Know - Don't Know !!!!

It was sheer luck that i came to know about the Kabir Film Festival that was held at the National Film Archives of India on 14th and 15th of November. i had missed the first day of the festival when i came to know about it, so i decided to go for the second day's events. There were two documentaries to be screened namely " Kabira Khada Bazaar Mei" and "Hadd - Anhadd". The director Shabnam Virmani aimed at finding the relevance of the ideology of Kabir in today's contemporary society. Well i don’t know whether the objective was successful or not but i was completely awestruck by whatever unfold before my eyes. It was my first opportunity to watch a documentary and in the process I was completely occupied by the cinematic pleasure and the knowledge it imparted. The documentaries were followed by a Q & A session where the director and the veterans present had a very interesting discussion. With a such a fabulous creation loaded with a sensitive subject, people were bound to discuss it in depth. As the discussion progressed, I was gripped with a sudden feeling of insignificance, because after a particular point, nothing made sense and all was going above my head. I badly wanted to be a part of the discussion and accurately understand the technicalities and the intricacies of film making and the simultaneous thought process that went into it. But I realised, I am too amateur to be in the same league as others. I return back crestfallen. I called my dad. Baba, being an ardent theatre artist since 25 years; I knew he would have answers.
After patiently listening to my puzzlement, he told me that my feelings had more to do with me as a person than me as an artist. There are three areas of human knowledge.
• Area 1 - Things we know, that we know.
• Area 2 - Things we know, that we don’t know.
• Area 3 - Things we don’t know that we don’t know.

Among these, the things we know that we know forms even less than 1 percent of our entire circle of knowledge while things we know that we don’t know constitutes around 2 percent. The rest of the 98% are things we don’t even know that we don’t know. In the process of mental growth and intellectual upbringing, we should always try to increase the things under area one and reduce the things under third one. What I had experienced in the festival was that I had realized that I don’t know a certain thing. Actually i had brought one thing from area 3 to area 2 , which in turn is a promising realization for me as an individual as well as an artist.I realized i am on the right path of growth and development. It was really such an inspiring feeling to think of my lack of knowledge as a step towards growth.

I have started reading more and more about Kabir after that incident and I feel encouraged. But with it now I have realized one more thing – the more u gain knowledge, the more insignificant u feel. i.e. the more you know – the more u realize that u don’t know anything.

So back to level zero again.