hospitalized. "Whoever has done this has done a good job. Girls’ going to pubs is not acceptable. So, whatever the Sene members did was right. You are highlighting this small incident," said founder Pramod Muthalik.
Well why do you think this happened? It’s because these ram sene members took themselves and their so called “moral values” a bit too seriously. What’s the point in bringing tradition amidst such personal things like wearing jeans, going to pubs and other things which they feel are wrong. Fine, if you feel its wrong then you just don’t do it. Nobody is forcing you to go to pubs then why are you forcing people to not go to pubs. It’s just a personal choice. And moreover it’s we the people who created tradition then we must also have the right to modify it. If according to our tradition going to pubs and wearing jeans is wrong then so is beating and abusing women in public. At the end of the day what did the sene workers got? More n more people started going to pubs in protest (pub bharo andolan) and to the horror of the sene members their office was flooded with pink chaddies sent from across the country (pink chaddi campaign).

This is a perfect example of how things can become worst when we start taking them too seriously.

In India another thing that is given importance more than it requires is RELIGION. Religion, I feel is the most personal thing on earth and also the most misused concept. Religion I follow should matter only to me and not to anybody else. I cant understand why every official form has a special place for religion. How does it matter to any firm or organisation what my religion is?
Had people in India preferred to take religion a bit too personally and not as seriously, there would not have been brutal killings of thousands of Muslims in Gujarat, there would not have been Godhra killings, there would not have been 1973 Sikh riots.


So you see lot of troubles can be avoided just by simplifying ourselves and things around us. Let’s stop taking things seriously, let's stop cribbing about all that we feel is wrong and let’s welcome everything with a smile, let’s enjoy life, let’s live and let others live their own life, peacefully.
Let’s ask everybody the question joker asked in dark knight –
WHY SO SERIOUS ?????