JUNE 26

Have we, finally, reached a point in history where "hiding something" has become way trickier than it used to be? You think you hid 'something, somewhere' on the sly.

Yet, a CCTV may have already captured yourself, your hiding locale, your action of hiding as well as that hidden 'something'.

Hide something online, accessible only with your password that you think is next to impossible to guess – a convoluted pangramme consisting of your great grandpa's initials in capital, followed by your Italian friend's Florentine address in small letters, coupled with a jumble of special characters and numbers: a 'genius hacker' may still uncover it. Fat chance!

Now, let me continue this piece with an anecdotal twist.

Tigers and cats are felines. A cat has a skill that a tiger does not: the former can climb up a tree.

A tiger chasing it just goes up to the tree, looks up at the cat already resting on a leafy branch.

The cat seems to look down on its biggest cousin with a tawny coat. The cousin, as if feeling humiliated, licks its own lips and retreats grumpily.

The cat leaves no stone unturned to irk the tiger: Hey bro!

Just forget the dream of catching hold of me. You won't even find my excreta! Mind it: a cat always buries, or "hides" its waste. Of course, CCTV can still capture the scene. Hello kitty, don't get blushed when you see that footage!

In the Mahabharata, Gandhari "hides" her own eyesight behind a blindfold so that she too would feel the "dark ordeal and experience" that her husband, born visually-impaired, does.

Modern day feminism would arguably be at odds with such acts of mythical devotion. Likewise, King Shuddhodhan is believed to have meticulously hidden all that would appear sad in his kingdom – misery, malady, ageing and death – so that the future Buddha would not encounter them, and stay permanently full of bliss and buoyancy in the sprawling gardens and opulent palace of Lumbini. Later on, impermanence became the gist of the Buddha's teachings.

In modern times, we hear of hidden agendas of fly-by-night politicians, or of jingoistic nations.

In politics, stark truths are hidden, and so are hideous lies.

We have made even oceans "hide" our litter: humongous marine debris is just below the blue waves that we enjoy so much during that fabulous cruise.

And you think you are enjoying a stunning Himalayan trek through enchanting villages of Nepal: Ghandruk, Namche, Antu Danda... Next time, you may express your curiosity: beautiful villages, where are you 'hiding' your garbage? Feel pity for their neighbourhood streams and precipices!

A version of this article appears in the print on June 27, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.