What do I mean by posturing? Simply put; being someone you are not. Pretending to be one and actually being another. We see a lot of that around and almost all of us are two people, then what is the point of this column, you may ask? The world is teeming with fakes; why do we need to talk about that?
I believe there are two kinds of people. One, who pretend to be gentle and helpful but would betray you at the first chance they get. The other kind are gentle and helpful and remain gentle and helpful and the world takes them for a ride; by the world read, the first kind.
This is not about the first kind. They can take care of themselves. This is about the second kind. I can say with extreme recklessness that I am quite the second kind but a certain amount of reverse posturing has helped me.
Reverse posturing? What the hell is that? Allow me to expound.
There are scores of people who over time, as they get to know me, say, “Hey, we always thought, you were so unapproachable, aloof and arrogant even. But you are none of those things.” I smile. And behind that smile I go back to the memory of the lesson I have learned, albeit the hard way.
Soon after Raaz became a hit there was a producer whose film I did not want to do, but he would not let me off the hook. He followed me where I went, spoke to my friends, my elders, everyone he could find, who might take up his case and finally got me to agree to direct his film. He gave me a signing amount. Not a hefty one, but that is not the matter at hand.
As luck would have it, my films did not do well and the tide changed. Now, he wanted his money back, and hold your breath, he wanted his money back with interest! I was aghast. I never wanted to do his film in the first place and here I was being bombarded with phone calls from him, where he resorted to the use of the choicest expletives and obscenities.
But there is a God. And He does act when you need Him to act.
It was at that time, I was reading a book in which I came across a story of the Buddha. I remember it was called Buddha and the Snake. A village of farmers was being terribly harassed by a venomous snake. When the tired farmers returned home at sundown this snake would be hiding in the tall grass to lunge at an unsuspecting victim.
After a lot of suffering and many deaths the people of the village decided to go to the Buddha. They believed in him and his teachings and did not want to kill the snake but they had had enough.
The Buddha promised to do something about the problem. Early the next morning, the Buddha found the snake hiding in the bush and spoke to him. He told the snake what he was doing was pointless and just evil. The snake understood and promised the Buddha that he would never sting the humans again.
A few weeks later, the Buddha found the snake by the side of the road. To his horror, the snake was emaciated and dying. The Buddha was filled with deep angst and asked the snake what had happened to him.
The snake told him that since his promise the villagers had made him into a plaything. The children would pick him and throw him, use him as a piece of rope and the farmers would pelt him with stones. He was badly injured and did not think he would make it past a few days.
The Buddha sat beside the snake and ran a loving hand over him, “I asked you to stop biting, I did not ask you to stop pretending that you could bite. Raise your poisonous hood and scare the villagers away. Make them believe you are dangerous. That is all that is needed.”
The Buddha had taught the snake reverse posturing. The art of being nice within but being dangerous on the outside.
I had learned my lesson as well. I asked the producer to take a hike and do whatever he could. I gave him back his money but there was no interest that was going to be coming to him. To my surprise, he agreed. All that was need was some reverse posturing.
The world has too many posturers, the first kind, remember? The ones who will befriend you and knife you in the back? Hell, why the back, they can knife you in the face! But the problem with that kind is that you need to sell your soul and I, for one, have some regard for the laws of karma and the well-being of my soul. Ergo the reverse posturing is just right for me.
I would rather be an assh..e to the world but pure within, than be an angel to the world and an assh..e within. I may not have many friends because I choose to go by my invention of reverse posturing, but the ones I have are safe from any Brutus-like activity from me.
I have seen success and I have seen failure. I have seen the good and I have seen the bad and there is one thing I have learned and let me whisper that in your ears today... You will never get what you want. You will never get what you deserve. You will never get what you command. You will only get what you negotiate.
Life is an ongoing negotiation. And it works better for the reverse posturer!
— Co-ordinated by Dinesh Raheja
