Interest(s), 17 June 2009

 Interest(s), 17 June 2009

Warning: Boring Alert!!!

(more for self-exploration than anything else)

I was updating the quotes on my profile when I realized that I had nothing under Interests. Often I come across these forms that ask me to list my Activities and Interests. Activities I can list quickly, things that I am up to these days. But the Interests field always gives me a "zen" moment where I blankly stare at the box for a few seconds.

Interests?.... hmmmm.

Interests? Nothing really.

Can I just fill in my activities as my interests?

Different people are interested in different things; they are passionate about their music, environment, some sport, art, something or other. A person's 'interest' can progress further into his cause, his passion, his love and last for the lifetime. Zakir Hussain and his tabla. Al Gore and global warming. Indians and cricket. Brangelina and family (hehe) and so on.

For me, many things came but they were so short-lived that I can't really claim that they were my interests. They just happened to come across and I participated. Usually this doesn't bother me but today I was bummed that I didn't have a single 'real interest'. What a wasteful life!

(I am leaving out Reading/TV/Movies because they are as mundane as eating/bathing in today's world)

After much mind/soul searching, here is what I found out. I do have an interest after all. Yes, yes, a pretty neat one at that:

Making up outrageous stories (hypothesis) and collecting evidence to support (test) those. I like to colour/decolour facts and pick/choose the info to suit my argument. The line between true and false, right and wrong, what is and what is not, etc is always blur and I like to play with it. It is fun! (No wonder I like my line of work)

Here is an example:

I was at the Caltrain MUNI station yesterday and someone at the ticket booth asked me, "Do you know if this train goes to Ocean Beach?" Now, I rarely take MUNI so I am clueless about its routes, timings, tickets etc. But instead of giving him a simple answer "I don't know", I racked my brain for all the facts about MUNI and told him, "I don't know for sure but I don't think this train goes to Ocean Beach. I believe that it goes to the Embarcadero station which is sort of like a junction where all routes meet. So you can take this train to it, check the map and get a change."

By then the train had got closer with its flashing sign, "N Judah Ocean Beach".

oh, it does go to the Ocean Beach! We laughed but I noticed that he still got a confirmation from the driver... because now I had colored his mind too.

So there. There is my interest.

Albert Einstein said: "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

However, I shouldn't have explored this. Why?

Because now I know what I am doing and it is not fun anymore. I killed its charm.

I have to now let go of my sole 'interest' and live as though nothing is a miracle. It is what it is. That's all.

 

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