As our boatman slowly steered the boat towards the temples of Abu Simbel in Egypt, the gentleman sitting next to me recalled the first glimpse he had had of the sculptures. Before the days of the internet or the cell phones. “I was curious about what we would see. Not having any idea about what to expect, I was wonderstruck by the first sight. And my whole being has archived that feeling.”

His words stayed with me. What also stayed was the word ‘curious’ and the feeling that generated. The apprehension, excitement, the not knowing but the desire to experience, wonderment, eagerness, alertness, interestedness….all coming from Curiosity.

What is curiosity? How do we build it?

Curiosity is the need to know and explore; to learn and, at a deeper level, understand the unknown. And for the truly curious, what also gets revealed over time is the littleness of what we do know or understand. The eternal student. In a constant state of wonder of what more will unfold.

Building curiosity

Curiosity is a tool and a skill that we can work upon to make our lives richer. For that, we could do the following –

• Cultivate a mindset of asking questions like ‘what if,’ ‘why not’, ‘how’ and ‘why’.
• Meet a diverse range of persons, interested and engaged in what is happening around us. It gives us unexpected insights.
• Join groups or clubs of persons who share an interest in a subject or subjects that we are deeply curious about to exchange ideas.
• Practise active listening, where we genuinely listen to people.
• Read widely.

Making changes in our attitudes and actions

We could focus our energies on studying something in depth. But we could also, at the same time, be open minded and curious as individuals.

Humility of not knowing, of being an eager student, also helps in us being less rigid about our views. It also makes us more open to our views being challenged since we are all work in progress till our last breath.

Questioning and challenging our own beliefs and assumptions is also a part of being curious.

Shyamla believed that she was past the age of studying anything new. “My memory is terrible and I will not be able to learn or remember a new subject, let alone take exams in it.” Her daughter convinced her to challenge herself. Unsure but excited at the same time, Shyamla joined a course in psychology and allowed her curiosity and interest to lead her. Today she is a part time teacher in the subject and continues to study the subject deeper.

Occasional boredom or time not designated to doing something specific, also gives us the free and quiet time to think, reflect, introspect. It could help ignite a natural curiosity within us.

In younger children in particular, encouraging the habit of asking questions, not giving them all the answers but instead encouraging them to research for themselves, arranging debates on varied subjects, asking inferential or applied questions from texts are some of the methods of developing a curious mindset.

When do we stop being curious?

• Fear of or actually being rebuffed, ridiculed, judged negatively when asking a question clamps curiosity.

• Being in an environment where everyone bows to us or accepts our views unquestioningly could potentially make us less motivated to push ourselves to finding out more, studying more. Vulnerability to being proved wrong helps to challenge us to keep exploring.

• Coming from a rigid and closed mindset, steeped in fixed beliefs and limited horizons hampers a curious outlook to life.

• Some education systems that have only focused on rote learning and never encouraged questioning or thinking outside the box limit the curious mind.

• Extreme ease of securing answers, like from search engines, takes away the agency to put in the effort to think and ask questions. These are taken as absolute and only truths. It could lead to a reduction in wonderment, effort and curiosity.

• Physical weariness or mental fatigue could dampen and dullen curiosity.

How is being curious useful?

1.It helps in relationships –In relationships it is curiosity, the skill to look at the ‘why’ behind an action, that makes us go beyond ‘what’ happened or what was said and how a person behaved. Instead of personalising a behaviour, as us being a target or quickly judging an action or a comment, it is the ‘why’ that gives us clues and explanations that might help us to be more empathetic, humane and understanding.

2.Problem solving mode – Going from looking at the why, our curious outlook also helps in putting us in a problem solving mode instead of only highlighting the problem. It helps us broaden our minds to look at a situation from various perspectives, think of creative solutions and perhaps take better decisions.

3.Pushes innovation and research – As mentioned earlier, curiosity brings in the element of wonder and freshness into our lives as opposed to being closed to new explorations or being bored or even saying ‘been there, done that, know it all’. It is curiosity that pushes innovation, development, progress in science, in arts and discovery.

4.Keeps us relevant –Even after years in a profession, it is curiosity about new research that helps to keep us updated.  We do not get stuck and can keep pace with new technology, findings, methodologies and that keeps us more relevant in the current world. We can use the wisdom and experience from past experiences and make it sharper with new findings.

5.Reduces fear of the unknown – Helps in overcoming the power and fear of the unknown to discovering and understanding what was earlier a mystery to us. A curious mindset assists in embracing challenges in our stride as avenues for learning, growth and uncovering, making us less rigid and closed..

6.Keeps us humble – The more curiosity helps us realise that there is so much we don’t know, or know so little about what we have tried to study, the more humble it makes us. It also opens us to learning through our own search and from others.

7.Keeps us engaged – Being curious in life, at a personal and professional level also helps in keeping us more engaged, more enthusiastic about things.

8.Building memory – If we study a subject willingly and organically out of a deeper interest and curiosity, we learn it better. Later, access to this information is easier because we store the memory more firmly. This has been researched through studies.

What would life be like devoid of curiosity?

1.Dullness in life- Imagine a world where there is no wonder, no sense of inquiry, no discoveries, no growth, no challenge. Things would be only mechanical and routine with no excitement or change.

2.Stagnation and lack of growth– It is curiosity that is the driver of new discoveries. It could be in the field of medicine, architecture, technology, archaeology, social studies….. In every field of life it is this need to find out, explore and seek beyond what is visible and known that pushes growth and development. It is what helps us evolve.

3.Could limit our horizons– Only sticking to what we know and what has been known, may limit choices. It could also hinder getting further clarity and depth in understanding things. The world is dynamic around us and we could get disconnected.

When could curiosity cause harm?

As with most things, curiosity too has different aspects to it. Depending on how we use this emotion, we could make it useful or even cause harm to ourselves and others.

Meddlesome and Nosey – Without exercising boundaries in our curiosity about other people’s business, we can easily cross the line to becoming intrusive in the privacy of others. Complained Atanu, “I have had enough of my roommate rummaging through my personal things when I am not in the room. He believes that I will not find out but I know exactly how and where I keep my stuff. He is obsessively curious about what I use, what notes I have made for the meetings and even private cards that people have sent me.”

Unethical curiosity – Being curious could be for various reasons. Collecting information and being curious about matters that will fuel unethical manipulation is a red flag we need to be conscious of.

Spreading curiosity too thin – To get the most benefit out of a curious mindset, it is good to focus in depth on something that really interests us and helps us in our future growth. One can be a generally curious open minded person who does not get distracted by spreading one’s energy equally in multiple areas.

Dangerous curiosity – Actions led by curiosity without keeping safety in mind could have dangerous consequences. Some of these could be physically handling substances that could have toxic or dangerous implications, exploring unsafe or hazardous environments, engaging in threatening content, without being aware of what we are stepping into or not taking the necessary precautions. It could be meddling in risky areas or exploring forbidden things, without thinking or knowing or even ignoring what harm can come of it. This is sometimes also termed morbid curiosity.

And now to end here is an acrostic poem to summarise the word CURIOUS

Careful choice

Understand

Research

Inquiry  

Open mind

Unlimited

Seeking and searching

Like this article? Here are two books with short stories, published recently by author Sumita Banerjea, which might be of interest.

Chowringhee Charms – Timeless Tales from the East

Playhouse Parkstreet

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