Boredom - engagement of the imagination

I never knew as a four year old bubbly girl, my daughter Samiksha would come up to me and say "I am bored" and want to go to school. This is such a transformation from last summer, when my wife and I were short of having panic attacks, we were then actually goading and coaxing her to go to school and reasoning with her why children shouldn’t miss out on school and gave each other a high five each day after she boarded the school bus. Just when i had forgotten about this incident as an initial fear of a new place, i discovered the term Thaasiophobia - The fear of boredom. I was even surprised to read somewhere that this is common among the urban populace and can come in various forms -monotony, disinterest, torpor or simply apathy. Now this is not a simple thing to be dealt with as i have actually never dealt something like this. A similar complaint during my childhood days was promptly responded by "go read a book", "clean the car", ”go, play cricket” or "water the plants" or just run an errand. This probably led kids then to pick hobbies collect everything that was available -Stamps,Softdrink bottle caps, spinning tops, match labels, cigarette packs or do more creative things like building a scrap book of cricketing heroes or film stars for the more inclined or building models of automobiles and planes or get membership into a lending library. Talking of creativity, the first thing everyone talked about then ,was that of an "idle mind likened to the devil's workshop" and in the same breath cautioned that bored implied the mind being idle and degenerating (ugh!). Unlike most idle minds, Albert Einstein's was certainly more different. It is said that Einstein developed the theory of relativity when he was in a particularly bored state of mind (cool isn’t it, can’t even think what he could have done if he were to be any more focused)


Now, that still doesn’t explain whether bored people can be creative or creative folks get bored easily and either ways, it could be a good thing to get bored once in a while as long as it is a mere flagging of an interest and not lead to a longer lull or stagnation. My father -in-law, Dr C Sitaram (a renowned journalist) who has written an entire book on Schizophrenia, once casually told me the importance of being alone at least once during a day (This does not imply being lonely) and how this 'nothing time' helps to revisit memories and visualize dreams. I can tell you that it certainly does a lot of good to one’s temperament.and helps you feel your pulse.

Meanwhile, I am happy to see Samiksha talk to her toys and weave numerous make-believe stories around them and looking forward to the next birthday party of a friend and even more curious to know the theme of the party. I continue to spend my Saturday afternoons sitting in my balcony facing the swimming pool either reading or doing nothing. And being back in Eden (my balcony) doing nothing is not boring - It is peace!