To Trust Is To Suffer?

            Two protagonists in Shantaram discuss a thought, one a bandit who escaped from a prison and the other a lady involved in dark business of underworld ,” To trust is to suffer”. My idea of taking this in was a little sceptical, common what kind of world are we in, reading and thinking about words of people disowned by the laws of land, the land here is world, for the characters discussing this thought are one an Australian and other a German who found their safe haven in the womb of that very city called Bombay or Mumbai what-ever.
            I read this page on last Thursday while on a flight to Delhi , whoever said that I stopped there for a minute ,well can it be true ,if to trust is to suffer then the very basics of our human establishment is being challenged isn’t it. What kind of world it would have been without trust, I was beginning to think whether an investment of 495 on the book was a good option, anyway it had given me something to do on what would otherwise been a boring journey. Somehow the thought clung to me as a chewing gum to a slipper and resurfaced every now and then.
            Then something happened on that hot Sunday afternoon where I found that I had laid my eggs in the wrong nest, and that made me go back to the thought again, this time I left out the protagonists (for I think myself as a good Samaritan and putting myself in a bandit’s shoes was a non-thought) and focussed on the words alone. Without trust we would not exist ,while I say that I have given it a fair thought, come to think of this ,the second person you know in this world a relationship you start to develop when you come to senses for the very first time in this world the relationship called father is nothing but “Trust” isn’t it.
            Then another disturbing thought came to my mind ,we as a race are we destined to suffer one way or other, some for existence and some for a relationship to lean onto Yes ! To trust is to suffer isn’t it, it is that simple. All the philosophy of living in a civilized society hides in this one simple line, to trust is to suffer. I went back to a very fundamental relationship of life ,marriage ,for my convenience I took the Indian way of marriage for my analysis, is the branding during that marriage be it a necklace , or a ring or even the oath to God a way of telling to ourselves well we do not trust one another ,so we need a spectacle and thousand witnesses or is it set that way because as the civilization evolved the unwritten principles formed ,for we all ,we superior race strive to remove the suffering isn’t it and trust was taken away from the institution called marriage.
            I could not make my mind one way or other, my inner-self probably which was by influenced by the emotional state I am in was willing to agree and then other saner one was continuing to argue no it can’t be true, “pessimistic thought buddy” it was shouting. So with this conflict I turned on the pages hoping to find the answers in it annals in the early hours of Tuesday morning, there it was, one other plaintive character, a tourist guide in Mumbai speaking those words “Hunger for want of something is suffering- You do not want anything, you cannot suffer” .Hmm something to think about for tonight when I lie down on that dusty carpet.