Chapter 18

It was precisely 5 minutes Mr. Naman had left his house to go office. But now he is back at home and changing his clothes to wear Pyjamas. No, if you are thinking that today Mr. Naman is planning to go to his office in his pyjamas, someday i am sure you will be right, but not today.

Since Mr. Naman is back in 5 minutes, exactly after 2 minutes and 30 seconds, he would have decided to turn back for his home. What force can cause a man to change his mind to stay at home in 2 mins 30 seconds. Well, there are many such forces like headaches in stomach, mid-week office-sickness, start-week office sickness, end-week office-sickness and anyday everyday office-sickness. But these forces are nothing when compared to what drove Mr. Naman back home. Its the force known as - idea. It can strike anyone at anytime and anywhere. It compels one to stop doing what one is doing and do something that he is not doing. Mostly that something is think more about the idea and hence this is extremely viral. Fortunately for humans, this force is present in few people but unfortunately it covers up its lack of coverage by inundating some minds. Mr. Naman is such a human primate who suffers from strokes of idea many times a week. Even though it sounds glib but actually they are some of the most beautiful moments of one's life. It is like doing drugs - it sounds bad but ecstasy, aaah! the high feeling is beyond words.


Mr. Naman has to go and meet Jibran(*) now. Jibran is a fourteen year old kid, "He is not a kid" yells Mr. Naman from the text. Point noted. Jibran is a fourteen year old guy who has read almost all kinds of books in this world. His main interest is in the area of philosophy and in this area, not only he has read hundreds of books, he has also written one book which he soon wishes to publish. If you are wondering how or why a fourteen year old has read so many books, there is no obvious answer other than the fact that Jibran was born with a hole in his heart. Due to which he was not allowed to play outside. So when others were playing cricket, Jibran was sitting inside his home reading books. Jibran is one of the most erudite philosophers present today and surely he is the most learned in the whole of Ugar.

Jibran has stopped going to school, rather the opposite happened. The teachers of the school requested Jibran's parents to stop sending him because his knowledge had superseded their knowledge. His physics teacher was furious when she was pestered by his curious question on what would happen if everyone on planet Earth jumped at the same time. His Chemistry teacher, Mr. David, threw him out of class when he brought a boiled egg and asked him to reverse the reaction. When Mr. David that boiling an egg is an irreversible reaction, Jibran innocently asked that if life the most complicated thing ever existed is reversible through reincarnation, why cant you turn an egg back into liquid state. Jibran's Mathematics teacher just gave up because Jibran had learnt college mathematics and used to stare outside the window in his lectures making faces showing no doubt that he was bored.

Jibran and Mr. Naman were quite close friends. I think Mr. Naman was the only one who was able to understand jibran's words in whole of Ugar and Jibran was the only one who thought that Mr. Naman was an intellectual. In general people had no doubt on Jibran's profound knowledge and judgement. It was only when Jibran said openly once that Mr. Naman is an intellectual that they started having doubts on him and said that too much book reading has made him crazy. Jibran ignored them and Mr. Naman was too involved in himself to give a thought to it.

Now, Mr. Naman is walking towards Jibran's home to discuss his idea with him. "What is it" shouts Jibran from his window. Mr. Naman sees him and instead of going into the house, he walks towards Jibran's window to discuss the matter him.
Mr. Naman: I have got a good title for your book.
Jibran: Really, what is it?
Mr. Naman: It is a foolproof - the title is generic and your book will be a definite hit.
Jibran: What is it, Naman? Now i am getting worried.
Mr. Naman: The title is "Book for an intellectual. Do you get the beauty.
Jibran (with a confused face, semi excited, semi disappointed): Get what?
Mr. Naman: Oh Jibran! See, with this title, anyone who reads this book can not say that he did not like it. If he is an intellectual, he would like it. But if some one does not like the book, he cannot say no because then he would be saying that he is not an intellectual. No one likes to call oneself a moron except a few exceptions.
Jibran: But this book is not meant for everyone. It is meant only for few intellectuals.
Mr. Naman: Yes, i know. But with this title, everyone will feel like an intellectual.
Jibram: Sometimes, I think your view of world is too optimistic. Anyways, since you are my friend, i will not discard the title in your face. But ultimately, it would loose to something that makes sense.
Mr. Naman: I see. I will keep it for one of my books in that case. Ciao. I should go to office now.



(*) Note from author: Jibran is a character that i have borrowed from the Pakistani drama - Ankahi (Unkahi). No permission has been sought while borrowing the character. If someone has any objections, please leave a comment here.