The Search for OM

Part -1: The Universe

Majority of the population were skeptic about such a scientific claim, by the cosmologists, that one could experience the ever pervading and eerie “OM” in the deep inter-stellar space. with hindsight, their disbelief could be appreciated because such claims were understood only by the deep space probing community. Undaunted, this community is still engaged in capturing bytes of communication from the extra-terrestrial beings, if at all they are there!

As recently as yesterday, scientists claimed to have obtained evidence,in lab research,that actually stars could be emitting sound,in the ultrasonic frequencies (blessed are the bats!) beyond  human hearing.

The mindset of the non-believers has now, undergone a sea change (or should it be a deep space change?). They are ready to believe now, that with sophisticated snooping techniques anything is possible - experiencing the eerie “OM” or recording of war cries from the past battles!

Cosmologists, the determined torch bearers to the edge of the universe, have concluded on the date of the “Big Bang” – between 10 to 20 billion years ago (1000 to 2000 crore years ago), and most probably between 12 to 20 billion years  ( 1200 to 2000 crore years) – give or take a few million years! 

This is the farthest place, in the universe, where the astronomers have located a quasar. Here also the messenger was the light ray, knocking at the doors of astronomy wanting to be noticed. Recently, stars which are 13 billion years old have been detected.

The god particle proponents argued that the nascent ‘Big Bang’ particles remained identical in all respects for 10 11 (nearly 3169 years) seconds after the “event” and before the god particles arrived on the scene. 

These creative particles started asserting their might, in the huge, expanding primordial gaseous cloud, occupying roughly 10 to 15 billion light year distance -  in diameter (light year= 9,46,000 crore Km).

   

Thereafter, the formation of billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars, needed millions of years. Young hot stars, middle aged yellow stars and giants ready to superannuate in to super novae and the Cosmic trap such as black holes completed the frame work of the universe.

Even for the cosmic scale, this is a grand real estate development!

Part - 2: Earth & human civilizations

In such a cataclysm, the earth revolved around the sun and life forms emerged, evolved, and becam . Even before the existence of god particles could be theorized - civilizations came in to existence, alongsiderivers to prosper and then perish, periodically. 

The human race survived all through these upheavals, along with assorted fauna and, flora to share this habitat.

For many centuries, the sages contemplated on God. Words became inadequate to express their thoughts; scripts were invented & improvised with specific usage structure.

This was accomplished by the sages themselves or by others who have devoted themselves to these tasks. At this stage, probably each of the developing civilizations felt the need to have an image to vent their anguish and share triumph. 

A new crop of scholars came on the scene codifying the rules of the society carefully keeping the image as central. Philosophies developed and spread through epics and invariably had a religious leaning.  Pontiffs managed to keep the religious breeze blowing.

Even during the ancient times, scientific thoughts have been echoing in the, religious scripts, of all the developed civilizations – differing in language, ways & means and reach with that of the later day scientific 

thinking. The dividing line between divinity and science was, almost, non-existent.

Slowly, science became independent of religion – the former believing after questioning and the later relying on absolute faith.The Scientists used scriptures, to question the religious beliefs at least; the sages drew upon science to nurture the soul to attain salvation from cycles of birth.

Yet, it was possible to be a sage with scientific orientation or a religiously bent scientist – as long as it did not affect their respective chosen paths.

  The astronomers continued to piece together the history of the Universe, trying to answer “what and who caused the “Big Bang”? Newton & Kepler came up with laws on gravitation and planetary motion, respectively. In the atomic scale, indivisibility slowly made way to the understanding that a family of particles was sharing the space in the nucleus and electrons orbiting the core – like planets around a star!

The atom became divisible - Fermi & others managed to split and fuse atoms.

The limiting mass for the formation of a black hole was understood. Einstein & Hubble came with the theory that the universe is expanding. 

Part -3: The God Speaks 


Who authored the fundamentals of optics, magnetism, gravitation, radiation and other forces of nature?

I designed this universe, applying cosmic scale for distance, diameter and mass, with ample vacant space for those countless celestial objects to breathe easy and expand. For the fun of it, I added the black holes to trap the unwary and the straying masses. Am I not the Provider?

It is your recent knowledge that stars could be generating ultrasound; My solution was vacuum and vast empty space, in between any celestial body! Imagine your life with chatter of these countless objects, in the audible range and the harm it would have caused to all the living beings.

Did you not wait nearly for 15 billion years to get a pico-second glimpse of a ‘god’ particle? Have I not already used them as the unique fundamental building block to create this universe?

I am proud of the tenacity & marvelous skills being shown by the scientific Inquirers.I willingly let them pry in to the wealth of secrets in My creations – to comprehend them in a more understandable format.

Do they realise how many more million years are required to unravel all the mysteries? 

Splitting and splicing of atom, gaining a glimpse of the god particle, working through micro organisms, and gathering information from the outer edge of Universe - spanning pico meter to billions of light years.

Breathtaking advances in the art of repairing; replacing or total cloning of living things is the hall mark of the trickiest customer amongst all My Creations! 

Successive generations will only be delving in to the past, trying to catch up with the present. And their present will remain always in the past!

Though, splitting of the atom turned out to be bad  idea and you ended up with deadly radioactive materials, also.

At these times, I smile the broadest, knowing well that the Search has no end, if misdirected.

Are you trying to please Me - with all these efforts and numbers or indirectly seek help in recounting? 

I did not show undue favours to the devout; I granted the scientists ample time slot.  I gave a special Gift package - revelations for the sages and inspirations to scientific Inquirers.

  

Ask yourself these questions:

Who gifted these great rivers to nurture civilisations?  Who permitted sages to contemplate? Who allowed the so called discoveries by the scientific Inquirers?

Whenever these scientists walked in the woods of doubts, did I not guide them to resolve issues – scientific or questions on My very own existence?

I am in the atom and the Universe; the atom is neither small nor the universe is very big for Me. 

The sages might have left hints or clues on many scientific subjects. The scientific community still thinks, only they know the contents of the Universe. The fact of the matter is, will their universe continue to expand forever or after a point collapse on itself?

Sure,they have found another riddle,adding millions ofyears to conclude their “Project Search”.

Surprise is one of My trump cards. How do you expect that all of them will be revealed in one grand show of hands?

Did I not lead the saints in their spiritual pursuits - to grasp spiritual & scientific inspirations radiating from Me? The only 

difference is – they searched for the truth about My virtual form and scientists are trying to gather evidence about My physical presence.Each one of you – sages and scientists, are busy in searching for that imagined half form, which you assume as My full form!

 This is another 

trump card with Me – I am neither virtual nor physical in form. Then what am I? 

I welcome, My existence being questioned, clarified and cleared. To keep all of you busy, I have let loose cycles of births – believers becoming non-believers, and non-believers becoming devout. This is the cycle of maya and definitely you will restart the same routine in another cycle of birth – with a different belief as the starting point.

I have only pity, for the non-believers who claim their knowledge is superior to that of the believers or for those believers who think they have understood Me!

You search for something only when you have misplaced it or lost it. Is it not?

Keep on searching - from whatever way of life you are leading now. In this inquest you will still be focused On Me – whether I am there or not, real or not, and powerful or not. 

Pause to think! The cosmologists managed to peep at the source from which the light ray left billions of years ago - without actually leaving Earth.

Are they sure now as to what will be in store after that boundary? Does any one of them know, what is there right now, at this instant? The cosmologists who have seen far into the past, from this present, are not able to travel that far in to the future. The sages did the opposite – looked far in to the future from their present.

Remember “What is apparent to you may not be there at all and what is not visible to you, now, does not mean that it is not there at all!. Care to contemplate and then search?

I, the one who created this suspense, am not surprised that some of you are trying to surprise Me. 

The moment, all the bodily functions cease, a living thing becomes dead, leaving the physical form. That formless, causative force is Me – for the believers. The non-believers will reason it out as the dying of bodily organs and cells. 

This is fine but how they would explain unnatural death. Will they say ‘that living organism took birth with a self determination to meet with such an eventuality?’ Let them question themselves, “Why there exists no living being, aged thousands of years!” 

The challenge is open to the nonbelievers to continue the search. There are two pointers: Hidden surprises might still be there in the atom and the universe. 

Find Me – I don’t want you to be a looser. I am there! Blame Me when you fare badly, praise Me when you do well and don’t curse Me for your misfortunes. This alone is your own making – your attachment to maya.

Decide where to search? But search after adequately equipping yourself.Really there is no conflict of interest in My mind – one set surrendered with unquestionable faith and the other feels to probe, realise, get convinced and then surrender. 

Search has no end as every search need not end in an answer. So, search till you get an answer or get tired. The universe is vast with plenty of places to search! Why to exclude the atom from the search?

No harm would befall you, in trying. Feel free to choose the ways and means. 

Ability in solving a mathematical equation, running several meters in length and containing millions of unknowns is not going to help. I know the end result – the solution will be Me!

Yet, you create unknowns and try to link it to something known to you and struggle to solve your own equation.Will it take a million year or more; do you have the life span for it; you do not know! The sages had no such equations to solve except a personal equation with Me.

When, a computer based on earth can run this universe or the day one of you could bring in to existence, a new life form out of ordinary elements or the day one of you can add or subtract a star or the day one of you start to live inside an atom!

Stop the search for Me, as you will be searching for yourself! 

Honey Bee & Little Typhoon

I was wrong in thinking that Little Typhoon would soon forget the sting of a honey bee. A thorough kid she is, she never considered anything ‘closed’ and always found out a way to reopen the old subject. Reopening means lot of doubts to make one nervous – like a under-prepared student opening the question paper on a tough subject.

Her first question was, “How honey is made by bees?”

I managed to reply saying, “The bees drink nectar and they have special digestive system to change it to honey”

    

“If it is taking place in their stomachs, how do we get honey? Don’t they use it all?”

My reply, “The bees spit out the honey and store it in the Honey comb” was not convincing.

She had a grave doubt, sorry grave doubts – “Do you mean that the honey what we taste is actually a spittle of number of bees? Is it not unhygienic? Why the honey bee does not swallow and digest all the honey in their stomachs?  Then, there will not be a need to build honey combs, is it not?

Thinking for acceptable answers, I replied, “Actually the honey drops are very thick and do not flow like milk or water. Bees are small insects, need little food. Honey is very nourishing and so drops are enough for them”.

To take the hidden sting out of further probable questions, I added, “They are very busy collecting nectar from flowers and can easily top up, while working, with drops of honey!They build the comb to stay and also store the honey" 

At this point of poignant silence, I could hear her brain humming with arguments – whether to leave the matter there or try and make me uncomfortable. I wished for the former. But she chose the latter.

“Why the honey comb looks dry and not wet with honey and how the honey comes to the market in 

bottles?” 

Yes! This is a definite trap and I immediately upgraded my survival equipments. I mumbled, “The honey is thick and we have to squeeze the comb to get honey flow out. It is sold in market so that anybody can buy a bottle and enjoy the taste.   

"Are we not hurting the bees while squeezing the honey comb and is it correct to disturb or kill the bees only for collecting the honey?

Cornered, I continued mumbling, " See these insects are born to make honey and get chased away or the combs are destroyed , as a practice".

After another of my unconvincing answer, I felt, again like an under-prepared student writing down, whatever he knows for any unknown question. Me and he tried to pass off, hoping undetected.

I could feel her sympathy for honey bees, not withstanding the experience of being 'stung' by a bee . Who knows, she might have even forgiven that bee!

She parted company , with a beseeching look, without saying,"You better do your home work properly"

My explanations might not have satisfied her curiosity. Not to be cowed down, I decided to become a thoroughly prepared student to face her further examinations.

The Lazy Being

  Introduction:

The human body needs energy to perform any activity, be it eating, digestion and thinking. Roughly, mental performance needs as much energy as the hard physical work. How well these expended energies are budgeted labels the individual as – active or passive, in a broader sense. The deficit account leaves an individual weak but not a lazy person.

Passivism starts with disinterest or fear of failing to do well. Even to create the self confidence and interest, mental energy and some amount of physical energy needs to be sacrificed. This is the point at which the passivism is overwhelmed by the imposed burdens and hangs up. Welcome laziness!

The thought that certain tasks need not be performed, lack of drive to compete with others and a host of other compelling reasons whip around  in the mind of a lazy person , solely for the purpose of building up an alibi for furthering inaction.

Some times it takes the philosophical route, placing the onus on karma & retribution, if they buttress its fabricated alibi. It eases the pain in the conscience for being inactive. The reasons for   conserving energy come next.

The Lazy Being is in full agreement with the principle that energy is needed to run the thinking process. This agreement is purely on selfish grounds – to further augment the earlier stated alibi and make it undefeatable. An easily reachable goal is now set – the statehood for inactivity.

This state further scares the Lazy Being like a wish-list of a nation deciding to modernize its armed forces. Not done with it, the lazy Being has to spend time and mental energy to come up with coherent arguments to convince self and others at large.

Has to think about what has to be done and how much of it could be off-loaded or postponed; has to recollect all those things that have been off-loaded or postponed; take a decision whether to maintain status quo or do a risk-assessment that are likely to arise - in short and long terms.

Not stopping there, further explanations are to be generated, based on the profit-loss analysis in support of continuing in the same state of Laziness.

By now, LB has mastered the philosophical platform to quell any alluded arguments raised in the family or among friends (still undecided on having lazy for active friends!).

Quote the example of an active ant , his immediate reply will be – if it is its karma, let it be so!

To sweeten the things a little, highlight the busy life of a honey bee then the well rehearsed answer will be – for all its activism it gets cheated and burnt, where is the fun?

Discuss the tenacity of a self-reliant spider, the spirited answer will be – spinning, sitting at web, waiting to catch insects, is this a life style worth the efforts?

If cornered by the argument, that these insects do not have the faculty of analysis and yet go about their activities instinctively, the long winded reply will be – insects live by instincts and I live by intelligence.

Scurrying like an ant, buzzing like a bee or spinning like a spider is neither my style nor my choice of life. Will you get off my back; I have no more energy left to do any other thing right now!

The Twin Horns of a Dilemma

 

Muser sat in front of his editor’s work station, trying to bottle up his impatience in the interest of a positive outcome. He, who could manage to characterize fictional emotions, was all at sea to figure out the thoughts raging in that one person’s mind, mattering the most at this time – the editor.

Off late, he noticed a steady decline in the good mannered banter exchanged - sometimes exceeding the length of the article under review- during the editing phase. Yet, nothing escaped the editor’s attention and the flab got clipped out, in sweet, salty, sour or bitter revenge.

Whether the editor had a devilish intent to dismember and assemble the whole topic anew – was his doubt. Though, he grudgingly admired the missives on errata, messed up presentation, asynchronous and hanging sentences or ideas that stood up like a bandaged finger.

The unbridled enthusiasm to pour out likes and dislikes caused him to develop in to a scare-crow writer, unwittingly. In his eagerness, he had acquired the misconception that a word or a sentence or a news caption only was needed to drive the devil of a writer in him. 

Powered by reasonable frustration, he released ideas like cattle from pens. The non-existent readership acted as a constraint, from the side lines, obeying Le Chatttlier’s principle - a vague recollection, from the pages of chemistry- ending in more and more frustration resulting in a spell of furious writing.

He wondered, “What is the point in blaming the   easy-to-trigger mind, now?” He cursed himself for forgetting to do a market research for acceptability as a writer. When this realization dawned up on him, it became clear - he was the root cause for the situation overwhelming him.

In the meanwhile, the editor was undergoing an emotional turmoil and disliked the way Muser encroached upon time, place and patience. Trying to be polite proved to be a disadvantage, in this case – and resulted in storing choice retorts for that one big bang?

This storm raging in the mind, forcefully reminded the editor of the law of karma and nemesis. “You shouldn’t have ventured in creating a brand without taking care of the marketing. You only know of Le Chatttlier’s principle or what?”

“You are a difficult author. Never write it plain & straight. Have this idiosyncrasy to transit from old to modern language and if stymied, resort to coining your own words at will!  My only error of judgment was a casual remark to acknowledge the beneficial improvement in our collective vocabulary”.

The editor wanted to shout from the desk top. But refrained from uttering these homilies - remembering, that a catalyst does not take part in chemical reaction, though it may undergo physical change – wondering why nobody thought about its’ mental change?

Not getting any reaction thus far left Muser with more time to run with his thoughts: “You had complaints about my circular or oblique references. Had we removed them, only a dry history lesson would have resulted, instead the article ended up with an imaginative & good narrative”.  Muser was silently defending, his way of writing.

The editor continued to twist and turn the mouse on the pad, thinking silently and ruing the time spent on the drafts.  “Your sentences took off at tangents, had circular references, made me to hop from Shakespeare, dash against Newton, draw swords with Sherlock Holmes, and crawl through WWII minefields. And what was my fault – admiring your skill in corralling facts to factor them in to narratives?”

"I know you had problems with my thought race. Hanging sentences were bothering you till such time I pointed out hanging comes after a sentence, in a legal sense”, the author recalled, lauding himself on the intended pun.

“Did you stop there? No. you harried me to race with squirrels, pant with dogs, walk with snails, sit with the spider and hum with the mosquito - quite an infectious observer that you are. I could have stopped there, but had no heart to stop a home grown Wikipedia and deep in the same heart it was kudos for your patience, perseverance and imagination to observe and describe a spider at work”, the editor fumed.

“Like a champion for Blue Cross, you went in to the lives of pet animals. Had I not saved some of your drafts like a Red Cross volunteer, imagine what would have happened?” was the thought of the exasperated editor.

Muser reflected, “Why this dilemma of to write or not to?”

The editor wondered, “Am I sailing in the same sea of dilemma - to edit or not to?”

Muser failed to understand, “Why the editor did not throw in the towel?”

“It helped in improving my patience & managing skill; acted as a good diversion from other humdrum activities”, the editor silently mouthed the reply with a touch of happiness.

The editor deliberated whether to ask, “Why the writer did not close up?”

“You laughed aloud and definitely enjoyed this twister of a pun”, Muser silently answered, with a wry smile playing on his face while trying to picture the consternation, which would have appeared on the editor’s face, at that time.

At the end of the long telepathic session, both of them switched over to the same frequency and thought, “Why are we riding on this twin Horns of dilemma – to write or not; to edit or not? Can we not simply let go?”

“Thank God for not endowing the animal kind with three horns. Then the readers will be forced to undergo this dilemma of to read or not to?”  They thought, silently laughing at themselves.

At the end they decided to spare the readers - for the moment and continue as if nothing had been said!

Sorry for the inconvenience!

 Bystander came to see his bosom friend Mr Muser. He could not find him anywhere in the house. There was no one to ask about the whereabouts of Mr Muser – his family had gone on a vacation. Bystander once came near the writing desk and found open pages of the diaries riffling in a draft of air. Overcome by curiosity, he took one of them in his hand and started reading

.
Hold your breath and tongue! He is not snooping, only exercising the rare liberty granted by Muser himself. There is no secret between us and feel free were the exact words Muser had used while allowing unrestricted access to his thoughts and deeds.

Bystander was pleasantly surprised to note the writing was all in capital letters of a small font size, neatly organised. He turned to the previous page, the one earlier to that and found the same. To make sure he went through the other diaries on the table and was greeted by the same style of writing. On one of the pages he found these following paragraphs and read them not once but twice to understand the flow of ideas.

These paragraphs stood aloof, as if having a high degree of disagreement!

“Some dreams come true – the person feels happy. Some do not materialize leaving a little unhappiness in the mind; it gets slowly forgotten replaced by another dream perhaps. There is a type of dream that gives you the feeling as if the fruits are already in your hands – an eve teaser of an apple.

The lure keeps you going for some time and when maximum efforts are focused to realise it, the progress versus goal graph traces peaks and valleys in a cyclic manner. The person is confused whether to be sad or get over the experience .Unable to let it go, start to fume, fret and find fault with all the things in the world.”

“The cause and effect is a universal dharma and nothing, not even day dreams or pipe dreams, escapes from its gravity. Trials and tribulations have a chastening effect and act as a catalyst in firming up resolve.

 This enlightenment that ‘my dictates are not my dictation’ enters in to the thinking process pretty late –could have supported, urged, guided and corrected. The dream, the fuming and fretting remain as trophies after teaching valuable insights regarding persons and events.

Instead of groping in the dark, the best way forward will be the walk towards the source of any light. The dreamer started searching in his soul whether he wanted to pursue the ambition or write it off as a bad venture”

 “Oblivious to his surroundings, with unseeing eyes, he was looking at the scenery”

Bystander was bitten by the mystery bug and unless clarified by Mr Muser himself, it will never go away from his mind. Bystander had the habit of not keeping any mystery in the mind for long.  One mystery that surfaced was that the number of paragraphs written down did not follow a sequence of thought and even the stand alone paragraphs did not give a clue about the nature of the topic in which they will be placed.

He felt the need to catch hold of Mr Muser and seek these clarifications: “Why these disconnect among the written down paragraphs. How can a person like Muser write confusing clarity of thoughts?”

He then phoned up mutual friends to locate the whereabouts of Muser. Negative replies made him to worry about this unusual behaviour of his friend, sat down at the table and wrote an anguished letter, placed it in the open diary after ensuring that it will catch Muser’s immediate attention and left. Fuming with in him for not able to establish contact made him to wonder what the hell has happened!

After awhile, Muser came back as though he had just finished working as a farm hand- soiled dress and appearance. He glanced at his work table, saw the letter carefully placed between the pages of one of his diaries. He began to read the letter left by Bystander and a kaleidoscope of emotions took turns to emerge and disappear on his face.

Then the forks of lightning struck Muser – a look at his dishelved appearance, reflected in the mirror, said  it all. The letter on the table made him to forget the damage he had caused to the clean floor  of his study as he dashed across to see what it contained?  Now he could understand the reason for Bystander’s frantic search to locate his friend.

Muser, hurriedly readied himself and called up his friend to come down for lunch- at home. Bystander felt happy and sad at the same time- happy that his friend was safe and sad to be invited for lunch. Muser was a lousy cook to say the least. He shuddered at the thought of having that meal which would be followed by a sonorous lecture - whether he wanted it or not!

Amidst loud protests from the taste buds, Bystander managed to finish his lunch. As if not to disappoint him, Muser cleared his throat at once and brushed his nose, a few times, with a hooked index finger and started the dreaded lecture.

“You suspected that I have become careless by merely walking in to the house through the open doors. Not able to find me in, you then firmly concluded that I am careless – is it not?

You contacted our friends and getting no information started to worry in anxiety letting your thinking powers to be clouded. Reading of those disorganized thoughts of mine added fuel to your imagination, becoming less logical in your reasoning. Rising anger made you to draft a very ling, passionate letter and placed it thoughtfully to catch my attention.

This is only place you acted with clarity in thought.

All these emotional disturbances made you to miss the obvious – now answer my questions.

Did you notice any unusual activity in the opposite house?

Bystander replied, “The house owner was standing in the garden and a gardener was digging up and planting. I saw that before entering the house and using the doors that were left open”

“What else did you notice?” asked Muser.

“Nothing other than what I just described to you” said Bystander

.
 "That is the problem with you - impatience. Had you paid a little more attention, you might have understood that I was doing the gardening as my friend, the house owner was watching. My dear friend, there is difference from noticing and paying attention", chided Muser.

“How you came to expect that whatever I write should have a connection and logic. Why should you be perplexed when I use capital letters to record my thoughts?  Bystander stood mute as Muser folded the letter and kept it in to a diary.

Sensing that no reply will come forth, Muser decided to answer them himself.

Writing is a venture and any venture needs capital, so I started using the capital letters. You know well that my longhand is unreadable even by me after some time. This might have surprised you because you were thinking “I know you very well is it not?”

Remember there will always be some thing unique or unknown, even after many years of friendship. So don’t take anything for granted.

Regarding the unconnected paragraphs- thoughts are like trains and using the same track, they reach different destinations. Likewise, these paragraphs, appearing one below the other, will finally get placed in different topics where they actually belong to. Ideas are like a flash in the pan and may strike in the mind at any time of the day. I try to catch and keep them in this way- it suits to my way of writing!

The one sentence which might have surprised the most must have been this – ‘oblivious to his surroundings, with unseen eyes, he was looking at the scenery” Actually this sentence is the corner piece of my article on the freedom of a visually challenged person. He was bracing against all odds to exercise his independence and freedom to enjoy himself like others.

My friend, kindly remember that reading out of context only confuses. Muser paused allowing his friend to recapitulate the events and the explanations.

A long silence descended between the friends. Each one did not want to be the first one to break this serenity. But each one was silently saying this to one another: "Friend, sorry for the inconvenience I might have caused you".

The Little Typhoon and the sting

The Little Typhoon came running in to my room, eyes and nostrils flared due to exertion. She was holding her little finger and wringing it now and then. Her face was mirrored in confusion - fear, anxiety and a weak smile. Not knowing what had happened, I also tried to imitate her facial expressions – muscle for muscle.

This buffoonery must have reminded her of a pair of monkeys aping at each other. The weak smile became a wider grin and she stopped wringing her finger.

Recovering quickly, she started wringing her finger again, with reduced vigour. I read the sign correctly and asked her the question she was waiting to hear, “What has happened?” From her breathless narration, I understood that she had been bitten by an insect while she was plucking some flowers.

To make sure that it was a harmless insect bite, both of us went to the spot of encounter and she pointed out the flower plant – with an accusing finger.

Closer inspection revealed that the particular flowering plant was playing host to variety of insects – ants, butterflies and honey bees.

The Sherlock Holmes in me told her that, from the slight reddish colouring and swelling under the skin, it might have been an ant or a honey bee. On second thoughts I revised it to be the honey bee as the ants scurrying in the recess of flower cups were black and tiny- the harmless house roaming insect. I confirmed it to her that she had been bitten by a bee and asked her to apply a little paste of chunna.

Forgetting her pain, she started asking why some ants, mosquitoes, scorpions and bees bite? Are they hungry?  Are they angry? I have not yet found the best way to deflect her questions and why to forego a chance to brush up my memory, enjoying a little fun in the bargain!

I started explaining that ants are very small, do lot of work like collecting and taking care of their own young and the sick. Waving my hands in the air, as if lecturing to a science class I said, “For doing any work you need energy. The sweet liquid from the flowers is like glucose and that is why ants visit the flowers”.

Not so easy! She had a counter ready – “Then why the ants carry sugar crystals from the kitchen shelf to their house, if they can not eat solid food?  I explained to her that the ants, whenever they want, can wet the sugar crystals with their saliva and change it in to sweet liquid. Thank God, she was already aware of the fact that sugar and salt will dissolve in water.

With out any preamble, I just told her that butterfly is a winged insect, like a hang glider. Immediately she responded, “Like Spiderman, it spreads the cloth wings and flies” – the real child in her came out in the open when she said those words.  Back to her usual self in a moment and with all the innocence in the world, she asked, “Why should the butterfly also take food from the flower?”

I could understand from her expressions that she was worried about the ‘hang glider’ giving a stiff competition to the tiny ant.

I showed her a butterfly just hovering over a flower and said, “It has a very small stomach and finds it difficult to digest solid food. That is why it takes a sweet liquid diet”. Before I could finish the sentence she blurted out, “like the saline water along with medicines given to patients!” It was her ‘Eureka” moment!

After taking a little time, I let her know that honey bees are special insects – they not only collect the sweet liquid from flowers but change the sweet liquid to honey and wax. The flower hides the sweet liquid and the bee finds it like in the game of ‘hide and seek’.  I was mentally expecting a claymore mine to blow me away off the track.

The little lady, with wringing finger, got engrossed in the honey conversion process- she forgot to question me about the wax part.

After listening to my narration, she asked, “When ants, butterflies and bees take sweet liquid from flowers why the bees alone sting? The scorpions and mosquitoes do not drink the sweet liquid from the flowers, then why they sting or bite?

Did I not warn you that this Little Typhoon is a living dynamite? Now, carefully go through the questions – she had grouped insects that taste nectar and the ones that don’t. She had also made a fine distinction among the same set of insects and in comparison with the other set in the second question – mosquitoes and spiders do not taste nectar but sting.

That was not to be the end of questioning session. She asked me why ants are seen carrying rice and cereals too, if they can not eat them as it is.

Searching for convincing answers, I just closed my eyes to think and phrase my replies. The long time I was taking might have interfered with her other busy schedules of the day. She quietly walked out, leaving me to contemplate.

The Dynamics of inherited politics part -3 :The Movers , is what we get

 

This hotchpotch governance starts living in a tower built with tinted and opaque glasses. Occasional stones are thrown by the partners themselves in an attempt to change the power sharing equation

.
When a ship sails on the high sea, the passengers also the rise and fall along with the waves. The lead party may suffer nausea but cannot desert the ship any way. The surf riding euphoria turns out to be a safari on bare foot with wooden swords.

 This is the sign of the beginning of the feast- for the hunted.

The dhanmantri ji, sports a smile, presents an epic budget filled with quotes from ‘puranas’ taking care to hide the pitfalls and taxes. RBI is the false guy to get blamed for inflation and made to hold all the crying babies in the nation’s economy.

When things turn bad, the RBI reacts - the dhanmantri ji lets out blurbs at RBI, counters with asides and side-line quotes. The stock markets take to the tank drowning the ‘betters’.

The common man, as usual, is left wondering in what way it affects him and why the numerous …gates have not brought him a bite of the economic pie?

Voters become restive with ‘will ask the high command’ ‘high command yet to take a decision’ replies. They are ready to counter it with a ‘lose the election, stay at home’ – a sort of home rule proclamation, reminding the saga of Independence struggle .

The electorate has begun to speak aloud and clear but the sound bytes which have been fallen on hearing impaired ears start to hurt.

This sign of a wave for change is picked by the grass root doctors, of respective parties, and passed on to the respective high commands.

Poll dynamics set in motion. Populist programmes are hurriedly announced. LPG cylinders gets into media glare. The gas cylinders and the voters get confused!

Forest tracts that were held inviolable are cleared, with the stroke of a pen – the axes readied to get at the throats of the trees. Strident calls voiced earlier on the loss due to unscrupulous exploitation of mineral ores are quietly silenced. Election has to be won and environment could be rehabilitated afterwards.

 The minister who held his roots firm in the ground gets transplanted or ends up doing party work. The common man and tress are not fooled.

Young colts are hinted to take over the place of aged stallions and rehabilitation pastures are made ready for the soon-to retire stallions. To fulfil promises - ‘wards” will be awarded suitably; seats to contest are distributed dovetailing with the plan to rejenuvate the party.

Irrespective of colour of the party (flag), this Chanakya “ardhshastra’ is followed verbatim. It never crosses their minds that the combination of myopic stallions and utopian colts will drag each other down, making the chariot to stand still.

Everybody concerned is satisfied as long as they get a seat in the chariot. Politicos never learn, even after many study tours abroad, on the working of democracy.

The lead party, which headed, these hotchpotch arrangements, starts running for cover from the erupting volcano or the impending tsunami. Without batting an eyelid, lakhs of crores of rupee is piled up in the deficit account.

What is given cannot be taken back and the knowledge that an imposing deficit account does not alter the equations in an election year. Freebies do not cost anything – to them personally at least, as long as it is not an onion defeat!

Election and subsidies become inseparable, when elections are round the corner.

Misreading the situation, the ruling coalition dreams – may be the opposition will be afraid of taking over a collapsing economy. 

This delirium is the effect of high election fever, threatening to leave the common man in cold, once again!

The Chemistry & Physics of Entertainment

  

 

Myths, Epics and Cinema must have good script, director, locations, hero, heroine, villain, and other cast of characters - including animals.

In a Myth or Epic, the script writer doubled as the director. Cinema cannot get away just like that for this simple reason – huge money has to be invested and earned. Cinema is not forever as the likes of Myths or Epics. 

Cinema is sustained by a large audience support. For the other two, one single devoted soul is sufficient. The same story of a particular cinema cannot be used in another production, in the same language - it will bomb at the box office. Myths and Epics do not suffer but get embellished when retold.

Myths & Epics are like free downloads as far as cinema is concerned. A paragraph from one of them can be scripted in to a 3hr movie. Heroes can be shown as villains or the virtues of villains can be extolled and the movie will pass as a satire. Only Cinema can enjoy this fruit of others’ labours.

The Myths and Epics have to be read or performed in real time. Unlike this, a cinema script is read attentively by many. At the time of screening, if the script itself happens to see the filmy version, it will faint. Changing with wont is Cinema.

Myths and Epics did not have song and dance sequences but Cinema must have it, filmed in exotic locales, even if it is foreign to the plot itself. 

Conch shell sounded-fights will not wash with today’s peace-loving cinema viewers. Blood should flow thick and fast; heroes should fly in the air and fight; for all the blood curling dialogues and muscle twisting facial expressions, the villain should be stupid enough and unable to shoot straight even with a  self-aiming and firing gun. 

Heroes definitely don’t need Kevlar vests for protection from flying bullets. Their frenzied fan following will not permit such an appendage.

Myths and Epics extolled valour and briefly hinted at glamour. The Cinema has rewritten the meaning of glamour and valour as a formula for box office success. The directors and producers proclaim that the trash they dish out is what the fans want! A good script, at times, might become a liability in such a Cinema.

Myths and Epics waited for an audio release -  in front of a King and his court. Then they were taken to the larger population. Cinema is an emperor in this respect. People waited for its audience – audio and video release. They even e eagerly wait  to witness a poster release of their favourite hero’s film! 

Myths and Epics are written only once – no editing and deleting by its author, afterwards. A movie can be filmed, edited, and objectionable portions can be re-shot or deleted before & after release. Activists with moral censoring license coming to light now and then!

In Myths & Epics, the authors could only describe that on so and so occasion such and such a musical instrument was playing. Later when drama became popular, lead actors started singing on stage supported by a pit orchestra. This pit orchestra also attempted its hands in providing back ground music (BGM) to enliven the narrative. 

Cinema has a definite edge over Myths & Epics in this respect. A dedicated music director and his orchestra score music for songs and the BGM. Many films have gone on to become huge hits solely on the strength of soul stirring songs.

The hero of a Myth or an Epic is a character or an avatar, right from the beginning and gets to portray only as such. A hero in a movie starts as a mere portrayer of a character and riding on the strength of his fan following, becomes an avatar. He has the choice of acting in multiple roles in a single movie. He dictates and the story & screenplay gets stereotyped. Then movie budgets start climbing to Himalayan heights.

In the hands of an imaginative director, Mythological movies, too, became big money earners. The Good and Evil fought, on the silver screen, with ‘astras’ cadged from willing & susceptible Gods, who were just waiting to off load some boon, indiscriminately. The able director of photography and fight composer captured the dramatic turns of events, vividly.

The Bad man (asuara/villain) shoots an ‘astra’ and it goes sizzling with fire. The Good man (avatar/hero) waits, prays and shoots an appropriate ‘anti-astra’ and it spews a jet of water, after meeting head-on, to douse and shower flower petals. 

The Bad man, in his over ambitious reach, did not object to boons with riders. The God cleverly left some loop holes in the boon to wriggle out of the commitment at a later date. The last ‘astra’ the Good man shoots, kills the Bad man. 

This trick-shot is repeated a few times and the war ends. Plenty of back ground music heightening the tension in the audience - a short pollution free war to defeat evil.

That mythological simplicity will not do for a present day movie. Stunts must be set on Bullet trains, speeding boats, flying helicopters, taxing jet planes and at space stations. Wars in galactic scale are most welcome – by all concerned.

Cinema has no time to propitiate a god on behalf of its heroes & villains. The simple ‘astras’ have given way to portable missiles, grenade launchers, Uzi guns and if possible humvees. Depending on the budget, even WBD (weapons of Biological Destruction) are also used to good effect.

The stunt directors and WWF participants have perfected gravity defying techniques, rewriting the effects mass and impact more or less at the same time. For theorizing on the existence of boson particle, almost simultaneously, a Nobel Prize for Physics has been announced.

Then why not honour the stunt directors and WWF participants?  May be the Nobel and the Oscar committees could come up with an idea for honouring the stunt directors and WWF participants, who were evolving simultaneously – an annual ‘NobOscar’ award may be!

The Myths & Epics have the last laugh at the creativity of cinema. After all, they only showed the Cinemas that humanoids can have transplanted animal bodies or vice versa. Think of the possibilities it had opened up for the 2D and the 3D animated, now-cinemas. Now the story & screenplay writer enjoys abundant freedom to conjure up characters with out fear of copy right infringements. Shiva adorned by Snakes, Vishnu reposing on a - multi hooded, snake tiered-bed, 4 headed Brahma, 6 headed karthigeya and 10 headed Ravanasur – the Godly, good, bad and deadly. 

Muser and Tom

 

Introduction:

When the first impression is not encouraging, a misconception develops. Later on, someone else might help in clearing the fog and a newer perspective takes the place of the earlier misconception.

When Bystander walked in, his friend was busy sending emails. Unable to contain his curiosity, he asked ‘what is cooking now?’. His friend replied sarcastically ‘cooking goose’. After collecting his thoughts, Muser smiled at him and said, “Forget it. I was just sending some of my articles to contacts who got in touch with me for something or other”.

Bystander was taken aback to hear that Muser had to resort to e-mailing them! Recovering quickly narrated his recent train journey and gave email id and contact number of the Careful Handler and the other gentleman to Muser. He did not mention about Doubting Tom, allowing Tom himself to make the contact.

In the meanwhile Tom had managed to call up Muser and fixed up a time for a one to one meeting. When they met, Tom explained, without inhibition, that he had several doubts. Muser agreed, as he was also guilty of doing the same thing – having and getting doubts cleared. A relieved Tom had a lot to ask and took out the notes he made during the train journey.

 Bystander was not aware of this. It was Muser who broached the topic of Tom and showed his friend – a sort of minutes of meeting - neatly written in capital letters, and urged him to read on.

 
Before starting to read, he wondered why Muser had gone to such trouble. He did not pose that question to Muser, though a doubt was beginning to take shape in his mind as to the likely end purpose of the minutes. Keeping this thought aside he started to read.

Doubting Tom, after looking at his notes asked, “Mr Muser, was it by oversight you forgot to mention that an ATM cannot distinguish between counterfeit and genuine currency before dispensing it out?

Muser appreciating Tom’s keen reading and replied “The idea was to humanize the ATM to an extent and with some shortcomings. So, I didn’t want it to be seen smarter than us. Any way, are we better in this respect?”

Again reading from his notes, Tom queried, “You have made out The Mouse to be pro-human, unlike the real mouse – it does not spread diseases to humans. Why the vengeance on the software? Is it not a party to attacks by cyber viruses, merely on a click?  Do you still empathies with the mouse?” 

Muser felt amused at such a reaction.  “We share our living space with other species of one kind or the other, infecting each other. Then why not an artificial mouse infecting an artificial mind!” said Muser.

“You have managed to create a larger than life size charisma for insects and animals. The point is, can it be sustained?” Tom came out with another doubt.

“Charisma can be sustained only thus far – don’t we have examples of it in our own lives. Protagonists will come up now and then, don’t worry? , replied Muser in a reassuring voice.

“Even forgetting the possibility of souls discussing on earthly matters, it was nice to meet the three ‘stars of science’ pulsating with sarcasm, wisdom and humour”, Tom commented with a hesitant smile.

.
The smile on the face of Tom gave the opening Muser was waiting for. “You get dreams and meaningless messages, which you promptly forget on getting up. Some dreams stay on for some time drawing attention to some thing or person.

“Clairvoyants claim to foretell future. Then what prevents me from having a dream in which the ‘spirits’ meet and discuss, issues of relevance, as far as they are concerned. I merely jotted them down, not forgetting much of what transpired”

 “I want to make a special mention about the special train. You could have touched up on more serious issues like burning trains and derailing trains .A good opportunity to highlight the plight of passengers, who are literally taken for a ride” , Tom finished speaking in a serious tone.

“Ha..ha! The plight was definitely miserable; Bystander is already worked up enough to shoot off paragraphs on those serious issues you just mentioned. Why don’t you tell him?, asked Muser.

This was a tricky wicket on which Tom was not yet ready play. Instead he asked Muser, “You managed to bring out, with a rare sense of humour, the three common afflictions like salt, sugar and bellies.

“The hand shake, wearing a golden ring was firm and gripping. I am eagerly waiting to know who the lucky winners are going to be?” closing his notes.

Muser enjoying the attention his writing has evoked said, “In the Bulging bellies I have left a lot to individual’s imagination. Examine and enjoy the visual treat.  The lucky winners, in the ‘golden hand shake” still remain a suspense. I hope it may not take long. Bear with me till then”

At the end of the reading, Bystander remained silent for a few seconds. He was actively revising his, hitherto held opinion about Doubting Tom. Watching the changing expressions on the face of his friend, Muser felt a pang of pity. For all his impulsive pronouncements, inwardly he was a sensible person. It took no time for Muser to understand this much – Bystander was getting burdened with a similar feeling. 

Muser gently explained “Some people ask doubts to get them cleared.  They might make repeated attempts, as un-cleared doubts remain in the mind for long and nag them.  In one way it serves to test your skills in standing up to clear those doubts – some times benefitting both the party.

“Having gone through conversation between me and Tom, are you not thinking about changing your hasty notion about him? He was right in questioning the fruit vendor who was passing on information which had not been personally verified. Do you know how difficult it is nowadays to get connected to the customer care of any product? At the electronic shop, he questioned the parrot talk of the salesman on guarantee & warrantee.

“Take the ticketing clerk for instance - though he might have acted in good faith, cannot assure that the ticket will get confirmed. What if it does not – that was Mr Tom’s genuine doubt. Coming to your train journey, was he not the one who kept the lunch waiting for you, even though you had not asked him to do so?

“His persistence and bad luck combined with your ill formed opinion has brought up on you this suffering of guilt. My sincere advice to you is; forget and ask for Mr Tom’s forgiveness. He is humane. Allow him to be known as Mr Tom and not by your pet name, anymore. O K?”

After hearing the long, one sided conversation, Bystander had something to think about seriously and remained silent for a long time, leaving Muser to get busy with his e-mails.

The Teflon Man melts part -3 The Ice is broken

The next Sunday, Bystander reached the park early and sat on the usual bench awaiting the arrival of his bench mate – the senior citizen. Minutes ticked by and there was no sign of the gentleman in the park. He started worrying whether his non-stop outburst has hurt and made the gentleman to avoid his company.

 Impatiently he started gazing at the holiday crowd slowly filling the park benches. Then he did an unusual thing – reserved the vacant space on the bench with a package he was carrying for the senior citizen.

At last, the senior citizen made his appearance and came straight towards Bystander saying, “Good evening my friend” with a wide smile on his face. After being chastened by Muser, he respectfully rose and showed the reserved seat. The ‘good evening my friend’ made him to blush a little at his previous highhanded behaviour.

The gentleman continued, “You mentioned about Google being the guru for the youngsters. It mirrors the feelings of loggers or bloggers. Can it feel and experience the emotional content? Parents do. When a son or daughter is born, an age difference also comes in to existence.

When children become adults, the age difference in terms of number of years still remains the same. So your attempt to indirectly bring the phenomenon of generation gap is out of context here, as the gap started exiting from the very first day. Do you agree? 

The one point I agree with you is that their perceptions and mine differ. Let me clarify it further. My perception of them remains the same but their perception of me is the one that is undergoing change.
Please do not tag these feelings as a post-retirement crisis or credit them to senility – I am sure these thoughts would have occurred in your mind!. My heart is still filled with the sweet moments of their childhood and it is still fresh in memory.

My friend, in their child hood, I might have tried to wean them towards my favourite hobbies or would have urged them to take my failed ambitions forward. After a time I realised every one has his or her chosen priorities and let them follow their own paths. Of course, this part was as difficult as a numismatist or a philatelist parting with dear collections.

My friend you forgot to mention the fact that when the migratory birds take notice of human presence, they communicate with each other in the flock and then decide either to relax the vigil or to tighten it for survival.

Do the children react like this – SMS, emails, calls go and find a place in the black hole of cyber space. Is this not a relevant point for one to get annoyed?

Birds do follow our presence. Even in my children’s absence I have been following their progress – a new flat, a car, a promotion, or a start-up company. This poor heart gets filled with joy and pride, even if these happenings come to my notice through someone else.

May be all these things might sound to you a little far fetched to you Mr Bystander. But this how I feel. Anything, wrong with that? Your rainbow example – I know a rainbow is beautiful, as a whole and like children, and one should not try to segregate it in to individual colour components.

Let me explain my feelings with the example of a mirror. It reflects the object in front of it and it will continue to do the same even when it is broken in to shards of glass, as long as the mercury coating is in tact, showing multiple images of the same object.

The fact is none of these virtual images can be held in your hands except the real object placed in front of the mirror. Children are the real objects and real images. The point I would like you to understand is that a broken heart still beats with many images of the child –turned- adult. Unlike the virtual image in the mirror, these mental pictures touch the heart and are seen by the mind. Parents are not just mirrors.

I liked-your imagery about celebrations, the steamed ground nut and thoughtful present. Above all your question “How long to wait for the next Sunday” set many things in motion. Thanks for every thing.

Mr Bystander I have decided to arrange for a grand family get together on the first convenient occasion of a birth day or a marriage anniversary, of one of my family members. I feel now it is my duty to take the first step to bring together the flock. This I am going to do not for my  sake but to ensure such togetherness in the years to come for sustaining a close knit family.

I will not miss that opportunity to remind them that friendship and Google stop at a distance and only the kinship will travel those extra miles with them.

You had very many kind words and it helped me to see through the haze. From the way you handled the discussions, I believe you must have a friend or relative of an equal calibre. What else will give me more pleasure than inviting both of you to our family reunion? Both of you will get my invitations.

After a long and satisfied silence, Bystander took leave of the gentleman, walking in to falling dusk.

The dynamics of inherited politics - This is what they do

The party which formed the government on its own strength finds itself, now,  in hot water. The proverbial public memory became more and more short and started remembering on selective basis - forgotten promises, misdeeds and old root connections.

The reason is overwhelming destitute condition, the decaying influence of lineage. The electorate lifts the veil of cataract off their eyes and dream of a new vision.  The lead party suffers and sulks in stigma. Reading the sign on the wall, get ready to share power, whatever are the odds.

This is as dangerous as saying to a surgeon ‘whatever the cost , save the patient’

The outside support comes in any of these types – The silly mid-on or silly mid-off, mid-on or mid-off, long on or long off on the boundary type. When this supporting game is played efficiently, it is more nail-biting than a T20 match between titans.

The pitch condition might be the number of skeletons in the cupboard and the need for patronage. The ruling coalition happily takes the support from left, right and middle pitches.

The pundits in the forecasting department (the 1st to be constituted by the ex-ruling party) get busy with the computer modelling right from the word go. The job is very simple - try to forewarn the bosses.

When the mid-off or mid-on will take the position of long-off and long-on? At what moment, the long-off and long-on collectively or individually will cross the boundary line, withdrawing support? With many politicos being patrons of state cricket associations – it will be easier to staff the department.

Allow the grass to grow under your feet, sure you will be bitten by an angry snake – you are impeding its progress. This sage wisdom is extracted and exploited to good measure by any ‘likely’ minor partner in the coalition government.

As we, weather the power cuts with the help of inverters and generators, the ex-ruling party wants to make a comeback using likeminded parties or splinter groups. The search, for such suitable crutches begins in earnest and old war horses are let loose to grab them. Unfortunately, the crutches come with custom-built designs.

The equation typical of a splinter group, except those giving outside support, runs like this:

P = x CMP + y MOSWIC + z MOSP
Where,  CMP is cabinet rank, MOSWIC is state rank with independent charge and MOSP is state rank. The integer values for x, y and z are decided by the group head with 10 to 12 representatives supporting the government.

 For this dispensation, the chief arbitrarily sets the value of x as 3, y as 4 and z as 1 to 2. In turn, he grabs x for immediate kin, allots y for relatives & loyalists and z is solely for the ground level loyalists. Even with this pie share on hand, he demands to have the whole apple too.

He may finally relent to negotiate on MOSP, as a face saving measure – in the name of keeping out the inimical party. These ironing out processes leave the ‘would’ be major party gasping for oxygen, even before the swearing in ceremony.

The ruling dispensation has to, now, keep separate wings to take care of this flock of ‘flight crazy’ groups from deserting the camp. Files on past misdeeds, pending cases, location of caves where hidden wealth is stashed and a compendium of violations – traffic, shooting of endangered species, FERA, FEMA, COMMA and full stops are kept ready from the day the coalition talks start. Constant updating is done to be ever ready.

The packers department of the senior alliance partner, takes over the task of aligning the deserting partners – flying money bags, rice bags, clearing forests and lands in a tearing hurry – to hold on to the passengers ,damaging whatever is left on the fabric of democracy.

Its political managers keep a close watch on the emerging power equation P = x CMP + y MOSWIC  + z MOSP, mentioned earlier and bend their backs to coax the groups not to alter the values of x, y and z – the begging defies definition.

Sycophants (within a party) blow up a disgruntled element’s disagreement as a threat to safety, demand and get  security cover – a political nirvana ;once provided it can only be enhanced but cannot be withdrawn. Now an aura vulnerability and invincibility has been created in one master stroke.

The conscience department (occasionally on duty) preaches the fact that when a common man is leading a simple life, politicos must lead a much simpler life; due to paucity of time the moralizer had come by a special plane to address this public meeting. He brings along the thick smog like ZZ security cover, which follows him like a shadow, to impart this moral education.

Often, vociferous performance is given by the articulate in the loose cannons department. Makes open heart statements or directs rhetoric on chosen party men.

 The party machinery swings in to action to distance itself from the statement or to distance itself permanently depending on the unwanted impact created by these loose shots.

This damage control exercise or fire fighting exercise is carried out periodically to keep the party spokesperson fit and firing on all cylinders.

The loose cannons should try to emulate filmy heroes - they never shoot at themselves.

On one thing, a broad agreement exists among the politicos. They have unanimously decided to abide by a unique protocol. The “Treaty on Extra Terrestrial Assets” called TOETA.

It reserves exclusive rights over the black holes in the universe. The purpose and universal appeal unfolded later, adding one more ROM to their already futuristic computing brains. The ruling dispensation, at that time, can use them to bury the SCAMS as a last resort.

But before that, a democratic process of forming a committee or commission has to be attempted, only after ensuring a favourable finding.

The major partner in the coalition – on its behalf or to come to the help of a splinter group, acts according to this protocol, appoints a commission or a committee.

The chosen chairman, tries his best to unsettle the views of the others in the committee or commission, leaks selective portions of the deliberations in an aside to media and if a furore erupts, the head of commission or committee will duck under ‘misquoted’ or ‘misinterpreted’ or ‘quoted out of context’ subterfuges to make the media eat a humble pie and succeed in releasing his trial balloons.

As usual the opposition party members stage a walk out and seizing the chance, the chair submits his report as the committee’s final report. Failing in all these democratic means, the government of the day now takes the matter in hand and dispatches the SCAM, the files (a plot for Conon Doyle mystery) and the scamsters in to a convenient black hole.

End of matter!