Guruprasad Nagarajan's Blog - Posts Tagged "wisdom"
Distilled wisdom
There is a marked difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge goes to TED talks and other platforms to play to the gallery while wisdom retires to the caves, knowing there is not much point in trying to impress an audience whose attention can be distracted by the next celebrity wardrobe malfunction.
And few things encapsulate wisdom more powerfully than proverbs. Besides being timeless and pithy, they contain the experience of centuries gone by in those few short, succinct words. Wisdom and brevity, kind of go together it seems (which reminds me of what Hegarty, an adman, said about long copy. His point was if the French Revolution needed only three words, Liberte, Egalite and Fraternite, why do you need a thousand word copy to sell a detergent powder?).
The curious thing about proverbs is that there are no bylines, no authorship, nothing. They are anonymous, accurate, and absolutely mind blowing.
First some extremely colourful and rich proverbs I grew up listening to:
1."Like a house of ill repute that has witnesses the birth of a boy"
When the light bulb reached its expiry end and was duller than a backbench student, our folks would say that (not within earshot of kids of course). I am not sure if any other expression comes close to convey the low wattage more accurately.
(In case you are wondering: Because the birth of a boy is no cause for celebration, hence dull lights.)
2."Brothels when able-bodied, the Lord on deathbed"
That's the rough translation. It means in the heady days of youth, power and virility, you waste it all on wanton pursuits, and cry for the lord when the effects of your playboy behaviour start to show in the twilight of your life.
3."Just because it's made of gold you can't prick your eyes with a golden pin"
Preciousness has its limitations.
4."Like getting pregnant out of politeness"
This applies to people are too nice and cannot say no even if the consequences are disastrous.
And few things encapsulate wisdom more powerfully than proverbs. Besides being timeless and pithy, they contain the experience of centuries gone by in those few short, succinct words. Wisdom and brevity, kind of go together it seems (which reminds me of what Hegarty, an adman, said about long copy. His point was if the French Revolution needed only three words, Liberte, Egalite and Fraternite, why do you need a thousand word copy to sell a detergent powder?).
The curious thing about proverbs is that there are no bylines, no authorship, nothing. They are anonymous, accurate, and absolutely mind blowing.
First some extremely colourful and rich proverbs I grew up listening to:
1."Like a house of ill repute that has witnesses the birth of a boy"
When the light bulb reached its expiry end and was duller than a backbench student, our folks would say that (not within earshot of kids of course). I am not sure if any other expression comes close to convey the low wattage more accurately.
(In case you are wondering: Because the birth of a boy is no cause for celebration, hence dull lights.)
2."Brothels when able-bodied, the Lord on deathbed"
That's the rough translation. It means in the heady days of youth, power and virility, you waste it all on wanton pursuits, and cry for the lord when the effects of your playboy behaviour start to show in the twilight of your life.
3."Just because it's made of gold you can't prick your eyes with a golden pin"
Preciousness has its limitations.
4."Like getting pregnant out of politeness"
This applies to people are too nice and cannot say no even if the consequences are disastrous.
Walls of wisdom
There’s something humble, selfless, magnanimous even, in graffiti messages, you know the good ones scrawled on bathroom stalls and big city walls? Because a lot of them border on the brilliant and some are just pure gold. Curiously, none of them (like the proverbs ) boast authorship. No bylines, no ‘these lines brought to you by’, nothing. They are anonymous, often accurate, and absolutely mind blowing.
There was a guy named Nigel Rees, if I remember right, who went around collecting graffiti messages and published them in a series of short books. I picked them up at the roadside bookstalls that used to flourish near the Fountain, Mumbai. Lost them, bit still some of the lines are etched in my mind. Like the ones below:
1."I used to be a schizophrenic, we are ok now"
2."The meek shall inherit the earth, if it's ok by you"
3."Amnesia rules, O... (in the series of ‘graffiti rules OK?’)
4."I'd give my right arm to be ambidexterous"
5."Misspellers of the world, untie"
6. "God is dead" - Nietzshe. "Nietzsche is dead" -God
7. "To do is to be" - Socrates. "To be is to do" -Sartre. "Do be do be do" - Sinatra.
8."I didn't believe in reincarnation the last time either"
9."Progress has gone too far"
10.Dyslexia lures, K.O
11."Is anal retentive hyphenated?"
12. "I am not obsessive, I am not obsessive, I am not obsessive ..."
There was a guy named Nigel Rees, if I remember right, who went around collecting graffiti messages and published them in a series of short books. I picked them up at the roadside bookstalls that used to flourish near the Fountain, Mumbai. Lost them, bit still some of the lines are etched in my mind. Like the ones below:
1."I used to be a schizophrenic, we are ok now"
2."The meek shall inherit the earth, if it's ok by you"
3."Amnesia rules, O... (in the series of ‘graffiti rules OK?’)
4."I'd give my right arm to be ambidexterous"
5."Misspellers of the world, untie"
6. "God is dead" - Nietzshe. "Nietzsche is dead" -God
7. "To do is to be" - Socrates. "To be is to do" -Sartre. "Do be do be do" - Sinatra.
8."I didn't believe in reincarnation the last time either"
9."Progress has gone too far"
10.Dyslexia lures, K.O
11."Is anal retentive hyphenated?"
12. "I am not obsessive, I am not obsessive, I am not obsessive ..."
