Duality on A Wider Scale

Duality of life places man and woman as indivisible part of the same being. In the Mind of God from which every inspiration to do good resides they were as one. ‘Male and female created he them, ’so the Bible tells us. To this part I can wholeheartedly say ‘Amen’.
However in the same creation story we read of Adam’s rib and such like. I could explain it by making it as though an allegory. In the same fashion one may explain away every difficulty. To my rational mind it sounds travesty of Truth. If we believe The Bible is God’s word and inerrant, any double somersaults with Truth confuses the issue.

The Book is meant as reproof, instruction and also building up our lives. I know now in part. On this earth we are merely beginners. In the worlds to come we may grow in knowledge and it is more likely after we have put away this corruptible body we may see the Word with a different mindset. Then what we may be concerned shall have different emphases too.. Law was engraved on stone tables during the time of Moses and law writ in our hearts signify different stations in our upward growth. As spiritual beings we shall need no Book. 'To my curious mind I conceive notions of being a part of the same book. The congregation of saints in Zion has no Sun or Moon as such (rev.22:5) and no Bible either . But we are all pages, sentences, commas, parentheses and so on.' :

‘For the love of money is the root of evil; which while some coveted after…pierced themselves through with many sorrows.’Is this not sound advice for the year of the plague (economic meltdown is one such)? It is sadly human nature that the more street-smart we become we forget as many home truths as well. Do I think we would learn any lasting lesson from this global meltdown? I do not think so unless World governments are clear eyed and can sit together to enforce adequate controls for regulating the financial systems.
2.
Duality of man works its way outwards. Man is indivisible from nation and nations part of the whole. Exploiting any nation’s wealth by a superpower as we have seen repeated in Asia, Africa and in the Middle East is one way of digging the very foundation of that power.
Is not the very Bulldog like trait of Great Britain now more like a mongrel?
Benny

Inspiration

The Galapagos archipelago is a group of volcanic islands situated under the equator created barely some 2.5 million years old. Being young its flora and fauna have helped scientists from all over to study evolutionary process that takes place at any ecosystem. Charles Darwin modeled his theory of natural selection from his extensive studies on that island. Finches blown there by a freak storm for instance developed into a separate species. The birds having developed a taste for worms from the tree trunks or mites from the body of turtles have their beaks modified for the specific purpose. They also are known to eat eggs rich in protein, which they break by dropping on the rocks below.

Marine iguanas are unique to the island. The species are some 5’(150 cm) long and larger than the iguanas found in South America. These marine iguanas specially feed on special algae that grow only on the rocks under water. It is essential for their growth. They can remain underwater for half an hour foraging their food. They have sharp claws that they use to hold on to the slippery rocks despite the strong currents. Chance may drive finches and iguanas to an inhospitable terrain but the skills acquired by them to make available resources adequate for survival speak of something else.
I do not mind if I sound being contradictory. I have no trouble with Science: the mind who shouts ‘Eureka’ does so under the inspiration of the Highest. Why? Archimedes, to give him a name, from a casual event of a bath found something else that could benefit whole mankind. The act of a bath in his tub must have held the secret always. Only what he needed was inspiration.
Similarly cannot God let a chance create universe as though it was ever meant to be?
Tailspin: what we call Chance is a cocoon from which certainty of life must burst through. Inversion principle works here. Which comes first chicken or eggs? Neither. Both are to be seen indivisible of life in its power. Duality of life and dissolution reconciled into one depending upon what you want to look at.
benny

Spread It Around

Western democracy drew muscle from Greek model while Adolph Hitler was much impressed with Spartan model and it led him to a totalitarian form of government. Inspiration from ancient history or from social malaise of the day leads man to seize control. Or think of a prophet who sees visions of Zion and take control of the state. His mission is to form a theocratic state but ensures his authority by fire and sword. Isn’t such mad prophet also working under inspiration?
Think of Oneness of Things as Truth, a constant. God is Truth while inspiration is the office of Holy Spirit. The man who wants to take control and impose his will over others is working with love. I mean love of power. It doesn’t matter if it is for good or bad. Love and inspiration of life forms do two things: changeability of circumstances gives every man an opportunity to test his love and the spirit that animates him. It also is Nature’s way of equipping species with survival skills. Species who make a niche in the rain forests draw from experience, and their survival in micro climate under inspiration describe Darwin's theory. Natural selection it is called.

Tailspin:Truth, Inspiration and Love signify Trinity in secular vocabulary.
benny

Apocalypse, the play

Place:in the spirit world
Time:hereafter
Phantoms in white are floating around and two among them discuss about a coming event.
Angel #1:The Venerable in Years have at last agreed to attend the show. Do we kick our heels high and present a dance routine?
Angel #2: we have past the age of levity. We have no ears to trick us; nor have we a heart to admire nimble footed chorus line.
The angel who is rather new to the world feels rather embarrassed and asks, “OK I spoke out of turn. You are rather familiar with what the Old Man likes.”(At this moment a horde of specters like voice of great thunder gravitate to them.)
In unison, “ Here we have a showstopper , a new song parts written for four beasts.”
Angel #1: “Four beasts?”
“The chorus:”yes, the lion, I roar;you be the eagle”
Angel #2 ‘”yes I have talons”
Angel#1 you mean talent. Is it not?”
Angel#2: Don’t be a square. Don’t be too literal.
Angel #3 “ I play the part of the ox.”
Angel#1 ( brightly) It is a hoax then.
One angel buts in, “I play the part of man.”
(The crowd disperses in merriment. It is obvious the coming event has made them all livelier. Angel#2 also follows them asking the Angel#1 to come and enjoy the show.)
Angel #1 spots a mount with a lamb on it.
(aside) Mt. Sion.
A voice, ‘What did you say?’
Angel#1 ‘ Who are you?’
The voice: John of Patmos
Angel#1: ‘The show isn’t meant for you. Go back to your devotion,if that makes you feel better.
Angel#1 catches up with Angel#2 and asks in whisper,”Who are these an hundred forty and four thousand each having a symbol stuck on their foreheads?
Angel#2: These are cues for a quiz show.(points to the four beasts)
Angel#1 ‘What do they represent?’
Angel#2 ‘since we are not the ones to guess, I will tell you. They represent Ezekiel. You know your Bible. Don’t you?’
Angel #1,’Oh Ezekiel’s vision by the river Chebar.’
Angel#2:’Right-o’ These 144000 are words from the Bible that we have not fully understood. They are going to tell us what they represent.
Angel#1‘Oh I see. I always had difficulty to digest the verse Mt 5:29-30
Angel#2: “Are you going to see with your eyes or with your inner eye?
Angel#1 with a laugh,”You know well we have no physical eyes but inner eye.”
Angel#1( in serious vein) Then I don’t have to be concerned. Come the show has begun.
Meanwhile St. John the Divine furiously scratches in a scroll. ‘And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion….’(rev:14:1)
benny

Don't Knock on my Ideals

One Man’s Perfection Is...©

As a scholar Su Tungpo was fascinated by Buddhism but Foyin, his friend went as far as to become a monk. Su Tungpo remained a chussu that meant that as a Confucian scholar he could live in married life without being a monk. Because of his great prestige some of the monks faulted him when great many chose to remain chussu as he did. One day Foyin called on him and said how his fame in art and literature had invoked many to turn away from leading the life of a monk he said:” My name has nothing to do with fame or with what others may want to do with theirs.”
“Still it cannot be helped but to notice how people closely read your criticisms and your views on art and life. Your life is a symbol, a sign.”
“Perhaps you are right.” Showing sheaves of papers thrown into the ground Su Tungpo said,” I have made for myself a symbol. Till I achieve that perfection all my literary exercises end up there.”
Foyin picked out one piece from the floor and read the lines and said:” I find them faultless.”
“That is where we differ... in the matter of what constitutes as perfection. Allow me to follow mine.”
One man’s perfection is another man’s second best.
benny

Blind Leading The Blind

Democracy as a form of government, as any other suffers because of people who are placed in positions of trust. These invariably betray the trust overcome by their faults as soon as any temptation presents itself as the proverbial forbidden fruit. It may be ambition, that one may be itching to get ahead over the heads of so many; in another the temptation comes in the form of some misplaced idealism where the man is out to discredit the government which he doesn’t believe in. Or it may a chance to make a quick buck. Of the last I have to say thus:
‘Greed is moral blindness in that man who struck by it sees nothing but greenbacks as a jaundiced man sees everything yellow’.
benny

Hero or Zero?

If we study history closely we see that man is often manipulated by larger forces at work. Then as now. Little by little, a man who is in positions of trust and authority often serves as a facilitator to some party or such forces that are in ascendancy. What controls were set in place after the Great Depression was in the 80s were circumvented to allow risk taking as a virtue to be rewarded. What was the buzzword of that time? ‘Greed is good.’ Investment banking and hedge funds came into being as a result. Let us now look at an example from the time of American war of Independence. The scene is set in France, though.
In 1783 Treaty of Paris was convened to ratify American Independence during which one of the demands made by Britain was free-trade provision for its control of the Atlantic trade. (You may imagine Britain’s position as somewhat similar to what America holds now.) By a separate treaty of 1786 France was forced to accept terms that were suicidal. By accepting it the French economy was ruined overnight. From 2% annual real physical growth in the 1770s and early 1780s, France’s textile, shipping, mining and agriculture went into a downward spiral resulting in famine in many places. Naturally the royal budgets collapsed, and in stepped the banker Jacques Necker as the Finance Minister and First Minister. He was the Swiss agent for Lord Shelburne( Prime Minister, Whig, 1782 – 1783) If you look into Necker’s antecedents you shall see he wasn’t entirely clean in his dealings: By 1762 he was a partner and by 1765, through successful speculations, had become a very wealthy man. He soon afterwards established, with another Genevese, the famous bank of Thellusson, Necker et Cie. Pierre Thellusson superintended the bank in London -his son was made a peer as Baron Rendlesham, while Necker was managing partner in Paris. Both partners became very rich by loans to the treasury and speculations in grain.) and he through his contacts in Geneva and London brought in huge international loans to fund the royal budgets from 1787 onwards. (His service was something akin to IMF coming to the aid of developing nations.) Apparently his policy ‘Compte Rendu’ was meant to subject the royal treasury to transparency and austerity and in practice it made Louis XVI under the financial mercy of Necker, and the banking interests he represented. The kings attempt to regain control led directly to storming of the Bastille in which the populace cried themselves hoarse for reinstating Necker, the man who really was responsible for their ruin!
benny

A Parable Retold

These two chapters are taken from the Parable of the Prodigal Son set in another time and place. Title of the book is The Son Who Came In From The Cold.
Adonai has two sons. Josh the younger son is 18. On his birthday he takes for the first time a trip by himself outside his palace and is shocked.He is overwhelmed by what he sees. He knows his father is trying to hide real facts from him. Josh leaves his father's home and the sheltered life of Sans-Souci.
He arrives at a city that is curiously similar to New York. With his share of the untold wealth he intends to understand why misery is only outside his father's home. He suspects there is some mystery. He intends to find it out for himself. Now I will leave you to the selected chapters.

Chapter-3
Sowing Wild Oats

The City had a strange name. Master Joshua vaguely understood what it meant in Armenian. When translated it went thus: ’Anything Goes’ City. It stood by a river and promenades that led along its banks were full of people. What strange dresses they wore! Stranger still was their dialect, peculiar to those who lived long in a city, and who lived especially without any known occupation. Obviously they lived by their wits, Joshua thought.
As he drove through the city in a handsome carriage drawn by four horses he knew he had never set foot in a city as strange as Anything Goes City. While passing through the commercial part of the city the people were out in the open. Like ants in groups and seeking out others and invariably they enquired ‘Morat! Morat!’ “Darn Morat, my ears have been a-tingling with it!” He tapped the driver to inquire. He stopped and gave a sheepish smile to run to a kiosk. The board read thus: “Buying on margin- Ensure your piece of happiness!” The newcomer didn’t fully grasp the meaning but something clicked. It sold something. The driver waved his sheaf of papers in air in exultation; he kissed the bunch as it was his talisman. Having pocketed it he settled himself once again on driver’s seat. Before he took his whip to goad his animals he said, ”Morat, master! Buy, Buy! Buy!” The out-of-towner could catch his excitement. Buying was a way of life. Those who couldn’t pay in full put down an initial payment on stocks as the driver did. At every corner he saw similar kiosks in red and green and similar crowds who jostled one another. Each thought nothing but his or her piece of happiness.
Only when he stopped at the City Hall to register his particulars and receive his permit for residence he realized the full gravity of the situation. The motto which was inscribed under the seal of the City was a superscription, ‘Everybody ought to be rich!” Perhaps City elders thought Latin and Greek gave money grubbing the adequate gravitas it was also repeated in these languages. Thinking it over he smiled for the first time since he took leave of his father.
He was in the right place.
Even as he resumed his drive he could only thank himself he had at last found the right place. A city that gave a piece of happiness. To rich and poor alike.
Sans-Souci stifled him. And now he was among real people he thought.
He was happy.
2.
Hardly he had moved into a villa that was fully furnished with rich tapestries, bric-à- brac, paintings by old masters, he received invitations from the 400 who were the shakers and movers of the city. So naturally he had to throw a party to show them the house he chose to live in. It was sumptuous but compared to his father’s mansion it was merely adequate. He was not for letting his wealth speak for him. All that he required was a human touch. It seemed to have touched the guests without exception that they instantly were on first name basis. “Josh let me know if there is anything I can do.” ”Another put it eloquently, ”we are at your service.” They knew he made the City by the river famous by his presence.
Soon after two or three fellows who claimed themselves to be the leading lights of The Smart Set dropped in to enquire. They were well received. So often thereafter they called on him. Matt, Mike and Jan were well groomed and knew all the right people whose names they were sure to drop every now and then. They had a bagful of jokes to amuse him on any occasion. It was very often. Before Josh could gather his wits about they had settled themselves under his roof. Josh had no idea how to handle them. He had his own life to lead. But to cut them dead with a snub wasn’t his style. So smiled politely at their jokes. He left them to fend for themselves whenever he went out. They didn’t mind.
Matt arranged his entertainments and hired musicians and theatre people. Jan provided exotic items that he averred no man of taste could do without. Mike was the one who carried tales and prompted whom to cultivate in order to get things done. Josh wasn’t sure he was well into entertainment. ‘Doing good to those in need is good enough’, he said. How they laughed at that!
The trio proved themselves in so many ways how useful they were. They ran with alacrity all his errands and did various services short of polishing his shoes.( He had his own valet, cook and major-domo not to mention gardeners and a porter who carried a brace of pistols and sported a fierce moustache that was waxed stiff for effect.) Had someone said his household was beginning to look more like a miniature version of Sans-Souci he would have been surprised. It was not what he intended but the unlimited credit he carried in his person needed an outlet. That was all.
At any given day he had some twenty guests to dine and Matt, Mike and Jan stayed on. The trio also gave company whenever he was alone. On such occasions they took to educate the master of the house to the ways of the world. Josh was certain he was only concerned with the ways of his establishment. “The world can take care of itself,”he had said.
One day the mayor, who had in the meantime become very friendly to him, asked him in strict confidence why he had those good-for-nothings around. He said those three were nothing but parasites. Josh could understand. He had something of a suspicion about them, which he had stifled as soon as it peeked. He thought he was being unfair and callous. Now the worshipful Mayor also observed the same. ‘There must be then something to it,’ he was convinced. Checking into their circumstances he found even the clothes they wore were hired from a shop that catered to the Smart set. As for the financial status it was almost nil. To his dismay he found they were daily one step ahead of the bailiff. As the worshipful mayor had hinted they lived indeed desperately. They avoided creditors all around by hiding in his villa.
“This is a sad business!” Josh felt they were more sinned against than sinning. They were poor and naturally they had latched onto him for succour. His tender heart melted. He called the three and gave each a sizable sum to spend for their own good. “Get a job, or live as simple as you can,” his kindly heart prompted these words. Before sending them off he didn’t forget to admonish,“Do some good so you haven’t lived in vain.’
They were loath to depart but Master Josh was adamant. They finally went off.



Chapter-4
The Bottom Falls Out

Josh viewed Anything Goes City as his own. He was on nodding acquaintances with all. The mayor made much of him, so did the common man. The shoeshine boy who plied his trade around the corner daily waited for him to appear. He could see him as he stepped out of his villa. Every morning dressed to the nines by his own valet, Master Josh stopped by to get his shoes polished. He did it to give custom. It was obvious. “May you prosper with my thaler.” he said always at the end. The boy as smart as they come, living by his wits knew how to make some easy money. It was so common.
Just the same. The denizens were in awe of Master Josh: he was the only one who did not dabble in stocks.
Banks, which nursed the fiscal health of the nation sent their experts to remind Master Josh: invest in common stocks while the prices were low. Or regret.” “It is a bullish market!” they all said. Banker ‘Blunder’ Buss brought sheafs of papers with a lot of statistics to prove his point. He was certain, as some 857 pundits who also shared his opinion, that the stock prices clearly showed the fiscal health of a nation. Master Josh shook his head. The banker couldn’t believe he could be so naïve. “The nation is marching permanently on a plateau of prosperity!” he said a little exasperated at his transigence,”Join up or go bust!” Master Josh still held his ground.
He wasn’t there to make a fast buck but face ‘the evil of the age’ in his own way. It was his article of faith. He would never let Sans- Souci cripple his common touch he had vowed on the day he turned fourteen. He had never departed from it. Before he took any action he asked himself: “Do I really benefit from it? Secondly: ‘does it further quality of life around me? Thirdly: ‘ does my action give disproportionate value to things than to man? If so I ought to revise my actions till a balance is achieved. Lastly: am I, with my actions, justifying my place among mankind?” It was his set of rules and it had given him no little trouble to put it down on paper. On their final leave taking he had shown it to his dear father who read it. (There were tears in his eyes. He wanted to believe it were the tears of joy. Didn’t he bless him and hug him fervently therafter?) City Anything Goes certainly tempted him. But he couldn’t go against his own beliefs. On looking at their craze for making a killing at stocks he thought he was looking at so many billionaires who existed only on paper. No substance to them, he had intuitively guessed.
Applying his own rules he saw he stood to benefit by making profits but for what? To keep a foolish charade longer? He had listened to those who sponged on him. While they ate off his plates and drank his wine they said things that made him sit up and notice. He saw all too clearly what was to follow. Inflated stock prices! Insubstantial billionaires! With a sinking heart he saw the curl of a tsunami growing so high before it broke.
Master Josh felt the shudder. One day it came. A rumble it was. A few investors dumped their shares. Stock prices swung wildly. “Oh such hiccups are natural,” said the banker who was certain the problem would correct itself. The mayor rallied some merchant princes to keep the prices under control. That helped for the time being.
Hardly four years since he had made the city by the river his home. Prior to the morning he had for days shut himself in his library fearful of the news that he knew would come. He heard it again. Loud and clear.
It was a Tuesday. Six months later to the day since the first hiccup struck its ominous warning. The bottom gave out. Everywhere people cried,”Sell! Sell!” On one day alone so many stocks were dumped and in the process they discovered they lost even shirts on their backs. In short some 50 billion thalers disappeared. With it went the sanity of the city.
Not a kopek he had invested or lost. But just the same. How could he sit there happy when people outside were doing unspeakable things to themselves? It was sheer madness romping the streets! It entered from broad avenues into the warren of homes. First a wave of suicides: it had its effect. People read the news and shuddered over the headlines: shocking yes! I knew so-and so. Tragic yes. What these didn’t spell out were: Families destroyed, children orphaned and so many dreams snuffed out in its swirling gaiety.
He had not lost his wealth. Yet for all that he was chained to a corpse! Against his will. He had bought his villa dirt cheap because it had no takers for long. The city thought investing in real estate was a dead investment. Especially when so much money each day could be made playing stocks. Now with so many houses being put on the market for paying off debts Master Josh thought he lived in the midst of a charnel house! So dismal he felt.
It was how he viewed the Black Tuesday even after a week: Dismal and horrible!
In the days to come the full horror of what happened was brought home clearer. While Master Josh had fasted and let out all his sorrow till he felt clean and strong to face the world life went on outside. Its mad frenzy outside his villa unstoppable it was. He didn’t have to go out. But he heard of terrible stories just the same. Many of his household had their loved ones come to ruin. In their tragedy he felt wounded again and again.
‘Life must go on’, as the wise men have often said made him now take matters into his hand. Two weeks later he got back into his daily routine.
He enquired after many whom he knew from that part of the city. Those tradespeople and craftsmen who always gave him special consideration lived in the vicinity. He never had to attend to the needs of his household so he hardly knew them. ( Hajmal the butcher had always sent his best cuts; so did the grocer. In their service he could sense their kindness, an impression almost palpable. He felt reassured always in their service.) He trudged along the lanes to look them up. But they were gone. So was the tailor who had his shop in another part. Next to the furrier. They all had mysteriously vanished!
One day he went to the place where he had his shoe polished. By force of habit, I guess. The boy was long gone and yet someone had taken his place. Upon closer inspection he shuddered. Instead of the regular, sat there ‘Blunder’ Buss, the banker with a foolish smile. In his baby pink and pudgy hands he held a brush awkwardly. He was now to polish his shoes! Master Josh burst into tears while the banker blinked on as if he had completely lost his marbles. ”Then came the bears,” he went on mumbling.
Josh ran inside and instructed his personal secretary to see that the banker was immediately attended to. He did as was told. He reported that evening to explain how things fared with the hapless banker. He aso made a note of instructions that his master gave and promised to attend them first thing in the morning.
Before he turned in Master Josh reviewed his actions: he knew his altruism didn’t benefit himself but all the other rules were met. If the banker was well again he would cease to be a problem for his family; and a banker, he thus reasoned, could get back into swim of things once more. Perhaps having learnt his lesson he would be more useful to the nation. So he didn’t regret in the least for what he had to spend.
The city was no longer the same. A regular war zone it was. No wrecks or smouldering ruins of buildings stood there but the people looked shell-shocked and the air he breathed had the stench of a serious malaise. He could feel it. It reeked of disappointment and misery.
One morning Josh was getting ready for stepping out. To his consternation there were two strangers coming in. Matt and Jan looked so different. His face showed a touch of irritation. He thought he had seen the last of them for good.
Matt and Jan were dressed in uniforms of civil guards and they greeted with a sombre look and explained they bought their commission with part of the funds he gave them. One was a colonel and the other was a rank immediately below.
“Why civil guards?” he asked as he led them into the house. Having settled themselves they accepted coffee while they took out cigars to smoke. Master Josh motioned his servant to open the window. Sheepishly apologizing they put their cigars away unlit. They talked about this and that till Mike came in. Mike came all flustered and he silently passed a few slips of notes to the other two. They looked at each other and the host knew there was something serious afoot.
In the end Jan took up the thread, ”Why civil guards? I ought to go back in time a little.” He spoke of racial tensions that had plagued the city for a long time. It went merely underground while people made money. With the last economic crisis, he explained the ugly tensions were out with a vengeance. With thousand tongues of drawn swords. Looking steadily at Master Josh said,”The people want to blame some one for the Depression. They have found whom to blame. You, my friend and benefactor, you are in deep trouble.”
“Preposterous! I am completely innocent.”
“Certainly!” they all said with their hands on their hearts,”but still you are an outsider and a foreigner.” Josh stood up and faced them,” Now are you going to tell me that I also belong to the wrong race?”
They nodded. They spoke of the benefits they got from their contacts. “Being a colonel in the Civil Guards I can help you to some extent. But from the reports our Interior Minister expects the worst. A blood bath is in the cards.” Jan asked Master Josh to look at the reports he held in his hands.” I had to use all my persuasive skills to get hold of them. The second is a list of names on the hit list: your name stands somewhere in the first five I believe.” Master Josh studied the list and the notes written by the Interior Minister himself. If he was sure of a blood bath it had to be true. His face went white.
They urged him to save himself. He knew he merely stayed home soul searching while the racial hatred was having a free run. He had thereby overlooked his own interests! Master Josh knew they were serious and they did put their neck out to do him a good turn. But ‘to pack up and go’ was a bit over the top.
His villa with all its appurtenances stood for something. It showed to all who lived in. A villa where every name in the List of 400 vied each other to get in. His style and immense wealth were proverbial. The movers and shakers of the city sought him out before the City Council took any important decision. They had flattered him and they showerd presents and sent invitations to honor them with his presence. So young! Yet noteworthy he had become in a matter of six years. He was inexperienced he thought yet they sought him out for advice.
After the threesome had left he turned to the 400 for advice. He sent his personal secretary to each and the door was, everytime, shut in his face.
It didn’t take much for him to understand why. Before the fury of Xenophobia finally burst and could come in his direction he fled. Matt, Jan and Mike were there to arrange his escape. Seeing him out of harm’s way Mike said, ”Providence took a hand to save you. We were only Its instrument.” Master Josh nodded...

Now You See,Now you Don't

Chalk it to my innocence in economic matters, or I am out of step with the young eager beavers who gravitate to investment banking like proverbial duck to water, which perhaps is right on either way. I often think of events I read daily while stretched on my mattress. When I am thus inclined I know my deposit in my bank is quite safe. Of course I lay on it to think and to feel safe. By the way my mattress serves as my bank. Some time ago, in 1995 I think, I quite clearly remember of reading about Nick Leeson, late of Britain's Barings Bank. ‘I even thought had I the guts I could have stood in his shoes and busted Barings Bank before lunch and went out to do a few more to keep my day full’. But which Bank will employ for their most dangerous missions,(one of which is in window dressing their annual reports,) one whose entire banking operation is restricted to his mattress? Lehman Brothers would have laughed me in my face to put it out of joint, I know for certain.
2.
Only lately I realized there are two avenues that market economy takes to. Main Street and Wall Street. I am lifelong learner. So I went about asking questions. Then I asked those who dabbled in stock Pug and Mug, who were sitting by the kerb. They replied, “ Economic meltdown, Ben. When we began playing in stocks sky was the limit and now it has come down and took us with it.” It seems one goes to Yale or some other university where all that you get is an education. It must be job-oriented, any fool will tell you that. Pug, my Yale educated friend was signed up even before he left College to put ‘Greater-fool-theory’ to practice. As far as I can see the bubble burst just as Nasdaq bubble of 2000, Nikkei bubble of 1991,stock market crash of 1987and 1929, Florida real estate bubble in the 1920 and so on. Give a fool a bubble and all that he thinks of is buying up stocks and hope to sell to another. Meantime he trusts in God that it will not burst in his face till a greater fool could be found. Well I think I will lie on my mattress to think when it is going to burst again and over what. Honest to God I know that it will , only the details will change here and there. While Pug and Mug are out waiting for the bailout I shall sleep.
By the way I don’t sleep all that well what with nickels and quarters make my bed quite lumpy.
benny

Storytime

Five Blindmen from Benares ©


Long,long ago there lived three blind men in the city of Benares. Benares stands on the plains of the river Ganges. ( This Indian city, for those who are more particular about names and places I might add, is now known by another name. Varanasi.)
The city of Benares (or Varanasi ) in those days, was known as a haven for scholars. By night and day, through seasons good and bad, came scholars of all stripes. Some brought along cartloads of books; some carried curious devices invented by them. A great many came empty-handed, nevertheless claiming scholarship of the most wondrous kind.
Ramu was a scholar. He had a carpenters rod. Never was he seen without it. Somu’s strength was in his looks. He kept a very serious air about him. Such an air of seriousness was very becoming, decided Pappu. So he also sported an air of gravity, which the townsfolk took for scholarship. Sadly these three paragons of scholarship were blind.
Ramu, Somu and Pappu having got to know each other thought their fortune was to be made in the city. A city which gave them a life of ease must indeed be a holy city, so they decided.
It so happened these three scholars found employment in a palace. They served a king who had an opinion on everything. The king would look at the sky and say, “It is red, is it not?” Ramu whose scholarship rested on his carpenter’s rod would immediately do some measurements on the ground. Each time he made as much noise as possible in order to impress the blind king. (King Chat-pat was blind in a manner of speaking. He had eyes but he never cared to use them well.) Ramu would answer,”Yes your majesty.”
Pat would come a reply from other two scholars thus,”Yes, the sky is red indeed.”
King Chat-pat once heard some fantastic news about an animal as huge as a stupa. It is an elephant, he said in wonder. Not having seen one he sent his scholars Ramu,Somu and Pappu to investigate.
Ramu took his carpenters rod along; Somu looked sharp as becoming of a scholar. So did Pappu. Having heard that an elephant was to be found at such and such spot they hastened to that address. Scarcely had they gone five paces they were joined by two blind scholars who enquired why they were in such a hurry. The three explained.
Barm and Dharm whistled,”On king’s errand.Oho!” “We shall spread our scholarship alike and see what we come up with!”
“Five heads alike,”chanted they in unison while Ramu beat with the rod on the ground to keep time,” in honour alike.”
Dharm knew the owner of that elephant which the three sought in such tearing hurry. The five blind scholars agreed to be a team. Soon they groped their way about, to the spot where stood an elephant.
The five scholars applied their scholarship. Ramu took out the carpenter’s rod and said, ”All facts must be set down on paper. That is the first rule.”
Barm took a step closer to the animal. He placed his palms against the side of the animal. Thereafter he stepped backwards to add,” What is handled must be compared with what is known.” Pappu was sure, “All things being alike, what facts we have at hand must mix well. Like milk and sugar. The result cannot be wrong.” Dharm refused to suggest anything. He said,”I shall not speak till I have had all the facts.” It was the turn of Somu who said,”What facts we have, must be set neatly in their order.”
”yes, rules strung like pearls, they are still rules,”cried they all while Ramu as usual kept time.
It was Ramu’s turn. He began measuring the animal. He cried out figures which Somu wrote down. When he was finished he added them and said,”It is a prime number. Five. It can be divided only by five.”
Barm let his fingers do the walking along the length and breadth of the elephant. It took a while for him to do a complete turn. He said worthy of an orator, “I know an elephant is only comparable to the city-gate which leads to the ghats on the East. ””Oh yes!” cried the rest, “gates are wide but they move just the same. So must an elephant similarly turn.”
Pappu felt its trunk and said, “ A turning elephant can only be held by a rope as thick as this.”Dharm asked,”What shall we call an elephant wide as the city gates but must be held by a rope; not to mention it measures a prime number?” All the five cogitated hard and paced in circles. Suddenly they stopped to cry at the same time,”Nature’s Mistake!” Somu neatly wrote down thus,
”A Nature’s mistake, that is elephant for you!”
All the five scholars put their hand to the report in agreement. How delighted these five blindmen from Benares were! They went straight to the king and reported.
Sure the king was delighted. Otherwise why would King Chat-pat present a medal of honour to each? Their scholastic achievement deserved due recognition. Thereafter the king sent them off to rest in his country estate.
Thus five scholars traveled to the king’s hunting lodge to rest and recuperate. On their way they heard a great commotion. There came an elephant. He was wild and very angry too. He pushed with his tusks left and right. His trunk swung this way and that way while his ears swiveled fast and furious. All could see he was bent on mischief. So they ran helter-skelter. Except the five. They were knocked down by the elephant who trumpeted which all could hear, loud and clear. The elephant cried, “Lay no blame on me for this mistake; blame it all on Nature.”
The End

Moral Sense and Religion

Moral sense of man is not born out of any religion; of course it helps to give a man’s innate moral sense its flavor. Mother Teresa did it in a different way than Gandhi did. Gandhi’s non violence was born out of the principle of Ahimsa while the Catholic Nun took a leaf out of the New Testament.
2.
Who is worthier the fire-and brimstone preacher like John Calvin or Johnny Appleseed? Didn’t Calvin let torture as a weapon to protect his own authority? Some might argue torture was in accord with the prevailing attitude of that age. ‘Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever’. God’s words do not change according to fashions of the world. Didn’t Jesus speak thus, ’And whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant...’Mt.20:27 No wonder what ails Christianity now is the accumulated evil of such hypocritical teachers who misused God’s name for their own selfish gains. The Calvin doctrine may be a theocratic rule but who should apply it but man? Only that bit by bit he loses from whence his authority derives and also whatever moral sense he had in the first place.
Johnny Appleseed, born John Chapman (September 26, 1774 – February 18, 1845), was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apples to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, mainly Ohio. He became an American legend while still alive, largely because of his kind and generous ways. He was a missionary but that didn’t stop him from making that part of the world a better place with his conservation programmes.(ack:JC ,J.A-wikipedia)
benny

Disraeli And Women etc.,

Dizzy And Women
Disraeli’s attitude towards women was of a semi-platonic semi-amorous, half courtly and half familiar nature. At the end of his life he told Mathew Arnold:You have heard of me ,accused of being a flatterer. It is true.I am a flatterer.I have found it useful. Everyone likes flattery; and when you come to Royalty, you should lay it on with a trowel.”
In flattery also he equally showed his felicity. The queen was fond of him and let him treat her as equal. Once she presented him with her book ‘Leaves From The Journal Of Our Life In The Highlands.’ As Prime Minister one day talking of literature with her he referred thus, ’we, authors ma’m’
2.
The septuagenarian statesman fell in love with Lady Bedford with the same rashness that we associate among the youth, Lady Bedford was fifteen years his junior. Her name was Seline (Gk- moon) and he told her on one occasion, ”It is not the slice of the moon I want-I want all.”
He wrote her over a thousand letters at all sorts of times and places, sometimes twice or thrice a day that he admitted that his life was passed in trying to govern the country and thinking her.
3.
In the 30s Disraeli wrote, ”All my friends who married for love and beauty either beat their wives or live apart from them… I may commit many follies in life but I never intend to marry for love” In 1839 he married a widow Mrs Wyndham Lewis, a heiress and 12 years senior to him. By all counts the marriage proved to be a happy one. Later his wife remarked that ‘Dizzy married me for money, but if he had the chance again he would marry me for love.”
23.
In The House Of The Lords

The House of Lords was generally considered as the grave of eloquence. When someone remarked that Disraeli would find the Lords tame after the Commons, he replied,”I am dead;dead but in the Elysian fields.”
2.
A young peer once asked Disraeli what course of study he had best undertaken to qualify himself of speaking so as to catch the ear of the House of the Lords.
“Have you a graveyard near your house?” asked Dizzy.
“Yes.”
“Then I should recommend you to visit it earl of a morning and practise upon the tombstones”.
Final Days
Disraeli was already ill and as he corrected the proof of his final speech in Parliament,he said wearily, ”I’ll not go down to posterity talking bad grammar”.
As death drew near, Disraeli ravaged by gout and asthma,quipped, ‘ I have suffered much. Had I been a nihilist, I would have confessed all.’
24.
Disraeli and Whistler
So remarkable a man as Disraeli was many artists wanted to paint him. Whistler tried to make him sit for him and used the good office of the American ambassador. Yet Dizzy was not to be moved. Then one day the painter saw him seated at St.James Park lost in thought. Strangely enough Whistler felt shy and timidly introduced himself to the premier and spoke of the people both knew ,referred to his own work and at last said one great object of his life was to paint the most famous statesman of the age; not a sound or a sign from the somewhat sinister figure. At last the lips of the sphinx moved and he said,’Go away, little man, go away.”

Chance vs Certainty

In my impressionable years one man who caught the attention of media was Dr. Albert Schweitzer of Lambarene.
The young Albert once got into a fight and knocked down his opponent. The boy told Albert that it would have ended differently had he been as well nourished as he was. It must have touched him deeply that later in the evening when he came to sup with the family he left his soup untouched. What the boy had said still rankled.
He was privileged while the other was underprivileged.
This revelation marked a definite break with his past and so did his sense of values. He became a caring person.
Even where he excelled in his intellectual achievements they were to be used in service of others. At 26 he had a triple Ph.D.
Whenever Dr. Schweitzer needed money during his stint in Africa he went on tour and gave concerts and talks. But what connects the son of a Lutheran pastor in upper Alsace to Congo?
As a child Albert had often wondered at a statue of a Negro, strong in body but head bowed and in chains. It made an impact on him. Of course the fight was the catalyst. It spurred him to refer to his memory, his past experience to take cues. (One cannot discount the role of chance. But what is chance to any one who is mindful of living with time distorted before him or her.) He knew Time was of the essence.

Against the reality of Time chance is a reminder to straighten out his or her attitude to time. Certainty is ‘chance’ set into right perspective.
2.
What made him decide to become a medical Missionary was due to a Paris Missionary society report, which he came across as if by chance. Thereupon he settled for Lambarene, in the heart of Africa. Where mind of man is colored by collective memory and of Time, chance must, so it seems to me, lose some of its mystery.
benny

Straightening Out Time

Time is of a vast scale and beyond our clear understanding. Nevertheless we walk the line or mark time here on the earth. Why would we then correct ourselves of mistakes we perceive them as unworthy of us if it were not so? Anyone who has some measure of self-esteem and respect for one’s true worth will strive to live in an exemplary manner. ‘When can I do better nothing less would suffice’. Time for us on the earth is to take us a notch higher day after day in moral terms as well as in our knowledge . Our mortal nature recognizes truth of nature ; but it is in context of Truth. We have a physical body but we have a soul: our soul is what we hold as Truth transcribed into human terms. Conscience is merely our recognition of it.
2.
St. Augustine led a dissolute life and he changed when he was convicted of such a life unworthy of him. Why would he want to do that when time is distorted for all? Yes we are finite beings and time runs for us in such a manner we tend to be distracted by superficials than by what is of our essence. For St. Augustine such a realization came from a chance hearing of verses from the Scriptures. His mother’s prayers that he would have heard often and the maternal concern for his soul resonated at the appropriate time to effect a change of ways.
Such changes work for so many in so many ways. I shall illustrate in another post how Albert Schweitzer found his way out.
Dr. Albert Schweitzer, St. Francis, Buddha and Gandhi for example learned to straighten out time from distorting their life’s work.
Benny

Disraeli-4

15.
It would hardly be conceivable in British Parliamentary history that two personalities so diametrically opposed to one another as Disraeli and Gladstone could also represent two opposing ideologies at the same time. William Ewart Gladstone was the leader of opposition when Disraeli represented the Tories. Gladstone who changed opinions whenever it suited him came to represent the highest political morality while Disraeli who after he had found his party stuck to it all his life, was regarded as a man of few scruples. It was ironic that Dizzy should for his oriental outlook,and because of his race, be treated with distrust. In his opponent everything irrational and impulsive in the English people found home, which he could express with the religious emotionalism and a high moral tone that his supporters found very English. In short he represented qualities that Disraeli despised.
To Disraeli politics was a question of expedience whereas with Gladstone was a matter of morality and he could delude himself his was the voice of justice and truth. He played the politics as a demogogue combined with a missionary zeal that Dizzy thought he was mad; while his opponent thought Dizzy was a devil.
Gladstone carried common qualities on such a vast scale and without imagination and humor, the public saw in him a political prophet of his times. He was a humbug and not above stooping to underhand methods if it helped. As Henry Labouchere, M.P remarked,”I don’t object to (him) always having the ace of trumps up his sleeve but merely to his belief that God Almighty put it there.”
16.
Once Disraeli feeling indisposed got up from his seat in the Treasury office saying to his secretary,”Don’t bother me with the routine work. Please attend to all of it yourself.”He walked towards the door and opened it. “But of course if there is any really important decision to be made..”he paused and seconds before closing it behind he added,”...make it.”
17.
A M.P who had been offered a knighthood did not feel easy and he consulted Dizzy who advised him to accept it but tell everyone that he had refused it.
“Why?”
“Because you get all the credit of having rejected it until you recieve it.”
“And then?”
“You will get all the glory of receiving it after having rejected it.”
18.
While engaged in talk with some cronies he at one point said that he could not remember the pub which came up in discussion. The ‘King’s Arms’ at Berkhamstead it was.
One recalled a barmaid who was a very handsome and a jolly girl. ”You must have been in the ‘King’s Arms’ one insisted.
“Perhaps if I had been in her arms I might have remembered it.”Dizzy answered.
19.
In The House
His complete control of the entire House while in opposition and in power, no one else in his day or before equalled- possibly with the exception of Chatham, was due to his ability to take its pulse and respond to it. Towards this he was always present on the House and was prepared. He knew the subject of debate and had an astonishing memory for facts that he did not have to rely on notes.
He always entered the chamber some five or ten minutes before the proceedings began and he had a solemn air combined with easy confidence. He walked up slowly on the whole length of the floor and when he reached the corner of the table he made a low bow to the Chair. Many M.P’s have found this ceremony painful and feeling self-conscious often have tried to duck it as far as possible. But Disraeli thought it was a necessary duty, a courtly recognition of the supremacy of the Chair.
20. Dizzy’s physical appearance and immobility added much to his authority. He sat with rigid head and body gazing vacantly into space, his arms folded across his breast, his hat slightly tilted over his brows, one knee crossing the other. No one in the House heard him laugh or smile; his usual expression when speaking was one of patient stoicism tinged with melancholy. His impassivity bordering on a catatonic state often infuriated his opponents whose diatribes seemed to go past him. But no one could have administered a snub with more telling effect than he but even that was done in a manner that delighted everyone except the one at the recieving end.
21.
His preeminence in parliament was mainly due to his genius as a speaker, not an orator in the manner of Gladstone or Edmund Burke. He had none of the tricks of their trade. He was fully calm and in control of his emotions and spoke without slurring his words clear and low, more as a man of the world. Standing with his hands on his hips or his thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat he spoke in a consistent manner using no emphasis. This supercilious and even tenor in his voice was the result of careful training and it contrasted immeasurably when he wished to make a point. Suddenly he became animated, the tone in his voice changed, an ironic note crept in, the words were enunciated with more care and distinctness; A slight shrug, a quick glance, a fleeting expression of that sallow face drew bated breath from his hearers. They knew what was to follow. It came with an unerring aim and made some gasp and break up the stillness of the House with resounding cheers. He took no notice of the cheers as if he was above such display and continued with his speech as before.
He indulged little in gestures depending entirely on his voice to achieve its effect.
compiler:benny

Is God Out There?

An individual molecule of water can spend 200,000 years undisturbed in an icesheet in Antartica whereas in the ocean it may spend some 40,000 years. The same molecule can manage 1000 years in an underground reservoir, 10 years in a lake,10 days in the atmosphere. The same molecule in an animal’s body will endure only around 10 hours. With such a variation for the same molecule depending on the state it finds itself we may apply our own case to the concept of Time. Man as terrestrial being may have life span of 80 years or about. As spiritual beings it may have another cycle. What comes after that is beyond any man’s guess.
Time is in short distorted for all corporeal beings.
God is defined as eternal being and omnipresent. If God is a reality, a molecule of water in a great icesheet in Antartica is no different than one in a human body.
In my case I believe God is part and parcel of my being since I mark time. ‘The Kingdom of God is within you’.
benny

Disraeli-3

10.
Sometimes political hostility took on more personal forms. One jibed at him that his wife had picked him out of the gutter. His reply was a model of incisive wit delivered in his customary cool and unflappable composure. Dizzy replied,”My dear fellow, if you were in the gutter nobody would pick you out”.
11.
His power of ridicule when given a cause was superb and he could floor anyone whether in the House or outside with a verbal thrust. By nature he was genial and never went out to aggravate the feeling of those whom he disliked. Once in the House he chose to ignore a vicious attack of one whom despised with an excuse,”I have given him the mercy of my silence.”

12.
His sudden surges of eloquence which amazed people who he met before he became a power in politics is scarcely ever heard now. By the time his ascendency over his party was complete he had fixed in place the persona that characterised him henceforth: calm dignified and sphinx-like. Only his flashing eyes gave life to the face;his talk being measured, grave epigrammatic and delivered in a deep equable tone.
He was a master of prose and in his lifetime his novels were much talked about. He was also a master of verbal duel in which he never chopped where he could slice with his nimble wit.
13.

None of his novels area work of genius but they are the works of a genius. He had the poetic temperament without the poetic talents. His novels are so many attempts to reveal his feelings in his evolutions as a statesman. Lack of flesh and blood in his characters were to a certain extent saved by his coruscating wit.He once wrote:’ Nobody should ever look anxious except those who have no anxiety.”
14.
In his twilight years, whenever his illness and his duties permitted,Dizzy continued to dine out and deliver some deathless quips. Once when he was asked whether he read a novel that was making a stir, the author of Vivien Grey, Alroy, Coningsby, Lothair and Sybil replied,” When I want to read a novel I write one.”
compiler:benny

Disraeli-anecdotes-2

Disraeli Contests
In 1832 Disraeli stood for High Wycombe as a radical. From the portico of the Red Lion he spoke with flourishes and verve for one and a half hours. Winding up his speech to the electorate he declaimed pointing the head of the lion above,” When the poll is declared I shall be there,” and pointing to the tail he continued,”my opponent will be there.” The mob applauded him warmly but the Corporation and burgesses who controlled the election consigned him to the tail.
6.
After many futile attempts to enter the House of Commons Disraeli managed with the active support to enter the House on 1837. On Dec.7 he rose to make his maiden speech, following Daniel O’Connel whose Irish Party gave the Whigs their majority. His elaborate sentences and stylish manner were to the radicals, like red flag waving before a bull. They had not forgotten his attacks on O’connel a few years ago. They laughed uproariously as he began and despite his persistent appeals to gain a hearing he was booed at. Nevertheless he persisted and he was barely audible. He said,”I am not at all surprised at the reception I have experienced. I have begun several things many times, and I have often succeeded at last as they had done before me.”More hubbub. Upto this point he had appeared unruffled and good humored. But now in a voice almost a scream he shot out,”I sit down now, but the time will come when you will hear me.”


7.
His difficulties lay in the fact both Whigs and Tories distrusted him. He was too individualistic to subscribe to any political program. He disliked the Whigs who had substituted a selfish oligarchy for government while the Tories were on a nosedive loosened from traditions, as leaders of the people and supporter of the monarch. To regain this historical position would sum up his own work for the next half a century.
No one in 1830’s could have guessed that it was feasible , still less that the flashy young Jew would be the motive force behind the Tories. In 1834 Lord Melbourne then Home Secretary met Disraeli in one of the parties. Attracted by his conversation he asked what was his aim. “I want to be the Prime Minister,”replied Disraeli gravely. Melbourne with a weary sigh explained the utter impossibility of such an achievement. He ended with,”You must put all these foolish notions out of your head. This won’t do at all.”
Melbourne when towards the close of ’48 just before his death, heard that Disraeli was to be the leader in the Commons he exclaimed,”By God the fellow will do it, yet.”
8.

Viscount Palmerston, war secretary under many prime ministers was a man of great personal charm and exceptional abilities,perhaps the only member of the House whose brain, Disraeli respected. He was a Lothario and his many amatory adventures were no secret. He stood for many years in the way of Disraeli’s ambitions from achieving their fruition. One of Dizzy’s supporters before an election had collected evidence of a furtive love affair publication of which he was certain would discredit his adversary. Disraeli refused.”Palmerston is now seventy. If he could provide evidence of his potency in his electoral address he would sweep the country,” was his reason.
9.
Like many people who were not native but made England home he was fond of England and the English way of life. However his acute intelligence and robust imagination elicited responses which were so different from that of an Englishman. He loved meeting people from various walks of life especially during political meetings and exchange pleasantries. His opponents seldom missed an opportunity of heckling him.
In delivering a speech he would invariably began slowly and quietly.”Speak up! I can’t hear you!”shouted someone at a Newpost Pagnell meeting in Dec,49. Back came the answer,’Truth travels slowly, but it will reach you in time.’
To one heckler, with whom he was on familiar terms, who called out,’Speak quick!’ he replied,”It is very easy for you to speak quick when you only utter stupid monosyllables.” He added,”But when I speak I must measure my words; I have to open your great thick head. What I say is to enlighten you. If I bawled like you, you would leave this place as great a fool as you entered it.”
compiler:benny

Uncertainty Principle

Each generation must deal with the events gone before. How the combined effort of one generation would deal with consequences of causes set in motion already is mind boggling. Each man and woman has his or her own viewpoint and specific goals. They merely respond to their own needs but their cumulative effect is an avalanche that will wipe away the cobwebs of ideologies any politician may represent. How? There is an uncertainty principle at work here.
2.
Consider the present economic woes in the US. The idea that market regulates itself is a premise that many Americans robustly would subscribe to. Correct me if I am wrong: The Republican party ‘ emphasize the role of corporate and personal decision making in fostering economic prosperity. They support the idea of individuals being economically responsible for their own actions and decisions. They favor a free market, policies supporting business, economic liberalism, and fiscal conservatism…’(wikipedia). How would that be translated, I mean, with the uncertainty principle set into the process?
Let me explain.
Traditionally banks gave out home loans to customers and they were directly responsible to the customers as well as to the Central Bank, which saw to the banking practices conformed to the directives. In India as far as I know it still is the practice.
But with time in America banks became intermediaries and many investment banks competed with one another to get a piece of the action, in this case customers. In such a competitive world they must boost margins. And securities firm took very large bets with very little resources of their own. Where was the U.S regulation when dog-ate-dog and risks changed hands in such manner the right hand didn’t know what the left hand did? The traditional banks in the middle were left holding a chain of upstream and downstream links, none the wiser for all the brouhaha of economic activity about them. They didn’t know off balance sheet risks when they routinely scanned them.
GOP abhor controls. Free market for them spells salvation. When the Giants like Merril Lynch, Lehman Brothers bite the dust, the much vaunted Republican spirit would need a bailout plan from Washington. Cumulative effect of economic transaction is an avalanche that wipes out the cobwebs of ideologies of the party. Republican party’s plan for fostering economic prosperity sounds good on paper. But their lack of proper understanding of human motives or this principle makes it far from sound.
benny

Anecdotes-Disraeli

Benjamin Disraeli(1804-1881)
1.
In 1831 Disraeli during his visit to Cairo met Mahmet Ali who after a career of corruption and bloodshed made himself a Pasha of Cairo and master of Egypt. He was toying with the idea of parliamentary government asked Disraeli for his comments. The visitor mentioned a few difficulties in the way of Egyptian democracy as he saw it. Mahmet was silent and thoughtful but at the next levee he gave Disraeli the benefit of his meditations.”God is great,”he began,”you are a wise man. Allah Kerim!”and he spoke of having as many parliaments as the King of England himself. “See here,”he showed two lists of names,”here are my parliaments. But I have made up my mind to prevent inconvenience, to elect them myself.”
2.
While engaged in an after dinner smoke at one of the parties, Colonel Weber who had a reputation as a rake said to Disraeli, ”Take care, my good fellow, I lost the most beautiful woman in the world by smoking,”and he added that the custom has prevented more liasons than the dread of a duel or a divorce.
“You have proved that it is a very moral habit,”replied Disraeli between puffs.
3.
He could be extremely cutting when occasion called for it. Once during a party the host after praising a certain wine urged him to drink it.”Well,”said the host,”I have got wine 20 times as good in my cellar.”
“No doubt,: replied Disraeli glancing around the table,”but my dear fellow this is good enough for such ‘canaille’ as you have here today.”

4.
Even when Disraeli was young he lived by the maxim:’To govern men you must either excel them in their accomplishments or despise them.”Dizzy hated every bodily exertion and everything his contemporaries were passionate about. While at Malta he happened to remain in the galley watching English officer at a game of tennis. Ever at pains to play a dandy he picked the ball which flew and stopped by his side. While the player waited for the ball to be thrown back he gingerly picked it up. With exaggerated affectation he asked the one near to him for the ball to be forwarded to the court. His excuse was that he had never thrown a ball in his life.
compiler:benny

A Level Playing Field?

Compare an event to a stone dropped into the still water of human consciousness. Effect is then the ripples produced by it. No man can sort out all events and their consequences to his advantage. You can merely ride with them or get a push that is all. Let me cite an example from the life of Woodrow Wilson.
One characteristic of his character was his certitude that he was right. He was full of idealism and came to the presidency on the belief God put him there.
Wilson fought tooth and nail to keep his country from the World War I. But influx of immigrants from Austria and Hungary and Southern and Eastern Europe were events that had been going on and this had hit the peak when he took office in 1913. He did not wish to upset these ethnic minorities, which had found their home in America. They made it a land of promise.
Then there were other chains of events, which dealt with economy: by 1915 most American banking was tied up with British and French interests. Which course he took is too well known to merit repetition here. Where he wanted to keep neutral he was pitched into the thick of a broil against his will.
Events get in the way and they often spoil the simple or direct link between cause and the effect.
The fact that we haven’t yet sorted out events already in the field makes it a very uneven field. A classic example from modern history we have in the way the US went into Iraq. Who benefited more from that exercise: America or Iran?
benny

One Man's Gain Is...

One man’s Gain Is…©
King Pepin of the kingdom of Blissfully Ignorant was going on a pilgrimage and he was disguised as a miller. Till the party reached Canterbury he was ridiculed and teased mercilessly because he could not move a single pace without breaking wind. When he reached The Red Lion the inn keeper came to meet the party and he ignored all except the miller.
‘Oh sire,’ he said bowing and scraping, “ the royal suite awaits your pleasure.” The pilgrims were astounded and they discreetly made enquiries and found their butt of jokes was none other than a king.
Next morning a varlet who, throughout the journey, had not spared the miller for a moment went up to him and kissed his feet. The king asked as if nothing had happened what was the matter. The silly fellow became bold at the thought he was not recognized. Thereafter he was ever after the king trying to make himself useful. Before the pilgrims returned to their homes the man begged him to take him in his service. “ I can serve you in any capacity, Master”. The king politely refused him.
Because we are connected, one man’s gain somehow sets me back. For this very reason life can never run on the same plane. Advance of others contains subtle shifts in our lives. Either we lead or fall back.
Benny

God Of Small Things

Zeus got up one morning with thundering headache. He had no idea what made him unwell. Hera suggested a change of air. The chief God snorted at it and said, “ The air of Mt. Olympus never disagreed with me. So why should it now?”
In the end he decided to go visiting. The god of fire was already up and bent over the bellows. On seeing the chief god he explained what he was at the moment working on. Striking on the anvil with his hammer he said,“ See these sparks? These have a life of their own.”
Zeus was incredulous. The sparks rearranged themselves to read thus: “We cure headaches.”
Zeus nodded and let the cloud of sparks to cure his headache.
Zeus had but one question. As if the cloud of sparks anticipated the question they wrote before his eyes: ‘ We just became a part of your godhead in order to work the cure.’
The chief god asked the god of the forge, “ Who would have thought these sparks have a life of their own?”
Hephaestus the lame god answered, “ It made me also wonder. The hammer that I wield is so ponderous. Do not tell me this lump of iron picked up my skill to cure you.”
Zeus before departing said, “I don’t say anything except that I am well again.”
benny

Anecdotes

Vespasian, Titus Flavius Sabinus (9-79 AD)
As the emperor lay dying, he stood up suddenly and cried out, “An emperor should die on his feet.”A few minutes later he gasped, “Dear me!I think I am turning into a god!” and he dropped dead.
------

Kalakaua, King of Hawai, from 1874 to 1891 was a colorful monarch who enjoyed his poker game. In one poker game the sugar baron Claus Speckel laid down four aces and claimed the pot. Kalakaua held four kings, which with his royal person, he claimed gave him five kings thereby beating his four aces. He took the money.
----
compiler:benny

Life's Fatal Gift

If our lives are a succession of trivial pursuits how come we still hold onto our lives as though life were the most precious gift?
Let me briefly write from the life of a king. Albert I of Belgium.
Born Albert Léopold Clément Marie Meinrad in Brussels, he was the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, and his wife, Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Albert grew up in the Palace of Flanders, initially as fourth in the line of succession to the Belgian throne. Under normal circumstances Albert didn’t stand ghost of a chance to sit on the throne. However, the only son of his uncle, Leopold II, died as a child, and Albert's older brother, Prince Baudouin of Belgium, who had been subsequently prepared for the throne, also died young, Albert, at the age of 16, unexpectedly became the Heir-Presumptive to the Belgian Crown. We are connected and it gives life dimensions that are incalculable.
2.
Life sucks and also throws surprises that none may predict. Dame J.K Rowlings was once on welfare but now with the life’s ambition fairly in her grasp with the runaway success of Harry Potter series, do you think she was meant to settle for anything less? Her difficulties were as with any other of not connecting with what life signified, on a proper footing.
Our lives are a succession of trivial pursuits and in that linear progression from one day to another there is something exponential that catapults some to higher plane. Since examples of millions of lives show such a higher ground are we not living far below our full potential?
Tailspin: In the case of the author of Harry Potter I said, ‘life’s ambition fairly in her grasp’ and let me explain. Unless she tries next her hand to produce something better than Harry Potter what she is? A has been. Life prompts you to set still higher goals as long as you are able. We shall not have plumbed our full power till Death stops us from trying.
benny

Albert I-anecdotes

Albert I of Belgium (1875-1934)
On the eve of the outbreak of World War I he was entertaining a powerful chieftain from the Belgian Congo at the palace; after dinner at a signal, the royal orchestra filed into the hall and began tuning their instruments.
“Tell me the kind of music you like best and my orchestra will be happy to oblige.” proposed the king. “That is it,”replied the guest,”they are playing it now.” The king nodded graciously and for the rest of the evening the assembled guests listened while the orchestra tuned up.
2.

At the beginning of World War I, Albert resisted the illegal German demand to move troops through neutral Belgium in order to attack France. (The refusal to permit the passage of troops was based on a respect for international law, and a concern for the balance of power in Europe, which, at the time, required that Belgium be a neutral buffer zone between Germany, France, and Great Britain.)
Albert famously responded to the German desire to move soldiers through his country: "I rule a nation, not a road!"(ack:wikipedia)
compiler:benny

FWD:doublethink

A very good friend of mine sent me this post.
"I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

> * If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're
> "exotic, different."
>
> *Growing up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential
> American story.
>
> *If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
> * Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.
>
> * Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
> * Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well
> grounded.
>
> * If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become
> the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter
> registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12
> years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State
> Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman
> of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend
> 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million
> people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs,
> Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you
> don't have any real leadership experience.
>
> * If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the
> city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000
> people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000
> people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest
> rankingexecutive.
>
> * If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while
> raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches,
> you're not a real Christian.
> * If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left
> your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a
> Christian.
>
> * If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education,
> including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of
> society.
> * If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only,
> with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while
> your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.
>
>
> * If your wife is a Harvard graduate laywer who gave up a position
> in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner
> city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's
> values don't represent America's.
> * If your husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one
> DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote
> until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the
> secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable."
Democracy is what everyone praises skyhigh but drags in mud everything that makes it worthwhile.
benny
>
>

A Carpet Story

WORTH OF A PERSIAN CARPET ©


The City is noted for its minarets and gardens. On a
sunny day the four minarets of the Blue Mosque rise to
the skies like prayers of many believers; more
picturesque is the central dome covered with some
millions of blue tiles. Such blue is no more seen
since the sultan decreed ‘Blue is passé’. See how it
stands, a shimmering dome like the tear of an angel,
frozen in midair. The Blue Mosque. Poets loved
watching the dome under changing lights through the
day! It made their poetry sound sweeter. Hamals (or
porters) carrying heavy loads through winding and
crooked streets looked at that dome rising from the
city skyline and instantly their loads became lighter
and they thought life was worth living. No one could
resist its power. Except one.
See that crooked street cutting through the market?
Do you see that shop on the right? A To Z the board
says. Anything money can buy is sold there. Ziddiq,
the shopkeeper is dressed in drab clothes and his
beard is browned as his fingers are calloused. Henna
colored his beard which he allowed because his wife
thought brown was becoming in one so old; his fingers
were calloused from counting money: large sums of it
every night passed through his fingers when the folks
slept. While the dome of the Blue Mosque gleamed under
a waning moon! Poor Ziddiq! He had never even heard of
the blueness of the dome under whose shadow he lived
all his life!
One morning his neighbor told him in strictest
confidence the price of grains would go sky-high. How
high? Ziddiq asked. He quoted a figure. Ziddiq said,
”impossible.” As soon as his neighbor was gone he
called his eldest son to find what were the prices for
items written in his list. His son came back with his
findings. After reading it he was astounded! A sack of
barley cost only three copper pieces!”
Having ordered for as much as could be bought he had
a problem: ”Where to stock them?”
He knew just the place. He had a large warehouse
where his father put away every thing he had no
immediate use for. Just as his forefathers had done in
the past. It was bursting in its seams as the
expression is. He called a few servants and asked them
to clear up that place. Nothing was to be spared.
Hour’s later servants came to report. They said his
orders were carried out except for a carpet, which was
of size 64”by 37 inches.
“I am in no mood for checking the size of a carpet.”
“But master,” said Samir, ”It was made somewhere in
Samarqand probably late 17th century. It is silk. If
you ask me it is one of the finest.” “Shut up!”Ziddiq
yelled, ”Who asked you for your opinion?”
The silk carpet was decorated with a mihrab design
(a cusped arch with geometric motifs) in the field
counterpoised with arabesque in the spandrels. A
stylized floral pattern running around the edges
completed the piece.
He ordered the laborers to set light to it. “I
shall not have this nonsense here!” The menials balked
at the idea. They pleaded. “A thing of beauty,
master!”Samir cried. He became enraged at the word
beauty and he shoved them aside.
“A thing of beauty such as this has a life of its
own.” Kalam added his. They all pleaded with tears in
their eyes. With uncontrollable rage he pushed them
aside. He himself torched it and said, ”There, you try
to teach me beauty!” He was in a rage. He said, “You
all live a life of ease because I pay you wages in
time. Be gone!” He was so worked up.
That day Ziddiq went home very late. He was tired
but he had found a place for thousands and thousands
of sacks of grains, which came in a convoy one after
the other. Only seeing them secured for the night
eased his fury somewhat. Then he saw how his son had
put his men to guard it. He had done well, and the
father’s heart swelled with pride. The young man gave
him the keys and the accounts and left for home.
Mentally Ziddiq calculated the profit he stood to
make and that made him laugh. In a happy frame of mind
he followed his son.
He went home to eat his frugal supper. Even when he
went through the motions of the nighttime prayer he
had only one thought. He would make all his rivals
bite the dust. So much profit he stood to make. He
wandered through the house and secured the doors for
the night.
At the time he was about to lie down he thought he
heard a knocking sound. As if some were shifting
things around somewhere. So distinct it sounded. His
wife lay asleep. He checked into his sons’ room. They
were also asleep.
“Clickety-Click,” he heard. “It must be from across
the river,” said he. He put out the candle and lay in
bed. The same sound again. “Clikety-Clack!”
”Clikety-Klak!” The sounds came louder this time. He
thought it came from his drawing room. It was distinct
and very ominous. With each minute the clicking sound
went louder and louder. He could not sleep with such
an infernal noise. Again he got out. He lit a candle,
which he could barely hold for fright.
He peeped into the parlor.
There was an intruder!
And he had settled himself in the middle of the
parlor as if he owned the place. He felt a murderous
rage struggling with his fear at the scene presented
before him.
Across the parlor stood a weaving frame; and a very
old man with sad look in his deep-set eyes, went on
working. “What on earth!” It was all he could say. His
fear swallowed the rest of the sentence. Instead a
squeal. Even that did not distract the wizened
intruder. The ghastly apparition of a weaver did not
look up nor acknowledge his presence. Instead he was
bent over the frame intently checking his work. Having
satisfied himself he went on knotting the fibres and
cutting the knots to make naps. Ziddiq had no idea
whether his eyes were deceiving him or some rival of
his was hell-bent for mischief. Before his very eyes
filmed with fear and pricked with hate the old weaver
went on and on. His hands flew over the carpet while
adjusting the warp and the woof without missing a
beat. So free and fluid his movements were. As if he
had been doing it all his life and could have done
even while asleep.
He was masterly in his work.
Ziddiq stood there transfixed. Clickety-click,
clinkety-clank!
Clinkety-clank, So went on the loom while the room
was lit by a spot of light that hovered around the
design, which was becoming clearer with each motion of
his hands. Ziddiq would have screamed but his voice
died silently. The weaver looked at him with sad eyes
that in its hurt, without any rancor whatsoever, no
stab-wound would have come anywhere near. It twisted
his heartstrings beyond endurance.
Ziddiq could only twitch in response.
He trembled uncontrollably when the spectre of a
weaver looked once towards him. Those eyes now seemed
to challenge him. The infernal intruder said, “ My
life was in that carpet. Now I must weave another
because you so callously destroyed it.”
Having said his piece he continued with his task as
if he were alone in his own workshop. He was sad as
before and yet, very resolute. As if he knew he could
do it. Without tiring himself. Ziddiq could do nothing
but watch in horror. He went hot and cold as an
exquisite design began to take shape before his eyes.
Clikety-clack! Clickety-click! The weaver went on
without stopping and he was inhuman that he could draw
for his carpet filaments out of thin air! He wanted to
scream but nothing. He stood there petrified!
Poor Ziddiq! While the swirls of design now settled
down to a pattern he felt short of breath! As if the
ground under his feet gave way to something
insubstantial, and the walls melted and flowed about
him. Clickety-click! clikety- Clak! went on the loom
unrelenting. ‘Clickety-click! Clikety-clak!’ It went
on enveloping everything else.

Next morning the City awoke to some astounding news.
Where the ancestral home of Ziddiq stood nothing ever
remained but a prayer mat. No one could well explain
what occurred in the small hours of the night.
Samir and Kalam came as usual to take orders from
their master. Instead they were witnesses to
something, which no one could explain. There stood not
a trace of the master’s house! Some one had cleaned up
the old wooden beamed house with terrace and balcony
and not even a door hinge lay there; the wrought-iron
washstand where their master always went for wash
before prayers was missing; the folding stool and the
holy book also had vanished! Except a prayer mat.
Passers-by came over by curiosity and all that they
saw was the curiously wrought prayer mat. Nothing
else!
Samir could not take his eyes off it. It didn’t
explain the mystery! Still bewildered he stood there.
Finally he commented, ”A crazy-quilt pattern. I see
Master’s profile his beard and all- so distinct. What
do you think, Kalam?”
“I do not think anything,” Kalam replied, “But the
mat will make some money for a second-hand dealer.”
The End

Cosmic Mind-Time and Space

Cosmic Mind is infinite where Time and Space hold no meaning. As the Scriptures say,’One day is with the Lord as a thousand years…’we expect God to answer us and our so called good acts be paid back in our time. Cosmic Mind has a long range vision and to plumb its depths is a fool’s business.
That reminds me: Cosmic Mind holds no distinction between a fool and a wise man. Why? I can remind you of a parable that I wrote sometime back. Since I find it bothersome to go through my old posts let me post it from my book(available online), Sufficient unto this Day.
A Fool Is A Wise Man (Who just missed the bus)
‘Mad’ Max was designated as the biggest fool who ever lived in a town with a curious name Pie-In-The-Sky. As soon as he learnt to assemble a refrigerator he knew he wanted to sell one. So he took off to the North Pole. But the Inuit didn’t buy a single one and he died a very poor man. All that he left behind was some ice boxes and a technical manual.
On the other hand Dr. Faustus having made a pact with the devil became the most celebrated scholar who knew everything that went under the sun, which passed for knowledge. How the crowned heads and scholars alike feted him! Then came the computers that made him redundant. He died in grief. He said that a machine beat him. Yes.
The world went a-changing! Then came a thaw and ice melted. The polar caps vanished as an icicle in a furnace. The people in Nunavut learned to live with the climate changes. Then someone found the papers of ‘Mad’ Max and it was a discovery that electrified the whole region. They learned to make fridges themselves and control their houses to the right temperature. Who contributed to the welfare of the world more? A fool or a scholar?
Tailspin:In Cosmic Mind the word Success holds a different meaning that we hold. Time shows up the meaninglessness of such distinctions we make of life.
benny

Politics And Morality

Kingdom of Herringbone was a superpower when Cain came to live in the Land of Nod. (I pulled in the name only because I wanted to show the kingdom was very old). When King Red Ears ruled the land, people knew they had a manifest destiny of sorts. Yes that was what the king boasted at all occasions before he started any war. There was only one king he hated most- King Bear Hug of Sidonia also ruled a land as grand as Herringbone. The king had not an army but still he managed to avoid conflicts. King Red Ears had a large standing army and would have annexed this kingdom had it not been for their common religion. King Bear Hug was a good Barmian like them. The Federation of Barmians covered a large area.
It was a time when League of Baloney was set up by some neighboring states,- and they were all heathen, meaning their gods drank blood sitting down. King Totem of the kingdom of Crazy Quilt declared thought that as very disgusting. ‘We are Barmians and our gods drink standing up, the blood that we bring in from our wars.’
It so happened Ah B. Dull of Exxonia, one of the heathen kings found oil in the middle of his kingdom. It just gushed from a lake as large as fifty football fields laid next to one another. The oil was as smooth as butter and it added flavor to their food as no other. King B. Dull sent some casks of oil to King Red Ears since his kingdom adjoined his. King Red Ears found it flavored the food indeed! Immediately he signed a 100- year non aggression treaty with Exxonia. The Heathen King immediately set out to pillage some villages and towns that were within his reach. They were Barmians in their beliefs but technically heathens since they didn’t have kings to rule over them. King of Herringbone defended King of Exxonia bravely and eloquently.

The Barmians thought that was a stab in their backs. They accused Red Ears of helping their common enemy. King Red Ears took a high ground stating that he only signed a Non-aggression Treaty with Exxonia and not with their gods. You see King Red Ears had pretensions to highest morals,- and destined by some divine right to lay down rules of engagement anywhere within his sphere of control.
At some point of time King Bear Hug had some trouble containing the influx of refugees who had come from the neighboring Kingdom of Bug Bears who were heathens. But their kingdom was devastated by some deluge and all able bodied men took shelter in the kingdom of Sidonia. The King took them all: the women were sent to work in their salt mines and men were enlisted to fight his wars, Overnight among the Barmians, King of Sidonia had become very powerful. King Red Ears protested in the Federation of Barmians but somehow the allies all had their own excuses.
King Red Ears was disgusted.
Now what place morals have in the history of nations? How each play one against the other with his moral superiority as in the case of King Red Ears will not work. When the US declare Russia should not interfere in the Caucuses Russia also will point out America’s interference in Kosovo or in the Middle East. This reminds me of pot calling the kettle black.
benny

Illustrated Arabian Nights

My second tale in the above series is now available. The story is titled Tale of The Trader and The Jinn. In case you want to have a preview you can go to www.lulu.com/content/3536092. I have illustrated the text with artwork both watercolor and in pen and ink.

Description: A trader goes on a journey and at a strange place he, by a freak accident, kills a child and his father instantly arrives at the scene. He is a Jinn and he demands, ‘A life for a life,That is only fair.’ The merchant pleads for time to put his affairs in order. One year later he arrives at the same spot and awaits Jinn as promised. It so happens he is in for something extraordinary. As typical of tales from One Thousand and One Night it is to be read and looked at. Let me not spoil your enjoyment by telling any further.

Happy reading, folks!

benny

Oscar Wilde-the wit

Wilde had an uneasy friendship with the artist James McNeill Whistler. In the autumn of 1883 Punch parodied one of their conversations about the Divine Sarah. Wilde cabled to Whistler, ”Punch too ridiculous. When you and I are together we never talk about anything but ourselves.”
Whistler cabled back: “No, no Oscar when you and I are together we never talk about anything except me.” Wilde however had the last word:”It’s true, Jimmy we talk about you, but I think of myself.”

Disaster Strikes
His downfall was much of his own making. Even when it was clear his abortive charges of criminal libel would fail, and despite of well meaning advice to flee the country he remained as though resigned to his fate.
To one who asked him to turn to France he remarked, ”One can’t keep going abroad unless one is a missionary or a commercial traveller,- which comes to the same thing.

To one actor he cracked, ”Have no fear, the working classes are with me- to a boy.”

Two actors who were both appearing in Wilde’s West End hits (An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest)came across the playwright in the street and they were embarrassed. Before they could duck Wilde asked them if they knew what it was Queensberry, his archenemy was saying about him. Uneasily they declared they heard nothing. “Then I’ll tell you,” said Wilde, ”He actually had the effrontery to say that ‘The Importance of...’ was better acted than An Ideal Husband. Naturally I had to sue.”

There were certain lighter moments in the court. While recreating scenes at one of the male brothels situated at Westminster, he was asked, ”Was it in a bad neighborhood?”
“I know nothing about that_ it was near the House of Commons.” Was his reply.
compiler: benny

Bookends

“There is no such thing as a good or bad book; the reading public will always read much more into a written word, missing the intentions of the author or let the writer catch up with them. In such a give and take, who can tell?”
benny

A Tale

TALE OF A HUMANOID ©



Call Me X-11 O-7. I am a humanoid. Something went wrong at the assembly line: so I end up as a humanoid with an attitude. Nothing more than a grudge. But that will do.
Consider my Batch number. X-11. That shows I am to work in tandem with X-10. His name among us humanoids is Smith. An O.K guy who lets me throws up a tantrum or two. He says while I was being assembled my boss pushed a wrong button or something. ( I had a sneaking suspicion why I was cut up about my boss from the very start.)
Ergo. I am a humanoid. X-10. The emotional One.
The star from where we conduct our research has opened a file on homo sapiens. Pretty routine stuff. Just as separate files for each species elsewhere. The X-series is totally fitted with artificial intelligence to keep track of mankind. (My proficiency in understanding the species is indicated by O-7 tag.) I am pretty taken up with my elective subject. Some love pottering away with humus and mulch. Some study newts. And I study humans. So what?
The way my boss tries to trip me up each time is pathetic. Like the day he called me to his office; “Urgent!” Liquid Crystal Display of my Memo Pad showed.
At that moment I was on the shop-floor getting my timer fixed. It tended to go a nanosecond or two out of sync. But I dropped everything and went to him. Number One had a deck of cards. Without a word in greeting he flashed one and said,”What do you see here?” He expected me to show my level of proficiency. I was game. So I said, ”homo sapiens, male of the species, Adam, a cipher, John Doe or Mr.Smith. He showed another card. Instantly I trotted my reply, “Female of the species, Eve, Mother, sister, daughter..”Number One chortled and with a smug look he put the cards away. He said triumphantly,” You are wrong!” Pointing to the card he explained,”This also is a man!” Thoroughly enjoying my discomfiture he said,” a transvestite or cross-dresser.”
I was so angry that I was at loss for words. He added nastily, ”Your level is not satisfactory. You have a lot of catching up to do.” He ordered me to leave for the earth right then and there. He had already set my Memo Pad with instructions with the click of a switch. Before I could say ‘digital’ I was literally kicked down the stairs.

When the lights flickered on my LCD panel the first instructions came through in malevolent colors:’ You are before the homo erectus. Check him out.”’
Quickly I scanned my Personal Data File for cross reference under Homo Erectus. It sure came handy to transform myself a copy of the prototype. There under a purple sky in the savannah I spotted him as large as life. “ Whew, this is the patriarch of human race!” I said with admiration. It thrilled me to see that my disguise matched his whisker for whisker and scab for scab. Loping towards him my gait was just as his was.
Mine may be Artificial Intelligence, but it was quite a smart piece of wiring, to scan his electrochemical surge, which my sudden appearance had caused in him. My inputs into my e-page came up with result. So he had a reason: Jealousy. He was jealous that I came there as a competitor. In a series of grunts and growls he said,” This savannah cannot hold two of us together. Either one of us gotta go before the sun breaks tomorrow.” I nodded.
That night I slept hardly. I got away before the dawn broke through.
I found to my dismay that my timer mechanism again showed up erratic. A difference of nano seconds had cut a wide swath now to show difference of days and then months and years. My next assignment was to check out a wonderful star over Bethlehem. House of Bread, my PDF quoted :’ Bread for all and Peace on Earth’ It sounded nonsense to me. It was left to me to check out.
It was on an upbeat mood that I left for Israel. The star had come and gone. Instead there were terrible scenes of mayhem and cruelty. As I careened towards the City of Peace, there was large commotion outside its gates. Some said,” Crucify him!” A few said “ We have no King but Caesar.”
I made myself into a Syrian. I walked over to a Jew who looked sad. Engaging him into a conversation was as trying as getting him to stick to the topic on hand. His mind wandered. He said that he was a fisherman and yet he said he was leaving for Rome. I wondered why a fisherman would want to leave his livelihood for a city where fishing was hardly possible. ‘My master showed me a sign and asked, Quo Vadis?’ He said in bad Latin.
Was he obstinate! So peculiar he was that he served the Prince of Peace. Yet he was hardly in peace with himself. He had some grudge against someone named Paulus. So I let him alone.
My next command was an assignment to which I took with great excitement. I was to meet some Pilgrim Fathers arriving at the Promised Land. So I checked my PDF and would have gone to Plymouth Rock. Instead I landed in Washington DC where I saw the President. Boy oh boy! He was impossible just as the fisherman who was all for fishing in Rome! Obstinate and woolly headed. He was for ridding the world of a tyrant by putting to torch some thousands of innocent civilians all across Iraq.
Finally mulling over evidences on hand, I turned in my report.
Even as I was pulled out of my assignments and found myself once again before my boss, I could sense a storm; I braced myself for it. Going over my workpage he read it loud enunciating each word slowly.’ Homo sapiens. A misguided and miserable species who will not mind cutting their nose to spite their face.’
‘ Neat uh?’ I asked hopefully.
For the next ten minutes Number One let out his anger, and decided my report showed a bad attitude. Besides he took exception to my timing.’ I asked you to check the appearance of a comet and what do I get?”He breathed fury. ” Instead of a scientific analysis I get a load of religion and some trivial pieces of man’s stupidity. What I expected was exobiology and not theology!”
I cried all the way to my workplace. Smith came up to me and said,’ There you need not take it too hard.’
I took hold of myself to say, “ I had half a mind to tick him off. At one point he said,’ Worth of your report is no more than a pinhead. Almost I said,’ It is all that your pea-sized brain could contain.”
“ No, you did not say that!” Smith was aghast.
“ I said , Almost.”
“ It was a good one for a retort. Wasn’t it? That reminds me, my timer is out of sync!” I could not help laughing and I observed,” I suppose I am a wit of the downstairs.”
The End