Friends -

Long time!

I thank each of you who has been kind enough to notice my absence in iLand and bothered to drop a word or two in my guestbook or inbox.

Thought of scribbling something. I am giving Swami a break for the moment as I don't wish to start the New Year with a heavy post.

Here is a quasi-fictional account of one my nostalgic trips on this past vacation. Take it easy- very every easy. J My apologies if this one down here appears so soppy to some of my rather sober friends.

I will soon be back with Swami and seriousness.

The Journey

It's hard to find moon in the daytime.

Well, well quite obvious and intuitive, I must agree. Sun outshines moon any given day. The way of sun is to flood whatever he is falling upon, ruthlessly peeling off the very shroud of darkness his victim has been desperately draped with, thus bringing it to a naked, atrocious reality. How then can his much inferior celestial sibling be an exception! Sun outrages not simply the silent yet beguiling dignity of moon, but even its very existence quite true.

But moon can be visible on some days: up there, not much distant from a blazing sun. No I am not getting metaphoric here, it was put rather literally. On some days, on clean sky, you would be able to see moon sticking around in a hearty blue background a welcome change from its usual, dark nocturnal being - believe me! Now, please don't dampen me with when's, why's or how's - for a change, I am in no mood to speak science.

It was on such a 'moony day' when I set out for my village. Right above, further on my car's windscreen this exceptional sight rejoiced me. Now, I was even more beaming at the realization that my years spent amidst the senseless plurality of domino-shaped concrete cages couldn't yet desiccate my romantic self to make me so arid as to not enjoy such teeny-weeny pleasures the senses kindly offer at times.

Well I don't dare let all my feelings during the time spill out; I am sure you would get quite bored. What to do - it's all the same in any nostalgic trip to a country side of Kerala, isn't it? : Those same 'lush' paddy fields and the same old gentle breeze that sways them in random to form an exquisite palette of varied hues of moist green. The same sprawling canals denting their way up through an otherwise plane landfills. And if you are lucky to be from some of the best of places as I am, you would even have those awe-inspiring backwaters to treat the remainder of that old starry-eyed you. And then you have those places that are so very special to you: the school, the ancestral home, the meadow, hillside or riverbed you would always found yourself on 'those' years, the temple..

The temple! On such a trip down the memory line, Where else should I be visiting first ! My drive has got an objective cut out thankfully.

Granted, I have grown to be this type of an individual who is not very amused at the prospect of visiting places of worship thronged by legions of confused souls forcing and fighting each other before the sanctum apparently to get their piece of peace of mind. But the village temple! It was a class apart.

The Memories

It was where I, like most of you, spent some of the purest moments in my life. Moments marked by ingenuousness and nonchalance alike. The moments that could magically manifold even the slightest vibe that would have ensued of a positively disarming glance from some pair of young eyes: those amazing little reservoirs of boundless innocence and purity. The moments when you believed with cute naiveness that you were protected of all evil by that little carved batholithic mass in the tiny, dark and dusty recess that smelled oil, sandal or vermillion. Mornings were cleansed and revitalized with a brace of temple's enormous trees awakening to their photosynthetic best even as you would still be snoozing over that familiar euphony of holy chants quite sweet and gentle. Evenings were even more surreal either mystic or romantic or both, based on how the temple and its surroundings wanted to find you each day. The temple was a master mind-manipulator. Or better still, a great, friendly illusionist.

She

I always workout this entire wistful itch from the past before my dearest.

How strongly she always feels on hearing my nostalgic laments on the temple! Well- I would always become quite vocal and passionate when I talk of it. She knows it quite well, and she expresses great interest whenever I get nostalgic. I would have taken her interest to be out of her love and compassion, had it not been for those subtle yet perceptible shifts in her ex-pression during my blab. Her cute, rabbit-eyes get still wider with that babyish curiosity quite typical of her, her perpetual air one of innocent earnestness gets wonderfully sharper.

She would ask:

"Tell me, how big is the temple?"

"Small. It's scantily visible from as far away as half a kilometer"

"So , did you really spend so many hours there each day incredible ! I know how much you scorn temples these days" - A tinge of melancholy nestles in her voice.

"I don't scorn temples; who told you so ? I just don't visit them."

"Then, what is it that you like about this particular temple?"

"For me, it's not a place for worship; it's a temple-shaped memory"

"hmmm." she gives up, but not before making another pensive comment. "I wish I were with you in those times as part of your nostalgia"

"You are always with me"

"Don't talk to me. I am angry with you"

"What ! Why ?!!"

"Do you know how mean of you it really is! I was not with you back then. I don't want you to be nostalgic about a time and place I was not with you."

Sweet stupid! I would start snorting my heart out, but noticing her ex-pression having been remained grave, I would force purse my lips.

The Stop

Evening was still young when I took that familiar turn to the lean route that leads to temple. It lay before me as barren, blemished and bleak as it has always been: like a mangled blanket over a faceless destitute. But it is just a road, you know. Road to any lofty destination has to be unpleasant enough or so I would like to take it.

My vehicle creaked halted seemingly by itself a couple of yards from the temple surrounds. You don't have to struggle to find a parking lot in a place like this; I preferred to leave it where it stopped.

I came out to all-embracing purity - pure air, pure light and pure rustic aroma. My heart didn't throb or ached, my head didn't start wheeling in anticipation, my nostalgic itch didn't scale up to any eczemic proportion foretelling a prospective healing touch nothing.

But..

But somewhere deep within me something has transformed, and I could suddenly see me becoming me back yet again.

A bliss. Inexplicable.

The Feel

I looked around. The premises was practically deserted. I preferred to watch everything I wished to watch from a reasonable distance as I didn't exactly want to get inside. You don't actually need to go see the deity there to savor the nostalgic pleasure in being at the temple on such a trip; you don't need to see the sarcophagus inside to appreciate the beauty of Taj Mahal.

My eyes scouted about all over the place with a certain raunchy masculine eagerness like one of a young man getting exposed for the first time to an unclothed female chassis. On my face, I could feel the gust and scent of days bygone. From the trees to the grains of sand, from the pond to the pillars all looked to be in some silent brawl to being the first to seize my notice. I couldn't afford to miss anything anything. I let loose my senses, inciting them to stockpile as much as they could to stuff the nostalgic zone of my photographic memory to capacity. Mind is the best camera.

The Rendezvous

Out there, the light of nature kept receding. Shadows fell and fused against each other in lucid regularity bringing into being some very archaic darkness, waiting to engulf the structure like a huge impregnated cloud aching to sprout itself against an alluring land below. But then there came a more gratifying form of light to force it back, when the temple gradually transformed into a playhouse of numerous bantam light-bits relentlessly emerging, dancing, quivering and vanishing all over .My mind and eyes started hopping over the lamps in an uncanny rhythm. Is this might be what they call the spiritual experience? I was not very sure, as my realistic self was not yet ready to get carried away beyond its own sweet point; it kept telling me this torrent of emotions could well be something very subjective something could only be apparent to an odd and occasional visitor like me. I couldn't believe that any single soul passing by while I was standing there in mute amazement carried anything with them more than just a pinch of practical piety.

..just then..

A female silhouette so familiar stepped gently out of the temple with even more familiar movements. Familiar to each breath and every neuron of mine. Familiar to a fault.

It could only be she my love! How can she be here in this temple, of all the places!

The silhouette had by then advanced in dimensions, and so was my gape. She was nearing. I was sure she had seen me, but I couldn't see a trace of astonishment in her manner and movements even as she walked decidedly in my direction.

What had she been up to? Why didn't she give me an inkling of her visit? She knew I would come here this temple this day, anyway. My mind got swarmed with question marks.

She came close, stopped right in front facing an utterly clueless me.

I was speechless but for one curious ex-pression: "You. here.? "

"You didn't expect me right here, right now- did you?"

"No!"

"You don't expect the presence of the present when you indulge in your past, do you?"

I didn't give an answer. I didn't have one.

"But see I don't want you to carry such a beautiful memory devoid of me. I won't let you get nostalgic about anything that doesn't have room for me. But from now on, I know you won't be able to think of this temple without me. "

A pleasant puff of air blew over her hair.

She giggled. The temple at a distance sparkled bright in her eyes.

I was realizing how right she was! No sight in my life so far had ever bore me off like that: This temple and she. The temple my past; she my present.

I felt transcendent - caught in an osmotic interlude of segmented eternity.

Nothing had ever been more enchanting than seeing her with this temple in the background: present, with past in the background. No, it was the foreground that manifested majestically with her glinting presence, denigrating the temple even in its illuminative best to a mere pool of burning carcasses of dark antiquity hovering in worship of the newfound goddess. Her velvety elegance looked infinitely more striking than all those oil lamps around resembling the hostile host of crepuscular sunbeams fighting a losing battle against the gentle yet persistent lunar emergence.

I looked skywards: Night. The moon's triumph was absolute.

The Least Talked-About (Series)-4

Friends, let's now talk about Mind Mapping.

Mind Mapping, to me, is perhaps the most simple but effective way to capture, represent and share ideas. Although being used by millions across the glob today, Mind Mapping is yet to be adequately acknowledged by established corporate, academic and knowledge-management 'standard-setters'. As a loyal user and beneficiary of this technique, I wonder why Mind Mapping is not coming forth to occupy its rightful place in the intellectual mainstream. This post doesn't center much on the "how-to"s of Mind Mapping, as they are in plenty elsewhere- we can just Google them out. What "Swami & me" tries to explore here is the least discussed part of it : its potential applications in our professional and personal lives.

I tossed the book I was reading across the table to Swami:
"Take a look at this book! It just balled up my vacation hours! These self-help stuffs are gross rubbish these days! "

Swami didn't appear any too concerned. He kept on his typing, but not before commenting something like: "How can self-help be taught? Self-help is no more "self" when you read a book written by somebody else, is it?"

"Please can you stop it, Sir? I am not a superman or super mind as you are. I want to better manage my life - I feel overwhelmed. You retired guys won't understand" - I fumed.

Swami closed his laptop with a mischievous smile, got up and reached his Kurta's pocket for cigarette.

"Managing life is easy when you know how to manage time, people, knowledge and self "
"Big statement !" I responded with visible discomfort.
"Absolutely it really is easier said than done. But I know your problem. You simply don't have a method. You don't have a tool"
"What the hell is that, now?"
"Do you have a method or a tool to manage time, knowledge, people and yourself? OK managing people is a lot trickier. But do you at least have a tool for the rest of these ?"
"There is no single tool or method, as far as I know. One should use many of them to be able to do all"

Swami blew out a question alongside cigarette smoke: "Ever heard of Mind Mapping?"
"I think I have - that hierarchical tree-like representation that helps memorizing things, right? I remember trying my hands on that stuff in college- not particularly successful, though. I think I am not that "Visually Intelligent""

Mind Mapping and Intelligence-Types

"You are referring to those six intelligent types suggested by Gardner, I believe?", Swami asked.

I was happy to show-off: " Yes! Visual-Spatial, Verbal-Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Bodily- Kinesthetic, Musical-Rhythmic, Interpersonal and Intrapersonal And I know what you are about to say. Mind-mapping is best for guys with high Visual- Spatial intelligence - right?"
"That is what most books would tell you, but that point is not entirely true.."
"What does it mean?"
"Mind-mapping is for all. It can be used by all. I find I am high on Logical-Mathematical and Verbal-Linguistic intelligence; my Visual intelligence is far from being one of the best. I would prefer being home reading a classic cover to cover, to seeing a movie based on it. But see how a compulsive mind-mapper I am now!"
"Hold on ! What can we use Mind Maps for? make that clear first"

Too Much to Know, Too much to Think

Swami retorted: "Let me ask a question: Would you agree that the style of gathering and organizing knowledge have change over the years."

"Oh, yes, Swami, by leaps and bounds! Knowledge Management is not the same any more. A decade ago, a genuine inquisitor like me would hit the Libraries and would religiously scan the books index to garner information on a topic of interest. Things were not very easy. The issue was that we were not left with many choices. One had to be considerably fortunate to find the exact "stuff" s/he had been looking for.
Once the material was found, what follows was note-taking. For the next many days, you would adorn the library chair for this ritual that happily eat up countless productive hours- only to result in taking down some bits and pieces of information that you think are relevant. Later, the gathered information might well be turn out to be not as useful as you thought it should be .It is time to be back on the library benches -it might take many more iterations before you get what you needed.
Those were the days ! Uph what an effort !"

I was happy to see Swami was actually listening to me. I went on:

"Birth of the web changed everything. Search engines can now hunt down- more often than not- the 'exact stuff' for those who are on the desirable side of digital divides. The quality of information available from the net is still not a puritan's favorite, but it works well for many. It works better than libraries at least in terms of saved hours and offered options. Even if you believe books are the only authoritative sources, you may as well use the net to track down the right book, can skip through contents online, read reviews online and finally - order it online if not reading it as an e-book. These are happier days."

Swami broke me up with another question: "But you would also agree that managing knowledge is more challenging now, wouldn't you?"
"Of course, I would with a lot of information comes the challenge of managing them."

"Well - search engines lead you to the right page, but it is up to you keep what you need for future reference. Most researchers, students and professional & amateurish questers have their own ways of maintaining references - ranging from a few folders in their PC through shelf-fulls of print- outs. Some of are us are more systematic and organized than the rest and so those some of us actually know what is kept where (really !). But all of us agree on one thing - managing knowledge is ever more challenging now. That's precisely why we should adopt something that's flexible, simple and efficient to manage ideas and knowledge - and in my experience, nothing can do this job better than Mind Maps! "

What is a Mind Map, anyway?

"Swami just to refresh myself can you just tell me how do we Mind Map ?"

"Mind Mapping is simple, intuitive technique of organizing ideas. The bare minimum steps involved in the process of Mind Mapping are:
· specifying the central idea at the center of the canvas ( it can be a plane paper or a window of the drawing software - whatever)

· Starting from the central idea, drawing one or more branches (lines) each representing one idea that elaborates the central idea.

· From each of the branches with expandable ideas, we repeat the above process making sub-branches

· In the process, we may use different colors, pictures, line-styles, fonts and short notes to distinguish the ideas from one another.

· Be completely spontaneous and natural at least when you want the maps to be good memory aids

· When we finish, we get a diagram that rather looks like a tree as viewed by a bird flying over- A trunk( central idea) from where branches and leaves (sub-ideas, diagrams, notes ) run all over.

That's it - we mind-mapped! "

Why is it so powerful?

"Now let me detail. I am not going to give a thoroughgoing lecture on Mind Mapping. We have enough and more material available that teaches the "know-how"s of this technique. My focus is on it's applicability and benefits - for the simple reason that it is not being as widely as it should be.

Here is the simplest reason why everybody should mind map: Mind Mapping is the most natural and intuitive way of representing any idea. They are called mind-maps for their fine alignment with our thinking patterns and the way our mind organizes ideas internally. Consider our cognitive processes at any given point in time - on any subject. May it be a day-dream or a serious reflection - we start somewhere and let loose our mind to go catch a related idea. That idea would again branch out and would give birth to further ideas. It goes on, till we reach a point when we suddenly realize we are deviating from where we started, and we would then be back to the central idea and may start the process all over again.
Finally, when we are through with a particular contemplative session, we might have already made a 'tree of thoughts' in our mind. Had you put all of them somewhere with enough relationships between them, it would have looked exactly like a mind-map: being at the same place , reaching out for anything!
In short - I don't believe Mind Mapping is not a technique that was invented by somebody; it is so innate. It is just that we embody them on a sheet of paper or on a software canvas."

Our Lives and Mind Mapping

"Hmm.. if this is the most natural way of representing human thoughts, it should be a lot more useful than I thought it was- you are right, Swami !"

"Yes, and there comes the serious part of it. A mind-map makes a comprehensive representation framework in its own right. You won't believe, but it can be used in virtually every activity we do, and it is this natural flexibility that makes it a wonder-tool. Making it a part of your life - personally or professionally - gives you tremendous command over your actions. You would get organized without you realizing it! And, best of all, you save time - for it can be your one-stop-shop for everything you did, are doing and will do.

Of course - sermon is one thing, but putting it in practice can prove to be a bit tricky.
As in case of any system of practice, persistence is the key. Many of us may find it hard to leave the habituated systems behind; it can even appear counterproductive in the beginning. The solution is to just really get obsessed with it. Each of us can find an area where we can start with the application of Mind Mapping. This trial area can be a non-critical one - for a student it can be class notes of a supplementary subject, for a professional it can be an agenda for an ordinary meeting. For any one, it can be preparation of a picnic, a party, shopping or even in organizing activities for a weekend.
The benefit is two fold - we are getting organized while trying to adapt a new practice. It's much cooler to draw something like a mind-map to list things out and so, the more we do it the more motivated we get. The sheer fun of doing it can often tempt us to organize what we think and act - isn't that a great thing ? A prolific cycle of profits!"

Buzan the 'inventor'
"Who formulated this technique?"

"A name that has already become more or less synonymous with Mind Maps is Tony Buzan. Well, of course he did play his part in publicizing this method, but what surprises me is how he could possibly "own" something that has always been there. I am pretty sure that Mind Mapping is something so human-like, it's impossible to believe that human race had to wait for almost 60 thousand years since its origin to have this method "invented" by Buzan. He must have made good fortune by selling, reselling, packaging and repackaging the same stuff.
But the most astonishing fact is that he even managed to register Mind Maps in his name! (Now, my usage of the name Mind Maps without the TM superscript wherever I refer it can put me behind the bars. )It seems that he is far from finished; he still markets both the methods and the software for Mind Mapping as if this technique keeps changing every day if not every hour, while in reality, it hasn't a bit ever since I started using it (but the software does, I will come to that later).
Now, let me cease being devil's advocate for a moment and appreciate Buzan. Nobody in the world has contributed in the process of making mind-mapping the preferred technique of millions in organizing, brainstorming, learning and presenting ideas. It is now widely used among professionals, students, writers, journalists, scientists and even detectives! Buzan deserves the credit for it at least partially. But I like Buzan for giving the aptest description to mind-maps - "The Swiss army-knife of brain". That is what it really is - the most efficient multipurpose brain-aid."

Swami Classifies

Swami went on You know, I normally prefer to give rest to my tongue before Swami's eloquence.

"Now that we have seen Mind Mapping is a 'cool' way of binding brain with ideas, let's move on to the question of practicality.
I think the least-talked about fact about mind-mapping is that it has variants. I have not been able to see the a proper classification of mind-maps anywhere, and this makes one think there is only one way to mind map. I am personally not very impressed with this argument. My observation is that there are, at a minimum, as many as following types :
· Memory Maps

· Decision Maps

· Brain-storming Maps

· Reference Maps

· Organizing Maps

· Presentation Maps

The literature available today on mind maps don't really focus on the innate differences among these variants, and I think that is precisely what often leads to the ill-conceived idea that Mind Maps are nothing more than memory aid for students. Good-bye school, good-bye mind maps! If the proponents of this technique are really worth their salt, they should do more research on ways to improve and standardize each of them. Just throwing something before everybody out there and asking them to start using it will not hold much water.

Take Memory Maps. They are supposed to be optimized to remember things. Buzan's advice of making the map as picturesque and colorful as possible goes well with Memory Maps; so are the recommendations to use thick, sharp lines to branches in order to distinguish ideas from one another and to put down key-words in large fonts on each branch. In short, Memory Maps should be as strikingly ornate as possible - the key here is to make an image of the subject in what they call 'photographic memory'.

So far, so-so; now the real catch: Think I am an executive and I wish to use Mind Mapping in decision making. Why should I still use those pumpkin-sized fonts in my Mind Maps ? Why should I symbolize my boss with the picture of a donkey (even though it might sound tempting)? All I want to do is to collate the pieces of information, establish their associations, organize/ categorize them and thereby to find me comfortably holding a single reliable mind map that, if properly devised, should set my brain's decision-making engine in motion.

Brainstorming demands something almost entirely different. We need to put the ideas down as and how they pop-up. We would think of grouping or organizing them at a later time. What we often produce should look like a cacophony of lines, circles and words which, if did on plain paper rather than using a software, should make no sense at all just by looking at it. So, I would prefer not to call it a Mind Map, but a Brainstorming Map. That should later be translated or transformed to a Mind Map. But the question one might ask here is - where are the standards and processes for such transformation?

Reference Maps should be very simple Mind Maps that should work like a "table of content" of one's references (books, documents, downloads, URLs). Each idea can have one or more related reference. How far should it look like a Memory Map? Almost in no manner, I would say.

One other type of applications of mind maps is in organizing our tasks and to-do lists. I think this is where it should most widely be applied by all of us. I am so much used to the usage of mind maps to harness my hours now, I wonder how others can possibly do without them! Here again, that typical Mind Mapping technique of pictures and colors are not of much significance.

Do you understand my point here? I have been trying to demonstrate three major facts around Mind Mapping:

One- Mind Mapping is a 'potentially omnipotent' technique; but all mind maps are not the same.

Two- Even the most established Mind Mapping experts didn't care to establish an international 'Mind Mapping standard' though that could have well been assisted in smooth collaboration using mind maps.

Three-We are free to define our own standards and methods to do it, as this is a technique so very natural."

Why Is It so Democratic?

"Swami you have mentioned some categories, but didn't mention much on who can use which!"

Swami thought for a moment and grouped the users under of categories. The grouping looked something like this:

Memory Maps - Students, Knowledge-Freaks, Teachers, Doctors, Knowledge Professionals, Writers

Decision Maps - Professionals, Business Executives (and, all of us at times)

Brain-storming Maps - All of us

Reference Maps - Students, Professionals, Teachers, Doctors, Scientists (and all of us, at times)

Organizing Maps - All of us

Presentation Maps - Teachers, Speakers, Trainers, Business Executives

"Now, doesn't it sound great? Barring couple of very specific mapping requirements and scenarios, most of us can use mind maps in our day-to-day life to take control of knowledge, time and self. And how many of us are doing that today? I am quite sure that not even one percent of us have ever used Mind Maps in any form. This is no less unfortunate a situation than a self-imposed deprivation.
Mind Mapping is no rocket-science. As simple as it can be, making it a part of our life has just one sine-qua-non: to be open to this technique. In my case, I can confidently say that I had just done one thing - just taking a decision to use mind-mapping in my life. Decision was soon followed by action, implementation, perseveration and finally, obsession.
The fuel for this self-fostering life-cycle was the sheer fun of this activity. You can be as much creative and artistic as you wish in the process. At the same time, you can literally feel the relief of off-loading those nagging, pressing and haunting ideas and issues onto something other than your brain. There might be quite a few traditional modes of doing it - making a normal, linear to-do list, notes or indexes - but none can match the peculiar easiness and effectiveness that only mind-mapping can offer. Within a few days of practicing mind- mapping, you would notice something - that you will start wondering how others are doing without it! That's the magic of Mind Mapping."

Students, did you do your Mind Mapping today?

"That Catch-them-young call is as sensible in case of Mind Mapping as it is elsewhere. Had one ever got a chance to use Mind Mapping while being a student, he or she can carry that habit forward through out their lives without taking the trouble of acquainting with this technique. Let me give a bit of my mind here:

Students are among the ones who can reap the maximum benefits of this technique. From taking class notes to preparing assignments to devising time-table to memorizing essays to memorizing derivations - the academic applications of Mind Mapping are limitless. Students constitute the major chunk of all mind-maps users, and rightly so. But for those who haven't started yet - if you miss it now, it is going to be a miss of a life-time !"

"So, the students can use Mind Mapping to memorize things, primarily right ?"

"No Not only that ! There is another desirable side-effect of students doing Mind Mapping. After each of those cram, pass and dump cycles that get reset with each exam, we tend to bid a final adieu to the respective text book(s). Text books, for most of us, are annual or semestral companions that are destined to spend their life-after-exam (read life-after-death) in the attic or garage, as most of them cease to be eligible to be on our shelves and suddenly become scrap-dealers' favorites.

Here comes the role of mind maps yet again. At least some of us would find ourselves in situations in our later life where we would try to brush up our basics and in the process, would try so desperately to recollect something we learnt in school or college, only to realize the near impossibility of the exercise. But if you have got your old collection of mind- maps with you, you would be much comfortably placed. They can not only assist you in recollecting stuff, but can possibly kick start the process of associating some of the old academies with later knowledge, present-day realities and experiences. This can turn out to be a real 'beauty' - especially for professionals"

As a creative-aid

We all might agree that some of the best ideas in life come swiftly, out of the blue. It is important for the individuals who are in creative business and pursuits to tame this uninvited legion of thoughts and have them hosted somewhere safely, for further refinement and organization. We may wish to capture the reasoning routes and associations with them as well, to ease of the pain of making sense of them when we do a revisit.

Mind Mapping can be of great help here too. There is no single tool that can let loose our creativity and set it up almost in an auto-pilot mode. We start, progress and end the process of creating the maps as effortlessly as a sailplane glides through. The ability to track- back, retrace, revisit, associate and dissociate ideas make the process a cake-walk even while ensuring its end-product a real plum-cake of ideas! With Mind Mapping, we can capture, organize and process ideas- all at the same time!"

"But Swami, Mind Maps are hierarchical, and not so much "heterarchical" as normal semantic-network kind of representations. Don't you think this is a limitation in representing more complex associations of ideas?"

"That indeed is a constraint yes. But you are free to make such associations if you like. Nobody would restrict to play around with your maps that's purely your discretion. You may make connections among the branches in whichever way you like one has be careful only about the comprehensibility of the end-product. But if you use a software to do Mind Mapping, it will be much easier to do and will look much tidy. I think it's time to show something to you"

The Software

Swami switched on his laptop, more or less dramatically, to invoke an application labeled as "MindManager".

Swami did a short demonstration of MindManager. Believe me; I had hardly ever come across such useful, flexible, feature-rich personal productivity software in my entire life! In addition to inducing significant fun and elegance in the process of Mind Mapping, it was seen to be offering a whole range of functions to schedule reminders, to keep hyperlinks to local files and web-pages, to keep notes against each of the sub-topics, to convert a Mind Map to different applications including MS Office files, pdfs & web-pages, to share, to collaborate and to brainstorm!

"Mind Mapping software means MindManager to me. Frankly, I don't have any qualm in testifying its enviable supremacy over similar software. It's almost like 'you imagine it , we have it' sort of stuff. Mindjet's (the manufacturer of MindManager) claim of being "The Most Powerful, Comprehensive Software Application Ever Delivered for Visualizing and Using Information" holds true for most part. It's difficult to imagine a better tool not only to do Mind Mapping, but to be able to take total control of whatever we do and learn a great piece of work! "

"Is MindManager the only Mind Mapping software available?"

"Of course not. For those who don't want to spend much money, there is a freeware called FreeMind. It serves the minimum Mind Mapping requirements. I too started out my computerized Mind Mapping with FreeMind - why don't you download it and try it out? Then we have MindGenius and VisualMind; both are pretty good tools. But MindManager stands out, by all means!"

Mind Mapping without a software

"Swami is it really practical to make Mind Mapping a way of life if I am not in a position to use a software for it ?"

"Very much, I would say. The only tools required to make Mind Mapping a part of daily affairs are papers, pen, sketch pens/crayons and an open, creative and persevering mind. I completely agree that it can appear weird in the beginning, as is the case with any unconventional practice, but once we manage to get through that phase, there won't be any looking back. In many cases, doing Mind Mapping on paper is preferable to using a software. A homemaker might wish to organize her weekly shopping- list as a Mind Map, but using a high-end software like MindManager to do it would be as meaningless as using a sledgehammer to crack a nut !

Having said that, the wider we apply Mind Mapping in our lives, the more complex and unmanageable it can become if we are not using software. But it is far from a matter of real worry, because all we need to do then is to take calculated steps to organize the maps themselves. Interestingly, we can use a Mind Map itself to keep account of all other maps. Let me call it as a "Master Mind Map" or a "Meta Map". Imagine that you keep a book of sufficient dimensions to do all the Mind Mapping related to one subject-area. You may simply wish to dedicate the first couple of pages of that book of mind maps to indicate the contents of the book. But of course, each of can find their own ways of keeping check on the mappings we do."

"Have you also started this practice without the aid of a software?"

"Naturally! Mine has been a pretty long association. I will show you something. Open that drawer beside you."

I pulled it open to see almost a dozen big bundles of papers, neatly wrapped and filed. Their brownish shade augured their age, and it meant Swami must have had started this practice at least a good 15-20 years back! Some of the titles I still recollect were "My visits", "Books I read", "Lecture Notes" and "My researches".

"I have already scanned all of them into my PC. Take some of those papers if you like they should all be good examples to you".

.and Swami's Secret (just small beer )

"You might have struggled to produce these, Swami!"

"Quite the opposite! It was real fun to make them and was well worth my time. I used to advise my students to take a photo-copy of the mind map I had put together in preparation of each lecture. I am sure it made their lives much easier."

Well- that means Swami worked as a professor! We started our relationship on the agreement that I would never ask his past. Swami had been so incredibly elusive.

I resolved to grab the opportunity: " I caught you here, Swami ! So, you were a professor"

"I worked as a professor as well." Swami smiled and tuned his back to look out of the window.

Just then, only then - I saw it! The bottom-most set of Mind Maps wrapped around with a curious label "My CIT-J Days". My head started to twiddle like a top. CIT: Counter-Intelligence Team one of India's highly confidential intelligence groups! What.does this mean? I had heard some hearsay that buzzed around a while back - that Swami is an ex-spy who had served Indian Intelligence agencies- and most likely R&AW! And I am holding the proof of it now! Was Swami - A spy, a sleuth, an Agent?

"Imagine this:

You live in a city crammed with people. You are convinced that the life in the city today is no different from that of yesterday, and you are still more certain that it is not going to be much different tomorrow. You live aboard virtuous vices and vicious virtues of everyday life. Nothing seems to be going to change till the end of eternity.

And then it strikes. A catastrophe, a momentous one at that. It cuts through the nerves and veins of the city. It rips open its ribs of life. It runs over peace and annihilates predictability. It kills, kills and kills. It does so with most other cities and villages in the coeval world. It rampages everywhere - yes, everywhere you can possibly think of - for about two years. It then withdraws. You realize, with a little disbelief and great relief that you survived. Looking through the settling dust, you take account of spine-chilling facts: nearly half the population, not only of your city or country, but of the entire continent you live in, are not with you any more. They were all gone with the wind of disaster that has just blown.

Now my question to you is, what changes will it bring about in you life? What would happen to your life if you were a well-off business person before the calamity? What, if you were a farmer or a simple mechanic; a writer or a thinker; a professional or an ascetic? "

Swami paused. His pesky lopsided smile accompanied the question.

"Well...er...I can not say it for sure. But I am certain of one thing: It will turn my life upside down. It will affect everything from my personal to social life and the way I look at the world." I mumbled.

"Precisely!" Swami concurred to my relief. I faced up Swami with a fresh courage:

"But why this question, anyway? I don't think a catastrophe of whatever magnitude will be powerful enough to wipe out about half the population of a continent - unless it is an extremely unlikely meteor collation or something. I don't think even an earth quake to Tsunami would do that, would they? Hold back your imagination. I'd better go watch a Hollywood movie"
Swami's response was not so soft: "I won't blame your ignorance, you moron! When was the last time did you touch any History book? It is no imaginary stuff - they are all hard facts - facts about an outbreak of a decease that is aptly synonymous with death - Black Death (Black Plague)- a form of plague that struck the world in early 14th century! "

"But, did it.?"

"Yes, it wiped out not one, nor two, but around 40-50 percent of entire population of Europe of the Middle Ages!"

"Gracious me ...!" My jaw dropped. "Tell me more."

"Well- if you want to know about the causes and spread of the disease, you would rather get it from elsewhere. What I have done is to look at this huge disaster from a whole new angle, and to see how far the human race benefitted from it."

"Excuse me.! Did you say benefited?!!"

"So I did. Not merely benefited it, to me, was the key to much advancement we see today."

"You are kidding!"

Sunrise Renaissance

Swami didn't seem to care: "You know about the Renaissance period in Europe, right?"

"I do. Fourteenth through Sixteenth centuries AD ? I now know what you are about to talk: The role of Renaissance in blah, blah, blah, right?"

"Ready with your magnifying glass to have a close look at the Renaissance period in history.Ah here you go! European Renaissance is sandwiched between what Historians call the "Middle Ages" and the 'Modern Age'
Now the questions should be:

One - what put a stop to Middle Ages and how?

two -what brought about the Modern Era and how?

The advent of Modern Era that is marked by giant leaps in all possible fields one can count - Science, Technology, Engineering, Literature, Art, Philosophy, Medicine, Explorations and Social Life. Furtherance of human civilization is nothing but the collective advancements in these fields - would you agree? "

"Well - that makes a pretty complete list - I agree."
"Now, did you start getting a faint scent of what I am about to say? "
"Gee..I am completely lost. How on earth would you hold the outbreak of a disease cause the progress of civilization?"
"That is precisely the point I like to make, right. I will tell you how"

Disease takes lives; Science gets a life

"Take Science, for we can find the most subtle impact the 14^th century plague had on science. Science, as you know, thrives where, and only where, it manages to get off the hook of religion. It was not only the despotism of religions that suffered considerable setbacks following the disaster; the losers also included the systems around witchcraft, black magic, evil spirits and many the other manifestations of irrationality. When many minds in the society had grown exceedingly skeptical of anything that religions could offer to explain the endemic, reason got a chance.

Suddenly there was light! It was just a matter of time before an unprecedented array of scientists and branches of sciences were pullulated in intellectual Europe. The flag bearers included Copernicus, Harvey, Kepler, Galileo and Newton..."

"Wait a minute- but not all of them lived closely after Black Plague. Copernicus and Newton are separated by more than a century. Don't stretch things too much, Swami .."

"We are not talking about a revolution here, mind you. We are talking about an evolution. The Black Death was the very springboard of that evolution. How do you think these great minds got the courage, conviction and the motivation for divergent thinking? The world had by then transformed to provide enough receptivity for them and their thoughts. The heliocentric theory is a good example..."

"To that point again- Galileo was persecuted no end for what he said, even after many hundreds of years after the great disease. How can you then say that the society was receptive?"

"That's an interesting fact. Yes- the Church and other establishments regained their strong grip when Galileo worked. Things had been slightly different in the time Copernicus, when the monitoring and control of the Church was not as firm. I strongly believe this must have helped Copernicus who, despite being a church canon, could work out a radical astronomical model in his spare time. Also, Copernicus kept on downplaying his work and findings - unlike Galileo, who didn't mind calling a spade a spade, and not a diamond.

In any case, Copernicus was a product of a transformed world. My theory is that, if there was a change, there would have been a cause - that cause were the Black Death and the intellectual riddles that it left for the humanity to solve. Here is the chronology of scientific advancement that followed Black Plague ..."

Swami took a piece of paper to put down an outline that read :

Black Plague -> Devastation ->Religions fail to account for->Temporal drift away from religions->Minds open up- >Out-of-the-box enquiry->New scientific paradigms

Technology ?

"All right - Now, tell me how the epidemic assisted technological advancements"

"That's even more interesting - Engineering and technology received the proverbial short in the arm past the disease, in a strangely indirect fashion.
We have seen how Black Death brought down the population to an incredibly new low. This resulted in sever labor shortage, the social implication of which we will see shortly. But it did have an insidious side-effect. The social, economical and intellectual elite in Europe found it immensely tough to cope with this huge labor deficit. There was suddenly a heightened demand for alternatives to human labor. In no time, necessity started giving birth to inventions, and both engineering and technology broke away from the confines of a privileged few and percolated into the social mainstream.

I must confess that this theory may not be substantiated with a list of revolutionary inventions made at that time. But this newfound interest of every household in low- end engineering and technology was refreshingly productive and propelling, the accumulated impact of which would have ultimately resulted in lot many future inventions. An impact so powerful, it helped shape the infinitely innovative engineering geniuses like Da Vinci.

This is how it worked: Black Plague -> Devastation ->Reduction in labor force->Need of alternatives-> Awakening in fields of engineering and technology->New inventions

Philosophy: World starts to think out-of-the-box

The biggest aftermath of the hugely destructive disease was that the Religion(s), for the first time in history, was pushed to the back seat. The degree of human trauma caused by the pandemic was inexplicable in any means. Contemporary religions were entirely failed to respond sensibly to the question of why their people were bound to suffer so much.

Yes, there were numerous instances of the usual ordeals: that of holding Jews and their ilk responsible for the misery and that of killing them en masse - the sort of actions that are quite typical of religious slow-wittedness. But all these deeds were short-lived. Human intellect soon reclaimed its captainship, and sense prevailed over nonsense.

That was a grand beginning of a new era of wisdom!

Too many existential questions were in the air, many of which had never been asked so far. Why were made to suffer to this extend, if there is a God ?If there is, is he a savior or a sadist ? If there is a hell up there, why should earth be a living hell ? If the suffering is indeed a punishment, how can so many people be sinners at the same time ? Why some are still survived ?
That transpired a series of radical philosophical paradigms. Slowly but steadily the humanity regained those lost pearls of wisdom garnered through the Socratic tradition of quest and enquiry. They were now all set not only to polish them up, but to add new ones to their kitty.

The two major pillars of philosophy thus took shape - Humanism and Existentialism ( a crude version at that).

I would say humanism was a direct product of the turbulent social psyche hit by the devastation. Humanists were characterized by their nonconformance to religious doctrines and their minds conditioned for enquiry. Their quest for truth had made way to some very perceptible and immediate results. All of the humanists might not have been scientists themselves, but their quest for truth intensified the scientific temper across the board.

It was these pre-renaissance Humanists who revived the ancient scientific wisdom through translations of and revisits to ancient Greek works of science. This hugely chipped in to the then existed knowledge-base in most areas - astronomy, physics, biology, medicine to name a few. The finest example is the resurrection of millennia-old heliocentric theory and Pythagorean philosophy that were long lost, and the consequent impact they had on the minds of the Copernican school of astrophysicists as some robust alternatives to theories propounded by Ptolemy and Aristotle.

This is how it worked":

Black Plague -> Devastation ->Existential Dilemma->Humanism->Enquiry->Revival of old wisdom and new answers -> New philosophical paradigms

Expeditions and conquests

"Do you have some theory to explain the numerous travels that came with Renaissance you know how important they were!"

"Let me try-
As I told you, ideas were blooming and blossoming all around. As one may well make out, any society that is intellectually advancing would naturally be inquisitive as well. They tend move around as much as they can. Humans have an inherent flair for travel; the only bottlenecks can be the right technology and monitory support. Let's dissect the eventful centuries that followed the Black Death to see what went right.

The society had indeed psychologically transformed to a more courageous and 'driven' one. Death was not an obscure terrain any more, thanks to the prolonged exposure to it. This might have induced a new brand of daredevilry into European minds. No land however strange, no travel however ferocious caused the same original awe any longer.
European explorers were also excited about the prospects that Copernican theories offered. At least, they were now sure that they are not going to fall off from the edges of the flat earth. This scientific revelation, coupled with circumstantial necessities seems to have brought out the best from the explorers of the time.

One of the other factors that stimulated this avalanche of travels was linked to a rather unanticipated area - the religion. The setback religion suffered during the death dance of plague prompted them to take calculated measures to regain the lost glory by spreading themselves out. Prince Henry the Navigator, described by many as the parent of European maritime travel had little more than religious reasons in mind when he sponsored multiple voyages to Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

The historical wallops of plague over the conquests and colonization of the period were enormous. It is almost safe to say that the reestablishment of Ottoman Empire and glorious victories of Ottoman Turks enjoyed around fourteenth and fifteenth century were direct aftermaths of the Black Death. With luck by their side, Turks were not affected by the disease till seventeenth century. It was a thus much easier work for them to outsmart and conquer many of their East European adversaries. This series of invasions would ultimately lead to the 1493 siege of the Constantinople by with the Turkish Ottoman Empire.

You know what followed this capture! The principal land root to Far East was abruptly estranged from European travelers. Almost all legendary voyages in later fifteenth and early sixteenth century -those of Columbus, Vasco da Gamma and Ferdinand Magellan were caused by the siege of Constantinople.
So, next time when somebody argues the Discovery of America or European Colonization of India have a plague connection, don't laugh that away wholly!"

Swami scribbled his formula down:

(1)Black Death -> Devastation ->Devil-may-care minds -> uninhibited expeditions

(2) Black Death -> Devastation -> weakened Europe->Rivals seal land roots->Novel voyages

Socio-ideological

"The endemic gave rise to a plethora of social, economic and cultural shifts. In it can one find the early rootage of many ideologies that would change the course of History forever - Communism through Capitalism! With the stratification going haywire, society was back into its primordial clay-form, ready to be modeled and molded yet again.

Hectors of land suddenly became 'available' next to the deaths of their owners, as a result of which the income of survived landlords were hit significantly. Adding to their woes, the labor-class in the society had gained a lot from the sudden demand for manual labor. The wages soared up. It can rightly be considered as the beginning of the end of feudalism. As a result, there was a new phenomenon prospered among landowners: a kind of competition that demanded a strategic and systematic approach to do business. On the other hand, the lower social strata realized the benefits for working-class unity and collective bargaining. Thus the post-Black Death Europe has formed the seedbed of the two ideologies that are mutually antagonistic Capitalism and Communism! Clear? "

"Quite possible!"

"Do you know the individual who has by far played the most perfidious, but very unique, April fool prank on humanity? "

"Who is that David Blaine or Harry Houdini or somebody?"

"No they can only play instant antics. I am talking about somebody who tricked the whole world with his life! "

"Life? Sorry, I think I am quite following you. Who are you talking about? "

"Sidis. William James Sidis his birth on the April fool's day of 1898 marked the arrival of the greatest brain our planet has ever witnessed.

And when he departed the world in 1944, he left behind a host of shattered hopes that were knitted around his bright but bizarre childhood; a flock of farfetched prophesies that missed their marks by light-years, and all that blindingly keen limelight that had been hovering over him all along without his permission - leaving the torturous world guessing ever after. Well - if that was not the worst possible act of April-fool, then what else is?

Let us cut back to 1908 United States real quick....

A normal evening. A rather nerd-looking 10-year-old completes a list of corrections after citing some "wrong paragraphs" in the manuscript of eminent Harvard Professor Josiah Royce's book on Logic.

That's right. 10-year old correcting Harvard Professor of Logic. You heard it right!

Correcting heavy-duty books is not new to him. He had done that with E. V. Huntington's mathematics text 2 years back. After all, this boy is an author of four books in anatomy and astronomy himself - that he wrote between the his ages of four and eight!

But there is still more to this boy...

He has been reading The New York Times since he was one a half year old.

He knows systematic typewriting from his age of three. He had known enough Latin at his fourth birthday to complete reading an entire book in that language. In the same year, he learned Greek alphabet and read Homer in Greek.

By six, he had learnt Russian, French, German, Hebrew, Turkish and Armenian. He could also calculate mentally the day for any date in history. A year later, he graduated grammar school.

Last year, when he was still 9, he cleared Harvard Medical School and MIT entrance examinations!

Yes.

His name was William James Sidis! The man with an estimated IQ of around 300, the highest ever recorded."

I could feel goose bumps all over my body when swami ended his dreamily vivid flashback, "Wow what a prodigy!"

But then, swami went on with his words:

"One would expect him to formulate something of the magnitude of Grand Unified Theory as he grows up, correct? - Instead he delivered notoriously mediocre materials such as a transfer guide to the District of Columbia, a book on The Tribes of the United States and some works on streetcar transfers. His best contributions were limited to some least readable philosophical works. (Of course, there were occasional "hisses" of talent - such as, he is said to have theorized the existence of Black Holes, much earlier than Chandrasekhar did it). By and large, he produced little stuff of real significance."

The prodigy and prodigal learning

"Why?" I asked.

"To understand Sidis and his failure, we should know his background. William Sidis' father, Boris Sidis, was no ordinary person himself. As a world-renowned psychologist as he was, his obvious interest laid, among other things, in the way the human intellect is shaped. It wouldn't be entirely wrong to argue that he found a potential object for his experiments in his son. It was none but he who more or less "modeled" William's brilliant mind, but the methods he had chose to do it were unprecedented, belligerent, merciless and for most part, out-and-out cruel !

Can you think of a father relentlessly teaching a toddler in the cradle? Well- that was precisely what William's father did. He taught his son at proverbial sea-land - and-air, left-right-and-center, while sleeping and while being awake.

Father Sidis remarked that"Education must aim at the bringing out of the genius in man". He went on to appeal the parents world-over: "I appeal to you, fathers and mothers... to turn your attention to the education of your children, to the training of the young generation of future citizens".

His motive was obvious: his wanted his son to be a living proof of his methods of learning and teaching. Right or wrong? I don't know.

But Sidis the failure is said to have a lot to do with his parenting, as much as Sidis the prodigy.

In any case, little Sidis was nurtured extraordinarily and came up extraordinary. As I mentioned, he achieved all that incredible intellectual feats and much more as a young boy.

But one close look would expose a disaster brewing side-by-side with the obvious prospects of an astronomical genius.

A child has to get what a child deserves. Knowledge and intelligence is one thing, but there is also something called childlike tenderness, overlooking which might have backfired in Sidis' case.

Young William Sidis, quite predictably, was the cynosure of the entire early-20th - century world. We know how frenzied the public and hence the media would be, when they happen to know about such a prodigious child among them. As a biographer puts it:

"...he lived in a goldfish bowl with the world watching his every move..."

It was exasperating and frustrating for a young genius to find all of his dear childhood was robbed off by his guardians and his space cordoned off by media - for the sole crime of being too smart, so much so that he, though subconsciously, might have conceived that super intelligence comes with super pain.

Academic Sidis
"He must have worked wonders at the school and college, right"

"There was a gap between Sidis joining Harvard and his completion of High- School, for the obvious reason that he had just blazed away in his studies, taking much lesser time than his peers. He utilized this period to learn advanced mathematics and to read Einstein.

The point to be noted here is that he used to do things best when he was working and learning from outside any established academic frame work.

Twelve-year old Sidis then proceeded to Harvard. He was admitted there as a "special student", in recognition of his brilliance.

He was too geeky to get along comfortably with his college mates. You can imagine how it would be like to be in company of a bunch of bullies making fun of you for being too young, too brilliant, too inept socially and of course, for being a Jew ( After all, it was early 20th century West).

He was a classical misfit for Harvard.

As in the case of any brilliant mind, Sidis had had a world parallel to his curriculum. He interest that time was set in a whole array of knowledge areas on can think of: Science (especially astronomy), mathematics, humanities, anatomy and even political science. Interest in the case of Sidis would mean being tremendously engrossed on each of these. Mind you, his brain was too smart to be object of analysis by mere mortals.

In any case, he was unsuccessful in Harvard for his standards, so to say; his grades were a moderately impressive "'cum laude" rather than the topmost"magna cum laude". (Well- you would better understand it if I say 'A' rather than 'A+')

These words from Sidis sum it up:

"I hated Harvard... anyone who sends his son to college is a fool -- a boy can learn more in a public library".

His next misadventure was to accept the post of a lecturer of Mathematics in Rice University. His familiar state of being browbeaten had been carried over here - with the sole change in the bullying party - this time it was the turn of his students. They had found a real chump in their introvert professor who was way too younger than them. It took almost a year before that 'torture of teaching' finally coming to an end.

And yes - he had been tightly followed by the media through these years.

For a final time, William tried to cope with the education system by enrolling in Harvard Law School. And once again, it was proven to be not his cup of tea.

So, in 1918, at the age of 20, he decided to call it a day from academia."

Jobs a genius would like to do!

"Towards the end of his academic career, Sidis had developed a strong interest in the Leftist values and Marxian ideology. He was arrested for allegedly "inciting violence" in a May day rally that time and was in fact sentenced for an captivity of more than an year!

That incident perhaps marked the end of William Sidis, the prodigy and the birth of William Sidis, the fallen star.

The next 26 years of his life are marred by protagonism, unorthodoxy and obscurity. He expressed this in an interview:

"I want to live the perfect life, and the only way to live the perfect life is to live it in seclusion"."

He used to take up petty jobs such as a laboratory assistant ( which he resigned upon finding that he was working to a military plot - he still maintained some values ! ), as a Russian interpreter etc., and then went on to work for throw-away salaries in a host of labors that involved operating some machines .

His major challenges during these tenures were to hide his real identity from his employers. He made it a point to leave the job if caught.

His seclusion and eccentricity were aggravating. He died in remarkable obscurity at the age of 46"

Recipe for disaster

"Quite tragic. I don't see a reason why this happened. Has his life been analyzed properly! "

"Though one of the most deservedly overlooked geniuses, Sidis has been the object of many an analysis - especially one of psychogenetic. Read any literature on him, and you would find a comparatively shorter description on his life and achievements, followed by a much elaborate analysis of "What Went Wrong". I can't say this is improper, comparing the potential Sidis had with what he actually delivered to humanity.

The simple question is - how a person with such a prodigious adolescence and with an IQ that is almost twice that of even many Nobel Laureates could have such a downfall?

We have seen his father's rigorous teaching methods, and how it might have later backfired. It is this overzealous surcharging of Sidis' tender brain in his childhood is the most often discusses theories around his transition from prodigy to nothing.

There is no doubt that parents should apply extreme caution when they experiment with children. Such experiments would yield fast results, for young minds are as tractable as a programmable devise, but an unnatural nurturing can also precede an unnatural adulthood.

But there is a more interesting angl