Filter Coffee # 185

On Hakuna Matata

FC 184 managed to awaken the child in many of our readers. The post resonated with those who had a childlike mischievousness in them. Valentine's Day also fetched its share of comments. Here are some that came in:

• Tarun Kunzru on V-Day: “A lot of peer pressure and the overwhelming impact of the Valentine industry forces normal emotions into excessive demonstration bordering on fakeness. I choose not to join this bandwagon. One thing which happens over time is that Valentino converts to Valentine!!”

• Ashvini Ranjan on ‘The child in us’: “The child in each one of us never grows old. Priorities change, and the child in us shifts backstage, retaining the same purity and eagerness to live again. The child in us comes back to life when you meet a childhood friend (even more exciting if you were partners in crime), visit your old school, meet your KG teacher. You are a child again and want the moment to last forever. Reality sends the child back to where it belonged, waiting for the next time to come out and dance again!”

• Shereyar Vakil says: “There is a child within each one of us that is keen and desperate to come out more as we age. Subconsciously, the child within refuses to grow old. Would this be tantamount to being split personality? So be it, I say. This makes ageing comfortable and less painful. Sipping on your filter coffee enthuses us to bring the child within to come out. Loved the article.”

😃 Hakuna Matata — No Worries

In 1994, Disney produced ‘Lion King’, an animated feature film. Among many animals featured in the film are a Meerkat called Timon and a Warthog called Pumbaa. A Meerkat, aka Suricate, is a small mongoose found in southern Africa. The Warthog is a wild member of the pig family also found in that part of the continent of Africa which is to the south of the Sahara. 

Elton John composed the music for the song ‘Hakuna Matata’ with lyrics by Tim Rice (who worked with Andrew Lloyd Weber). Hakuna Matata is a Swahili phrase made of two words. Hakuna means ‘there is none’ and matata means ‘worry’. Together, the phrase means ‘no worry’. The song is sung by Timon and Pumbaa with Simba the young lion chiming in. The song encourages Simba to move on after his father, guide and mentor Mufasa dies. Timon and Pumbaa talk to Simba about moving forward from their troubled pasts and forgetting their worries, and Simba grows from cub to adult as the song progresses. The abridged version of the lyrics reads thus:

Hakuna Matata! What a wonderful phrase

Hakuna Matata! Ain't no passing craze

It means no worries for the rest of your days

It's our problem-free philosophy

Hakuna Matata!

View this: 🔗Hakuna Matata (From "The Lion King") or if you like to hear the song with lyrics, try: 🔗Hakuna Matata - Disney's THE LION KING (Official Lyric Video)

It appears that in the aftermath of the fame and success of Lion King, Disney trademarked ‘hakuna matata’ for use on T-shirts and there was quite a furore. The African community objected to this cultural appropriation by Disney and its attempt to convert a linguistic expression into a trademark.

Hakuna matata is a catchy phrase with many meanings stemming from it. To illustrate:

• It could be used to comfort someone upset or stressed

• Encouraging someone to let go of their worries and enjoy the moment

• “Don’t worry about your test, hakuna matata, you will do well.”

..and so on. You guys can think of any number of such situations where the phrase can be deployed.

In our day-to-day life, we use several synonyms of  ‘hakuna matata’ without being conscious of that phrase. There’s a slight difference in context when we say ‘no worries’. If someone says sorry or apologises, you instinctively say “no worries” or “it’s okay” but you don’t say “hakuna matata”. This, in my view, is because it is futuristic, relates to a problems-free state and to the coming days that are not going to be worrisome. Also, the phrase hasn’t found a place in our daily conversations. By the way, I gather that ‘no worries’ originated in Australia and is a response common to many situations, particularly when you say ‘thank you’ or ‘sorry’. 

Some of our daily expressions come close to ‘hakuna matata’. Let’s test some of them. If someone helps you out, and you thank him, he may say “oh! Not a big deal”. If a father feels bad about putting his son to spending money on his treatment, the son might say, “Don’t worry about anything. It’s my duty.”

You would say “It’s not a problem” when someone regrets inconveniencing you. Similar expressions are used in different contexts. Like, ‘It’s not an issue’, ‘no harm done’, ‘it’s fine’, and so on.

You might even hear the phrase ‘don’t worry, be happy’, which is also the title and message of a song by Bobby McFerrin. You can listen to this fun song here: Bobby McFerrin - Don't Worry Be Happy (Official Music Video)

Worry is the buzzword that pervades every sphere of human activity. Not just humans, it affects even the flora and fauna. “The situation is worrisome,” is the refrain you hear now and then about the environment, pollution and other ecosystemic issues. The Government says the attitude of the opposition is worrying, the opposition would say that the inaction of the Government is worrying. For those of us on the street, the uncertainties are worrying. Can we try saying ‘hakuna matata’? We might, but only if we believe there’s a solution in sight. If you recall, the whole world seemed to say ‘hakuna matata’ when Al Gore warned about global warming. 

So, when critical issues confront us, and we say ‘hakuna matata’, are we not in denial? “Don’t worry, nothing will happen” is not an optimistic hope but is an ostrich attitude, refusing to acknowledge reality or an impending reality.

On the domestic front, the big worry for those trying to maintain a clean home and running the kitchen is about getting a maid or maids to do different chores. You just cannot say ‘hakuna matata’ but have to make an effort to get that ‘maid in heaven’ on your payroll, even if you have to pay more. If you do that, domestic peace (even if expensive) prevails, tensions dissipate, and laughter abounds. The maid has a calming effect. Readers familiar with Hindi will appreciate how fitting the term ‘calm-waali’ is!

The domestic front gets a bit more complicated when the ‘work-from-home’ culture gains ground and tensions abound in many ways. Hakuna vanishes and matata abounds. It will require a lot of effort to manage the competing demands on an at-home-station-to- work, wi-fi and other facilities. I sometimes wonder why people prefer to work from home, isolating themselves from the real world. Is it the traffic and commute challenge? Hakuna matata, the situation is not as bad as one might think. The benefits of working in a formal setting among colleagues and interacting with them outweigh the benefits of sitting at home and staring at a comp. Log-in and log-off are so mechanical compared to socialising at the workplace and learning to impart learning.

In a lighter vein:

Timon and Pumbaa are two of the most likeable characters in The Lion King. Their personalities broke up the seriousness of the movie. 

Pumbaa to Simba the Lion: “My Buddy Timon Says, ‘You got to put your behind in your past.’”
Timon corrects him: “It's ‘you gotta put your past behind ya.’”

Hakuna Matata. I will see you next week. Ciao.