Points to Ponder 2

007 – Welcome, my son.
008 - Who are you, old guy ?
007 - I am your father ! You don’t know me ?
008 - Well. You see, I have a lot of work to do. I am in a hurry, Nevertheless, thank you for being my father.
007 - True, you have a long way to go. It is precisely why you ought to stuff your knapsack well.
008 - That’s alright. I can stuff it on the way.
007 - My boy, you are very young, starting on your long journey ….
008 - Oho, you want to advise me.
007 - You need pointers on the way to keep on right track, don’t you ?
008 - Are the pointers always right ? And some fellow like you might have planted them there. I would rather do some research about their veracity.
007 - Old soldiers never lie.
008 - They are just OLD soldiers. I have no reasons to suppose their strategies would serve the purpose of the new generation soldiers. The world is new; goals can change, so also strategies.
007 - Certain strategies and goals never change, my son. When a bullet hits you, it pierces your chest, old or new, doesn’t it ?
008 - I will learn new ways to duck it. Anyway, why are you so insistent on pretending to be a guide for me?
007 - It is my duty to tell you whatever I have seen, and felt, so that you can start from where I left.
008 - Look, I think, I am capable enough to guide my steps. You had your time to grow, I must have my time too.
007 - I appreciate your self confidence. But one can not pretend to be so wise that they can not afford to grow a little wiser.
008 – You know, my old friend, sorry, a’ father, for that is what you are, I can not take a capsule from you called wisdom, swallow it, and jump a lifetime ahead !
007 - You lose nothing by smiling at those whom you are expected to overtake. Maybe you get a cue or two on how to tie your shoelaces.
008 - What is the power of your glasses ?
007 - Mine is bi-focal. The long distance is 3.5, and reading 4.
008 - And mine ?
007 - Why should you have glasses at this age ?
008 - Doesn’t that make any difference ?
007 - Well, it does. I got my first pair of glasses before I was thirty. Do you want them before you are twenty ?
008 - Why ?
007 - Because you refuse to take care of your eyes.
008 – How ?
007 - When I became 25, I developed a disorientation in vision, a strange kind. I would see something as a very handsome man, but someone else would see horns above his ears ! And a woman with sharp snake eyes would look to me as a rare beauty ! Sometimes I would not see a stile on the road, and stumble heavily over it; sometimes ditch water would look to me pure sea-blue !
008 - I haven’t heard of such a disoriented vision, as you call it !
007 - Yes, I too didn’t believe such a disease existed. But our family doctor, a ENT specialist, told me it is a common symptom at this age. It is called disorientosis. It seems there is mention of this disease in the ancient Indian , Egyptian and Chinese medicine systems.
008 - Why, I haven’t come across such a thing anywhere.
007 - Because there is no medicine for it. Besides, how many doctors do you know ?
008 - Then how did they cure you ?
007 - The doctor said the cure lies in not seeing what you like to see, but seeing what you ought to see.
008 - That is a very strange prescription.
007 - So did I think, and pooh-poohed him.
008 - That was very wise of you. I would also do just that.
007 - As a result, at 30 my eyes were giving me a lot of trouble, at 45 the damage was very deep, at 60, I wished I had no eyes, for they served no purpose at all. Now I cannot see anything front of me.
008 - So you take rest, and let me go. I have a lot of friends to meet.
007 - I remember a very interesting incident from my life.
008 - Really interesting ? How so ?
007 - Once a good friend called me to join him for a movie. Though I was not interested, I joined. At intermission we were strolling outside, some of his friends met him, and dragged us to a pub. The movie was of very bad taste, and now the pub ! I suffered from this aberration for weeks.
008 - I don’t have such friends.
007 - I am sure you don’t. How is your friend TOMORROW’s father ?
008 - O, he ? Looking for the best cardiac surgeon. He needs surgery.
007 - There is a doctor at the end of our street, why don’t you show him ?
008 - That guy ? just fresh from the college.
007 - Nevertheless, he is a gold medalist.
008 - But he has no experience. We must see an experienced surgeon.
007 - This man is going to be equally experienced ten years from now.
008 - Do you want him to wait for ten years to deal with a problem of today ? How stupid !
007 - No, he shouldn’t, if the ten tears’ experience is available now.
008 - That is obvious.
007 - Yes, naturally obvious. Experience is a great teacher. A wise man learns from even other’s experiences, for you can not master every know-how you need to run your house well.
008 - So what do you suggest ?
007 - I was just thinking about your football coach.
008 - Football coach ? What nonsense. What a FC has got to do with it ? Rambling.
007 - Ramesh Pal, isn’t that his name ? Is he good ?
008 - The best. He was the best player of the club for ten years, and now a coach for 5 years. You rarely get such stuff.
007 - People listen to him ?
008 - Listen ? Players worship him.
007 - Oh, really ! It is strange, isn’t it ?
008 – Strange ? Why ?
007 - Isn’t that a handicap for others experiencing ?
008 - On the other hand, if you listen to him you can avoid years of needless experimenting.
007 - I believe in the wisdom of your statement. I wish mankind, and the youth in particular, was as wise as that.
008 - Well, for a change, I don’t want to disagree with you. I guess there is something in a football coach you should accept to build upon.
007 - Today I remember my father more than any yesterday.
008 - Why ?
007 - Three-fourths of my life could have been saved if I had asked for his opinion. While it was available for me to start where he left, I started again from square one.
008 - His knowledge couldn’t have been yours, anyway. You have to work for it, and you did.
007 - The other day I was reading about the first computer, and I was terribly amused.
008 - Of course, the first computer was an amusing thing. It was such a huge thing, and it took nearly two minutes to add a 4 digit number with another 4 digit number !
007 - And mod computers ?
008 - How can you compare ! Billions of numbers are overhauled in million ways in a fraction of second.
007 - Suppose the man who made it first appears before you, you will have a good laugh at him, won’t you ?
008 - You must have lost your mind ! Senile.
007 - What do you propose to do with him ? You have jumped far ahead of him.
008 - But he is the father of computers. We have built on his knowledge. You ought to have some respect for him, and the generations that followed. You are what you are because of them.
007 - I thing it is a very sensible way of looking at your past, and you put it rightly.
008 - Did you think I would kick him out of my history books, and go through all that again ?
007 - Surely not. History teaches us many wonderful lessons, and we should learn them well to build afresh. Our mistakes, our weaknesses, our strengths, our immortal thoughts, dark deeds, and our enduring experiences are all enshrined in the past represented by people like the old cardiac surgeon, the football coach, and the father of computer. You and I could ill afford to regard them as scraps fit for the dustbin, and pretend to build a better world.
008 - Well ……er… I think there is a lot of practical thinking in what you say…Father. I will just go, say hello to a couple of friends, and come back to you for some more tips. I should say .. I am sorry for being so rude to you.
007 - Never mind my son, I am always available to give, whenever you are ready to take.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

008 - How are you my son ?
009 - Who are you old guy ?
008 - I am your father, son. You don’t know me ?
009 - Thank you for being my father. But I have little time for you.



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The Story of a car

Once a friend told me a story. In fact it was a dream he had years ago. But he said it had changed his life profoundly. I will cut out the frills, and tell you the basic story.

“I dreamt that I was an old Ambassador car. What a strange dream ! An ambassador car, of all things ! But who can help dreams ? They have a fancy of visiting you when you least expect them. And as if that was not enough, I was in a repair shop. I had no idea who had got me there, and when. I had a feeling I was parked in the repair shop for a fairly long time.

“There were a lot of cars around me, in every stage of repair, both imported, and deshi. They had sad, long faces. Some of them were forever groaning, some coughing, some had skin problems, for they had patches of all kinds of colour. I was wondering, I do not seem to have any problem, why should I come here then ? If the chief Mechanic comes, I would ask him to have a look at me, and discharge me.

“That evening the chief Mechanic came to see the imported car parked near me. He was not very tall, but very handsome, with a winsome smile playing in his lips, and very knowledgeable eyes. Look at him, and you know you can depend on him. When he was examining the other car, I coughed, and said, ‘Mr. Mechanic, I don’t seem to have any serious problem. So if you have a look at me, and discharge me, I could go home. I have a lot of work at home, and have to see a lot of places. So I am rather in a hurry’.

“The mechanic looked at me and said very curtly, ’You are a terribly damaged car. It would take a long time to repair you. Right now I have no time for you’.

“I was going to burst forth in indignation. But I controlled myself. I have to be here till he sees me. So what’s use getting cross with him. But I grumbled and groused for a long time. Look at that mechanic ! He was with the imported car for nearly an hour, all smiles, tightening a screw here, replacing a nut there, giving the gentlest stroke at another place, and within the hour sent it to the paints division to be painted and then released ! What an outrageous idea of priorities ! I started boiling inside.

“The next day a deshi car came there to park, and while doing so banged me from behind. I shrieked, ‘hey bungled knot of battered bug, what do you think of yourself ? Some imported Beauty ? I have been standing here before you were born, and you come and run into me !’ That car was really sorry for this accident, and told me, ’I am very sorry, sir. I am really a battered mass of steel, come for repair. This mechanic is the best in town, so I came here. Please forgive me for your inconvenience’. Well, I felt someone poured a bucket of water on me. I wanted to hide my face somewhere.

“The next day the mechanic came there. He worked on him whole day for two days, and told him, ’Now you are fine. Go home, and drive around the world with self confidence. Any problem, give me a phone call. I will tell you what to do with yourself.’ When he left, the car also left with a big smile, and my smile was lost for ever. This time I did not request the mechanic. I thought, before leaving he would look at me, and say, ‘You have been here for a long time, I will come tomorrow, and fix you.’ But he left without even turning at me. As if there was no one there. I cried the whole night.

“The repair shop was always filled with all kinds of sounds, hacking, cracking, dragging, beating, heating, screeching, welding – all kinds. And I became reconciled to my inconsequentiality. Gradually my tyres deflated fully, exposed to the vagaries of weather, my skin withered and assumed all colours, the windscreen was so much full of dust that no one could have seen anything through it. I forgot where I came from, and if I had anywhere to go. I was a rusted piece of junk.

“One day I discovered that a stray dog had made his home inside me. When long ago the car had jammed into me, the door on one side had been jerked half open, and the dog discovered it. He found a comfortable bed inside, and made it his home. Strangely enough, I did not get angry with it. I felt a sort of sympathy for it, and told myself, ‘Poor fellow, let him sleep in peace’. Another day a motor bike came to the repair shop, and while parking in front of me hit one of my headlights, smashing it to pieces. But the impact smashed his headlight completely. I became really worried, and told him, ‘Aha, what did you do ! It will take a lot of time to repair your front, and money too ! I pitied the bike lying there in a limp. But that night I had a great sleep.

“No, I could not. To be exact, I was not allowed to sleep ! At the dead of the night, I woke up to someone flashing his torchlight on me. He was coming closer. When he started examining my headlight, to my greatest wonder I discovered he was the chief mechanic ! I could not believe my eyes. The chief mechanic here, at such an unearthly hour, near me ! I was so stunned to a wonderful feeling that not a word escaped me. But he continued to examine me, my tyres, my discoloured body, the broken door…and I could no longer keep quiet. I whispered, ‘Mr. Mechanic, how come you suddenly found time to come and examine me after ages ? And at such an hour ?’

“Then what he said would always sing in my ears. He said, ‘Ambassador, it is not that I did not have time for you, but I could not work on you because you were not ready. First, you thought you need not have come here at all. Therefore you were filled with arrogance. Then you had the canker of jealousy, the cancer of anger, and the T.B. of impatience. If I have to repair you I might have to burn you, cut you, hammer you, scrape you… and you couldn’t have tolerated that. So I gave you a lot of time to partially repair yourself. Now you have forgotten your anger, given up your arrogance, changed your jealousy into compassion, and above all, learned patience. You are ready for me. Then why should I delay ? I am starting my work on you from tomorrow.’

Thus ended my dream.”

My friend kept quiet. There was a light in his eyes, and an unheard song in his lips. He smiled at me, and left me rooted there, where I stood, for a long time.