Volume 5 · The Great Indian Bazaar · Essay 158

Naive Curiosity

There are ideas that shout. Naive Curiosity is not one of them. It waits quietly until the day you need it.

It is worth keeping in your pocket not because it is always right, but because it is always available. A tool you carry beats a perfect tool you left at home.

What this concept offers is a pause — one extra beat between what happens and what you do about it. Civilisation, someone said, is measured in that beat.

During the monsoon, one clogged drain teaches the whole lane about the commons. Everyone kept it clean, everyone assumed someone else owned it, everyone waded home together.

Society is a long conversation; the only question is whether you are listening or merely waiting to speak. No ceremony needed. Begin with the very next decision.