Smart work, a work of great merit?

Origin of word:


Define smart (Source – Google): capable of independent and apparently intelligent action, showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness, painfully severe, quick and brisk and also chic: elegant and stylish.

Evolution of word:

People have left both positive and negative terms of smart word and stuck on to its neutral term, chic, elegant and well groomed. In long run, it turned out that, even if you don’t have the capacity to do it, you try to achieve it. Thus it indirectly implies, it is a crooked or cover-up work. So, smart work became skullduggery from directed drudgery.

Vindication:

At this occasion, I would like to recall third grade syllabus to your memory on usage of levers. Do you think expending the energy to move a heavy log would be intelligible or use a lever, exert less pressure at efficacious point would be meaningful? Yes, such utilizable information was taught at tender age, as we grew, we too transformed to crowd our mind with unnecessary information in the name of specialization at expense of basics.

Still finding it difficult to understand, take Need For Speed (NFS game). How many attempts would you take to win the race if you follow the normal route and how many, if you make use of short cuts hidden in the map? Don’t you save time and attempts by exploring short cuts hidden in the map?

From student to today’s military strategist, reconnaissance attacks(model exam, spied info) is the most preferred one to outsmart the competitor. Any Tom, Dick and Harry can do hard work which needs only cent percent commitment. Brute force password attack best exemplifies mere hard work. But to do a smart work, it needs far foresight of results, deep insight of situation and elimination of any possible oversight. Thus devise a foolproof approach to haul definite result utilizing resources in optimized fashion. Sniffer attack, Phishing attacks exemplify smart work. After this sickening scientific explanation, don’t you even have a tinge of feeling that, Smart work too is a hard work, but one with proper direction?

Conclusion:

First version: Hard work                          Latest version: Smart Work
                                  

"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I shall move the world." Archimedes (287 - 212BC)

Authored by: Kanagasabai Sivanadian Date: August 13, 2010 Images source: Internet

Are you Harry Potter||Frodo Baggins||Santiago||Oliver Twist?

Why fantasy novel heroes are ordinary and they are forced to achieve extraordinary feats?


This question was encountered by me at Deepak Sagar’s post in FaceBook posed by Nitin. I tried to answer this question and it struck to me that the space provided for reply was short and there is lot to write about, thus it gave birth to this blog!

Here Nitin discussed about Harry Potter and in later posts also cited Frodo of LOTR. In these fantasy novels, the above mentioned characters are very ordinary, do not have any extra talent or not even try to acquire such talents to counter their all powerful baddie. At the end they acquire extraordinary skills thru sheer destiny and defeat the invincible rival! Doesn’t it sound droll to you? They do not crave for publicity, instead publicity craves for them. And all the above they suffer for the well being of ignorant mortals and in return for their good deeds, they become immortals or legends!

Do these traits fit for fantasy novels alone? Nope, with slight alterations, they best fit for all commercially successful novels and films. Yes, films! The word film would have driven the message to your sixth sense. From Alchemist to Kane & Abel, Brave heart to American pie, you can associate yourself with any one character, live with them and also try to imagine a different situation to make the character look better and more successful than the original! ( Hey, you too transform into a novelist!   )

Yes, everybody wants to be hero, leader, icon, celebrity, matchless, indispensible part of society, savior of human race, chosen by divine providence and so on, but it needs dexterity in real life which many find hard to accept it as it involves lot of hard and smart works, so they want it thru fantasy methods and their heroes in these films and novels achieve it no time or by fantasy methods. Thus, they believe they have achieved it when the character gets it, they succeed when their characters succeed, they are humiliated when their character is humiliated, and the list goes on. But these feelings are secretly harbored by many, nurturing them in privacy and openly exhibited by few. The few forming lunatics and the many becoming polished cosmopolitans!

So, could we conclude that these novel writers are cousins to script writers of films? Both write stories which appeal to mass, spin out money and fame for them. So, should novel writers be allowed to share the credit of language, society, culture and human development? Do we need to shun the gullible child within us? Aren’t we treasuring our favorite childhood toys till today and first recollect the tales of our hero when any kid asks us to narrate a story.

Every human has his own dream hero. This mannerism got ingrained with humans’ right from he started to think about success. When books were not popular, local bigwigs and folklore legends were role models. Before films, novel heroes were icons. Dreams were centered on film heroes whose position has been taken by legends in real life. Still we do like all and secretly wish to be like them. Let us believe that we are heroes, do not lose the power of imagination and achieve feat. Let us keep the child within us alive!

Courtesy:
Images - Internet