Why does our wisdom lack application?

Our ticket was not confirmed but we wanted to travel to Jammu. I especially was eager to get away from Ahmedabad’s heat. So we took a general bogey ticket, got cheated on a penalty ticket and eventually boarded the train to JammuTawi, HAPA JAMMUTAWI. We were told by our cheater friend that we should find a place to sit somewhere; his way of telling that we were on our own, go find a place!! haha!! So we did. We got on to two empty seats. When the train stopped at Varodara, the reservation holding family showed up. They asked for our seats and we told them that we had none. We might get one. They did not object us being on their seats, may be because there was plenty of space available and we were a good looking nonthreatening young couple or maybe they were just very generous. This is where our story started.

The family had five members, parents and three kids. The husband was a civil engineering and wife a pharmaceutical engineer but they were not involved in engineering jobs currently. The lady was a housewife and husband handled a business. This couple had two teenage daughters and a son. They were really fond of their only son and tolerated all of his monkey business. The lady was very talkative. I enjoyed her talk and listened intently to her and may be that is why she poured all of her knowledge, learning and wisdom on me so dearly. Her lecture was mainly on teachings of Nirankari Sect of which she and her family was a firm believer. Frankly I listened her intently because I was surprised; I did not expect the lady to be so knowledgeable on such matters. Nirankari teachings were designed for people to reach to self realization and make a better happier society. The family of the lady was very involved in the activities of the Nirankari sect. They had printed booklets, leaflet, details of programs etc. She showed me all, gave me a couple of booklets to read and provided address of the ashrams in India and abroad to join. Earlier I used to wonder where the ancient wisdom of India has disappeared. Today was the realization that it still flows as an undercurrent in society for all of us to tap. It was altogether a goody goody talk for a very long time in which I was a mostly a listener. But slowly it dawned on me that it was not the first time I was listening to such a talk. In past, I have listened to such words of wisdom many times from friends, family, and teachers and from people good and bad, weak and strong. I might have trouble recalling it but it was still in back of my mind somewhere. Today’s talk was actually just raking it up.

I also remembered my concluding question beyond which I could not reach earlier. The question was why we Indian never tend to go beyond talking? We may know what is best in a particular situation but when it comes to implement it we behave as if we never learned it. Does our wisdom lack application? Today was a perfect opportunity to observe just that. Since we were at mercy of the lady i.e. we did not have food, a reserved seat or water (we were traveling in summer in sleeper class), it was expected that the lady will be pushed to act on what she preached. I was keen to be proven wrong or at least gain another perspective. So let's see.

In her talk, she mentioned a few things about gender equality but at the same time informed me how she was worried about having a son after her two daughters. Lady’s treatment of her son and daughter belied all her assertions on equality. Her son got special attention on everything from food to where to sleep. It was almost as if her son was a first class citizen and her daughters’ and the rest, second class citizens.

Many times she stressed the value of sharing. And, I agree, she shared her learning. But when I dug a little deep, it became clear that she shared things she found of no value. I say this because later she shared food which she was going to waste and shared space which did not belong to her. I am not fully sure but I believe that she shared her learning because she did not find them of any value herself. They were mere talks to impress or get something of value from others. Many times she flouted her statements so glaringly that it made me think whether she even listened to herself ever.

These observation are not the only one and certainly not to denigrate the lady and her family or any other family for that matter. In the course of my stay in India, similar observation have sourced from many other places, people and even myself. Purpose here is to look for reasons for such behavior.

When I set looking for reasons, our past and our culture always draw my attention. This is where, after all, we have all come from. Educations shapes our mind and also our behavior. In Ahmadabad, I get a lot of opportunities to interact with college kids. This school going crowd reminds me of my schooling in India and the time when I used to focus on excelling in class. I remember the fun and joy of being with friends, and also, a few other things like how being first in the class is all I cared for. It was all about getting more marks. It did not matter what we are studying; all subjects were same. They all were treated with the same mechanical process of reading, mugging and writing in test in that order. This mechanical process could be perfected and many did. But that is not the real question. The real question is what is the purpose of reading all these subjects, course matter etc.? Isn't it to be able to apply them in real life? Aren't all these subjects originated from practical life matters at the first place? I give an example of calculus in class. I learned derivation, integration etc. and perfected it to get good marks. But neither textbooks nor teachers gave any direction or hint on how these things were applicable in real life situations. There was not one example which led me to connect these subjects to real life.

Textbooks are all the same even today and they are not designed for student to see the connection between their abstract worlds of learning and the real world they are part. And we are immersed in this system from start to finish of our lives. I wonder whether this is the real reason behind our inability to apply our learning to real world?

I am curious - what do you think?