Volume 5 · The Great Indian Bazaar · Essay 10

Adaptive Perfectionist

Adaptive Perfectionist is a small handle on a large fact. Grip it, and the fact becomes easier to carry.

The idea is simple, and like most simple ideas it is easy to nod at and hard to use. The nod is free. The use costs attention, every day, in small change.

Stand at a tea stall during a big cricket match and you will see a hundred strangers become one family in an evening. The same crowd, given a different match, can split over a surname.

Society is a long conversation; the only question is whether you are listening or merely waiting to speak. Keep the name. Use the pause it gives you. That is the entire homework.