This day, last year

I found this little word doc hiding somewhere in my laptop today written one year back.

Nine year old 1: “Hi.”

Nine year old 2: “Hey, listen. What do you want to be when you grow up?”

1: “A cryptologist.”

2: “A what?”

1: “You know… a cryptologist.”

2: “What do cryptologists do?”

1: “They decode coded messages.”

2: “Wow! Sounds interesting. What will you have to study to become a cryptologist?”

1: “Mathematics and Computer Science mainly.”

After witnessing a conversation like that between two nine year olds, only a dimwit would sit idly and do nothing about it. I guess I should at least record it. How many children would have heard about cryptologists, leave alone spell it correctly, at that age? Where is the world heading?

You guessed right. She read ‘Digital Fortress’ by Dan Brown. I was amazed too. It’s not like she read it for the sake of reading or for putting pseud for the book was not bought for her in the first place. The book brought for her was good old Nancy Drew which she finished in just a few hours.

“That’s preposterous! How will she understand that high a level of English?”, you ask? It turns out that she has a remarkable command over the English language and manages to read the book without too many visits to the dictionary. Well, she probably didn’t understand ‘Fuck’ but she was thoughtful enough not to ask anybody or maybe the suspense of the story made her skip every occurrence of the word.

The other day, I got a text message.

“07/07/07 07:07 am. 7 days/week, 7 janma, 7 seas, 7 phere, 7 wonders, 7 colours. Why 7?”

I meditated on this all morning but couldn’t figure out a satisfying explanation. Googling didn’t turn up anything substantial either. That’s when I asked this to her almost completely certain that she would have no idea and would appreciate my processor for having come up with such a brilliant question. Pat came the reply – “Because God created the world in seven days.” She knows that too! And that too a belief attributed to another religion.

Recently, at a medical store she was overheard saying in hushed tones, “Doesn’t that look like the fake medicine they showed on TV yesterday?” Oh! Come on! Spare the news atleast!

That brings up a strange question. Will such a generation reach an age when there will be nothing left to learn? Freaky!

8 comments:

  1. that would not be so, for then they can try to find out why they have nothing left to learn. which would then set them out on another journey of knowledge, on which they might, hopefully, forget that their being on that quest would render their search a moot point.

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  2. I have been on the 'Quest' for knowledge for many years, the more I learn, I still feel discontented in going fast.....everytime it just goes on increasing.....

    I need a chip implant in my brain to speed up the processes ;)

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. hey if im not totally off course thats ur sis ur talkin abt na?
    wow!nice to see shes givin u a complex abt ur own doubtful intellect[:P]
    and speaking of digi fortress here's a link u shud chek,wich as luck wud hav it i saw jus minutes before opening ur blog.imagine my surprise wen one of the first lines i read on ur blog ws abt digi fortress
    http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/03/13
    /digital-fortress-what-dan-brown-got-wrong/
    i noticed a few of the anomalies mentioned but in d overall feel of the book overloked dem

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  5. @Whitelighter
    Nice viewpoint.

    @Viajero
    Interesting.
    Let me know when the chip is ready.

    @Ziddi
    Good guess. Not really. We all know who should be doubting whom. :P
    Interesting link.

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  6. yap ur sissy can freak anyone out....

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  7. Will such a generation reach an age when there will be nothing left to learn?
    when the learning stops, research begins. and when they begin research, they know that they know nothing!

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