Observations
Observations -
Why do most of the ppl change when they move out of school or home. I have seen a lot of people who are completely transformed once they move out of school and enter college especially if they are staying in hostel in a different city.
Some people that I know of used to practice Yoga regulary till they were in school. One of them even claimed that he had got a few awards in Yoga competition (whatever that is supposed to mean) But these people have now completly given up on practicing Yoga and when reminded of this mostly claim that they have forgotton all the exercises and most importantly they dont have time for it anymore.
Some people that I know of used to do pooja twice a day and would not consume food till they had completed their daily ritual ( I will include myself here ) But these people now cant even remember when was the last time they had done this ( 2 years ..err. no wait 1.5 years .. when I had gone home for Diwali and I had to sit for the laxmi Pooja) Thankfully, at least I can remember this - 3 weeks back . My room-mate at Stephens used to go to the church every Sunday but when I met himlast week he told me that he had not been to a church since last 3 years. Now the only 2 people that I know of who do something along this line are the people who had taken up AOL (Art of Living) exercise a few years ago and have continued eve since.
Some people that I know of used to jog and do physical exercise regularly (I will include myself here) but have long given it up. There are only 2 people that I know of who have continued this. The rest of the athletic people I know of are the ones who started this in college and have been addicted to this ever since. One of them recently completed the Mumbai marathon and the other had completed the half-marathon in Singapore last year. (I can claim that I am one of the active types if twice in a month would let me qualify for this)
Some people that I know of used to be extremly sincere for academics but once in college completely gave up on studies (me included) Reasons attributed were many - the education system is bad, its just not worth it, I never wanted to study this course I came here by default (my argument), marks count for nothing only personality matters for success, I dont associate myself with this system, the profs are really bad - they dont know aything and cant teach so might as well skip the class. Some of these people could not even manage to complete their college. While on the other end some people that I know of were extremly hostile to the idea of studies but took to it seriously at a later stage and did brilliantly. My flat-mate at ISB used to barely pass till class 11th but got transformed, went to IIT-K (9 pointer) and among top 20 at ISB and is now making big dollars in NY
Keshav Da used to tell me that there are 2 big events which transforms a person's thinking, behaviour and attitude - once the person takes up a job and secondly when the person gets married. Now I cant comment about the marriage part but would certainly like to add the college and staying away from parents part.
This reminds me of Osho's saying that the true character amd moral are tested when there are opportunities for these to be tested. If there are no temptations and you stay upright then this is not a great achievement. Along similar lines are the thoughts that true charachter is tested not under adverse cirumstances but in position of power.
Lokesh of course will attribute this entire phenomena to Discipline 102. :o) Though this does partially explain this phenomenan, I dont think this is the root cause.
Is it that once outside the home you are again forced to revalue your value system and questions the beliefs that you have always held or ideas that have forced down you throat by people around. On re-examining these you keep some, discard some and add some.
posted by Vishal Sah at 1/28/2006 03:35:00 AM
2 Comments:
Long ago, Tata Steel ran a set of ads in TOI which read like "the only thing permanent is change". How true!
One of the reasons for the changes you mention is that you are observing the individual at the age he/she is most likely to change irrespective of whether they move or not (It'll be interesting to compare the changes between some who has grown up and stayed in Ntl and someone who has moved out).
From age 14-15 to till 28-30 is the period where one grows, both mentally and physically, drastically. Fortunately this is also the age when significant change occurs in our environment. school->college;small town->large city;home->hostel;new friends;success<->failure.
The young mind is bombarded with so much external change and freedom that he/she is forced to flex some mental muscles and make choices, often with no (other than equally ignorant friends) guidance. In exercising that freedom you keep some, discard some and add some.
Discipline doesn't have much to do until now. Discipline only comes in when you make a choice to take a certain path and find difficulty in staying the course.
That reminds me of an incident from school. For section "A" student in SEM, class 7 was especially hard one. Brother Comber aka Cobra was the class teacher and he insisted (with help from his cane and fearsome personality) on making sure every student graduates from the class with perfect handwriting. In SEM handwriting was used to identify if a student came from section "A" or "B". After I reached class 8, I decided that it was a waste of time spending long hours doing homework in beautiful writing. The first homework in class 8 was Mr Erwin (history) and I turned in somewhat untidy and badly written work. I also declared to Lalit and Rohit about my intentions not to waste time in fancy writing since Brother Comber was not longer the teacher. Two days later I was called in for the first caning of the year with a remark from Mr Erwin on how Brother Comber could let me graduate from class 7. Unfortunately my writing never recovered.
I remember this every time I come out of a meeting trying to decipher the notes I have taken inside.
ya loki.. i can relate to this handwriting stuff as my handwriting was quite bad ..being from section B at SEM.
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