Short Story: Learning

“Oh Kapil! How come you are here wandering in the garden?” questioned Anil.

“Just walking around” responded Kapil.

“But you are rarely seen without books and that too in the garden?” said Anil sarcastically.

“Oh! I was only thinking about what I read today. You know there was a man called Rousseau who on the basis of his thoughts changed the course of history. How great he was! Isn’t it possible today? Can’t we change the system on our own instead of complaining and waiting for someone else to do everything for us?” asked Kapil with wrinkles in his forehead.

“Yeah! You are right. Ok Kapil, we’ve got to go somewhere. See you soon. Bye” said Prakash surreptitiously tugging at Anil’s elbow.

“Ok bye”.  Left Kapil.

“Isn’t he greater even than Rousseau? Stupid idealistic show-off” retorted Anil.

“Great authors, thick books, lofty ideas and noble thoughts…… this guy talks nothing else. And let a girl pass across and all nobility just disappears.” Prakash remarked.

“Isn’t he doing all these things only to impress people or more specifically girls?”

“Of course yes. There’s no single incident where he did any noble work or any substantial achievement for his own self let alone for others.”

      Though fond of reading, Kapil was not as bad at heart as Anil and Prakash debated. His only minus point could be this: he wanted to do something really great, something that would fetch him instant name and fame in the society. Kapil had a good collection of books and he visited library on a regular basis. In some ways Kapil represented modern youth, harbouring passion to make it big but unable to do so for want of right atmosphere or channelling of energy.

      One day he came across a beautiful girl in the library. As was his wont, he invoked names of some great thinkers and philosophers of the world and their noble deeds. The girl couldn’t match Kapil in the intellect. Kapil was relieved to have dominated the conversation with impressive talks.

      But his sense of relief was short lived as he later came to know that the girl recorded audio books for visually challenged children and thus she could not pursue her reading habits as much. Now Kapil was awestruck. A storm raised inside him.

      Back home he again sought refuge in the company of books. But as is said, Kapil was destined to have a change of heart that day, he read a line in the book that read “The idea that a great thinker must be a morally admirable human being is romantic, indeed childish, and is in any case contradicted by too many examples in the history to deem it genuine. The life of Leo Tolstoy is one such example.” Kapil found himself struggling to believe it. He couldn’t sleep for a moment the entire night. The very foundations of his motivation seemed precarious and flimsy. Those moments were moments of catharsis for him. Sort of enlightenment.

      Next morning brought a new light in Kapil’s life. He bundled together all his books and donated them to the library. Now his learned ignorance had come to an end and he was open to learn from the greatest teacher called ‘life’.