Sunday TOI, 18 Dec 2011
Why are some people bounding with energy, while others get exhausted just dealing with everyday life? Where did Dev Anand's indefatigable energy spring from?
Say 'Dev Anand', and the first words that come to mind are "energetic", "evergreen", "forever young" -- epithets associated with the thespian through his life. When he passed away, headlines proclaimed that Bollywood's 'youngest' actor had died at 88!
Sometimes your own reputation can dictate the path of your life, and Dev Anand loved his evergreen, youthful, energetic image, working hard at living up to it. When he was diagnosed with hernia, he reveals in his autobiography Romancing with Life (Penguin), he refused to get operated in India fearing his fans would think that the "'evergreen', 'forever young' man of unstinted energy, gifted by the Gods with eternal youth…..was but an ordinary mortal like them all..!"
Extraordinary mortal that he was, where did Dev Anand's seemingly limitless energy resources come from? What made the man tick and kept him going till the very end? Indeed, why is it that some people seem to have boundless energy, while others struggle to even get through daily life?
I would say the answer lies in one word – passion. And of course in what you do with that passion. It is passion that spells the difference between existing and living life to the hilt, for passion allows one to plunge the depths and reach the heights of life. It gives an intensity and an edge to experiences that mere existence could never do. It stirs up creative juices and creates a buzz around you, thus attracting positivity and more action. This is what creates those extra reserves of energy that some people seem to possess.
Most of us lay claim to some passion, but creating the right resonance with it depends on how you choose to deal it. Obviously a passion enjoyed piecemeal and intermittently will not yield the same benefits as one that you allow to completely take over your life. Most of us do not allow ourselves to be swept away by our passion, allowing reason and an ingrained sense of balance and commitments to overwhelm passion. And then comes that one man who allows himself to be subsumed, indeed totally consumed by his passion. He is the one who ends up leaving a mark …..his footprints in the sands of time. He is the genius, the inventor, the discoverer or the enduring artist…
Dev Anand was one such man who lived his passion out completely. He gave in to the luxury of indulging his passion to the exclusion of all else. He lived to make films and said so openly, not seeing any reason to live beyond this indulgence. Family, friends, money – everything else seemed to take second place for him. In his words, he always swam in a current that was both "energizing and intellectually stimulating…", "forever on a plateau of excitement and eternally riding the crest of an optimistic wave." In his autobiography, Dev Anand says, "I have been working ceaselessly for over sixty years with all my creative energies at my command, the excitement of creativity sprouting all the time inside me like so many seedlings, just the way they used to when I first launched myself…"
Surely this is the bottomless well that Dev Anand's eternal youth and boundless energy sprung from? With such excitement stirring you all the time, who needs external stimulants! Allegiance and dedication to a passion gives meaning, excitement and energy to life. Describing his passion bordering on obsession, Dev Anand says in his book, "…when I'm writing, time ceases to be. I forget all about thirst and hunger. The flow of words dictated by the onrush of thoughts is food and drink to me. My excitement is what sustains me."
If passion sustains and feeds energy, what are the factors that sap one of energy? Stress and depression do a good job of enervating one. Other energy zappers are lack of good sleep or food, too much work, grief, negative people, disorganized life, messy spaces, unfinished tasks, jealousy, resentment, anger…
A creative passion is always a good escape from the negative effects of all these enervators. If one is in love with life and totally absorbed with one's passion, there is no time to regret the small stuff. Dev Anand never wasted time mourning a movie that didn't do well at the box office. His nephew Shekhar Kapur gives a rare glimpse into Dev's response to the box office disaster of Ishq, Ishq, Ishq. "He was sad. Reflective. For all of five minutes. …..Ten minutes later ……his eyes were vibrant. His face excited. He was unable to sit down for his excitement." He had got an idea for his next film! Shekhar also talks of how money held no meaning for Dev except to be used for his films. Truly Dev's art was for art's sake, as his romance was for romance' sake!
"One of the significant traits of my character is that I am always in a hurry, and hate laziness of any sort," he wrote in his autobiography. "There is always a terrific pace bubbling inside me. I think fast, I move fast with my decisions. I talk fast and I walk fast."
That's energy for you! A constant flow that feeds upon itself to create yet more energy and positivity, lending beauty to all around!
Dev Anand signed off his autobiography and now, his life too, I'm sure, with the words…."Gaata rahe mera dil…My heart is singing, like it always has been --This is a beautiful world!"
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