The Earth rotates on its axis, nearly by 278 km; goes around the sun by 17,833 km. A human being could cover about 680m. This is what happens in 10 minutes. Imaginch could have cited many more examples but did not want the reader to get distracted and spend more than ten minutes here.
In this agitated frame of mind, he skipped to mention the reason, leaving the task of decoding to someone else. Imaginch has a hotwired and mercurial temper. And with his dog - finds – the- rag cloth approach, he takes an issue with anything and everything. When this occurred, words liberally dripping with sarcasm search for targets. He did not realise that relationships are built on delicate feelings balanced on knife edges and are damaged by his outbursts. Unmindful, he pilots his train on the chosen single track.
The “someone else” who had the key to decode this nature happened to be an elder of the house. He had this to say, "trying to do many things; does not know how to go about it; demands acceptance and loses control”. The elder further elaborated with an example: Imaginch’s hotwired brain is primed to go on an instant thought travel. The moment he starts a journey, he would like to reach the destination and list what all he should do there. As an added insurance, he would plan his return trip too! Except fretting, fuming and nail-biting nothing like that happens other than a travel at a traffic-choked pace. At this state, the button to let out the mercurial temper needs only an accidental push.
Yet, something more was missing to paint the full picture. Armed with the insight provided by the elder, the next “someone else” decided to continue with the process of decoding. - one of Imaginch’s preferred project assistants. This assistant hoped to succeed based on – (1) being unhappy about being drafted forcefully to assist and (2) an interesting exercise in place of the tasked projects which got nowhere. The assistant resorted to secretly observe the subject, sidelining assigned tasks. Others too did the same. Many minds focused on one subject inevitably threw up many conclusions.
Reviewing them together they were shocked into disbelief – how so many sublevels could hide behind this persona? Given the complexity, they 'tearfully' decided that, like peeling the onion, they would have to probe layer by layer or split their hairs one by one! As it happens in life, Imaginch was unaware of these clandestine attempts to decode him! One of the slightly bright minded assistants convinced the others to go for a further consultation with the elder. He pointed out that they got only the synopsis from him but should get to read the full text!
The elder was happy to oblige and said, “Imaginch is afflicted with DIY, IMO, IMHO and FOMO syndromes”. Even the slightly bright minded assistant looked lost in the woods. The elder’s cryptic answer was worse than a nightmare - the assistants resembled the confused deer caught in the headlight of an automobile. Having come thus far, they hoped a thorough explanation would follow and decided to sit through it, however bizarre it might sound.
Why Imaginch has a hotwired mind and mercurial temper? The elder pulled out the “IMO & DIY” markers to explain the hotwired mind. For their benefit, he explained “IMO” means “in my opinion” and “DIY” is “do it yourself”. Imaginch believes in “do it yourself “and to back up his decision he comes out with “in my opinion” arguments. Confusion written all over their faces, the assistants scrambled their brains to help them understand.
The squirming assistants braced themselves for the next twister, which they expected to come anytime soon. Once started speaking, the elder never paused until he came to the end of his explanation. The elder exhorted them to remember about “IMHO” & “FOMO” and explained it as “in my humble opinion” and “fear of missing out” respectively. When facing a roadblock, Imaginch defends himself with “in my humble opinion” arguments to hide his "fear of missing out” on the help of others. In all, he acts like an inexperienced driver pressing the accelerator instead of hitting the brakes. The elder intoned in a dry voice that could have easily put an insomniac to sleep. The assistants now had to fight against more confusion and drowsiness.
Unknown to these assistants, Imaginch suspected some shenanigan going on behind his back. He tightened his vigil and prowled like a predator looking for the next meal. When he met with his assistants, their dazed look was more revealing than an open book. He knew who was behind this and yet he would not dare to confront him- the elder could read him like a psychic. Was the talk show they were attending more important than reviewing the projects and discussing additional inputs?
He was about to lose his cool but instead, took deep breaths to calm down. Then he asked them, “Do you believe in whatever the elder said? My personality is more complex than that. I make do with whatever I have, and you all should learn to cope up with what you get". Before leaving, he asked them to go to the top of this page, spend ten minutes and read the opening paragraph. He left them to wonder now what - "back to the elder for guidance or tag along with Imaginch"?
As usual excellent narration
ReplyDeleteWonderfully drawn parallel enroute.
Reader to a bit confused ,needless to say he too joined the assistants.
May be ,all are lost in vacuum pervading vast space. The thought process is open to understand DIY, IMO, IMHO and FOMO syndromes”and pro's and cons of hotwired and mercurial temper. 10 minutes to sinkin the trouth and see light at the end of tunnel. Hoping for a better tomorrow to spend another 10 minutes with imaginch.