Don’t get me wrong but that don’t impress me much. I have somehow developed this attitude of not getting surprised at anything. Everything that otherwise would elicit that eye popping, mouth gaping response from a reasonable specimen of the human genome is somehow lost on me. I have come to that point of rationalization that my motto on responses to almost all situations is “If it happened, it was possible. If it was possible, it is explainable. Where is the surprise?” Surprised? Read on
This somehow has worked to my advantage at times. Many a soul has confronted me with what he/she has thought to be a truly cinching piece of information but my blank face has drowned their enthusiasm to the point that the cynics labeled me as the dumbest of all creatures and some have actually concluded that I was just too well informed to be unnecessarily astonished. My utter absence of response or retaliation to these have further fuelled controversy over the actual range of my intelligence. Let me come absolutely clear on the topic then. I am neither too gifted nor too deprived. My faculties are reasonably well developed to acknowledge all that goes on in this world and I do not claim to have any sort of super sensory perceptions or abilities that would qualify me as a living relative of Professor Shonku or Uncle Sidhu (only for the fans of Satyajit Ray’s works). It is just that I have decided not to scare my already diminutive wits any further. You say that Charles Lindberg’s crossing of the Atlantic in the Spirit of St Louis was truly remarkable. I don’t entirely disagree with you but the fact that it was accomplished means that it was physically possible and therefore should the muscles in my forehead really need the exercise that you so want to give them? I think not. You want to exclaim the utmost surprise when you learn that Greer Garson’s acceptance speech was the origin of the need for the time limit at the Oscars. Be my guest but it could as well have been the janitor at the Kodak theatre requesting the audience not to litter the place in the most eloquent manner and the result would have been the same wouldn’t it. It is just a piece of trivia and let’s leave it that, shall we? How many people have gaped open mouthed at the very sight of the pyramids and been blown to bits upon hearing that manual labor was employed to haul the rocks to the top and build this architectural wonder? I am in absolute agreement with the fact that it was a monumental task to have been achieved and for that it deserves a standing ovation and not an overarched eyebrow. And tell me if I am terribly out of place when I tell you that the fact that Paul Allen owns the Portand Trailblazers is nothing out of the ordinary. I mean as long as we are decided that a human and not a chimp were to own the team, it might as well be him mightn’t it? And so it is that my refusal to let any piece of enlightening information startle me out of my state of mental dereliction is to many others quite an enigmatic revelation.
But this particular practice is not all bed of roses I tell you. It sometimes leads to a great amount of misunderstanding as well. While it may make you appear as an ultra intellectual super intelligent human being, it takes away that fundamental right to question. I don’t know why but a nod of the head is taken to be a sign that all further questions have been stymied. I might not be surprised to learn that Rutherford got the atomic model out of the solar system but that does not mean that I understand why his model is faulty on account of an electron continuously losing momentum and finally collapsing into the nucleus thereby violating the primary stability of the atom. And nowhere does this make a greater impact than in dealings with the boss. Recently we were discussing a certain project when he passed on a certain piece of news that had just arrived and which would prove to be a major roadblock in the progress of the project. Everybody seated around the table dropped from the sky except for me. I retained my all-knowing-one-with-universe look. One look around the table and my boss decides that I was the one to handle the situation. Heck of a time I chose to raise an eyebrow!
This somehow has worked to my advantage at times. Many a soul has confronted me with what he/she has thought to be a truly cinching piece of information but my blank face has drowned their enthusiasm to the point that the cynics labeled me as the dumbest of all creatures and some have actually concluded that I was just too well informed to be unnecessarily astonished. My utter absence of response or retaliation to these have further fuelled controversy over the actual range of my intelligence. Let me come absolutely clear on the topic then. I am neither too gifted nor too deprived. My faculties are reasonably well developed to acknowledge all that goes on in this world and I do not claim to have any sort of super sensory perceptions or abilities that would qualify me as a living relative of Professor Shonku or Uncle Sidhu (only for the fans of Satyajit Ray’s works). It is just that I have decided not to scare my already diminutive wits any further. You say that Charles Lindberg’s crossing of the Atlantic in the Spirit of St Louis was truly remarkable. I don’t entirely disagree with you but the fact that it was accomplished means that it was physically possible and therefore should the muscles in my forehead really need the exercise that you so want to give them? I think not. You want to exclaim the utmost surprise when you learn that Greer Garson’s acceptance speech was the origin of the need for the time limit at the Oscars. Be my guest but it could as well have been the janitor at the Kodak theatre requesting the audience not to litter the place in the most eloquent manner and the result would have been the same wouldn’t it. It is just a piece of trivia and let’s leave it that, shall we? How many people have gaped open mouthed at the very sight of the pyramids and been blown to bits upon hearing that manual labor was employed to haul the rocks to the top and build this architectural wonder? I am in absolute agreement with the fact that it was a monumental task to have been achieved and for that it deserves a standing ovation and not an overarched eyebrow. And tell me if I am terribly out of place when I tell you that the fact that Paul Allen owns the Portand Trailblazers is nothing out of the ordinary. I mean as long as we are decided that a human and not a chimp were to own the team, it might as well be him mightn’t it? And so it is that my refusal to let any piece of enlightening information startle me out of my state of mental dereliction is to many others quite an enigmatic revelation.
But this particular practice is not all bed of roses I tell you. It sometimes leads to a great amount of misunderstanding as well. While it may make you appear as an ultra intellectual super intelligent human being, it takes away that fundamental right to question. I don’t know why but a nod of the head is taken to be a sign that all further questions have been stymied. I might not be surprised to learn that Rutherford got the atomic model out of the solar system but that does not mean that I understand why his model is faulty on account of an electron continuously losing momentum and finally collapsing into the nucleus thereby violating the primary stability of the atom. And nowhere does this make a greater impact than in dealings with the boss. Recently we were discussing a certain project when he passed on a certain piece of news that had just arrived and which would prove to be a major roadblock in the progress of the project. Everybody seated around the table dropped from the sky except for me. I retained my all-knowing-one-with-universe look. One look around the table and my boss decides that I was the one to handle the situation. Heck of a time I chose to raise an eyebrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment