BOWL OF MILK or CURD or BOTH

Have you ever wondered where life was taking you and whether the things you have done or are doing are the right ones. Matter of fact, all these discussions are in your head and it is like having a conversation with yourself. But it would have more in common with surfing the internet than having a normal conversation. You start with a thread of thought and you go on to another from there and so on. In the end you end up on a topic which is no where near the one you started from. But nonetheless it either puts things in perspective or make it more muddled. It never is boring/useless because if it had been you would have moved on to the next link in the chain. So here I was taking my morning run and onto cruise control (as you invariably get into if you run the same trail often) leaving my mind wander into the topic of its choice.

It usually starts with planning the day ahead and the things I should be doing or get done. But then as a true disciple of Socrates, I started asking the cardinal questions. Starting with the immediate day i was planning , i move on to the prospective and retrospective ones. All the while asking Why? How? When? and so forth.

Eventually I end up with a catch-22 like question which actually could help in deciding my future course of actions. The question which I posed myself is would I like to have knowledge/career or be happy. Of course, It could be a slam dunk for most of you (But there are different variations of it in which by adding in your priorities to it you could be stumped for an answer).

These musing of mine reminded me a Folk Legend in which Goddess Kali posed a similar question to Vikata Kavi Tenali Raman (who was the Court Poet/Jester during the reign of  Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 16th century). Legend says that Kali appeared in front of Ramakrishna with a bowl of Milk and a bowl of Curd. She told him to pick any one. The milk would give him all the knowledge in the world and the curd would give him all the wealth he needed. Ramakrishna said that both look tasty but he has to taste each before choosing, so Kali gave him both the bowls. Ramakrishna gorged both the curd and the milk. Kali was furious. However, Ramakrishna explained to Kali that what is one without the other. Kali was impressed by his wit and said that he will become a Vikatakavi, meaning a jesting poet. (Text Source: Wikipedia - beats typing the whole thing again).

So what would be the answer to my question. Knowledge or Happiness, Career or Happiness. The way i see it, all of us want to be happy no matter what we do or our priorities are. The catch is will we be happy with it. Wouldn't we have to make compromises that we are not happy with? (like personal life vs professional life) In a perfect ideal world we would be able to straddle all our ambitions with ease. But in reality where there are multitudes of characters around you with their own personas and agendas, you eventually will have to compromise on something or the other. The least of your priorities gets knocked off. You have to take into account the needs and quirks of others around you (or you could totally not care about it. Your call)

So the secret is to order your priorities and not be a sore loser. Sometimes we might not be able to get all that we want or want to do. We got to learn to live with that and be happy with it. And most of the times we might be dealt a shitty card (either our own doing or that's just life). But see what we can learn from there. You are your best and worst critic. Make judicious use of it. Sometimes it is good to ask for help too (I personally take care of my own shit. But I am told it is wrong to put everything on oneself. There is a reason man is a social animal).

So is it possible to straddle both worlds you ask me? I would say yes (provided you do your homework on it). I want both the curd and the milk. I just have to work for it (or Goddess Kali appearing would also be cool).


 

Needs of Students vs Needs of Society

A few weeks back (or maybe a few months ago), I had watched a couple of Ted Talks on how Education kills creativity and that children should be taught the Socrates way (by teaching them to ask the right questions and finding answers). It highlighted how the present Education system(School/College) was introduced to be a factory for the production of human resource suiting the needs of Industrial Revolution and Colonialism Machinery. How we are being taught to take over the desk jobs in the big Corporate/Administrative Machinery. Each of us taught to be compliant and uniform in our skill sets, thereby easily fitting into the system and ergo easily replaceable. They are all compelling arguments and to a point true. So when we say that the education system is broke, we are wrong. It actually works perfectly fine. It's just not the system that we need now.

So what is the need of the hour? The policy makers would like to continue the present system. They need more fodder for the country's economic growth. Their main argument being how are we going to bypass the other countries in economic development if we do not have the sufficient human resources? But that would be a myopic view with stress on the present. Also it pits US against THEM.

They say science fiction is the precursor to technology. H.G Wells, Jules Verne, Issac Asimov, George Lucas and others have dreamt of the future. We have brought the technology they dreamt of to reality. But another staple in science fiction is being a World Citizen and a Planetary government instead of present plurality. We have been living in status-quo on that front from the second world war (joining hands for the formation of UN). At times we have even undermining the UN and been strengthening regionalism. Anyway, I guess it'll remain science fiction for a long time to come.

Coming back to the need of the hour, we need a system that helps us as individuals. Teaching us to be masters of our own fate instead of the dystopia they currently sell (school-college-work-spouse-kids-retirement). We do not go after what we want. We go after what we are taught to want.

So the need of the hour is a system which teaches children/students to think critically and creatively. If such a situation is achieved, they would stop being foot soldiers and lead the system (or at least their lives). It all sounds really good in paper. Even idealistic if one may call that so. But is that achievable? I agree that every kid is equal. Given the right opportunity, they can all excel. Before I go any further, I think we should understand the concept of excellence and intelligence. In the present day school system, the measure of intelligence and excellence is narrow. It is only the marketable qualities that are called intelligence. It is measured in terms of whether it would make a good career and get you money. How good are you in math, science..etc. Even in sports it is only the major popular games that matter and the less popular ones are relegated to the background.

So when we say that each kid excels, the catch is that they may not excel in the same thing. One kid could be a prodigy in Dancing and another a Polymath. So who gets to say that the Polymath is intelligent and the Dancer not so? So here comes the concept of "Theory of Multiple Intelligence".
So the education system should not be a mass brainwashing program or a day care that lets the parents go about their work. It should be a place of learning. A place to explore. A place that lays the foundation for the person you are going to become. The approach should be tailor made to needs of the students and no the needs of the society.

We must learn to cherish all abilities and stop making everything a race. Sometimes you can lose the battle but still win the war.

 

My Digital "Man Friday"

Robinson Crusoe had “Man Friday” to rely on in his island. But if he were to be stuck in our present day island of a world, he'd not find it much different from the one he was stuck in. Maybe there would be stark differences. But more so of the subtle similarities. Where he was stuck in a place devoid of other inhabitants and want of company, he'd find himself surrounded with human beings. But I think he'd find it much different from his Victorian time. In the present day, It would be easier to communicate in the virtual world (on Facebook and what not) than in person. Always surrounded but still alone (a slight modification of “water water everywhere” from the The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by S.T Coleridge ). And he still has his Man Friday. I'd say a more better Man Friday. Always there to support him and help him out. Eventually he would realise “Google” is a more cooler name than Man Friday.

Anyway, I do not know about Crusoe, but Google is my “Man Friday”. It performs a lot of roles in a person's lifetime. However heaping all the praise on Google alone would be injustice. Because if you see from a purely technical point of view, Google is like the store helper who helps you with locating the items you need in the supermarket. What it actually does is search the vast fathom that is the internet to find the thing you need.. But the beauty is the intuitiveness it displays in showing you the best fit to your requirements. I use the term “best fit to you requirements” to highlight the principle that “the search results are only as good as the search term used”. Searching effectively on google is an art. The use of the various logical operators (and, or , plus..etc) coupled with its inbuilt algorithm, Google performs miracles.

Moreover it is not totally free of partisan interests. It does make money out of website page ranking. But the system works (attributed to the efficiency of capitalism). The users get what they want, the sites get what they want and so does google. It's a cyclic relationship. The best company is preferred by the customer, the company earns a lot by being the market leader, the market leaders are able to pay premium to google for top page ranking and we get the market leader at the top of our search results. Win Win.

Now, you might ask “What is the down side?”. Nothing is perfect right. Well, we are building up a dependency for this thing which we take for granted. We are the cusp generation of the digital age. We still have and know of the old world of books/encyclopaedias/Grannies-who-know-better. But as we move through successive generations, the internet will become the sum total of our knowledge and by Google by default will be its gatekeeper. I had a friend who used to challenge himself to deprivation tests when he feels that he id becoming too dependant on a particular thing. He was able to live without that particular thing. But how would we fare without google. Maybe by a slim chance. But what of successive generations?

But the biggest threat is not dependency. It is reliability. For every statement you find you will find a million contradictory statement on the internet. Which is true/real and which is false/fake becomes a matter of perspective. (That is why I have refrained from mentioning Wikipedia. It is a wonderful project. I myself have donated to it. It would be my primary source. But not without me double checking the information elsewhere). I take the maxim “To err is human” seriously.

But with all said. Google is my “Man Friday”.

Good night and Good luck.