How My Childhood Mischief Helped To Craft My Creativity As An Adult

To begin with, I would like to confess that when I was a child I got lost three times. Well the source is from my father while my mother claims that I got truly lost 2 times. This “lost” isn’t like getting locked up in the basement or in the attic or lose your way while you search for the toilet at your first visit to your friend’s home. I actually went missingh\ for few hours on two to three occasions at the shopping mall in Thailand and this happened when I was just two years of age.

My father completed his Master in Public Health from Mahidol University having received the scholarship from the Thai Government. And the best part about this scholarship was that the monthly allowance that he used to get was well enough to not only afford his own living but also it allowed him to bring his wife and two-year old son to stay with him for the next one year. So yeah, I spent one year in Thailand and also I got lost there couple of times due to my extreme level of “playfulness”. The details of my adventure of getting lost will be disclosed fully in my international travel journals pretty soon, but for now let’s get back to the main topic.

My mother have always remarked that I was indeed a hard child to bring up with my “excruiting zeal” of getting to know the world around me which got me lost, beaten, punished, scolded so many times that I hardly remember when I was even “praised” for being a good child. Luckily, those 90s days are long gone and I am actually quite the opposite of what I was back in those days.

With that being said, I don’t think I haven’t got anything unchecked from my “bucket list of naughtiness for 90s kids”. One of the best qualities I have always possessed was that I was able to exhibit an extraordinary level of creativity. I used to imagine the bed to be a ship sailing in the turbulent waves; the pile of thick blankets as a mountain; the pillow as a rowing boat, which I literally used to row using my leg. I also used to spill lots of talcum powder on the floor and used to “skate” on it; block the drain in the bathroom in order to flood the bathroom till my mother screamed that water was creeping into the house; build houses of sofa cushions and cardboard boxes. Oh yeah, to me, the cardboard box is indeed one of the “greatest” creation of man, with it you can literally make anything. I used to make go carts, trains, rockets, ships and even stack one over the other to create buildings to create my own “mini town” for my plush toys. And don’t let me get started with my school life… oh boy, that part of my life too had its own loads of tales.

My childhood mischief allowed me to push my creativity to the next level, I was able to envision and visualize a lot of things unlike other kids in those days, to make matters great, we didn’t have the mobile or the PC in those days, so it taught us to make use of the things we already had and use it for fun. This enabled me, being an adult in his mid twenties, to suggest business models for projects, make presentations in unique ways, have publications of my own and most importantly- “to think out-of-box”.

So, dear parents if you have children who are hyper active in using their creativity which in turn becomes a reason of stress and series of headaches, please don’t discourage them. Rather, show them how they use their creativity for good purposes. Instead of cutting out their wings, give them the chance to express themselves, don’t make them sit with the smart phone or force them to watch the television.

These days whenever I come across a “brilliantly mischievous” kid, I always pause to reflect upon what I back then. I always tell them, “You know, I used to be just like you, or even worse.”

Even though most of these kids don’t seem to understand me or pay no heed to my words; their blank expression staring out at me, with saliva oozing out of their mouths and with this silent yet beautiful reply they skip away to their play and I say to myself, “Yep, I must have been a lot worse and a lot sillier as well perhaps…”

[Book Review] In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park

Most of us have heard just rumors and myths regarding the darkness which lurks within the borders of North Korea but truth always manages to sound stranger than fiction.

This book doesn’t only give you imageries regarding the only nation which has secluded itself from the rest of the world but it literally makes you feel the horror, the agony and the struggle of the people which deserve more in this life. The famous North Korean defector- Yeonmi Park presents her tale of wishes, desires, cries and finally, her fateful freedom, this book will literally cringe your heart thus only the bravest of the hearts are recommended to have a go for it. One of the best books, I think I will ever come across!

My Personal Rating: 5.0/5.0

Goodreads Rating: 4.5/5.0

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Please Allow the Women to Get Educated

Today I had the honor to listen to an interesting conversation between three female students at the cateen of the MBA building of my University. They were discussing the challenges they were facing in their studies. Strangely enough, all of them were married and even had children! I glanced at them and was surprised to find that they looked to be the same age as me or might have been few years older. Anyways, that is not the main concern here but they actually got to sit right next to me so as I was merrily scooping on my fried rice, I got to overhear their conversation, which I must dare say, was indeed a fateful experience.

One of the girls said, “I am facing problem because sometimes my husband criticizes me for studying MBA and also sometimes get criticized by my in-laws.” Another one said, “I need to attend to my baby all the time so it is pretty challenging for me as well.” The third one said, “Do you know? So and so (mentioned a girl’s name which I couldn’t catch) even wrote her thesis paper while being pregnant and she finished it really quick and got to submit it earlier than the deadline and within a few days she even gave birth.” The other girls laughed, though I personally did not find this funny. One of the girls said, “I find it difficult because whenever my father-in-law gets sick, everyone always expects me to take care of him and this ends up having me to leave my studies altogether.”

The point of me disclosing this conversation is to make everyone aware how much sacrifices the females of our society have to do in order to keep a balance within their personal life, family life as well as their academic life. Here I am in my mid twenties and I always complain how hard MBA is even after scoring good grades, having rather no external pressure without realizing that there are those females around me, being of my age-range, struggling to continue their studies and these people don’t necessarily have to come from poor families, sometimes even rich families can go into criticizing when they get to see the females are striving to gain a better career in life.

This conversation reminds me of one incident which happened during my Bachelor. One of our batch mate, I think this happened in the International Business course, lost her father-in-law and because of that she had to skip classes for an entire month! The reality of this world is that we need to accept that there is life as well as death. Indeed, the father-in-law dying is obviously a grave issue but stopping someone’s education for an entire month is indeed to some extent “barbaric” and what’s worse if the girls faced with this situation request to get back to their studies, the usual response they receive are quite pitiful and heart breaking, thus they choose to remain silent maintaining peace within the family. It should be noted that I am talking in context of the Indian subcontinent, not taking into account the culture of other nations.

My mother has a Bachelor degree in Law and I have always asked her why she never thought of prolonging her studies. She always tells me this- “Because I was stupid” that she hated studies so after graduation she went to her parents and requested them that she no longer wants to continue with her studies and wishes to get married instead. Still I always tell her, “You know, if you were a lawyer, it would have been really neat.” And she nods saying that she regrets her decision. Funny thing, I even requested her to get admitted to the Evening MBA program I am doing saying, “You can do it and the best part is that no one would be able to guess your true age so you can surely fit in with the others.” My mother just laughs.

So as I end this piece of writing, I want to request all of you that if you have female members in your family who are willing to prolong their studies or having females who are presently studying please provide them with the favorable environment because if you do, they will be able to repay to the nation by gifting it with a well-mannered and smart generation.