Blocks in life, in other words impediments or hurdles crop up in every one’s life at every stage. They are essential to make life meaningful. We humans are all alike. We take life for granted and expect everything will happen as per our plan or (God’s plan), and suddenly unexpected happens. Take my neighbour Gajanan’s example (name changed). He came down from Australia few days ago. He is a happy go lucky person, always in jovial mood. The other day he decided to pay a visit to the property he purchased 25 years ago. To his shock and utter disbelief, he was blocked by a bouncer at the gate. He was shown all forged property papers in some xyz (land mafia) name!
He is one amongst hundreds others in Goa, who are victims of ‘the great Goa land grab’ whose rights to their own property have been blocked and are silent (voice blocked too?).
In Gajanan’s case, now his third instalment of loan has been blocked by his bank, because he had mortgaged this property to obtain loan for his upcoming dream house.
We all encounter blocks in our life at every step whether big or small. Commonly encountered block by road users in India is ‘Rasta Roko’, the method most frequently used by the protesters, agitators, NGOs… to voice their grievances which fall on deaf (blocked) ears of concerned authorities. Another block we commonly face is when a nasty guy parks his vehicle behind your car when you want to reverse out of parking lot!
At personal level there could be temporary mind block due to depression or other psychological conditions. There is also another block called writer’s block. The celebrated Goan poet and author Dom Moraes suffered from it for 17 years!
Blocking effectively for good reasons and for desired results is part of life. Take any field, sports for example --whether football or basketball. Blocking the advancing player is the trick to save the goal. This is true in snakes and ladder, carrom, chess et al. Other areas where blocking is put to good use are --blocking the flow of river by erecting a dam, using creams which block UV light (spf 30) of the sun thus preventing radiation and skin cancer, blocking the porn sites so that children are not exposed….., blocking spam and unwanted calls and messages on mobile are also in our personal interest. Professional colleges and institutions block seats for management quota.
In science and medicine there are numerous blocks too. Spinal block, local block, nerve block to name a few which make surgery painless. Acid blockers which block h2 receptors in stomach like (omeprazole, ranitidine) have revolutionized gastritis and peptic ulcer treatment which needed surgery during my time even in early 80s. Similarly neuronal and chemical agents given to block certain neurotransmitters in brain have phenomenal effect in reversing some mental diseases like Parkinsons, Alzheimers, dementia, etc
Corruption is also a mental disease where chemical reaction in brain is altered. Otherwise how can you explain a babu or a MLA having Rs 200 crore still not satisfied and wants to make Rs 2000 crore? I hope scientists discover some anti corruption vaccine (ACV) very soon so that it can be made mandatory to all political aspirants before they contest any election!