PLAYING TRUANT

               PLAYING   TRUANT

             Life at large seems to be a game of hide and seek. The major distinction from the child’s play of this game is that, in life we do not know where to hide and what to seek. But, what we seek readily hides no matter how trivial the item is. There does not seem to be any limit to this pursuit. I do not know if this is the way it happens every where or peculiar to India alone. Looking at the whole process of day to day living, what comes to my mind is one of the statements in Murphy’s Law. It says, “If anything can go wrong, it will”. Even if we try to look for serious exceptions to it, the law stays true and valid most of the time. It appears to be the work of destiny that decides your success rate. My calling it a success rate is a calculated expression to convey the idea that even for simple things more than one attempt is required. Look at some of these which would justify the notion of destiny in most things. By a clear plan, we choose a Sunday morning to book for some train accommodation well in time. When you are the fourth on queue, the employee peeps through the small gate to tell that the computer booking has come under a seizure and that further bookings would resume only after rectification, which would be unpredictable in terms of time required. Sadly you cannot hang around the place as you have promised your people of an outing. When you try to retrieve your vehicle from the parking slot, the caretaker is hiding. You need to wait for him as he has already taken your money promising to return the balance when you come after the work. The person takes his time to return, effectively irritating you. If you try shouting at him, he would demand your tendering the exact amount. It would be a bigger exercise running for minor denominations of money. What else but the day’s fate?      You are awaiting an important postal article and have made arrangements to receive it.                                                                             …

            As your luck would have it, the postman of the area is on leave which is a rare occurrence. The new man is unable to locate the address. The usual person has chosen to go on leave now.  The next day you call on the post office for collecting this.  Another common sight:   A one-day Cricket contest falls on a holiday at an ideal time slot. You are fully organized to see the telecast. Only then the power goes off. When the supply is restored your favourite team is in doldrums. Your friends unfailingly narrate the next day, how in the early part of the game, your favorites were performing well. What we can not see is always good.  See this: Your smart child refuses to recite rhymes when the visitors have been briefed of the child’s proficiency. [Even if due, you cannot be proud]. Soon after the guests leave, your kid is back on a full scale. You like a particular candy and ask the shopkeeper for two. He faithfully tells you that he has only one and advises you to come the next day. What we don’t prefer is in plenty. Does candy deserve destiny’s favour? You may differ. But, it is so. Our TV sets develop disorders exactly a day or two after the lapse of warranty time, making us pay for what would have been a free item some 48 hours ago. No one knows the calendar better than the TV. They are always loyal to the manufacturer displaying affection to the parent. In a product, a specific model of a brand, popular for certain features fails to live up to them, when we acquire that.  It is not my desire to portray everything in a dismal form. Is it not true that most of what I have narrated happens to us in our daily life?  I am very clear that it is not for only a few. Most people go through these experiences, only varying in frequency.  No event in life appears to be free from such hindrance. But, we are not tired of our attempts; not an item has been postponed or given up without at least a couple of trials.                      

                     Prof. K. Raman