A penchant for words and dictionaries...

I watch a lot of TV series. Popular ones, funny one, dramas, mysteries and fantasies. The list is endless. They demand no thinking or my full attention. I often can do other tasks while watching them. They are not mundane, but just challenge-less. Yet, somehow, in most of these shows, the intelligence, beliefs, smartness as qualities are often ridiculed. Understanding mathematics is ridiculed. Reading books is ridiculed.

The desire and the talent to go beyond the ordinary comes with its own set of struggles. The intelligentsia, is often depicted as a group which is set apart from the rest. Often termed and called a geek. Defined by the dictionary as "unfashionably and socially inept person", yet "a knowledgeable and an obsessive enthusiast." Geek! A four letter word condemning the smartest of our generation to believe that it is better to be "popular" as opposed having brains.

When I was in school, I was not the exactly a geek. Not someone who studied a lot or earned the best grades. Nor was I the popular kid. I was just the one who got through school, awkward and weird, because school was just that for me, a place to get away from. But in my own ways, I succumbed to the power of stories and history. I loved that there was so much one could learn by just attempting at it. And learning was not encased by the walls of libraries. It was in everything you could do or watch. A lecture you enjoy, a movie you love, a series you are addicted to, a painting you admire, all come to together to impart some form of knowledge. Even if it is sometimes just about the pop culture. Even if it is just about learning the lyrics to your favourite song.

Illustration by Author

Amidst all the learning and the knowledge, its vastness equivalent to infinite, getting labelled a 'Geek' leaves us in perpetual quandary. We start believing that our thirst for reading and growing is abnormal. That this 'behavioural pattern' we follow, requires a third perspective. The reputation of a geek surpasses his/ her actual personality. The image is already etched in our minds. A nervous and fidgety child, probably spectacle-d with a large heavy backpack and arms full of books.

Am I missing something?

Ah yes, the ever growing desire to find a world of their own reflected in their gaze. The lust to meet people with similar passion and belief. To find that group of research loving kindred spirit. The school is a harsh place for such knowledge hungry students who believe in more than just grades. Tests and assignments are mere pebbles in the path they have envisioned. 

I look up to people who gather and value knowledge. Knowledge is inspiring. Books are worth every penny. Art, movies, music, all results of a unique thought process.

There is sense of exhilaration when a challenge is thrust upon you. Breaking away from the monotony of the wheel turning at the same rpm for hours together. It is the challenge that keeps me going and striving for better. Yet, the challenger is ridiculed.

Why?

Have we lost our ability to be inspired by the workings of a brain? Or has the challenge itself lost meaning in the circle of our very 'social' life? We are, seemingly content with the mundane. The life of a clockwork cuckoo.