February 2022

Morning Shows the Day – Is it True?

Does morning show the day

Morning shows the day is a popular proverb. Is it correct, or is it merely a case of a lazy attachment towards mornings?

Let me give some background first.

Back at school, the classes I hated were Mathematics, Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology), Computer, Dance, and Music. One of my earliest memories of mathematics is nervously queuing up to submit the homework to the teacher. I may have wet my pants on one or two occasions. While I could argue that my hatred towards and difficulties in mathematics – which still persists to this day – was because of that evilesque teacher, who frightened me a lot, I do not remember such intimidating teachers in Science, Computer, Dance or music. Of course, I have never loved math and neither has it been graceful to me. Although I tried my best later on.

This has led me to conclude that those hatred are directed more towards the subjects than classes. Never enjoyed science and computer! Always found scientific concepts boring and sedative. They never managed to trigger the learner in me. And since I never was a ‘love-what-is-right-for-your-career’ person, I never seriously tried. Computer classes were interesting as long as they provided me with the opportunities to play card games. I have never been a dancing person. In regards to music, I can confidently say that the dissatisfaction was more because of my boastful and annoying classmates rather than towards music itself. Later I enjoyed a lot of music alone!

School has long gone but my learning hasn’t ceased. I self-learn most of the time. Perhaps, because learning is the source through which only I can be better at my writing but actually because I love to learn.

I have tried to teach myself all sorts of things over the last decade. I have gone through Euclid, Einstein, Plato, Rousseau, Shakespeare, etc. etc. Some have been tedious. Some like a smooth ride. Analyzing which subjects have been which, I have realized that: Euclid, Einstein and the likes have been brutally tedious while Plato, Rousseau, Shakespeare, have been fun although not easy. In fact, this adult-age difficulty is the thing that made me think about what I may have loved at school in the first place!

Coming back to school, the subjects that I liked and felt more natural towards were Social Studies, English, Nepali, Environment and Population.

Although I never acquired good marks in anything in any classes, I remember once getting crazy high marks in Social Studies, not only by my standard but also my entire classroom’s!

Whenever it was time to go up a grade and new textbooks were made available, I finished reading (not studying) all chapters in Social Studies, and all stories, poems and essays in English and Nepali.

It is funny when I think about it:

I buy and download all sorts of books. And still to this day, the mathematics, science, and computer books feel very impenetrable and I have to focus incredibly hard to go beyond a quick skim – during which I get seriously doubtful and anxious. But books about politics, society-culture, psychology, philosophy, and literature get consumed with great enthusiasm and ease.

This has got me questioning whether interests are hardwired in childhood itself or whether it’s about the reluctance to get out of the comfort zone? 


 

Attention Crisis

attention crisis

Before talking about attention crisis, let me share a small story:

The ability to understand things in real time is more important than the ability to know facts.

Nepali Folk Tales – Do As They Do

Be careful on how you act around your children. 


Once in a hilly area, there lived an old man. His wife was dead so all he had was his only son. He took great care of him and pampered him in every way feasible. More than anything, he ensured his son was smart in practical things – especially money and property. As soon as the son married a girl from the same village, the old man retreated from his practical duties and started to live totally dependent on his son and daughter-in-law.

As years passed, the old man’s health deteriorated. Soon he couldn’t even go up and down the stairs without support. Around the same time, his daughter-in-law gave birth to a son. The old man’s condition however continued to deteriorate. He couldn’t even go to the toilet by himself.

A few more years passed.

One day the old man’s son had a thought, ‘All this old man does now is eat. He can’t even walk. What’s the point of him being alive if he can’t even do the toilet stuff himself! How long will he live? Why hasn’t death taken him yet?’

This thought of death gave him an idea –

‘What if I pushed him off a cliff? We will have a good time and this old man will get to Swarga quicker’.

He went to his wife and shared this idea. She was sick of looking after the old man so she agreed without hesitation.

The next day, he placed his father in a doko (Nepali basket made from bamboo) and went to a cliff nearby. The old man’s grandson followed his father. The old man could neither hear nor see properly so he had no idea what his son was about to do to him. He thought he was being taken to a temple, so he remained quiet. 

When they reached the cliff and the son was just about to push the doko, the young boy yelled- 

‘Father! Father! Hold on!’

The father looked behind to see his son running towards him. He wasn’t amused. 

‘What the hell are you doing here? Get back,’ said the father, angered. 

‘Are you supposed to throw the doko away too?’ he asked. 

‘Why?’

‘I just wanted to make sure you weren’t making a mistake. If you throw the doko, how am I supposed to throw you away?’

‘What do you mean throw me away?’ the young boy’s father asked, surprised. 

‘You throw your father, I throw mine. Isn’t this how it works?’ the young boy replied with innocence. 

This made his father realize the mistake. He brought the old man home and treated him with great respect thenon. His young son treated him similarly.