 |
I had a friend in Shillong whose favourite joke was
about people not having enough time. A man was rushing. My friend asks him,
“Why are you in such a hurry, man?” The response is, my friend says in his
inimitable cynical way, “To reach home where he has nothing to do.”
Nothing to do is one of the greatest
challenges of 21st century. Machines will do everything. Machines
will wash your clothes, do your dishes, warm up your ready-to-cook food which
in turn was made by another machine, clean your house in the meanwhile, drive
you to your office, do most of your work in the office…
Soon Artificial Intelligence will
take over even the little work you have in office. My students have already
started submitting works written by Google’s Bard or Chat GPT for their project
assignments. The charm of the whole affair is that these young fellas will
teach you a lesson and more if you question them about the rightness of what
they are doing. “Will you sweep your room if you have a robot to mop it within
seconds?”
“Short cuts,” someone told me the
other day about his son who is my student. “That’s what he likes. He says he
learns English lessons from YouTube.” I’m redundant, I told myself. By the way,
I’m quitting my job at the end of this month. 29 Feb is the last day of my life
as a teacher. I hand over my job to Google Bard and Chat GPT and YouTube.
Maggie asks me what I will do with my
time. I am an impatient person who is always in a hurry like the guy in my
Shillong friend’s joke which is really not a joke unless you understand the
joke called life.
What will I do with my time from 1
March 2024 onwards?
Amazon has already delivered three
books for me to read. More are on the way. Still more will come in the due
course of time. Then I will write about them in this space. Then? I will still
have a lot of time, I know. So…
I will put soil and seeds in a pot
and grow something. I will water the pot and watch the seed sprout, the sapling
grow, the plant bloom… And I will stand before those flowers and contemplate on
Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s Little Prince’s rose. “It is the time you have
wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”
I will waste time for my flower pots.
I will get colours in return. Colours of flowers. Colours of life.
Previous Post: Meaning in the Time of Fraudulence
wonderful
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteOooh, retirement. I've certainly not been bored with mine!!! YAM xx
I know, Yam, and be sure I won't be either.
DeleteYou have perfect plans for your retirement!
ReplyDeleteYes. It's going to be fun.
DeleteHappy retirement!
ReplyDeleteThank you
DeleteThank you. I mean to make it really happy.
DeleteThat's a good plan.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteA good post that sets the reader thinking...
ReplyDelete👍
DeleteThe AI writing stuff isn't good. When AI starts writing everything, people will stop reading. Why read when AI can read it for you? You're not irrelevant. What you teach is still important. But retirement is well deserved. Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteThis is just what has happened: they stopped reading altogether. They don't read even the textbooks.
DeleteI'll make myself relevant here in this space. 😊
In Delhi, I always had that impression that we were the worst lot of students but after reading your blogs i have understood that students are more or less same everywhere. Anyways, have a happy retired life.
ReplyDelete- Yours notorious student:)
Who is this self-professed notorious student? 😊
DeleteAn expert in fooling around. I had a dual relationship with you: Love & Hate(mostly😅). An absolute trash as a student.I hope you will forgive me for all my sins thereby exhibiting a divine aspect in yourself. Sorry!!...but i don't have the courage to reveal my indentity, sometimes anonymity brings unconditional LOVE😊.Keep writing, Keep inspiring.
Delete- Yours regular reader:)
👍You have a rare spirit, I should say.
DeleteLovely read ! Hope to read more interesting tales from you post retirement.
ReplyDeleteWould certainly love your presence here.
DeleteI am Rama Kashyap. .. already into retirement phase . Have started posting my blogs on thjis platform. .
DeleteIt'd be good if you link your name to your blog. We can reach the blog easily then.
DeleteWow, looking forward to more updates on your upcoming orchard. Happy retirement! Or was this a sarcastic article?
ReplyDeleteNot sarcastic this time. I need this change.
Delete