Keep Learning - Make that a Way of Life

An oft-repeated joke is of a man who stood by a shredder and sought the help of a lady colleague passing by. Very helpfully, she passed the paper into the feeder. In the meanwhile, the man said, “2 copies please”. Obviously, he wanted to copy the document but the document ended up getting shredded, for he had not learnt the difference between a copier and shredder, leave alone how to operate it, probably because he never thought it would be of any use. This goes to prove how imperative it is to learn whatever we can.

We have heard that Knowledge is power. A few differ saying knowledge is only potential power meaning it can be powerful only when it is put to use. Yet, it pays to keep acquiring knowledge for we never know when we may need it.

Learning is rudimentary where one learns just enough to survive as a newborn babe learns to suck milk or a student learns his lessons to pass his exams or a job-hunter to land a job. Learning has to go beyond what is absolutely necessary for an individual to grow into a well-informed, an interesting and a resourceful person, impacting not only himself but also those around.

Learning comes from unexpected quarters. I realized this when I observed a young girl next door. The 6^th grader was learning English – plurals, genders, opposites and so on. She nodded half-heartedly even as her mother went on to explain that being proficient in English would help her in understanding other subjects also, and picked up the guitar. As she strummed the latest song that she had learnt, she alongside sang ‘Doe a dear, a female deer ………’ when suddenly her eyes became big as though she had struck on a treasure. For suddenly she had learnt that doe is a female deer. It was an Eureka moment for her.

An open mind and a willing heart are all that are required to keep learning from each and every circumstance.

Learning opens up new and unforeseen opportunities in profession, relationships, and many other aspects of life. My nephew learnt the guitar from the internet and is now a part of a rock band which goes around giving paid performances at reputed locations and events. This also goes to prove that learning is not limited to a classroom or to books and other formal portals.

Learning can be life-saving. When I volunteered for a free training in fire fighting and fire prevention, I learnt techniques of handling fire emergencies, one of which actually helped me deal with a fire right inside my kitchen, without using any of the fire extinguishers, because there was none in my house. I still remember how my neighbor rued the fact that his cousin passed away on the way to hospital after he complained of breathlessness, because he had not learnt CPR procedure even when a hospital team had offered it in their office.

For our own sake, learning should be continuous; what starts from the womb should end only at the tomb meaning we should keep learning throughout our life, which is the only way we keep ourselves mentally agile, something which is so essential to live a healthy life.

- Published in LinkedIn on 17th July 2015

Being the Right People

Being a right-brained person, I don’t understand the technicality behind elections much – the alignment between the various parties, seat sharing and all that. However, if there is one prominent thing that happens near election time, it is the way the media analyses every candidate for his strengths and drawbacks, with respect to the expectations the electorate has from him and concludes what the elected person will have to accomplish once he comes to power.

While the issues are specific to the regions or the communities, Namma Bengaluru people are often caught looking forward to the new leader to provide a clean city with a well disciplined traffic (read vehicles and roads) and lower cost of living, foremost of all.

It is not wrong to do that. However, I believe we are not so powerless that we cannot do anything at all without their help. We can help ourselves in many ways.  

Before we ask for a clean city, let us remember the ‘prevention is better than cure’ mantra. We should adopt cleanliness as our motto for all times. We need to segregate waste, composting the green either individually or collectively and getting the dry waste to the recycling centres, use water responsibly, and treat waste water and reuse it appropriately. We are fortunate to have several citizens’ groups – zero waste and composting, to name a few – who are doing environment-friendly things; we need to follow their good practices, tweaking them to suit our circumstances, and do our bit towards a cleaner city.

While it is easy to complain whenever we get stuck in traffic jams, we need to reflect on our behavior and observe traffic rules at all times. Many want safe roads, but given a choice don’t think twice before flouting lane discipline; some two wheeler riders even go on the footpath forgetting it is for the feet not for the tyres. No one wants accidents but not many refrain from driving after drinking, risking not only their life but that of unsuspecting innocent others on and off the roads. Road rage is on the rise, with patience on the road being a rare commodity. Therefore it is essential to get a good control over one’s mind before taking to the wheel, considering driving as only the means to get from one place to another not to flaunt one’s prowess on the vehicle one possesses.

A lot of people crib about rising prices despite earning well. I wonder why they don’t grow their own food to whatever extent possible. Then they would be sure of consuming food free from pesticides, the physical activity would add to healthier bodies and the back to soil connection is a wonderful experience too. Children learn that food comes from a plant not from the refrigerator. The home made compost can go to the garden and make the soil richer.  

The bottom line here is, why wait for the right candidate to do us good? Let us be good people ourselves.

- Published in LinkedIn on 3rd January 2019