Right from electronic gadgets to individuals who interact with you either at home or at work spaces, we get attracted to so-called ‘smart entities’. A mom that I observed recently in a school was pointing to her kid of a lady dressed neatly as smart aunty. Nice description, I thought to myself.

Smart is becoming synonymous with ‘cool’ that new age kids and adults who want to remain young at heart identify with. Look around and you will find television sets, mobile phones, iron boxes, watches, safety cupboards, remote controls and even bathroom mirrors with new innovations added every quarter and acquiring the title of being smart in newer models.

Likewise those individuals who are able to scale up through the corporate ladder, regardless of fair and unfair means are considered smart. It doesn’t matter if they are not honest, hardworking or understanding towards others around them. Bosses like smart colleagues than others who are only slogging at work.

I wonder what happens to those who are not smart enough. Are these less fortunate not to be liked by everyone? Perhaps so.  Even kids want smart playmates, smart adults and smart electronic play utilities to entertain and engage them. I know this for a fact where my kid under five of age is more interested in a smart phone than that his momma has, that according to him is outdated. But how is it possible to have everything and everyone around us smart and intelligent?

In times when we keep re-iterating that competitiveness need not necessarily be encouraged among children all the time, we are bombarded with TV commercials that talk smartness as a priced asset that needs to be inculcated in children. Advertisements of kids’ health products project in such a way that they lure parents to believe to buy them to make their children smart. Recall the commercial starring Kajol with a kid where the child is supposed to be smarter day by day and asks smart questions due to an intake of a health drink. (Oh! not again of smartness talk)

Wonder why we don’t see advertisements and more of real people that show us how good it is to be happy, empathetic, well-balanced individuals rather than just smart cookies. It’s time we wake up to recognize there are more virtues in the world than being just smart. A lesson that definitely needs to be taught to our growing children.