Living and Learning

I quote Douglas Adams: “You live and learn. At any rate, you live.” Living is pretty much automated, we don’t need to bother much with it. Learning is something that we instinctively shun. From the moment we are born, when we ought to have learnt that this world is a bad deal, right till the time we die, we never learn. The Id in us teaches us that we know everything already. This is the only thing we learn, and learn reeeeaaal well. It is our solemn duty to teach. And our primal instinct to resist learning.

Sonu Nigam found out early on that the only way he could get people to notice him is by singing, not acting. Jaani Dushman!? Love in Nepal!!?? It was most pathetic to see him in that song where this girl is trying to seduce him (I think). He looked like a 7 year old boy who just turned a page of a magazine and found a topless woman glaring back, while his mother was sitting right beside him. No good. Did he get the point? No. Next step, he grew his hair long!! AAAHHH!! No good multiplied by two. Did he get the point? We’ll wait and watch. Rumours are rife that he will be doing something on television.

My friend Amit loves food. When we lived in Perth, away from family, food assumed more importance than usual, especially for boys. A little home made food goes a long way in satisfying your soul, but those poor boys could hardly even boil water without burning it. The only way they could feel good about life was to stuff themselves to bursting point with anything digestible so that there was no space in their souls for dissatisfaction. Now some of the stronger willed boys in the group decided to observe a month long fast (the month of Shravan I think). Amit declared himself part of the fasting gang. Amit was long on enthu, short on will power. I am not saying that he did not fast. He did. He skipped the first meal on the first day. After that… well, let us say that his was a hungry soul and it reflected on his stomach. But his conscience was not fasting. It didn’t want to give up without a fight. It was trying to look for loopholes. He asked if there was any food that was excepted from this fast. You know how flexible Hindu fasts are. Someone took pity and said that potatoes fried, and without salt are alright. So he chips some potatoes and fries them. First day taken care of. Did he learn anything? No.

Second day, he fries potatoes again. But this time it isn’t so appealing to his taste buds. No salt allowed. He puts some chilli powder on the chips and stuffs them down his throat. In the evening, he struggles inwardly for quite a while before finally deciding that some salt may be excused. After all he is not eating the absolutely forbidden foods. And mind you, all this in between the milk and fruits that you are anyway allowed to eat, and which he ate with great gusto. So now he eats potatoes fried, and with salt. Did he learn yet? Be patient and pray. The third day arrived bright and cheerful for most people. Amit could not take it any longer. He declared his will power bankrupt and jogged down to the local burger joint at double speed. Ah, at last! Amit learns his lesson, you say. Sad to see that you too have not learnt much.

Next year the young fool again declares his intention of joining the Shravan fasters with enthu to beat a five year old who is asked if he wants to go to the fair.
Oh, and did you ask if yours truly, after making this deep study of human nature, has bowed to nature’s wisdom and imbibed any knowledge? If I were to learn from all this, I wouldn’t be human would I? With great humility, I pronounce myself one of the biggest pig-headed fools you’ll ever have the good fortune to meet. Perhaps one day we’ll all be equipped with the right kind of brain when we are let loose into this world. But then the first thing we’ll learn is that this world is a bad deal… what will we do then? Refuse to even start living? If every baby does that, what next?

Perhaps it’s a good thing after all that we don’t learn.