Goddess Saraswati sneers at those who approach her with their eyes focused on Lakshmi. Seek Saraswati for herself, Lakshmi will run after you.
Let knowledge be an end in itself. Not the means to something else. Remember what Rancho says in ‘3 idiots’. Go after knowledge. Success will run after you. It’s never the other way round.
You can fool people for a while with superficial knowledge. But sooner or later, you’ll be caught with your pants down and be accused of indecent exposure.
But knowledge acquired by you lives scattered in your brain. Brain has its own method of storing thoughts, images, feelings etc. It isn’t very organised. That’s why, one tends to forget things.
The remedy is to organise information in your brain. How? You will ask. I know nothing about the directory structure of the brain. True.
But there are ways. The best method is to teach someone. Your classmate, friend, anybody. Don’t try to hoard knowledge like a miser. Share it. There’s a huge benefit for you in sharing knowledge.
You see, when you have to teach someone, you can’t throw knowledge at him/her in the haphazard way it is stored in your brain. You will have to present information in an organised manner.  Without that, you can’t teach. In the process, information gets organised properly in your brain.
Now you have the key to the brain’s directory tree. You can organise data in neat blocks. It isn’t disjointed data anymore. It is organised information.
Once information about a subject is organised in your brain, you can talk on that subject in a logical manner without losing your way.
This is why group study helps students preparing for examinations.
But there is a problem. We have  people who live without a purpose in life. Their biography can be summarised in less than 10 words. Get born, eat, defecate, grow, reproduce and die.
When you try to impart knowledge, they tend to treat you as a bore. Let them do so. Does it really matter? What would you like to be known as? A bore or a fool? The latter is much worse, right?
But there are timid people who can’t teach. If you belong to that class, then you can try writing down information or typing it on your laptop/smart phone.
This is more tedious. And you will lose the benefits of interaction where the other person questions your views and adds value by helping to review and improve your knowledge. But then, if you are the reticent type, this is the only remedy.
Google and Wikipedia aren’t the only sources of knowledge.  Information is available on TV too. Visual media is very powerful because brain stores information not in text format but in the form of pictures and sounds.
Unfortunately, most of what is discussed in TV is trash. If you really want to know more on specific subjects, the Saturday and Sunday editions of business channels like CNBC News 18, NDTV Profit, ET Now, Zee Business etc, will be of great help.
Generally, information on what will be discussed is displayed in advance. If there is something that you are interested in, make it a point to watch it. If you have missed it, no issues. Recordings will be available on the website of the channel. You can listen to it at a time of your choice.
YouTube has fabulous videos on virtually everything. Whatever subject you are interested in, be it calculus, quantum mechanics, public finance, polymer chemistry, blockchain, philosophy or anything else for that matter.
Lots of information is available in newspapers too. Don’t bother about the front page etc. Focus on the editorials.
Newspapers are supposed to report news on ‘as is where is’ basis. This is what you will find in other pages. However, the editorial team has the freedom to express its views in the editorial page.
This information will be concise, yet comprehensive. It won’t be in bits and pieces as in the other pages. So you will get a grasp of the matter being discussed.
But even more important, is the article printed to the right of the editorial column. This is where CXOs/SMEs will be expressing their views on a topic. Do read such articles.
When you like an article, make it a point to send an email thanking the author. Email addresses are generally given below the article. You can raise doubts too. If you don’t agree with a view point, you can even beg to differ and express your opinion in polite language.
This is a very good way to get noticed and networked.
Raja P Areyada
Retired Banker. Expertise in International Finance, Payment systems, Treasury automation, Trading platform development & deployment, Information security, Risk Management, Financial Inclusion, IT software development.
Wide array of interests including Philosophy, Quantum Mechanics, Macro Economics and Parapsychology.
Very useful & thought provoking information. It would surely help the teenagers to focus on their goals
Corrigendum: Kindly read the line ‘But knowledge acquired by you lives scattered in your brain.’ as ‘But knowledge acquired by you lies scattered in your brain.’