Mourya Koundinya

The Shenanigan Of Life

According to science, the probability of a human being born is one in 400 trillion! That is a pretty huge number and very rare probability. According to evolution, The first human ancestors appeared between five million and seven million years ago, and the present sized brain was formed 130,000 years ago. We used brain to be where we are now with all the luxuries and comforts. The primary work of the brain is the power to think and simplify things. But there are adverse effects on the same. So what is the Shenanigan (a devious trick used mainly for an underhand purpose) gift of the life? The human brain ability to think. Why did I call it a sneaky trick? Humans tend to use it with care at first, and then overuse it spoiling the purpose of it.

The vital part of thinking is finding a logic to deduce complex problems and convert them into simple solutions. So far it is good, when we overthink, we overcompensate the things, and instead of finding answers, we invent new complicated and unnecessary questions. By unnecessary questions, there come pointless methods to find solutions. What happens when we overthink about a situation in life? We feel stressed. Stress leads to loneliness as we do not want to talk to people when we are stressed. What happens if we do not speak? We become lonely, which leads to depression. Depression leads to much more mental health-related problems. And in the end, there comes that thought, which is the 4th leading cause of death for adults ages 18-65 that is “Suicide.” Even worst, it is the third leading cause of death in 15-19-year-olds.

Let us go by the academics of student life for graduation ( The reason I’m talking students is most of the suicides occur at age 15-19). For suppose there are 10,000 good seats of engineering which include top colleges and universities, and the student who writes the exam to get selected is 10 Lakhs. First and foremost, this equation is very illogical and dangerous. Illogical equation because, how is it a students fault when there only 10,000 good engineering college seats in the whole nation? Isn’t the responsibility of the colleges and the government to improve the standards? Dangerous equation because the student is literally compared to all the objects in the universe by the parents, relatives, etc., and it creates a trauma. These people never question the government or the university to improve the standards.

Let us consider a scenario to understand the difference between thinking and overthinking. What is the basic concept of the exam? Some professor, who is located in some part of the country, prepare a question paper, which he feels is necessary and asks students these ten lakhs students to answer, from which another professor evaluates and picks the 10,000 candidates. For suppose a student is not among the group of 10,000. Logically a student has to think in the following way, “according to 2 people from the 7.8 billion people in the world, think I’m not eligible for this course, for the questions I answered this year. Let us give it another try or try a different one.” But is the student thinking in the same way? Nope, they Complicate it and think, ” I’m useless compared to 10,000 students who got the seat. My dreams are shattered! Everybody got the same questions, then why didn’t I get the seat?” By this overthinking and added parental pressure, their suicidal tendency increases and some of them end their life.

There are other causes of suicides in youngsters as well. A couple of them are love and career choices. Why do people commit suicide due to love? What is love? You like a person because of their qualities and want that person to be with you forever because it makes you happy. What should anyone think when their love is rejected by the other person? They should think, “I’m rejected by this person because they didn’t like the qualities I have. I’m living with these qualities since all the past years. I’m sure I will find the one who likes me.” But they complicate it and think, “I’m rejected by the person of my dreams! What is the purpose of living? I cant face reality any more.” Same goes with the career. In a company, one manager by this knowledge thought a person is not eligible for the promotion and rejected them. They take it personally by overthinking and end their life. We always say that people should have opinions. What is an opinion? It is an idea on something which you developed by your own knowledge and thinking. Why are we not applying the same opinionated thinking before ending life?

In the end, any problem in life has a simple solution if we think logically, but we complicate the things and spoil our mental health. As I said at the start, the probability of a human being born is 1 in one in 400 trillion. Let us not spoil the beauty of the formation by ending it abruptly. Let us find the right solutions for the problem by thinking and not overthinking.

Links for reference:

W.H.O on suicides: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide

The Important Line Between Compromise And Sacrfice.

At some point in life, we may have made a few compromises and few sacrifices for the happiness of the self or to satisfy people we love or summoning to the situation. What is the line between them? What is the difference? To understand the difference between the two words, we need to know the meanings of them. So what is the meaning of Compromise and Sacrifice? Compromise means “expediently accept standards that are lower than is desirable.” Sacrifice means “give up (something valued) for the sake of other considerations.” By the literal meaning of them, they seem very different. But are we using them correctly in reality? Let us consider the following story.

There is a kid named Micheal. His father was rigorous on him. He used to verbally abuse and hit Micheal when he used to play with his friends for a longer time. He wants Micheal to be an Engineer. He always taught him to sacrifice his time for studies, and he can enjoy the results in future. Micheal had a passion for studying literature and becoming a poet. He finished his matriculation and wanted to pursue arts for his schooling. He is scared to talk to his dad. Somehow he gathered courage, went to his dad and told him about his passion. His dad snapped out, and the words he said left the first permanent scar on Micheals’s heart. He Said, ” You want to study arts?” “Where did you learn talking against me?” “What passion are you talking about?” “You can compromise the dream for the future, Just shut up and study Engineering.” He said this and bashed Micheal and sent him away.

Micheal was helpless. He cried a lot and tried to forget it. His schooling continued, and for obvious reasons, the grades were low. His father used to abuse him to get good grades and those two years were like hell for him. Once the schooling is complete, Micheal wanted to speak again to his father so that he can pursue his graduation in Arts. He again gathered courage and asked him the same. Here comes the second scar, his father snapped and said, “Didn’t your brain grow?” “What will you do by studying literature?” “Do you think yourselves as Shakespeare?” and was bashed again.

Micheal does his graduation in Engineering, and he hardly passed it. His father again used to bash or verbally abuse for his grades. As graduation is done and he got an “Engineering” tag. He wanted to give a final try on his passion and talks to his dad again. His dad became furious and left the final scar. Here is what his father said, “How should I tell you?” “Why are you born to me?” “I wish I never gave birth to you.” “You are a disgrace to me.” “Go get a job you worthless scum.” Micheal is now completely broken and starts searching for a job.

Micheal finally joins in a big MNC and starts his career. He goes into depression, and don’t know what to or who to speak to. One day he sees a pop up saying “Worried about your work? Join us! We will assist you.” The program name is “We have all been there.” He signs up for it and goes for it. He sees around two hundred people there. They are divided into twenty groups with ten members each, and a psychiatrist is assigned. The doctor, Micheal’s group, got was Dr Raymond. He points to one the candidates and asks “Have you ever been in a situation, where you are sad about your work, but still got to do it?” He replies ” I have been there.” He asks the next candidate. “Have you been in a situation where you hate your work and still got to do it? She replies ” I have been there.” Now he asks Micheal “Have you ever been in a situation where your family forced you to work?” Micheal was shaken to the core, and he is stunned for a moment, clears his throat and says ” I have been there.” In the same way, the doctor asks everyone work-related questions, and the reply is the same ” I have been there.” The doctor now says “You all have been there.” Let us unite and say “We have all been there. come on” Slowly they Yell ” We have all been there.” The doctor says ” Louder!” They yell ” we have all been there!” Micheal was in shock that these many people are suffering from the same and shakes his head.

Now Micheal is working in the same company and is earning a considerable amount of money. But he lacks the most important thing every human craves for, that is “Happiness.” Micheal was, is and never will be happy with the trauma he has. He is Just leading the life with the help of a doctor.

Now if we think of the above story what Micheal did was not a compromise, it was a sacrifice. So what is the important line between compromise and sacrifice? It is “Happiness.” Why should a kid compromise or sacrifice his passion? The only compromise or sacrifice needed to achieve ones passion is time and energy. Nothing more than that.

What Micheal fathers did to him happens to most of the kids, maybe in a less violent way, but the impact is the same. According to a survey from Monster.com ( one of the biggest recruiting sites in the world), 83% of the employees, Would Opt To Work For Passion. Why is the number so high? Do we need only corporate employees to run the world? Don’t we need a good writer? A good dancer? Or a good painter? Why are we killing the dream of a kid before it blooms?

In the end, if your passion was or is a part of compromise or sacrifice, then my friend, you know what to say. Yes, that’s right! “we have all been there!” You might have had or have difficulties on your dreams from any side, but stick to your gut and let your dreams blossom. I know it is difficult, but trust me the fruits at the topmost branch of the tree are very tasty.

Links for reference:

The survey from Monster.com:

The Verdict is in, Only 17% Employees Work for Money, 83% Would Opt to Work for Passion: Monster

The Real Side Of A Story.

Kashish is an underrated director of the film industry. His films have much realistic approach and closer to ground reality, rather than having a flamboyant hero and a dumb heroine. His movies never had a box office success, but content-wise they received immense appreciation in almost all international film festivals. He is known as the master of “Parallel Cinema.” Kashish and his friend Vijay are directing a movie. They are stuck on a scene on how to reveal a big twist of the film. They are stuck on this scene for three days and are writing different screenplays for the same.

On a parallel side, Vijay, a journalist, is being pressurised by his channel to get a piece of news. He crosses path with Kashish and keeps chasing him for an interview, as we all know journalists run behind people who are open to ignite a rumour or controversy. After much whining for Journalist Vijay, Kashish takes his number and assures him that he will call him when he is free. Few days pass, and Kashish finally gets the scene on how to reveal the twist. He calls his friend Vijay to say it, Vijay doesn’t answer the phone as it is very late in the night. He texts him the scene like this.

“Vijay I finally got it!

Our lead parks the car

And he pulled it out!

I believe you will like this.

Contact me once you wake up.”

The next day morning Kashish wakes up to Vijay’s phone and here is how their conversation goes.

Kashish: Dude! I know why you called. You loved the twist, didn’t you?

Vijay: What twist? I didn’t get any twist.

Kashish: I have figured out how to reveal our twist. I texted you yesterday. Didn’t you get it?

Vijay: I didn’t get any text, probably you are drunk. Listen, I called you to say something important. What the fuck is wrong with you? Why did you send some random pervert shit to a journalist?

Kashish: Journalist? I only texted you yesterday about our twist. He pulled out the dead body! You get it now?

Vijay: I didn’t get any text. Check your phone on whom you texted. News channels are running big news on it. Fix it ASAP!

Vijay hangs up the phone. Kashish checks the phone. He realises that he texted the journalist Vijay instead of his friend. Kashish calls journalist Vijay to cover it, but the phone is not reachable. He turns on the TV, and there are types of breaking news on the same. The lines are like:

“What did Kashish pull out?”

“Whom did Kashish pull out?”

“Does Kashish want intimate relations with men?”

“Is Kashish homosexual?”

The lines went on, Kashish was shocked to see these many perverted lines on a murder thriller. Kashish couldn’t understand if he had to laugh on that or worry. He takes time to settle down and calls the channel, for which journalist Vijay works. Dinesh is the head of the channel. Dinesh is already conducting the show on this, and here is how the conversation goes.

Dinesh: Viewers, have you seen true colours of Kashish? He claims to keep himself frank. Is a pervert hiding inside him? Let’s hear from Kashish himself. Kashish, the viewers, are listening. How do you want to justify your pervert behaviour to our viewers and the nation?

Kashish: Dinesh, first of all, I don’t give a rat’s ass to you or your viewers. Who the fuck are you to ask me about justification? Without calling me and confirming, who the hell are you to pass judgment on me? Your blind viewers won’t see the question mark at the end of your statements. I was sending some script message to my friend, your shit ass journalist who was wagging his tail behind me has the same name. So I have sent it to your journalist by mistake. But you or your viewers don’t give a fuck about it. You want some controversy from this. You earn TRP, and they get entertainment. Finally, I didn’t call you to give a justification, my friend was worried about this, and I’m calling you because I respect him.

Dinesh: You have witnessed it, viewers see how Kashish is abusing a public servant like me? It is clear that he has something to hide.

Kashish: Yeah you serve public a lot, for the past three days Assam ( a state in northeastern India ) is suffering from heavy floods, and you didn’t even talk about it once. But you got orgasm when Chinese apps are blocked and posted the same for a week.

(PS: I’m not against app ban, but every news which affects people must be reported)

Then the call is disconnected. In the above story, we have seen how media manipulated a simple message and did a character assassination of a person named Kashish. This is what the media is doing these days. They are creating controversies on celebrities, region, religion, etc., and earning TRP. People who watch it are being fooled. Anurag Kashyap ( one of the famous directors of Bollywood) who called out the media as bullies and headline seekers have been put in many controversies by media. They got so much TRP, and the so-called public got entertainment, did anyone think how was Anurag feeling when this happened? Nope.

In the end, it is very simple. Do not blindly believe any news that has a question mark or a twisted title. It can be a news channel report, a WhatsApp forward or a Facebook link. Verify it with google, do your own research, study the facts and then believe it. Please do not forward any WhatsApp messages without verification. Try to be the breaker of the fake news and never be a part of the maker of fake news.

Scared Heart That Never Left The Closet.

Goutham is a simple kid with big curious eyes and a heartful smile. He is a very pampered child and an angel to the family. He is a very active kid who loves playing with his cat. It is the summer vacation, and Goutham couldn’t go out as it was scorching. Goutham is petting the cat, and his mom walks to him, kisses him, and says, ” You are turning 7 tomorrow! It just feels like you were born yesterday. Thanks for choosing me as your mother and your dad your father. We love you so much. Your dad is on the way, he is getting you some cool cloths.” After hearing this, Goutham is very excited and is staring at the entrance door for his father’s arrival. In the evening around 5, his father comes with a bag. Gotham’s eyes glow at the site of his father. His father enters the home, sees Goutham with his cute surprised eyes, kisses him, and goes in. Goutham runs behind is the father. His father keeps the bag on a table and starts unpacking things.

Goutham imagines that some magician is unraveling stuff from the magic basket. There were chocolates, biscuits, and many more party items. Goutham’s face glows like a moon in the sky, but his eyes are searching for his fancy dress. Finally, the dress comes out, and it is a suit. Goutham’s eyes were like glowing stars. The dress was beyond his imagination, and it was beyond perfect for him. He hugs his dad, kisses him, and they all go to have dinner. After dinner, the house members decorate the house with color papers, flowers, etc. There is a big “Happy Birthday” banner with Goutham’s precious smile. It is absolutely stunning, and Goutham loved it. It is late at night, and Goutham was not able to sleep as he is very excited for the next day. Gotham’s father comes to him, and here is how their conversation goes:

Dad: Dear! Why are you not sleeping? And did you like the decorations and your dress?

Goutham: I’m excited about tomorrow, and I liked them very much.

Dad: As you are not sleepy, let me show you something.

Dad finds a paper, comes to Gotham, and starts folding it.

Goutham: Dad, it looks so cool! What are you making?

Dad: I’m making a paper boat. A fantastic paper boat you can play with when monsoons start.

Goutham: Dad, it looks incredible, please teach me how to do it.

Dad takes Goutham on his lap and teaches him, and as usual, his eyes are sparkling brighter than Sirius A (The most shining star in the night sky). They complete the paper boat, and Goutham is very happy with the outcome. Goutham carefully places them in his closet and gives a good night kiss to his dad. Before sleeping, Goutham says, “Dad one day I’m going to a buy a real boat which is as good as our paper boat, and we all can go one a fun trip around the world. I will sit between you and mom” Dad gets emotional, hugs his son, and waves him goodnight.

Finally, the big day has arrived. Everything is ready for the evening party. As it was the summer holidays, many guests attended the party, and one of them is Goutham’s uncle Jagan, who is a manager in the Biggest M.N.C. All the guests arrived at the party, and there are laughs, happiness, dances, singing, and many more lovely moments. Goutham is enjoying each and every sight of the party. Finally, the moment has come to cut the cake, Goutham’s eyes sparkle as he is blowing the candles. He gave the first piece to his mother, then father, and it went on till Goutham’s face was like a chubby baby elephant. The sight is very adorable. The guests have dinner, and they all went home. It is one of the happiest days in Goutham’s life. Little did Goutham knew that it might be his last.

The next day evening, Goutham has to go to his Uncle Jagan’s house, as his parents are going on a business trip for a couple of days. Goutham is happy as he loves his aunt so much. Goutham is dropped at Jagan’s house, kissed his parents, and waves goodbye. Goutham enters the house, and his aunt hugs him, feeds him dinner, and as it is late, they go to bed early. The next day Jagan takes leave as he has a headache, Goutham’s aunt gives instructions to Jagan on how to take care of Goutham and leaves for work. Goutham sits with his uncle and is playing with his toys. Goutham’s uncle says, “its time to take a bath Goutham, lets go.” Jagan prepares the bathtub with lukewarm water and undresses Goutham and keeps him in the tub.

Now Jagan undresses and enters the tub and starts touching Goutham repeatedly. Goutham is not aware of what is happening with him, he looks around with the eyes of help but couldn’t find a ray of hope. Then Jagan starts kissing Goutham vigorously, it is so extreme that Goutham is breathless. Gotham’s lips start to bleed, and Goutham starts crying in pain, but there are no ears to listen to that. After some time, Jagan stands up and starts exploiting the upper part of Goutham’s body sexually like a monster. Goutham has no clue on what is happening with him. Then Jagan exploits Goutham’s lower half of the body, and Goutham starts bleeding. Even at that sight, Jagan’s monster instinct didn’t stop. He starts hitting the child and has a maniac smile on the face. Jagan warned Goutham that if he going to tell his parents about this, Jagan is going to kill them.

Goutham has no clue that he was sexually abused. The injuries were faked by Jagan saying Goutham hurt himself while playing. After a couple of days, Goutham’s parents come back to pick him up. He is not the same active kid anymore, he is alone most of the time, not the same who used to hug his father or sleep in his mother’s lap. He is suffering from huge Trauma. Summer holidays are complete, and schools reopened. In school, Goutham is standing up involuntarily due to pain. His teachers are always questioning him on the same. He became weaker in studies and sports. The abuse didn’t stop either, it became so worse that Jagan used to bring his friends to abuse Goutham. Goutham tried to convey this to his mom by saying that he is bleeding, Goutham’s mom thought it is due to the heavy consumption of mangoes and stopped him from eating them.

The monsoon has passed, and the paper boat never left the closet, in the same way, that Trauma never left Goutham. Goutham was assaulted for 10 years. Every day he was assaulted, his cat used to come to him and lick all his tears and cuddle with him. The only support the Goutham got is his cat. One day, when Jagan came to assault Goutham, Goutham gathered all the courage he could with the support from his cat. Goutham kicked him and shouted, “NO!” From that day, he was not assaulted.

Even today, Goutham is suffering from Trauma. He gets scared when a person suddenly comes from his back. He cannot talk freely to people, especially strangers, and has very low self-esteem.

According to W.H.O. ( World Health Organisation) Nearly 3 in 4 children – or 300 million children – aged 2–4 years regularly suffer physical punishment and/or psychological violence at the hands of parents and caregivers. One in 5 women and 1 in 13 men report having been sexually abused as a child aged 0-17 years. 120 million girls and young women under 20 years of age have suffered some form of forced sexual contact. I mean, what is wrong with people? It is depressing and very worrisome.

In the end, If you are a parent and if your kid is giving any sort of signals on a particular person, please assure them that you are with them, you will take serious action against the person and take action as well. If you faced sexual abuse as a child or any kind of abuse, my friend, we are all with you. It is not your fault. We are here for you with our open arms to console you and share your pain.

Let us all unite to preserve the innocence of a child and strive hard and make sure a child carries no trauma.

Links For Reference:

W.H.O. on Child maltreatment: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/child-maltreatment

The Change, Of Words.

It was late at night, Sri is sitting on a chair and writing something with keen interest and a smile. Sri thinks for a while, smiles again and continues writing. It goes on for some time after a while, Sri keeps the pen down leans back, closes eyes and there is some new smile on the face.

It is now morning, Sri need not wake up, feel like shit, get ready and go to the office. It is the office party day. Sri needs to feel like shit in a different way, not the usual way. There will be evil smiles, fake hugs, desperate looks and many more uncomfortable situations. As it was the first party since Sri joined, Sri decides to attend. Sri wakes up late, gets ready and is waiting for the cab to pick up. Finally, the office cab arrives. Siri gets in, plugs in earphones and closes eyes.

The cab finally arrives at the venue. There is rock music playing. People are waiting outside the site. There are a bunch of people sitting there, verifying ID cards of the employees and letting them in. Sri imagines a scene of prisoners identifying themselves and entering in, shakes head in disbelief and goes in. There are complimentary drinks and snacks. Sri takes a sip of coco-cola and is texting a colleague on their location. Sri’s college comes to the party, and they sit at a place and is waiting for the programme to commence.

After some time, two people come on to the stage. They introduce themselves as hosts for the evening. Here is how Sri is replying to hosts inside her.

Hosts: Hey, guys! Why can’t we hear the noise?

Sri: If 1500 people are yelling “hey” and you still can’t hear any noise, I’m sure you need an ENT to get yourselves diagnosed.

Hosts: So why are we here?

Sri: To play where’s waldo in real life? If you could just turn around, you will see a big banner which has the company name and the name of the event. I’m positive you need an ophthalmologist as well.

Hosts: So are you all excited for the evening?

Sri: Yeah, we travelled some tens of kilometres, just to see the same faces we see daily and witness a bunch of people doing curricular activities. So yeah pretty excited.

Hosts: Let’s welcome the CEO of the organisation.

CEO enters the stage.. and some cliche jokes between the CEO and the hosts.

CEO finally takes the mic and speaks, and the conversation continues.

CEO: So guys, how is work? Are we all productive?

Sri: Yeah I heard that you got a new Audi and an international trip last week and there were not many funds for salary hike. So yeah very productive.

CEO: Are we all working without any stress and having a good time at work?

Sri: Last month, 96 people left the company, and 12 of them were diagnosed with some kind of mental illness, so yeah no stress at all.

CEO: That is good to know. Lets put our hands together to welcome the chairman.

Chairman walks in, and the conversation continues.

Chairman: Hi, guys! I won’t bore you all with same repeated questions. I just hope you all are doing okay.

Sri: Finally! Someone is realistic. I’m happy to hear this.

Chairman: For the last financial year we had a growth of 32%. Isn’t that awesome?

Sri: There was a zero per cent increase in salaries, 5% folks left the company and unemployment in the country has increased by 8.6%, so yeah pretty awesome.

Chairman: As a part of the leadership team, we have few principles to follow. One of the important leadership principles is Frugality.

Sri’s brain stops for a moment and thinks about the sentence ” One of the important leadership principles is frugality.” She opens the phone and tries to find the meaning of the word “Frugality.” As there are many people at a place, the google web pages are prolonged. Sri gets frustrated and is very excited to go home and search for the meaning. The party is over, but Sri’s mind is still on the word.

Sri finally reaches home, powers on the laptop and searches for Frugality. The first sentence in Wikipedia is “Frugality is the quality of being frugal.” Sri thinks “thanks genius, but what is the meaning of Frugal?” and the sentence ” One of the important leadership principles is frugality.” Why is it so important. Sri blames the educational system for not teaching her vocabulary. Finally, Sri finds the meaning Frugality means “the quality of being economical with resources.” Sri is very excited to find the meaning. Not that Sri cares about the leadership principle, but Sri found a new word. Sri starts using the word in many sentences. Sri starts finding new words, and starts exploring writing skills, also wins many awards for the same and finally quits the job she is not happy with.

Now Sri opens eyes where they were closed in the first paragraph. Sri smiles and thinks “Didn’t know that past occurrences appear in dreams when we think and write about them.” Sri’s manager walks in and says “hey Sri, the company has got the cheque of 1 Million dollars, if your writing is done. Is it finished?” Sri smiles again, take the writing and goes to meet them.

From the story above, we can see that Sri has found passion from a single sentence ” One of the important leadership principles is Frugality.” and went on to become one of the best writers. Let us relate the same to the environment we live in

According to economic times, only 20% of workers in India are happy with their jobs. This is due to reasons like lack of interest, working to pay the bills or not passionate about the work they do. And according to an experiment from NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) 15-30% of people who work 50+ hours a week have depressive symptoms.

During the lockdown, many companies are making their employees work 12 hours a day, making 60+ hours a week. Imagine a person not interested in the work they do and is working 60 hours. It is horrible and depressing. He falls in the high-risk category of getting mentally depressed. Trust me, depression is far worse than COVID-19, and we have witnessed many incidents of how depression took away precious lives.

In the end, if you are not happy with the work you do and really passionate about something. Like Sri, try to find your passion, it can be any where. Once you found it, make time on perceiving it, become better at it and then leave your existing career and take up your passion as a carrier. I understand it is tough at the beginning, but the learning process will make you less depressive as you will be curious to perceive, and the end result will be a lot more remarkable.

Links for reference:

Economic times: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/only-20-per-cent-employees-satisfied-with-their-jobs/articleshow/64362605.cms

NCBI: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6043993/

The Shattered Dreams Of Creativity!

From the first single-celled organism to the fully formed adult human, from the amino acids (building blocks of life) to fully developed immune system and a brain, we humans always differentiated from other species with the power of thinking and creativity. We invented fire to keep us warm, to cook and give us light. We discovered many things to make ourselves more and more comfortable and cope with the environment.

The modern age humans discover new things from the initial inventions. As the human brain evolved, we needed more things and became very creative. From the Bronze age to Iron age, there was a radical change in how the modern mind sees the elements and make them look beautiful and sophisticated. From surviving to living, we have had a tremendous journey. If you think how did we become such creative, the answer that rounds up the procedure is “curiosity”. Being curious is what made humans creative.

Coming to the current generation, most of the people lack creativity. According to the recent survey from CROP ( one of the biggest polling firm in the world), 78% of the world population on an average is not creative. They just do the things and get out of it. On a counterpoint, in a survey conducted by HBR ( Harvard Business Review), only 24% of the people are curious about their work. As you can see, the numbers match very close. As people are losing creativity, they are becoming decidedly less creative. So what is killing the curiosity? I believe there are 3 stages where curiosity is killed.

Childhood: The most curious people on the globe are children. Their mind is always curious and has a lot of interest to learn things. Most of the adults get irritated when kids ask different types of questions about the same thing. Imagine a scenario, a mother and a kid are walking home. There is a small mud pond, the kid mind is so curious that it wants to jump in that and have fun. The mother stops the kid from doing it. We do not let kids try simple things and make them curious. In that way, we are killing their curiosity in turn, killing creativity.
Schooling and College: A school is a place where we should preserve the child’s curiosity and innocence to learn. They must be taught ways on how to be creative and how to learn things interestingly. But are children learning that in school? They are just determining to get good grades. They are never grasping things. Parents force their children to get good grades. They monitor them 24/7, literally prohibiting them from doing different things or being creative. Once the school hours are done, extra classes and tuition are killing the interest of child forever. The schools nowadays are literally taking in children and making robots out of them.
Working For an Organisation: 70% of the curiosity is killed during Schooling, the rest 30% is sucked by working for an organisation to earn a living. We are literally working on the same thing created by someone. If you are working for an MNC, it gets worse. The rules are set there, you can never move out of it, and they will never change it. It is like they want you to work like programmed robots. The companies might pay well, but creativity is being sucked out. At this point, people will have no interests or no hobbies. They just wake up, go to the office, work, come home and sleep, and the cycle continues. Forget creativity; it adds extra pressure on individuals to keep up with the ridiculous goals they get. At this point, curiosity completely dies. Imagine a person without curiosity. It’s bizarre and unexplainable.

In the end, if we keep teaching the kids what to think instead of how to think, we don’t need a robot uprising. The kids will turn into robots, and I can assure you, you won’t find any difference.

Links of reference:

CROP on creativity: https://www.crop.ca/en/blog/2017/178/

HRB on curiosity: https://hbr.org/2018/09/curiosity