Imaginch's doubts - part 2

Why the visuals on T V always show policemen in groups when out on the streets on a high alert situation?
This doubt had Imaginch in a bit of bother. His explanation should be such that it does not take lightly the efforts of the police personnel but at the same time be convincing. Though he had watched such visuals on T V and on two  or three occasions while passing by such grouping en route to a bus terminus or a railway station but this thought never cropped up in his mind: the police grouping is meant to dispel the anxiety of general public by a show of strength and nonchalance.

Why fewer police personnel are present when hooligans go berserk, in the name of regional solidarity, targeting ‘others’ who have been living there for generations? Is there no other means to observe solidarity?
This was another related doubt to the personnel in uniform. May be the uniform is not the best shield against allegation of outright condemnation of highhandedness, which comes predictably after every police action. Secondly the uniform is not an insurance cover against attacks by the mob, who in their stirred up frenzy mistake these brothers as the government. Thirdly, someone in the mob can identify and take them on one-to-one at a later date as the nonstop visuals telecasts can come in handy, in the wrong hands. The mob does not worry about getting identified from the same visuals in the secure knowledge that there are some vested forces waiting to take care of them.

The narrow minded mob psychology exhibits only its tunnel vision. No time to read notes on demographic compulsions and then react to a situation. Expecting a mob to use peaceful means to show solidarity for a cause, which anyways does not get the deserved attention, remains a pipe dream. The mob comes armed to the teeth with lethal weapons, made in indigenous factories. The mob would be in no mood to distinguish between a pellet injury and a bullet injury to go on another rampage.

In a bid to get in to the policemen’s shoes , Imaginch thought like this: Probably the men in uniform would be saluting the common man’s grit and determination to face it alone as they were busily in safeguarding the assets of VVIP and VIPs!

Why the militants target only the security forces?
Like a hero getting under the skin of the character he has to portray, Imaginch went epidermis to find out the answer, though he was literally shaking with fear of being branded as a sympathizer or even worse and tagged under (“case fit for sedition charges”) CFFSC which he did not want to expand and be caught. He was very conscious of his position or stand and needed no urging from TV channels.

Theoretically a non-state operator, the militant is unable to take on the might of the Nation in a straight combat. High on hate and low on human values, life and ethics, he targets the uniform deluding himself that he had taken on the Nation.  There is no place in his skull to think that “fighting for a contrived and non-existent cause, dead and buried without being acknowledged” is not valour or sacrifice or honour by any scripture.  Yet to a militant, the security forces represent a Nation; it’s well being an impediment for the rule of anarchy.

And why the security forces are not able to spot and stop the militants before they cross over?
The first point that came to his mind empathized with the forces on one solid reason – absence of a visible no-man’s land where anyone crossing over is a non-welcome visitor. Secondly the terrain has rivulets, forest cover and local inhabitants. The last fact reins in their fire power fearing civilian casualties which inadvertently acts as a cover for these militants. Thirdly, indistinguishable resemblance to the local inhabitants makes them tread cautiously to avoid a hue and cry about restricting freedom of movement. Running out of further reasoning, Imaginch let out a satisfied sigh.He hoped to have nullified the effect of his act of getting under the skin of a militant with this spirited defence on behalf of the security forces.

Why people keep saying that someone is lucky?
This was like coming closer to home truth which resides ever one’s mind. Probably used as a release mechanism to vent out personal exasperation based on perceived lucky factor. In a phlegmatic sense, by comparing with another individual, it could be an ill will factor. But his doubt remained uncleared  – does it really matter?

Why people credit ‘narrow escapes’ to their favourite idols instead of allowing the escapees to credit it to their respective good fortune?
The answer to this doubt was devoid of any sensational insight. Self doubt leans on an “idol” for support, time and again, and to keep the “idol” pleased, taking no credit for the action or inaction leading to the event. This is a perpetual ritual. On the other hand, the escapee has the freedom to divert the credit or own it for the timely actions or inaction which culminated in the event. Imaginch wondered whether he had become ‘hyperbolic’ to come up with such thinking!

Why the differently clad avatars, claiming to have ultra super natural powers do not command the clouds to rain and quench the thirst of teeming millions and save lakhs of acres of crops?
Here Imaginch had to tread carefully as the discussion could turn in to a raging religious storm - left, right and the rainbow politico wings ready to fan the fire.The differently clad globe trotters might be constantly in touch with the clouds.They barely might have time to admire the beauty of the clouds from the window seats. Using a fraction of their ultra supernatural power why they could not 'order' the clouds to start raining? Is this a portion out of syllabus for them or this miracle not worth the effort?

Imaginch's doubts - part1

All of a sudden, clouds of doubts assembled in Imaginch’s mind. They had a mind of their own and started to torment him in sleep, by parading horrific dreams of demons demanding a resolution. No amount of squirming in the bed or cursing his stars could check the free runs these doubts. In frustration he decided to take leave of absence, doubting whether this move would help him to find answers. But before that could happen, he had to prepare a list of doubts which would guide him in this great endeavour. Imaginch was well aware of his ‘Mensa’ score and had great trouble in convincing himself to embark on this journey.

When the first man landed on the lunar surface, which phase of moon was visible to him?
He calculated it to be nearing the full moon phase, for us, and more closely between 10th and 12th day after new moon day! To arrive at this guess he struggled with an ephemeris for that year and month of landing. Having done so much of work he was excited to get in to an astronaut’s space suit and steal a look at mother earth, hoping to see almost half of it in day light.

He wondered,“How many people might have seen the dark or hidden side of the moon”?
This doubt came to his mind as an afterthought of the earlier one. It took him some time to realise that the visible face of the moon has never changed since his childhood! He was neither a keen observer nor knowledgeable in orbital mechanics between earth and moon. So he had decided to take the moon’s appearance at its face value, mainly to avoid finding an answer to this doubt. Now things started to look different. It became clear to him that the answer lay in guessing the number of persons who had that opportunity to see the hidden side of moon, except aliens. About two dozen astronauts fell in to the slot. What human eyes could see, a camera lens also could see! The total went up another dozen to account for the unmanned probes that had orbited around moon. The moon on its part went on showing the same profile with fascinating phases. Full moon to new moon it inspired poets and hung on as a lamp in the garden of love.

Like a meteorite falling from the sky, Imaginch’s doubts took a nose dive and crash landed on earth – “Is there a connection between the geographical features – the Marianna trench and Mount Everest? Is it by coincidence or design that both the landmark and watermark happen to be in Asian continent”?
He knew for sure - the only time he was sure about anything, that this doubt had no definite answer. Undeterred he went about collecting information about the Everest and the Marianna Trench.

The squabbles surrounding the actual height did

not lower its grandness or his esteem for Mount Everest in his mind. The fact that Mariana Trench lay on the ocean floor did not raise a doubt about its capacity to hold several thousand million tons of sea water. He was only trying to find out if by any chance the land mass excavated from the trench could have contributed the working mass for the Everest? Will it be with or without the snow cover?

The hitch was that he was unable get accurate of length and breadth details for Mount Everest alone.Having started the game, he did not like to call it quits at this stage. Instead, he assumed his own averaged numbers for the height of the Himalayan mountain chain and the depth of the Trench to carry on with the calculations:
The Marianna trench has the volume capacity of 6, 15,825 cu.km, the volume occupied by Himalayan mountains stood at 26, 40,000 cu.km . According to calculation 1 cu.km volume can hold 100, 00, 00,000 tons of water.

The volume capacity of Himalayan mountain chain worked out to be has 4.29 times greater than that of the Marianna Trench. He was too terrified to find out the tons of water that was needed to fill the Trench.He was sure the answer will have many zeroes and did not want to be reminded of his dismal academic record. He became exasperated at the moment when his old pocket calculator refused to oblige.

Nobody has really counted the number sand particles on earth or nobody has really counted the number of nebulae and number of stars in each nebula. Yet, everybody came up with a mind boggling number of 10 raised to the power(20 to 40) for a starter. There was always room for revision. Disliking this wisdom, Imaginch decided to call it quits and scooted from the scene faster than a scared rabbit , deciding to live with a doubt rather than grappling with a ghost from the school days.  Neither he was strong in mathematics nor it had been kind to him!

However, his chest swelled with pride even after this mathematical misadventure. This swelling of chest and size measurements have been doing the rounds in the last 2 ½ years and he also wanted to  personally experience it  ,if at all there was anything attached with this human element.

The silent spectator

The objective of the silent spectator is not to enjoy the excitement without active participation or to remain passive when events of impact unfold before the eyes. Remaining silent might be an automated self defence mechanism with the sole intent and purpose of avoiding an escalation, though soldiers armed to the teeth would be absent in this conflict zone. This is not about a cat on the wall but about a dog in the bag.

The unwanted noise that assails the ear drums gets no protest,even from its owners. Be it the festivals that let loose noise touching intolerable levels or the honking horns of motorists or screeching jet liners or the personal audio devices – the list is long and hurting. Though the ear drums want to shout, it succumbs to the doubt whether its protest will be heard among the dins of modern life. Getting tired of the insults, the ear drums play their trump card – become partially deaf as if to extract a small revenge on the users. Even at this state the ear drums have to remain a silent spectator while the white coated gentleman conducts sound tests and squarely blames the defective hearing system for a fee. With lesser noise to disturb, the ear drums wonder, “Which is fashionable – hearing aid or head phone?”

People like to read updates on cell phones, laptops and notepads on the go. In their hurry they tend to ignore reading glasses or lighting conditions or the vibrations making the eyes literally weep over the updates. They act as if their very existence depends on this act.  Back home, the strained eyes have to entertain the tired mind by staying focused on the T V screen. They would like to ask “this might be relaxation for you but why subject us to such sufferings? Is there any other option except to close their eyes on this unanswered question? The maximum the eyes can do is to let out tear drops or become bloodshot.

There are people who like to be in touch with others at any time of the day, unmindful of the inconveniences to the other person spoken to or the silent spectator present within earshot. They rival the social networks in passing on gossips or prying in to a third person’s life at will. Though these are earfuls , the spectator, who remains silent to preserve a fragile peace at home, might be pleading for a little peace of mind.

Morning walk and newspaper introduces another kind of a silent spectator. If lucky the spectator gets to meet with a motorist driving through a one-way street or jumping a red signal. Otherwise silently completes reading news items regarding chilling acts of terrorism, murky public life and global shenanigans. Not even in a position to tackle stray dog menace in the locality, the reader silently acts and reacts and forgets as soon as breakfast time passes. In the extreme cases, the silent spectator meets with ‘feathers from the flock of hawks of the same kind’ - only to listen to their lofty opinions and forget the whole thing by lunch time.

More often than not, logical discussions are avoided even though the points being readied are valid. Issues larger than logical arguments force this spectator - not to speak. Such a person can only wish to be out of ear shot and out of sight, which may or may not be possible always! Similar is the case when the urge rises to say ‘volunteer help only if requested’ and the spectator backs down in to silence for fear of being branded non-compassionate. This stamping becomes vehement if the silent spectator shows blue cross sympathy on animals rather than on neighbours.

There is a special type of silent spectator – suffering on account of other silent spectators. Unfortunately, this forced silent spectator’s roll comes packaged as functions and obligations scripted by harmonic laws, whatever it means! All the elements of music – tune, pitch, amplitude, frequency and composition fail to sync with each other. The ordinary variety of the breed might feel fortunate in comparison with this special type.

Silent spectators- ordinary or special do not feel that you are alone in this world. There are others in the queue.  A good example is the surveillance camera which tries its best by nodding its head up and down, twisting the neck right and left and straining its eye capture sharp images on 24 X 7 routine. For all the hard work, is it being called by any other elegant name? Will a silent spectator be satisfied with another name - a jaw cruncher perhaps! There are giant brothers in the same league – the celestial objects watching all of us from astronomical distances!

Enough of a solace or want some more!