Golf courses are open, but the aura of the game has dimmed. The weather is pleasant this June, however the pandemic seems endless. Golfers have abundant time; on the other hand they are reluctant to tee off. Gas prices have fallen to unprecedented lows still no one wants to drive. All of us have nothing to do, even so we refrain from going out. Restaurants are open nevertheless most of us are unresponsive. As B.B. King sings, “ Thrill is gone baby.”
Everyone welcomes the shift from complete lockdown to smart lockdown and some of us do it more enthusiastically, others animalistically violate it from all angles. As a result conditions are deteriorating again in many countries. I have decided to pause going to the office, playing golf and socializing once more. For a golfer and entrepreneur it is not easy to sit at home. It’s the blogger and writer in me that administers my day during quarantine. Putting golf on a standstill expasterates me but writing about it provides me comfort.
Usually wives and husbands want each other to come home on time but lockdown has cooled off their wish to have one another closer. Spouses’ long lasting desire to be together more is evaporating in thin air. They just want to see each other leave home for work or whatever. Despite their love for each other, they both are getting impatient with one another. Distance and space between couples make relationships tenderer and stronger.
Being at the golf course makes my day more delightful. Staying away from it, makes me feel kind of zombish. I remain slow, sluggish, drained, empty and irritated. I wonder whether it’s sheer addiction or no exercise syndrome that brings upon those feelings.
In order to escape such inconveniences, books are the best refuge. I know audio and online books are a great facility. I used to enjoy it but for the last couple of days I feel nostalgic for conventional paper books. The aroma of the paper of a new book, the unbended cover and the shuffling of the pages that bring a smile to an excited reader. Some of us get satisfied merely by the purchase of a new book, as if the cashier has transferred the entire content into our pocket. A few assume as if they have acquired knowledge that sits on the shelves by merely walking through the library. They amble out in a scholarly style.
I used to keep a distance from the library and bookstores while I was enrolled into an educational institution. The fever of reading came much later. I had excelled in the art of false pretenses and the disguise of an intelligent student. I was a struggling poet and successful pseudo linguist. Like I am an almost-golfer and approximate-writer nowadays. Whatever it was, my career has kept a space to fill in the blank. One thing I learned out of all such activities is that staying close to reality gives us an opportunity to improve and advance at any stage of our life. Time wasted and age spent can’t be recovered but we can increase proficiency at any period.
It’s great to learn instead of trying to hide our inefficiency. I have made it a habit to learn one new word by heart daily. It amazes me how many words are out there that I am unacquainted with. If you are interested in improving your vocabulary, you can subscribe to Word Genius.
Language, knowledge and information in this century are infinite; our entire struggle to learn can only be a glimpse and never a grasp. One needs an extension of the brain like a computer and internet in order to swim through the sea of cognizance. Better late than never. Only those who accept that they understand less can learn more. The learned fellows that insist they are wisest of all are not enlightened at all. Claimants of having full mastery are either ignorant or arrogant. People that are students in their true spirit regardless of age and designation will comprehend further.
"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” Shakespeare
Humans are a miniscule entity on a minor planet in an infinite universe, how can they declare knowing it all. So learning is a continuous human bid. Knowledge is a common property not an individual enterprise. Mankind as a whole can attempt to achieve greater aggrandizement in erudition, solo only a fraction of it can be attained.
He knows countless chapters of the sciences
But that wrongdoer does not know his soul
He knows the properties of every essence
But can he tell his own essence from an ass?
'I know what is licit, what's illicit'
But what about your self? You cannot say
If you're licit or illiterate
...
You know religion's grounds and rules, and yet
Look to your own roots, are they sound or not?
Rumi
Credit
YouTube
B.B. King
Business Insider
As You Like It by Shakespeare
Masnavi by Rumi
By
Ahsan Jamil
Golfer, author, entrepreneur, blogger, poet, wanderer
Email: golfaij@gmail.com
Website: golfaij.com