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.
No comments:
Post a Comment