Some people say that idiot box has dumbed us. They say it has reduced interaction. Now I am not sure what they mean… Not only talking I even exercise during commercials… I mean getting up to refill the bowl of peanuts is also an exercise… Yesterday while watching an extremely long commercial I had the following conversation…
My friend: You know, I am having a run of bad luck…
Me: Are you exercising? [Little Laughter] I am sorry why do you think that?
MF: First, there was this incident that happened at my cousin’s marriage… and then I just realized that I am doomed to oblivion…
Me: Care to elaborate on that?
MF: The first one or the second one?
Me: Both are equally interesting but let’s try the second one first…
MF: Why don’t you quit doing that…
Me: Quit doing what?
MF: Forget it… So like I was saying I am doomed to oblivion… I think that’s because people don’t care to remember all the inventors… and I am afraid I am going to be forgotten…
Me: What did you invent or What are you going to invent?
MF: Planning to. Nothing as of now but I have a feeling that I am on the verge of inventing something groundbreaking…
Me: Like what…
MF: A spaceship…
Me: I think its already been invented…
MF: By whom?
Me: I am not sure…
MF: (now irritated and pissed-off) See you don’t remember the name of the guy who invented the space-ship… This further proves that if I invent something people are not going to remember… I should have been born before Newton and then I would have seen the falling apple and the rest would have been in the history/physics books…
Me: Maybe if you make a discovery now people will remember you 2 or 3 hundred years hence and then there would be a guy who would wish that he had made your discovery…
MF: Don’t make fun of me… I am on a verge of a major discovery… And I want recognition in this lifetime… in a very short span… like 30 or 60 minutes from now… not 2 or 3 hundred years down the line…
Me: I am sure that if your discovery is that major that somebody uses it everyday you will get noticed…
MF: You can’t guarantee that…
Me: No, really look at how famous the inventors of Electricity, telephone, or the WWW are… you name it and we can definitely recall the inventors…
MF: What about Milk?
Me: Milk?
MF: Do you know who was the first guy to look at a cow and say, “I think that I’ll drink whatever comes out of those things when I squeeze them?”
Me: Umm… well actually I don’t…
MF: You use it everyday and still you don’t the person who invented it… Now I know, I am doomed to oblivion…
An uneasy silence swept and the advertisements ended simultaneously ending the torture… The song and dance sequence in the movie was back and I daydreamed… Sometimes, ignorance definitely is bliss…
