Recently, I bumped into an old buddy who was returning from an interview. I straightaway enquired as to what was the strangest yet fascinating thing he had to ‘encounter’. Pat he answered, “One unique question was asked. It was something like this: There is a time machine that is going to open after 1000 years. State any five things you would like to preserve in it now. Remember that you have to choose only those things that can remain intact till 1000 years.” “Well, quite quippish,” I said. “Yeah,” he retorted, “but not kiddish.” “Well, anyhow, what did you write?” He started remembering what he had written but my curiosity was getting better of me every second since I too thought of “trying” it out once he unleashed the 5 ‘kit’tens out of his bag. “Hmmm, why don’t you try?” At this juncture, I realized he had a wry smile on his face since he intended to “quiz” me instead of “spilling his 5 pods.”
I acted smarter & coaxed him, “Let’s write it on a piece of paper & exchange.” He mulled over for a couple of seconds and nodded in the affirmative. He was a year behind me in S.S.C. in the mid-eighties and I knew he always ranked amongst the top ten students in the class. I continued to boondoggle in an unnoticing way. As soon as he finished, we exchanged our papers. Before he could see mine, I apologized for my non-mention & before he could react, I hastily fled.
He had obviously mentioned all the ‘abstract qualities’ to which I have no clue whether it can be called “utopian” or not. Let’s read them:
1. ATTITUDE
2. MOTHER-TONGUE
3. CULTURE
4. GOAL-SETTING
5. ALTRUISM
Any comments?
