Thursday, January 26, 2006
Josh ??
I am standing in this long line and I see a balloon being passed around at frightening speed. Soon enough it reaches me. I am supposed to pass the damn thing over my head and give it to the guy behind me, who incidentally is shouting furiously, "pass it fast man, fast....". I pass it on soon enough, more out of fear of the shouting mob than any personal involvement. Finally, the guy at the end of the line grabs the balloon and dashes forward to give it to the anchor who shouts out "And 6 points to xyz team"... a loud cheer goes up and I see people giving high fives to one another !!!
A few minutes later the anchor kicks off another contest. The objective - to make the longest link/rope using only ones belts and shoe laces. Ofcourse, the team which performs best would get 6 points.....Wow, exciting !!!! The minute the word 'Go' was announced everyone was busy taking off their belt and shoe laces, while I was standing there worried about whether my pant would fall the moment the belt was taken off. While I stood there contemplating this genuine worry, the others had eagerly taken off their belt and laces and had formed a link. Ya, it looked impressive, but they needed more belts to get the 6 points you know. I heard the same furious shouting "pass it fast man, fast...." and I knew the moment had arrived, I had to part with my belt. The shoe lace however stayed, simply because I knew there was no way I could ever thread it back through the complicated maze of holes if I took it out.
More of such 'amazing' contests were held before a much needed break was announced. Over coffee I realized that my friends were also as 'enthusiastic' as I was. However, the unanimous conclusion was that my 'enthusiasm' and 'spirit' were a class apart. Infact, one of them even remarked that I was the most cynical guy he had ever met. Uhmmm...something had to be done, before things got worse for me (or for the others who had to put up with me, whichever way you look at it).
After the break, I decided to get close to scene of action with the sole intention of observing what each one was upto and was hoping to discover the source of their unlimited energy and enthusiasm. After 'intense' research, based on parameters such as energy levels, enthusiasm levels and activities involved, I managed to draw up the following classification of the team:
A few minutes later the anchor kicks off another contest. The objective - to make the longest link/rope using only ones belts and shoe laces. Ofcourse, the team which performs best would get 6 points.....Wow, exciting !!!! The minute the word 'Go' was announced everyone was busy taking off their belt and shoe laces, while I was standing there worried about whether my pant would fall the moment the belt was taken off. While I stood there contemplating this genuine worry, the others had eagerly taken off their belt and laces and had formed a link. Ya, it looked impressive, but they needed more belts to get the 6 points you know. I heard the same furious shouting "pass it fast man, fast...." and I knew the moment had arrived, I had to part with my belt. The shoe lace however stayed, simply because I knew there was no way I could ever thread it back through the complicated maze of holes if I took it out.
More of such 'amazing' contests were held before a much needed break was announced. Over coffee I realized that my friends were also as 'enthusiastic' as I was. However, the unanimous conclusion was that my 'enthusiasm' and 'spirit' were a class apart. Infact, one of them even remarked that I was the most cynical guy he had ever met. Uhmmm...something had to be done, before things got worse for me (or for the others who had to put up with me, whichever way you look at it).
After the break, I decided to get close to scene of action with the sole intention of observing what each one was upto and was hoping to discover the source of their unlimited energy and enthusiasm. After 'intense' research, based on parameters such as energy levels, enthusiasm levels and activities involved, I managed to draw up the following classification of the team:
- Top 10% - To state it simply, they don't belong to this universe, let alone this planet. Whether an activity involved blowing a balloon or blowing oneself up, they would be the first to rush onto the stage to do it. They don't let factors like common sense, self esteem etc. unnecessarily inhibit them in anyway. When the anchor called for the 'manliest guy' or 'most talented man' from each team to come onto the stage these guys would be already there, well before the anchor was done with his announcement. Even if the announcement had been for the 'dumbest guy' to come onto the stage, they would have raced to stage, nobody/nothing can stop them.
- The next 20 % - Yes, this group belongs to this universe atleast. These guys don't like running onto the stage for anything and everything but they like to exhibit their latent energy whenever there is an incentive involved. Now, the incentive could be something as small as a toffee to something as 'enormous' in magnitude as six points to their team, its only the incentive factor that counts.
- The next 50 % - Needless to say they constitute the masses. They only love the cheering and shouting part of any activity. They come very handy in contests such as, 'Which team can make most noise ?'. They love to shout 'come on man...', 'pass it fast..' and things like that, as long the ball, balloon or whatever is not with them or the activity does not involve them at all.
- The rest - Well, they pretend to be involved in the whole thing, but wonder from time to time 'What the hell am I doing here?'. Without a hint of doubt, I belong to this category of lucid thinkers - they who have seen reality and know that life is more than just 6 points to your team.;-) (What else did you expect me to say about my fellow brethren in my blog ??..:-))
Jokes apart, we did attempt an introspection afterwards and swiftly concluded that the games and scoring system didn't correspond to our line of interest. '6 points to the team that dashes to lunch first?' or maybe '6 points to the team that comes in last after a break?' , now, those would have been games worth looking forward to. Well anyway who cares?As the age old tagline goes 'We are like this only'.. :-)