Mr Simpleton

Yes he is Mr Simpleton and Mr Frank. His ways of life are simple and he, like me, loves the simple pleasures of life - chatting of all nonsensical things. His world of nonsensical thought is horizonless. When i talk to him, i feel as if I'm looking at the mirror and seeing myself.

Every single person in the world is blessed with some ability to excel in something. And life is a discovery of that ability and making a career out of it. Though I'm no Knuth or Ritchie, i am a natural at programming and though i find "programmers" all around me, grumbling and cribbing about how boring their work is, i thoroughly enjoy programming and want to do it all my life. But Mr Simpleton, though blessed with ample brains to be another programmer has his interests firmly rooted in writing. It all started with the story of coach Kennedy- which was a perennial source of joke and joy for us. He memorized Readers Digest stories and used to reproduce them verbatim for his English essay writing exams and ace them out (by stunning the teacher with his "writing style"). But, how he has developed into a well-rounded writer, and how he writes interesting vignettes - intriguing to the core. And every time I finish reading his anecdotes, I crave for more. So, even with the limited word-prowess at my disposal, I must write this short whatever-you-may-call-it about the man himself.

All around me, I see americans who must do and will do only what interests them. It is their privilege with the lifestyle and facilites that they have - to pursue whatever they like. But we Indians, are not that lucky. Else, how on earth would a man like MR Simpleton be programming for his career?? What a crying shame!! As is his wont, mr simpleton becomes mr frustration when i ask him this. Now, for a biography, this one is not a listing of events in chronological order, its just the various facets of the man, as I remember them.

At first I too found him wierd, specially because he was utterly dismissive of what i passionately liked - music. He said he never listened to music. I surely thought he was stone-hearted. How could someone not love music,. I cannot do anything without having my headphones on. Everything in my life has changed dramatically even before i knew it, but music still is the constant. And he said he hated music.

But, all of that changed one day when I forced him to listen to "Silent Night". None of you would understand which song it is except the man himself. Slowly, he started listening to music, now music is his passion too. How could he not like what I like.. after all, all our tastes were the same.. Thats why we were best friends..

His advice was different. He never cared to be caring nor did he pretend to be understanding. He just blurted out what was in in his mind in a brash and unfriendly manner. One of my friends got frustrated with his "Advice" and opinions. HE just said that the man had no soul or sentiment. But I knew he had them. Maybe I knew him better. NO. I Knew him better - than everyone else around him. So I always listened to what he said. None of his creative imagination played a part in a real-life crisis. He is as practical as they come with his outlook on life. No wonder he ditched his passion and took up software.

He is a lover of everything which is elegant . He loves the wristy Azharuddin and has his select category of writers - whose books he devours by the dozen. But where there is a rule there is an exception - and he is an utter pervert when it comes to women - his tastes are the wierdest ever! Not inclined towards the fair and the beautiful women, he loves the slightly dark and plump ones. I generally struggle to find any grace in the women he points out to me and says "Nokkeda.. charakk.. charakk.". Makes me feel I'm the pervert.

Now its time to throw light on another interesting facet of his personality. Ones close to him know this as the "bemgcasrbara" or the "balgaintl" effect . If you are wondering what on earth are these strange coinages, thats how he frames strange words to memorize stuff. "BE Mg Ca Sr Ba Ra" are the group 2 elements of the periodic table. I remember having a tough time memorizing his phone number which was - 550972. And one day, having frustrated with myself , I asked him.. how on earth do you remmber your number?? And he said " 5-5 =0 , 9- 7 = 2". How many of you would have found a relationship between those numbers in this fashion??

Sadly, in the indian scheme of things, anyone who is a doctor or engineer gets a fat paycheck. And to trust one's creative ability and to make a career out of it would be too much of a risk. So he too was forced to take the safer route and end up as a software engineer. Thanks to blogging, he still pursues his passion and describes himself in his blogs as a " misfit in the ever-expanding software quagmire".

Maybe it is that nothing in life is too late. Sidney Sheldon started writing when he was 50+. Maybe his real career would begin when he retires as a programmer. Everything said and done, maybe it is time for me to catch hold of all his blog entries and publish them as a collection of short stories.

I miss being with mr simpleton. Those days were full of anxiety and tension about our future. But the endless hours of chat and laughs.. the evening chat on my balcony ...the "cyberhunt" for girls .. the endless "combined study" sessions... the 10 minute power-naps he used to take in between study sessions.. the rainy day when we bunked school and studied inorganic chemistry.. how he helped me with orgainc chemistry... how he took the entirely wrong route and still ended up with the right answer countless number of times...his tryst with physics...how he fought for mammootty ... how he flicks off his legs and has a crouched stance with a lifted-up shirt collar ....

Both of us are miles apart now. All those moments are never ever going to come back.. they have been swept by the tide of time into the vast ocean of memories.. but can God give me a time machine for a single day so that i could once again go stand on my balcony with a cup of tea and then be a student of organic chemistry once again ??