Happy Teachers Day, Dear Whatsapp

Yet another Happy Teacher’s Day gets past us. We are done with forwarding our favourite quotes and e-wishing those who purportedly contributed to some format of learning in our lives. A new day beckons us tomorrow, bringing alongwith it a new set of learnings & teachings…

Notwithstanding the quote pictured above, by one of the most respected first citizens of this mighty civilisation, a BharatRatna who championed the cause of teachers by telling us to celebrate his birthday in their honour rather… it remains an irrefutable fact that the end objective of any aspect thought is not just enlightenment in the area of the topic but also attaining freedom from ignorance, as far as at least the scope of the subject matter of such teaching is concerned.

How many of us ever imbibe what we learn… what we learnt or whatever we will ever learn. If we do… good for us. For the most of us who don’t… then why hoard the learning in some decrepit dark dungeons of the unreachable crevices of our mind.

I have spent over two decades now in pursuing my obsession of sharing knowledge, influencing intellects and attempting to direct the human intelligence towards whatever can possibly yield incremental results for every unit of effort invested and milking the maximum potential of any possible opportunity. And what I have realised is that, perhaps, I have embarked on a journey that is the toughest of all paths … that of influencing human intelligence…. or the lack of it thereof.. as the case may be.

Why?

Simply because the superlative power of habits and the intoxicating magnetism of the known is so enchanting, that it refuses to release its victims from the dopamine inducing comfort zones and the smug overconfidence provided by the lessons of their own experiences from within their constricted laboratories of limited circumstances. The darkness of the known is so powerfully permeating that it swallows any semblance of any form of light that vaguely attempts to dispel the ignorance or share lessons from bigger laboratories of life.

If the above isn’t remotely true, then you will find it almost impossible to refute my assessment that there are millions of doctorate degree holders in the field of LifeLessons from the University of Whatsapp, a dangerous credo who cannot be influenced with any teaching today as they have seen it & shared it all. Any homosapien worth his salt, is today a willing stranger belonging to the comforting crowds of multiple groups which preach him “invaluable lessons” in … well you name the topic… and my guess is that most of them would have been exposed to some expert treatise or the other on the said realm. We are forward junkies and mass consumers of the flood of irrelevant information. From the complexities of nuclear physics to the possibilities of finding life on Mars… from the cure to the elusive corona virus to how the US Govt could provide better doles to its citizens… from how Sushant Singh Rajput unnecessarily lost his battle against perceived hopelessness which the self professed professors of life could have cured within the snap of their fingers.. to how the CBI should conduct their investigations, from how RBI can manage it’s affairs better to how they could provide an alternative to the experimental approach to alleviate global poverty propounded by Banerjee, Duflo & Kremer… there is no topic that a living being with a connected smartphone isn’t an expert of today or has an opinion about.

SmartPhone Slaves love to forward videos on the harmful effects of digital slavery… incompetents do justice to their existence by sharing the virtues of discovering the purpose of one’s greatness as extolled by Simon Sineks of life… wannabe hunks like me with ageing stubborn paunches take intoxicating pleasure in spreading the benefits of fitness regimes and healthy food practices that have never ever been practiced by self… or worse still, hardcore digiaddicts who forward anything that is forwarded to them without as much as bothering to check the veracity of the junk thus forwarded, unsolicited.. such irreversible stage has the terminality of this malady reached. And this is just an insignificant list… The legions of this self anointed digital knowledge evangelists have surpassed the infectious capabilities of the most dreaded viruses ever to have been inflicted upon mankind.
But then what is the problem in all this.. nothing much… just that constant exposure to expertise galore has made us knowledge numb. We have motivated ourselves to such peaks of maximum possibilities that the only way ahead is downwards. We are so immune to any byte of relevant information now that when it comes knocking at the gates of our limitations, we shoo them away in auto reflex mode.. most of the times not even knowing that we did so. Thus continuing to revel in the mediocrity of the known and the comfortable… A vast multitude of the billions continue doing that.. gluttoning away their own limited time and a minuscule percentage who heed it then chase and achieve various levels of successes and amongst them many becoming YouTube channel producers propagating their mantras of success and the rest continuing their commitment to remaining consumers of others learnings…

It is said that we are a product of our thoughts.. and our thoughts are today exposed to the best of motivations, access to success skills and zillions of examples of underdogs emerging victorious in the fields that you can care to imagine… then what stops us from emulating such grandiose examples of exemplary success .. why do we then continue to express our joy at such success .. smoothen the electrified hair of our goosebumps into its known territories of timidity & servitude to dormancy and habitual mediocrity of the mundane and revert back into the dungeons of our own self imposed limitations? Why nothing motivates us anymore. Why are we so immune to the world of possibilities. Why has our intrinsic thirst to move a notch higher been quenched by the liquor of dogmas. Why are we so proud of being a nameless face in the vast multitudes of the digital zombies.. knowing everything and contributing nothing.

We tch tch our inability to implement any motivation by blaming the limitations of our circumstances. We even refuse to practice what we preach, comfortably pinning the blame on the impracticality of the utility of the best of lessons given the limitations of your environment… we refuse to live by our own values.. whatever we have … if we have any left … as they are good to hear in stories that can only be forwarded … we have programmed ourselves to switch off whenever any learning calls for implementation. The addiction of the comforting confines of the known cannot be deaddicted by any teaching of any level.. for we have buried our ability to explore… innovate … and try in the rubble of the tonnes of forwards and limitations of our so called experiences … like the proverbial chained elephant.
We cannot let any knowledge free us from that comforting chain of limitations. We shall be proud to remain such horses that could only be dragged to the water but proudly exercised its right to refuse to drink. For there is no thirst to explore the extraordinary lying dormant genetically in every strand of our DNA.

We shall remain grateful to all the digital sources that have imprisoned us in their servitude by providing us zillions of bytes of unsolicited knowledge that is available at the tap of our index finger… and that itself is comforting enough. Why even tap and mess with what is going fine… change is just a theory.. disruptions like the one imposed by covids of life will come and go… what we know is far more than enough.. who can dare tell us what any norm is… let’s not rock the boat of mediocrity that millions and billions subscribe to…

Let’s wish the best of em all .. Prof Whatsapp … Happy Teacher’s Day Buddy🙏🏻🤓