Should every thing start with a reference?

I have one ghazal cassette that has recording of one of the live concerts of “Mehandi Hasan & Ghulam Ali”. In the afternoon, I wanted to listen to that cassette, but was not sure if the time was right and if my parents would enjoy them.

But after listening to the first song’s first part, where Mehandi Hasan explains the concept of “Kharja ka laagana”, my mom started enjoying the cassette! She has seen Ghulam Ali on TV a couple of times. So when she heard his voice, she was able to identify him. But she does not know Mehandi Hasan Ji.

So she started asking me about Mehandi Hasan. As always, I was trying to remind her about few old programs where there was a reference to Mehandi Hasan Ji. But she was not able to remember them. So I told her to just identify that voice as that of the great Mehandi Hasan Ji.

But that made me think about the question, “Should everything start with a reference?”

To some extent, we do find this principle being followed in our day to day life as well. Somehow, we always need some reference before accepting a new thing. That can be a new person in our life or a new concept. We always feel comfortable with references.

Was that true all the times?

Don’t you remember the school days when for the first time we made some new friends? That time, we had no references for them. Or may be we never asked for any references from anyone.

But as we start growing old, we tend to become over cautious when it comes to making new connections, new acquaintances.

One of the reasons is the result of insecurity feeling. This feeling does not affect the young one so much. With age, this feeling starts growing within us. And that makes us demand the references before making any new connections.

To some extent, there is not much problem with this. But just take some time and think about this issue. Why do we always need a reference? Because of this habit, we are loosing the opportunity of venturing into some new territory. May be some new connections may end up changing our life for good!

Just think about it, at least once in your life time!