The Definition Of Cool: Views 'n Opinions

"Define Cool."

I went around asking that question to a lot many people, and I was surprised to find diverse answers coming my way. I started it as a little prank: one i could enjoy on my own. But, alas! I cant stop thinking: Didn't "being cool" mean a lot to me at one point? Didn't it mean a lot to everybody at one point? Doesn't it mean a lot to a good many even now?

I started this little research of mine, and set out on a "pursuit of cool"(which was supposed to be my title for this article till-) which i found, thanks to google, is a taken title! :) This guy Bram, has a blog of his own elsewhere in which he says:

“There is no algorithm to define cool, you just know it when you see it”

That was his view of cool. His pursuit started with that sentence. His view of cool is that.

All of us have this pursuit: consciously or unconsciously. It is inevitable. Some end very early, some never end.

So i asked around, to see what people define as cool. Answers I got were clearly not serious ones. But they were the first ones that people could think of when I asked them to define cool.

A school going student promptly told me anything other than studying is cool. Obviously, the reaction was because of the immense burden of the education system. So I surmised this: cool to this person is something that allows freedom. Something that keeps her mind light and free.

Another answer I got was one worded and simple: "ice"! Now how about that! :D I really couldn't work much with that. All I could think was that on a hot day, this guy would call a breeze cool. That's cool to him: something comfortable.

I don't know if their pursuit has ended. Or even if its started.

But mine, started with a simple question I remember asking my mother, a good 6 years ago. And I'm satisfied enough to say it has ended too. I had just returned from a debate competition. It was the biggest thing in my life at that time. I stood to win 1 lakh in cash if won the competition(which unfortunately didn't happen). I was awed by the very atmosphere it created, even more by the seniors I was accompanying who seemed calm and composed while hell was breaking loose for me.

I worked hard, and got to the semis of the competition(even my seniors didn't make it this far), but lost out there. My partner told me I was splendid and that I was cool. I did not want to embarrass myself after all that so I went home to my mother. She told me, that to her cool is me. She told me that I was unafraid to to do what I wanted, to talk my mind and be who I am. I told her that I'm afraid all the time to do all that. She told me that THAT makes me even cooler because I have the courage to overcome my fear and the things I do. I smiled at being praised and promptly told her I think she's cool.

That was a mothers view. My pursuit should have ended there. But, in a curious turn of events, being "Cool" earned me a slap form my P.E teacher. I still have nightmares about that one! :p

So, while keeping the definition my mother gave me(mostly because it was very flattering), I tried to define cool myself. I had to do this because by that time, the word cool played a very important role in my life. Being cool was being accepted. The "uncool" kids were castaways, outlaws much like "mudbloods" from Harry Potter. And I DID NOT want to be a mudblood!

But books, favorite TV shows and my role models taught me that being cool is not that. Being cool, as I understand it is being YOURSELF. Being cool is being SIMPLE. Being cool is being truthful. Being cool is standing up for what YOU BELIEVE.

 ‘COOL IS BEING YOURSELF, COMFORTABLE IN YOUR OWN SKIN, NAKED IF YOU HAVE TO. COOL IS KNOWING THAT YOU’RE GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN AND BEING UNSWAYED BY WHAT PEOPLE THINK,WHAT THE RULES SAY YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE OR DO, AND HOW YOU MEASURE UP AGAINST ANY OF THE AFOREMENTIONED.’

 I read this (elsewhere first, but found it on Bram's blog too) and felt that this is it. The hard core definition of cool. More on "cool" later folks!