lust - n. intense or unrestrained craving

At times I feel like a wannabe serial killer who fascinates about murder to satisfy his homicidal needs; and every time it happens so, before I loathe myself and start heltering skeltering around to get away from this feeling, the realization dawns that its time to pull up my socks and stop being a wannabe. Blood lust is the term coined for what killers go through; and even though there are more than a few times that I try (and try very hard) to understand the mind of a murderer, I fail to do so. Fortunately, blood lust is not what I feel. I have however been bestowed with a different kind of lust, one which involves knowing everything of anything. And like the very conventional lust for actions that first pop in everyone's head when one reads the word lust (yea, giving it a bold and italic effect will make you think more about it), I enjoy my knowledge lust as much as I do enjoy the former one.

The best compliment ever given to me was that I am like Wikipedia. And even though this one was given at a time when the complimenter was as smitten by the complimentee as the latter was with the former, I still can't help but chuckle every time I think about it. I'm not cocky enough to think that I am actually Wikipedia, but I do consider sports, mythology, movies, superheroes and history (yes, men in tights... haha) as my forte. Moving ahead and not making this a very self centered post, I come to realize that I am also surrounded by some who share my knowledge lust. And even though theirs might be in varying proportions, I'm glad to have a father, an idol, a best friend, a boss and few others I can't remember on the top of my head, who share this thirst.

If ignorance in involuntary, naivety is not. There is a thin line of dichotomy between the two, and even though everyone may not possess the lust for knowledge, it doesn't take much to move from this side of the thin line to the other. So if you chose to believe that Ramayana and the Mahabharata didn't actually happen but are weaved tales of a saint, then you're being ignorant; you need to give them a read. And if you opt to believe that India have a strong chance in winning next year's World Cup or that peeping boyfriends are actually unforced errors and not deliberate attempts to gain attention, than you are being knowingly and very innocently naive.

Similarly there is a tiny one step distance between being Wikipedia and being Microsoft's Spell and Grammar check. Its outright fun being the guy with all the "knowledge" and all of the fun trivia amongst a group of respectable ignorant and some naive folks; but in a country like ours, where an entire off the books grammar system exists, going Microsoft Spell & Grammar Check on everyone won't take you too far being popular and sought after.

I conclude that it is not completely possible for me to understand the mind of a serial killer. And unless I commit a heinous feat myself, I may never know what it feels like. Probably the only drawback of this lust for knowledge is that one can never be content. No matter how much one feeds in the fortress of solitude upstairs, knowledge will still be infinite.

Just like one doesn't need to be a lust driven sex crazed animal to justify getting laid; knowledge lust should not be the only reason to keep you away from the ignorant quota. Whoever said ignorance is bliss besides never getting laid also didn't know what it feels like to be on this side of the fence.

PS - For those who started reading the post because the title was interesting, do care to curse yourself at least once... sex got the better off you... yet again