Buzzz

It is only 9.48 am-on a usual day. I am at home as usual. And my mind has been diving with gusto from one thought to another. 

A thought began rolling after reading one of the headings on the sports page - India, worthy champs says Australian media. A little while later, while washing the dishes, I was transported to another article that I had read a few days ago by Vivian Richards. He said that the Indian triumph at the World Cup Cricket, 2011, was a culmination of the result of the 1983 World Cup. It completely resonated with me. Coming from a foreigner, it also surprised me how he had captured the feeling, at this time- and that too his first thoughts. I hadn’t heard any other person articulate the same feeling. 

Back in 1983, I had watched the World Cup Cricket on a black and white TV. This World Cup Cricket, in 2011, I saw one of the matches on an equipment non-existent in the public space in 1983-the laptop. Back then, the West Indies cricket team toured India immediately and thrashed India in the Tests and One Day series. Forget winning against the West Indies, I remember on several occasions hoping Maninder Singh and Syed Kirmani would take India across the 100 runs mark to save us from embarrassment or even to help us escape the ignominy of scoring the least runs in an innings by a Test playing country. It has taken 28 looooonng years to capture this defining moment that explained what was happening in Indian cricket, the stature it had grown to or for that matter explain the obsession of Indians with cricket and ignoring achievements in all other sports. When you consider the 100s of million cricket followers in India, it seems like eternity. Ahhemm... I am wandering away from my focus, which is the buzz in my mind today. May dwell on the 28 year trail in another article. 

So from appreciating the aptness of Vivian Richards comment, my mind switched to the West Indies cricket team, which was once again touring India after the World Cup. The Windies team is less than a shadow their champion teams. In fact they are a different breed. In one article, the author pointed out how the champion West Indies team was fashioned out of a determination to show their equality or superiority in the face of silent racism. I wondered what could inspire the West Indies team in this age.

Patriotism was out of question because the West Indies team is not a country but a group of 15 English speaking Caribbean countries. Patriotism is not the best way to inspire oneself. However, it can be a major force in uniting people. Look at an India Pakistan cricket match for that matter. Few care about the quality of the team playing. An Indian will invariably root for India and a Pakistani for Pakistan. Cricketing logic or quality of cricket can take a hike. I wondered if it would make sense if the West Indies cricket team broke up and the dominating country took their cricket further by forming its own team. That thought was struck down by another thought ‘Naaah, they hardly have six million people in all. If they are split up into their respective population, they'll hardly have a chance against the others.’ Reflect on the population of the other countries: Zimbabwe - 12 million, Sri Lanka - 20 million, Australia - 22 million, South Africa - 49 million, UK - 58 million, Bangladesh - 162 million, Pakistan - 187 million, India - 1155 million. Only New Zealand, this year's semifinalist has a smaller population than the entire West Indies. Though I didn't have these numbers at that time, the possibility of breaking up the West Indies in order to motivate players was laid rest. Just as this thought stepped out, the next thought entered.

It had something to do with ‘exposing the corrupt’, which became exposing politicians; which became a ‘challenge because of heightened security’ due to America. America was responsible for a greater calamity than the 9/11 in others back yards. Is there a count of how many non Americans have died in the 'War' against terror? That became ‘What do the rulers of America want?’ That became imperialism, which became Big Brother watching; which became ‘with cloning all America had to do is to replace an unagreeable person with a ‘corrected’ clone of the person. A few days ago, I had just watched a film called the Adjustment Bureau, which had the concept of people being corrected or reset by an Adjustment Bureau to execute a ‘plan’ decided by a ‘chairman’.

A few days ago, I had also seen a TED talk video about the progress in biotechnological research. The most depressing image I saw in the video was of peculiar rat. The rat had a weird human-like skin and a protrusion on its back that looked like an ear. I was alarmed when I speaker informed the audience that they were just carriers of human ear. As and when there was a need for a ear, the rat would be killed and the ear would be supplied by this contraption of an animal. It talked about the ligers, the biggest cat produced in a lab. Apparently a couple of them have also been transplanted in some jungle or something like that. He showed a few cloned animals. It was disturbing. 

These led to the thought ‘What an interesting idea?’ i.e. to place a corrected clone in place of a ‘problematic’ human. And then I thought ‘Can I actually do a short film on this?’ Which became ‘No... I’d need to show a hospital or some sophisticated equipment to make it believable. I don’t have resources for that’ Then, my thought continued to ‘How can a ‘corrected’ clone realistically be swapped for a real human being.’ Which became ‘a hospital is the best place for a swap. A patient comes in to manage an injury, perhaps, occurring from a simulated accident. He/she is knocked out through a medicine or through a procedure. And there you go. He/she is swapped with the clone. Problem human problem solved.’ 

A person goes to hospital because of some injury and it ends up in him having to be scanned. The scanning becomes the entry point of replacement. That became ‘Let me write it down.’ Most of these happened in a little more than an hour. 

Since 9:48 am, I wrote in bits and spurts. The time now is 4:52 pm. Have I wasted my day? I hope not. I’d hate to believe that.