- Engineering Degree with certificate (a piece of paper) and claiming million of graduates a year
- The need to please the society, and live according to its standards
- Big and expensive weddings.
- Religion
- Amateur DSLR Photography
- Following Bollywood stars like Salman Khan
- Obsessions with society conceived notions of "morality", based on sexism, and patriarchy
- Obsession with fairness.
- IITs and IITians
- Gold and other Jewelry
- Bollywood and its actors
- Cricket and IPL
- Speaking English
- Having a girlfriend
- Work in a call center
- Wearing branded clothes [especially the new coloured jeans]
- Watch and play cricket
- Watching TV Serials which vary from bad story line to worse
- Suppressing women for the sake of it
- Stereotype Job in Workshop like TCS, Infosys and claiming 'MNC
- Women copying US culture, enjoying more on western, specially dress which doesn't suits with figure and height which western is gifted
- Copying weekend life of USA and ignore weekday life of innovation/uniqueness/leg
itimate handwork of western world
Friday, March 28, 2014
★What are some of the most overrated things in India that many seem to follow or do?
Saturday, March 8, 2014
மகாகவி பாரதி
தேடிச் சோறுநிதந் தின்று - பல
சின்னஞ் சிறுகதைகள் பேசி - மனம்
வாடித் துன்பமிக உழன்று - பிறர்
வாடப் பலசெயல்கள் செய்து - நரை
கூடிக் கிழப்பருவ மெய்தி - கொடுங்
கூற்றுக் கிரையெனப்பின் மாயும் - பல
வேடிக்கை மனிதரைப் போலே - நான்
வீழ்வே னென்று நினைத் தாயோ?
- மகாகவி பாரதி
சின்னஞ் சிறுகதைகள் பேசி - மனம்
வாடித் துன்பமிக உழன்று - பிறர்
வாடப் பலசெயல்கள் செய்து - நரை
கூடிக் கிழப்பருவ மெய்தி - கொடுங்
கூற்றுக் கிரையெனப்பின் மாயும் - பல
வேடிக்கை மனிதரைப் போலே - நான்
வீழ்வே னென்று நினைத் தாயோ?
- மகாகவி பாரதி
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
WAR QUOTES
God created war so that Americans would learn geography" - Mark Twain
"The tragedy of modern war is that young men die fighting each other instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals" - Edward Abbey.
Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich.
– Peter Ustinov
War is old men talking and young men dying.
War does not decide who is right. It merely determines who is left
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones-Einsten
"The tragedy of modern war is that young men die fighting each other instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals" - Edward Abbey.
Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich.
– Peter Ustinov
War is old men talking and young men dying.
War does not decide who is right. It merely determines who is left
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones-Einsten
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Zen Stories
Many teachings from Zen-Buddhism are told in short and delightful zen
stories. They are usually designed to develop the mind and to free it
from distortions and so to connect with our spirit.
Some of them are really inspiring and enlightening. It is helpful to the mind to think about them and feel the deeper meaning. Even if it is not possible to grasp them fully, the beauty and simplicity of the message usually gets through to us one way or the other.
The following 10 Zen stories are a selection of the ones I found most inspiring and really worth to ponder about. Some may be instantly understood, some others need to be thought through and recognized in oneself.
They are about the following topics: life in the present moment, different perspectives, attachment, resistance, judgment, delusion, beliefs and thought as mental concepts but not truth and unconditional love. Please feel free to post your interpretation or other stories into the comments.
After reading the first, follow it’s advice to read all the others. :)
Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.
The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”
“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”
In the evening the younger monk came to the elder monk and said, “Sir, as monks, we cannot touch a woman ?”
The elder monk answered “yes, brother”.
Then the younger monk asks again, “but then Sir, how is that you lifted that woman on the roadside ?”
The elder monk smiled at him and told him ” I left her on the other side of the road, but you are still carrying her.”
“Doesn’t this bother you when someone finds a piece of truth, O Evil One?” his attendant asked. “No,” Mara replied. “Right after this, they usually make a belief out of it.”
The teacher ponders for a moment looks up and down the river and yells back, “My son, you are on the other side”.
A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.
This made her parents very angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.
In great anger the parents went to the master. “Is that so?” was all he would say.
When the child was born, the parents brought it to the Hakuin, who now was viewed as a pariah by the whole village. They demanded that he take care of the child since it was his responsibility. “Is that so?” Hakuin said calmly as he accepted the child.
A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth – that the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fishmarket.
The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask his forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back again.
Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: “Is that so?”
“Maybe,” the farmer replied.
The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed.
“Maybe,” replied the old man.
The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.
“Maybe,” answered the farmer.
The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.
“Maybe,” said the farmer.
As he hung there, two mice appeared from a hole in the cliff and began gnawing on the vine.
Suddenly, he noticed on the vine a plump wild strawberry. He plucked it and popped it in his mouth. It was incredibly delicious!
The Buddha asked his disciples to get a large magnificent elephant and four blind men. He then brought the four blind to the elephant and told them to find out what the elephant would “look” like.
The first blind men touched the elephant leg and reported that it “looked” like a pillar. The second blind man touched the elephant tummy and said that an elephant was a wall. The third blind man touched the elephant ear and said that it was a piece of cloth. The fourth blind man hold on to the tail and described the elephant as a piece of rope. And all of them ran into a hot argument about the “appearance” of an elephant.
The Buddha asked the citizens: “Each blind man had touched the elephant but each of them gives a different description of the animal. Which answer is right?”
Later the pupil was caught in a similar act, and again Bankei disregarded the matter. This angered the other pupils, who drew up a petition asking for the dismissal of the thief, stating that otherwise they would leave in a body.
When Bankei had read the petition he called everyone before him. “You are wise brothers,” he told them. “You know what is right and what is not right. You may go somewhere else to study if you wish, but this poor brother does not even know right from wrong. Who will teach him if I do not? I am going to keep him here even if all the rest of you leave.”
A torrent of tears cleansed the face of the brother who had stolen. All desire to steal had vanished.
Desiring to show his attainment, he said: “The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no realization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received.”
Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry.
“If nothing exists,” inquired Dokuon, “where did this anger come from?”
“I do not need a lantern,” he said. “Darkness or light is all the same to me.”
“I know you do not need a lantern to find your way,” his friend replied, “but if you don’t have one, someone else may run into you. So you must take it.”
The blind man started off with the lantern and before he had walked very far someone ran squarely into him. “Look out where you are going!” he exclaimed to the stranger. “Can’t you see this lantern?”
“Your candle has burned out, brother,” replied the stranger.
Some of them are really inspiring and enlightening. It is helpful to the mind to think about them and feel the deeper meaning. Even if it is not possible to grasp them fully, the beauty and simplicity of the message usually gets through to us one way or the other.
The following 10 Zen stories are a selection of the ones I found most inspiring and really worth to ponder about. Some may be instantly understood, some others need to be thought through and recognized in oneself.
They are about the following topics: life in the present moment, different perspectives, attachment, resistance, judgment, delusion, beliefs and thought as mental concepts but not truth and unconditional love. Please feel free to post your interpretation or other stories into the comments.
After reading the first, follow it’s advice to read all the others. :)
1. A Cup of Tea
Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.
The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”
“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”
2. The Burden
Two monks were returning to the monastery in the evening. It had rained and there were puddles of water on the road sides. At one place a beautiful young woman was standing unable to walk accross because of a puddle of water. The elder of the two monks went up to a her lifted her and left her on the other side of the road, and continued his way to the monastery.In the evening the younger monk came to the elder monk and said, “Sir, as monks, we cannot touch a woman ?”
The elder monk answered “yes, brother”.
Then the younger monk asks again, “but then Sir, how is that you lifted that woman on the roadside ?”
The elder monk smiled at him and told him ” I left her on the other side of the road, but you are still carrying her.”
3. Finding a Piece of the Truth
One day Mara, the Evil One, was travelling through the villages of India with his attendants. he saw a man doing walking meditation whose face was lit up on wonder. The man had just discovered something on the ground in front of him. Mara’s attendant asked what that was and Mara replied, “A piece of truth.”“Doesn’t this bother you when someone finds a piece of truth, O Evil One?” his attendant asked. “No,” Mara replied. “Right after this, they usually make a belief out of it.”
4. The Other Side
One day a young Buddhist on his journey home came to the banks of a wide river. Staring hopelessly at the great obstacle in front of him, he pondered for hours on just how to cross such a wide barrier. Just as he was about to give up his pursuit to continue his journey he saw a great teacher on the other side of the river. The young Buddhist yells over to the teacher, “Oh wise one, can you tell me how to get to the other side of this river”?The teacher ponders for a moment looks up and down the river and yells back, “My son, you are on the other side”.
5. Is That So?
The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.
This made her parents very angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.
In great anger the parents went to the master. “Is that so?” was all he would say.
When the child was born, the parents brought it to the Hakuin, who now was viewed as a pariah by the whole village. They demanded that he take care of the child since it was his responsibility. “Is that so?” Hakuin said calmly as he accepted the child.
A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth – that the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fishmarket.
The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask his forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back again.
Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: “Is that so?”
6. Maybe
Once upon the time there was an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.“Maybe,” the farmer replied.
The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed.
“Maybe,” replied the old man.
The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.
“Maybe,” answered the farmer.
The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.
“Maybe,” said the farmer.
7. Cliffhanger
One day while walking through the wilderness a man stumbled upon a vicious tiger. He ran but soon came to the edge of a high cliff. Desperate to save himself, he climbed down a vine and dangled over the fatal precipice.As he hung there, two mice appeared from a hole in the cliff and began gnawing on the vine.
Suddenly, he noticed on the vine a plump wild strawberry. He plucked it and popped it in his mouth. It was incredibly delicious!
8. The Blind Men and the Elephant
Several citizens ran into a hot argument about God and different religions, and each one could not agree to a common answer. So they came to the Lord Buddha to find out what exactly God looks like.The Buddha asked his disciples to get a large magnificent elephant and four blind men. He then brought the four blind to the elephant and told them to find out what the elephant would “look” like.
The first blind men touched the elephant leg and reported that it “looked” like a pillar. The second blind man touched the elephant tummy and said that an elephant was a wall. The third blind man touched the elephant ear and said that it was a piece of cloth. The fourth blind man hold on to the tail and described the elephant as a piece of rope. And all of them ran into a hot argument about the “appearance” of an elephant.
The Buddha asked the citizens: “Each blind man had touched the elephant but each of them gives a different description of the animal. Which answer is right?”
9. Right and Wrong
When Bankei held his seclusion-weeks of meditation, pupils from many parts of Japan came to attend. During one of these gatherings a pupil was caught stealing. The matter was reported to Bankei with the request that the culprit be expelled. Bankei ignored the case.Later the pupil was caught in a similar act, and again Bankei disregarded the matter. This angered the other pupils, who drew up a petition asking for the dismissal of the thief, stating that otherwise they would leave in a body.
When Bankei had read the petition he called everyone before him. “You are wise brothers,” he told them. “You know what is right and what is not right. You may go somewhere else to study if you wish, but this poor brother does not even know right from wrong. Who will teach him if I do not? I am going to keep him here even if all the rest of you leave.”
A torrent of tears cleansed the face of the brother who had stolen. All desire to steal had vanished.
10. Nothing Exists
Yamaoka Tesshu, as a young student of Zen, visited one master after another. He called upon Dokuon of Shokoku.Desiring to show his attainment, he said: “The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no realization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received.”
Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry.
“If nothing exists,” inquired Dokuon, “where did this anger come from?”
Bonus 11. Teaching the Ultimate
In early times in Japan, bamboo-and-paper lanterns were used with candles inside. A blind man, visiting a friend one night, was offered a lantern to carry home with him.“I do not need a lantern,” he said. “Darkness or light is all the same to me.”
“I know you do not need a lantern to find your way,” his friend replied, “but if you don’t have one, someone else may run into you. So you must take it.”
The blind man started off with the lantern and before he had walked very far someone ran squarely into him. “Look out where you are going!” he exclaimed to the stranger. “Can’t you see this lantern?”
“Your candle has burned out, brother,” replied the stranger.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Education
True education is the education that teaches you to teach yourself, and inspires you with the desire to do that.
Education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think -- Albert Einstein
Education is not just a way to accumulate knowledge, but a path to acquire wisdom from your observations.
Too many years spent learning to give the right answers,
Too few spent learning to ask the right questions.
"Everybody is a genius.If you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree, it will live it's whole life believing that it's stupid"
- Albert Einstein
A true education should:
Education is all about managing observations. Whether you are a scientist, writer, artist, manager or investor, all these skills become the deciding tools of your trade. However, it is sad that our education system is providing a low importance to the art of observation.
Education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think -- Albert Einstein
Education is not just a way to accumulate knowledge, but a path to acquire wisdom from your observations.
Too many years spent learning to give the right answers,
Too few spent learning to ask the right questions.
"Everybody is a genius.If you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree, it will live it's whole life believing that it's stupid"
- Albert Einstein
A true education should:
- Teach students the skills of observation - seeing, listening & experiencing. Sadly most of us are very poor observers & thus our learning stops relatively early in our life. However, with a constant practice anyone could develop observation skills.
- Provide opportunities to observe - bringing objects to class, field trips, art events etc. Manage this in a very effective manner rather than creating a laundry list.
- Teach tools on the art of recording observations - journal entries, creating notes & mind maps
- Provide basic knowledge to start interpreting observations - this includes elementary knowledge of language, math, geography and science.
- Teach basic logic and the art of experimentation. This includes understanding what hypothesis mean and how those hypotheses are validated. Experimentation should not be just restricted to Chemistry, but for every stream of human endeavor.
- Create ways to share experiences in a supportive way. It is very important to constantly share your experiences to grow your learning.
- Provide an environment to help students to build on their observations and experiences in their own way.
Education is all about managing observations. Whether you are a scientist, writer, artist, manager or investor, all these skills become the deciding tools of your trade. However, it is sad that our education system is providing a low importance to the art of observation.
Cockroach theory
The cockroach theory for self development
At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady.
She started screaming out of fear.
With a panic stricken face and trembling voice,she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach.
Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky.
The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but ...it landed on another lady in the group.
Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama.
The waiter rushed forward to their rescue.
In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter.
The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt.
When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.
Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach
responsible for their histrionic behavior?
If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed?
He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos.
It is not the cockroach, but the inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies.
I realized that, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it's my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.
It's not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.
More than the problem, it's my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life.
Lessons learnt from the story:
I understood, I should not react in life.
I should always respond.
The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded.
Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always well thought of, just and right to save a situation from going out of hands, to avoid cracks in relationship, to avoid taking decisions in anger, anxiety, stress or hurry.
At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady.
She started screaming out of fear.
With a panic stricken face and trembling voice,she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach.
Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky.
The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but ...it landed on another lady in the group.
Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama.
The waiter rushed forward to their rescue.
In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter.
The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt.
When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.
Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach
responsible for their histrionic behavior?
If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed?
He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos.
It is not the cockroach, but the inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies.
I realized that, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it's my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.
It's not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.
More than the problem, it's my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life.
Lessons learnt from the story:
I understood, I should not react in life.
I should always respond.
The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded.
Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always well thought of, just and right to save a situation from going out of hands, to avoid cracks in relationship, to avoid taking decisions in anger, anxiety, stress or hurry.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Kids are always smart
When
my daughter was four, we were watching some children's TV shows on a
commercial channel. All the ads in the breaks were for the usual rubbish
toys oversold by unbearably cute kids and featuring excruciatingly twee
fully-sung jingles. Over the course of, say, 20 minutes there might
have been 3 five minute programmes and four or five of ads between each
one.
Worried that she might want all of - or at least some of - the wares being relentlessly flogged, I asked her "do you think you would like any of the things they are showing?" She turned to me and said "No, I don't think so. They can't be very good things if they need to keep trying so hard to tell people to like them"
Someone asked my 2 year old cousin, "what color is an apple?".
He replied, "inside or outside?"
Mind. Blown.
Driving around with my preschool age son, I would occasionally point out a particularly attractive woman and he would remind me that I was married. One time when I replied that just because I had ordered didn't mean I couldn't still look at the menu, he took time to consider that logic and after a while pointed out: "Dad... after you order, they take the menu away."
A physicist I met once told me he asked his 6 year old son to imagine standing on top of a big ball in outer space. Then, he told his son, he looks over the edge, and there is a person on the other side of the ball, upside down, with feet on the bottom of the ball. He asked his son: will that upside-down person fall off the ball? His son thought about it, and said "If the other person looks at me, he sees my feet, and I'm upside down to him. I'm not falling off, so he doesn't fall off".
Once when I was trying to plan something for my wife's birthday I asked my 5 year-old daughter what we should do for her.
"I dunno", she said. "Well how do we show someone we love them?" I asked. "You play with them" was her answer.
The clarity of that response floored me. For all the parents that try to buy their child's love; give them expensive gifts. Anything but the one thing that children desire the most, our time. Isn't that the same for all of us? If you want to show your love do something with them. It's so simple and yet how easily we lose this simple clear truth.
I asked my 9 year old son, "what is the opposite of success?" He thought silently for a very long moment and responded, "giving up."
My 4 year old told me the other day, "when I grow up, I want to be a kid"
This happened with one of my cousins who was about 6-7 years old. He was reading a book and started asking me meanings of words. "What is Gap?" , "What is Rap?" etc. Then he asked "What is Gip?". I said that it has no meaning. His question was "Why did they use bigger words when the smaller words have not finished yet?" . I didn't have an answer then and I don't have an answer now.
Years ago, I used to work with a guy who had a very precocious 7-year-old daughter named Maya. He told me this story about her.......
Maya had just come back from spending the weekend at her cousin's house. Her father said, 'So, how was the weekend?' 'Boring,' replied Maya. 'The only thing they wanted to do was watch television'. (Side note - Maya was raised without a TV in the house). After another moment she said, 'I think it's sad, actually.' 'Why is that?' asked her father. She responded, 'Television is for people who sadly do not have imaginations of their own.'
I have never forgotten that.
I asked a 5 year old kid to recite the multiplication table of 8. He recited it like this:
I suggested to him that he didn't know what came after 2 or 3, since he had recited so randomly.
Then he replied "I did this way so that you may not feel that I am adding up, everyone says that I add up"
My daughter at 7, was looking introspectively at the mirror. I asked her what she was thinking and she said, "My brain is so weird - it wants to think about me me me all the time, like I am the center of the Universe or something!. Mummy, Daddy has that ever happened to you?'
A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, “This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.” The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, “Which do you want, son?” The boy takes the quarters and leaves. “What did I tell you?” said the barber. “That kid never learns!” Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store. “Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?” The boy licked his cone and replied, “Because the day I take the dollar, the game is over!”
Clever Boy.!
I dont know about smartest, but this answer sure was beautiful..
When asked the plural of the word 'Leaf', the child replied a 'Tree'!
I was saying goodbye to the kids at the middle school I was volunteering at. As a way of remembering them, I bought a bunch of papers and asked them to write down what was the most important thing they've learnt their whole life.
I got stuff like: "I love shopping." "Life isn't fair."
One struck me particularly hard: "The purpose of life is to trade the finite for the infinite."
Indeed, we're all given finite resources like time- it's up to us to convert them into something that stretches on into forever. Her wisdom floored me.
I still keep those slips on paper in my scrapbook.
How brilliant a child's observations are often depends on the views of the adult doing the listening.
When my son Aaron was three, some philosopher friends who consider themselves empiricists came over to the house. One of them had a broken foot in a total cover cast on it. It was hot, so my friend had a sandal on the other foot.
He asked my son how many toes he had on that foot, and the quick response was "Five".
So he then asked "And how many do I have on the other foot ?" After thoughtfully considering the cast covering the foot for a moment, he responded "I can't answer that with what I know".
The philosophers immediately gushed with effusive praise, and said he was an intuitive genius with a great future in science :)
We have a school for the deaf inside the campus of IIT Roorkee. Today I saw a little girl of around 6 years dropped at that school by her father on a scooter. As I am kinda familiar with sign language, I saw one of the most beautiful conversations in this world today. The child's father helped her down the scooter and asked her who is she? She replied 'I am the most beautiful and special child on earth'. Then the father asked her why did God make her like this. The girl signed 'Because I am God's favorite and most special. So he had to make me different so that he can watch me from the sky'. Then father kissed her and she happily ran inside the school to join her friends. I almost had tears in my eyes by then...
"Question everything", I told my young neice.
"Why", she said.
Took me by surprise.
Once I was teaching english spellings to my 7 year old brother. He was unable to spell PLAY, and I promptly made a random logic statement "You can't even spell PLAY, so you can't go for playing". And his immediate reply with a cute smile was "I also can't spell STUDY"
Last summer, I asked my US-born niece whether she considered herself Indian or American.
'Earthling' she replied and scampered away.
My dad was chatting with my sister who was about 4 or 5 at the time. He jokingly said that kids were good for nothing. She thought about it and replied "No they're not. " "What are they good for then?" asked my father. 'Kids are good for loving." she replied.
This was from my niece, Kaashvi almost an year ago. She was just 19 months old then. My Brother-in-Law had went to Boston for doing his MBA in finance.
After he left, my niece asked my sister that night, "Papa kaha hai?" (Where is Papa?)
My sister replied, "Papa Boston gaye".(Papa went to Boston)
Kaashvi asked, "Bottun kaha hai?"(Where is Bottun?)
My sister replied,"Bahut door hai beta",(Its very far my child) and tear rolled down her cheeks as she apparently started missing him.
Seeing her tears, Kaashvi promptly wiped her tears and said, "Mat ro mummy. papa aa jayenge. khiloney layenge."( Don't cry Mummy. Papa will come. Will bring Toys)
My sister couldn't stop smiling after that. Kaashvi wiped her tears exactly like my sister used to wipe her's when she used to cry. The sheer wisdom and smartness she shown as a 19 month old child was unthinkable of.
This ain't her only moment of brilliance. But it certainly is her best.
After his usual bedtime story, my three year old son, Akhil was still awake. I thought I'll use sometime to prep him for his sibling, due in a few months. Wishing and hoping for a baby girl, I asked Akhil...
Me : Akhil dear...what shall we name your baby sister?
AKhil : Why Should my baby sister have a name?
Me : Well...your name is Akhil. Your amma, my name is Archana. Daddy's name is Vijay. Similarly, your baby sister should also have a name.
Akhil was silent for 3 seconds and then asked me back...
Akhil : Amma...Elephant's name is elephant. Balloon's name is balloon. Fan's name is fan. Why can't baby sister's name be baby sister?
Me: #$%^%&*&$$&&*
Trying to see if my daughter, maybe 4 or 5, was a pessimist or an optimist, I poured a half-glass of water and asked her "would you say that was half-full or half-empty?".
Her response - "that depends if you're drinking it or filling it".
She is now grown up, teaching primary school and utterly adored by the kids she teaches.
Worried that she might want all of - or at least some of - the wares being relentlessly flogged, I asked her "do you think you would like any of the things they are showing?" She turned to me and said "No, I don't think so. They can't be very good things if they need to keep trying so hard to tell people to like them"
Someone asked my 2 year old cousin, "what color is an apple?".
He replied, "inside or outside?"
Mind. Blown.
Driving around with my preschool age son, I would occasionally point out a particularly attractive woman and he would remind me that I was married. One time when I replied that just because I had ordered didn't mean I couldn't still look at the menu, he took time to consider that logic and after a while pointed out: "Dad... after you order, they take the menu away."
A physicist I met once told me he asked his 6 year old son to imagine standing on top of a big ball in outer space. Then, he told his son, he looks over the edge, and there is a person on the other side of the ball, upside down, with feet on the bottom of the ball. He asked his son: will that upside-down person fall off the ball? His son thought about it, and said "If the other person looks at me, he sees my feet, and I'm upside down to him. I'm not falling off, so he doesn't fall off".
Once when I was trying to plan something for my wife's birthday I asked my 5 year-old daughter what we should do for her.
"I dunno", she said. "Well how do we show someone we love them?" I asked. "You play with them" was her answer.
The clarity of that response floored me. For all the parents that try to buy their child's love; give them expensive gifts. Anything but the one thing that children desire the most, our time. Isn't that the same for all of us? If you want to show your love do something with them. It's so simple and yet how easily we lose this simple clear truth.
I asked my 9 year old son, "what is the opposite of success?" He thought silently for a very long moment and responded, "giving up."
My 4 year old told me the other day, "when I grow up, I want to be a kid"
This happened with one of my cousins who was about 6-7 years old. He was reading a book and started asking me meanings of words. "What is Gap?" , "What is Rap?" etc. Then he asked "What is Gip?". I said that it has no meaning. His question was "Why did they use bigger words when the smaller words have not finished yet?" . I didn't have an answer then and I don't have an answer now.
Years ago, I used to work with a guy who had a very precocious 7-year-old daughter named Maya. He told me this story about her.......
Maya had just come back from spending the weekend at her cousin's house. Her father said, 'So, how was the weekend?' 'Boring,' replied Maya. 'The only thing they wanted to do was watch television'. (Side note - Maya was raised without a TV in the house). After another moment she said, 'I think it's sad, actually.' 'Why is that?' asked her father. She responded, 'Television is for people who sadly do not have imaginations of their own.'
I have never forgotten that.
I asked a 5 year old kid to recite the multiplication table of 8. He recited it like this:
8 1's are 8
8 2's are 16
8 4's are 32
8 9's are 72
8 7's are 56
...
I suggested to him that he didn't know what came after 2 or 3, since he had recited so randomly.
Then he replied "I did this way so that you may not feel that I am adding up, everyone says that I add up"
My daughter at 7, was looking introspectively at the mirror. I asked her what she was thinking and she said, "My brain is so weird - it wants to think about me me me all the time, like I am the center of the Universe or something!. Mummy, Daddy has that ever happened to you?'
A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, “This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.” The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, “Which do you want, son?” The boy takes the quarters and leaves. “What did I tell you?” said the barber. “That kid never learns!” Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store. “Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?” The boy licked his cone and replied, “Because the day I take the dollar, the game is over!”
Clever Boy.!
I dont know about smartest, but this answer sure was beautiful..
When asked the plural of the word 'Leaf', the child replied a 'Tree'!
I was saying goodbye to the kids at the middle school I was volunteering at. As a way of remembering them, I bought a bunch of papers and asked them to write down what was the most important thing they've learnt their whole life.
I got stuff like: "I love shopping." "Life isn't fair."
One struck me particularly hard: "The purpose of life is to trade the finite for the infinite."
Indeed, we're all given finite resources like time- it's up to us to convert them into something that stretches on into forever. Her wisdom floored me.
I still keep those slips on paper in my scrapbook.
How brilliant a child's observations are often depends on the views of the adult doing the listening.
When my son Aaron was three, some philosopher friends who consider themselves empiricists came over to the house. One of them had a broken foot in a total cover cast on it. It was hot, so my friend had a sandal on the other foot.
He asked my son how many toes he had on that foot, and the quick response was "Five".
So he then asked "And how many do I have on the other foot ?" After thoughtfully considering the cast covering the foot for a moment, he responded "I can't answer that with what I know".
The philosophers immediately gushed with effusive praise, and said he was an intuitive genius with a great future in science :)
We have a school for the deaf inside the campus of IIT Roorkee. Today I saw a little girl of around 6 years dropped at that school by her father on a scooter. As I am kinda familiar with sign language, I saw one of the most beautiful conversations in this world today. The child's father helped her down the scooter and asked her who is she? She replied 'I am the most beautiful and special child on earth'. Then the father asked her why did God make her like this. The girl signed 'Because I am God's favorite and most special. So he had to make me different so that he can watch me from the sky'. Then father kissed her and she happily ran inside the school to join her friends. I almost had tears in my eyes by then...
"Question everything", I told my young neice.
"Why", she said.
Took me by surprise.
Once I was teaching english spellings to my 7 year old brother. He was unable to spell PLAY, and I promptly made a random logic statement "You can't even spell PLAY, so you can't go for playing". And his immediate reply with a cute smile was "I also can't spell STUDY"
Last summer, I asked my US-born niece whether she considered herself Indian or American.
'Earthling' she replied and scampered away.
My dad was chatting with my sister who was about 4 or 5 at the time. He jokingly said that kids were good for nothing. She thought about it and replied "No they're not. " "What are they good for then?" asked my father. 'Kids are good for loving." she replied.
This was from my niece, Kaashvi almost an year ago. She was just 19 months old then. My Brother-in-Law had went to Boston for doing his MBA in finance.
After he left, my niece asked my sister that night, "Papa kaha hai?" (Where is Papa?)
My sister replied, "Papa Boston gaye".(Papa went to Boston)
Kaashvi asked, "Bottun kaha hai?"(Where is Bottun?)
My sister replied,"Bahut door hai beta",(Its very far my child) and tear rolled down her cheeks as she apparently started missing him.
Seeing her tears, Kaashvi promptly wiped her tears and said, "Mat ro mummy. papa aa jayenge. khiloney layenge."( Don't cry Mummy. Papa will come. Will bring Toys)
My sister couldn't stop smiling after that. Kaashvi wiped her tears exactly like my sister used to wipe her's when she used to cry. The sheer wisdom and smartness she shown as a 19 month old child was unthinkable of.
This ain't her only moment of brilliance. But it certainly is her best.
After his usual bedtime story, my three year old son, Akhil was still awake. I thought I'll use sometime to prep him for his sibling, due in a few months. Wishing and hoping for a baby girl, I asked Akhil...
Me : Akhil dear...what shall we name your baby sister?
AKhil : Why Should my baby sister have a name?
Me : Well...your name is Akhil. Your amma, my name is Archana. Daddy's name is Vijay. Similarly, your baby sister should also have a name.
Akhil was silent for 3 seconds and then asked me back...
Akhil : Amma...Elephant's name is elephant. Balloon's name is balloon. Fan's name is fan. Why can't baby sister's name be baby sister?
Me: #$%^%&*&$$&&*
Trying to see if my daughter, maybe 4 or 5, was a pessimist or an optimist, I poured a half-glass of water and asked her "would you say that was half-full or half-empty?".
Her response - "that depends if you're drinking it or filling it".
She is now grown up, teaching primary school and utterly adored by the kids she teaches.
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