Doubting Tom ver 3.0:

Bystander almost decided to postpone his rail journey. He was prepared to forgo the cancellation charges but not his piece of mind at any cost. The reason – he found Doubting Tom’s name, under his name in the reservation chart. Travelling in the same train with Doubting Tom is a nuisance, in the same compartment a misery and to occupy adjacent seats a disaster. What came in between the disaster and ticket cancellation was the urgent business on which Bystander had to travel.

 Bystander tried in vain to change his seat to another compartment. At the last moment he boarded the train reluctantly to take his seat beside Doubting Tom who was seriously contemplating on something with closed eyes. He could not hazard a guess as to what kept the fellow passenger in such a deep thought. Unaware of all these things, Doubting Tom was re-living his doubts and tensions of the past 3 hours. 

For no reason he was hit by a doubt storm on that day. Following airlines procedure, for boarding international flights, arrived at the station platform 3 hours ahead of scheduled departure. At that time the coaches for his train was in the yard awaiting its turn for attention. Four other trains, scheduled to leave within the next 2 to 3 hrs, were in queue. 

Doubting Tom did not know this. Propelled by doubts he went around the station and confirmed that the train was scheduled to leave on that day and the platform number will be announced later. In his tense state, the poor clarity of the announcements amidst the cacophony of TV commercials in the waiting hall pushed up the anxiety levels further. He consulted his ticket for the date & time of departure and cross verified the date & time displayed in his cell phone and with another one held by a stranger.

After an interminable wait, the coaches appeared and Tom checked the reservation chart for inclusion of his name. He made a final check with the pilot of the engine, TTE on the platform and with the guard to reassure himself that it was the right train on the right platform.

Tom came to the present with a start and was pleasantly surprised to see Bystander seated next to him. Bystander was not at all happy with the instant recognition and mentally braced himself for the deluge of doubts about to flood him. He was not far wrong as he heard the rustle of papers in Tom’s hands. A quick glance revealed that they are some printed sheets, running in to several pages. His mind multiplied two with two and came up with a wrong astronomical sum!

Bystander was in a fix – on one side the stomach demanded a little attention and the other hand the mind was thinking about ways to escape from the attention of the person seated next to him.

Availing the first chance he collected some breakfast from the pantry car attendant and started to eat leisurely, intending to take as much time as possible. Having finished his breakfast, Tom was ready to let loose his doubts, wondering whether Bystander will take up to lunch time to finish the breakfast. Not knowing the techniques of hastening the clock and making the breakfast items to last forever, Bystander had to call a halt to his pretensions and face Doubting Tom.

Tom showing the topic on ‘spider’ asked, “Engineering and mathematical skills have been used to describe the beauty of the spider’s web. When I looked under a lamp post, I saw only a confused maze of mad weaving. How the author can get away with hype like this?”

A cord struck in Bystander’s memory. This person is reading from Muser’s article. He warmed up to answer by asking, “Where you saw that abomination of a web”?

“Under a municipal garbage container”, replied a perplexed Tom.

Getting the opening Bystander blasted him “What you are reading is a master piece of an art, actually seen in any decent place. Can you compare it with, what you have seen in a garbage yard? Of course, you found what you wanted to. But the author found an uncut gem and worked on it to produce a beautiful sparkler, anything wrong with it”?

People around them started taking interest in the discussion and Bystander felt a little embarrassed. Tom did not feel any.

“How the author could guess about the process by which a spider makes its web. In another article he happily describes an imaginary exchange of words between Leonardo, Newton and Archimedes. How is it possible after so many centuries?”

Patiently, Bystander asked, “Do you dream. Any time, have you seen strangers in your dreams? Do you take your dreams seriously or at least remember them in detail, the next day?”

Tom was unsure and hesitantly replied, “Not so sure about both the strangers and the details”

It will be interesting to know that many people who have excelled in academic fields, theology and such human endeavours do get inspired through their dreams. They have not ignored the significance because strangers appeared in them and could recollect the essence of their dreams the next day.

Bystander was delivering a grand stand of a performance. He had the attention of the fellow travellers in the compartment. He did not forget to thank his mentor, Muser, for this gift of talking extempore. He felt having stepped on the accelerator a little more than needed. Lucky, Muser was not around to apply the brake!

Looking at Doubting Tom he asked, “Do you now accept that it was possible that Leonardo, Newton and Archimedes might have come and argued out in the author’s dream!?

Continuing he said, “Please study that article once again and you will find a few sentences before and after the imaginary conversations. The author had added them, especially to clear doubts in the minds of readers like you. Take it from me, it matters little to him whether it is possible or not, he always finds a way to go ahead”

Doubting Tom became subdued after these verbal attacks and withdrew in to silence. But that escape route was blocked and Bystander had this to ask of him – “It is obvious that you work with internet. Why don’t you get these doubts clarified with Google?” Meekly Tom replied, “I get more confused and get some more doubts then”

Leaving Tom to read the rest of the topics, Bystander closed his eyes to enjoy the journey.  Tom was struggling with his doubts but refrained from disturbing Bystander, bewildered and belittled. The rhythmic ‘clack’ ‘clack’ of the wheels on rails helped Bystander to go in to a deep slumber.

In the meanwhile two of the co-passengers took the papers from Tom. Both of them became attentive after reading the first few paragraphs on the first page. Silently, they completed reading of all the papers, taking turns. One of them, who handled the papers with care- not folding or soiling them, pulled out his pocket diary to write down a few lines.

When Bystander woke up from sleep, it was past 2 ‘O’clock in the afternoon and he had been travelling almost for six hours. The breakfast having disappeared in to the digestive system, the pangs of hunger was stridently knocking at the walls of his stomach. He cursed himself for over sleeping, missing lunch.

He was pleasantly surprised when a plate with lunch materialized before eyes and saw Doubting Tom extending it like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. He was moved, egged on by hunger, by this humane touch. Tom felt happy that he had seen signs of granite softening and returned to his own domain of doubts.

The careful handler of papers asked Bystander “The author appears versatile, do you know him?

“I know he is versatile .He writes both in longhand and with capital letters effortlessly” replied Bystander. He refrained from saying aloud that Muser’s longhand is bit difficult to read.

The C H P continued, “He looks at everyday occurrences in  a different perspective . Not only that, he had shown the pets, the stray dogs and insects in a different light investing them with faculties of speech, thinking and philosophy. Technically describing their activities is very difficult and maybe I have not come across such an attempt by someone else so far. The logic of reasoning follows the text like a wake following the prow.”

“I have a doubt. Is he a student of psychology? No I don’t think there is such a limitation. The articles on Mars and the way he points to the threat by humans to other planets in the solar system, the topics on the little child- teaching her and getting tutored -  really a wonderful mix of everything. That is why I asked whether he is a versatile personality?”

Bystander kept mum not wanting to blow the trumpet on behalf of his friend, Muser. Yet he was happy to hear such an unbiased acclaim by an unknown reader and felt the absence of his friend at that very moment.  He thought certainly these comments would have made Muser to literally hit the compartment’s roof in joy; wildly gesticulate like a charged up bowler knocking the timbers behind a batting icon- he only knew pains of labour and lack of readership.

Bystander’s joy found no limits when the two gentlemen asked for the author’s contact number. When, Tom too wanted it a bemused Bystander asked him what for?”

“To ask my doubts directly” said Tom, stunning Bystander into silence. 

The rest of the journey went on without Tom asking fresh doubts, Bystander recollecting all the articles he had read as the only reader and the gentlemen discussing benefits of this particular travel.

The longest journey by a special train

We by nature strongly believe ‘unless I burn my fingers I will not appreciate the sufferings due to burn injury’. It is likely that this tale of train-logue, that is about to be narrated here, might have been doing the rounds already, with subtle variations and local colouring.

The Indian Railways has evolved a unique philosophical system of its own .The travelling public, including the elite passengers, are given a free “philosophical ride on wheels”, ably assisted by the wayside station staff, running staff and catering staff. 

It has been very magnanimous – almost all trains are now upgraded to superfast class, without bothering much to match the speed or time of travel with that description. Its operating philosophy is - “It is enough, if a train attached with a pantry car is on the track – it need not race against time to be a superfast train!”  The nitty-gritty in the upgrading has always been ‘fame’ and alternate avenues for collecting a little more in cash, by way of surcharges.

Being amenable to such gimmicks, the Railways place in to the hands of an incumbent Minister, if only he or she is capable of playing to the gallery, a free source of politico-economical clout. Thus the special treatment - the budget for the railways gets presented separately and earlier than the general budget which runs in to lakhs of crores of rupees.

Faster than bullet speed trains’ on non existent state of the art tracks are announced; double tracking and side tracking (to his native village from where except the cowherds and cattle, nobody leaves town!) schemes are announced.

Passenger fares are lowered as even the inflation rate keeps climbing. For perpetrating this charade, year after year, with disregard for the economy of operation, the Minister with a far sighted vision, wearing a sliding bifocal, may be in line for a Nobel Prize in “Economic Ebullience - theory & practice”.

The regularly run  trains have a Expected Time of Arrival and Expected Time of Departure in a printed Time Table – so to say, certified trains. The Railways also run another class of trains, the uncertified trains, called the joker in the pack. - The special trains.

First let us refresh our minds with certain special aspects of this ‘special’ train, before identifying the joker and then the pack. What is special? Anything out of ordinary, anything yearned for & expected or anything that does not get mentioned anywhere!

Or anything, that has a license to stop, on its track and think about its next move – This is the joker!

These special trains are designated “0xxxx” leaving the passenger perplexed, whether it has top priority or the least – the ‘0’ could mean nothing or anything! -  This is the five letter or a six letter pack!

To be enlightened for himself, the passenger only needs to board a special train with a ticket to where else - Bodh Gaya?  Since this train happens to be a special, the hapless passenger will be all at sea (read all at railway platform) even to get a response from some disinterested person sitting behind an enquiry counter.

 Poor soul! Probably the person himself may not be aware of the special train about which the exasperated passenger is enquiring about! This is the time for using, the free down load app cartwheeling ver 1.1. This software is used to the maximum effect, in all the Railway Stations wherever an enquiry counter is operating.

One thing which this software does not profess is to locate the enquiry desk kilometers away from accessibility but the Railway Authorities have found a way out by using cartwheeling ver 1.2, to facilitate such deviations in the software protocol.

Like King Vikramaditya’s repeated attempts to slay the demon, if the passenger manages to get hold of a deemed knowledgeable person and asks him “When the train is expected to come to the platform and when it will start?”

Initially the deemed knowledgeable person  ignores the  presence of the passenger, then his  question; in the meanwhile gets to answer one or more calls, raises his voice  in  answering the phone; needlessly waves his hands and finally looks at the inquirer in  wonder – as if a ghost  has just materialized in front of him!

Since he has no certain answers, he simply follows the routine given in the Apology version 1.0. At the end of the run, the apps will spew out this answer: It is a special train; no body knows the exact running schedule, why don’t you just log on to our portal to follow the train?

The passenger is really worried now, like the man occupying the hot seat- in ‘kaun banega croepathi’, unable to decide whether to phone a friend or take audience’s help or use a fifty-fifty chance!

To earn more of un-budgeted revenue, the Railways can offer a course on ‘I am not concerned about this’, taught in exotic locales, with the help of renowned yoga teachers and spiritual masters. This best chance could be utilized by HRD Ministry to further the development of human resources.

The frustrated passenger finally heaves a sigh of relief and thanks his stars (in heaven and cinemas) for making the train to appear within 24 hrs of the printed ETD. He has no intention of living on the station platform forever and the moment the belated train arrives, jumps in to the compartment in sheer joy.

At that time he could not have imagined the ordeals that are in store for him, up to the end of journey.

The ever pervading and nostril-assailing odour is the characteristics of our Railways and as such can be patented to protect the intellectual property rights (impropriety rights?) under ‘mal-man odour’.

The standard of hygiene is a yardstick to the progress of the civil society. That is why Ministers, a sports icon, an acting icon and a ramp queen mouth strident calls. These yard tick holders are ready to spread the ‘awareness’ message ,if  they are allowed free entry on to the platforms and free passes to continue the show on the move. These freebies are like chickenfeed to the high profile campaigners for cleanliness. But this has never happened so far.

Probably, because of this dis-courtesy, the chanting of ‘hygiene for all mantra’, by the yardstick holders did not pervade in to the compartments and as a result, no automatic improvement in the hygienic conditions.

Undaunted, the Railways have found another miracle solution on wheels – wishing it away!

If a distraught traveller, picks up courage and enquires about the unhygienic conditions, the stock answer will be the train came very, very late from elsewhere and there was not much time to do a thorough job – this will be the Apology version 2.0 of the TTE.

The apps will then launch in to a 3D animated explanation: “Remember Karna, from Mahabharata times, who was born with attached ear rings and the forerunner of modern day bullet proof ‘Kevlar’ vest protecting his chest, from sharp arrows.

The Indian Railway coaches have similar attachments – various forms of garbage. The quantity of garbage left in the compartments is directionally proportional to the number of families bringing homemade food or the number of hours the train is delayed at the starting station itself or the number of vendors enjoying free ride. 

Why then ask the TTE? Because he is needed to operate the on board Apology System!

Our history is replete with path breaking contributions to science – “0”, astronomy, Ayurveda, yoga and philosophy. Our Railways has made another significant contribution in measuring time. It follows the universal time of 24 hours a day, but with a difference.

The hour might have anything from 60 minutes and counting up to 600 minutes – how does one more zero matters, after all don’t we have that much liberty as the inventor of zero!

The time will stand still, very still – contrary to Alfred Einstein’s General Relativity theory pertaining to travel at the speed of light. As far as the special train is concerned only the General Relativity of Inevitability theory is applicable. Einstein’s traveller ages days in the course of years but  in the special train ages days in a matter of hours!

Other railway systems in the world are competing with each other and the Airlines by stretching the distance covered by shortening the time of travel. Our system works on the assumption that for every train that zips past, there must be one that moves in fits and starts - to maintain balance, on  its vast network, to uphold the law of conservation of speed (or mass or momentum or any other law of Physics).

Again apply the theory of relativity “for an observer- sitting in a train, watching another going in the opposite direction; gets the feeling of moving at superfast speed”. Railways not only move you on the wheels but also teach you far reaching scientific concepts by means of simple and practical methods. Thus an occasionally moving special train might be imagined to be travelling at breakneck speed!

A practical method to make the passenger, understand the pros and cons of the Relativity Theory visa a vis Railways General Relativity of  Inevitability theory!

The special train, running, hundreds of minute late, huffs in to a station too late for breakfast or too early for lunch and the travelers too tired to look at the watch to count the number of hours the train is crawling behind schedule. He or she or they now focus only on one thing – when this damned train will reach the destination?

Before that could happen, the travelers have attained their wisdom – “Anything good or bad ends soon”. Though many were unawares, at that time, in future they might undergo a similar ordeal as there would be no better special trains!

Ideal curiosity - Rail, currency & Mouse

Introduction: Animism is the belief that all the living beings, rocks, thunder, earthquake etc have spirits and influence human events. When one is left with inanimate objects for company, what will happen spurred this write up. Inanimate objects speak and the companion listens to beat loneliness. The companion could be animate or inanimate.  Call it expanded (or) pseudo animism!

Rake in the yard

Even after a pleasant journey, the rolling stock – the rail bogies get no appreciation from the traveller, who might have spent a day and night, at least, inside a compartment. The bogie with its suspension system, wheels and brake shoes, has carried the heavy burden of overweight passengers and jumbo sized luggage pieces. The journey, as far as the bogie was concerned, called for sacrifice of physical comforts - jarring aches, wear and tear of scrapping and screeching to a halt.

The pilot of the train might have been angry, for some reason or the other, and I, the bogie as a whole, feel the heat.

When all these hungamas are going on, the traveller sleeps through the night lulled by the rhythmic ballad of agony - “clat” “clat” of the wheels on rails. May be it might have rekindled his memories of childhood lullabies, his m

other sang for him.

As part of a rake, I feel very happy at the thought of the chance to visit changing terrains and experience different weather conditions and cultural ambience, along, a few thousand route kilometres. On the other hand the rails, laid bare, get to enjoy as much as a frog in the well is able to. The rails must be on their way to enlightenment - no worldly cares, burning sun or freezing cold and do not have to worry about what is happening a few meters away!

In spite of enduring so much suffering, I have the kindness and time to empathies with the rail. No matter to draw solace from.  After all, the rail and my wheels share a common element and who knows - might have come from the same ingot!

At the end of the haul, I am happy to reach home, intact, get some attention in the marshalling yard – a little greasing, cursory washing and painting, once in a blue moon at least.

“In the yard, after refreshing myself a little, I lapse in to a reverie. At such times, I shudder to think of the mangling, tearing and collateral damages caused by an accident. Yet, I refrain from airing them aloud, on duty, so as not to disturb the traveller. Don’t I have time enough in the yard to relive the nightmare?

The Currency note

We, the 500 and 1000 rupee notes experienced the shock of our lives, not withstanding the infectious smile of the father of the nation, every one of us carried. This recent announcement was the last straw on our backs, already enduring untold miseries, at the hands of the public.

Our path from mint to shredding machine is not that smooth or glossy but wrinkled and grimy. In the hands of cupid-stricken Romeos, we are merely stationery papers. The public, including the banking staff, use us as a handy note pad to jot down sum total, address and phone numbers. Thank God, they have not started using us in place of tissue papers!

The manhandling in the form of wetting, riffling and hard pinching –all in the name of counting, is equal to a sexual assault. This molestation and physical violence is covered by “***abhaya” or any other penal code is what we want to know. If the Law of the land is not yet seized of this matter, we demand an early justice.

The human behaviour is hard to fathom – some go to the extent of imprisoning us like hard core criminals– in lockers, and underground vaults. This is for their keeps. There is another form of ill treatment and torture – gagging us in gunny bags.

With guaranteed legal tender status, how come we are locked up for years in the vaults of the tax evader or a smuggler? How can we be referred to as “black money” – a tag attached to us for the crime committed by someone else? What hurts us the most is forcing the father of the nation to remain smiling, and suffocate at the thought of the stigma sullying his image?

Unmindful of all these things, the sons of this soil do not show a bit of care or sympathy towards us. They go ahead happily folding the press fresh currency note; making us to carry kilograms of soil and stain. They stuff us in sweat drenched wallets under human anatomy to initiate the process mutilation and torture. We appeal for protection in the similar lines as dowry harassment cases are dealt with.

At least for those of us who are not carrying our year of birth, this announcement gives us a parole and a change of environment but the catch is - those with the birth certificate will have to fill that space vacated by us. What solace is there for us in this announcement?

Our silent prayers have not gone unheeded. Now we have an extended “limited” period offer of general amnesty. Many of us with out the printed year of birth will have an opportunity to get in to the main stream circulation, including the ones in vault custody. Yet we hope for a lasing solution rather than this type of first aid treatments.

After deeply mulling over this issue, we have decided to appeal to the research scholars – Will any one of you come up with an ink, at least for printing our year of birth, that vanishes if we are held captive for more than 72 hours or not allowed to breath the normally polluted air and bask in the natural sun light for more than 48 hours, whichever is earlier!

Being smart and intelligent, we the currency notes hope, you people will understand our desire to be in circulation and in good condition.

Till then, we the currency notes with out year of birth will come out of hiding and circulate like illegal immigrants. At the appointed day, all of us, without YOB (year of birth), will end up in detention centres, declared D.O.A (dead on arrival) and shredded. If this is not, ‘the karma of a currency note’- what else it is?

Hoping that some of you might have sympathy for us, we appeal for  urgent measures to:
1. Eradicate the tendency to evade tax and hoarding of currency notes.
2. Bring the culprits to justice & liberate us from the vaults.

P.S: Since the public at large are still using us as scribbling pads, why can’t we leave all of you with our message – orally!

The Murmuring Mouse

The most prominent features of mine – the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, legs and tail have suffered the most under your care. I lost my eyes as you gouged them out as unwanted, flattened my ears with mouth to happily click away, amputated my tail and substituted it with a USB cable. The supreme insult was the removal of my little thinking brain and handing over its functions to the control of a CPU.

Only by looking at the cursor on the monitor I reassure myself that I am still alive and will be able to be so as long as I obeyed your clicks. The moment I cease to do so, it will be the last day of my life.
With all my humility, I fail to understand your need to tweak my ears impatiently – clicking, double clicking or clicking away till my teeth are ground to a powder.

A little patience, instead of your tearing hurry might have allowed you to look for the reasons. The CPU’s ROM & RAM is heavily laden with umpteen soft wares, many of them you got installed just for the sake of it, and most of them as free download.

 It started struggling to recollect and retrieve your files - with little or nil free memory space to think and act. Not knowing how to come out of the maze, it blinks like an idiot and ‘hangs up’ on you. The simple logic that any matter - physical or bytes occupy space and need manoeuvrability always escapes your mind.

Another doubt that daunts me is why my left ear is preferentially tweaked more than the right ear? I am not being partial or envious about who is getting tweaked more; intention is to know why? Still no harm will come to you in thinking about the agony suffered by my ears – please curb your impatience.

I never imagined, your palming over my spine was not out of affection but of vengeance. Later I understood that this gesture was conveying your fear that one day or other I will try to escape from your clutches. Is this why you are keeping my tail tied to the CPU?

As usual, you were not thinking straight; how could I do so with out my legs? You have already shrunk them to wafer thin appendages, under your electronic mouse, to serve as its resting points. To be doubly sure, you have opted for a cordless (tailless) mouse, now.

What pained me the most at that time was - you have flushed out my loyalty down the drain. As is your wont, you forgot to appreciate the fact that loyalty is unilaterally extended and not purchased!

I have obeyed your click and double click commands, to complete all  transactions right from your desk top or lap top, and with in seconds. Can you not spare one of those comfortable seconds, you have enjoyed my company and show a little compassion to me!

Please... please, do not try to down load “Mou-sympathy ver.1.0” mimicking Tom & Jerry act, for this purpose. Even to empathize with me, you will click my ears anyway!

Sorry,Signor Leonardo

I am a kid lost in Amazon forest, as far as sketches, drawings, paintings; colours, brushes and the personality who stood behind the brush are concerned.

Enigmatic smile of Mono Lisa, the mystery surrounding the identity of the “poser”, a collector’s item raining money is beyond my comprehension. I am just familiar with famous names such as Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent Van Gough, Rembrandt and Picasso to name a few.

The super security arrangements made for these paintings, while they are on the move, display or in auction houses, is similar to the gaudy display of Zzzz security cover thrown around our so called popular leaders.

Signor Leonardo da Vinci was a famous painter. Probably when getting bored with paintings, he focused his attention to drawing conceptual sketches to fine tune his designs of ships, flying machines or mechanical devices.

This genius was far ahead in foreseeing future machines. He might also have felt sad on account of inadequate technology & inferior materials of his times. This might not be 100% correct, if we travel down the lane to pre-Leonardo inventions.

Forgetting all these for  a moment, imagine that now you are in possession of a unique listening device that can transcend space and time, to capture the sound bytes from the debates. Then, if Signor Leonardo happens to meet with Signor Archimedes, senior to him by centuries, this is what you could have heard, on earth!

Signor Leonardo chides Archimedes for shouting “Eureka, Eureka”, from a bath tub, for a royal cause rather than developing innovative contraptions, using his findings.

This indictment must have hurt Signor Archimedes, like the sting of an angry scorpion.

Rebutting, Archimedes tells him, “Eureka was my joyous expression on discovery of the principles of floatation & Psychometric method. I could make these contributions to physical and maritime sciences, even while immersed in a bath tub!”

Leonardo did not want to let go these contributions unanswered. “Mr Archimedes, I have also left a rich legacy of - paintings and innumerable conceptual drawings, as my own contribution to science & engineering”.

Mr Archimedes was not much impressed. “Your paintings dated back by centuries, fetch hundreds of millions, now, for the “collector” that too not in your country’s currencies. In what way this benefits you and the “poser” now?”

Let me remind you, “Even before you were born Mr Leonardo, Syracuse had war machines. Historically it was the Romans & Greeks who were sailing on the seas, in the 4th century BC even before my shouting of Eureka!”

He pointed it out to Mr Leonardo, “ Vikings from Scandinavia raided Northern Europe in the 10th and 11th century A.D. and are  credited  for coining the term “starboard” – denoting the right side of a sailing vessel”.

“Mr Leonardo, I don’t want to sound boastful but I had a concept for a single span bridge of nearly 700 feet. I would have done it myself at that time, but we did not need it. I left it for the Norwegians proved it in the modern world!”

It was the turn of Signor Leonardo to fall silent and slip away from the uncomfortable encounter. Mr Archimedes' soul, satisfied and mumbling something in Greek floated out from the scene.

Signor Leonardo’s soul was actively yearning to confront Sir Isaac Newton, on some issues of gravity. He thought that he had better arguments to put forth.

 It was Sir Newton who, unfortunately, came face to face with Leonardo. Waiting for such a chance, Signor Leonardo grabbed it gleefully.

“Ahaa! Mr Newton, I heard you were a nature lover and especially fascinated by falling fruits and leaves. Was it so?”

Sir Newton blushed a little in being complimented by such a soul like Leonardo. He admired his versatility and to be praised by such a person made him happier, than what he felt when being knighted.

Newton replied, “I was contemplating on nature and the fruit of inspiration was the falling apple”.

“Mr Leonardo, that apple triggered me to mathematically explain the laws of motion, flow of fluids. I could explain the spectrum of light, formation of Newton’s rings". The poor knight was not aware of the verbal duel Leonardo and Signor Archimedes had some time ago.

Leonardo asked, “With your treatise on gravitational force, did you do anything to benefit the people?”

“Did it not occur to you, Sir Newton that my conceptual design of a flying machine would have succeeded under the gravitational force of yours?”

The knight was furious. He pointed out “The flying machine was all that the birds were, from time immemorial. Surely, Mr Leonardo you must have watched them flying. Were you not a Nature watcher then?”

The rebuttal continued. Next he chose Leonardo’s famous painting for getting even with the Painter cum Inventor. “All your skill in painting did it benefit anybody – except you? You have no right to talk about my gravitational theories, in the light of this”.

“Mr Leonardo, You knew how to mix different pigments to get various colours. Do you know that it was me who showed the white colour to be a composite of 7 colours?

Nature was trying to explain the very same to you in the form of a rainbow. You failed to grasp and I did. So what is the harm in being a lover of Nature?”

“Mr Leonardo, you painted “what” you saw but I tried to explain the “why” & “how” of what you saw. But did you ever tried to explain?”

Miffed on being cross questioned, Leonardo ridiculed Newton saying “Was it necessary to provide a bigger & smaller opening, on the door, for your cat and kitten to come and go. Did it not strike you a little odd?”

Not to be out done Sir Newton replied, “Not at all! I was providing the kitten another entry option. The future lies in the hands of kids and all the options should be made available to them, including the knowledge of science.

That is my philosophy and now you know why I had a smaller opening for the kitten. If providing a smaller opening was odd what shall I call your peculiar habit of writing words as they appeared in a mirror – would it be odd-squared or odd-cubed?”

Getting little annoyed, Sir Newton continued in an accusative voice. “Mr Leonardo, you are remembered mainly for your paintings and in passing references to your notebook containing futuristic concepts.

Refresh your memory with the list of my contributions - Newton’s law of motion, Universal gravitation, Newton’s rings, Newtonian & non Newtonian fluids, and Newtonian telescope and so on.

Mr Leonardo, my third law of motion is very apt to be quoted here, but in a different context. The law is very explicit: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction ”

Leonardo cursed himself, in what sounded like garbled Latin. Newton thought probably the genius also possessed the art of speaking Latin the way he writes it – mirror imaging!

Leonardo’s soul decided it was high time to perform a vanishing act, like paint-less brush stroke, dissolving into thin air, with out leaving a trace!

For a moment, Sir Isaac Newton’s soul stood looking heavenwards and then slowly diffused in to a beam of light.

Static…rrrrrrrrr….. It is time for you to switch off your guessing machine as the ‘spirited’ debates have ended. If anybody doubts your claim, simply refer them to Mr Snowden, who will be happy to educate on cyber leakages. When eavesdropping is possible now, in real time, why not then?

If he is still unconvinced, then tell him that you had secretly tapped in to the radio telescope searching for extra terrestrial intelligence!

The Game Changer

 A gadget to play video games, deft fingers to navigate and a load of patience is all it takes a kid to become fast and furious. The over load on the software or the powering battery is not at all the kid’s concern.

This is in the case of a normal kid, gender being no exception. Imagine, for a moment, that such a gadget is in the hands of Little Typhoon – you are welcome to enjoy a super fast & furious entertainment. A word of caution: this kid likes to win always; is well prepared with ever changing rules and self-voted veto powers.

Having come in to the video parlour, brace yourself for a ride in a Formula one car as a passenger (modified F1 rules, courtesy Little Typhoon) and experience the way the left-handers, right-handers,   hairpin and  S bends are negotiated, at tarmac scorching speeds. Surely, the heart which started beating from your mouth, at the start of the race, must be ready to come out and see what this madness is all about!

Her relatives from abroad bring new gadgets, and I always get the first darshan along with a hurried, limited edition tutorial. This is her way of nurturing a loosing champion, for a future date. Whatever be the game, her tetra core “Intel” processor stores the nuances of the game with a shadow department working out the weaknesses she can exploit, when playing with others - me included.

Having mastered all the games, with an absorbing concentration, displayed by Neil Armstrong guiding the Lander “Eagle” on the moon, she got tired of playing them by the book. She felt the time was ripe to add spice to her waning interest by tampering with the rules.

On overhearing a discussion among techies, she set her mind to work out devious variations in some of the video games to make them dangerously more diabolic. The tetra core “Intel” became hyper active and came up with the modifications to test the skills of every one fond of playing these video games.

Based on my first hand knowledge, I could guess which of the games she wanted to tamper with. She was fascinated by three games – Jumping Jack, The harried Hunter and The Devil’s Drive.

Jumping Jack - A character named Jack has to run through number of obstacles – jumping from a swinging platform to catch a swaying rope to cross over a chasm; ducking to avoid a low roofed, labyrinthine cavern and vault over a boulder blocking his way, meters from the exit, without slackening, his running speed.

The harried Hunter- trails a lion and which he aims to shoot, as they ace to face confrontation. When he is about to pull the trigger, unexpectedly a monkey jumps on to the rifle and spoils his aim. The player has to now rescue the hunter from the angry jaws of the lion and eventual death.

The Devil’s Drive is a car race similar to the F1 but set in a sinuous mountain range with breath taking and awe inspiring deep valleys on either side. A spectrum of weather conditions drift in, prevail as well as clear from valley to the peak. The crunch in the game is coming now – the vagary of nature visits the circuit at will.

She chose them for amputation and grafting operations in the theatres of software experts.  As her best ‘champion looser’ friend, she confided in me about her game changing plans.

She wanted to co-opt an additional player, and exercise her veto powers. In lay-person’s language it meant that she can end the present game abruptly or simply switch over to a new one or calling off the session altogether.

Jumping Jack:

Jack, now, has to surmount the obstacles that change shape, size and start executing independent and random variations - in time, gravity, speed, swing, tilt angle, gyration. In addition, Jumping jack’s acrobatics follow a different set of random variations.

 In effect Jumping Jack has been reduced to a chess piece on the board and his prowess subjugated to random mechanics. Now the player is like a commoner, left to stand in the middle of a bull ring with out any preparation.

The harried Hunter:

The hunted becomes the hunter; the rifle refuses to obey trigger commands or fires with a time delay. The slug takes a parabolic path or slows down after a distance- as if trying to get a bearing. The monkey walks away with the rifle leaving him unarmed; the lion, after hearing the shot digs a furrow and escapes from the bullet in cinema fashion.

Alternatively, the lion would clone itself and run off in different directions, to confuse the hunter and buy precious time to escape. The commands of the player attempting to rescue the hunter from the angry jaws of the lion results in “hanging of the software” and so on….Probably all part of her efforts to save the endangered species from extinction!

The Devil’s Drive:

The left-handers become right-handers or vise versa, the straight stretch becomes a hair pin or S bend at the last possible second or vise versa. Raging fire erupts as the car is negotiating a blind corner. The course becomes a figure eight whenever two cars happen to be at the same location of the circuit, but at opposite legs, to add a quirk of twist, to race the hearts of the players faster than the tyres on the tarmac.

When all these nail-biting events are taking place, the vagary of nature is let loose on the drivers (players) at the wheels and the accelerator of the race car starts to act on it own free will.
Due to my experience of being a confidant & willing loosing partner, you can take it from me - these are truths, nothing but truths.

To buttress this statement, read the transcript appended below:

“Are you of afraid of loosing the game to me?” Little Typhoon asked in a confident tone.

“Yes” I simply told her.

Not because of lack of skill but due to the inability to draw the guns quickly as a Louis le Amour character would have done. Not because of lack of nerves, but my rusty memory banks cannot operate that many counters to anticipate and instantly act upon the unexpected twists & turns.
 
Because she is the designer par excellence, has Giga bytes memory and Mega byte out put inside the little head of hers! Has further plans.

The crunch in the game is like the hidden suspense in a Hitchcock’s movie – what, when, where, who and how?

You may ask by whom and how? I know she is on the look out to engage software pros and had already sounded me out to be part of the search team.

Familiar with her nature of thinking, I hope not she will co-opt me as a consultant too!

Her Mission: Videogame Tinkerers”

The Teflon Man melts part - 2: Bystander stands trial

 

 The next day Bystander impatiently stood in front of Muser to catch his attention. Muser was engaged in furiously writing, in three different dairies and on as many topics, oblivious to the surroundings.

He was aspiring to become a full fledged writer and spent hours on end at his writing table. He had set a deadline of three months for the project and in effect was trying to follow in the foot steps of the famous English novelist Edgar Wallace, who used to simultaneously dictate on three or four mystery novels. Muser found the efforts draining and his attempts pretty amateurish.

Coming back to the present, he greeted his friend and asked, “What do I owe you for your sudden visit?” Given such a chance, Bystander not was not a person to let go the opportunity to start his famous non-stop talking. He narrated the conversation (one sided of course) between himself and the senior citizen.

 From his friend’s s monologue Muser collected many points to cross-examine him. Muser not only advocates but also acts as an advocate - an able foil, to one another, during these long years of friendship.

He questioned, “What made you to take so much liberty with a senior citizen who happens to be a new friend?”  The reply he got was amusing to say the least.

Bystander explained why he came to like the old man. The absence of usual mannerisms seen in such aged people – multi coloured amulet threads adoring the wrist, gem stones studded rings on fingers, swiping the air with the nose, twisting or twirling of fingers, talking to themselves or drawing in the air while walking…. The list was getting longer.

Muser concluded that his bosom friend has lost his senses – because Bystander did not believe in superstitions.

Friend, “you did not open your mouth at the mention of young birds having no time even for elementary things in a day why? And what made you to think he was only concerned about the grown up children?”

Bystander replied, “I thought the senior citizen was going to open the flood gates to his compressed emotions. Hence I kept mine shut. It was my wild guess about the grown up children”

Muser appreciated his friend for the efforts to alleviate the sufferings from an agitated mind and to make the person enjoy the rest of his life. To keep Bystander’s enthusiasm in check, he advised him to be little more cautious in guessing and preaching, in future.

A pleased Muser asked his friend, "Earlier you were only a verbose. How come suddenly you possess poetical talents. Your description of an ideal setting for a celebration was really beautiful. Why don’t you take up to writing? Bystander was very much pleased to hear these words from the mouth of a reticent.

The bomb shells came next. “The odd man out was your references to MNC, smart phones and the .NET”. Don’t you think that it was little over done – to say the least it was a time bomb that could have gone either way. Remember my words and be little more careful. I would advise you to stick to poetical language, which many don’t have time to understand, and outwardly it would sound pleasant to hear.

Thank your good fortunes. The passing remark made by the gentle man indicates that still he is considering you a friend. If I were in his shoes, you would not be here talking to me. Let me wish you a grand success in your maiden, foolhardy attempt in counselling a troubled mind”, Muser finishing his questioning.

Unburdened and with a reassured conscience, Bystander decided to eagerly wait for the coming Sunday.

Yama Dharma Raja in Dilemma Part 1: Chintan Baitak in Yam Lok

 Yama wanted to call for an urgent council meeting. The climbing death rate and the leaner account books were not exactly tallying. This was serious and needed immediate remedial action. His consternation was that he has been watching the steady decline in his grip, over the land of the dead and did nothing to arrest the trend.

Now, the decline has started to nose dive like a bird of prey swooping down to catch the scurrying rat on the ground. His number cruncher came up with a chart and on seeing that Yama scolded him for showing the graph upside down.

Taken aback, the number cruncher politely explained the graph was right and what was not right was the graph line. It was digging deep into patal loka, as if by its own free will.

Anger welled up in the extra large heart of Yama, at the cowardliness of the graph line going underground, where he expected only the dead to be buried in the necropolis.

He loudly cursed the line for showing the symptoms of agoraphobia (fear of open space) in not climbing to the horizon of the graph.

At one point, Yama started doubting the exalted position and executive authority given to him – to balance the budget of living beings on Earth. Was it an eye wash to keep him at arms length or happy with his enterprise or to gradually weaken his status like a decaying radioactive material?

Then it came to his mind, that he had a grouse against Lord Shiva. HE had gifted him a Royal Buffalo, as a mascot, and chose to allow the earthlings to rear, milk and use them as farm animals, robbing him of the glory? Did Lord Vishnu play had any hand in this scheme?

Then another point that crashed in to his mind was the habit of Shiva – granting boons (Markandey, Savitry) and saving His devotees at the ‘neck’ of the moment disappointing the rope of death, darting at Mach speeds to snare them!

 Yama was very proud of the rope and derived immense satisfaction that it had instilled fear of their lives in the human beings – that was decades back.

These thoughts and doubts made Yama to wonder whether Shiva was using him to further His own image as The Destroyer with a kind heart. Conflicting emotions made him to feel helpless and waited, as the scores of boiling oil pots in the dungeons of the dead.

He had introduced the boiling oil pots as an instrument of torture, to subject his ‘subjects’, to pay for their past sins. Now it was turning out to be a case of diminishing returns.

His needle of suspicion- searching for a scapegoat, pointed at Chitragupta, his confidant and aide de affairs. Can this mess be safely laid at the seat of Chitragupta, custodian of the Death Register? The memory was still fresh in his mind when Chitragupta accidently let the possession of the Death Register to change hands and the turmoil it caused rocked Yam Lok for a generation.

He was immensely pleased the way Chitragupta was shown in the movie, in a poor light, highlighting the faux passé. But other events over took and the impact of the incidence was slowly forgotten.

Yama fondly recalled the movie script where he and Chitragupta went to earth and strolled in the streets and relished on litres of ice cream, which tasted yummy and better than anything available in Yama Lok complex.

His heart went out for the characterization and costume selection.  He mentally made a note to send, belatedly, a thank you letter to the director of the movie and include a congratulatory message to the scriptwriter for taking them all over the Land of the Living!

Coming out of reminiscence, he tried to focus his attention on the burrowing graph line and another suspicion sneaked in. Is Chitragupta behind all these things? He recollected the pathetic episode when Chitragupta mistimed the death of a human being which resulted in such an uproar in Yam Lok.

The victim, in splendid attire, almost caused a mutiny in to the ranks of his followers. To rub salt on his bruised ego, the human went on to deliver rousing dialogues - with the durbar in full attendance. The ignominy and audacity still rankled in him.

He was of the firm opinion that all these things would not have transpired but for the carelessness of the custodian of the death register. Loyalty not with standing, Chitragupta was becoming sloppy in his works.

The memory of relishing the ice cream melted and evaporated like the life snuffed out at his command. A not so happy recollection took its place. It again happened to be a movie in which his all powerful rope of death was made to return like a boomerang, utterly defeated in its purpose.

A recurring nightmare ensured that it remained deep in his memory. He could vividly recollect the rope of death snaking its way earthwards, travelling faster than anything a human could fly, on to the target with death written all over its sinuous length.

 The target was not even taking evasive measures at the sight of the rope! Then this happens - the rope stops dead in its tracks, on seeing a talisman on the person, gets frightened as if it has seen a ghost. Presto! The rope doubled tails it back home.

As he had done in the past, he sat through the re-run of the scene at his home theatre to assess what had gone wrong? But he never imagined a situation when his own large heart will punish him for the acts of omissions – like a boring movie exempted from ‘entertainment tax’!

To day it struck him, like a bolt from the sky. His rope of death was powerless in front of a talisman, a piece of yellow or red cloth or in side the temples of Shiva or near a Shiva Linga. Now he understood the reasons for the steady decline in the business of death. The number cruncher’s graph was speaking the truth, after all, even from its abysmal depths.

On stock taking, he found that his instrument of death was outmoded and had never been upgraded with a newer version. His team remained content with bachelor degrees, in the arts of running the dungeons for the dead, instead of pursuing Masters and doctorates.

Raging inferno and tsunami filled in his heart – alternatively, usually reserved for the condemned souls in the dungeons. Carried away by emotions, he started shouting to himself ‘action’ action’ and ‘action’ like a movie director would have done at the sets of these films (his favourites, CDs taken from an illegal outlet a few years back). He deliberately avoided Chitragupta where the rope of death was shown in a denigrating manner but liked his company to enjoy the ice cream scenes.

Coming back to the reality of his misrule, Yama decided it was time for a council meeting. He found Chitragupta, his assistants, the number cruncher and the chiefs of dungeons gathered in the durbar hall. He ignored the customary greeting and straight away started the meeting, hinting that he was in a foul mood.

He questioned Chitragupta why all these things are happening? He had an unconfirmed suspicion that Chitragupta was secretly mobilizing support both within the council and Yam Lok.

“Prabhu, the human kind has become emboldened. They do not fear death anymore. Now and then, your highness has been granting lease of life. This has landed us not exactly in warm waters.

This reply annoyed Yama. “Yes, as long as some one like you have the habit of misplacing the Death Register, where else we will land. Don’t forget those times when you caused mistimed deaths?” Even now I hear the durbar hall reverberating with those political speeches. Let me ask now, why Chitragupta you remained silent?

Sensing the target practice, Chitragupta politely pointed out that not only he, his colleagues and the highness himself were mute spectators at that time. All of us heard the rhetoric in rapt attention. Yama admired his aide’s alacrity in turning the arrow in to a boomerang – it stuck.

The number cruncher had no wish to get embroiled in solving the power equations on display, happy to be among his graphs and statistical disturbances in the death figures.

The chiefs of dungeons managed to exchange knowing glances and one of them put forward a proposal on the grave issue, suggesting a discussion to work out an action plan. Though both Yama and Chitragupta did not like the interruption, each seized it as an opportunity to stop their duel.

Yama liked the word action in the suggestion – he himself had said it aloud a little while ago. The proposal was seconded and thirded (Chitragupta believed in bowing to hierarchy, so he seconded Yama’s seconding!)

The meeting continued well past sun set, the participants being fed with feast and refreshments at timely intervals. Yama started boiling up again in imagining the cost of the feast to his account. Nearing midnight, the weary council passed a unanimous resolution– no body had the strength to argue, anyway!

In essence, it empowered Yama to lead a team to Mt. Kailash and find ways to impress upon Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva , to bless the new  initiatives, as THEY only can solve this problem, of life and death which was  weakening the very foundation of Yam Lok.

Doubting Tom ver 2.0

Doubting Tom was fuming within himself for the debacle he had suffered, at the hands of Bystander, a few days ago. He was annoyed, because both of them did not even enjoy a-hello-at the – staircase acquaintance.

Agitated, he was waiting for an opportunity to get even with Bystander. No doubt, he had doubts to ask of others but that did not give a Mr Somebody the license to preach him moral or otherwise. He practised mental runs and re-runs on the various ways he would get at Bystander.

His preparations included observing Bystander in the public and snatching bits and pieces of the conversations engaged in by Bystander. Though he was not a trained clandestine operative, he relied on his instinct to gather intelligence material.

He assuaged his troubled feelings on snooping - telling his alter ego that, he, Doubting Tom being very much scared of scorpions & bees has absolutely no intention of mounting a sting operation!

He had observed that Bystander was always eager to exchange useful information that was relevant to the topic being discussed .That was the chink in the armour which, Doubting Tom wanted to exploit, at the appropriate time. Now he could feel proud that in his new avatar, as a snooper, he did not do badly at all.

Bystander was unaware of the snooping and had no inkling of the animosity germinating in Doubting Tom’s mind. So, he did not foresee a ‘close encounter with Tom, in ver.2’

Doubting Tom happened to see Bystander giving a pep talk to a stranger (to Tom, of course) and managed to catch this phrase ‘bark of a dog is worse than its bite’ from that conversation. He could hear Bystander repeating this phrase once in a while during that conversation.

Sensing a ripe opportunity to corner Bystander, Doubting Tom edged close to and asked him, “Sir, how can you tell that ‘bark of a dog is worse than its bite’?”

Bystander slowly turned towards the speaker, recognition flashing in his eyes,  and said, “bark is worse than the bite’ is a phrase generally used  to convey that you get a verbal dosage and get away with a lighter written reprimand’

Unconvinced, Doubting Tom asked, “How can you say that, as an outsider, when you are not actually in control of the situation?

Bystander patiently clarified, becoming a little annoyed, “I am telling you this from my experience and there are many people who have got away with lighter written reprimands after a barrage of verbal dosage. Am I making it clear to you now or not?”

Confused, Doubting Tom asked, “but you said it is an expression which is generally used and then how could you say, in this instant, this is what will happen with certainty?”

“Yes, now listen. When you are sick, which specialist doctor you will visit first?”, Bystander asked.

“Of course, I will first consult with a General Practitioner!” How can you walk straight in to a specialist’s room with out knowing what type of treatment will be needed? Is this not the general practice?”, Tom replied, feeling upbeat.

My dear Mr Whoever You Are, I only said as much as what you just now said. This confusing statement of Bystander left Tom   with no other alternative except biting his finger nails - he just had his hair cut on that day! Back home, he sat down to plan a suitable counter at a later day. He did not want to let go of Bystander that easily – like King Vikramaditya in ‘Vikram aur vedal’.

That, much awaited, opportunity came sooner than later. A father and son duo was having a ‘tete a tate’   with Bystander. Obviously the way the animated discussion was going on and on, Tom felt that some thing of a serious nature, concerning the lad must be the crux of the matter.

 Inching closer, Tom snared a few words from the air as Bystander spoke them. The one sentence that got stuck in the labyrinths of his memory lane was ‘A small spark is often enough to remove all the darkness in the world’.

Bystander explained at length to the father and son that more often than not, people think that, lot of illumination is required to chase away the darkness. But in reality and according to men of wisdom - a little spark born out of a flint stone will work wonders. It actually removes the darkness completely. Doubting Tom could not understand the deep philosophical logic as he had neither seen the flint stones nor the sparks arising out of their interaction.

Feeling shy and not prepared to be out witted once again by, Tom mulled over his doubt for awhile.

Doubts and curiosities go hand in hand – doubts hesitate a little to come out in the open but curiosities have killed the cats. Not able to hold his curious doubt any more and with a halting voice he asked, “Mr Bystander, please explain to me how a spark will help in totally removing the darkness?”

Bystander, who was still talking to the father, turned around and said, “Mr Whoever You are, it is very simple to understand. If you have a glass of water and add a drop of ink to it, then what happens?  The glass of water turns murky and now would you call it water any more?”

“Yes and No. But I fail to see the connection between the spark and the ink drop” said a perplexed Tom.  Bystander felt sympathetic and regretted that he had been a little harsh in dealing with such a simpleton, a few days ago. Then and there he decided to go soft on Mr Whoever He is and decided to clear the doubts raised by him patiently.

He explained, animatedly “A small spark is often enough to remove all the darkness in the world, is a very positive statement designed to raise the confidence level of an individual. There is also this embedded philosophical truth – any insignificant positive contribution is sufficient to change the existing situation for the better. It is similar to the glass of water changing its nature by the addition of a drop of ink”.

Doubting Tom was now in to another set of doubts:

The feeling that he had understood the concept –is it real or imaginary?

Whether he had understood the explanations given by Bystander?

His mind becoming clearer, he decided – “Riding on the horns of dilemma is not like taking the bull by its horns!” Doubting Tom felt extremely pleased with himself – now, that he too can talk in clichés without getting confused! Turning around to thank for this ‘sparking’ illumination, he noticed that Bystander had already left the spot a few minutes ago!

 Doubting Tom was disappointed with himself in not seizing the presented opportunity to thank Bystander.

The Pathfinders

 One who charts a course to the unknown and comes back to lead others to that unknown can safely be called a pathfinder. This term could be adeptly applied to any one taking a bold step in any field of human endeavour. The initiative he or she had taken becomes a path breaking step. This is the brighter side of life.

The lighter side of day to day life has heroes from a different mould. These heroes (heroines, in this case, if at all they play an active role it remains invisible in the public domain)

The Mac (macadam) violators:

 

These types of pathfinders commute on the macadammed roads on bi or tetra wheelers. From “L” to permanent driving license they have broken every barrier of officialdom by their ‘soft’ stand. Once ‘licensed’, they assume that they can ‘vroom’ past no-horn zones, with out valid documents on person, practice the art of jumping signals and use the opposite lane to avoid the trouble of finding the legal U turn and ride without helmet and  headlight to using a bike as an auto rickshaw.

Our traffic policemen are smart and lay in wait to ambush these pranksters, at the most inconvenient moments and in least expected places. Near malls and multiplexes they patiently wait like a spider to pounce upon the violators. After falling in to trap, the violators start pleading, loose face - if lady love is in tow and worry about their spoiled week end jaunt. Prolonged discussions ensue culminating in a receipted fines or plea bargains.

Chastened by this, the violators meekly follow the traffic regulations for the next few days, and only to violate them again.

This ilk, of pathfinders, believes in revisiting history. Unwittingly, they help the traffic police to be on their toes- may be!

 The Intermediaries:

 This, tribe of people act as a go between or intermediaries and do everything for a consideration. The ‘quantum’ depends on the consideration of the doers involved. In this activity, the go between is the catalyst and doer is the reactor.

A dire need drives a person to air his difficulty to a sympathetic person. He or she, in turn tries out two or three contacts. Once such a contact is established, the business end is left to the involved parties. The initiator of the contacts, though a vital cog in the wheel, may get a thank you note or a cup of coffee.

The intermediary now sends out feelers, through his own networks, seeking guidance on the correct approach. The landing has to be perfect or otherwise the plan might skid on the portals of power and he is aware that a failure here will spell doom for his enterprise. In his business, the grapevine is mighty powerful.

This is easily accomplished as he frequents the premises on others’ businesses and has a sense of bearing to navigate the labyrinthine path of rules and files leading to the desired destination.

The neighbourhood restaurants or hotels act as back drop for this clandestine affair of fine tuning the details. The negotiations on consideration go on for some time. First, the seeker and facilitator participate. This is followed by the meeting between the doer and the intermediary.

In the final round, a threesome is held to thrash out the deal. It reminds the parleys conducted by a host officials before the minister enters the scene to sign on the accord, between two sovereign countries. In this case the identity of the head of doer team will not come in to public domain at all – this is the key for success and the difference.

At the end of the done deal, the catalyser remains in touch with his new customer anticipating future requirements - of both of them.

Wonder what to call this: path finding or path breaking?

Armchair Walking – A Bystander prescription

 
                             

                                               
Walking is an exercise - in necessity or to maintain physical well being. Those involved in this form of activity would have never imagined the hidden danger – physical harm. Yet somehow they manage to adjust to the realities – to continue walking.

Bystander knew Mr Stride since childhood days. This front row observation has resulted in characterizing the man and his walk. Mr Stride developed the habit of walking as a routine, almost five decades ago, and continues even today. In the initial days and up to his teens, it was to save a few paise (lucky one to have seen those coins) to augment his pocket money.

Really it was these paise coins which constituted his fund as the practice of giving pocket money, for day today needs,was not an in-thing. He employed a simple modus operandi, walk part of the distance to be travelled and then board a bus, such that his destination fell between one ticketing stage to another, to save 3 or 5 paise. Wait! In those days even the amount of 3 paise could get you something.

He once told Bystander that in this way, by skipping & stage hopping, he could save money for an occasional cinema or a visit to an eatery. His face glowed, elated having achieved an economical miracle, enhancing purchasing capacity.

He has done well in these years – benefitting health and considerable well saved money. But Bystander detected a small disturbance in the mind of Mr Stride. It took him nearly 3 days and 3 or 4 chance meetings in super markets, bank premises and courier offices. Strange it may appear but possible in real life.

A breeze of nostalgia did its best to uncork the emotions, between bosom friends trying to make up for the years on non-contact.

Bystander surmised that Mr Stride’s was worried about safety. But was sure that was not regarding wealth ; Mr Stride did not attach too much importance on this count as he still maintained a frugal nature –habits die hard. But it concerned more about safety of his well being – during the walks.

During the ensuing discussion with Strider, Bystander understood that for the compulsive walker, the roads are becoming dangerous day by day hence the fear for personal safety. It has been his experience too and after sessions of thought, he had formulated a set of safety rules for such compulsive or compelled walker.

Bystander, not a one to pass an opportunity to share his wisdom,decided to proclaim his set of rules, to a willing audience.

You can wear a helmet with miner’s lamp and this will help you to safely walk during early mornings and after sunset. At least you can switch the head light on to warn mobikes, auto & tempo-walahs. They don’t come with lights blazing.

Better fit turning indicators, on front & back of your shoulders. This gadget works 24 hours a day. You can warn the riders & walkers that you intend to turn left or right! Many times, pedestrians themselves would get in to your path, blocking it or colliding with you!

It would be nice to have a parking light and a red light, in a convenient location on your back. Better make your status known for whoever cares to notice and act. Why to forgo the satisfaction of letting others know – you are still for a brief period (parking) or for a while (stop signal)

As an improvement to the turning indicators, hang a gadget, at chest or abdomen level, having LT, RTarrows and a straight arrow.

Like cricketers, wear an arm and shim guard to avoid glancing hits from mobike riders, showing the skills of weavers.

Forget not your feet – wear armoured shoes, avoid toe-crushing at zebra crossings and signal jumpers. You can encounter with them at any given signal and af any given time of the day!

Mr Strider heard through all the suggestions – they appeared logical and at the same time highly impractical. Having known Bystander for long, Strider wondered within himself – has he ever given a practical solution!



Not wishing to hurt Bystander in any way, he politely said, “With all these gadgets on my person, I would look like a robot. Where is the pleasure in walking? Simply I can sit at home, is it not?”

This was not the last on the matter. Bystander had a ready final say – “Take up armchair walking. It is safe by all means!”