World's Toughest Crossword: Life

Quite recently, I (M) had a talk (when I was having a walk) with an elderly man (U) (though he did do the main talking). I am not going into the details of how the talk started, but gradually we ended up talking about what I am about to share with you now.

U: 'Many of us have heard our teachers/ elders telling us that there is no work in life which can be done without the help of math. Though that might arguably be true, but I am not going to harp on that point. Instead, I will talk about another important aspect in our life: CROSSWORDs (puzzle).'

M: 'What is this guy rambling about? I have better things to do than think about those silly crosswords... There are surely thousands who don't bother with such an annoying waste in time!'
U: 'True. If something along those lines (the above one) is coursing through your mind, then I am on your side.'

M: 'HA! From where to where is this talk going?'
U: 'Let me explain. Crosswords have been an integral part of our life, and there is no guarantee that a person proficient in solving the crossword puzzles on the papers (that you get to see every day), will be any better in solving the toughest crosswords experienced by us- LIFE!!!'

M: 'OKaayyyyyy!!!' -__- 'What does a dumb crossword have anything to do with Life?'
U: 'EVERYTHING! I neither know as to who introduced crosswords (the ones on the paper) nor why, but there can be a lot of similarities drawn between Crosswords and our lives.
Similar to crosswords, our life:
- Isn't a fairy tale (with smoothly curving paths, where one good thing leads to another with little or no worries).
- Has various blank (black) spaces which are outside our control.
- Has various clues as to how we proceed.
- The way we go about solving it determines as to whether we attain success or not.
- Once one is solved, there is always another to face the next day/ time.'

M: 'So, you say there are multiple crosswords in our lives, not just one symbolizing Life as whole?'
U: 'Yes and No. Yes, because as you said there are multiple crosswords we come across our lives, and no, because we can also consider our entire life as one huge crossword with all the smaller crosswords forming words as rows (across) and columns (down), something which arguably none have been able to solve. Therefore, solving few problems or overcoming certain obstacles, do not in any way guarantee a happy or successful life, as there are many more words/ crosswords to be solved. This is where, we have to prioritize, but I do not intend to discuss about priorities.'

M: 'Where else are these crosswords applicable?'
U: 'There are few other attributes which have the basis of a crossword, such as
Our DNA: There are innumerable researches working in this direction, in order to understand the importance of our DNA, though there is a general understanding, but to get a more in depth understanding, we try to make use of all the clues available.
Our character: All of us are unique in our own way, and in order to get a good understanding of an individual, once again we need to comprehend the clues we sense present in the individual.
Similarly, there are various other places where we have Crosswords ingrained.'

M: 'But we have heard similar lines, such as our life being full of puzzles...'
U: 'I agree. Crossword is only a type of puzzle and hence the same holds good. Life is a big puzzle, and those who take pains in solving it are the ones who taste sweetness at the end of their journey (even though if they haven't solved the whole thing).'

As I came back near my house, I finally said:
M: 'This has been a nice talk with you and I have learnt a lot'
While saying this I turned towards him only to find that he wasn't there...

3 wise men

This story is set in the old world. 3 men were travelling on horses, armed with swords, knives and bows and arrows, in search of (in this case) someone. There was something unique about the three; one was deaf, second was blind and the last was dumb. The weather was at its gruesome worst, with the lands all around snowed in, hence making it difficult to see. As they pass a few dead trees, the one last, hears the twang of a bow, and immediately takes avoidance action, hence saving himself. All 3 of them then set in the direction of the attack in search of the elusive foe. Due to the poor conditions, they were still in search a few hours later. Hungry and tired, they finally reach a log cabin and see some smoke coming out of the chimney.

Though it is dark inside (with just a same light source, probably a candle), they are comforted by the sight. They knock on the door, only to find an old woman being the lone resident of that cabin. The warm hospitality of the old woman leads them to lower their defenses as they enjoy a good meal and get ready to take rest. The old lady is bemused as all but one of them had not spoken a word yet. When she does ask one of them, if they are ready to sleep, she doesn’t receive a prompt response, except for a curt nod from the same man, giving her the feeling that the other 2 do not have their listening and talking senses. Seeing that they are making themselves comfortable, she assumes that they are all along the same thought pattern. After they seemingly go to sleep, she waits an extra precautionary 10 minutes before advancing to the back door and opening it. Standing in the cold outside, is none other than her son, and the same man whom the 3 were in search of. Ready with an axe, he advances to the man who supposedly had spoken and heard (pointed out by the mother), considering him to be the greatest threat. All lights are off as he raises and brings down the axe only to hit a pile of pillows. From the darkness, the twang of a bow is heard and then he falls down dead.

This story is an analogy. The 3 men depict 3 wise men that are in search of knowledge. Knowledge is not always the easiest thing to find. Many times there are obstacles to obtaining that knowledge, in this case the old lady. Sometimes, it is even tempting to forego the search, as is indicated with the comfortable ambience. At the end though, we need to learn to master the knowledge, not make knowledge the master of us, as happens at the end.
They might be the first, but not certainly the last (as seen in image)...




claim token CM5DR6UYPPGX 

Crazed Stranger

We have all heard of small towns having a man commonly termed as a Town drunk (or village drunk in case of a village). Have people ever tried to get into those persons (or similar people) lives and find out what is it that makes them tick the way they do? I have… Just once… After that I decided not to try it again.

I come from a little known town so I wouldn’t want to delve into names. There was one such man abhorred and shunned by all. No one seemed to know who he was, or perhaps no one cared to know.  Most people would look with fear at him, children were pulled away from him whenever they moved close to him, and ladies passed him with fear stricken glances. Very rarely though did he approach people himself, many times he was heard screaming loudly in a voice even he might fail to recognize as his own (due to the lack of use of his voice box).

 I was a curious youngster and whenever I saw him I would pester anyone near to tell me as to whom he was. I would usually get one of 2 responses – either they don’t know or some said that he was thrown out of his house due to his raged drunkenness.

There was a time in my life when I was going through a rough phase, and found a lot of solace in his company as he would generally be quiet when someone around him (irrespective of the contrary accusations). Gradually, I found him as good company and felt an invisible connection form between us two. I used to get some things to eat. After some more time, I began to leave a bit for him on the ground near him before walking off, not looking back as to what he was doing, but was happy to see it gone the next day I would pass by him on my way to work. Finally, one day I drew some courage and asked him about his past life. Not expecting a reply, I wasn’t disappointed in anyway when I didn’t get one. Seeing that he remained a silent spectator, in the coming days I began to pour out my own problems to him, and it gave me a soothing feeling being with one who was ready to listen without saying a word of neither admonition nor argument.

Things went on like this for some time, and then as things got better I became more engrossed in my own personal and professional life and hence didn’t have much time for him. After 2 weeks of not having met him, I made up my mind to go and check as to how he is. I was shocked to see him sprawled on the pavement with a high fever. I immediately got him admitted into the hospital, but it was too late… He soon passed away after telling me the first two coherent lines I had ever heard from him. The doctor did give me a small pad, telling it had been written by that man for me. I was very surprised as I didn’t know that he would be able to write, and curious too as to what he would have written for me.

In it I read things which I will be briefing to you now. He had noticed me for quite a few days and had begun to write this quite early. He had been an educated man with a decent family background from a village about 120kms away. He was a hardworking person and hence had earned quite well. With many in his village and many relatives too being poor, he put in lot of time and money in their lives, caring for them as his own. Sadly for him, he began to realize that there was no return in that love and no appreciation from all those people that he cared so much for. Things started getting worse and worse, and he began to feel depressed. His 2 sons got married and they went away to nearby cities. His crops began to fail and hence he became poor. After a few years his wife passed, leaving him alone. His fellow villagers had no pity on him (despite the help that they had received earlier), and left him as he was, even his sons ignored him as they felt that they had been ignored (but they had been well taken care of with them getting whatever they had wanted) by the father due to his constant thought of others too. Forced to sell his house and farm, he was left with nothing and nowhere to go.

Finally, he trudged all the way to this town 20 years back in shame along with the hope of something better happening. Being hungry and weak, he arrived in the village poor, unshaven and weak to the bones. Hence, right from then on, he was ignored and shunned. With no money for medication and food, his suffering did not ease, with only some people giving left over drinks and food for him to take, hence leaving him if at all drunk. He was forced to scrape for food leftovers from garbage bins.  This continued for long until he met me, and after I was giving food, he began to feel strong.

That’s all was written in the pad of his, but the rest anyone can surmise. Have you wondered what he told me on his death bed was. It was just 2simple lines -

“I am neither a bad nor a mad man …,

I liked people a lot once but got no return”

Barls Cabbage, his apprentice and his Time Machine – A Parody

No one knows about what really caused Barls Cabbage to originate the concept behind a programmable computer. Since such technology wasn’t available at that point of time, it makes the story even more mysterious.

It all started in the early 1820s when Barls felt that one couldn’t depend too much on human mind for calculations because of the high error rate. He wanted to device a machine that could reduce the errors for calculations. With that in mind, he began working on a machine in the basement of his house. With the loss of three from his family in the same year, he was seen as a depressed man moaning in solitude. The only thing that kept him going was the machine on which he was working on, with him putting all his time and effort into the machine, it comes as no surprise that he got extremely engrossed and the results didn’t matter to him anymore, with improvements continuously coming into the machine. Finally, around 1865, his machine was finally ready. The functionality though was totally different when compared to the initial goal of the machine. It didn’t perform normal expected mathematical calculations, instead it was a machine which bent the time continuum, in other words, it was a time machine.

This machine was kept hidden from all others, not even his youngest son Benry. Now, as it was time to test the machine. It was 2-3 years back that he had met Vules Jerne after a long time (their first meeting was when Vules was young about 22 years back), and they became very close friends. He decided to let Vules know about his invention too and hence Vules became his apprentice. Vules took lot of interest in the machine and helped Barls to complete the machine by 1862.

Barls decided to traverse the first journey alone. He did so and travelled to the past first as he wanted to check how the world was in 2500 BC around which the abacus was invented, after several trips he finally found out that it was invented in the year 2345 BC. By now, Vules was accompanying him in his journeys.

Barls finally decided to travel to the future, in what he hoped would actually lead to the actual machine he intended to design, a machine to program calculations. This was a tense moment, because he had expected going to the past to be actually possible as people could traverse in memory and remember what had happened before, but nobody could actually tell what would happen in the future. Being a non-believer in astrology certainly didn’t reduce his doubts. Fortunately, the first mission was successful, and so were a few more. Next, he and Vules moved towards the future 100 years in advance (year 1962 that is), and he achieved a success in first attempt. Here, he got to meet some scientists and became aware of his name having achieved a status in history; he soon realized that he had managed to initiate the first concepts behind building a programmable computer. After learning the basics behind the technology, which took a few years, he decided that he could try to learn more about the technology, so it would benefit his actual own generation. Meanwhile, unfortunately he contracted a bacterial disease and became quite unwell, Vules decided for his safety, in order for Barls not to get lost to the past, to go back.

It was year 1870 now; Barls was extremely unwell and soon passed away into the void. Not many questioned their disappearance for those years as they had informed all that they were going for a trip. Barls left the basic concepts in writing for his son Benry to take over and carry it into the future, which Benry did, culminating in six working difference engines based on his father’s designs.

Vules, did not come from the journey empty handed either, he learnt about various innovations, though he spent most of his time with Barls, during their travels those years in the future, he became aware of various technological changes in the future. Always being a lover of writing and sailing the seas, he learnt of various advancements in maritime technology. This information was used by Vules and put down in writing in the form of novels which all became world famous and read for centuries beyond partly thanks to the futuristic technologies covered and his brilliant writing.

Now, we are more than 100 years past since the great many ideas that came through. One might wonder what happened to that great invention - the Time Machine. It is believed that Vules Jerne destroyed the machine on Barls Cabbage request, since it could be put into wrong use if it fell into the wrong hands, and he didn’t want others to see the suffering that was in store in the future, which he had come across on one of his many journeys.

TRAPPeD!

One day, a person was walking around his fields, enjoying the freshness in the air, and was lost deep in thought. All of a sudden, he stopped; he had just heard someone crying for help. Then he heard it again, it was coming from not far away. He went in that direction and he saw a boy trapped in a well, crying.
Being handicapped, he was unable to help, and since none of his farmhands were around, he was unsure of what to do. Then he noticed a couple of protruding stones that were present along the sides of the well. His advice to the boy to try climbing up the well using the stones as foot holds. The boy tells through his tears that he had already tried once, and the stone had dislodged causing him to fall and bruise himself more.
The man advices the boy to first check each stone with his hand before he climbs it. The boy is still scared and refuses to do so. His crying becomes louder. This angers the man and he threatens to leave the boy in the well along with ensuring that nobody else comes to his aid. This frightens the boy. Finally, he starts climbing up following the man’s instruction. After a lot of slipping and couple of dislodging stones, the boy finally comes out of the well, hurt and bruised but happy.
Does this story sound familiar to you? Consider the boy trapped in a well similar to a person trapped in his own mind and the handicapped man is similar to any presence outside that might not be able to help you in any direct way. The rest should be clear to you by now, but I will say it anyway. Once a person traps himself in his own mind, it becomes difficult for him to come out of it. Nobody else will be able to help him. It is up to him alone to come out of it. Though the route might be difficult and sometimes frustrating, but when he does come out of it, he will always be better. When changes do happen, this is when a person tends to go into a shell and it will become very difficult to come out of it. One needs to be always open to what is going on around him and should be able to adjust to certain changes that might happen.

tree dreamz

This is my first day at my job. It is something for which I have been waiting all these years ever since my uncle Donald (he is a woodcutter by profession) gave me a toy axe to play with. I had always seen people cutting the wood and found it very fascinating. Since then I had decided to become a woodcutter.
After my first day of work, I decided to spend the night in the forest itself as there were hardly any animals, and if there were, they were friendly. I had just put some food in the pot on top of the fire and then sat on the ground leaning against the log thinking of how nicely the day had gone. It had been a very good day and I had enjoyed getting tired as the day had passed. As I was reminiscing with myself, I must have dozed off to sleep.
Suddenly it had become really dark with the moonlight too not visible. I looked around trying to get my bearings, the pot was there but there was no fire. As my eyes got accustomed to the darkness, suddenly I saw some dark outlines in the background. They were there only for a moment and then they disappeared, I was afraid. I called out but there was no answer. Is it possible that there are really things such as ghosts; I hope not? I move towards the spot where I had seen those things, and I see around. Once again I see them; it looks like they want me to follow them. They seem really big, but still my curiosity gets the better of me. I follow them, they start moving faster and hence I begin to run in order to keep up. This seems to be continuing forever and I am getting exhausted. I am sweating a lot and I lift my hand to wipe my brow. When I look again, they have disappeared. I have no idea where I am and have no idea of what to do. My uncle had always told me not to wander too deep into the forest. I feel a gentle breeze behind me and turn around to look; did I see something move? It looks like the tree is moving, it is coming closer and closer, I look around, and ready to run away but all the trees around are converging on me. I lift my axe ready to attack and just swing it to ward off the incoming trees. I suddenly feel a tree hit me on my head from behind, I start swinging blindly and the trees start pushing me and hitting me.

All of a sudden I open my eyes and realize that I am on the ground. Still I feel something pushing me and realize that it is my uncle waking me up from my sleep. He had been wondering how come I had not come back in the evening and had come in search of me. i was really shaken. i gave up woodcutting in order to take care of my father's shop as my father had always been requesting me to do. Still, whenever i look at the forest, i often wonder whether the trees were trying to say something to me.

The Predator

The beaver family was forced to flee their part of the forest due to the large fire that had burnt not only their home but a large area around. Though they saw certain humans trying to put an end to the fire, little did they know that the fire was caused by a careless human in the first place. So they went deeper into the forest in search of a proper place to live. Once they found a suitable spot, they left the young ones (assuming it to be safe as it used to be in their previous home) and just went in search of some good wood to make a home with. A crocodile which just happened to be passing by sights the infants and decides it is time to have some dinner as it was hungry. The parent beavers sense the crocodile and immediately go to protect their young ones, but the crocodile reaches them first. The beavers try to stop the crocodile in vain as the crocodile uses its tail to ward any attack. But one of the beavers manages to distract the crocodile’s attention, while the other takes the young beavers to safety. The crocodile in its anger swishes its tail and injures the beaver that had distracted it, it now goes towards that beaver getting ready to have its larger feast. It grabs hold of the beaver ready to tear its head off. The other beaver, which was thinking of coming to the aid of this beaver, goes back to its hideout as it senses some other animals around. The crocodile opens its jaws wide open, unaware of what is around it.. Suddenly there is a big bang, and the crocodile stops in its tracks. The injured beaver immediately crawls away to safety. Then they hear voices (of humans). One of the human says “Did you see there was another animal there, do we search for it?” His accomplice shakes his head in disagreement. They come slowly and carefully towards the crocodile, examine it and then take it away.
The question that comes into one’s mind is- “Who actually is the predator, the crocodile that was just fulfilling its natural instincts, or the humans? “

Laugh Please

It is well known that laughing is the best catalyst for happiness. Here is a small anecdote with this regard. There were two children who were sister and brother. It is up to you to assume some names for them. Now it so happened that the brother was a very mischievous and jovial person while the sister was the more serious kind of person. Perhaps all of you reading this will guess immediately who was more successful in education and if your guess is that the sister (who was the elder among the two) was better in studies then your guess is right. She was not only better but was a consistent topper in her class as well. The brother was the more playful kind who played lot of pranks and many times his parents were summoned for his misdeeds. As one would expect, this put a lot of pressure on her little brother because he was constantly compared to her. This made the parents worried and they began to put lot of pressure on him, curbing all his activities believing that it was required for him to succeed.
His results began to improve and soon he too was topping the class. Meanwhile his sister had gone to another place to complete her further studies. In spite of their differences, she had always enjoyed her brother’s company and his pranks too. When she finally came back, she saw a different person in her brother and she soon realized that he was no longer as happy as he used to be and he did not seem to be enjoying himself as he should be. She decided to straighten things out. She felt the best way to do it was to relive their childhood days. So whenever possible she would spend time with him. This was taking time as he had lost his mirth it seemed. Finally she decides to show him a movie which was a very good comedy in the hope it will make him laugh and then things would improve. The movie was very funny and as expected at a particularly funny part, he began to laugh, but then he suddenly shouted in pain. On finding out she came to know that he felt like he had had damaged something in his neck. so when she becomes very worried, he shouts "FOOLED YOU!".
Some might be wondering what was special about that day, it was April Fools Day. He had begun to feel better earlier itself and he had decided he will play the fool with his sister on that day.

My message is clear- do not forget to enjoy life at all times, and in case you have a friend or relative who is in a similar position to the boy, make sure that things are made better for him before it is too late. It is never too late for anything. Never put too much pressure on a person, just making him understand his responsibility will be what is required. Remember to continue enjoying life as it is. Cheers!