A young friend of mine was feeling frustrated with the way some professors treated students. People who have gone through an undergrad engineering school in India can identify with that at some level. So I gave him some advice. Now, giving advice is one thing, and following it yourself is another. It is far easier to preach than to practise. But then again, you cannot effectively teach what you don't follow. So, I will put my advice on the record here, to remind myself what I should be doing:
As a child, I used to be scared of my neighbor's rooster, which would steal every chance to take a peck at me. Time has flown by since then. I have grown. If I were to encounter the rooster today, it would probably not try the same strategy.
Things will change. One of the only things that never changes is the fact that things continue to change. And in the bigger scheme of things, my approval rating with the rooster does not count for anything. What would be sad though, is if I became a miserable, grouchy rooster myself, giving a hard time to those whom I was supposed to nurture, protect and guide. It is the responsibility of the strong to protect the weak, the privileged to uplift the underprivileged. Those who act contrary to these principles, are just plain irresponsible. Period.
No one can tell you what in principle is right. No person, nor book of wisdom (even if it is believed to have come straight from the mouth of God) can ever do that. They may tell you what they think, but you are the ultimate judge of right and wrong in your life. There will be some questions to which you will never find convincing answers, and it is good if you can grow comfortable coexisting with these questions. It is far better than living the lie of pretending to have all answers.
Nurture the strength of your own spirit. Look around yourself. Help those who are more miserable than you. It takes the mind off from dwelling on one's own miseries. It keeps you from joining in the league of ordinary roosters.
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Here I lay my beliefs - thoughts that originate in my mind, thoughts that don't necessarily have any relation to truth or reality, but nonetheless constitute the path of reason leading to understanding.
3 comments:
Bhath Arnab. We all learn from each other, even when we don't see exactly how.
Let me tell you about my experience. As a kid I was playing hoops with my friends in Huntsville. And this dude was reigning down treys. I was playing with a guy on my team who was real good too - he was a big guy, Amman, but real nice. His brother Indramit later got in coma and his wife left him after 6 months but then he came out of the coma, but with no wife...but thats a different story. Me and Amman were getting housed by a guy we called Shaq-dipto and his buddy who was dropping the threes.
After one bucket, I grabbed the ball, and instead of returning it to the other team as the rules of 'make it, take it' require, I slammed it down on the ground in frustration. But as anyone even slightly crispy with the rock knows - never slam a bball.
The ball rockets up hard into Amman's face. And for a brief moment, almost imperceptibly, I see rage flicker across his countenance. But he quickly calms himself, comes up to me, and asks ME if I'm ok.
While I never did learn to have mad handle like Amman, I learned something a lot more important from him that day - equanimity.
We lost that game tho. We never could stop those outside shots by Shaq-dipto's teammate.
His name, Arnab Chakrabarti.
Bhath Arnab. We all learn from each other, even when we don't see exactly how.
Let me tell you about my experience. As a kid I was playing hoops with my friends in Huntsville. And this dude was reigning down treys. I was playing with a guy on my team who was real good too - he was a big guy, Amman, but real nice. His brother Indramit later got in coma and his wife left him after 6 months but then he came out of the coma, but with no wife...but thats a different story. Me and Amman were getting housed by a guy we called Shaq-dipto and his buddy who was dropping the threes.
After one bucket, I grabbed the ball, and instead of returning it to the other team as the rules of 'make it, take it' require, I slammed it down on the ground in frustration. But as anyone even slightly crispy with the rock knows - never slam a bball.
The ball rockets up hard into Amman's face. And for a brief moment, almost imperceptibly, I see rage flicker across his countenance. But he quickly calms himself, comes up to me, and asks ME if I'm ok.
While I never did learn to have mad handle like Amman, I learned something a lot more important from him that day - equanimity.
We lost that game tho. We never could stop those outside shots by Shaq-dipto's teammate.
His name, Arnab Chakrabarti.
An inspiring piece. Loved it!
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