Prahlad Kakar and Raghav Podar launch Oxford scholar Ashish Jaiswal’s book ‘fluid’ at Crossword Bookstores

Fail, Falter and then succeed: the ‘fluid’ paradigm

Mumbai: Oxford scholar Ashish Jaiswal’s book fluid, which emerged as the #1 bestseller in educational philosophy on amazon soon after its pre-order launch , was the subject of discussion today at Crossword Bookstores, Kemps Corner!

Hailed as a revolutionary book by scholars from Harvard, Yale and Oxford, one of the key premises of fluid is that being uncertain in disciplinary choices is actually not a flaw but a stepping stone to achieving bigger success.

The evening started with the ‘story of a little boy’. Ashish Jaiswal shared how disappointing Charles Darwin’s initial years were for his parents- as he showed no interest in education. Playing with ants and insects through his seemingly aimless childhood, he eventually changed the world with his theory of evolution. The journey of Darwin and the the struggles he went through, to unleash the groundbreaking genius within him, was by fighting all the odds and following his heart. He was more, he was fluid.

Ashish shared the 1962 hit song ‘little boxes’ by Malvina Reynolds, to illustrate his point for the audience.

Adman Prahlad Kakar added his perspective.

“I had my training in military strategy, and ended up taking those learnings to advertising. Always remember, that the soldier who breaks rules is the one who becomes a general,” he shared.

Educationist Raghav Podar, though his hands-on experience shared that pressure from parents often forces children to do things they’re not interested in. He proceeded to make a startling claim; “the turtle is my favourite animal, it sticks its neck out to move forward.”

After the initial discussion, questions flowed from an audience of over 150 kids.

Over the course of two hours, the panelists shattered several myths associated with routine learning, thinking and specialisation. The august panel made a passionate appeal to the audience, that in order to unlock the value of their life; they would have to embrace several inter-disciplinary experiences.

Fluid could well be the new adjective for a person who does not walk on a straight line; and instead chooses to fail,falter and eventually succeed!