you never stop learning

Which Indian kid is so bloody dumb and living in a vacuum that it doesn’t even understand cricket? I mean cricket is everywhere. Everyone talks about it and everyone is fascinated by it and simple stuff like how many runs to score to win etc is simple stuff? Right? Well I was rudely shocked one day as one day as I came home my wife told me – Today Jispa did math in school and she couldn’t understand the example sir gave using cricket. Now they have started teaching a bit of statistics to Jispa at school and the poor prof at school used the run progression cricket graph to explain to class some kind of statistics. One morning I sat with her and tried to explain the graph to her and I realized that she would obviously not follow the graph. She doesn’t even know what the game of cricket is all about. Simple stuff like – the first side scores the runs and the second side have to score them to win. That basic stuff is missing. That’s when I explained the game, the basic rules, the scoring etc. It was an eye opener for me and her. I never realized that not having a TV at home could make such a massive impact. Jispa does watch some cricket. She does sit in front of the TV at times when the matches play at a friend’s place or at the gymkhana. But she takes away different things from it I guess.

After I explained the run rate, I had to explain the average run rate required to win, the concept of chasing at a run rate etc. then she asked me about another graphic she saw on TV. The bowlers graphic on where they pitch the ball. Short, good length, full, Yorker. The I explained that to her and I had to explain why good length is considered good. To explain the concept of pitching the ball, I made her stand in one place and bowled a few spinning balls at her. I showed her how at good length she has the least amount of time to react to a spinning ball and at full length she just doesn’t need to wait for it to pitch and swerve. So in a short span of around an hour she went from nothing to understanding the nuances of pitching a ball. That’s always the fun part with Jispa.

She has learned to ask and visualize and seek. She catches things well and is not tired by understanding. I see many kids tired when I try and explain. They give up. So many adults simply give up. They have no patience for learning an understanding. After a point of time, you see them disinterested. I always wonder how on earth can that happen. If someone is talking from their experience how is it that you can find it not interesting. You must ask, provoke, disagree but a conversation cannot be ignored. Of course monologues are difficult but a conversation with a person on his specialization – how is that ever limiting.

Conversations are so important. Over the weekend I was helping a friend do something. In fact he was a senior guy in my company and he put in his papers to start something of his own. He wants me in his firm but for various reasons I am not too keen. Nevertheless I agreed to help him out. And when I did, I helped with proper professional ardor. I took notes, thought and worked hard over the weekend. I gave ideas and listened patiently. Jasmine was like – you should be paid for this. Its ok, I told her. I learnt a lot in the process. If I have to help someone with my skills I must listen patiently to a lot of people, understand markets, behavior etc. and I got to do that. I wasn’t just supposed to lecture, I was supposed to meet understand and use my brains. For that I don’t mind not getting paid. Free work is good. It will in some time come back to you. Either in terms of the good will gained or more realistically and immediate – the learnings gained. No one can take that from you. That is important.