Clarity of thought

Clarity of thought

I am sure as requested by me; you have seen the post dated 3/13/09 Had a hearty laugh? Good! Did you notice the fun element in that ‘act of stupidity’ and ‘argument based on sound stupidity’? good!

(you can refer to comment dt 2/15/15 for further clarification)

I presume most of you have climbed steps of ‘Tirupathi’. Those of you who haven’t imagine the scenario as best as you can or imagine some temple on a hill-top that you had climbed. For those of readers who are not Indians, imagine the ‘Route of Pilgrimage’. Assume you are climbing the steps of Tirupathi – seven hills and after climbing for an hour with your friend stop for a cup of tea. There you befriend a stranger and in course of your talk, she tells you that she has been climbing ‘these hills’ for the past 10 years atleast once a year without fail. You are really amazed and this is your first time and you are bit apprehensive as to what to expect and what not to! You ask her how long it would take to reach the top. And lo! She answers ‘just in 5-6 hours’. You are zapped out. More 5-6 hours and you are already a bit tired! You doubt your senses which took this decision and you wish you had listened to your neighbours who warned you against this! ‘God bless them, they were right! They meant good and yet I had teased them, made fun of them and not listened to them. Good for my arrogance. Now I am caught in catch 22 situation. God save me! Why did I put myself in this situation’? A look at my friend’s face and I know he’s also thinking the same.

Cutting through our thoughts her voice continued. ‘its nothing to worry. We already covered the 3 hr distance.’ You catch the phrase ‘3 hr. and you ask ‘what 3 hr distance?’ and she innocently replies – ‘why the distance that we have already travelled – well it took 3 hrs. right? So, we call it 3 hr distance’.

Map showing the foot route to Tirupathi - more than 3500 steps

You look at your friend and exchange a smile that’s both relaxing and a smile that’s laughing at your stupidity. Of course you feel, you should have first asked her how long it took her to come till here. And you were proud of being boys good at maths! How stupid! Yes, her age, profession and lifestyle was different from yours. Speed would certainly be different. What took1 hr for you to cover, she and her group took 3 hrs. wasn’t it obvious? 

...contd....