MATRIX
Decoding the unique language of the world called Darshini
Welcome Neo!
I know you have been looking for me, for I have been waiting for you. I know, because once I have been also looking for the same thing. It is the question that drives us, Neo. It is the questions that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did –
What is the Matrix?
If you have walked across the mains and crosses that organised the city, been around the neighborhoods of Lalbagh, got caught up in the messy traffic at Silk Board and even found yourself engulfed within the IT professionals of this metropolis, I am sure you have been awakened to a certain sense of anomaly that breathes within the streets of the city. An anomaly – a difference to the ‘real’ world. Somewhere you do realize this – but it is the understanding that you seek.
To begin with – this anomaly is analogous; carefully designed as an algorithm so that everyone of the ‘real’ world is in order.
: Look around the neighborhood> The anomaly will seek you> Just walk in > Head straight to the cash counter > Scan the information that you hear and chose> Collect the coupon> Head to the counter alongside> Present coupon>Wait> Arrange your cutlery> Receive the good> Turn Around, look> Spot the closest place to stand> Consume>Head out :
This is the Matrix. A highly programmed and ordered differential system working within the real world. The programme has different names - Brahmins, SLV, Dakshin Café, Tazaa Thindi, Shiv Sagar – just guises to its identity. The identity which is locally known as Darshini.
The first Matrix was a revelation. It was designed keeping in mind to ‘serve’ the city in hygienic quick and clean manner. That is the core functioning of the matrix. It was based on efficiency but importantly a place to eat that did not discriminate. And it continues to be so. The Matrix through the algorithm makes us become part of the design. We all become the same, irrespective of who we are in the ‘real’ world – lawyers, autowalas, carpenters or IT professionals. Irrespective week or time of the day we may be in – the Matrix never changes – we all just program ourselves to the functioning of it.
Over the years, after the first design of the Matrix, there have been several attempts to improvise it – even merely by cloning the system . While each of them still adheres to the idea of ‘hygiene’, they often lack the certain core social programming as well as the systematic components. In fact, it is the layout of the components that give a distinct identity to this world.
First, there will never be a door or an entrance or any sort with a perceivable threshold that needs to be crossed. The world of the Matrix opens widely towards the city. If ever a system that appears like the matrix – gives an impression of something that is to be breached, remember Neo, it is not the real Matrix!
Once you identify this barrier free inclusive hole in the real world, you walk in. Just walk pass everything and pause at the counter. The counter marked by a teller machine. A man behind the machine with eyes focuses and fingers hovering over the teller tabs. The man may not look at you, but he is the one whom you need to speak to. A simple question: “Enu ide?” (What is there?) is followed by a prompted answer - “Idly, Vada, Dose, Masala Dose, Rawa Dose, Rawa Idli, Uppit, Rice Bath, Pongal…” A pace unique to the Matrix, but one that the brain aligns and responds to – “single Idli ondu dose” (one Idli and one Dosa). By the time the choice is made a coupon is directed at you.
Yes Neo, in the Matrix you always pay before you eat!
"A code that is brought about by the Matrix by being plugged in the city at every convenient neighborhood and one that is serving the city over the years through the same set of programming. A program scripted to assure than advocate."
The coupon is the signal to the next stop. The kitchen. You slide from the teller machine (sometimes a few steps) and there lies the point of exchange – with bare requisite of words. Here the Matrix gives you a sense of ownership. Show the coupon across the counter and a man snatches to get at work. While the man is at work, you can look behind and investigate. Neatly arranged large vessels, large cooking counter tops, men with head gear briskly walking around, plates with compartments and few other storages close kept to the man with whom you exchanged. The investigation lasts few second or barely under a minute, depending on your food choice. The food then appears across the polished counters into your hands. Collect it and assemble the spoon and forks that you have picked up – as programmed - during the investigation.
Then turn. You always need to turn back to the space that passed by initially. The space dotted with high steel tables. The space designed to stand. So, Neo do not go looking for a chair.
Tables with high counter and a mid-shelf arranged in the most convenient manner. No head counts just as much as the space can accommodate. Find yourself a place - snuggle, adjust or even grab a table. Occupy the minimum space required to eat. Eat comfortably. But you will notice you eat at a pace slightly faster than usual. No one really asks you to do so. That is the nature of the Matrix. You eat, finish, leave and make space for the next. No rules or obligations but the coding of the system.
Here is a thing that you should remember Neo.
In some matrix you may find chairs and place to sit and eat – but that does not render the matrix different. The program of the matrix is so written that even if you have a place to sit, it will prompt or allow you to stand and eat. If it does not, then be assured that it is not the Matrix!
From the space of tables, the next destination – the most engaging one is the customary counter for kaapi (coffee) and tea. This is where the Matrix allows for maximized customization –one by two coffee, little extra sugar, no sugar milk, a little strong – all such personal requests accommodated patiently – as if one is having tea at their own house!
"No matter why you are there, what time you are there – one is always allowed. With just one clause which none can alter – the pace of the system. It however, does allow personalization in terms of habits..."
Neo, are you listening closely?
For even if one is deceived by the apparent layout of the components of the Matrix – the codes of it can never be altered or designed differently. The Matrix is not an alternative world – it is a world that extends the personal world – the human self. That is the truth of Matrix. The code of the Matrix is built as a mere breaking down of social, economic and ethnographic orders that we define ourselves in this ‘real world’. In the Matrix everyone is equal. So much so, that people in this world just rinse a glass to a drink water, not caring or bothering who has drank from it previously. It codes you to trust and believe.
A code that is brought about by the Matrix by being plugged in the city at every convenient neighborhood and one that is serving the city over the years through the same set of programming. A program scripted to assure than advocate.
An assurance that whatever food is served is indeed hygienic. Whatever water is in the drinking facility is pure. Whatever is served is just ought to be authentic. In the Matrix there are no disclaimers, no endorsements just certainty and consistency . This is how inside this system humans are subconsciously breaking down the limitations that they acquire in the real world. From standing next to a stranger and eating, from sharing a table irrespective of the social class the person next to you is from, or even readily accommodating and adjusting for the other – the Matrix breaks the barriers.
The barriers that allow this system to become a daily habit. For the one who goes to work in the morning, the group of men who visit it after a jog in the neighborhood park, the house lady who visits after finishing daily chores, and even the few who just want to catch up with friends. No matter why you are there, what time you are there – one is always allowed; with just one clause which none can alter – the pace of the system. It however, does allow personalization in terms of habits – like habits of placing the helmet or belongings in the shelf underneath, looking for the same space to occupy every time, synchronized movements such as one in the group always goes to place the order while the other would choose to bring the coffee – Simplified human interactions of a personalized world created through a simplified programmatic module.
This matrix is everywhere. It is all around us in this city. Even now when you are reading this, when you look out of the window, walk around the neighborhood, or travel in public transport – the city is infiltrated with this system. Such that it is in reach to all – to one who was born in this city, the migrants and outsiders, the visitors and even the tourists. It is a subconsciously coded world within the real world.
Neo, you must have realized just like I have that there is a difference between knowing a path and walking a path. I can only show you the door. You are the one, Neo. You must walk through it. You need to feed yourself, to know the Matrix better.
Remember , when you walk into the Matrix do not try to bend the spoon, that’s impossible. Only try to realize the truth!