THE CONVERSATION

              

  She was neither particularly beautiful nor particularly alluring in anyway, atleast not in the conventional sense. Nor had she any particular feature that stood out or was striking to behold in any manner. In fact , she was quite plain to look at.

    Her complexion could have been called dusky, but was tending more towards the darker side. She had small expressionless eyes and a rather smallish nose. Slightly sunken cheeks below rather prominent cheekbones served to give her something of a proud air. Her shoulder length hair was severely tied back into a neat ponytail. She had a large forehead ,on which were a few strands of hair ,which had escaped the severe punishment inflicted on their other brethren , and as such were showing off their rebelliousness.

   She was thin of build and had smallish breasts. Her hips were wide for one with such thinness of build. She was dressed in a black, almost knee length kurti on blue jeans , which were jagged at the ends, She had on a pair of light brown floaters ,which advertised her uncut , slightly dirty toenails.

    As the reader can perceive , she was quite plain . One might not have given her a second look if one had seen her on a busy street or someplace crowded. However, the place where I was then , was neither a street nor was it crowded. In fact , excluding me, her and the bookshop owner,  there were two more people in there.

    We were in a large used books shop. It was big but it was nothing much of a shop actually. It was on the pavement in a side alley. Lot of books were just piled on one another on raised wooden platforms. These wooden platforms were set against a 10 foot wall and this was throwing a cool shade on the shop , thus serving as protection from the sun. It was on of my favorite haunts,  the coolness of the place , combined with the collection of books , afforded one the opportunity to while away several hours pleasantly , just diving through the piles and fishing for and browsing through those books. I came here almost every weekend.

    It was one such weekend , a lazy Saturday afternoon. I preferred to come here on Saturdays ,because on Sundays this place became very crowded and if you are the leisurely type , you wouldn’t want to elbow nor be elbowed while browsing through books. 

    She was standing a few feet away from me , leafing through a book. May be she sensed that I was looking at her , she suddenly turned in my direction and looked at me . I didn’t stop looking at her. We exchanged glances for a brief moment and she went back to her leafing.

 

    I noticed the title of the book . It was one by Dawkins, The God Delusion . I started thinking about the book . On how well Dawkins articulates , on the cogency of his thoughts , and the almost missionary passion that he brings to atheism . However , sometimes the stridency of the book disturbed me a little. As I was thinking , I noticed that she had put that book down and had picked up Sagan’s Demon Haunted World. Ofcourse , I thought , compared to Dawkins , Sagan was so balanced , couching his arguments in a much less strident language. As I started thinking about balance , and careful language and gentle critcisim , I noticed Will Durant’s Story of Philosphy. And I could not help reflecting on his balanced and almost gentle criticisms of various philosophers. As I leafed through that book , I came across a lot of philosophers whom I had always tried to understand but could not. 

     As I was cursorily going through the book , wondering was there any philosopher that I understood even slightly , I noticed her picking up a title by Bertrand Russell . Ofcourse , I thought , here was a man whom I understood a little atleast . I started thinking about his writings and his most famous came to my mind “ Why Am I not a Christian” . As I was recollecting what was said in the essay , thoughts about religion , about atheism and about science started coming to my mind.  As I was thinking about them , I noticed some of the best works on science that I had ever read , selfish gene , climbing mount improbable , dragons of eden , cosmos . All of them first rate , all of them immensely pleasurable reads. As I was thinking about those books , I was thinking not about their contents , but about the  pleasures , of curiosity , of surprise ,of admiration and most commonly of discovery that are almost always associated with them.  As I was wondering , if there were any other books , by reading which I had derived so much pleasure , I noticed her leafing through a collection of short stories of Maugham .

      Bingo , I thought .That was indeed one author , that I loved. I mean , his was probably some of the first novels that I had ever read. And they had left a lasting impression. As she was leafing through the book , my thoughts strayed from Maugham’s novels to his short stories and some of  my favorites started coming to my mind. Lord Mount drago , alien corn , a string of beads . I reflected on his writing style , the really amazing characters , and most of all his some of his unforgettable quotes . This led me on a bylane to think about humor and thereby some of it’s practitioning authors. And ofcourse Wodehouse sprang to mind immediately. I begain thinking about his works. The eccentric characters, the rib ticklngly funny lines , and the improbable , hilarious situations. I remarked to myself that , Wodehouse’s humor indeed comes from a combination of interesting characters and improbable situations , but his humor is never insane. As I was reflecting thus , I noticed her picking up a work of Douglas Adams . Ofcourse , I thought , the undisputed emperor of insane humor.

   

    It continued ,thus, for around two hours.

  After around two hours , I noticed her coming towards me. She was smiling at me.

 “Coffee honey?” , she said , “I am tired”

 “Sure” , I said , “the usual place?”

 

“yes”, she said

 As I walked out of the shop with her , she said ,” You know ,that was the one of the best conversations I ever had”

 I beamed down at my wife of two years. I was so glad I had married her.

 

 

 

    

 

.

THE ORGANIZATION

“We are extremely pleased to welcome you into this organization. We take this opportunity to both apprise you of your duties to the organization and also to tell you of the duties that the organization realizes that it has towards you. We also ……..”

The speaker continued as all of us listened in rapt attention. That was the director of the organization speaking to us on our first day at the office. I was particularly attentive and was craning forwards in my seat. I did not want to miss a single word of what he was saying. And the speaker was doing a great job of holding my attention. He was experienced – he had worked in the organization for just slightly under a billion years now – so I figured if anyone could talk with any authority and conviction about the organization I was going to work for , it was this guy. And he was a very good orator. And ofcourse it helped that he was peppering his speech with a lot of suggestively lewd jokes.

“ So rememeber guys and pretty girls …” , the director concluded , “the organization is like your family. It will nurture you, protect you and be with you in your times of need, but you also need to realize your duties towards the family. Then it will be one big happy family, growing bigger and happier because of the likes of you…”

The hall came down in thundering applause.
“Wow”, I thought, “what other fitting description of the organization than this. In fact I am sure the organization is actually a family.”

I was convinced actually because it was rumored that only the director of the organization and a select lucky few regularly conferred with the organization in a very secret corner room at the top of a very tall ivory tower situated on an unknown and normally inaccessible island on an otherwise uninhabited planet beyond the outer reaches of the Andromeda galaxy.

“I want to be among that lucky few one day”, I resolved to myself. So what if it had taken the director of the organization a billion years to do that . What with the attrition nowadays it might actually come down to three quarters of a billion years for me.

(Sorry I forgot to tell you that we are a very long lived race. Similar to the human beings in every respect but very long lived. That makes our lives fractionally more interesting. Ten raised to the power of negative 25 to be exact)

Thus started my stint with the organization. Determined in actions and clear in resolve.

First came the training period. It was stipulated to be upto half a century but in some cases it could be as long as a century. It was rumored that there were a few who had trained for a couple of centuries, but I had never met them, so I decided to treat them like I treated any other rumor - very seriously.
During this period , I attended a strategy session. It was called “Competition and how to ignore it” . I just loved it. Not the least because it was being presided upon by the deputy associate assistant vice director of the organization (four levels below the director). This guy knew what he was talking about. He concluded his talk thus, “ remember pretty guys and girls (did I tell you this guy was gay?). The organization does not tolerate competition. ”

I loved it . “Wow”, I thought, “ I guess the organization is like a warrior. A knight clad in shining black armor , riding a blacker horse , swinging a huge 7 feet sword( the warrior was 14 ft tall) and mercilessly hacking away at anyone who dared to stand in his way”

The more I thought about it , the more appropriate it sounded and the more I wanted to meet this warrior.

My training concluded , I took up my responsibilities. I worked very hard , my only aim in my professional life to be among the lucky few to meet the organization.

Five centuries passed thus.

At around the middle of the sixth century , there was a case of huge number of layoffs in the organization. I was among the lucky ones to be spared.

I attended a meeting after this case of layoffs which was presided by the both the President of Human resources and the president of Non Human resources of our organization. (It was rumored that the latter held far more power in the organization. I believed this , because this guy was rumored to be among the lucky few to meet the organization).

“ Remember pretty guys and pretty girls” , they concluded, (they were bi sexual) , “the organization clearly recognizes what elements to weed out”

“Wow” , I thought , “ the organization is like a gardener after all, carefully and lovingly nurturing the flowers in his garden and hacking of the weeds.”

The more I thought about it, the more it sounded appropriate.

After around 2 million years with the company , I was yet to be promoted. For the first time in my stint with the organization , I felt a little insecure and disappointed. I felt like quitting. But decided to talk to my boss. He succeeded in talking me out of it.

“The organization has it’s own accumulated wisdom and experience to decide what is good for you and what you need. Don’t worry , your time will come.” , he told me.

“wow”, I thought, “ the organization is really like a very wise ,very old man with a flowing white beard and a equally flowing white robes. It will definitely take care of me”

The more I thought about it, the more appropriate it sounded.

Fifty million years later, I had become the associate assistant deputy vice director (thrice removed) of the organization.

I attended another strategy session , which was called “WE ROCK – THEY SUCK”

I was excited. I always wanted to attend these sessions ,but it was possible only now as I attained this level in the organization. It was presided by the director of the organization.

“So remember guys and girls” (he was too old to be anything by then) ,he concluded, “the organization just tramples anyone in it’s path”

“Wow” , I thought , “ the organization really is like a fire breathing dragon. It just swoops in and occupies any territory that it wants , anyone in it’s way would just be turned into a tiny wisp of smoke”

The more I thought about it, the more appropriate it sounded.

Quarter of a billion years later….

I had arrived. I had become the second to second vice director of the organization( once removed). I was to be among the select lucky few to meet the organization. The director had just told me that.

I was thrilled.

I was excited. Finally , the day I had been looking forward to for so many days , was becoming a reality.

This was what I had been living for, this was what I had been working for.

To meet the organization, to confer with it, take it’s blessings and advice.

But most of all , I wanted to see how the organization looked. What it actually was.

I had imagined it to be so many things , in so many different forms and doing so many different things.

But what was it in reality? Was it one of these things , none of these things , or all of these things or did it simply changed form according to the situation? If it was the last was it really possible for the organization to be in so many forms in so many different situations.

These were the questions that were plaguing my mind. And I kept asking my director about it. He just smiled and said , “you will see for yourself”
Finally, the big day.

We traveled to the end of the Andromeda galaxy , reached the island and went up to the top of the ivory tower. I was beside myself with excitement and tension.

There was the final door. Beyond it was the organization. One more step and there was it.

I was very nervous as the door was being opened.

The door opened and there was it was . The organization!!!!! Right in the middle of the room.

The director immediately fell to his knees on seeing it. So did all the others.
As I also tried to kneel, I felt a very sharp pain in my left hand , which very swiftly traveled to my heart.
I was falling down clutching my heart. I was dying of cardiac arrest. I guess the shock was too much for me.
As my eyes were closing, in my final moment, I heard the squeak of the mouse in the center of the room.

THE EVENING

She looked up and smiled at him coyly. He looked down upon her lovingly. She snuggled closer to him. He leant forward and lightly brushed her cheeks with his lips. She leant closer to give him more access. As he tried to kiss her on the lips, she playfully pushed him away. Though he was expecting this, he playacted anger and turned away. She leant closer to him and with her palm turned his face towards her and gave her best smile. He couldn’t help smiling back.
“Coochie –Cooooooo” , she said
Not knowing the appropriate response to this, he merely smiled more.
“I looooove uuu” , she said crooningly…..
He very well knew the appropriate reply to this and he replied even more crooningly
“hmmmmmm….”
“Ok Ok now the movie is about to begin ..” she said .
“Yeah” , he said …
He had spent 500 rs for the tickets and the popcorn. He might as well watch this.
(“I looooove popcorn” , she had crooned earlier , in much the same tones as she had just proclaimed her love for him . And his reply was always appropriate .. “Hmmmmmmm”)
They were happy. He had proposed to her a month back. She had agreed. “Yeeeeeesssss” , she had crooned. He had met her parents. They had liked him. They were about to be married in another month’s time.
She crooned a lot. He tolerated it. She looooved popcorn. He didn’t mind buying it. And they both liked movies.
And they were very very happy.
As the titles were rolling out ,she snuggled very close to him and fed him popcorn.
The movie began.
It was not going very well.
In fact it was bad.
It was , truth be told, horrible.
As a matter of fact , it had achieved sublimity in being intolerable.
And it was the perfect opportunity for him to show off.
It was his chance to showcase his sense of humor and bolster her confidence in the choice of her mate.
And he was feeling particularly confident that evening.
“ What the hell …” , he ventured.
She looked up at him, smiled , made soothing noises and fed him popcorn.
He was very encouraged by this.
“Why the hell did we have to come to this movie” , he said in an exaggeratedly mocking fashion.
She smiled more and fed him more popcorn. This was like a direct intravenous dose of adrenalin for him.
“ This is what happens when we listen to your ideas” , he said with a chuckle , riding an ever rising wave of confidence.
“My ideaaaa????” , she crooned. Her hand , which was about to feed him popcorn stopped in midair.
Normally under different circumstances , he would have changed the topic , but he was feeling particularly confident or suicidal , whichever way you look at it.

He said , “then what???…just like all your ideas” ….he chuckled more.
To be fair to him , he thought this was genuinely funny and what’s more ,passionately believed in what he said.

“And what are my other ideas that you don’t find good?” she asked extremely sweetly and with a killer smile on her face.
Under normal circumstances, he would have recognized these signs and retreated , but as we already said, he was feeling particularly confident or suicidal , whichever way you look at it.
“Oh that’s easy” , he said .
He wasn’t particularly observant of the fact that her smile was getting sweeter by the minute and that she had stopped feeding him popcorn.
“Like the time when you had brought that silly flaming red top of yours” , he said
Again he wasn’t very observant or considerate of the fact that , that’s what she was wearing right then and that it was her favorite.
“Oh you don’t like it???” , she asked in the sweetest of voices.
Under any other circumstances , he would have construed this as a signal to parachute out off the nose diving aircraft but as we already said he was feeling particularly confident or suicidal , whichever way you look at it.
“Are you kidding ??? It makes you look fat ,……… as if you need it” ….he said chuckling out loud now.
Her smile was at it’s sweetest now. And she was eating the popcorn herself.
Under normal circumstances , he would have unconditionally surrendered at this sign , but as we already said he was feeling particularly confident or suicidal , whichever way you look at it.
“Well not your fault ….you look like your mom” ….he was slowly and dangerously surely getting lost in his own world now and laughed out loud.
“Don’t disturb the others”, she said in a honey dipped voice.
Under normal circumstances , he would have correctly understood this as “SHUT UP” , but as we already said he was feeling particularly confident or suicidal , whichever way you look at it.
“Disturb the others ???”, he said , “as if you don’t do it with your crooning all the time” …he was laughing louder now.
She had stopped eating the popcorn. And she looooved popcorn.
“You are very funny” , she said sweetly , “ you can see humor in the most trivial of things and make them sound sooo funny”
Under normal circumstances , this would have been like a splash of icy cold water on a December morning for him , but as we already said he was feeling particularly confident or suicidal , whichever way you look at it.
“Remember when we were in that restaurant and you had ….” ,he started.
It went on
It continued till the movie was over. He joked and he joked well . He was genuinely funny. He talked about her dresses , her crooning , the way she talked and not least of all her family.
And her smile kept getting sweeter and her voice dipped in honey twice and thrice over.
Under normal circumastances he would have noticed that she had stopped snuggling , wasn’t feeding him popcorn and worse still wasn’t eating any herself. But as we already said he was feeling particularly confident or suicidal , whichever way you look at it.
He genuinely thought he was being funny.
He thought he was saving the evening.
He thought he was entertaining her.
And he continued doing so.
The movie ended. He was in particularly high spirits.
He thought he had impressed her enough.
She was smiling and most importantly she said she found him funny.
He thought the evening went very well.
And all the more reason why he could not understand why she broke up with him the next day.

THE PURSUIT OF ‘HAPPY’NESS

Just finished watching this movie starring Will Smith for like, the nth time. I just love this movie. What makes this movie work for me is not the struggle of the guy to get that job in the brokerage firm he is interning for. Nor is it the huge odds that the guy has to overcome. Its not even the poignancy of his life. I mean all these things have been brought out extremely well in the movie, no doubt about that. But to be very honest , struggle –against –insurmountable –odds –to achieve –things in the end kind of stories have almost become a cliché , I mean we respect that but are no longer awed or inspired by that stuff.

What makes this movie work for me is the clearly articulated motivation of the protagonist to do all the things that he does in the movie. He wanted to be happy. But that’s what everyone wants , isn’t it? Yet , no place else have I seen the motivation being articulated so clearly and unambiguously ..” All of them looked so happy ..why cant I be like that” . And that’s where it all starts.

I mean we all keep talking about our goals …we neatly divide them into long term ,short term , middle term , short to medium term …too medium to be long term and so on. In various movies ,different protagonists are shown to be motivated in different ways. For instance , its revenge for some , patriotism for others and sheer manhood (real ,imagined and most importantly perceived)for most protagonists in a lot of Tamil and Telugu movies!!!!

But this motivation struck me as the simplest, truest and the most fundamental of all …..”I want to be happy like they are” . He is not envying their position in life ,nor was he envying the broker’s material wealth in that scene , he is envying them for their happiness , without being bitter about it.

Even better than that was his admiration of Thomas Jefferson for saying “Pursuit of Happiness” instead of happiness in the declaration of independence. I mean no one is entitled to happiness nor can the state guarantee it to its citizens like it can ensure liberty and justice. But yes, you are entitled to pursue it. And this is perhaps the most fundamental of human motivations and the declaration recognized it. No wonder that , to date the declaration retains relevance.

But that brings me to another question. What is being happy ?? I mean , yes I know all that stuff about each one searching for his own happiness and looking for happiness within himself and loads of crappy stuff like that . They are a given. I am not talking about the various means and tools that people use in the pursuit to happiness but the various feelings and emotions that characterize the state of happiness . Does that state exist?? If it does is it distinguishable from other states like joy , satisfaction and contentment?? Most importantly should we make that distinction???

How should we measure happiness?? We keep making statements like “I would have been happier if….” ,suggesting gradations and degrees of happiness. What does that mean??? How are we measuring happiness in this case.???

How should we measure happiness ?? Wikipedia suggests that it is a function of various emotions relating to the past ,to the present and to the future.

For instance .satisfaction about the past …hope for the future etc. Essentially this makes happiness your bottomline figure in the balance sheet of life. Add up all good feelings , subtract all bad ones ..make provisions for future good or bad ones and lo behold ..you know whether you are happy or not. Of course assuming that your feelings are a reliable and accurate indicator of what you have done in and with your life and that they faithfully represent all of that.

Ofcourse this means that this bottomline figure will be different in different situations , at different stages in life and different points in time . Of course this seems acceptable . We all are differently happy in different situations.


Is this happiness???

Some people define happiness as harmony , some as self actualization .

Some say happiness should be looked at in a rather long term perspective ,rather than foucssing on things like immediate gratification ..Is it true???

Imagine a person who is striving towards a goal. He is satisfied about his past. Hopeful about the future . Hence his happiness balance sheet is in the black .He is not focusing on immediate gratification . He knows he will be happy if he achieves what he has set out for. On the way he is encountering a lot of odds. He is not happy at all. He wants to achieve the goal as quickly as possible. And he is very confident that he would be happy if he achieves it. He does , And he is happy. For a while. Then ennui sets in. Now he is unhappy that it is over. He feels he would have been happier if it were not over.

So should happiness be a function of the journey or of the destination??? If the journey is through hell then can even heaven as a destination make us happy???


I wish I knew whether I am happy or not.

LORD SHUDDHA

Shuddhartha or Lord Shuddha as now he is respectfully called was born on the 29th of February ,1935. He passed away today peacefully in his sleep after 73 glorious years spent in the service, enlightenment and enrichment of the people. Devotees across the country mourn this great loss to the nation in particular and to the world in general. At the moment there seems to be no one who is not singing paeans to this Great Sage ,as he was called with reverence. Some have even gone so far as to call him the 10098th avatar of Lord Vishnu. Some devotees do scoff at this notion , but that’s not the point. But however divided the views on this avatar stuff , people in general seemed to agree that there was no greater personification of sacrifice and abstinence , love and compassion. Perhaps this would be the right time to look back at this great man’s life and reflect on how it all came to be.
Lord Shuddha was born as Shuddhartha , to a father who was a multi millionare and whose zest for business could only be matched to his desire to have children. Lord Shuddha was born after his father had been in despair for a long time that he never might have children. As soon as he was born , the family Astrologer had proclaimed ..”This dude would turn out to be a complete loser or a total winner …..most probably the former ” . The last part was a totally unnecessary addition. A more worldly wise astrologer would have said “hmmm” and nodded his head approvingly . No body has seen that astrologer ever since.
Though he did make the astrologer disappear , the father had taken his prediction seriously. So he set about making his son a total winner. Unfortunately he thought the best way of doing it would be by not denying his son anything he might ask for. So the son grew up , as the cliché goes , in the lap of luxury. He had more pocket money in a day to spend than what most families made in an year. He had servants ready to serve him at his slightest signal . he had friends fawning on him . He had girls plotting against each other for him. And most importantly he had his father doting over him. The son grew up to be a spoilt rich kid ,infamous for his behavior and notorious for his pranks.
When he was 25 his father married him off to a beautiful girl who came from another multi millionaire family. After an year they had a son. The father having painfully noted the lack of talent of any sort in the son , made sure that he never had to run the business and worked the rest of his life ensuring that the his father in laws businesses were also integrated with his and that they would run themselves. After having done all this , as befits a dutiful and doting father , he passed away , leaving Shuddha a little sad but still a multi millionaire atleast two times over. Shuddha got over this soon and started living life as before. Anyone who would look at Shuddha and his family couldn’t help remarking on how lucky some dogs can get .
But something was not feeling right for Shuddha . Though he had everything , he felt a strange vaccum. A gap which he could not quite either place or touch , but it was there , growing everyday and demanding to be filled. Shuddha was perplexed by this. I mean he was really happy mooching off on his father ,he didn’t need that shit right now. But still , the harder he tried to ignore it , the more persistent in its demands it became. And it kept gnawing at him. Then suddenly it dawned on him one day ….”THE WORLD IS EVIL AND IT IS FULL OF GRIEF” ..thats it that was the epiphany.
Yes the world is evil, he thought . I mean , it was only the other day that he had given his wife a beating for something he could not remember. She was really hurt and bleeding . He had been evil but later he was overcome by grief for not having a reason to hit her. Isnt this enough proof , he thought, to prove that the world is evil and full of grief.?
Once , when he was a teenager , he had beaten this guy up black and blue for eyeing the same girl that he had his eyes on. He thought that was evil. But later he was overcome by grief because the sex hadn’t been as great as he had thought it would be. Isnt this enough proof , he thought, to prove that the world is evil and full of grief.?
Very recently , he had squished a bug in his drawing room . He thought this was evil. But he had felt grief later on that it had made a mess all over his expensive carpet. Isnt this enough proof , he thought, to prove that the world is evil and full of grief.?
It was only yesterday , that he had slapped his butler , for not keeping his coffee warm enough . But he was overcome by grief when the butler made the same mistake a second time around , how many times do I have to slap this moron ,,he had thought. Isnt this enough proof , he thought, to prove that the world is evil and full of grief.?
So after this epiphany , he decided . “I shall relinquish the world” he told himself
And relinquish he did . He gave up everything he had.
He wrote off all his properties to charitable organizations. All in one night .
And of course , he had overlooked to inform his wife of his decision or his actions.
Wasn’t he relinquishing the world after all?/ He reasoned . And whenever he felt a little guilty about doing this, he construed it as a further proof of the world being evil and full of grief.
He wanted to become a sanyasi and a sanyasi he would become , he told himself.
People welcomed him with , again as another cliché goes , open arms. They had known him as a glamorous heir to millions , they had known his notorious exploits , so popularity was never a problem for Shuddha.
First they had loved him for his glamour and his millions . Now they loved him for his glamour and lack of millions.
First they glanced over his fashionably dressed photos in page 3 , now they worshipped him in his saffron clad new avatar.
First they had called him a talentless moocher. Now they called him a great sacrificer.
“Oh what a great sacrifice..” ,they all said , “and what a bold decision . Even His wife did not know” , they all admiringly said.
In very little time , Shuddha had a huge following of disciples. He established an ashram and several charitable institutions . A lot of his time was spent administering these. He also traveled a lot rendering discourses.
People came in troves to listen to his speeches on family values , and respecting other human beings and love and compassion for all living things.
They said he was a great soul. Soon he became Lord Shuddha . – the Great Sage.
The one who had relinquished his property ,left his wife and would have nothing to do with his son but had brought so much joy and enlightenment to the world . And the world needed it . If anyone asked why , they would say , “because the world is full of evil and grief”
Obviously when such a great man passes away , there would be an outpouring of grief. People all over the nation mourned his death. They said that a greater man , would never walk the earth for a long time to come.

Of course , everybody forgot to ask about the wife and the kid.

But by a freaky coincidence of nature , the date of his death was the same as the date when the wife had turned insane 10 years ago due to poverty and the sheer strain of living life and when the kid had died in a mob fight 15 years ago.