 |
| A DOCTOR IN ME! |
To remember and retain a thing in this magnanimous information filled encyclopedic world has become a hard task for everyone especially for the students who are burning candles for the competitive examinations.
So what can be crash course method to be ‘know it all’ or to actually learn a new thing?
Well I have one to share......
So this happened last year, when I thought to join some exercise regime to keep myself fit. Therefore after the suggestion of my wise advisory of friends, I joined a Latin American dance form of exercise regime called Zumba.
Well, it was all new to my hard core Punjabi mover and shaker type lithe but I enjoyed it.
It was new and every class was fun either it be salsa or cumbia or merhenge or reggeton. The lingo was also alien to my tongue but finally dissolved in due course of time leaving a spicy taste on my buds.
Everything was going fine till day of examination.
Yes, it came as a surprise for me too.
I joined it for one hour adrenaline pumping not seeking it as a career option or a degree fetching course. But it so happened that every year in the month of May there is a dance battle between the students of that academy and teams are divided for it.
It was whole new Hogwarts feeling as if gearing up for the battle of Quidditch. The jovial environment suddenly turned into shades of rivalry.
My, My, everyone took it seriously as if it was some kind of a qualifying match and one will end up with a world cup sort of thing. Nothing was fun anymore.
Every known finger of so called friend started to be raised on moves of your body. The teacher too became strict and once so funny man turned into a devil with a blazing trident in his hand poking your every step. Sarcasm, criticism and unworthy vocabulary rinsed the environment drape wet.
For Pete sake, I have a god given job of being a doctor and I have qualified all my examination with flying colors to be on the chair which I chair. In eighth year of my medical practice as a reputed doctor I am not keen of fanning embers of teenage whimsical fantasy of dancing in the streets on the rope for a god forbidden battle and hear shitty words. God, I am someone in society not a mere no one to be missed in a crowd.
Well I went to my wise advisory again seeking their opinion about it and as expected they parroted a yes in my favour and finally after the round table meeting it was decided I am going to leave this damn dance form after this battle was over.
Well, I didn’t left it then and there because I am not a quitter so it is best to go after the war of dance and as I was the team lead too and had the responsibility of my people, one and the second reason was that I have paid for the month from my hard earned currency. Why to get it waste?
So it be, once I started to take it little seriously those hand and feet moves for fifteen days and start to notice the intricate details of steps completion and dig in meanings from the animosity lingo of my teacher, we did score fairly in the battle of the dance. By the mercy of the God, we did not flunk. If I would have done what I did for past fifteen days for quiet a longer period I think we would be contesting in for winner position. But who the heck want to be the winner to a street dance competition, not a doctor in me.
Before I left the academy of Zumba, my teacher told me one thing, “Doc, you are a good dancer but not a good zumba dancer. You danced well but you didn’t do Zumba.”
I just wanted to reply him that I have much more important things to do in my life than doing Zumba but I stitched my lips. I didn’t even think him worthy for my decent words too and hence I left.
So what’s the moral of the story?
Well the moral of the story came to me after few months when my so called scholar self started reading a very famous book written on leadership quality which decoded the instructions of great king-maker Chanakya. If you personally ask me, I am the fan of that man.
So in one of the chapters it was written that a leader should not be confined to be learning one field of art or science but should have fair amount of information about the other sciences prevalent. One should always be the learner and the best possible way to learn is to first unlearn all your previous knowledge and then venture in to learn the new knowledge. So the process goes like first unlearn what you know and then learn new thing and when you have to learn another thing than unlearn again what you have known till date and learn new thing.
It’s like unlearn then learn and unlearn again and then learn again.
Its wad bewildering like some kind of the coded ancient words jumble, how can a person unlearn what is already hard wired in the grey cells and then be considered as a good disciple to learn new thing.
So here dropped in surprise entry of the wisdom of Bhagvad Gita to solve my enigma.
You see in the battle field of Kurekshetra, Five thousand years back, when Arjun had confusing thoughts about fighting his brother who did him gross wrong, Krsna told him that this is not the way the wise man think.
Arjun didn’t went hysterical on Krsna’s remark thinking himself to be the best bow-man in the world but instead rejecting his arrogance and prejudice, unlearning all the knowledge he already sheltered, went down to Krsna’s feet, accepting him as his teacher and asked him to guide him through the dark.
He wiped the slate clean so that he could write what was worthy under the guidance his master. That is what is meant by unlearn first and then learn ahead.
So in the entire year of my Zumba sessions all I learned was in those fifteen days when the noose was tightened on my neck and my teacher shrieked in my ear. What a waste of rest of the time I spend there.
So the moral is that to learn is to first unlearn everything previous.
I learned the lesson the hard way, by committing a blunder.
You be wise and learn from my mistake to not to have one par take.
Regards
Hare krsna
Posts
