There is usually a kernel of truth in the words Oscar Wilde puts in the mouth of his most outrageous characters -- they wouldn’t be funny if otherwise. One such gem that is worth pondering is: “The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself.” Is it true that when we most need advice we are least willing to listen to it? Or is good advice always welcome?

Phantoms won’t always be around to show you your future or turn back time for you to relive your past like they did Uncle Scrooge in ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens. Ebenezer Scrooge didn't listen to his girlfriend, not even his boss of his first job. He virtually got a second chance at life only after the phantoms showed him what he would become if he kept ignoring the advice of his well-wishers – he would have none. In the story, however, he was able to set things right. But, for most of us, there will be neither phantoms nor second chances at untying the knots. There is plenty of advice coming one’s way, probably just meant to be passed on to brethren and offspring.

Advice is given to keep people on track. It has been passed on from one generation to the next with the motive of maintaining the order which has already been set in the society. It has also been a tradition – more a law of nature – that good advice, rather one that advocates a truth, is not taken but only given. If I ask you to listen to a particular song, you will, most likely, comply. If I ask you to stop hanging out with your boyfriend because I think he is eccentric, selfish and possessive, you and I, in all likelihood, will part ways.

One fine day, your boyfriend will hurt you. You try to leave him and live your life happily and normally again, but it is too late. That day you achieve enlightenment. You think that “Oh! God! Why hadn't I listened to her then?” You are frustrated and regretful but more experienced. Now, you begin the ritual of spurting out honey that turns into venom at the eardrum of the listener.  The same kind that stung you once. For instance, my sister brushed aside advice and severed relationships with her loved ones when she was told to follow her dreams and not study engineering. Her concept – I will get a job soon. And stick to her concept she did. She was right. She did land a job in four years. But, she couldn't cope with the stress. It asked of her everything she was not built to give. Enlightenment was achieved, realisation dawned. Now, it was her turn to spurt and I am her subject.

In this case, both boyfriend and a quick job are the same as the spider from the nursery rhyme ‘The Spider and the Fly’ or the junk food in the roadside stands. They are bad things that lure one to them. They appear wearing the false hides of ‘easy and comfortable’. Humans, who do, instinctively, incline towards the easy way out, are too effortlessly tempted. That is why the enlightened adults are necessarily around to advice and the confused youngsters to listen. The law of nature must be upheld, the gongs of tradition must beat in time.

Since time immemorial it has been customary to pass on knowledge verbally; many a time in the form of a story. Every story had a moral and morals were good advice. Those stories, as stories have always been, were set in the backdrop of the contemporary society. They told people what the world around them was like. Today, we have media that connect us to hills, deserts, cities and oceans of the world. But one thing hasn't changed – advice are given and then given again. People still need to show others what to look at before they leap. And those who are shown, most often don’t see. They don’t leap if they should and leap if they mustn't. After all, advice is free and freedom is sweet.