Krittikadi (Souvik's beautiful anecdote)

[Guest guest]

Dear Souvik ji, Lol...I enjoyed it... Truly beautiful! Well presented! And that is my take home. Thanks for the enlightening story - that was like zen tablet! Love and Hugs,Sreenadh , "Souvik Dutta" <explore_vulcan wrote:>> Dear Sreenadh-ji,> Thanks for your mail.> "So why waste our time on that?"> Please permit me to share a personal story with you. The year was 1996 and I was sitting for my first board examination in a month. A very dear friend and a senior from school (he is now a Vice President of a multinational) and I were traveling home from a tution. I will call this friend Panchu da for namesake. Panchu da was a brilliant student and scored 98% in ISC and did his engg. from BITS Pilani. He was two years older to me but we were (and still are) really great friends till today. One gentleman in his early fifties were siting beside us and saw the physics book Panchu da was carrying. Now, I must mention that Bengalis (in general) are very friendly people and are considered social too. The gentleman started giving Panchu da some gyan (unwanted) in quantum mechanics. Although some of the things he was telling was not quite accurate going by the book, Panchu da very attentively was participating in the discussion. The gentleman often used to make comments like - "So now you understand kid, this stuff needs lots of research, deep thinking and detailed theortical knowledge" and every time Panchu da would nood his head in humility. Panchu da was a gold medalist in my school in 10th. grade for physics and I knew how good he was. I was getting really irritated that Panchu da was agreeing to some of the unwanted gyan of this gentleman. Anyway, our stop came and we got down. I looked at Panchu da and asked him - "What the hell was that? Why did you take all that Bull shit?" Panchu da very calmly smiled at me and said - "There are three reasons why I did what I did A) I had time so I didn't mind a conversation, it gave me a break B) 80-85% of what he told me was incorrect but 15-20% are concepts that he mentioned I didn't know about, so thats my take home from the conversation C) I learned that when I am in my early fifties I shoudl never under-estimate a twelfth grader with a physics book and should never make a fool of myself infront of him"! I bowed to Panchu da and left with my take home! > Trust me when I say there is much we can all learn from ignorance!> Love,> Souvik>