The inner journey Tom wanted to avoid

"You don’t see things as they are but wish them to be as per your choice.  In the same way, the appearance of the outer world reflects the state of your inner world. If you are able to merge them together, your personal own god is born”, Bystander started to speak to Tom who happened to be seated in the same bench in the park.

“You may ask how that is possible. The answer is to perceive things with your inner vision. I know you will ask, what is this inner vision? The inner world is a weird and wonderful phenomenon. It is a reflection of the outer world that has mind as its center. How can you train yourself to see things from inside? Who can answer, as to exactly what is the inner journey that we make unknowingly?

Bystander went on without bothering for a reaction from Tom. Tom managed to squirm in his seat, looking intently at his toe nails.

“Every human being goes through this process. A world within a world is something that we hear now and then in the spiritual contexts. Who is it that is responsible for all our involuntary actions such as breathing, digestion and the blood circulation? Imagine how difficult it would be, if we have to remember and control all these activities to survive. We will be dead in a few minutes, if we forget. And that is why the access to control these essential activities to sustain life is denied to us.

“Where do the human beings acquire the knowledge to do things necessary to survive? Many a times, we end up wondering as to how things are controlled in our body. What makes us knowledgeable about a situation which we have never faced before?  This situation knowledge is generated by survival instinct. Bystander felt pleased with his flow of words and Tom wished to be elsewhere in place of the park.

“Where this instinct has its roots? Of course in the mind or simply stated it’s the work of the mind. The mind is an encyclopaedia and storehouse of all the knowledge that we ever want to know, for the entire human life. So in a nutshell, we are born with all the required knowledge to survive. All we have to do is to search for the answers. There are numerous books that try to explain as to how the mind works but none of them can fathom the depth and the complexity of the mind and how it works? Research is still continuing”, Bystander continued, warming up to the discussion.

The lecture was becoming too boring and the agony of sitting through it placed Tom in a dilemma: whether to get up and walk away or to put a stop to Bystander’s babble, then and there. He decided not to give in to that temptation, fearing a second course on the same subject will be unbearable. He let  Bystander to end the verbose once for all.

“There is very little information as to how the outer world and the inner one are interconnected except that the human mind plays a vital role in the connectivity. The mind is a world in itself and through the ages, religions tried to explain the works of this world in many different ways. Concepts ruled the physical world giving birth to various religions and some of them even managed to co-exist with commonality and contradictions. We can always ask our doubts to all of them and get the same answer. A difficult mathematical theorem can be solved in number ways to get the correct answer; likewise, religions tend to solve theories of life differently, promising the same end result”.

“Recognising maya as a virtual reality is a useful tool. If it does not exists then how one who does not want to spend time in reality can create it to find comfort? Maya necessarily need not mean events or thoughts that help in derailing a person from the path chosen by the majority to lead a life in contentment. In fact, those who outwardly appear to be content and righteous might experience the influence of maya for a brief spell but come out of it without overstaying there. This ability to correct an aberration at the slightest disturbance separates the Himalayas from the hillocks.

“Everything that we need exists within us. Become intrinsic. What is it that we really have to do?  Close all the senses and look deep within. You can call it by any name you like - meditation, yoga or any other technique that helps in concentrating on the inner self. Pose a question that has been troubling you for some time. Wait for the mind to search, retrieve, and process stored data and flash the answer on your mind’s screen.

“The clarity in the answers depends on the perseverance shown by the individual. Where the mind gets all the information from? How interactive it is? Can we take this iterative process as an ancient and remote system of learning by googling questions to our own mind?”

With these words, Bystander ended the discussion, feeling elated that nowhere Tom tried to interrupt the flow of his thoughts.Mistaking the dazed look in Tom’s eyes as deep involvement, Bystander congratulated himself for the clarity with which he was able to discuss some of the difficult philosophical points with Tom. Little did he realise that an entirely different set of thoughts were appearing in his friend’s mind at that precise instant.

Tom wondered whether the summer heat is taking its toll on Bystander. He felt like the uncleared post box – stuffed and suffocating. He recollected the earlier incidental meetings were a relief compared to his present situation of being dunked in Bystander’s pathetic philosophies. 

He was sure that any journey in the company of Bystander will be a nightmare.He recollected the earlier incidental meetings were a relief compared to his present situation of being dunked in Bystander’s pathetic philosophies. He was sure that any journey in the company of Bystander will be a nightmare.

Misunderstood husband

Muser was taken aback to see Mrs. Bystander waiting for him. What unsettled him was her appearance – reddened eyes and slightly swollen face. He wondered what misfortune might have befallen, making her to seek him out. What happened to Bystander? Not known to show his emotions so visibly, he managed a polite acknowledgement and invited her to have a seat.  He thought “refreshments and small talk can wait”. She had ample briefings from Bystander about Muser and so did not expect or wait for him to ask “what is the matter?”

She started, “It’s all my fault. For each and everything he does or thinks, I pick up an argument, without waiting for him to explain. Do you know why I don’t wait, because he never discusses the decisions he takes?” He deduced that she tends to be a little impatient in her eagerness to be aware of the happenings in the family. But how could he tell her that men have this tendency of not bringing everything to the dinner table discussion. He has heard outpourings, of questionnaires being thrust at him, from Bystander a number of times.

Muser sensed a small family tiff but did not rush to add or subtract anything from the statements she just made. Among friends things could be discussed threadbare in conciliatory terms or in plain heated exchanges. Dealing with hurt feelings of a friend’s wife, also known to him for a long time, never becomes easy only harder.

His mind raced to arrange plausible explanations for whatever form of complaints she was sure to make. In the same time space, she was also thinking how to present her view point in such a way that Muser could not easily find words to calm and convince her. In the end Muser thought “why not allow her to have the say and then start analysing the problem”.

“Do you know what your dear friend did last week? We met his relatives and there an old aunt started extolling his childhood exploits, the tons of love with which he was brought up etc. Not to be left behind, her son and daughter-in-law also joined the chorous with their own versions. For his part, your friend started to reel off anecdote after anecdote, regaling them to laughter. I simply sat through the whole affair, comparing your friend’s current avatar bereft of humour and not understanding any of our sufferings. I got worked up because none of these things he never narrated to me or the children”, she finished in an emotion soaked voice.

Truly a mine strewn arena has been carefully prepared by Mrs. Bystander for the standoff. Muser went through the options available to him and chose the one that will ease the situation. He said, “I know my friend holds you in esteem and had never missed the chance to tell this to others whenever an occasion came his way” Little did Muser anticipate the retort that followed. She said, “Who wants his conduct certification? What is the use when the same is not known to the recipient?

Muser, changing track, said, “You know that I know him from childhood days. He speaks less, thinks a lot of all of you. He means well but he does not say it”.

She did not buy that explanation given by Muser and questioned, “If he can tell you all these things then what prevented him from sharing all these things with the family? All along, we have been accommodative and is it too much to ask him to be the same, now?”

Muser could not face these spirited deliveries at a furious pace. He took fresh guard and decided to take them all at merit.

Looking at her, he began, “Again I will go back to our childhood days. He was a pampered kid among aunts, uncles and relatives. Even at times I envied him for this, in those days, of course. You may find fault with my friend again, If I say this, but please hear me out. He told me of this incidence and also explained the idea behind the way he allowed the people to talk about him in your presence. Do you know why?”

“How will I know unless he chose to tell me either before or afterwards? How do I know that you are not making up something to keep your friend in my good books?”

Though this comment hurt a little, Muser ignored it and continued, “All these years he has been living in guilt for not amply reciprocating their kindness. At this time when everyone has aged and left with only fond memories of yesteryear, he let the talk to center around him, occasionally joining them, only to see some smiles on their faces and an evening they will relive for some days”.

She looked a bit confused and continued, “Why did he not do the same with us, we also would have enjoyed the fun is it not?”

Muser decided to let it go as he wanted to drive home some other points. “He takes certain things for granted in receiving or reciprocating. But in his mind these thoughts get processed and stored. He believes exhibitionism is a makeup attempt and has said so many times to me. Just take it for granted as he means all the good things to all of you. This habit of closed chest attitude has developed in him over many years of struggle to lead a honourable life. Unless you care to know the history, you will naturally have these feelings”.

Sensing that his words are talking to her mind, Muser continued, “My friend is like the medicine in a capsule. It is easy to take it as it is. If you separate them, the medicine will taste bitter”.

Please permit me to ask a few questions: “Did anyone of you asked him to talk about his childhood memories?  Did not all of you take it for granted that it would have been just uninteresting? Getting no answers Muser remained silent.

She started to think whether it was right on her part to come to Muser or wrong on her part to have made an issue out of nothing. From her face Muser understood that some of the issues clouding her mind are slowly clearing. They sat in silence for some time focusing on Bystander.

An auto arrived at the entrance followed by voices over the fare dispute. Muser appeared visibly relaxed thinking now that Mrs Muser has come home, she will take care of Mrs Bystander. The promise of a hot coffee also cheered him a little.

Bystander's armchair philosophy

"Traditional gods derive power out of mass devotion built over hundreds of years. The devotees presented them with opportunities, organisations and aura. The combination effect of all these methods stabilised their investiture as traditional gods. The very foundation of goddom lay in the unshakeable faith of followers which endured generation after generation".

"Before all these could happen, mythological narratives were used to perpetuate a cult following. Along the way temples were constructed, idols were installed and consecrated. In all probability a heroic person might have been the central theme of all these things. This stream of thought might not appear outlandish if one cares to check out the names of sanths, saints and babas. The so chosen gods never came from a royal blood, with an exception here and there!

There is another set – personal gods in the households or gods for the commune.  The devotion, opportunities and aura are limited, based on the influencing factors of the households or the villagers. Here again, there is no doubt about the faith; unshakeable!  This evolution would have taken a few decades, privy to the households or the village.

"The former gods, belonging to the first set, became rich with endowments from kings and commoners and the later ones with a gross earning index closely linked with the fortunes of handful of people in a village.

"Theories and practices divided the population in to believers and non-believers. Both vainly trying to prove and disprove the existence of god. Some wise mind has already must have dwelt on this issue to come out with the saying “god cannot be everywhere; that is why mothers are born”.  Obviously this runs counter current to the chauvinistic view of theists and concurrent with the thinking of atheists, at least, partially!

"The tribe of god-men conveniently positioned themselves after mothers, to add variety to religious philosophy. High jacking ancient scriptures, a few among them embarked on a mission to purify the religion and bring it up to date. Going modern they established mutts in their country and sprouted branches in all the other countries, as if they have the only trademark solution for all the ills of mankind.

"The disgruntled Indian Diasporas unwittingly fall prey to the self boasting sweet talks and miracle mirages showcased by dedicated T V channels.  These discourses are aimed at the western culture and delivered in a language which many of them cannot comprehend does not worry the native followers. The gurus are after fame and the followers chasing the tech savvy gurus promising them enlightenment, overlooking the fact that the very same gurus who despise scientific advancements show no qualms in making use of modern gadgets to propagate their foot prints. Indeed this is unshakeable faith!

"The “possessions”, “takeovers”, “appeasement rituals” and the band of sycophants trying to perpetuate their theories make the very identity of these god-men suspect. The truth about god could be as simple as this: It is the faith in the mind of a person and there could be as many gods as the population on earth"!

Mr. Tom's head  felt like a spinning top after hearing this ranting from Bystander. He could understand that something was seriously bothering Bystander but could not appreciate being the sole recipient of religious/philosophical updates. He hated any form of  "pop up " up dates, per se, whether it was for the smart phone or computer or himself. He intently prayed for a break unto freedom -  chiming of a buzzer or a ring tone from  a phone or Mrs. Bystander bringing in refreshments. He was ready to accept even a cup of lukewarm coffee-break , to soothe his throbbing nerves.

The Ghost walk

Shocks are of many types. Mental and physical with sub- divisions like mild, medium and heavy.The cultural shock belongs to the mental variety and the epicenter for which lies in language, custom and gen-gap. The shock from this epicenter could turn out to be a slip in the palette, rise in blood sugar or pressure level and rocks only those with rheological difference in flow of thoughts. The rheology is self made and the cause for this is the confusion existing in the mind between yesterdays and today.

This ghost, waiting to take a walk in the park decides to come out and enjoy a day out. Being a ghost niceties or etiquette did not apply to it ; also the concern about the wake of feelings its trawling would leave.It  has a past and is happy to relive the same on a perpetual re-run. During these re-runs logic and common sense are consigned to the back seat, in adjacent rows.

The first step the ghost took was in the direction of relaxation techniques. If it had left it at that, it would have been fine, but the ghost complicated the matter by comparing the meaning of relaxation as known to it and being planned by the present generation. It had a strong opinion – “those who had time to kill did it with others patience, without feeling guilt”. This stirred the anger even in its heart of stone.

The second step brought it to the doors of friendship, getting confused a little, with the past and the present day ambiance of friendship. The ghost had no time either to enjoy or imbibe the atmosphere, then or now! With that mind set it landed itself in a predicament: to understand what is going on in the name of friendship among the youngsters.

The third step was into a get-together. The far away travel, eating out of a printed menu under a soft light called ‘a good ambiance’, juxtaposing it with plates filled with variety objects, jostling for eating space with the accompaniment of non- stop chatter were all beyond its jaded brain. Though, it did not fail to experience the food and chatter – rank indigestible. For the revellers, it was comfortable as custom demanded it!

The fourth step led to functions. The event, arrangements and the invited gathering made the ghost to feel like an alien. Even the compulsion to attend such functions lacked conviction and it felt like a soul out of spirit world.

The fifth step came crashing on the lack of time sense, urgency or giving a feedback.  Somehow, the ghost was not comfortable with today’s euphemism that no information is itself a positive development. It started to wonder about the direction in which the present generation was travelling. Though outwardly appearing to live in a chaotic environment, how do they manage to remain nonplussed!

The sixth step fell on the tidiness in and around the living place called den. Ghost knew only about the lion's den and fearing for dear life never went anywhere near that animal’s living quarters. It got the same feeling, after one such close encounter at home, when in the vicinity of such a place (son &daughter's den).

The seventh step came down heavily on the over dependence on electronic gadgets and Google. The mere sight of these gadgets raised goose pimples on its non-existent physical form. It had not used anything as modern as a digital or a mariner’s watch in its life time.

The eighth step sounded weary in its ears as it was bringing it closer to the din called DJ music accompanied with psychedelic lighting and purposeless swaying of humanoids in the name of dance. Its footfalls never even left a whisper and ear drums never came in contact with bone jarring music.

The ninth step took the ghost brought it into a shopping mall. The fashion wears and the wearers frightened the day light out of it. Aesthetics have been remodeled and the new in-thing appeared to be anything goes with anybody - dress wise. The world has not only shrunk into a global village but while doing so it had spawned chic, ethnic and uni-dresses just large enough to include a brand label. In its heydays, Synthetic materials were expensive and given second preference. With abundant material availability today, why people go for tights on oddly shaped bodies. Don't they ever look at themselves in a mirror? These two doubts zoomed past its brainless head.

The tenth , tired step brought the ghost to an eatery in the mall, where the people it had met during its ninth step indulged in gluttonous spooning of fat-friendly fast-food. It wondered why hurry so much, to attack plates of fast-food? What happened to those traditional food varieties? Don't these eaters know that calorie rich food is going to make a medical practitioner rich, some time in the future? How they hope to get in to those body hugging dresses, they have just purchased?

Having seen it all, the ghost did not become in anyway wizened but rather aghast. Spending free time without thinking about another's pressing works, filing it away to only to forget commitments given and being selfish in the garb of apparent selflessness only made the ghost to twist and turn in agonising thoughts of what is righteousness and what is not? What is in and what is not?

These heavy thoughts made the ghost to sit on a bench under a tree. The leaves trying to filter the sunlight and the sun rays dodging to find the gaps to escape and the wind joining hands with the leaves – it was a power play of nature using the essential elements of life. Outwardly all of them appeared unconnected but intrinsically each one of them had a part of nature and were willing to come together to celebrate nature.

The ghost thought over the fact that not all the plants bearing exotic and fragrant flowers are themselves fragrant. May be there are exceptions!  With these inspirations bringing it closer to reality, the ghost retraced the ten steps, dismissing its agoraphobic and misanthropic tendencies and withdrew in to its own world.

Tom and Jimmy

Tom and jimmy occupied a place of pride in our house. They were so good natured and the moment the word lion was uttered, scurried for cover and hid themselves beyond anybody’s reach. Cashing in on the fear of the live lion, we the youngsters used the mantra often to scare the daylight out of them. Poor pets had no way of knowing, given the chance of seeing even a caged lion we would do the same.

How they came into our care was an interesting story in itself. On a summer holiday, we were just lolling about in the hot sun, rebelling against the family diktat that hot afternoons are time to stay indoors. All of a sudden, a well grown cockerel came into our view giving a hot chase to a scrawny-looking hen for no apparent reason. As this was a common sight in the village, we did not pay much attention to their dispute.

Nearby, a huge heap of dry straw was stacked and a stray bull was just helping itself to a feast. The hen running out of steam, gathered all its energy tried to land on top of the stack but managed to do so on the bull’s neck. The sharp talon of the hen must have hurt it and in an involuntary action let out a sharp bellow. The bedlam broke loose; cockerel and hen vanished from the scene, the annoyed bull ambled away. With a time delay, a kitten and a pup emerged from the stack and at breakneck speed dashed into our house, which was a few yards away.

We children could not understand why they hid in the stack, how both of them came together to hide and why they chose to take refuge in our house? The weighty question was why they got separated from their mother’s? The other children in the group tried to convince us that the kitten and the pup could be raised as pet animals. Though, the idea sounded wonderful, the implementation part appeared difficult. In our house only voices will be raised not pet animals. The proposers of the idea might have been quick thinkers in pointing out the carrot and sticks, in front of us, in one go!

The hay stack escapees were intelligent survivors. Believing that closing the eyes and running for dear life will ultimately lead them to safety proved right. They found the open space in the backyard and decided to settle down, may be for just that day. The darkness in an unknown place might have frightened them to give out distress calls. Lucky for them these calls were received and acted upon, stealthily, by the women folks in the house. Food, water and rags were provided for their immediate protection. Thinking about plans to tackle the men folk at daybreak, the ladies retired to bed.

Unaware of these happenings, we dreamed up names for the kitten and the pup as Tom and Jimmy. Our worry was to get the names accepted by the other friends, as it was an established practice to work along with them as a team. The penalty for violation would be exclusion from summer games of the group and finding your own ways to kill the hot afternoons. It will be the most gruelling time in a village, enjoying power cuts at will.

 We understood the power of women in the household from the way they took neighbours on board, fed the pets and managed to hide them from the eyes of the male members, like it was a magician’s show. They simply banished them from going anywhere near the backyard , by making available all the services with a knowing smile. This sudden attention perplexed the breadwinners a little but their own worries in agriculture and business prevented any detailed analysis on the nature of the behind the scene activities.

Even the best kept secrets have to see the daylight one day. On this particular day, a relative who was disliked by the men in the family came to visit us. We liked him as he brought something or other for us and my father and uncles hated him for bringing along his pet dog. Out of respect to our grandmother, they refrained from taking the dislike too far. This pet dog had the nasty habit of wandering throughout the house at will and it ended up at the place where the two refugees were sheltered.

A barking contest started, calling the attention of everyone in the house. The assembly witnessed, rather heard, full throated barks punctuated with whimpers and meows .Finally the cat was out of the bag. Mixture of annoyance and anger flashed over the faces of my father and uncles. It was about to turn into a violent display when my grandmother deftly intervened and announced that she had brought them home and will continue to nurture them. For good measure she glared at her sons and said loudly, “come what may”.

That was all it took to subdue the volcanoes about to erupt. Remembering the hardships she had endured on their behalf, the men folk silently withdrew from the scene of action. The relative felt that he will be a welcome guest in the house from now onward. When we thought that all was over, our grandmother looked at us and said, “I hope this was not your idea to bring them home”.

We, Tom and Jimmy stood wondering at what she said. We did not plan any such thing and the pets did not know what it was all about. Even after months of training both the pets still continue to do the vanishing act at the mere mention of “lion”. We are yet to find out in what way their lives are linked to a lion? Is anyone ready to help us?

And the winner is ...

I was skeptic on reading a news item that metal objects could be bent, at will. I had to revise this skepticism to acceptance when my free will itself started undergoing this bending phenomenon in the presence of this kid. The person in the news item had used his psychic energy and this kid in front of me does it with pure magnetic force of smile and affection.

The sun rising in the east is normal and if it stands in front of your face, it is an event. An ear to ear grin with twinkling mischievous eyes and an authoritative voice heralds my dawn, whatever is the time, in the morning. This sun stands on raised toes, impatiently wiping the palms in eager expectations.

The agenda for the day starts with a hunting expedition to select his favourite toys. In an elaborate ritual, he opens up few cupboards, inspects, selects and then chooses a place to sit and playing with them. After a few minutes, the whole set up is abandoned with disdain and eyes the giant bear kept on a chair. Though it outweighs and dwarfs him, he manages to invite it to his boxing ring, by literally dumping it on the ground. Finding some issue with its non cooperation, he tweaks its ears a few times to express annoyance.

As you standby, as a referee, mainly to minimise his falls, he grapples with the toy bear exhibiting a boxer’s instinct. After showering few punches, he declares the match in his favour and switches over to horse riding cum bike racing. Sitting astride and by holding the hands he jumps a few times, on its tummy or back, starts riding the horse. For the motor sports he turns the hands of the toy to the left or right to steer his imaginary bike.

His vocal cords lend able support for mouthing various kinds of sounds, during these practice sessions. You wonder how he could imagine the prone bear on the floor as a horse or a motorbike. For some unknown reason he has chosen this teddy bear as his pet toy to which he will come back time and again, till bed time.

With no visible drop in the energy level, the next event is climbing over sofa, chair or a coffee table. The selected objective is always a difficult one due to height or accessibility. He does not do anything without a purpose and the objective must have something on it to attract him - toy or book or an electronic gadget. Disregarding the shortest route possible literally walks through obstacles without worrying about falls and injuries. These issues are sidelined after a brief cry to march towards the set goal. In case of unreachable heights, simply yells at you to become the stepping stone to bridge the gap. He expects you to be there when he requires such assistance. On reaching his summit, simply throws down the article of interest only to pick and place it in the same place. This is a ruse employed to keep on playing this climbing game till he gets bored with it.

Packing and unpacking or opening and closing is another favourite game to which he devotes considerable time. Cartons are opened, contents removed and repacked in deliberate wantonness. Kitchen shelves and fridge door are opened and banged shut till the hinges come off. Any interference to the activity, the intruder gets to see his annoyed face staging a range of emotions competing with the skills of a thespian.

The best attention is reserved for mechanical toys including a tricycle and pushcart. The music and flashing light from the toy is watched in wonder and then all of a sudden you hear only the silence. The reason is not far behind the toy; he has turned it over and forcefully applied his hand brake to stop the mechanical action. The poor toy must have tried valiantly to overcome the resistance and lost the battle by simply breaking down.

He spends more time in tilting and inspecting the underside of the tricycle rather than sitting on it to push the pedals.The pushcart suffers the ignominy of being always dragged, in belly up fashion, and dashed against the walls. If getting bored with these activities, he decides to stuff things in to their luggage compartments. Unable to comprehend that volume is a factor that decides the outcome, he becomes angry and stomps away.

Walking or wandering in and out of the rooms in the house is his way of breaking monotony in the schedule of activities. Standing still for a moment, on his toes, plans the route and then with a war cry tilts his neck to the right or left side and synchronises this with an  out stretched right or left hand. The best description I had come up with is like this: the left leg does not know where the right wants to go; the left hand wants to grab one thing and at the same time the right will be after something else; all the while his eyes will be darting from play-field to another.

If the agenda is only Walking, he tries to experiment different styles, on purpose. If the purpose is to exhibit skill, I am left wondering where from he had learnt all these. If it is to impress me, I am truly amazed! 

 If it is meal time, different set of activities are incorporated in to his busy schedule. Looking for stray dogs or watching a cat on the wall or the coming and goings of automobiles or activities of construction workers and so on. He goes on adding new items to this never ending list. It keeps him busy and makes you to wonder whether to feed him first or finish yours. He has even perfected a call sign, remix symphony of barking of dogs and meows of cats, to greet them on sighting and refuses to move on unless this shouting ceremony is completed!

The sun in the zenith is the period reserved for disturbing others' activities in the house. The person on the cell phone is the first victim and in a jiffy it changes hands. He readily volunteers his services in the kitchen without waiting for a request. The pressure cooker ejecting steam or the gating noise from a mixer is all the invitation he needs to run in to the kitchen. Having entered that space he does his bit to strew utensils, cereal and pulse packets on the floor or transports them to the drawing room for the fun of it.

At the slight sign of resistance to his pleasure, goes down on all fours, lowers his head and gently bangs the forehead on the floor. The initial attempts must have hurt him as he was unable to judge the distance and force to be exerted during the act. Taking the pain in his strides, he spent considerable time, to find the solution for minimum impact and perfect this form of pleading. This forehead touching scene would melt any heart and what a way to get his opinions heard!

When twilight presages sun set, this sun sits, legs folded back , in the form of “M” as if to keep the spinal column erect, in front of your tired mind and body, expecting entertainment till bed time ,that might be hours away. Brimming with excess energy, he finds ways to drain away yours first.. Spreading of a bed signals the start of bedtime activities. The giant bear is unceremoniously placed on the bed to start no hold barred punching match.

Pushing away the beaten bear, he next eyes a supine person to continue with the war games. Sitting astride, urges the person with his legs to imitate horse riding.The poor chap has to arch his tummy up and down many times, simultaneously neighing like a horse. If the kid finds the game less simulating, he slides back to sit squarely on the throat to express his displeasure at the poor horse show.

After sometime, he dismounts from the imaginary horse only to perform experiments in cosmetic surgery – lengthening of nose or ears or chin to add a dash of beauty to the face of his erstwhile horse.. All through this operation, the prone figure gets to hear a constant stream of humming as an anesthetic dosage.

Nearing the energy expenditure allocated for the day, the kid lies down on the same bed, besides the already tired and snoring old man, and falls asleep. In sleep, I the old man wish my sun to enjoy a dreamless sleep and whisper to him, “tomorrow is another day”.

From sun rise to close to midnight, this kid takes you through gravity defying manoeuvres, dabbles in a bit of chemistry, botany and animal husbandry challenging great minds such as Newton, Einstein and a host of scientists in various disciplines. By the time he calls it a day , you are ready to pack a bag or count the drops falling from an intravenous fluid bag and say “and the winner is the kid”.

Bystander - the armchair Euclid

Of late, the usual seriousness, barbed wire sarcasm and acrobatic arguments were missing in Bystander’s conversations .He could not explain this sudden change in Bystander’s attitude and this had Muser in a spot of bother. Having likened him as his alter ego, the onus was on his mind to find out the reason for this change. He decided the best way to resolve this enigma was to recollect their recent conversations and ferret out any hidden clue that might lead him to the solution.

The first semblance of a clue emerged from the recent conversation about geometrical objects. Muser patiently rewound that conversation in his mind which at that time gave him a feeling as though his friend was trying out something not natural to him.

“Do you know, the geometrical shapes that we see around us could be constructed using certain other shapes, which I would like to call complementary objects?” said Bystander.

Perplexed, Muser asked, “How come you have developed this sudden interest in constructive geometry? I know during your academic career, you willfully bunked mathematical classes on theorems and drawings!” Where from you got this term ‘complementary shape'?”

Clubbing both the questions, Bystander answered,“You mean to say that I will forever carry on these disinterests from school days? I just borrowed the term normally used to describe colours!”

Muser hastened to add, “I did not mean that but was only trying to understand the basis for this new interest that you have developed about shapes”

“Blame the football, if you want. That only made me to think about different shapes and how one could go about constructing them. For example a football or a sphere can be shaped  with pentagons and hexagons”, explained Bystander.

“What is special in that?” asked Muser to keep his friend talking.

“The specialty is that a pentagon itself can be constructed using a trapezium and a triangle. The hexagon is friendlier; a rectangle and two triangles will do the job”.

“If you have done so much thinking, what about enlightening me about the whole process?” asked Muser in a teasing voice.

“Depending on the diameter of the sphere you want, select the number of pentagons and hexagons. There is a relationship between the numbers and the area ratio of pentagon and hexagon that are to be used”

“Assuming that I have the needed numbers of each shape, can you describe how to construct the ball?”, Muser persisted with his line of questioning.

“Place one pentagon at the pole of the proposed sphere; surround it with five hexagonal shapes. Next, position one pentagon, each, in the empty space between two abutting hexagons. Now you have completed 75% of the top hemisphere by using six pentagons and five hexagons, in all. Repeat this process to form the other pole and the unfinished hemisphere”.

Getting impressed and unable to restrain his enthusiasm, Muser continued “How you will close the gap between the two hemispheres that are ready?” 

Sensing admiration in his friend’s voice, Bystander continued “Another ten numbers of hexagons are placed, in a slightly zigzag fashion, over an imaginary equatorial line, such that the open spaces between pentagons and hexagons forming the two hemispheres are closed. Muser tried to retrace these steps, in his mind, with twelve pentagons and twenty hexagons. He could easily visualise  foot ball or a sphere taking shape. 

At the end he had a number of questions to ask Bystander: “why this sudden interest in constructing a foot ball in this fashion? Why this cannot be made using only pentagons or hexagons? What will happen if the selected size of the pentagon is bigger than that of the hexagon used?”

“The answer to your first question is that I recently bought a toy football for my grandson and before he asks me how it is made, I thought, I would find it out now itself! For your second question I have only a partial answer: Using only pentagons, you may get an oval shape like a rugby ball. I don’t know what shape it will take if only hexagons are used.”

Continuing, Bystander said “You may have to wait for some more time to get an answer for the third question. I am not stopping with this but will try to find out a way to deal with other geometrical shapes using triangles, rectangles and squares as simple building blocks.”

It became clear to Muser that Bystander has been bitten by a ‘shapely’ bug and nothing will divert him, at least for some time, from this monomaniacal attention to shapes. May be he has now found out a way to complete that unfinished portion of his learning curve!