LEARN, UNLEARN AND RELEARN..

The gnawing question at the back of my mind at bed-time is always-“What have you learnt today?” I cannot remember when this query became a part of my everyday routine .All I know is that “being productive” and having a “takeaway” at the end of the day has become the all-consuming need of the age.

Alvin Toffler’s quote , “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn” resonates with the spirit of our Time. Popular adages like “Learning is a continuous process” ,“Learning  is life-long” , “if we fail to learn and adapt we perish” etc have been strewn in our mind since childhood. Would it be right then to say that such learning stems from insecurity? Are we learning, for survival or learning, for the sheer pleasure of attaining knowledge?

The true quest for knowledge is never-ending. The real lessons are learnt on the road and the destination has no importance. The milestones keep changing with our varying needs for the world is in a state of constant flux. True seekers of knowledge know that a life-time of learning can be rendered obsolete in the blink of an eye. But this truth does not deter them from seeking answers and they look forward to a refreshingly new learning experience each morning.

Learning is an in-built mechanism. We learn from infancy and we continue to do so all our life. It’s just the efficiency that keeps changing. As children we are very receptive to learning, unlearning and relearning. It comes to us naturally. We are willing to be corrected and criticized. Our bruised egos are tended to hastily; we shrug our shoulders and move on. Our strength lies in our flexibility. However, the irony lies in the fact that while maturity should bring greater flexibility we encase ourselves in shrouds of rigidity and bury our heads in sand. We are unwilling to step out of the comfort zone. We wish for stasis and once we find it we are unwilling to move. The key to success is to question all that we have learnt so far. There is a chance that a good percentage of it is now out-dated and we need to unlearn and relearn a lot of concepts and applications that was so accurate a few years ago. But our innate resistance to change and the urge for stability gets into a tug-of-war with our need to survive in this information age.

Life is not a process of discovery; it is a process of creation. We have the power to become whoever we want to be. The key to achieving this is not in doing great things once in a lifetime, rather it is the little things that we do every day that will serve as the tipping point to greatness. We need to question every thought and action of ours and align them to our goals. This will involve unlearning certain axioms and facts and relearning according to the need of the hour. For this one needs great courage, perseverance and flexibility. How challenging is it to change our approach, our mind-set and our perceptions? Making a list of all that we want to learn is easier than the tasks that lie ahead. Perhaps after much soul-searching and reflection we are able to identify those things we want to unlearn. But the toughest cookie of them all would be to find those things that we want to relearn. Chances are this list will be the shortest. When it comes to retooling and reclassifying data that has already been programmed into us we are paralyzed with fear. The fear of feeling inadequate and out of depth overpowers the need to re-mould ourselves to suit the ever-changing needs of our Time. Practitioners of any profession from medicine to manufacturing have to keep the wheels of the learning turning continuously.

 The secret to learning new things is to unlearn all that we have learnt previously and be open to relearning the same thing differently. It is our openness to learn, unlearn and relearn that characterizes our success. Flexibility is the name of the game. We must keep our mind open to all possibilities, even the most absurd ones for who knows “absurd” today could be the norm tomorrow.

Think not that we have found all the answers today, for new questions will arise tomorrow for which we shall seek new answers. Say not, “I have found THE truth,” but rather, “I have found A truth.”

Always leave the door ajar for more learning…

The Travel Diaries-Malaysia-One for the Road…

One of those better journeys in this journey we call Life.

Singapore -Kuala Lumpur –Penang –Kuala Lumpur-Singapore.

On the road, in a Proton Waja, 4 friends, 3 boxes of sweets, 2 iPods and 1 map.

“The memories are sweeter as time passes by…” But this one bears testimony to the fact that it you can have your cake and eat it too. It was sweet while we had it and sweeter now when we remember it.

Books, assignments, exams and deadlines…Fight or Flight? Flight, I say, any day.

And so it begins….

Location: South East Asia

Protagonists: RG, Riches, P and F

Agenda: Road trip to Malaysia on a supposedly shoe-string budget (but this shoe-string was elastic).

Snippet 1: RG and the mangoes

4 weary souls trudged into the lobby of Cititel, Kuala Lumpur. Except for a burger we had from a way-side McDonald’s our tummies were largely empty. Once the check-in was done RG was suddenly enthusiastic to go looking for food .The night was still young at 11 o’clock and while the rest of us were lounging in the room the hungry man went looking for food. 10 minutes passed,20 minutes ,40 minutes and still no RG. Our stomachs began to growl in unison now. Suddenly RG walks in looking pale and perplexed.

“That DKB..he had a knife out!! I didn’t do anything..WTF??”

RG had found a mango vendor who took offence at something RG said or perhaps some gesture of his. Though RG emphatically refuses the occurrence of any such incident. RG asked for a kilo of his best mangoes and the vendor apparently went beserk. He started bad-mouthing him in a creative mixture of English and Malay which RG didn’t find the least amusing. To make matters worse RG tried to calm him down. Well, this certainly didn’t go down too well with the man because the next thing that happened was that he started brandishing a knife and RG insisted it wasn’t a pocket knife. (ahem!) He made it sound more like a sword but we all know that Exaggeration is Truth that has lost its temper. Anyway that night we had a live lesson in cross-cultural dynamics. Truly ,the MBA learning experience  was turning global.

So dinner that night was milk cake , dodhaa(still can’t pronounce it right) and water. Burp!!

Snippet 2:

FRRP at the beach

Prof.Seetha’s much-loved Penang Bridge glinted in the evening sunlight. The steel-grey waves lapped the sides of the fishing boats that dotted the sea. Next stop on the road was Batu Ferringhi,a strip lined with shops, hotels and all the usual tourist stuff. Did we have a place lined up for the night?? Naa!! But no one was complaining. We drove aimlessly, just taking in the sights and sounds. The urge to get out and stretch our legs became overwhelming and just in time we spotted a deserted beach.

The sun was just setting. The skies were bathed in an orange glow. It was airbrushed with colors of fire with a hint of purple added for contrast. A few ships bobbed up and down in the horizon. The sand felt like velvet under our toes. The beach was strewn with shells and few crabs scampered here and there. Someone wrote our initials on the sand-FRRP. We smiled in unison. The waves came and ate the letters.

Here now, gone tomorrow, that’s the story of relationships.

Snippet 3:

The hour was late. After driving back and forth the Batu Ferringhi stretch for the umpteenth time we finally found a fabulous hotel to stay in. (Our last resort was to sleep in the car). Hotel Tanjung Bunga had a private beach and the sea-facing rooms added an air of luxury. The FRRP were bone-weary tired but wanted to get dressed for dinner. So an hour later all primped and polished the 4 left for dinner. Unfortunately for us all restaurants closed by midnight and we were still running on S.P.Jain time of dinner at 3 am. Disappointment does not go down well on an empty stomach. The four were ravenous. But all was not lost. The true warrior never quits. The day’s most valuable discovery was a tiny bistro that jutted right into the sea. The smell of the sea was strong but not unpleasant. The playlist of the night was compiled by the sea and winds. The flames of the candles whipped up and down in the wind. The food tasted amazing and finally the four were satiated.

Snippet 4:

The Proton Waja purred under P’s foot. The speedometer read 170km/hr. Trees, bushes and mountains sped past us like a blur. RG and Riches were asleep at the back( for a bit, giving their cameras some much-needed rest) . Navigator Numero Uno (aka F) was up keeping him company. Waterfalls trickled down distant mountains hidden by lush green vegetation. Rocky mountains with jagged peaks and lime-stone streaks peppered the horizon. The skies were blue with snowy-white clouds. The grass on the side of the road was so green it looked fluorescent. The road signs said “Kecuali memotong” and said it so many times that we were sure it meant something important. Some signs were really intriguing; there was one of a tiny hut with two people in it (which RG insisted was for “interesting” purposes). The drive was heavenly. The road was smooth and the traffic was light. There were R&Rs(rest and recreation centres) along the road where we could stop to eat, drink and play Frisbee(which we did, at sunset).  The conversation had many twists and turns, like the winding road. Words mingled with music and life-stories were exchanged. A few occasional glances were thrown at the map and the signposts just to be sure we were still on the right track. But driving on the national highway was not really rocket-science.

At the end of the trip our pockets were lighter but the sights we saw would be cherished for life. Never can one forget the Petronas towers glistening like it were studded with a million Swarovski crystals in Malaysian sky. Or the orange sunset in Penang. Or the smell of the sea and the feel of velvety sand between our toes. Or the rays of the evening sun shooting through the Penang bridge.

“The reward is in the journey”, P had said when we set out from Singapore.His words should have been written in stone… ..