Sun rises every 24 hours.

Sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

In the summer, the days are longer and the nights are shorter. Whereas in the winter, nights are longer and the days get shorter.

Day and night occur because the Earth rotates on its axis.

Remembered across the globe, these facts are the very basis of science education. But how many of these facts are ascertained by students themselves.

Dear Reader, did you check these facts yourself ?

No, no, no. By checking, I did not mean checking out on Google or Wikipedia or some other fancy software. I meant — By recording the celestial positions, using pen, pineapple, paper and geometry.

Aryabhatta, Aristotle, Varahmihira, Brahmagupta, Al-Sufi — all of them could do that, from scratch. With their limited mathematical craft and hand-made instruments, they could do what 21st century educated minds with the best telescopes and advanced mathematics at their disposal, would struggle with.

None of the above mentioned “scientists” knew about Andromeda or Big Bang. None of them could even imagine humans spacewalking and clicking selfies with mother Earth.

But, most of us know about Big Bang, we know about Black Holes and Time Travel. We know about the goddamn Schrodinger’s cat.

Can you observe this oddity ?

We do not learn how to prove basic stuff and we do not know how facts come from scratch. But we are well versed with cutting-edge developments, advanced theories and mind-bending abstractions.

This fascination for products and its passive intake - is what I call the Spectator Game.

Spectator Game makes people, the consumers of the trades that were once everyone’s business.

When did the common man divorce himself from the pursuit of reason, and endeavor of science.

When did the he stop dancing in circles, around the fire.

When did the he stop beating the drums with his own fists, and blowing air into the horn from his own mouth.

When did the he stop enacting tales of his own ancestors.

When did he stop painting bulls in the caves, and sculpting maidens on temple walls.

I do not know. But quite surely. He did stop. And so did she.

We outsourced our games to someone else, someone who could do it better. We gave our culinary to Starbucks. Our sports to ESPN. Our evening fire dance to SYTYCD. Our fables to Hollywood and our voice to THE VOICE.

Spectator Game not only made us helpless consumers, but it also made these crafts incredibly difficult to aspire for. The end products are packaged with spellbinding flawlessness. It is embarrassing for people to try it themselves.

The products capture us to an extent that we find our minor attempts ugly.

Our aspirations and our attempts that are integral part of the evolving process seem to puny and insignificant in front of those shining stars.

People who learnt music in their high school and now wear a corporate suit, do not evolve their music — because they are overwhelmed by the glitter of the products. Such people could often be seen criticizing Justin Bieber and fapping Pink Floyd. But their own music is left stagnated in the cult of conclusions. A disease of destination. A parching for products.

The troughs of the process is taken over by the crests of the finished products. The joy of the path is left unknown.

When we do not evolve, we settle for the ordinary.

That’s why Spectator Game is the secret recipe for mediocrity.

But, Spectator Game is not a personal affair. I would not even write this self-help crap if it didn’t have a larger impact.

Our major world problems — poverty, global warming, animal slaughter, plastic waste and terrorism thrive on our spectator-ship.

Most of us do not want a world devoid of life. Most of us know where we are wrong, but continue to commit the sins, in the name of the societal compulsion.

We watch the destruction happening, but have too little in our hands.

Spectators have no other option but to turn pessimistic about future. That is why spectators are the most terrible kind. They desire good but are of no use, and they contribute most to the momentum that society carries for the doom.

You can not be a spectator.

and as always,

Stay awesome.