Friday, December 22, 2006

Individualistic influence

After completing donkey’s years on the surface of the earth, it’s safe to say that I have learnt quite some things in my life (so far) simply by being influenced.....either directly or indirectly.


One of my earliest influences was in the form of my Trigonometry teacher in my PU. He was a strict, no-nonsense guy who was touted to have less patience, and an even shorter temper. Anyone found whispering during his class would be treated with a sharp thwack of chalk followed by an angry bellow to 'get out'. In spite of his temper, he was a wonderful teacher, very devoted to his work. He possessed an artistic handwriting, so very straight and sharp that it looked absolutely wonderful on the black-board! One particular alphabet which caught my fancy was the letter ‘S’ and till now,after all these years, I follow the same style of looping my ‘S’es in a cursive manner. And I was not even conscious of picking this trait up!


With life threading its course, I picked up quite some traits en-route..... like saying numerous ‘Achaa?’s in the course of any conversation, punctuating my sentences with one particular pattern of ‘Ummm’s , folding my letters in a specific format (oh yeah... I enjoy writing letters), using plastic to the bare minimum, being a (near) fanatic about saving water, .....so on and so forth...till I can proudly list my so-called idiosyncrasies.


Parents are undoubtedly the role models for most of the ‘influences’– the ‘chip-of-the-old-block’ factor. With more exposure to the outside world, we tend to pick up the best (and sometimes the worst) of some people around us. Why? The most plausible explanation I have come up with is this - these people tend to inspire/impress us at some level which prompts us to behave like them......if not completely then at least through some visible positive gestures. The more the inspiration/impression, the more's the influence, sometimes at a very sub-conscious level. Then again, is the 'acceptance factor' - the urge to get accepted. Unfortunately, if one has the urge to 'be like them' rather than just 'be one among them', it's one sure-fire path to disaster.

So, if I have influenced you in any way, it better be good!

16 comments:

Sharath said...

Being influenced from somebody who inspires/impress you, could be one explanation. Fundamentally its the reward seeking nature of human beings I believe. Traits you see in such a person, you tend to copy.

I could recollect several such influences, my kannada hand-writing(curvaceous head stroke instead of straight line)is influenced by one teacher and then there are so many others:)

GuNs said...

All of the people in my friends circle mouth a particular dialogue made famous by our Math teacher in 11th and 12th std. Somebody has to suffer!, he used to say. Now even my friends who arent from my college and have never seen this guy use this dialogue and it seems SO true in so many situations !

-PeAcE
--WiTh
---GuNs

Avinash said...

People tend to imitate to learn and then to develop their own style of anything. Thats quite natural. Mukesh started imitating K L Saigal.. eg. So nothing wrong in getting 'inspired/impressed'.. :D..

Anonymous said...

Love the blog, hope you keep updating it - Blogs I visit seem to dissapear often :(

Chitra said...

-/Sharath
Hey Sharath...this is something new. Could you explain further?

-/GAR
Tee hee!! Most of the times, the person who tends to influence most seems to be teachers!!

-/Avi
Hoon....adu howdu. Good point...but adakkoo limit irabeku alve....

-/Anon
That's one of the best compliments I've received! Thanks!

Avinash said...

Right. You should start like Mukesh. But not end like Annu Malik... :P..

Junius said...

me too is absessive abt saving water, fuel, electricity....
even small things do matter isnt it..?..

Chitra said...

-/Avi
He he...adu yaaru maaDidru pa?

-/Endevourme
Tee hee...small is beautiful, is it not?

Junius said...

mmm...depends, not always hehe :D!
here its because integration of small eventually becomes large...

Thenraj said...

I am impressed and get influenced by many number of people like my father, My school teachers, College Professors, Friends...i can say the every people i am met, meeting influence me a lot..cos everyone is and will having a unique characteristics and that will be useful in many ways in my life...i respect all of them..and wish all of them a very happy and prosperous new year.

Anonymous said...

people who want to influence intentionally are practicing prostitution(m/f) people who encourage them are pimps and people who fall into them are infidel.

people who influence without a touch of intention live out a character are called characters they are encouraged by other characters and people who rise out of their influence are also characters.

The biggest ignorance and weakness is to treat prostitution as a character.

Like begets like.

Chitra said...

-/Raj
Everyone??

-/Anon
Intentional influence? From the influencer's perspective? Well...if it's forced, it loses its meaning...

Anonymous said...

hey chitzz,

you impressed me with ur style of writing but what to do i aint smart enough to emulate that in the near future :)

Chitra said...

-/Avenger
Wow...did I? *one-big-smile-on-the-face-expression*

Khushi said...

good post madame :)

Chitra said...

-/Khushi
Thanku thanku :-)!