THE EARTHQUAKE

The Submarine crew had closed in at the sun set. The boat had to set sail at midnight and the destination of the sortie was not known. The Captain had walked in with a suitcase in his hand and taken it down the hatch himself after a long discussion with the Executive Officer (2 i/c). The last three days gone by had been hectic for the Officers and Men of the Submarine. The war complement had been loaded into the boat and each department had worked overtime to stock up the boat for an unknown mission. The mid-night sailing orders were an indication that the human bodies had to alter their chemistry- the day would become night and vice versa. This strongly indicated a long patrol and the cat and mouse game would again be played.

Young Submariners have a sizable excitement about their first patrols. They have only heard about these great games and they keenly look forward to the fulfillment of their long cherished desire of sailing beneath the punishing seas to meet their counterparts. After all, they are the spies on a hunt. The game was new for many of us who were onboard the Submarine. Having qualified the Submarine Qualifying Board a few months ago, I had taken over the appointment as the Second-in-Charge of my department. The work had been going on feverishly as the Submarine was getting ready for the coveted operation.

I had been keeping a close watch on my crew and listening to their pearls of wisdom as the long sortie loomed ahead. There were many a veterans of such patrols and collective wisdom added up into centuries. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were put into motion and experienced brains did their own calculations to stock up the spares for the plethora of onboard machines. The shipyard also worked relentlessly to produce requisite replicas of common use items. The Engine Room crew moved in some heavy big nuts and bolts which the mighty engines might require in case of Murphy’s visit onboard to check the Crew’s metal.

The crew’s behavior patterns become interesting during such patrols. Men on their planned leave during the patrol are generally granted leave if a suitable relief is available. Some men are recalled as they form the backbone crew. Some men try to get dropped from such patrols as their past experience is like that of an earthquake’s unannounced visit into human lives. Observing the crew closely, I could divide the men into various categories. Some stocked up for meeting the challenge of the patrol whilst a few were desperately trying to wriggle out of what they considered as an ordeal. Those were the days of telegrams and inland/postcards. The sight of a postman would enlighten a few faces as they exactly knew the content of telegrams that would arrive. The hard preparation time was behind us and the crew list had been prepared. We were all set to go and the equipment checks began.

On a Submarine, the equipment is first turned in cold state to check for any mechanical flaws. The flaps, vents, masts etc went through their routine checks. The puff of the compressed air was then used to check the status of massive Submarine Diesel Engines. The port (left) Engine turned smoothly. The starboard (right) engine turned and a not-so-healthy sound could be heard. The earthquake had started its run. The patrol had to begin in next 5 hours and here the starboard engine had a potential defect.

The Engine Room crew began their defect analysis and rectification procedure. I went about my routine analysis of crew reactions. There are all kinds of humans onboard a platform. Some are happy, some disconnected, some worried and some looking for an opportunity. I zeroed down to one of my boys who was not very keen to join the patrol and he was constantly trying to figure out what the Engineers were up to as the defect was being isolated. He came on my radar as he kept up his talk with a few other crew members and rattled his past patrol experiences. I closed up to him and generally kept myself near his area of responsibility. I also chatted with him and gauged his mood. He had been retained for the sailing as he was a senior crew and had an important promotion coming up. He had not cleared the mandatory swimming test and with the patrol, his promotion date had shifted almost 45 days ahead. Further knowledge assessment revealed that he had been member of a Submarine Patrol which had turned tough and he had been part of an accident during that patrol. Lives had been saved. He had become the natural victim of Murphy’s psychological stress.

Soon enough, the Engineers fished out a big bolt which had been inserted into the Starboard Engine and this was the prime reason for the abnormal noise. The clock had ticked by and the crew worked frantically to meet the cast off timeline. The engines fired smoothly during the trials and the boat casted off on schedule. The crew settled down and I began my investigation. A pep talk and gentle prodding brought out the truth. The man owned up and he admitted his guilt. He had got hold of the bolt and thrown it inside the engine from an inspection window. He wanted to gain bargaining time for a drop from the patrol and this act could have fetched him that time. Further, he thought that his mishap in the previous Patrol might earn him a “Bad Luck” tag and that would be a good enough reason to earn the drop. The news of the patrol had brought an earthquake into his life. The rumble had begun inside him and he had lost his nerve. I had a call to take- to punish him or to push him to make him come out of his dilemma. I went for the second option. He was a seasoned hand who had spent many a years into the Submarines. He knew his job well and was a talented artiste too. I took him into my watch roster and got him engaged into a lot of activities. Putting him onto important tasks, I also trained him on the Main Motor Operations.

Handling the Main Motor Operations of a Submarine is an art. The Main Motor Operator has to be absolutely like a clock work precision mechanism. He has to be absolutely alert and knowledge of the entire Power Generation Network of the Submarine has to at his fingertips. In any situation, he has an important role to play as the entire Submarine’s efficiency falls onto deft Main Motor operations. Many a men onboard Submarines do not qualify as expert operators. The earthquake in the man’s life had now taken another turn. He had committed a critical mistake. He had got away with a different penalty for the offense. He had to qualify as an expert Main Motor Operator and that too within the patrol’s tight schedule. His actions had to be swift and efficient as any error at this stage could lead to a catastrophe. I had become his shadow and with careful watch on each and every action. The pep talks had got me the details of his entire biology, chemistry, history and so called mental demons. The rumbles and aftershocks inside him died down as the patrol progressed from one box of the ocean onto another box.

The Submarine completed the patrol with aplomb and returned to the harbor safely. The sailor had qualified the patrol with an added Main Motor Operator certification. He was a step away from being a senior sailor and soon enough, he cleared his mandatory swimming test and wore the Petty Officer’s rank. He no longer suffered from the rumbles of the earthquakes inside him and had left the patrol accident behind him. Eventually, he ended his Navy and Submarine career as the Motor Chief of a Submarine and using his talents is now a part of the Bollywood.

The turmoil inside humans are like earthquakes. Earthquakes are usually caused when rock underground suddenly breaks along a fault. This sudden release of energy causes the seismic waves that make the ground shake. When two blocks of rock or two plates are rubbing against each other, they stick a little. They don't just slide smoothly; the rocks catch on each other. The rocks are still pushing against each other, but not moving. After a while, the rocks break because of all the pressure that's built up. When the rocks break, the earthquake occurs. During the earthquake and afterward, the plates or blocks of rock start moving, and they continue to move until they get stuck again. The spot underground where the rock breaks is called the focus of the earthquake. The place right above the focus (on top of the ground) is called the epicenter of the earthquake. A similar phenomenon occurs inside human hearts and minds as the building pressure breaks the psyche. The control is relinquished and the rumble follows its own course.

Minor earthquakes only shake and pass through. The major ones can flatten humans and lead towards irreversible chemistry changes inside the human body. The path from thereon is just a downwards slide as the normal settings can never be regained. We need to be very careful as all around us chaos prevails. The thriving chaos is a stimulant for human earthquakes. These are trying times for the society. Most humans in and around our lives arena are going through minor and major earthquakes. We need to stop a little and give them a helping hand. We ourselves too need an introspection of our lives. The missions and goals will only keep on adding more challenges. The challenges can only be met if the player is at ease with his/her inner self. The helping hand can reassure many an earthquake build-ups and reduce the damage. It is easy to raze down a leaning tower. A timely support can help falling humans. Support virtually becomes the counterweight and can keep the human towers standing as earthquake rumbles down and then moves away.

So, will you provide the support to the humans in your arena as they meet their earthquakes? After all, the well-known adage is almost true in many lives-  As you sow, so shall you reap.

  

HIDE & SEEK

The memories of childhood can moisten almost all eyes. Humans have a tendency to mature into different molds with time, but, their sweetest memories remain that of childhood. The childhood memories are the first stage of “Down the Memory Lane” feelings. The happiest memories of childhood are the pranks and games that humans play with their friends. These memories have a special place in each heart as the mind wanders back into times to repaint the dots.

As young children in India, we were part of a generation that was replacing the pre-partition generation. Our games and pranks were more or less similar to our preceding generations. Each evening, the vehicle-less streets of our small towns would be full of children playing traditional games and pranks. The pranks were a part and parcel of the games and rejuvenated the naughty minds. I vividly remember an old neighbor who would not let children play anywhere near his home. He would protect his Guava trees from the children only to surrender them to the parrots who would ravage the Guavas at their free will. It used to be classic battle of a stick wielding Soldier with a high speed Fighter Plane. Many a tactics can be learnt from the birds as they keep jumping from wall to wall and have scarce regard for the pet dog. They know for sure that the dog cannot climb the tree and neither the wall. This Gentleman also resembled a popular figure on a Cigarette Pack and as a prank, the children would rattle out the Cigarette’s name when he shouted on them.

It was in those days that we could play the ever exciting game of “Hide and Seek”. Hide-and-Seek is a children's game in which a number of players conceal themselves in the environment, to be found by one or more seekers. The game is played by one player chosen as Seeker to close his/her eyes and counting to a predetermined number while the other players hide. After reaching the number, the player who is chosen attempts to locate all concealed players. The game can end in one of several ways. In the most common variation of the game, the player chosen locates all players, the player found last is the winner and is chosen to be the Seeker in the next game. The game is an example of an oral tradition, as it is commonly passed down by children to younger children. In India, hide and seek is played differently - if any of the 'hiders' touch the seeker and says Dhappa, then the seeker has to count again. However, if the seeker sees the hider before they manage to touch him/her and say Dhappa, then that hider will be leader the next round, unless some other hider manages to 'Dhappa' the seeker without being seen.

During childhood, this game is full of fun and frolic. Young children find many spaces to conceal themselves. The young, flexible and mostly lean structures permit children to ease into holds and crevices, behind the curtains, under the beds/sofas and as far as the imagination can wander. Many learn to climb the trees and walls with effortless ease to play and win this high excitement game. The game has a unique charm. It is a battle of minds. At the beginning, there is a burst of energy as players run around to find a suitable place. Then comes the calm period when the seeker is on the hunt. The mind controls even the breathing pattern and players stay absolutely calm and still to avoid detection. Silence is the golden rule of this game. Each detection leads to excitement for the seeker as he achieves his aim. The game surely pumped up the adrenaline of the players and there were smiles all around at the end of the evening. The game would begin next day from where it was left. Those were the days- the mind wanders, isn’t it?

As humans grow older, they do end up playing Hide-and-Seek again. Only this time around the patterns are different. The arena of the game extends distances. The players fan out to larger distances and the seeker has a big task at hand. He does not hunt down the players physically. The game transitions into a different dimension altogether. The seeker devises mechanisms each day to begin the game and the hunt continues. The players keep raising the stakes of detection and bank heavily upon the seeker’s sluggishness to track them. The game now has one undaunted challenge. The seeker continues to remain a seeker and the players have now to work hard to reach the seeker’s position. Each new seeker devises his own methods and the players prepare their strategies to avoid detection.

There are no set patterns to win games. One seeker’s technique may cause a complete Waterloo for the other seeker. The patterns though are static, but the solutions and techniques do differ. The game now shifts from mind to also occupy the hearts. Children are simple but mature humans end up into various complexities. With age, humans develop many vagaries and become dependent upon external influences. This is where the heart comes into the battle. Many a times, the mind is willing, but the heart refuses or vice-versa. The seeker has a task at hand. He now has to understand the hearts and minds as well. The combination of heart and mind leads to a complex maze of ideas and imaginations. It is also a fact that majority of the humans run behind imaginations most of their lives. Little they realize that imaginations can be mirages and do not actually give the desired results unless practical. The Hide-and-Seek now achieves higher dimensions and its proportions try to reach zenith.

This is where the seekers and players need to balance their respective approaches. The game is no longer for fun. It is now a business. Its components break into the complex management techniques and gets sub-divided into specializations. Theories emerge each day and new concepts are tried on humans. The humans forget to balance their hearts and minds and the race runs amok in various dimensions. In most games, the seekers and the players are not willing to balance the weights. Each one is trying to outgun the other. The chaos prevails and the humanity takes a great interest in persisting chaos as rising stakes seems to bring in better profits to one side. This is where the whole game loses its relevance and the childhood fades away into oblivion.

Each one of us has our task cut out. We are either seekers or players in every role that we play in this life. Our core job is to ease out the role and to play the game with simple ease. A job half done is not well done. A job can be a botched up operation if information is not exchanged timely. The seeker will seek and the players cannot hide for long. The idea to surprise the seeker with a Dhappa and to earn the accolades for a winning effort. The game must continue and the business must thrive to achieve a meaningful life. As in childhood, the evening would stop the game. In adulthood, many factors can stall the game. However, energy can neither be conserved and nor destroyed. The game has to begin and it is for the seekers and the players to decide how fast can they re-organize, connect the matrix together and play the Hide-and-Seek again.

So, shall we begin the new game today?