(Published in TOI Blogs, 20th December,
2018 - https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/myriad-musings/winter-is-coming/)
Winter is coming
Relaxing
on a Sunday evening with an old friend at my place, and enjoying a sizzling cup
of Kashmiri Kahwa,
studded with saffron and finely sliced almonds, I made an unintended utterance,
“Winter is coming”
“Dad,
winter has arrived. It happened long ago”
That
was my teenaged son telling me in very clear words.
I
was bemused as my son was wearing only a T-shirt with pullover/jacket and
apparently, no shivering. However, my friend
who had arrived from UK, and was witness to the occurrence, smiled at the
youngster and nodded in his support.
“But
you do not seem to be feeling cold. Then how are you saying that winter has
arrived?” I questioned my son.
The
duo smiled again, in unison.
“Dad,
these are phrases from Game of Thrones and are many years old.” Saying this, he
walked away, leaving me plundered.
While
my mind was still working on how to resume and carry on the dialogue with him,
my friend diluted my resolve. He said, “Man, it is time to brush up your
vocabulary”
Not
only did he give me a preliminary lesson in the
Game of Thrones but he also reminded me of the stages of change that we had
read in management school. I was apparently still resting comfortably in a
precontemplation stage, not yet acknowledging that there was a behavior that
needed to be changed.
In
Game of Thrones the phrase ‘Winter is coming’ epitomizes
readiness for change; it signifies that the snow and ice change the environment;
it represents showdown between House of Stark and White Walkers; in nutshell,
it an ability to be always prepared for the arrival of White Walkers – the evil. The
winter represents more than just cold; it is synonymous with nimbleness.
Those
three words taught me that I was missing to match the pace of change. While I grew up with the belief
that change was the only constant but somewhere, I missed to admit that
understanding of basic concepts would also undergo change; I just forgot to remain
agile. As I write this, I note that “Justice”
turns out to be Webster’s word
of the year 2018 and “Toxic”
is Oxford’s word of the year. These simple words have been chosen because a
large number of people explored the relevance of “just what exactly we mean
when we use the term justice” or because the word ‘toxic’ has been “used
in an array of contexts, both in its literal and more metaphorical senses”
I realised that the art of unlearning and learning in
life has been given a backseat. If even simple words like winter, justice,
toxic have contextually vivid and newer interpretations, my heap of knowledge
is no longer contemporary – I need to gallop, grasp and grind; and do it
recurrently.
With my heart swelling with pride over my son, I
instantly spoke out to my friend, “My son has taught me a powerful lesson”
Sensing my choked voice, he suggested that we focus on
something else, say, the real showdown – a game of chess. Sipping through the kahwa,
we enjoyed the game and relived good old days. So engrossed were we in the
game that we did not realise when my son entered the room, exhausted after an
hour’s play, and asked, “how much time will you take?”
My friend said promptly, “I’m reaching the endgame.
Only three-four minutes more”
“Uncle, Endgame will come in four months and NOT four minutes.
They have just released a trailer of the sequel to Infinity Wars. We are all
waiting”
We, the outdated friends, looked into each other’s
eyes - baffled. Winter, for us, had indeed arrived. It called for rapid moves lest
we lose another battle in the war of life….
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