Wisdom Calling

Many years ago, on the annual day program of our college, one of my students performed a semi-classical dance with her friends. She asked me via text the next day for my feedback on their performance. I am basically not a big fan of classical dance because of my substandard taste, though I am an amateur yakshagana and theatre artist. Commenting on her dance would only expose my ignorance of that dance form. So, I replied that I was not eligible to comment as I didn't know much about dance.  But she insisted. The dance was very slow. It could rather be called dramatic movements. There weren't many steps. From the audience point of view, no one would think that the dance was worth memorable unless for someone who had taste for classical or semi-classical form. I didn't want to sound dishonest in my opinion.  So, I told what I felt. She responded to my feedback telling that that was how classical dance should be. And I didn't know much about it! She mad...

None of us wants to lead a miniature life. That is why we set goals on every new year day! And this new year is no special. You might have great plans for your future, a new venture, a new course, a new skill to acquire or any other goals related to your professional or personal life. But COVID-19 might have obstructed 90% of your plans, which you had otherwise planned to act upon. If I ask you how the lockdown is, you may tell lockdown has affected 50% of your lifestyle. Those who work from home, you may still follow the same routine, or even more work as some may end up working more than office hours. However, while you have planned to live your life 100%, you put all the blame on the coronavirus, moaning your plans have been thwarted. But, are you living at least 1% life? The question may offend you. You would say corona has not battered you to that extent. You still follow a certain routine. But, leading a 1% life doesn't mean leading less than 100%. On the contra...

If you grew up reading Aesop's fables, you have come across a popular story of the poor farmer and the golden egg. The goose of the farmer started laying a golden egg one fine day. When the farmer was about to throw the egg thinking that it was a trick, he gave it a second thought to check it properly, and he was surprised to find that the egg was golden. Image courtesy: iuemag.com The farmer couldn't believe his good fortune. But, with wealth comes the greed to make more wealth as early as possible. The farmer was not patient enough to wait for one golden egg each day, and thus decided to kill the goose at once so that he could find many eggs and get-rich-quick. As the result is quite obvious, he couldn't find any eggs. And at the same time, he lost the sole source of his fortune. At the outset, the story seems to teach us the moral of having patience, and one should not be too greedy. If you try to understand this story from a metaphorical point of view, i...