EDUCATED BUT UNPREPARED
- Madhukar Dama
- Apr 16
- 6 min read
A long healing dialogue between a highly educated man and a barefoot hermit — about the limits of intellect, the betrayal of conditioning, and the rawness of real life.
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CHARACTERS:
Nitin Sinha — 39, M.Tech (IIT), Senior Manager in an MNC.
Respected, rational, disciplined.
Sleeps poorly. Feels hollow. Breaks down only in private.
Still clings to his belief that “education should have protected me.”
Madhukar — 42, barefoot, quietly radiant, lives in a mud home in Bidar.
A dropout of modern ambitions.
He teaches not through words but through truthful stillness.
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SCENE:
Under a neem tree behind Madhukar’s hut.
Nitin has come directly from the city, with a rucksack full of books and hopes.
The soil is warm. The silence feels invasive.
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BEGINNING: THE COLLAPSE
NITIN:
I’ve tried therapy. I’ve tried meditation apps.
I’ve read Gita, watched Sadhguru, quoted Camus.
But nothing touches this quiet panic I live with.
It’s like… I’m doing everything right, but still bleeding inside.
MADHUKAR (quietly):
Then maybe what’s “right” isn’t real.
NITIN (tense laugh):
I don’t know what “real” is anymore.
But I do know this —
The more I rise in career, the more disconnected I feel from everything I used to believe in.
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THE PROBLEM WITH BEING TAUGHT TOO MUCH
MADHUKAR:
What did your education teach you about life?
NITIN:
To think critically.
To solve problems.
To work hard.
To plan.
To lead.
To strive for excellence.
To be fair.
MADHUKAR:
And what did it teach you about uncertainty?
NITIN:
That it’s a variable to be controlled.
Calculated. Reduced.
Optimised.
MADHUKAR:
Ah. That’s the flaw.
Because life isn’t a problem.
It’s a mystery.
And you were trained to destroy mysteries.
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THE MORAL ILLUSION
NITIN:
But I’m not corrupt. I don’t exploit people.
I do the ethical thing, even when it’s hard.
Shouldn’t that count for something?
MADHUKAR:
You think ethics is a transaction?
That your goodness should earn you peace?
NITIN:
Shouldn’t it?
MADHUKAR:
No.
Ethics isn’t currency.
It’s clarity.
It doesn’t protect you from pain — it guides you through it.
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THE SYSTEM INSIDE YOU
MADHUKAR:
Your body is tired, your mind is screaming, your heart is bored —
but you still wake up and obey a system.
Not the company.
The one inside your head.
NITIN:
Yes.
I follow routines even when I want to scream.
I smile when I feel empty.
I say “fine” when I’m drowning.
MADHUKAR:
And who gave you this inner system?
NITIN:
School. College. Books. Bosses.
Everyone who said, “This is the way.”
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THE TRUTH BEHIND “THE WAY”
MADHUKAR:
“This is the way”
...is how slavery survives.
It’s how we dress cages in gold.
It’s how exhaustion is renamed “ambition.”
It’s how silence becomes “discipline.”
And loneliness becomes “independence.”
NITIN:
Then what’s the real way?
MADHUKAR:
There isn’t one.
That’s the first truth.
The second truth is:
You are allowed to feel lost.
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WHEN EDUCATION BECOMES DELUSION
MADHUKAR:
You were taught that the mind can fix everything.
But tell me — has your mind fixed your sleeplessness?
Your sadness?
Your growing distance from your wife?
The fact that your child prefers screens over your presence?
NITIN (shaken):
No.
MADHUKAR:
That’s because the mind was never trained to be real.
It was trained to be right.
And life does not reward correctness — it rewards presence.
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SURRENDER
NITIN (eyes wet):
Then why did I study so hard?
Why did I do everything my parents told me?
Why did I play by the rules, only to end up... this confused?
MADHUKAR:
Because they too were confused.
And their confusion wore the robes of love.
You are not wrong.
You are inherited.
And now, finally, you are asking your own questions.
That’s not weakness.
That’s birth.
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BODY, NOT BRAIN
MADHUKAR:
This week, don’t read.
Don’t watch.
Don’t listen to experts.
Just eat when hungry.
Sleep without lights.
Walk barefoot.
Bathe in cold water.
Sit with a cow.
Stare at a tree.
Cry when your chest burns.
Let the body re-educate you.
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THE NEW EDUCATION
NITIN:
And what will that teach me?
MADHUKAR:
Not theories.
Not formulas.
It will teach you:
That breathing can heal more than thinking.
That pain doesn’t need solving — just space.
That peace is not a reward — it’s a return.
That love begins when you stop performing.
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THE DECEPTION OF DECENCY
NITIN (leaning forward):
I used to think being educated would help me see through lies.
But I’m often the last one to realise when I’m being used, manipulated, emotionally blackmailed —
especially by my own family, my colleagues, even “well-meaning” relatives.
MADHUKAR (nodding):
That’s because your education sharpened your brain, but dulled your instincts.
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EDUCATION MAKES YOU BLIND TO SUBTLE VIOLENCE
MADHUKAR:
You were taught to respect authority, elders, systems.
But never taught to question emotional exploitation wrapped in “concern.”
So when your parents say,
“We sacrificed everything for you.”
Or your spouse says,
“If you loved me, you’d do this.”
Or your manager says,
“You’re the only one I can trust to handle this pressure.”
You call it love.
Loyalty.
Responsibility.
But what it really is…
is well-packaged guilt.
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EDUCATED PEOPLE THINK IN LABELS
MADHUKAR:
Your education gave you labels for people —
Mother = sacred.
Boss = guide.
Wife = partner.
Society = support system.
But it never taught you how to see behavior beyond labels.
So when your uncle humiliates you at dinner —
you say, “He’s just joking.”
When your boss overworks you —
you say, “It’s corporate life.”
When your parents ignore your boundaries —
you say, “They mean well.”
You are not thinking. You are obeying.
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THE PRISON OF POLITENESS
NITIN:
I hate confrontation.
Even when I know something is wrong — I smile, I explain, I let it pass.
MADHUKAR:
That’s not grace.
That’s trained cowardice.
The educated mind is conditioned to avoid discomfort —
because it fears losing the illusion of “decency.”
But life is not decent.
It is honest.
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YOU MISTAKE GUILT FOR LOVE
MADHUKAR:
When your family says,
“We did so much for you — can’t you do this one thing?”
That’s not love.
That’s transactional bondage.
But your mind — full of moral theories — confuses sacrifice with control, and ends up serving what it fears.
NITIN:
That’s true. I stay silent in front of my mother even when she’s toxic —
because she “loved me unconditionally.”
MADHUKAR:
No one who loves unconditionally makes you feel guilty for growing.
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THE COST OF BEING THE "GOOD" ONE
MADHUKAR:
You were trained to be the “good son,” “good employee,” “good husband.”
So now, when people cross your boundaries,
you hesitate to speak — because being “good” has always meant being available, not authentic.
NITIN:
That’s the ache I carry.
Being good has made me sick.
MADHUKAR (gently):
Then try being honest.
It might make you lonely for a while —
but it will also make you free.
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SEEING WITHOUT THE CERTIFICATE
MADHUKAR:
You don’t need another degree to see what’s wrong.
You just need the courage to admit that much of what you normalized is not okay.
Emotional blackmail is not culture.
Passive aggression is not respect.
Silence is not maturity.
Loyalty without self-respect is not love.
You need to unlearn the dignity of pain.
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CLOSING
NITIN:
So… being educated didn’t protect me.
It made me easier to deceive — because I was trained to see everything through logic, titles, and labels.
MADHUKAR:
You were taught that wisdom lives in books.
But wisdom lives in the body —
In discomfort, in instinct, in stillness,
and in finally saying:
“No more.”
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he got a certificate for drowning
he was the top of his class
first to speak, last to feel.
they handed him medals
while his spine bent under obedience.
he learnt how to argue with books
but not how to say
“i’m not okay”
at his own dinner table.
he paid his EMIs on time,
clapped when told,
smiled at the mirror,
and said “yes”
even when he meant “get lost.”
his boss drained him.
his mother guilted him.
his partner called it love.
and he wrote it all down
as duty.
his house was clean,
but his soul lived in a locked cupboard.
he had passwords for everything—
except his own mouth.
one day he walked into a forest
and met a man without shoes,
who didn’t ask for his name,
only his truth.
and that’s when he saw:
he’d spent his whole life
being correct.
but never once
been real.
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