15.11.06

I am learning Czech these days.

For starters, Czech is the third most difficult language in Europe, and eighth in the world.

Now that’s the bravest thing I have attempted since telling my Class 8 teacher that she looked dazzling in her new haircut.

Two months into the lessons, I realised that learning Czech wasn’t just about learning new grammar, new words or new phrases.

It wasn’t about learning Czech at all.

It was simply about learning.

Suddenly, I was in a situation where I didn’t know everything.

In fact, I didn’t know anything.

I was asking questions, and not dispensing advices as usual.

I wasn’t making presumptions but nursing doubts.

I was getting sure that I was unsure. And not the other way round.

I was getting curious and not impatient.

And that’s when it struck me.

I was becoming a child. All over again.

Age is deceptive. Age breeds ego. Age makes you look for shortcuts. Age makes you think you’ve been there, done that, even if you’ve been nowhere, and done nothing.

Curiosity becomes cynicism. Questions become answers. People become suspects. Risk becomes risky.

All because we blow a few more candles each year.

I don’t mind the wrinkles, but I miss being a kid.

Because sometimes, when you know that you don’t know, you know a lot.