The other day my neighborhood busybody gave me a solid nudge in the ribs pointing to a young girl. Lowering her voice she said,”I believe she has many secrets.”

I peered through my specs and asked,”How’d you know?”

Her eyebrows danced. No, she wouldn’t divulge her source. I didn’t delve further but I did toy over the word.

What is a secret? Something very personal, very intimate, not sharable with anybody else. What’s wrong with having secrets? If they are not harmful or involve grossly immoral and inhuman acts or intents.

Do we not all have our little secrets? They may be trivial yet precious to us.  But how do they affect others ? Except being the food for gossip.

Not everyone wants their life to be an open book. For them there are certain pages not worth making public. Mistakes which one has been ashamed of committing. Lessons learnt in shameful ways. Habits which one cannot let go. Infidel thoughts. Hatreds kept hidden. Those little things that can shatter  image, make one uncomfortable in front of others – hard to explain, objects of disdain, complicate matters, put one in bad light and make them an easy prey to manipulations.

Life has this impish way of springing surprises. Secrets can be outcomes of God’s wicked sense of humour – a situation completely beyond human control. If someone doesn’t want to disclose why go prying?  After all, everyone is entitled to that which cannot be taken away from them.

But who is going to make the busybodies understand that they cannot be privy to everything. I tell them over inquisitiveness can be killing. Let the sleeping dogs lie. And lie peacefully.

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About gc1963

A working woman with interests in reading, writing, music, poetry and fine arts.

14 responses »

  1. Veerites's avatar Veerites says:

    Richard Brinslay Sheridan’s School for Scandal’s characters are still alive in Mrs Geetaji’s wonderful posts. That young girl is like Ms Buffalo in his play who leaves uninformed from her London home and he being Irish like Shaw, Wilde, witty, scathing, tongue in cheek about the Brits has shown the scandalous nature of the English people saying that they declared she had a baby by the evening. 🌹🌹

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Prior...'s avatar Prior... says:

    cheers to this: “make the busybodies understand that they cannot be privy to everything”

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Rupali's avatar Rupali says:

    Your post reminds me of a noted busybody Mrs. Rachel Lynde from Anne of Green Gables. Who makes it her business to know everything about other people.

    Liked by 2 people

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