Good Book To Read: The Importance of being Earnest!

The importance of being Earnest is a play written by Oscar Wilde. As described by himself, It is a trivial comedy for serious people! Though the name of the play isn't much catchy, play is very much hilarious. Just to say, It is a normal love story (or stories?) with abnormal twists!

The hero of our story is Jack, a romantic and responsible lad of 29, living by country side. He is responsible because he is the guardian of a little pretty girl of 18, Cecily. Cecily is taken care by an admirable Governess, Miss Prism, who lives with the former two. He also has an imaginary (yes, Imaginary!) brother named Earnest. Earnest is born out of Jack's mind who, never lived in country with his brother, lives in the city. To be simple, Earnest is an excuse for Jack to come to city whenever he wants.

The main reason why Jack comes to city is Gwendolen. Gwendolen is the cousin of Jack's friend Algernon and Jack loves her so much. Since Jack is not Jack but Earnest in city, he is known to everyone in the city, including Gwendolen, as Earnest. Gwendolen also loves Jack because his name is Earnest! That might be quite cynical but our heroine feels something musical in the name Earnest. When Jack proposes Gwendolen, he comes to know about this fact. So Jack prepares to kill his imaginary brother and rechristine himself as Earnest!

One fine day, Jack unexpectedly returns to the country when no one was expecting him back home for next few days. He brings with him the sad news of his brother's death to Miss Prism. But Cecily comes running out of home to give a “good” news to Jack. Cecily informs Jack that his brother has just arrived from town!! It is a mere shock for miss Prism but total absurdity for Jack!

Well, Earnest's arrival to the country stirs the situation. To make it more sensational, Earnest proposes Cecily and she wholeheartedly accepts! The twist to the tale here is, Cecily loves Earnest because his name is Earnest! So Earnest of city is now engaged to Gwendolen and Earnest of country is engaged to Cecily. The whole mess gets more messy when Gwendolen comes to country to meet Earnest, I mean Jack. There she meets Cecily and finds out that she is also engaged to Earnest!

Will Gwendolen marry Jack? Will Earnest get Cecily? What happens when Jack comes to know that he is not Jack but Earnest for real?! What happens when Earnest next to Jack turns out to be his real brother?! One more question is prevalent than all else – Who the heaven is that Earnest who suddenly appeared on the scene at country home? If you want to know answers to these questions, you must read the play as I'm not going to reveal anything here!

And the world ends on 21st of December?

For the past two years, thanks to our mainstream media, lot of debates are going on about doomsday. Most of the people are scared about the end of the world. The hysteria has taken the world by storm! What else to say? Recent events around the world have seemed to prove the Apocalypse!

Many believe that recent natural disasters like 'Sandy' storm in US, earthquakes and tsunami in Japan are precursors to the world's end. More than that, several "evidences" have been discovered (or created?) by philosophers, astrologers, and especially media! One of such evidences is "The Mayan Calender".

How true the Mayan Calender's prediction is?

Mayan calender is said to end on 21st of December of 2012, and it is just 10 more days for that day. But in reality, there are many such Mayan calenders! Every calender has different end dates! Then how could we determine which is the actual end date of the earth? Or at least, how could we confidently say that the calender in our focus is the last one of such calenders?! It is not mentioned on the calender like "It is the end!". Just like every year has an end, every Mayan calender also has an end and another new calender begin as a continuity.

It doesn't make sense to believe that Mayans had an extra ordinary ability of foretelling. Only with the advent of modern science the humans started to explore the universe and study its laws. There is no anarchy in the universe, everything has a definite law and they work according to that law. Unless understanding the law, one can't decide the fate of something. Media has repeated it again and again the same crow-sparrow stories under the disguise of 'scientific' analysis.

What to believe?

 No scientist has ever said that world will end on December 21. But media has, again, lied to people that scientists have speculated the end on 21st of December. Despite of all the advances in science and technology, it is a morose that people still yield to blind beliefs so easily. Let the common man be aside, even many scientists yield to superstitions. Last month when Russia sent a cosmonaut crew to International Space Station, I was spellbound by watching a priest performing rituals around the rocket launchpad before the launch!

Is there no end to life on earth?

It is not like world will last forever, it has its doomsday for the future. But for the present estimates, that end is far beyond our many future generations. There is no logical basis for the world to end on 21st December. No asteroids are coming in the hunt of the earth. In fact, thousands of asteroids come and go near (yet in astronomical figures) the earth everyday. But they follow a definite path and no asteroid is found to be having its path through the earth. Storms and earthquakes have been occurring since the birth of earth. If they are more monstrous and increased today, it is because of global warming and man-made crimes. For the rest of the speculations, they are too childish to be true. In my opinion, if world ends, it will not because of natural disaster, but because of human beings!

While everyone is hysterical about the end of the world, anyone thinking of changing the world for the good?