Just A "Practical" thought

Have you ever felt so broken and disappointed when your thoughts, suggestions or proposals are proven worthless by someone with the reason that they are “practically impossible”.

Me: “I think we should do it this way.”
Moron: “Yeah…hum….but see, that is not practically possible”.

Me: “We could have suggested this option, we would have been in a better position”
Moron: “No. We did not do it because it did not seem to be practically possible”.

Moron: “Come on dude. you cant do all that.. Think Practically..”

Moron: “Let’s go with this practical approach alright?”

I often hear people saying this. For some reason this phrase has always made me thinking.

I could remember what happened when I was a kid, think it was second or third grade. It was a Tamil language class and my teacher had just finished explaining one of Bharathiyar’s poems that talks about the damage caused by the religion and caste systems to the country –
I was very much a passive listener throughout my school days (but always liked questions coming from the last row rebels and see how the teachers react to it,.. a different story though).
But this time I thought I will ask –

“If everyone knows the bad effects of the caste system – why have we kept the Community Certificate as one of the mandatory documents for the admission to the school?”

Sure this thought would have flashed in your mind at some point in your life.
This was what I got back from my teacher.
“Well.. this is expected.. My honest opinion is.. It is not practically possible. You will soon understand”.
I stood bemused. I think I am, still.

So whenever I hear someone says “practically”, I get swamped with a load of questions. You might think this is insane, but somehow these funny little thoughts get to my mind time to time.

If what we say is agreed to be correct and sensible by everyone, why is it not practically possible?

Are there two ways of thinking, a normal way and a practical way ?

Should I think twice before I make a decision once normally and then practically? If practical decisions are always correct, actually I don’t have to think normally.

If some theory is not practically possible why someone has to preach this in the first place?

Going a step further,
Are we sometimes trying to limit our thoughts and imaginations by saying they are “practically not possible”? Is it because we always want to play a safe game? Going by the proven theories always?

Small pox was practically impossible to cure until late 17th century.
Flying was practically impossible to humans till 1903.

Are we sometimes trying to use this as an excuse to justify what we did because what seemed practically possible was also easy to achieve?


When you are stuck at cross roads sometimes in your life, call it ethical dilemma, moral conflict or whatever, would you go by what your heart says or by what is proven to be the practical way.

Let’s cut to the chase now. Let’s ask the same old familiar-to-all question once again.

You are hurrying to office on one fine morning. Suddenly you see a person hit by a bus lying on the roadside. Sure he needs some helping hand. Also you know it will soon turn into a police case. Will you reach out to him and help?

I know a person who did so. He was driving down the road and saw a person lying severely injured. Everyone including the traffic police did not do anything but watching the scene. He got off from his vehicle, did not wait for anyone, took him to the hospital and admitted him. The victim was not dead but completely unconscious. This person who admitted him in the hospital, managed to inform the victim’s family members. What happened aftermath was a real twist in the tale.
The police came to the hospital, accused the person who actually saved the victims life that he was the one who committed the accident and filed a charge against him.
How is this? Do you believe this? You have to because this is the truth.
The reason for them to do so was to get the insurance money from this person and grab their pie. After being kicked back and forth between the police stations and court rooms for one whole year, nothing this person could do but request his insurance company to pay the amount. In fact at one point he had to swear in front of the jury that he was the one who actually did it. The worst thing this man would have ever imagined in his life after serving more than 30 years in a government job with utmost honesty, self discipline and dedication.

I don’t want to get into the theories about our corrupted system, law, jury, government etc, etc here.
But I couldn’t restrain myself from thinking,

“If that person had not reached out to the victim, he wouldn’t have gone through all the pain he suffered”.

I am not trying to say that one should not reach out to the helpless. In fact, I am not saying anything. I am not here to make a point. I would better leave it to the reader.

But when I told this to one of my best friends the other day. He goes
“That is pathetic. This should have never happened to him. But you know.. what I am thinking is… Sometimes we should think practically rather than thinking if something is right or wrong”.
I don’t have a word here. Completely baffled.



Now lets try to set a different mood with a different thought.
India has always had this pride to exhibit and teach a unique trait she possesses – “Unity in Diversity”.
We are unique because our country is multi lingual, multi cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic. Absolutely fascinating. No question on the “Diversity” part, but of late I started thinking about what precedes it – the “Unity”.
I know this doesn’t really feel good to talk about or think about but time to mull over the situation in hand.

Issues with the borders, sharing the river water, political and social differences, and problems in accepting each others language, culture and tradition between the states are as prevalent as that of two totally different countries. There have always been conflicts between northern states and southern states. Always been issues between rich and poor states. Take Karnataka –Tamilnadu Cauvery issue OR Jammu and Kashmir issue OR Belgaum border dispute OR the recent Maharashtra –Bihar problems and so on and so forth. We cannot get away with the excuses saying these are “common”, “small” or “impossible-to-resolve” problems. No they are not. These are the “real” problems need to be addressed and need to be addressed in the right way.
People from one state have a name in other states, some times funny but often sound derogatory. State politicians inflict their men against the neighbors for political gain. Most of the time, the central government has to simply watch the show.

Can I say “Unity in Diversity is something practically impossible?”

I think so. But think about it. Even if it is practically impossible to achieve, it is important for us to say that we practice it and be proud of it. But Why?
Because if we don’t, then the entire system would collapse.
This is the same case with any country.
People can be easily convinced and emotionally struck by the “practically impossible” words rather than definite action plans.
Take the example of “I have a dream” from Martin Luther King Jr. It was important for him to make the people believe from the bottom of their heart that there will definitely be a day when “the people will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character”. It was not thought of a practically possible one then. But these words were considered crucial to align people in one single line towards one single goal.

The words “Change” and “Hope” are another example of how “practically impossible” things can make history possible. Do you think these words convey any definite plan or promise?
No.
No one can change Washington upside down. No one can change every single American’s life. No one can change how other countries look at America.
Yes. Practically impossible.
But what can be made possible by repeating these words is binding the mass majority of public and make them march towards one common destiny.

So now, can I say “Unity in Diversity is something practically impossible. But the more you believe in it, better our country becomes”.
Is that a fair statement?
I am not sure. I don’t have an answer to that.


I am working in a software company where every now and then you get to hear people talking about 100% quality, 100% customer satisfaction, bug-free code and things like that. Guess what! It is universally accepted that “Bug –free code is something practically impossible to write”. I wish I knew this when I was rattled by the questions from my boss after my first ever piece of code failed to run in production.

The closing note is that I have been asking these questions to myself for quite some time.Now I am putting my cards on the table.
Your comments are most welcome even if they are as insane as my questions. Hopefully at least you can come up with an answer to all these. But to me, even that sounds “Practically impossible”.