VARALOTI RENGASAMY.

The Good and the Bad at the moment!
Thanks to Deccan herald dt.20.6.05

Problems galore

By Varaloti Rengasamy


Astrology, it appears, is all about how you wish to view your circumstances

GOOD:

He was an astrology-buff. He would start his day by seeing the prediction in his calendar, applicable for his zodiac sign. His mood for the whole day would be decided by the words that the unknown, unseen astrologer chose to put against his zodiac sign. His wife gave a damn to astrology, but nevertheless loved her husband.

One fateful day, he awoke to see the words ‘Problems Galore’ for his sign ‘Leo’. He became depressed.

And the prediction turned out to be painfully true. His two-wheeler had a flat tyre. Cursing his fate he walked to a nearby bus stop. In the bus as he was about to buy the ticket, he found that he had forgotten his wallet. The presence of one of his friends in the same bus solved the wallet problem.

When he reached his office he was late by an hour. It turned out that as he — the cashier — was late, the manager had asked someone else to handle the cash for some time. Within thirty minutes and less than a dozen transactions, the substitute reported a cash shortage of Rs 40,000 and blamed it on our hero who had not closed the previous day’s cash accounts properly.

Overwhelmed by self-pity, our hero got working and soon discovered the cause for the trouble. The substitute had generously handed over a five-hundred-rupee-note section instead of a hundred-rupee-note one, which explained the shortage of forty thousand. The payee was traced and the money retrieved.

When the hero called it a day, one problem remained. He was still without his wallet and had forgotten to borrow money for his travel back home. He resigned himself to the predicted destiny and started to walk, when the manager passing by in his car offered to drop him home.

At dinner time he recounted his day of problems to his wife. His wife’s voice was nonchalant:

“You noticed the flat tyre when your bike was safe at home. Had the tyre gone flat when we were at the other end of town late last night, just imagine what an ordeal it would have been? You forgot the wallet, but your friend was there in the bus to save you from embarrassment. The cash shortage in the office eclipsed your being late by an hour. Your solving the cash shortage problem showed you in a much better light than the substitute. Finally, the travel with your manager consolidated your strengths in the eyes of your boss. All these would have an impact on your career.”

“But... but... how... did you get all these ideas?” “From the same calendar where you got your absurd ideas. You tore off two sheets in the morning. The actual prediction for Leo today is ‘Progress’. ‘Problems Galore’ is for tomorrow. So I viewed all the happenings through the prism of ‘progress’ while you did it with through that of ‘problems’.

Our hero now started worrying about the next day.