Flat Dullness, Interest and
Liveliness
A work can be done at the above three
levels. Flat dull work needs no explanation especially where there is no
accountability. A visa application is pending for five years as there is no
follow up from the applicant or no supervision from above. It is a common
experience in Indian universities that research there lies unattended for years.
Sometimes families as a whole degenerate into this ideal of dull flatness. Soon
they move down one level in the social hierarchy.
All institutions that
forge ahead will be informed in their work with the attitude of interest. When a
visitor enters, he will see an organisation where everyone works with
interest.
Beyond these two levels lies the work that is lively. Such work
can be seen only in idealistic institutions that maintain the high original
standards created at the time of inception.
Flat dull work is done by
energyless bodies that are suffering from malnutrition, most of whom lack the
skills needed for their work. Interest is evinced by a dynamic organisation
determined to achieve through organised discipline and work values that keep up
the standard of the product. Expenditure of excess energy will be in evidence at
all points in the work.
What ideal institutions uphold is available to
all of us when the Spirit is evoked. In a reputed school, composite Mathematics
was not as much in favour as English was. Year after year, this subject
witnessed the greatest number of failures, the maximum score was 80. One year
when the teacher appealed to the Spirit of the students, luckily there was a
total response. That year there was no failure, only three pupils scored below
50 per cent. One boy secured centum and five scored more than 90. Sixteen
exceeded the maximum of 80. The bulk of the class was in the range of 60 to 80.
The lowest score was 43 per cent. How was this achievement possible? In an
atmosphere of 100 per cent rote memory, the boys consented to UNDERSTAND, which
is the spirit of learning. Spirit evoked at any level will perform this
miracle.