Being Random

We humans are interested in many things. We like to make generalisations of what we observe. Later we frame hypotheses and come up with theories. We go on to conclude that things happen the way they happen because of a reason and that's how they always happen.

At the other extreme, we are also fascinated by things that we can't systematically generalise. Those are the things that happen at random. Simply put, something is random if it can't be predicted. It is funny that many things that we really care about in our lives are random: occurrence of rain, the gender of a baby to be born, prices of shares in the share market, choosing the winner of a lottery  prize(if it is done honestly of course) etc.

Sometimes these random events bring sorrow to us. That grief increases because of the fact that we can't control them. But when they bring us good news, then our joy knows no bounds. A good thing happening is one thing whereas the same thing happening when it is least expected is totally another.

But one thing is true. Life will be very bland without this randomness. Just imagining that everything is systematic and can be predicted before it happens is very boring. In fact, life is all about uncertainty. We wake up everyday without knowledge of what life has in store for us for that day. We experience a thrill in exploring the unknown. We enjoy listening songs in shuffle mode. We watch anxiously to see which team wins the toss before a cricket match. All this is the beauty of randomness.

So when life gets boring, try something out of the ordinary, be unpredictable everyday. Surprise everyone. Join the madness, join me in... being random.