I have started jogging. But this time, I could not venture outdoors due to a drizzle. It is good to jog out, but why to risk corona? I have put three yoga mats one on one and started using it as a cushion for barefoot jumping while running inside a 10’x18’ room. It is good to exercise daily but how difficult it is to run indoors for half an hour. It was 7 a.m. on a rainy Sunday. Monotony and meditation are almost similar experiences.
Though physically I am indoors, thoughts started running here and there and everywhere. Yuval Noah Harari speaks about Vipassana meditation. Jogging also is a kind of meditation. Actually, fitness is in the mind, but people think fitness is in the body. Especially Juliet, my 15-year-old daughter, who always believes mind and body are different entities. Her mother also backs her. Perhaps, it may be hereditary. Each time the family decides to exercise together, one of them will somehow topple the plan. "I have plenty of work you know," is the excuse often. Julie believes a workout can happen only when we are out of work.
The previous day, we listened to the interdisciplinary artist Lisa Park. She uses neuro-communicative devices to create path-breaking music and art in a combination which could not be explained in words. "You are a child-friendly father," I got a certificate from Juliet after we sat through a three-minute YouTube session with Lisa Park.
Brain control technology, combined with IoT, can create indoor wonders, it seems. "The future is in such brain data manipulation techniques," Julie exclaimed after learning about gadgets looking like hydra heads with lots of wires. I felt happy that she or further generations may use it for good. My happiness increased when she said, "Yes of course."
The twist came instantly when she said, "If you wear those headsets, your obsession with fitness may go… and you will run out of running ideas — you may become a CFF [child-friendly father] in the true sense."
Yes, technology matters! I thought, but there will always be a way to remain a CFF. I saw the watch, it was 7.30 a.m. Yes, I could not focus my mind on running, as Harari told concentration starts with conscience… I started folding the yoga mats!
