Intelligent vs Smart

Thanks to the podcast of Morgan Housel. He made my thoughts clear. Now, I put my own thoughts herewith.

Intelligence is about learning a new subject quickly. Understanding complex Physics. Solving Math problems at a great speed. Intelligent people have logical approach to everything and are good at reasoning. But they struggle with communicating it to the ordinary people. They easily get bored and stay away from it.

Being smart is about showing emotional maturity. Reading people accurately. Understanding the situation and handling it smoothly. Showing tolerance even when disagreeing with people. They can handle illogical & irrational people and situations without getting stressed. It is difficult for them to gain mastery over a single subject. Rather they would like to manage the experts.

You can find people with high intelligence working in the laboratories, or being astronauts in the spaceships. You can find Smarts becoming managers of big corporate firms and leaders of the social movements.   

Intelligent people have a higher risk of becoming lazy and good for nothing. You don't find all of them working hard. Smart people, when they lose integrity, can easily become manipulating politicians and make the society work for their selfish motives.

Thus, being intelligent or smart comes with their own benefits and risks. You can't find people who are both intelligent and smart. They are rare. Usually one character becomes dominant. Most Nobel Prize awardees do not have a long list of friends. And those who have a wider social circle, can't digest a scientific article. So, it is either this or that and can't be both.

If you can do an honest review of yourself, you can find the dominant trade within you. You can also observe what comes naturally to your kids. You can groom them to relevant professions and also keep an eye on what would bother them. 

If you like solving wizards and are blamed for not having friends, it should be fine. Remember, those who blame you would need calculators even for simple calculations. And those who can gel with all kinds of people, can't be blamed for having poor grades at school or lacking taste for any fine art. That is not their domain.

Finally, if you don't care whether you are intelligent or smart and you are happy both ways, you are a third category - a Buddha.

Knowing how much time is left

Forget about predicting death. No one has done it ever. When you take out accidents, sudden health issues, murders, earthquakes, tsunami etc., out of the equation, things begin to look predictable. Even then, no one lives forever. Depending on the living conditions, availability of medical care, support system, current physical and mental health etc. most humans have a life span of 60 to 80 years. There are outliers on either side but they are a minority. Majority call it a day in between their 60th and 80th birthdays. 

Global average life span is around 71 years and in India, it is 67 years. If you are in peak health and optimistic, add 10 years to it. If you are not, there is no point in hoping to live longer than the average. You do the simple math, you will know how much time is left for you. Now what? You can plan how to spend those last years.

What are your responsibilities towards your family? Everyone has to leave behind their family one fine day. Since you know how much time is left, you can plan things better and make your departure easy for your dependents. 

What you liked to do most? You don't have infinite time to do them. Now is the time to make it a priority and enjoy doing it.

What is left out unchecked in your wish list? What is needed to accomplish it before you reach your end? If you can check it before time, there would be less repents in your life.

My apologies if this blog post sounded pessimistic. My idea is not to make you optimistic either. I want you to be more realistic. If we don't do this simple exercise, we tend to live as if we are going to live forever. And our expectations from life become infinite. When we are bound by time, we become practical and realistic. We get an idea of what is possible in the available time frame. That helps us live our life in an awareness.

When expectations grow faster than income

50 years ago, in the 1970's, India was much poorer than today. Farmers were the majority of the population. Most lived in huts. Those who had a proper roof and steady income were considered outliers. Villages just had only one Govt. school to provide education. Only Doctors and Police Inspectors drove Bullets and it made sense. People hardly traveled. Even when they had to, they were content sleeping in the corridors of a temple and taking bath in the local river. Lodging and hotels were not big businesses during those times. People at large did not waste money on them. Gadgets that consumed electricity were rarely used. A movie in a tent theater and largely local gossip were the major avenues for entertainment. But the strange thing is, despite the lack of comforts, people hardly complained about their lives. 

Watch movies, read novels produced in those decades, you don't get to see people feeling bad about their lives. Being poor hardly mattered for them. Protagonists in the movies rather fought to uphold family values. Majority of the population did not repent the hardships they had to go through. In other words, people were poor but content. But things do not remain the same. They change. And there was one big change. 

That was expectations from life. 

Usually, expectations are set by our parents and influenced by the neighborhood we live in and the immediate relatives and friends we mingle with. The society we live in has seen lots of economic progress. Higher incomes gave higher buying power. Now every family has a 2-wheeler. Lots of them drive cars. Some frequently go to airports for their travel. Majority of us take vacations and we don't sleep in open spaces. The money we earn gives that affordability.

Technology further propelled the consumerism. Earlier we had trouble when our neighbor bought a new luxury car. Now the social media sends notifications about the new possession of an old and forgotten friend. Our LinkedIn profile sets our social pecking order. If you have not traveled overseas, you are as good as an uneducated man. Watch James Bond movies, it is more about gadgets than bravery now. Many of my NRI friends have bought land in Bangalore just for the fear of missing out (FOMO). My neighbor has built a 4-storey house for a family of 4. That home is likely to remain underutilized and rather become a space for the hoarding habits of its owner.

Stare at your wardrobe and shoe-stand and compare it with what you had forty years ago. There is a stark difference, but your wish list is not complete yet. Compared to what you had in your childhood, you have lots of comforts now. You are much richer, but you are not content. Your income has multiplied, but the expectations grew much more rapidly and it took the peace out of your life. Buddha declared two thousand years ago that 'Higher the expectations, higher is the dissatisfaction in life'. Now the whole society is in the tight grip of higher expectations.

If you want to live a simple, minimal life, it is difficult to do so. Society of today's time does not have tolerance for such people. They will label you as a loser. Your own children won't respect you as you are not a person to look up to anymore. Your wife would be troubled with her bad luck. Your friends can't understand why you are losing out. 

When expectations grow faster than income, you will never be able to have a satisfied life. Only way out is pruning your expectations despite the risk of being labeled a loser. I am embracing that risk my friend. You might have noticed that I am out of FaceBook already. I decided to get my old car repaired instead of upgrading. I am not a hero to my sons anymore and an utter failure in my wife's eyes. I am constantly losing my friends and the trend will only aggravate. It does not matter. I am out of the treadmill. I don't have to keep running.

I suppose Buddha was an idiot before he had become Buddha. It took twelve years of mediation for him to understand that higher expectations ruin your life. I and you don't lack common sense. I think we can learn to trim our expectations and lead a comfortable life. Peace makes up for the loss of societal respect and approval. Period.

ದಿಲ್ಲಿ ಸುಲ್ತಾನರನ್ನು ಸೋಲಿಸಿದ್ದ ಕುಮಾರ ರಾಮ

ಉತ್ತರ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಆಡು ಭಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾರನ್ನಾದರೂ ಹೀಗಳೆಯೇಬೇಕೆಂದರೆ ಆಡುವ ಮಾತು 'ಬಂದುಬಿಟ್ಟ, ಭಾರಿ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಕೋಮ್ರಮ'.  ಈ ಕೋಮ್ರಮ ನೇ ಕುಮಾರ ರಾಮ. ಇಲ್ಲಿಯ ಜನರಿಗೆ ಅವನಂಥ ಗಂಡುಗಲಿ ಇನ್ನಾರಿಲ್ಲ ಎನ್ನುವ ನಂಬಿಕೆ. ಅದು ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ ಬಂದುದು ಅಲ್ಲವಲ್ಲ.

ಕುಮಾರ ರಾಮ ಬರೀ ಕಂಪಿಲ ರಾಜ್ಯದ ರಾಜಕುಮಾರ ಅಷ್ಟೇ ಆಗಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಅವನು ಧೈರ್ಯವೇ ದೇಹದ ರೂಪ ತಾಳಿ ಬಂದಂತಿದ್ದ. ಅವನ ಚೆಲುವಿಗೆ, ಅವನ ಸಾಹಸಕ್ಕೆ, ಯುದ್ಧ ಕೌಶಲ್ಯಗಳಿಗೆ ಮನಸೋತ ಕಾಕತಿಯ ದೊರೆ ಅವನಿಗೆ ಕುದುರೆ 'ಬೊಲ್ಲ' ನನ್ನ ಉಡುಗೊರೆಯಾಗಿ ಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ದ. ಕುಮಾರ ರಾಮನಿಗೆ ಅವನಷ್ಟೇ ಸಾಹಸ-ಧೈರ್ಯಗಳಿಂದ ಕಾದಾಡುವ ಸೇನೆ ಜೊತೆಗಿತ್ತು. ತನ್ನ ರಾಜ್ಯವನ್ನು ಹಲವು ಬಾರಿ ದಿಲ್ಲಿ ದೊರೆಗಳ ಧಾಳಿಯಿಂದ ಕಾಪಾಡುವ ಕುಮಾರ ರಾಮನ ಧೈರ್ಯ-ಸಾಹಸಗಳು, ರಣ ತಂತ್ರಗಳು ಅವನಿಗೆ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಹೆಸರನ್ನು ತಂದು ಕೊಟ್ಟವು. ಅದನ್ನು ಕೇಳಿದ ದಿಲ್ಲಿ ತುಘಲಕ್ ಸುಲ್ತಾನನ ಮಗಳು ಕೂಡ ಅವನನ್ನು ವರಿಸಲು ಇಷ್ಟ ಪಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಳು.  

ಅದು ೧೨ ನೇ ಶತಮಾನ. ವಿಜಯನಗರ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ ಅಸ್ಥಿತ್ವಕ್ಕೆ  ಬರುವ ಮುಂಚೆ ಅದೇ ಪ್ರದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದ ರಾಜ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ದೊರೆ ಕಂಪಿಲರಾಯ. ಅವನ ಮಗನೆ ಕುಮಾರ ರಾಮ. ಇಂದಿನ ಕೊಪ್ಪಳ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಯ ಗಂಗಾವತಿ ಹತ್ತಿರದ ಕಂಪ್ಲಿ, ಆನೆಗುಂದಿ ಮತ್ತು ಕುಮ್ಮಟದುರ್ಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಅವರು ನಿರ್ಮಿಸಿದ್ದ ಅವಶೇಷಗಳು ಉಳಿದಿವೆ. ಕುಮಾರ ರಾಮನ ಅರಮನೆ ಇದ್ದದ್ದು ಕುಮ್ಮಟ ದುರ್ಗದ ಬೆಟ್ಟದ ಮೇಲೆ. ಮೂರು ಸುತ್ತಿನ ಕೋಟೆ ಇಂದಿಗೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಕಡಿಮೆ ನೆಲ ಸಮ ಆಗಿದೆ. ಆದರೂ ರೂಪು-ರೇಷೆಯ ಅಂದಾಜು ಸಿಗುತ್ತದೆ.

ಕಂಪಿಲ ರಾಜ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಇದ್ದ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಸಮಸ್ಯೆ ದಿಲ್ಲಿ ಸುಲ್ತಾನರ ಹಾವಳಿ. ಅದು ದಿಲ್ಲಿ ಸುಲ್ತಾನ ತುಘಲಕ  ತನ್ನ ಬಂಗಾರದ ಪಾದರಕ್ಷೆಗಳನ್ನು ಕಳಿಸಿ ಕಪ್ಪ-ಕಾಣಿಕೆ ಕೇಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಕಾಲ. ಅವರ ದಬ್ಬಾಳಿಕೆಗೆ ಹಲವಾರು ರಾಜ ಮನೆತನಗಳು ಮೂಲೆಗುಂಪಾಗುತ್ತವೆ. ಆದರೆ ಕಪ್ಪ-ಕಾಣಿಕೆ ನೀಡಲೊಲ್ಲದ ಕುಮಾರ ರಾಮ ಆ ಬಂಗಾರದ ಪಾದರಕ್ಷೆಗಳನ್ನು ಮೆಟ್ಟಿ ನಿಲ್ಲುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಆ ಸುದ್ದಿ ದಿಲ್ಲಿ ಸುಲ್ತಾನರಿಗೂ ತಲುಪುತ್ತದೆ. ಅವರು ಕಳಿಸುವ ಸಣ್ಣ ಪ್ರಮಾಣದ ಸೈನ್ಯಗಳನ್ನು ಧೂಳಿಪಟ ಮಾಡಿ ಕಳಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ ಕುಮಾರ ರಾಮ. ಮತ್ತೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಪಡೆಗಳು ಬಂದಾಗ ಅದು ಮತ್ತೆ ಪುನರಾವರ್ತನೆ ಆಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಕೊನೆಗೆ ಅಪಾರ ಪ್ರಮಾಣದ ಸೈನ್ಯ ಬಂದಾಗ ಕುಮಾರ ರಾಮ ಸೋಲುತ್ತಾನೆ, ಯುದ್ಧ ನಡೆದ ಪ್ರದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಅವನ ತಲೆ ಕಡಿಯಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಆ ಜಾಗಕ್ಕೆ ಈಗ ತಲೇಖಾನ್ ಎಂದು ಹೆಸರು. ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಅವನ ತಲೆ ದೆಹಲಿ ತಲುಪುತ್ತದೆ. ಅದೇ ಸಮಯಕ್ಕೆ ದೆಹಲಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ಷಾಮ ಬಂದೊಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಸುಲ್ತಾನರು ಅವರ ಆಸ್ಥಾನ ಜ್ಯೋತಿಷಿಗಳು ಹೇಳಿದ ಹಾಗೆ ಕುಮಾರ ರಾಮನ ತಲೆಯನ್ನು ಮತ್ತೆ ವಾಪಸ್ಸು ಅನೆಗೊಂದಿಗೆ ಕಳಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಅವನ ರುಂಡಕ್ಕೆ ಪೂಜಿಸಿ ಗುಡಿ ಕಟ್ಟಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಹೀಗೆ ಅವನ ಮುಂಡ ತಲೇಖಾನ್ ಗ್ರಾಮದಲ್ಲಿ (ಇಂದಿಗೆ ಮಸ್ಕಿ ತಾಲೂಕಿನಲ್ಲಿದೆ) ಆದರೆ ರುಂಡ ಆನೆಗೊಂದಿಯ ಹತ್ತಿರ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಂತ್ಯ ಸಂಸ್ಕಾರ ಕಾಣುತ್ತದೆ.

ದಿಲ್ಲಿಯ ಸುಲ್ತಾನರನ್ನು ಹಾಡಿ ಹೊಗಳುವ ಜನಕ್ಕೆ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಹಲವು ಬಾರಿ ಸೋಲಿನ ರುಚಿ ತೋರಿಸಿದ ಮತ್ತು ಅದೇ ಕಾರಣಕ್ಕೆ ಪ್ರಾಣ ತೆತ್ತ ಕನ್ನಡದ ಯೋಧ ಕುಮಾರ ರಾಮ ನೆನಪಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರ ನಿರಭಿಮಾನವೇ ಇಷ್ಟು. ಆದರೂ ಇಂದಿಗೂ ಕುಮಾರ ರಾಮನ ಗುಡಿಗೆ ಪೂಜೆ ಸಲ್ಲುತ್ತದೆ ಎನ್ನುವುದೇ ನೆಮ್ಮದಿ. ಅವನ ಧೈರ್ಯ-ಸಾಹಸಗಳು ಅಪ್ರತಿಮ ಎಂದು ಕೊಂಡಾಡಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಅವನ ನಂತರ ಆ ತರಹದ ಅಪ್ರತಿಮ ವೀರ ಕನ್ನಡ ನಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಹುಟ್ಟಲೇ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಉಳಿದವರೆಲ್ಲ ''ಬಂದುಬಿಟ್ಟ, ಭಾರಿ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಕೋಮ್ರಮ" ಎಂದು ಬೈಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕಷ್ಟೆ.

Bangalore Literature Festival 2024

Though it was a two days event, I could make my presence only on the second day. Packed with people, parallel running events, readers queued up to get signatures from their favorite authors all denoted it was indeed a festival to cherish.

My favorite part of the festival (which seems to be favorite of the most present too) were two authors - Sudha Murthy and William Dalrymple.

Sudha Murthy not only writes well, she is even better as a speaker. She can hold the audience focused on just one thing - her talk.

I have read Dalrymple and hold him with high regards for his knowledge of India. I have read and reread his books 'Nine Lives' and 'The Anarchy'. He can bring historical events alive through his dramatic oration.

Seeing them in person (and not on TV/Computer/Mobile screens) was a refreshing thing. Attending BLF is a day well spent for me.

Sudha Murthy doing her talking

Dalrymple talking about his latest book