Koop-Mandook

Koop-Mandook - a frog in the well (pond) is a concept most Indians would be familiar with. A baby frog (element) feels that the world (the global set) consists of the well or pond (actually, a small sub-set of global set) that the baby frog is limited to see or feel till the baby frog jumps out of the pond or well and goes to nearby rivulet which may take it to a bigger river and still bigger river and so on …...

What is happening all along the journey is broadening of the vision for the frog. Frog sees that the world is not limited to what one can see or feel. There is something, and may be a lot, beyond that. Imagination takes birth at this point. Expectations are now limited only by the imaginations that the frog may have about the next level of the outside world.

With the power of imagination fully developed, frog may get overly optimistic or pessimistic. This is on the basis of the experiences that the frog may have had along the journey. If every time the next level of the world had been better that what the frog had imagined it would take its imagination to still higher level and the process leads to higher expectations. Similar could be situation if the reality at the next level is below the expected levels, frog could become pessimistic. All these experiences, good or bad, go into the making of the baby frog. The evaluation of the experiences by baby frog shall be positive or negative depending upon the roots and foundation laid in the original pond, by mom and dad frogs This is development of the baby frog. Experiences evolve baby frog’s life. Baby frog is a frog now.

No other frog (neither mom frog nor dad frog) could define what would be a perfect situation for the baby frog. Mom & dad frog who have well settled themselves into their koop - a comfortable pond (as per their imagination) that they felt right for themselves, can just say from their earlier experiences that there exists a much bigger world outside the pond. Don’t limit yourself to this pond. Go outside and conquer it. (At this point, if baby frog choses not to abandon the comfortable environs of protection of mom and dad frog and decide not to jump out and stay put, it would be the end of the story).

In the process, it is now left upto the frog (that has grown-up) to decide whether the search for perfection is to be limited or abandoned or enough is enough of jumping to the next level. At this point, again, it could be said that its end of the story for the frog which keeps in mind however that there is yet bigger world outside and the next generation need to be informed of the same.

The process has a parallel in Mathematical, physical, chemical or any scientific theory as well. In maths – Set Theory, there is an element among other elements in a set. And this set could be element among other elements or sets of another super-set and so on…. There is no known Global set except in theoretical definition just as there is no limit to infinity…….

However bigger or smaller the pond be, every frog is a resident of a pond which is smaller than the world, a Koop-Mandook.