Chapter 3

Today Mr. Naman came this close to knowing it all.

Earlier today morning, on his mother's insistence, Mr. Naman had gone to the nearby market to get something. He can not remember that something now, infact he can not remember most-things now. It was a bright sunny weather- sunny weather that doesnt makes you sweat but just makes your face glow. It had always amazed Mr. Naman how the Sun is able to vary its intensity everyday and multiple times in a day too. He had assumed that the answer must be due to the chemical reactions going inside the Sun. Apparently, Sun does not have much control on the reaction - it is just a apparatus tool and not any chemical catalyst. Anyways, this was not the question that absorbed Naman this morning.

He had reached the market and was making his way through the swarm of people gathered in a market to reach the appropriate shop. Gleaming Sun made him feel confident and full of energy. Dressed in a plain t-shirt, whose color now was merely a reminder that it was white in its hay-days, and black paijama whose length was exactly in between the length worn by prisoners and length of his leg, this attire was Mr. Naman's favourite but in no way adhered to the implicit understated dress code of market.

It all happened when he passed through the clocks shop. He quickly observed that the big clock hanged outside to attract customers was showing the correct time even though it was not working. In the next flash of second, his mind shouted within him - "Even a stopped clock shows correct time twice a day". His first reactions(in sequential order are) were - wow! , is it true?, how is it possible?, eh?, oh!, aah!, oho!, aha!, wow!. And suddenly he realized that he has stumbled upon some information of valuable depth. How can something which is not working at all can serve its purpose even for an instant.

His legs froze. His eyes froze. He head was bent at 62degree downwards than the horizontal and his eyes were staring at the bottom of a pole anchored on the ground standing perfectly upright.
He was thinking fast, pushing his minds in all directions to rationale his profound observation. He was searching for answers but the question was still not clear. He was certain that it was not that question whose answer is 42. Mr. Naman was sure that he has solved one half of the problem - the how part, now only thing that was required was to solve the other half - the when part. He just had to know now when does these stopped clocks will give the correct time.

He kept on staring at the pole, looking at the point at which it meets the ground. He was amused - how come less than 10% of the pole was below the ground but still it was able to support itself. Something told him that somehow clocks were connected to all this. Suddenly he realized that today was a leap day. What a strange coincidence it has been. Clocks and leap day. He started thinking about the concepts of years and months. What would have changed if we had no months, just day1,day2,day3, all the way up to day 365. It would be so easy. He couldnt help but contemplate - why would anyone make such an arbitrary calendar plan. Some months having 30 days, some having 31 days. What happened to the concepts of harmony, uniformity and balance.

But these were just passing thoughts in his mind. He was involved with the bigger question - how can he determine by looking at a not working clock and tell that whether it is showing a correct time or not. The more he thought, the more he stared and the more he stared the more he thought. Somehow that pole was trying to tell him something. And he felt it. His countenance began to change, lines on his forehead were changing from a convex mirror to concave mirror like shapes. His doubts were clearing away. Starting at the pole bottom became some sort of meditation. He was gaining knowledge. He began to smile.

He began to realize that this was the moment of enlightenment that he used to read in books. Hairs on his arms and legs stood up as if they were some antenna. He was falling into an abyss - an abyss that began at the bottom of a pole standing erect on the ground. He was this close to knowing it all. He was there - he could feel it. But just when the most crucial information was to be transferred, a guy walking on the sidewalk at which Mr. Naman was standing nudged him and that broke his concentration. His glance swayed from the pole to 1 feet right of it and that was all that was needed to break the circuit.

At first, Mr. Naman was puzzled, unable to fathom that he had missed it all because some guy had nudged him at a market sidewalk. How unusual was it - how is it possible. He turned around to look back, to look at the clock and to his horror the clock was working. He looked at his wrist watch and that was also working showing the same time. And then another person nudged him as he was standing at the middle of a crowded market sidewalk. All his ideas were shattered in an instant. Disturbed, exhausted by all the confusion, he decided to walk back home without buying what his mother had asked of him.