Q&A

In December, 2016, I was invited to give a talk by Rotary club @ Bangalore; and I was told that the audience would be working professionals at senior level. I thought that talking about the enablers for success would be of interest to the group; so I also spoke about a few concepts from psychology, neuroscience and artificial intelligence to understand the human behaviour. As my second book TURNING POINTS of uncommon people was due for launch that time, I briefly mentioned a few stories from the book; and linked them with the scientific concepts mentioned. 

Everyone present enjoyed the talk; and I too enjoyed the interactive discussion with the audience. During Q & A, two questions touched my heart and so I thought of drafting this post. 

First question was asked by a very senior person, “How to break a few orthodox beliefs, without hurting your loved ones?”

I answered, “There are times, we just follow rituals as part of our belonging and existence in the society. If we have no big reason to differ, we exhibit the needed behaviour — as they say that behave like a roman, when in Rome. However, if there is a logical reason for not doing certain things, then one must think of what he or she is going to loose by not following a ritual. And if the logical thinking says that it's ok to be lenient towards a few things, then one must talk to their loved ones and get that implemented. Strong beliefs can only be broken by one’s experiencing multiple times that there is no harm in not doing ‘A’ thing. Changes are necessary for evolution, and practicing something multiple times, persistently makes it a changed thing or habit. Sometimes people, who are rigid about changes, do change when they experience the positive side.” 

I was also asked a question on new generation being not so obedient to the older generation. I smiled as I heard the question, thinking of parents and grand-parents of my own, my friends, and everyone who I know closely; and I observe that each generation has one or the other issue with the other generation. So, I said, “We can even go back to mythological stories, and see examples or Shankaracharya, Rama, and Krishna also, where somewhere they there is a difference between generations.” However, as I analyse the problem and think of a solution, I notice that these differences are needed for evolution. May be thats why a child is born naive and learns a few things from his parents and other people around, and then he also figures out the something new by himself that results in changes related to evolution. However, older generation feels rejected at times, and newer generation feels bounded. There are times, when one is wrong to have certain feelings; but there are also times when there is no option and the change is needed. However, to minimise problems, what I understand is that instead of making it an individual responsibility to find solutions; we need to make it a collective social responsibility — like the way we used to have arrangements for doing things when we were having joint families. However, the difference would be that we come out of the boundaries of family tied by bonds of blood relations; and move to bonds based on location, and like mindedness; and where women also work, and all kids are taken care of and all elderly people also contribute to the system based on their abilities and interest — and nobody feels useless. 

In sort, what is actually needed is that the concept of ‘Vasudev Kutumbkam’ is to be implemented in reality. And focus would not only be on evolving but also on living and nurturing — with quality.


PS: This article is part of my book "I Feel... I Think... ~ Pages from My Diary" ... You may buy the book @ https://www.amazon.com/Anvita-Bajpai/e/B00Y0O4OZO/