The Diary of an Impulsive Stoic – Prof. (Dr) Anandajit Goswami

Can the same individual be stoic or impulsive at the same time? Can it be possible? The self-confession of the diary of Prof. (Dr) Anandajit Goswami is a mirror image of both states – ‘A State of A Stoic’ and ‘A State of an Impulsion’. In the state of stoicism, Prof. (Dr.) Anandajit Goswami often looks and sounds indifferent about his academic journey from studying science, dropping out of engineering, then finding his love with a tone of serendipity for Economics, Literature, Political Science, Mathematics, with a climax towards a Doctorate in Energy Policy and Economics. The journey of reaching this climax is also marked by a dedicated, ruthless striving towards understanding policy and policy analysis, as well as research for society without borders.

While stoically he confesses about this journey of love through serendipity and at the same instance, he highlights the impulsive and passionate chase towards writing, music, social activism, TOHRI Foundation, Justajoo and corrections through his passion and natural impulse to love the sojourn of always trying, attempting to do a course correction around us between what is real and what is ideal. Such impulses and self-correction have also worked in his life; he continues doing so daily through various experiments. Such experiments have a wide-ranging journey from pushing the body and soul toward strict vegetarianism from 2009 to 2016. It also involves giving away, selling his assets without any reason, to become a zero and fearless about every belonging. The journey also entails his constant experimentation to understand what it means to belong and not to belong at the same time by breaking the captivity of the relationship of convenience, which generally wires all of us around in society. The relationship of convenience created by an impulse is often broken by him towards a relationship of inconvenience by becoming a being of stoic and stoicism. A stoicism where no love, hatred, anger, envy, jealousy, and the common emotions of a human being matter to him anymore. A sense of stoicism that allows him to be non-judgmental about anything around him, even though the impulse creates a sense of momentary hurt, feelings of dejection, and humiliation. So Anandajit, despite being the best author and winning critical acclaim for his work, still stays grounded as he believes himself to be stoically powerless with every work from his repertoire. The work can be related to music, writing, academic scholarship, teaching, and projects. Essentially, through every work of his, Anandajit, in the tumultuous jigsaw wheel of stoicism and impulse, stays connected to the evolving soul. A soul which has its sun and moon shine, darkness, unbearable lightness, and deceptions, but it has become completely free by now to be looking for social validation, acceptance, judgments, and anything that can come from society. According to him, it was not there even when he started sponsoring orphan children by giving away his savings. It was also not there when he voluntarily sacrificed credit cards, which were often used to shine in his wallet as a mark of a social position during 2006.

Claustrophobia, through impulse, had clouded the consciousness of the stoic, and hence credit cards, houses, and savings were given. Many of such savings also went to social movements, animal rights movements, protection of children, and refugees, without a sense of any glorification of any of the acts. Often, the stoic and the impulsive writer, communicator, musician, educator, and sportsperson have questioned his acts also through experiments with his self-ego and various forms of alter egos by not owning or buying a car, AC, or house. The roses and the bricks that have arrived in his journey of professional career to experiment with his self, his soul, have only strengthened his conviction to be a natural follower of a moment in which the person becomes powerless from the power within. This has happened through the experimental search for who Anandajit is through the soul-searching journey in various forms of faith and belief systems across the world. Often by visiting the places of faith, starting from temples, mosques, churches, prayer halls, and as many places as one can, Anandajit has searched this stoic and the impulsive. The same tension between the stoic and the impulsive is also observed in his characters from the Lucy Series, The Pink Gender Extended, and The Rise of the Club of Central Tendency. It is also clearly sensed in his music composition series – ‘Ek Malaal’, a music poetry series through various compositions like ‘Ghono Shobuj, Ajnabee, Talaaq, Fanaa, Maati, Parchaai, Naam, Zarurat, Shabd’, and many more. They are realized in the social, political, and environmental movements in which he has been an active participant. The stoic and the impulsive also in the near future expect to create these sensations and feelings using visual communications of a script, which, according to him, was written by destiny but is yet to come!