the 'Silent Listener'...

When I was in 6th class (junior school, 11 years old), I had Geography for the first time in the curriculum that continued to be until I stepped out of school. Until 6th class, the curriculum had social studies, which was a general and a very high level foundation to Geography, History & Civics and Economics that came on as individual subjects in the later classes.

So was I introduced to reading maps of continents, their geographic locations with respect to latitudes and
longitudes, the landscapes, climatic conditions, crops in specific regions, the mountain ranges, minerals and ores etc...After each lesson on a particular topic, there was this exercise of identifying and marking the blank maps. My most favorite continent was South Africa, for the mysterious tales about the Amazon river, Zaire basin and the rain forests. And when it came to North America, the great lakes were in the list; the specific 3 that my eyes always pictured as the petals of a flower. I was so fond of these lakes; I colored them with utmost spontaneity right after the map was handed to me no matter what the objective of the exercise was. While fingers were busy, my mind used to be occupied in imagination and thoughts about these lakes, how they would for real look like and whether I could ever get to see them. Until then, the water bodies I saw were little ponds of murky water or man made ponds in and around my neighborhood but for the Bay of Bengal which I then got to see a couple times under the very protective supervision of parents.

Later, these thoughts along with the subject went completely out of mind with the urge to focus on the specific stream chosen in junior college to get into a particular professional course. The Indian education system was such, at least then, that people could only think of two professional courses, Engineering and Medicine. There was so much pressure on an average student to succeed, that it was a do or die situation. The focus was strictly narrowed down to the subjects of core interest, setting aside and completely ignoring the other areas of knowledge. It was like one’s vision is entirely limited to books and closed to almost the rest of everything, unlike it is said in the famous saying ‘Education is about replacing an empty mind with an open one’. Ah, I love it! The statement in itself is mind opening and makes so much sense. Though, it seems things have changed a lot for good in the recent times and there is an increasing awareness in the society, education system and especially in people’s mind set.

Anyways, before I get side tracked from what I wanted to say; I spent the last weekend by lake Michigan with my cousin! One of those 3 lakes I was fond of. I couldn’t believe that my childhood impossibility is now a reality! Following the excitement, I made a list of all those little thoughts I had since my childhood that I always wondered if they would ever come true. It is truly astonishing to realize that even the most little and the least expected ones have turned into a reality. In conclusion, there is this unseen guest, the silent listener, paying attention to every conversation, every thought and is constantly waiting in the want to prove that ‘He cares about every little thought; He cares about you!’