From learners to winners
The mess we are in today, from a cultural point of view, has a lot to do with our utter lack of interest in history. This mess didn’t happen overnight and it won’t unhappen overnight either. As a part of an ancient civilization, it behooves us to be fond of knowing more about our past. But, no. The exact opposite is true for us and by us, I mean, most of us. In a country as vast as ours, generalization is a recurring theme. While growing up, history was my favourite subject and it was amazing to note that I never heard anybody else say that they love history. Never happened once. Maybe the society at large failed to see the benefit of knowing our yesterday better. Shouldn’t we be focused on the future? And what better vehicles to navigate on than on the backs of math and science? So, yes, in all fairness, the love for history was restricted for middle class practical reasons. But then, when you see what’s happening around us today, you’d have to agree that we don’t know what’s going to happen. My best guess is our command of the future loosens when we aren’t thorough with our past. It’s imperative each one of us makes an attempt to read more than what’s on the surface. For instance, critical topics like CAA and NRC require extensive knowledge of where we come from and not just where we are headed to.
Speaking of my favourite subject, doesn’t it bother you that the present is fleeting, the past sounds regretful and the future seems doomy? If yes, you ought to understand the role history plays in this eternal game of hide-and-seek. As you must feel by now, we are passing through the tunnel of time and history is cyclical — not linear, as the Western philosophers would like us to accept — which means things repeat periodically. When we don’t make an attempt to acknowledge the past, it repeats itself until we’ve learnt our proverbial lesson. Granted that history can be spectacularly boring but then so is life. Which can only lead us to conclude that what’s boring is also alive, even long after it’s dead and dusted. If you think that the past doesn’t matter, then be assured that the present doesn’t matter too. In other words, nothing matters. And if you are at peace with this wisdom, then there is absolutely nothing (for you) to worry about. However, if you aren’t at peace, then you must start digging and build curiosity inside you. For example, start with basics like, who lived on the land on which your residential/office building stands today? What happened to those people? Or why is your town called so? Who all contributed to the naming ceremony? These tidbits could help you become a person who is sync with the past as much as she is with the future.
One of the many highlights of my short stint as an entertainment journalist was I wrote for the Pakistani publication The News International. Under the pseudonym Ashaman — a naive combination of Asha and Aman — I published reviews — about half a dozen I believe — of Hollywood films in 2012. It was all possible because of a sweet friend who was working there in the editorials. Now, when I think back, it was one of the awesomest things I ever did. For one, I wasn’t even sure whether it was alright (contractually speaking) to provide content to a Karachi-based publication when I was already working for a Mumbai-based one. But then, in my mind, it was perfectly fine as I wasn’t doing it for money. It was pro bono work for the sheer love of cinema.
There are lots of impressive stuff about Mumbai but as far as efficiency goes, nobody comes close to the dabbawalas. There is a reason why these folks are studied by elite universities like Harvard and Stanford. The chances of a dabbawalas missing your lunch delivery is minuscule and the chances of him mixing your tiffin box with somebody else’s — à la whoever handled the deliveries in The Lunchbox (2013) — is minimal. In the future, we might see ourselves moving toward automation of extreme levels but I like to imagine a world where dabbawalas continue to carry on their exemplary work. I remember my dad often telling us (when we were kids) that Udupi restaurant waiters weren’t allowed to note down the orders; they had to learn to memorize everything. Pretty amazing, no? A similar feat is carried out by the dabbawalas as they don’t use a single piece of paper in their entire delivery route. If only our country adopted their style and attitude.
What’s common to Jesus, Buddha, Socrates and Pythagoras? Other than being unique names, none of these gentlemen ever wrote a word. All the long tales of wisdom attributed to them are based on what others thought and wrote about them. Each one of them depended heavily on the power of oral traditions. Had they sat down and wrote extensively on their ideas, we’d be clearer about what they truly wanted us to learn. Since that didn’t occur (to them), the scholars of the past as well as the present wrote/write thick books on these men every year, hoping to spill the essence of their voice as well as their silence.
If China accepts that coronavirus is deadly, then it says a lot about the health crisis we are in today. With over 3000 death cases, it’s scary to follow the spread of the disease across the globe. Last week, Brazil registered its first confirmed case, bringing all the 6 continents under one fatal radar; Antarctica is obviously safe(r). Repercussions will be felt over the coming years as we’ll acknowledge how connected we are as species. What happens in Italy affects those in Thailand, what unfolds in South Korea has a basis in the USA, and so on. One global village united in disease or otherwise. At the same time, panic is universal. I won’t be surprised if going forward, we see greater acceptance of namaste and deeper concerns about food safety.
Why is judging not an Olympics sport yet? A bit of a digression but why don’t the Olympics inaugurate on February 29th? Anyway, the point is we can’t help but keep judging. While waiting in a queue or at the airport terminal, we judge everyone we can see. They call it “people gazing” because “judging people” sounds uncouth. In my view, we do this to amuse ourselves. That person is so gorgeous. This person is so fat. Etc. Basically dropping our worthless sentences on people who are nothing more than screensavers in our life. It won’t go on forever though. After a while, you’ll reach a stage where you won’t feel like judging anyone. Not because you’ve become a better person but because you’ve become a tired person. You don’t have the energy to think about others. This is also when you’ll propagate that we shouldn’t judge a book by its author or a football match by its scoreline.
Those who give away for the greater good seldom make a sound about it. On that note, are you aware of Saalumarada Thimmakka, you know exactly what I mean. If you haven’t heard about her, you already know what I mean. She is one of the greatest humans, not just Indians, who ever lived. People like her do their work as they don’t believe in credit and adulation; their work adds value to their existence and that’s more than enough for them. One more such person has to be Dr Jonas Salk. He quietly developed the polio vaccine in 1955 and then decided not to patent his work. He thought humankind needs the vaccine more than he needs his accreditation. According to Forbes, had he gone for the patent he would have been $7 billion (in today’s value) richer. Those who make too much noise tend to do too little for a reason.
As long as we are talking about thought process (not the resulting actions), always remember that you are not answerable to anyone except your conscience. You believe what you want to believe in, just like you see what you want to see. It’s a human defect that has no cheat code. Only you get to decide your mental alignments, based on your experiences and learnings. That said, if you don’t change (not conform) with time, you will stagnate too. That’s a risk of insular thinking. On social media, I’ve noticed again and again how moral grandstanding has become a virtue. I’d have appreciated it had it converted to some action but in the majority of the cases, it doesn’t. And that’s why you shouldn’t worry what others think about you, especially those whom you are never going to meet in your whole life.
I am going through my worst phase in online chess. As a general practice, I set myself targets. 5 games. Got to win at least 4 of them. Or close. Sometimes, I achieve them and sometimes, I don’t. Of late, the latter has become a trend. In the classical format, I am at my lowest (1171) in 5 months. Anyway, my situation is still better than those people who lived in the Wyoming prison in 1911. The prison committee formed a baseball team out of its death-row inmates and were told that as long as they kept winning, their executions would be delayed. Imagine that kind of pressure!
As my dearest friend told me very recently, parents will always surprise you. Particularly when they are old(er) and you are not too young anymore. I concur with her because I failed my Learner’s License (LL) test last Friday. Scored a measly 5/10 when the passing mark was 6/10. Was highly disappointed with myself because the last time I failed in a written test, I quit the whole course. Yes, I am referring to engineering math here. However, encouraged by the lovely people around me — who anyhow cracked a lot of jokes at my expense for failing LL — I appeared for the test again last morning and passed with 8/10. Thought of starting the week with a bang. But before that, I gave my dad his usual call at 9. He thought I was referring to Driver’s License (DL) and went on to say that the authorized guy will make me drive the car up on the slope and then suddenly ask me to apply brake. And when that happens, I am supposed to push the handbrake. As soon as the car stops, he will ask me to turn on the car again. That’s when I am supposed to push the clutch, and release the clutch and handbrake at the same time. It was an amazing moment for me. Unlike most fathers, mine didn’t have the time to share worldly inputs like these. It’s when I realized that this is the first time in ages that he actually advised me with an actual solution to a problem. He usually shares moribund nuggets like “have healthy food and not outside food”, “sleep on time”, “go on long walks”, “do good and be decent”, etc. While we (my brother and I) were growing up, he had no idea about our studies because he felt inadequate there (as he was a school dropout who studied till 7th) and assumed his primary job was to provide for us. Anyway, I took his advice without informing him that LL doesn’t demand practical motor tests.
