Evolution

I was in the middle of a client call in a conference room at my office.

The client was explaining about a particular data table my team had wanted clarification upon. As I was trying to understand the way the calculation of a field in the table had been made, I suddenly felt as if a huge hand had grabbed my shirt collar and I was being pulled through one time hole after the other until I was thrown down, landing on my face, beside a stone-age man (who for some reason, looked very similar to me) waiting to hunt. I looked at him and he looked at me. But not sparing me attention for more than a second, he started running towards his food which, at his sight, started running away from him. Before he could grab his food, blackness hit me and I was grabbed again and thrown this time beside the same stone-age man in his cave. He was fast asleep with a huge smile spread across his face. Before I could finish observing the walls of the cave, blackness hit me again, a hand grabbed me again and threw me back into my office conference room.

The explanation about the calculation of the field was still underway.

Data Analysis! Stone-age man! A hunt! A cave! Back to data analysis!

It was utter chaos. 

Then, slowly, it began making sense.

When man started his life on this planet, what did he really care about?!

Food. Shelter.

As the most dominant species breathing on this planet now, what do we really care about?!

Money. Respect. Love. A few other perishable items.

How drastically have we then evolved from a man requiring only food and shelter to a man who is a part of a society which sees a point in having numerous fields of work which determine the respect and money and other perishable items?!

From being alert to the movement of a wild animal to being alert to the fall and rise of the stock market, from being naked with nature to revering silk and platinum, from not knowing that communication could occur to sending out a voice mail and typing down abstract poems  – How dumbfounding a change?!

To realize that we created civilizations, we created languages, we created religions, we created money, we created marriages, we created jobs and to realize that most of our problems today revolve around these creations of ours – Don’t you wonder if the human species is a masochistic one?

As these thoughts started settling down in my head, the explanation about the calculation of the field came to an end.

There was a pause from the client’s side which after a few seconds, turned into awkward silence. My team leader quickly pressed the ‘Mute’ button in the Polycom conference phone and shouted, “Arey.. Reply if you have understood the calculation or ask the next question!”

I nodded and released the ‘Mute’ button.

“What do you actually think about our evolution as a species?” I wanted to ask.

“Thank you so much for that explanation.. Now we see why the issues in the data…” I started speaking.

I had evolved too much for life and truth.