Demolish the Matrix

IQ, board exam score, rank of college, ranking on graduation, first salary, current salary.

Growing up in India, you’re often reduced to a set of numbers. Your parents know exactly what these numbers are. They are the sum total of you that matters to society, the Matrix imposed upon you. The Matrix that you WILL live by. Why?

No good reason.

Mostly so when neighbours drop in, or you meet extended family at weddings, the matrix can be dutifully displayed. “Ah…” they will say enviously. And that, is after all, all that matters.

But. Every now and then, during your childhood or teenage years, an unexpected dimension of you pops up. Say you discover that you were meant to be a performer. Or a professional video game tester. No worries, bachaa, of course you can!

But very sneakily, it’s quickly dealt with — through dissuasion, ignorance, or with endless anecdotes of Sharmaji ka Beta who tried all these crazy professions. Ended up dead. And a virgin. A dead virgin. Tut tut. Or you’re kept busy in the great insidious institution of tuition. Heard of it? Yes? That’s because you, my friend, were institutionalized.

We cannot have dimensions popping up that distract you, that *shudder* compromise the matrix now, can we? We have to keep the matrix optimized at all costs! And later, some point in the future, the matrix numbers will be repackaged nicely with your height, caste and complexion, also updated with your current salary, and presented to the parents of your optimal future spouse.

Huh. Well. Screw that.

You are not a set of numbers. That dimension of you, which you buried under your pillow, That’s who you are! So go back, think, find it again. Maybe you didn’t even acknowledge it, it was so far out. Well, this is your time. Figure it out. Dust it off, remove the covers, bring it back out.

The world that the matrix has been making…it’s not working out so well for us. We continue to be measured by the size of their houses, the power of their cars, the sum total of their possessions. And we wonder how the world got so polluted, so materialistic and so greedy.

So break the matrix. Demolish it. Do stuff that your future in-laws might not approve of. Give respectful, awed expression to those fantastic, yet suppressed and hidden dimensions. Find your dreams, realize them.

At Toffee, we’ve been doing a series of #ToffeeChronicles on people who have done just that. We love these stories, we love these communities, we love anything that enables people to fulfill their greatest potential.

We want you to focus on being you with all hidden dimensions brought out to full glorious expression. All that other stuff you have to worry about? Well, we’ve got your back on that with bite-sized insurance policies that are just right for you, just in time.

So board that bus, join that band, find yourself. Get out of the matrix and, kid, you’ll move mountains!