Good evening.
My name is Anup and tonight we are going to be listening to this story called curious.
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Curiosity has its own reason for existence.
One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity,
Of life,
Of the marvelous structure of reality.
In fact,
When you close your eyes and deep dive within your body or your soul,
You are trying to demystify a lot of realities.
And if you are not curious to learn more about yourself,
About your existence,
Then probably meditation would not be very easy.
Well,
It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day and tonight as you lie down comfortably in your beds,
You are going to demystify this person called curious who exists in all of us.
So after you close your eyes,
You will try to imagine this character called curious and what makes him or her curious,
What is he curious about and does he or she find what he or she is curious about.
So these are some of the answers we will try to meet within ourselves as we try to heal through stories.
So after a brief pause,
I shall start with today's story called curious.
Never let your schooling interfere with your education.
There are those who do not learn at a school and then there are those who learn as if they are never going to need a school.
This is a story about the latter.
It is a story about a lad called curious.
He is curious about everything around him.
He is the one who asked a lot of questions.
He is the one who googled the most.
He is the one who chased butterflies.
Not because he loved catching butterflies,
But he loved following the journey from egg to lava to pupa to adult.
It's 6 a.
M.
And Monday morning.
Alarm rings.
While everyone else wants to spend another hour in the bed,
Curious got up before his alarm clock.
It is two hours to school.
Enough time for curious to explore the world around him.
Curious is a handsome young lad.
A little darker than the average Indian complexion.
But his mother always told him,
Hey,
You shine like gold in the sun.
He's very proud of his color.
You can spot curious from miles when the sun is out.
His smile can make a gloomy day brighter than usual.
Curious belongs to the Sidi tribe of Karnataka,
An Indian state down south.
Sidi tribe are from Africa originally,
Who came to India some 400 years back.
They did not choose their destination.
They were brought as slaves by Portuguese.
And eventually as Portuguese exited India,
The tribe was sold to Indian rulers and eventually found freedom to live a life they chose in the thick western ghats of India.
Curious barely knows about this dark history of his ancestors.
But what he knows and loves is his present and his surroundings.
The rain forest where he lives with his family.
As he ventured out in the forest,
He could name the birds with their sounds and trees with their leaves.
Having grown up in the western ghats,
Curious knows a thing or two about this natural abode of his and its endless beauty.
He lovingly calls his home God's own backyard.
Why else would it be home to at least 325 globally threatened flora,
Fauna,
Bird,
Amphibians,
Reptiles and fish.
His home is a special space.
Curious have met them all.
He doesn't have a mobile phone to show you the evidence.
But he can make those bird calls and most of the time the nature responds.
Monsoons are fast approaching.
That's his favorite time of the year.
Everything around him turns green.
As if a green sheet was thrown on top of everything.
It is only in the monsoons when those millions of birds and insects and other creatures create a cacophonous jam that can overpower the sound of any bulldozer trying to pave way for a new road into the jungle.
When curious heard these calls he realized why his parents called nature as their only God.
While others in his community love to pray nature,
Curious loves finding weird facts about it.
He is a collector of nature trivia.
That's what he does before and after school is done.
In fact he is jotting down the nature trivia at one place.
He walks around with what he calls his first book which has some precious information about his surroundings.
Curious does not have to google to tell you that western ghats are the oldest mountain range in the world.
1.
25 times the length of Alps in Europe.
His first book has over 5000 species of flowering plants,
139 mammal species,
508 bird species and 179 amphibians mentioned in great detail.
Oops sun is getting harsher.
It's time for him to head to school.
A place he has grown fonder of each passing day.
Curious is the first child from his community to get admission at an English medium school some 25 kilometers from his village.
He was the first child in his neighborhood to ever board a school bus.
He still remembers the first day when he went to catch a school bus.
The entire city community came to see him off.
Of course he had a tough time jelling with his schoolmates initially as he spoke another language and looked different than the most.
But he made a special place for himself with his batch mates by introducing all of them to the world of jungle.
Well today is a special day for curious.
At the age of 12 his first book is being published by his school.
The same book that talks about fun facts from the western ghats.
Publishers have decided to retain the original name of the book which is my first book.
Curious has dedicated this book to his mother and the introduction of the book reads.
Living in a rain forest you have to make friends with rains.
Living in a jungle you have to be in awe of nature.
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees through the forest repenting for what you don't have.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Admire and learn from what you have.
Tell the jungle about despair yours and it will tell you his.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes.
Over the streams and the trees that form canopies over those streams the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese high in the clear blue air are heading home again.
Whoever you are no matter how lonely the world offers itself to your imagination.
The world calls to you like the wild geese harsh and exciting.
Over and over announcing your place in the family of things.
Proudly holding his first published book.
Curious Rush is back home.
It is monsoons and he has to help his mother dry out kavandi.
The quilt made of patchworks before monsoon clouds take over the land and his imagination.
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Curiosity has its own reason for existence.
One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity of life of the marvellous structure of reality.
It is enough if you as your eyes are closed merely try to comprehend a little of this mystery about yourself,
About your body,
About your existence,
About sensations,
About your breath,
About who you really are.
So tonight I leave you with one question.
What are you curious about right now?
Just answer it to yourself.
Have a good night.
