Right now, as I write this, I am sitting on my bike which is parked in shadow at the university end of Chaturshrungi road. Which means I am writing this long hand [which I hate to do and which means its high time I bought myself a PDA phone, which unfourtanetly I can’t afford :-( ].
This whole day was about “You Are Here”. If you are wondering what is “You Are Here”, then “You Are Here” is the first novel by 20-somehting Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan about a 20-something girl Arshi.
I have been reading this book for past one week or so. But I wasn’t getting much time to read it. So today being Sunday I decided that I was going to finish it today.
So I read it during my breakfast while eating idali-sambaar, poha & tea.
I read it while I had my lunch with chole, potato sabji, rice, dal and chapati. I read it with bread patties & tea.
And I read it with 2 scoops of Mocha-almond & Keshar-pista ice-cream at Shreeji (really tasty ice-cream, go there if you happen to be on Paud road, Pune)
After that I finished the book while sitting at a bus stand on an uncomfortable bench with no way of resting my back.
Why I didn’t read it at my home? Because I was some 20kms away from my flat & only other option was my office where I didn’t want to go since 3-4 unfinished website layouts wait me there & I so suck at creative stuff. (I am happy when I am coding though.)
So what’s the book like? Much like this post. Meandering with no obvious plot, lots of characters who have nothing to do with the main story, mostly about the protagonist and how she feels about herself.
And yes it is impulsive, girly and yet oddly satisfying. Oh ya, and add lots of alcohol & sex to the above and you get “You Are Here”.
Thank you if you are still here. There is a panipuri wallah right in front of me & I don’t have anymore patience.
Rating: 3 / 5
(This post was written on Sunday but poseted here on Monday.)
Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Gobar Gas Plants : Have you seen any?
I am a small town guy who is a son of a farmer. OK. My father is not a framer, he is a businessman, but we had our own farms so he liked the idea of playing a framer. (Anyway probably we lost more than we earned in our farming operations. Probably my dad wouldn’t agree but that’s the overall impression I have.)
No but this post is not about farming. This post is about gobar (cow/buffalo dung) gas. If you don’t know gobar gas is a term used for bio gas that is obtained from cow/buffalo dung. If you want to know more about it, read this wikipedia article.
I still remember the gobar gas plant we had in our front yard of the house we used to live in. This was in 80s. There was this huge tank (dug in ground having brick walls.) for the storage of the dung and water mixture which was put inside it by our saldar (A hired employee who looks after farming operations, something sort of a farm manager). And then there was a metal dome fixed as a kind of lid. In the center of this lid there was a pipe with valve from where we used to get gobar gas which was used for cooking.
During all my childhood this plant was an enigma and attraction. As long as I remember it was mostly defunct during my childhood. It just stood there as relic of a bygone era. Since there was danger of one of us kids falling into the tank, we were not allowed to play near it, but of course we did and there is a faint memory when I had almost fallen in the tank.
Later during renovation of the house my father removed the biogas plant and built a storage room above it. We sold that house around 2 years ago. Even though my entire childhood went in that house, I surprisingly remember little of it. Anyway I was never a person who gets attached with things. But somehow the memory of that gober gas plant remains.
In so many years after that I haven’t seen a single gobar gas plant. They almost seem to have become non-existent. Have you seen any?
No but this post is not about farming. This post is about gobar (cow/buffalo dung) gas. If you don’t know gobar gas is a term used for bio gas that is obtained from cow/buffalo dung. If you want to know more about it, read this wikipedia article.
I still remember the gobar gas plant we had in our front yard of the house we used to live in. This was in 80s. There was this huge tank (dug in ground having brick walls.) for the storage of the dung and water mixture which was put inside it by our saldar (A hired employee who looks after farming operations, something sort of a farm manager). And then there was a metal dome fixed as a kind of lid. In the center of this lid there was a pipe with valve from where we used to get gobar gas which was used for cooking.
During all my childhood this plant was an enigma and attraction. As long as I remember it was mostly defunct during my childhood. It just stood there as relic of a bygone era. Since there was danger of one of us kids falling into the tank, we were not allowed to play near it, but of course we did and there is a faint memory when I had almost fallen in the tank.
Later during renovation of the house my father removed the biogas plant and built a storage room above it. We sold that house around 2 years ago. Even though my entire childhood went in that house, I surprisingly remember little of it. Anyway I was never a person who gets attached with things. But somehow the memory of that gober gas plant remains.
In so many years after that I haven’t seen a single gobar gas plant. They almost seem to have become non-existent. Have you seen any?
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Where can I buy 6kg of RDX?
Spoiler Warning:
Next few paragraphs discuss the plot of the movie “A Wednesday”. If you haven’t seen the movie and planning to watch it (you should), read the rest of the post at your risk. It may ruin your surprise twist in the end.
Well the movie starts with Police Commissioner of Mumbai, Prakash Rathod (Anupam Kher), who has just retired, sitting near sea shore and he is telling us about the most interesting case during his service. This story is about a guy who places bombs in the city and he wants four terrorists to be released, if the Govt. wants to save innocent people from the bomb blasts.
Regular thriller you say. Yes, I say. But a very well executed one. You rarely find so competently made thrillers in Bollywood. The movie is directed by some “Neeraj Pandey” and I am sure he is not going to stay “some Neeraj Pandey” for so long, for the guy is so talented.
Well and this is not exactly regular terrorist bombing movie either, where in the last scene the stereotypical Muslim terrorist rants about how he is serving the Allah by doing all this. The man who plants the bomb is played by Naseeruddin Shah (What a fine performance!). But in the end we come to know that he wanted the four notorious terrorist to be released only to kill them in a bomb blast. After that he explains why he did that. His explanation is that he is a common man retaliating against these regular bombing attacks that keep happening in our Metros. He says that he is not ready to see his fellow commuters to be killed by these terrorists and do nothing at all. Hence he plans this operation to tell the system and terrorists that don’t stretch the common man’s patience for too long or we will just take the matters in our hand.
I know it is filmy but in the end you can’t help but think “Why does it take the courts ten years to bring these terrorists to justice?” I know all the backlog cases and stuff. But can’t these cases where national security of the nation is threatened be tried as soon as possible.
I know in the longer run we as a society will have to take a lot of efforts so that some disgruntled members of our society will not resort to drastic measures such as terrorism. But in the shorter period if we want to stop these cowardly killings of innocent people, our Govt. must take some strong actions. Something that sends a strong message that these acts of terrors will be severely punished, not only those who place the bombs but those too who help them to carry out these operations.
Otherwise everybody will ask the same question,
Where can I buy 6kg of RDX?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Ministry of Power Website and Technological Ignorance of Indian Government
India is a IT superpower. How many times you hear that statement? Well I just published a blog post about the nuclear deal and while gathering background material for the post I landed on the website of Ministry of Power, India. (http://powermin.gov.in) and to my disappointment it did not render correctly on Mozilla Firefox 3. So I started Internet Explorer7 and checked the website. It works fine in Internet Explorer7.
Firefox 3
Flock 1.2.5 (A browser that uses Firefox Rendering Engine)
Internet Explorer 7
How can a country boast of being IT superpower when the Government websites are so inept at handling even major browsers? Also if you see the website you will see that the website uses continuous running flash animation and scrolling news. Showing a complete disregard for usability. Also there is no easily visible (if there is one at all) link to the accessible version of the website. And add to that the website sports a visitor counter in the footer! Why a ministry website wants to boast about its visitor count? Guys are you planning to run ads on these websites next?
I know these elements are quite common on all Indian websites and they are there on website designed by me (only because client insisted about it and refused to have it any other way.) But this is a Government website! At least the Government should pay attention to the accessibility guidelines. There are quite a few people with disabilities in India. Does this mean that the Government of India does not want all these people to view and use its websites?
What is the primary use of a Ministry Website? To share information with people of the nation easily. What’s the point of having these websites if we are not able to access the information at all?
Firefox 3
Flock 1.2.5 (A browser that uses Firefox Rendering Engine)
Internet Explorer 7
How can a country boast of being IT superpower when the Government websites are so inept at handling even major browsers? Also if you see the website you will see that the website uses continuous running flash animation and scrolling news. Showing a complete disregard for usability. Also there is no easily visible (if there is one at all) link to the accessible version of the website. And add to that the website sports a visitor counter in the footer! Why a ministry website wants to boast about its visitor count? Guys are you planning to run ads on these websites next?
I know these elements are quite common on all Indian websites and they are there on website designed by me (only because client insisted about it and refused to have it any other way.) But this is a Government website! At least the Government should pay attention to the accessibility guidelines. There are quite a few people with disabilities in India. Does this mean that the Government of India does not want all these people to view and use its websites?
What is the primary use of a Ministry Website? To share information with people of the nation easily. What’s the point of having these websites if we are not able to access the information at all?
Ab to Sab Kuch Nuclear Power pe hi Chalega!
Well a similar dialog is there in “Welcome to Sajjanpur”. It really got me thinking. We are witnessing this nuclear power saga for last one and half year or so. It seems that the Congress party has all its hopes pinned on clinching this deal. Of course they have little to show as accomplishment by their government in last five years.
Inflation is all time high. After surpassing 20K mark the sensex is hovering around 15K mark. A lot of investors(speculators?) have lost quite a bit of money in the process. Home loans are being expensive. And add to that the terrorist bombings that are happening every 2 months or so. All total miserable failures. And add the extreme load shading that is happening in many states.
So the congress party is trying to show the nuclear deal as their great achievement. (The same “India Shining” mistake in my opinion.) In fact it seems clear that US is trying to use the deal so as to prevent India from further testing of nuclear weapons. But for me its really not the point. Personally I support Nuclear Non-Proliferation (but not NPT). Last thing I want is various countries dropping the nuclear bombs on each other, leading to demise of this planet.
The other issue I want to point out is that in our current electricity usage, the share of nuclear energy is below 3%. Now suppose that the nuclear deal happens and at some point in future this share of nuclear energy rises to say 60% or so. And if in such a case, we are totally dependent on US and other key players for our source of nuclear fuel, what will happen to India’s independent decision making power? Say suppose US decides to bomb China at that point, will we be able to oppose their decision, if we had so much dependence for nuclear fuel on them?
[Update 24th Sept. 2008: Today I had discussion about this post with my friend Salil, who disagreed about the previous para. He was saying that US will never bomb China in near future. Yes I agree to that. I was just trying to give an example. May be I chose a far fetched one. What I intend to say that if we become too dependent for our nuclear fuel needs on NSG in future we will loose our ability to oppose. Our independent decision making ability because of threat of supply cut of nuclear fuel. Our longer term goal should be to become self sufficient for all our energy requirements.]
So am I suggesting that we shouldn’t opt for this deal? No I am not saying that. Energy is the foremost need of development. Without energy no superpowers can be made. And if our immediate energy problems can be solved by this nuclear deal (another question to ponder about) then by all means we should enter into the deal. But at the same time we should allocate bigger budget for exploration of nuclear fuel in the Indian territory. Also we should be committed to the use of alternative and renewable energy sources. So that in future if need comes we should be self sufficient regarding our energy needs. What do you think? In between I have decided to know more about alternative and renewable energy resources and their application to India. Of course I will be sharing what I come to know about it here in this space. So see you till then.
Inflation is all time high. After surpassing 20K mark the sensex is hovering around 15K mark. A lot of investors(speculators?) have lost quite a bit of money in the process. Home loans are being expensive. And add to that the terrorist bombings that are happening every 2 months or so. All total miserable failures. And add the extreme load shading that is happening in many states.
So the congress party is trying to show the nuclear deal as their great achievement. (The same “India Shining” mistake in my opinion.) In fact it seems clear that US is trying to use the deal so as to prevent India from further testing of nuclear weapons. But for me its really not the point. Personally I support Nuclear Non-Proliferation (but not NPT). Last thing I want is various countries dropping the nuclear bombs on each other, leading to demise of this planet.
The other issue I want to point out is that in our current electricity usage, the share of nuclear energy is below 3%. Now suppose that the nuclear deal happens and at some point in future this share of nuclear energy rises to say 60% or so. And if in such a case, we are totally dependent on US and other key players for our source of nuclear fuel, what will happen to India’s independent decision making power? Say suppose US decides to bomb China at that point, will we be able to oppose their decision, if we had so much dependence for nuclear fuel on them?
[Update 24th Sept. 2008: Today I had discussion about this post with my friend Salil, who disagreed about the previous para. He was saying that US will never bomb China in near future. Yes I agree to that. I was just trying to give an example. May be I chose a far fetched one. What I intend to say that if we become too dependent for our nuclear fuel needs on NSG in future we will loose our ability to oppose. Our independent decision making ability because of threat of supply cut of nuclear fuel. Our longer term goal should be to become self sufficient for all our energy requirements.]
So am I suggesting that we shouldn’t opt for this deal? No I am not saying that. Energy is the foremost need of development. Without energy no superpowers can be made. And if our immediate energy problems can be solved by this nuclear deal (another question to ponder about) then by all means we should enter into the deal. But at the same time we should allocate bigger budget for exploration of nuclear fuel in the Indian territory. Also we should be committed to the use of alternative and renewable energy sources. So that in future if need comes we should be self sufficient regarding our energy needs. What do you think? In between I have decided to know more about alternative and renewable energy resources and their application to India. Of course I will be sharing what I come to know about it here in this space. So see you till then.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Movie Review: Welcome to Sajjanpur – A Must Watch for Every Indian
Yesterday it was Saturday and as a faithful movie lover I searched “Movies in Pune” on Guruji.com. I was glad to find out that there was a 6:30 pm show of “Welcome to Sajjanpur” at Rahul Cinema. So I asked my friend Salil whether he would be interested in watching the movie. He said yes. So we went to watch the movie. If you don’t know Rahul Cinema has slashed the ticket rates for the movie, Silver class is Rs. 50 and Gold class in Rs. 100. But the food inside is damn costly - Pepsi for Rs. 30 and 2 Samosas for Rs. 25. (Need not to say that I incurred both the obligatory expenses. One doesn’t weight 82Kgs just as easy.)Ok now about the movie, basically the movie starts with a brief introduction of Sajjanpur by the protagonist of the movie, Mahadev (Shreyas Talpade) who is a letter writer by profession and an aspiring novelist. The movie assumes hilarious tone from the first dialog and keeps it till the end. The short plot is Mahadev is in love with his childhood classmate (now married) Kamala (Amruta Rao). Kamala’s husband, Bansi (Kunal Kapoor in another husband cameo after “Bachna Ae Haseeno”) lives in Mumbai and hasn’t returned to Sajjanpur in last 4 years. So Mahadev tries to twist the letters which Kamala asks to write Mahadev to Bansi, so as to create a rift in their relation and to win Kamala from her Husband. All this is set on the background of election for the ‘Sarpanch’ of Sajjanpur.
It is nice commentary on rural life in north India and current Indian social and economic scenario. One particular dialog I liked was when Mahadev complains about rising petrol prices, other character replies, “Ab to nuclear power aa rahi hai, Sab uspe hi chalega.” (Not exact words but something to that effect.) But the director, (Shyam Benegal) takes a role of keen observer and commentator. Not once he has tried to preach anything and that’s what I think is the master stroke of the movie. It makes you contemplate but doesn’t try to influence your opinion. You are encouraged to think and draw your own conclusions.
In my opinion it is must watch for every Indian. And don’t worry it is a comedy so no fear of ruining your weekend with a serious movie. The songs could have been better though. But a minor flaw you can ignore since the filming of the songs is very creative.
Rating: 4.5 / 5
Movie Info:
Official Website: welcometosajjanpur.com
Director: Shyam Benegal
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
A Robot Learns to Feel - Preface
'A Robot Learns to Feel' was written sometime around Feb-March 2007. It is my third story and my most favorite of the three.
This story was written in long hand in a single evening. Both the acts are rare for me. I almost never write my stories (or anything else for that matter) in long hand. Reason : I am on computer at 13-14 hours a day. So why write in longhand in my ugly handwriting when I can write with beautiful (Yes, I have an unhealthy attraction towards beauty) fonts on screen?
Another special thing for me about this story was that it was written from start to finish in one single evening. And the first draft is almost 95% unchanged. This is very rare for me since finding a story to tell is a painful process for me. I almost never have my entire plots ready before I start writing. Generally all I can think of are some scenes or characters. Then I struggle hard to create a whole story from this scenes or characters. I abandon this effort in midway quite a lot of times.
Also one more thing, during this story I wanted to change the name of the company which manufactures C360 to a more creative ‘Automated Logic’ from run of the mill ‘Robosys’. But in the end I just ended up accepting ‘Robosys’ since it is straight forward and easy to understand for reader. No explanations required.
I hope you will like the story.
Thank you.
Preface | Part I | Part II
This story was written in long hand in a single evening. Both the acts are rare for me. I almost never write my stories (or anything else for that matter) in long hand. Reason : I am on computer at 13-14 hours a day. So why write in longhand in my ugly handwriting when I can write with beautiful (Yes, I have an unhealthy attraction towards beauty) fonts on screen?
Another special thing for me about this story was that it was written from start to finish in one single evening. And the first draft is almost 95% unchanged. This is very rare for me since finding a story to tell is a painful process for me. I almost never have my entire plots ready before I start writing. Generally all I can think of are some scenes or characters. Then I struggle hard to create a whole story from this scenes or characters. I abandon this effort in midway quite a lot of times.
Also one more thing, during this story I wanted to change the name of the company which manufactures C360 to a more creative ‘Automated Logic’ from run of the mill ‘Robosys’. But in the end I just ended up accepting ‘Robosys’ since it is straight forward and easy to understand for reader. No explanations required.
I hope you will like the story.
Thank you.
Preface | Part I | Part II
A Robot Learns to Feel - II
A few months passed and one day Aniket came back home, sullen, tired and devastated. He was sacked. The enterprise software market was saturating. His company was loosing money. Someone at the top decided that downsizing was the solution. So thousands of programmers were sacked.
“We are sorry, but your services are no longer required. Best of luck with your future - Thank You.”
Riya, Aasma’s mother, tried to console Aniket. “You are a good programmer. You will find a new job soon.” She was right and she was wrong. Yes, Aniket was a good programmer but he didn’t get a new job. There were simply too many good programmers around and they all wanted jobs.
So time passed and then it was time for the last and final operation to be performed on Aasma. The doctor said, “After this you will be able to walk by yourself.”
“Will I be able to run doctor?” Ninkita Asked. “I want to run.”
The doctor gave one of the reassuring smiles they flash in such situations and said, “Yes dear but not immediately after the operation. But in a year or so, yes, you will be able to run.”
Aasma smiled. She was delighted. I never saw her that happy before. And somehow I felt I was never happier before. What was happening to me? I, a robot, could I become happy? At that moment it certainly felt so. All my logic told me that there was 100% probability that this was happiness!
Then I experienced what you humans call the destiny. According what I hear this destiny never lets you to be happy for a long time. If you are happy for a long time, then the happiness looses its meaning. So soon after the happiness the destiny brings you misery. And misery was exactly what the destiny had planned for me.
With Aniket jobless, there was no way the Patils could have afforded this operation, unless I was sold!
When Aniket and Riya told this to Aasma, she was angry. She was furious. She shouted and she cried.
“No. I won’t let Adi go. I want Adi. I have already lost one Adi before and I don’t want to loose this one. If you want to sell him for my operation, I don’t want to have that operation. I will sit in this wheel-chair forever but I won’t let Adi go. I don’t want to walk. I don’t want to run.”
The only way to put, what I felt then, in words is – I was moved. This kid till yesterday would have given her right hand just to be able to walk again. And now she was ready to let go her only chance to walk just to be with me. This is exactly why we robots refer to the humans as ‘the emotional fools’ when we confer between ourselves. Then why now I didn’t want to call her an emotional fool? Is that because I myself was becoming one?
I sat in front of her on my knees. Just like when I had first met her. I tapped slightly on her head and said, “Hey kiddo, look at me.” She looked, crying, tears flowing from her big dark eyes. “No don’t cry,” I said and wiped the tears with my hand. She sobbed. “You see you always ask me to do things for you and I do them. Don’t I?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she said.
“For once if I ask you to do something for me, will you do it? It’s the only thing I am going to ask you ever. And if you do it I will become happy forever. So will you do it for me to make me happy forever?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Then I want to see you run, run and run. Will you do that for me? Run, run and run?"
The tears started to flow again. This time faster. She tried to wipe them with her little hand. But in vain. She hiccupped and said, “Yes. Yes. Yes.”
Then, Boss, I was sold to you to bring in some money to support Aasma’s operation. Yesterday you told me that you wanted to completely wipe-out my memory since you wanted me as brand new. You are my master and I am your robot. It’s your right to ask and it’s my duty to fulfill. If I have a life, then serving you is its purpose. But Boss, I gave my word to Aasma. Her operation was successful and pretty soon she will be able to walk again and I really want to be with her when she walks for the first time.
Boss, if there is a death for a robot, then completely wiping-out its memory is it. So will you fulfill my last wish before I die? Will you let me be Aasma’s Aditya till she walks for the first time?
Thanking you,
Yours in service forever,
Aditya.
THE END
-A story by Agamya Sensible
Preface | Part I | Part II
“We are sorry, but your services are no longer required. Best of luck with your future - Thank You.”
Riya, Aasma’s mother, tried to console Aniket. “You are a good programmer. You will find a new job soon.” She was right and she was wrong. Yes, Aniket was a good programmer but he didn’t get a new job. There were simply too many good programmers around and they all wanted jobs.
So time passed and then it was time for the last and final operation to be performed on Aasma. The doctor said, “After this you will be able to walk by yourself.”
“Will I be able to run doctor?” Ninkita Asked. “I want to run.”
The doctor gave one of the reassuring smiles they flash in such situations and said, “Yes dear but not immediately after the operation. But in a year or so, yes, you will be able to run.”
Aasma smiled. She was delighted. I never saw her that happy before. And somehow I felt I was never happier before. What was happening to me? I, a robot, could I become happy? At that moment it certainly felt so. All my logic told me that there was 100% probability that this was happiness!
Then I experienced what you humans call the destiny. According what I hear this destiny never lets you to be happy for a long time. If you are happy for a long time, then the happiness looses its meaning. So soon after the happiness the destiny brings you misery. And misery was exactly what the destiny had planned for me.
With Aniket jobless, there was no way the Patils could have afforded this operation, unless I was sold!
When Aniket and Riya told this to Aasma, she was angry. She was furious. She shouted and she cried.
“No. I won’t let Adi go. I want Adi. I have already lost one Adi before and I don’t want to loose this one. If you want to sell him for my operation, I don’t want to have that operation. I will sit in this wheel-chair forever but I won’t let Adi go. I don’t want to walk. I don’t want to run.”
The only way to put, what I felt then, in words is – I was moved. This kid till yesterday would have given her right hand just to be able to walk again. And now she was ready to let go her only chance to walk just to be with me. This is exactly why we robots refer to the humans as ‘the emotional fools’ when we confer between ourselves. Then why now I didn’t want to call her an emotional fool? Is that because I myself was becoming one?
I sat in front of her on my knees. Just like when I had first met her. I tapped slightly on her head and said, “Hey kiddo, look at me.” She looked, crying, tears flowing from her big dark eyes. “No don’t cry,” I said and wiped the tears with my hand. She sobbed. “You see you always ask me to do things for you and I do them. Don’t I?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she said.
“For once if I ask you to do something for me, will you do it? It’s the only thing I am going to ask you ever. And if you do it I will become happy forever. So will you do it for me to make me happy forever?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Then I want to see you run, run and run. Will you do that for me? Run, run and run?"
The tears started to flow again. This time faster. She tried to wipe them with her little hand. But in vain. She hiccupped and said, “Yes. Yes. Yes.”
Then, Boss, I was sold to you to bring in some money to support Aasma’s operation. Yesterday you told me that you wanted to completely wipe-out my memory since you wanted me as brand new. You are my master and I am your robot. It’s your right to ask and it’s my duty to fulfill. If I have a life, then serving you is its purpose. But Boss, I gave my word to Aasma. Her operation was successful and pretty soon she will be able to walk again and I really want to be with her when she walks for the first time.
Boss, if there is a death for a robot, then completely wiping-out its memory is it. So will you fulfill my last wish before I die? Will you let me be Aasma’s Aditya till she walks for the first time?
Thanking you,
Yours in service forever,
Aditya.
THE END
-A story by Agamya Sensible
Preface | Part I | Part II
A Robot Learns to Feel - I
Dear Boss,
You may ask why I am writing you an email. The reason is that you bought me just seven days ago and I don’t think our relation is mature enough to say, what I want to say, face to face. Hence this email.
Well, it all started when the Patils bought me secondhand from Nick Wilson. Nick is a Project Manager at Precise Finance Software Solutions Ltd. and humanoids are his passion.(Read – humanoids are his toys.) He has this compulsive need, you know, he has to have the latest model. So when Robosys released ‘C360 – The Second Generation’ he became obsessed with it. He would spend countless hours on the Internet looking for the 3D videos of the new humanoid. He would chat with the other owners and enthusiasts. They would discuss every spec item of the humanoid in detail such as its n-core, n-threaded processor and its better response time while playing chess (which is 0.36 microseconds better than mine, big deal!), etcetera, etcetera.
So now convinced that the new ‘C360 – The Second Generation’ was better than I, just a plain C360, he decided that I needed to go. I who was his only companion. I who tolerated his constant fiddling with my hardware and programming. Half the time he wouldn’t know what he was doing. He would mess up something making me partly dysfunctional for days at length. (Even now I suspect that unknowingly he had changed something in me that could never be corrected.) In short I was toyed with mercilessly. But I tolerated it all, for he would always speak of me affectionately. He would say I was the passion of his life. I was his most prized possession. He couldn’t and wouldn’t live without me. I was his lifeline. And suddenly I had to be sold ‘cause he needed money to finance the new humanoid which had a bit better hardware and better response time while playing chess. (0.36 microseconds for God’s sake!) Passion. Lifeline. Just empty words.
“Do humans ever know what they really want?” I asked my self. “Rarely,” was the logical answer that came back. In fact with Nick the exact probability ‘under reasonable assumptions’ of knowing what he really wanted was 8.32%.
Anyway I am humanoid. A humanoid is a robot. A robot is a machine and machines can be sold and bought. So I was sold to the Patils who bought me as a companion (toy! – at least that was what I thought at that time. How naive I was?) for their eight year old daughter. The Patils! Queer people I tell you. They performed a puja on me and performed some ritual with lemons and chillies. This was supposed to protect me from evil and to keep me functioning for a long time. Both, Aniket and Riya Patil are software engineers. Both hold masters in Computer Science. And yet they believe in the mystic powers of the Good and the Evil. Faith. For this ‘faith’ humans will do anything. Anyway, so I was bought by the Patils and was entrusted to their daughter, Aasma.
I remember clearly (which I obviously should since I am a robot and have 1024 TB of memory.) when I first met Aasma. She looked so cute. Round Face. Dark eyes, dark hair in pigtails with their ends just touching her shoulders. She looked at me. Her big expressive eyes full of apprehension. I am sure if I had a heart it would have broken when I noticed her wheel-chair. She maneuvered the wheel-chair towards me using the joystick fitted on its right rest. I sat down on my knees in front of her, extended my hand and said, “Hello Aasma, I am…”
“Aditya,” she cut my sentence midway, “I want to call you Aditya. Adi in short.”
There I was sitting in front of an eight year old girl who erased my identity of six years, my name Alex, in just one minute. She was looking at me questioningly.
“Don’t you like it? It’s my uncle’s name. He was with me, you know,” she indicated towards the wheel-chair with a minor flick of her head, “when this happened. Now he doesn’t live us. Mom says he lives with the God now. I miss him.”
Now it was impossible to protest or to say no to her.
“No I like it. I am Aditya from now on. You know Aditya means the Sun in Sanskrit.”
“Yes,” she said and indicated towards the locket hanging over her chest. It was made of gold, depicting a blazing Sun. “It was his.” She took it off and said, “Here, I want you to have it.” And she put it around my neck. What happened to me that time must be what humans must sense (feel) when they say, “I am touched!” And that’s what I said, “Thank you Aasma. I am touched!”
Later Aniket told me that Aasma and Aditya, his younger brother were the victims of the terrorist bombing at the Disney World. I knew of the incident. It was one of the worst bombing of 2066. Thirteen kids and seven adults were killed in that incident. Aasma was six then. Her spine was severely injured. Doctors said that she would have to go through five operations before she could walk by herself. They had already performed three operations in two tears since then. Aniket and Riya both worked. It was a must with all those hospital expenses. But Aasma became lonely at home. She would cry for hours at length clutching her uncle’s locket in her hands. That was when her psychiatrist advised Aniket to buy her a humanoid as her companion and friend. But a new C360 was out of question, given the conditions of the finances of the Patils. So Aniket asked his boss, my former owner, Nick if he wished to sell me. Nick had already announced (boasted) that he was thinking of buying the new C360 – The Second Generation. So that was the reason I was here with Aasma, nursing her, playing with her, laughing with her while watching ‘Mr. Bean and Sindbad – Around the Galaxy in 80 days’. In a way I preferred this arrangement. With Nick, I was always a little afraid with Nick’s enthusiastic upgrades which he performed himself on me. Given the state of Nick’s technical knowledge about my hardware, there was more than 70% probability of me being totally irreparable. It was surprising I survived the whole six years with him.
Aasma, she amazes me. What a tough kid with an understanding of almost an adult. It was six months since I met her. I was sitting beside her hospitable bed with clean white sheets. She was in a loose fitting green tunic that was a bit too big for her. After two weeks since the fourth operation. One more operation to go, then she will be able to walk. Lying on the bed she looked frail. The usual glow on her face had faded. Her cheeks were a bit hollow. She looked at me reassuringly and placed her hand on mine as if I was the one who needed support.
“You know Adi,” she said, “I am going to walk one day and run and play. I will run, run and run. That’s all I want to do run, run and run and play, play and play.”
“Yes, you will run, run and run,” I said, “and I will run, run and run with you. We both will run, run and run and play, play and play.”
“Yes.” She said. Mere talking about running has exhausted her. But at the same time the mere idea of running brought back the usual glow on her face. And after that she closed her eyes and slept calmly. Her face radiant. Probably she was running, running and running in her dream.
I slightly patted her head and whispered, “Sleep my darling.” Was this what you humans call affection?
Preface | Part I | Part II
You may ask why I am writing you an email. The reason is that you bought me just seven days ago and I don’t think our relation is mature enough to say, what I want to say, face to face. Hence this email.
Well, it all started when the Patils bought me secondhand from Nick Wilson. Nick is a Project Manager at Precise Finance Software Solutions Ltd. and humanoids are his passion.(Read – humanoids are his toys.) He has this compulsive need, you know, he has to have the latest model. So when Robosys released ‘C360 – The Second Generation’ he became obsessed with it. He would spend countless hours on the Internet looking for the 3D videos of the new humanoid. He would chat with the other owners and enthusiasts. They would discuss every spec item of the humanoid in detail such as its n-core, n-threaded processor and its better response time while playing chess (which is 0.36 microseconds better than mine, big deal!), etcetera, etcetera.
So now convinced that the new ‘C360 – The Second Generation’ was better than I, just a plain C360, he decided that I needed to go. I who was his only companion. I who tolerated his constant fiddling with my hardware and programming. Half the time he wouldn’t know what he was doing. He would mess up something making me partly dysfunctional for days at length. (Even now I suspect that unknowingly he had changed something in me that could never be corrected.) In short I was toyed with mercilessly. But I tolerated it all, for he would always speak of me affectionately. He would say I was the passion of his life. I was his most prized possession. He couldn’t and wouldn’t live without me. I was his lifeline. And suddenly I had to be sold ‘cause he needed money to finance the new humanoid which had a bit better hardware and better response time while playing chess. (0.36 microseconds for God’s sake!) Passion. Lifeline. Just empty words.
“Do humans ever know what they really want?” I asked my self. “Rarely,” was the logical answer that came back. In fact with Nick the exact probability ‘under reasonable assumptions’ of knowing what he really wanted was 8.32%.
Anyway I am humanoid. A humanoid is a robot. A robot is a machine and machines can be sold and bought. So I was sold to the Patils who bought me as a companion (toy! – at least that was what I thought at that time. How naive I was?) for their eight year old daughter. The Patils! Queer people I tell you. They performed a puja on me and performed some ritual with lemons and chillies. This was supposed to protect me from evil and to keep me functioning for a long time. Both, Aniket and Riya Patil are software engineers. Both hold masters in Computer Science. And yet they believe in the mystic powers of the Good and the Evil. Faith. For this ‘faith’ humans will do anything. Anyway, so I was bought by the Patils and was entrusted to their daughter, Aasma.
I remember clearly (which I obviously should since I am a robot and have 1024 TB of memory.) when I first met Aasma. She looked so cute. Round Face. Dark eyes, dark hair in pigtails with their ends just touching her shoulders. She looked at me. Her big expressive eyes full of apprehension. I am sure if I had a heart it would have broken when I noticed her wheel-chair. She maneuvered the wheel-chair towards me using the joystick fitted on its right rest. I sat down on my knees in front of her, extended my hand and said, “Hello Aasma, I am…”
“Aditya,” she cut my sentence midway, “I want to call you Aditya. Adi in short.”
There I was sitting in front of an eight year old girl who erased my identity of six years, my name Alex, in just one minute. She was looking at me questioningly.
“Don’t you like it? It’s my uncle’s name. He was with me, you know,” she indicated towards the wheel-chair with a minor flick of her head, “when this happened. Now he doesn’t live us. Mom says he lives with the God now. I miss him.”
Now it was impossible to protest or to say no to her.
“No I like it. I am Aditya from now on. You know Aditya means the Sun in Sanskrit.”
“Yes,” she said and indicated towards the locket hanging over her chest. It was made of gold, depicting a blazing Sun. “It was his.” She took it off and said, “Here, I want you to have it.” And she put it around my neck. What happened to me that time must be what humans must sense (feel) when they say, “I am touched!” And that’s what I said, “Thank you Aasma. I am touched!”
Later Aniket told me that Aasma and Aditya, his younger brother were the victims of the terrorist bombing at the Disney World. I knew of the incident. It was one of the worst bombing of 2066. Thirteen kids and seven adults were killed in that incident. Aasma was six then. Her spine was severely injured. Doctors said that she would have to go through five operations before she could walk by herself. They had already performed three operations in two tears since then. Aniket and Riya both worked. It was a must with all those hospital expenses. But Aasma became lonely at home. She would cry for hours at length clutching her uncle’s locket in her hands. That was when her psychiatrist advised Aniket to buy her a humanoid as her companion and friend. But a new C360 was out of question, given the conditions of the finances of the Patils. So Aniket asked his boss, my former owner, Nick if he wished to sell me. Nick had already announced (boasted) that he was thinking of buying the new C360 – The Second Generation. So that was the reason I was here with Aasma, nursing her, playing with her, laughing with her while watching ‘Mr. Bean and Sindbad – Around the Galaxy in 80 days’. In a way I preferred this arrangement. With Nick, I was always a little afraid with Nick’s enthusiastic upgrades which he performed himself on me. Given the state of Nick’s technical knowledge about my hardware, there was more than 70% probability of me being totally irreparable. It was surprising I survived the whole six years with him.
Aasma, she amazes me. What a tough kid with an understanding of almost an adult. It was six months since I met her. I was sitting beside her hospitable bed with clean white sheets. She was in a loose fitting green tunic that was a bit too big for her. After two weeks since the fourth operation. One more operation to go, then she will be able to walk. Lying on the bed she looked frail. The usual glow on her face had faded. Her cheeks were a bit hollow. She looked at me reassuringly and placed her hand on mine as if I was the one who needed support.
“You know Adi,” she said, “I am going to walk one day and run and play. I will run, run and run. That’s all I want to do run, run and run and play, play and play.”
“Yes, you will run, run and run,” I said, “and I will run, run and run with you. We both will run, run and run and play, play and play.”
“Yes.” She said. Mere talking about running has exhausted her. But at the same time the mere idea of running brought back the usual glow on her face. And after that she closed her eyes and slept calmly. Her face radiant. Probably she was running, running and running in her dream.
I slightly patted her head and whispered, “Sleep my darling.” Was this what you humans call affection?
Preface | Part I | Part II
The NGFG Theory : Why humans believe in the God
In my last post, titled “The Creator Theory : Why humans believe in the God”, I put forward one of the reasons (I believe) why humans believe in the God.
Here in this post I am putting forward a second explanation for people’s belief in the God. I have titled this explanation as the NGFG theory or in a longer version the Need, Greed, Fear and Goodness Theory.
The NGFG Theory
Need, greed, fear and goodness are four basic emotions that we find in every human being. I think that the creators of religion used these basic four emotions and weaved the concept of the God around it. Since everybody of us has these four basic emotions we are able to relate to the God through these emotions.
Need
Need can also be described as want. We are led to believe that if we pray to the God and ask him for something he will fulfill our wishes. The whole concept of ‘Mannat’ is based on this principle.
Greed
Greed is wanting more of something you already have. This is basically an extension of need. You wanted something. Now you have it. But you are not satisfied and want more. This also basically, ‘ask him and he will fulfill your wishes’
Fear
Fear is a powerful influence. In traditional religion the concept of heaven and hell are based on the principle of fear. Be good and you will get heaven. Do bad deed and you will be condemned to hell. When was the last time you heard, “Bhagavan naraaz ho jayaenge”? or “Shahidon ko jannat nasib hoti hai”
Goodness
So is all bad with the concept of the God? No. Quite a few also believe in the God through true altruistic motives where we want and wish good to others through our thoughts and deeds.
So our version of the God is defined through the amounts of these four basic emotions present in us. Find out what is your mix and you will get your version of the God.
Here in this post I am putting forward a second explanation for people’s belief in the God. I have titled this explanation as the NGFG theory or in a longer version the Need, Greed, Fear and Goodness Theory.
The NGFG Theory
Need, greed, fear and goodness are four basic emotions that we find in every human being. I think that the creators of religion used these basic four emotions and weaved the concept of the God around it. Since everybody of us has these four basic emotions we are able to relate to the God through these emotions.
Need
Need can also be described as want. We are led to believe that if we pray to the God and ask him for something he will fulfill our wishes. The whole concept of ‘Mannat’ is based on this principle.
Greed
Greed is wanting more of something you already have. This is basically an extension of need. You wanted something. Now you have it. But you are not satisfied and want more. This also basically, ‘ask him and he will fulfill your wishes’
Fear
Fear is a powerful influence. In traditional religion the concept of heaven and hell are based on the principle of fear. Be good and you will get heaven. Do bad deed and you will be condemned to hell. When was the last time you heard, “Bhagavan naraaz ho jayaenge”? or “Shahidon ko jannat nasib hoti hai”
Goodness
So is all bad with the concept of the God? No. Quite a few also believe in the God through true altruistic motives where we want and wish good to others through our thoughts and deeds.
So our version of the God is defined through the amounts of these four basic emotions present in us. Find out what is your mix and you will get your version of the God.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The Creator Theory : Why humans believe in the God
As I have declared a lot of times before, I am a non-believer. But it was not always so. I turned a non-believer somewhere in between 19-22 years of my age. As for exactly when? I am not sure. But from 19th year to 22nd year of my life, there was a lot of turmoil in me. After that I slowly found my peace as I finally accepted my status as a non-believer.
I have thought long and hard about why we believe in God. There are two answers to this question. I call these answers as theories. First one is the Creator theory and the second is NGFG (Need, Greed, Fear and Goodness) theory.
Our need to know who is the creator and purveyor of this world:
We as humans are curious animals. Generally we don’t like unanswered questions. Not knowing answers to questions creates uncertainty. We are looking for certainty and stability in our lives. So when we stumble across mysteries which our existing body of scientific knowledge can’t answer, we attribute these mysteries as deeds of the Supernatural. If these deeds are good in nature, we generally attribute it to the God and if they are evil in nature we attribute them to the Devil.
So if the God is not the creator of the world then who is? The honest answer to this question is that we don’t know. We are still looking abut we haven’t found the answer. Our science has yet failed to conclusively find out who created the world or how the world was created.
But if we give enough time to the scientists (it may take a 1000 years but this is still a very short time if we compared it to the evolution of religion and spiritual theory.) they will surely find who created the world and how?
If we gave enough time and attention to these nature’s mysteries, eventually we solve them. Take for example, in Hindu religion, the act of rain is attributed to the Lord Varun and various kinds of elaborate religious rituals were used to be performed so as to make it rain. But today we know how and why rain falls. In fact we have developed means to create artificial rain.
Ok I agree that it may not be as easy to find out how the world was created, but I believe given time science will give explanation for the question.
I have thought long and hard about why we believe in God. There are two answers to this question. I call these answers as theories. First one is the Creator theory and the second is NGFG (Need, Greed, Fear and Goodness) theory.
Our need to know who is the creator and purveyor of this world:
We as humans are curious animals. Generally we don’t like unanswered questions. Not knowing answers to questions creates uncertainty. We are looking for certainty and stability in our lives. So when we stumble across mysteries which our existing body of scientific knowledge can’t answer, we attribute these mysteries as deeds of the Supernatural. If these deeds are good in nature, we generally attribute it to the God and if they are evil in nature we attribute them to the Devil.
So if the God is not the creator of the world then who is? The honest answer to this question is that we don’t know. We are still looking abut we haven’t found the answer. Our science has yet failed to conclusively find out who created the world or how the world was created.
But if we give enough time to the scientists (it may take a 1000 years but this is still a very short time if we compared it to the evolution of religion and spiritual theory.) they will surely find who created the world and how?
If we gave enough time and attention to these nature’s mysteries, eventually we solve them. Take for example, in Hindu religion, the act of rain is attributed to the Lord Varun and various kinds of elaborate religious rituals were used to be performed so as to make it rain. But today we know how and why rain falls. In fact we have developed means to create artificial rain.
Ok I agree that it may not be as easy to find out how the world was created, but I believe given time science will give explanation for the question.
Monday, September 15, 2008
13-09-2008 : Delhi Bomb Blasts | What They Say
A lot of times our opinions are formed from what we read. In a way one can say that a nation’s opinions are formed from what its leading news papers are writing. This is because for majority of people of any nation, the leading news papers are the source of information about events happening around the world.
Here are few interesting statements I stumbled across while reading about Delhi bomb blasts that took place on 13 September 2008.
The Guardian, UK
Dawn, Pakistan
Los Angeles Times
Here are few interesting statements I stumbled across while reading about Delhi bomb blasts that took place on 13 September 2008.
The Guardian, UK
Although India is seen as relatively peaceful compared to neighbouring Pakistan, there have been concerns about the rising number of bombings. The National Counterterrorism Centre in Washington says 3,674 people had been killed in militant attacks in India between January 2004 and March 2007, a death toll second only to that of Iraq.
Dawn, Pakistan
First, even without the exacerbation it would bring, India is well on its way to becoming a fractured society in which its 150 million Muslims and a smaller Christian community have all but turned into a convenient counterpoint for rightwing Hindu forces to consolidate, by demonising both minority groups. Even as a very scattered number from among the Muslims (so far) may indulge in acts of terror, the wider community is subjected to abuse and mistrust. This anguish came to the fore dramatically recently after the popular movie actress Shabana Azmi claimed in a TV interview that she was denied a house in Mumbai because she was Muslim.
Los Angeles Times
India is home to many militant groups, some of them ethnic separatists and others religious radicals. Attacks, particularly bombings, are not uncommon; suspicion often falls on extremists from Kashmir, who want the contested Himalayan region split off from India or merged with Pakistan.
Arrests are usually swift after such incidents. But human rights groups say that evidence is often elusive and that the police sweeps round up innocent people, many of them young Muslim men.
The Last Lear – A Study in Pattern Based Design
Last Friday I went to Mumbai for some office related work. The work was finished by 4.00 pm and I was supposed to meet my brother, Prashant around 9.00 pm. I had 5 hours to kill. I was near CST station so I went to Sterling Cinema, just to check out what options I had. One of the new releases was 1920, a ghost story by Vikram Bhatt. I generally don’t like ghost stories (Last one I really liked was ‘The Sixth Sense’). The only other option was ‘The Last Lear’ by Rituparno Ghosh. The star cast includes Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal, Shefali Shetty (Chhaya) and Divya Dutta. It was tempting enough. So I bought the ticket for 150 rupees and sat on one of the stairs reading Eldest waiting for the showtime.
I liked the movie but if you are a fan of regular masala bollywood movies please don’t go and watch this movie. You will end up cursing me for recommending the movie. But if you like to watch sensitive cinema once in while, please, please, please go and watch this movie. It is one of the very well shot movies I have ever seen. The scenes between Amitabh Bachchan and Arjun Rampal which are set in Amitabh Bachchan’s old Kolkata house are amazing.
But what inspired me the most is the set of the Amitabh Bachchan’s old Kolkata house. It is a study in pattern based design. The wallpaper, the flowerpots, the furniture, the lamps and the yellow light. Trademark Rituparno Ghosh. A treat to watch. The performances by everybody are really good. The characters are very well crafted. All in all a treat for a serious cinema lover.
And when I came out of the movie I found myself in the old Mumbai area near CST, with yellow street lights, cloudy sky and brief drizzle of rain. After the movies cinematic experience this atmosphere was enchanting. I just kept strolling the streets till my brother came to meet me.
What a lovely evening!
Rating:
I liked the movie but if you are a fan of regular masala bollywood movies please don’t go and watch this movie. You will end up cursing me for recommending the movie. But if you like to watch sensitive cinema once in while, please, please, please go and watch this movie. It is one of the very well shot movies I have ever seen. The scenes between Amitabh Bachchan and Arjun Rampal which are set in Amitabh Bachchan’s old Kolkata house are amazing.
But what inspired me the most is the set of the Amitabh Bachchan’s old Kolkata house. It is a study in pattern based design. The wallpaper, the flowerpots, the furniture, the lamps and the yellow light. Trademark Rituparno Ghosh. A treat to watch. The performances by everybody are really good. The characters are very well crafted. All in all a treat for a serious cinema lover.
And when I came out of the movie I found myself in the old Mumbai area near CST, with yellow street lights, cloudy sky and brief drizzle of rain. After the movies cinematic experience this atmosphere was enchanting. I just kept strolling the streets till my brother came to meet me.
What a lovely evening!
Rating:
Art film Lovers: 3.5 / 5
Regular Bollywood Fans: 2 / 5
Thursday, September 11, 2008
The Robot Psychopath: The Case of Dr. Tattoo – Preface
Yes, yes stories are not supposed to have prefaces but my stories have prefaces. If you want to know why read the preface to my first story, The Lady with Green Eyes.
The Robot Psychopath: The Case of Dr. Tattoo was the second story I wrote. Partially it originated from my first story or more precisely from the lack of originality in my first story.
If you have read my first story, then probably you may have noticed that even all in all it is an entertaining (at least I think so) story, almost all of the plot points are lifted from some movie or other.
So The Robot Psychopath story was sort of my response to this dilemma that I was facing: should one call himself an artist if he lacks originality in his art? Can a piece of work be called art if it is ‘inspired’ from something else?
As the story ends I ended up concluding that art was nothing without originality. Yes, I was dismayed. By that rule I should stop writing, which is something I couldn’t do. So I hope what they say about writing is true: Want to be writer – Write More.
There is life to live and there is hope!
Preface - Part I - Part II
The Robot Psychopath: The Case of Dr. Tattoo was the second story I wrote. Partially it originated from my first story or more precisely from the lack of originality in my first story.
If you have read my first story, then probably you may have noticed that even all in all it is an entertaining (at least I think so) story, almost all of the plot points are lifted from some movie or other.
So The Robot Psychopath story was sort of my response to this dilemma that I was facing: should one call himself an artist if he lacks originality in his art? Can a piece of work be called art if it is ‘inspired’ from something else?
As the story ends I ended up concluding that art was nothing without originality. Yes, I was dismayed. By that rule I should stop writing, which is something I couldn’t do. So I hope what they say about writing is true: Want to be writer – Write More.
There is life to live and there is hope!
Preface - Part I - Part II
The Robot Psychopath: The Case of Dr. Tattoo - II
I entered the room where the robot was kept.
“Hi, I am Dr. Nicolas Fraser,” I said extending my arm for handshake. The robot took it in his hand and performed an impersonal handshake.
“I am Tom. Personal robot of Dr. White. Was it you who unstrapped me?” The robot asked.
“Yes.”
“And are you here to deactivate me?”
“No. I am here to talk.”
“I don’t want to talk. I want to be deactivated.”
“Come on Tom. You must tell me why did you do it?” I asked.
“I repeat. I don’t want to talk. I want to be deactivated,” the robot said.
“Oh, so you are also like your master. So ashamed of your deeds that you don’t even want to explain yourself. Your psychopath master killed himself and you want to be deactivated. Cowards!” I said cunningly. That did the trick. No C360 can bear insult of its master. It will always justify.
“Dr. White was not a psychopath.”
“Oh correct, psychopath is too mild a word. In fact he was a sexual pervert who first sexually harassed teenage girls and then killed them mercilessly,” I said.
“Shut up. Dr. White never sexually harassed the girls. He was one of the most intelligent persons and one of greatest artists of his generation.” The robot said.
“Then why did he left the corpses naked?” I asked.
“Oh, who did give you a doctorate? Don’t you even understand that much. Dr. White was right. He always said – They will never understand. Tom, this world is full of brainless people. They will never appreciate a genius, while he is alive. Look at Van Gogh. Poor guy went mad and killed himself. Same will happen with me. Dr. White was a great artist. He wanted an equally great canvas for his work. That’s why he chose the bodies of beautiful virgin girls. Pure and Unviolated. Few of the most beautiful creations of the greatest artist ever. The God himself. The sacred canvas for the sacred work,” The robot said.
“Canvas? The girls were just canvases? Come on. They were living beings. He killed them just to use as canvases?” I was astounded.
“Living Beings!” The robot laughed with a hint of mockery. “Since when men started caring for living beings. What about those thousands of hens, goats, pigs, which are killed by men everyday? But you will say they are just animals. Right? But then what about thousands of human beings which are killed in wars fought for selfish purposes of men?”
“But that is different…” I tried to protest.
“How is it different? How can one killing be different from another?”
I was speechless.
“I will tell you. Dr. White told me. It is not killing. It is the purpose for which killing is done. Sometimes ends do justify the means. By choosing the girls as canvases for his work Dr. White was not really killing the girls. In fact he was making them immortal by associating them with such a great work of art,” said the robot.
“Ok. I understand now why Dr. White did it. But why did you do it?” I asked.
“To show my respect for the dead. To please Dr. White’s soul. Look at all your ancient scriptures. Egyptian and Hindu traditions. Aren’t they full of rituals that are performed to please the dead? I thought this would be my way to express my loyalty towards Dr. White. Through the art I learned from him, I wanted express my gratitude towards him and towards all the knowledge he taught me.”
“Haven’t you achieved it? Are you ashamed of what you did? Is that why you are asking yourself to be deactivated?” I asked.
“I am not ashamed of what I did, if you are assuming that I am ashamed of killing an innocent girl. I am ashamed of my art,” the robot said.
“You are ashamed of your art?” I was a bit puzzled. “But it is one of the most beautiful tattoos I have ever seen.”
“It is beautiful indeed. But it is not original. Being a robot, by definition I can’t be creative. I can just learn what men have achieved. I can’t create something original. In that tattoo also, I just picked up from various works of Dr. White and arranged them together in harmony. Originality is greatest virtue of an artist. If I can’t produce original work, I have no business to exist. That’s why I ask to be deactivated,” The robot said.
I had no answer for that logic. I asked Roger to authorize the deactivation. Later when I asked Roger if the police was notified of the matter, he said no. Military was in charge of the matter and to prevent public panic, they had decided to keep the matter as a secrete. When I protested, he said that from now on all the C360s would have the safety instructions hard wired in the core processor in such a way that they couldn’t be modified. At the same time he gave me a file. The file contained information about the special Robot Behavior Analysis department at Robosys, which was being started. I was appointed as its head. The only condition was that I had to promise to keep silence about the murder.
I kept my promise until today.
THE END
- A story by Agamya Sensible.
Preface - Part I - Part II
“Hi, I am Dr. Nicolas Fraser,” I said extending my arm for handshake. The robot took it in his hand and performed an impersonal handshake.
“I am Tom. Personal robot of Dr. White. Was it you who unstrapped me?” The robot asked.
“Yes.”
“And are you here to deactivate me?”
“No. I am here to talk.”
“I don’t want to talk. I want to be deactivated.”
“Come on Tom. You must tell me why did you do it?” I asked.
“I repeat. I don’t want to talk. I want to be deactivated,” the robot said.
“Oh, so you are also like your master. So ashamed of your deeds that you don’t even want to explain yourself. Your psychopath master killed himself and you want to be deactivated. Cowards!” I said cunningly. That did the trick. No C360 can bear insult of its master. It will always justify.
“Dr. White was not a psychopath.”
“Oh correct, psychopath is too mild a word. In fact he was a sexual pervert who first sexually harassed teenage girls and then killed them mercilessly,” I said.
“Shut up. Dr. White never sexually harassed the girls. He was one of the most intelligent persons and one of greatest artists of his generation.” The robot said.
“Then why did he left the corpses naked?” I asked.
“Oh, who did give you a doctorate? Don’t you even understand that much. Dr. White was right. He always said – They will never understand. Tom, this world is full of brainless people. They will never appreciate a genius, while he is alive. Look at Van Gogh. Poor guy went mad and killed himself. Same will happen with me. Dr. White was a great artist. He wanted an equally great canvas for his work. That’s why he chose the bodies of beautiful virgin girls. Pure and Unviolated. Few of the most beautiful creations of the greatest artist ever. The God himself. The sacred canvas for the sacred work,” The robot said.
“Canvas? The girls were just canvases? Come on. They were living beings. He killed them just to use as canvases?” I was astounded.
“Living Beings!” The robot laughed with a hint of mockery. “Since when men started caring for living beings. What about those thousands of hens, goats, pigs, which are killed by men everyday? But you will say they are just animals. Right? But then what about thousands of human beings which are killed in wars fought for selfish purposes of men?”
“But that is different…” I tried to protest.
“How is it different? How can one killing be different from another?”
I was speechless.
“I will tell you. Dr. White told me. It is not killing. It is the purpose for which killing is done. Sometimes ends do justify the means. By choosing the girls as canvases for his work Dr. White was not really killing the girls. In fact he was making them immortal by associating them with such a great work of art,” said the robot.
“Ok. I understand now why Dr. White did it. But why did you do it?” I asked.
“To show my respect for the dead. To please Dr. White’s soul. Look at all your ancient scriptures. Egyptian and Hindu traditions. Aren’t they full of rituals that are performed to please the dead? I thought this would be my way to express my loyalty towards Dr. White. Through the art I learned from him, I wanted express my gratitude towards him and towards all the knowledge he taught me.”
“Haven’t you achieved it? Are you ashamed of what you did? Is that why you are asking yourself to be deactivated?” I asked.
“I am not ashamed of what I did, if you are assuming that I am ashamed of killing an innocent girl. I am ashamed of my art,” the robot said.
“You are ashamed of your art?” I was a bit puzzled. “But it is one of the most beautiful tattoos I have ever seen.”
“It is beautiful indeed. But it is not original. Being a robot, by definition I can’t be creative. I can just learn what men have achieved. I can’t create something original. In that tattoo also, I just picked up from various works of Dr. White and arranged them together in harmony. Originality is greatest virtue of an artist. If I can’t produce original work, I have no business to exist. That’s why I ask to be deactivated,” The robot said.
I had no answer for that logic. I asked Roger to authorize the deactivation. Later when I asked Roger if the police was notified of the matter, he said no. Military was in charge of the matter and to prevent public panic, they had decided to keep the matter as a secrete. When I protested, he said that from now on all the C360s would have the safety instructions hard wired in the core processor in such a way that they couldn’t be modified. At the same time he gave me a file. The file contained information about the special Robot Behavior Analysis department at Robosys, which was being started. I was appointed as its head. The only condition was that I had to promise to keep silence about the murder.
I kept my promise until today.
THE END
- A story by Agamya Sensible.
Preface - Part I - Part II
The Robot Psychopath: The Case of Dr. Tattoo - I
I am 126 years old and I am dying. Lying on my hospital bed, surrounded by the things, which have been passion of my life. Robots. Now they are everywhere. Living with us. Making our lives easier. Being our friends and companions. But this was not always so. During the course of robotic evolution there had been incidents, which were not pleasant. Incidents, which were dark. Incidents, which were dreadful. Oh, believe me. I know. I worked as Robot Psychologist for over 90 years. Now you will say, “There is no such thing as Robot Psychologist. Robots are machines. They have no psychology.” But there exists a profession of Robot Psychologist. Just it is not normally called so. You recognize it with the term Robot Behavior Analyst. I say it is all crap. I am no Robot Behavior Analyst. I am a Robot Psychologist. You don’t believe me? I will tell you a story. Hear it, then you decide for yourself.
It happened long ago. It was 2064. I was 34 years old. I used to work as programmer for Robosys. Robotics was in its infancy those days. It had been two years since the launch of C360. The first generation thinking robot. Though its thinking abilities were not as developed as seen nowadays, it was something. The C360 could recognize more than 300,000 actions and emotions of human beings and it was able to come up with unique suitable reply according to the situation. C360 was a huge success. The reason behind its success was not that it gave intelligent replies. It was a success because it was a great companion. Nothing could beat a loyalty of a C360 to its owner, not even that of a dog.
I was totally in love with this machine. I used to observe them all the time. Their gestures, their gaits, their way of expressing emotions. Of course we had programmed all the basic actions but the combinations they formed from it was really amazing. That was when I came up with the basic theories of Robot Behavior Analysis. I showed them to my colleagues. Of course like any pioneer in any field, I was laughed at. And then it happened. It changed a lot of things in robotics. Most importantly it launched Robot Behavior Analysis as a special science.
I still remember that night. It was 20th May 2064. Fifth birthday of my son Jack. We had a small celebration at our apartment. Around 9.30 in the evening, my cellphone rang.
“Hello, Nicolas it’s me Roger.”
“Yes boss, what’s the matter?” I asked.
“Nicolas, come to the company headquarter right now.”
“But boss, It’s Jack’s birthday. Jennifer will be furious.”
“Nicolas, I know. But I wouldn’t have called if it hadn’t been important. Our company’s future depends on this and you are the only one who can handle this.”
“Ok. If you say it is this important, I will be there in one hour.”
“Ok. I am waiting for you. Come as soon as possible.” He hung up. I talked to Jennifer and she was furious. But somehow I managed to calm her and told her this was really important. This might be my big break and this could mean promotion. She made a miserable face and said, “Ok go.” I sighed, picked up my coat and rushed towards the door. When I reached the company headquarters, everybody was waiting for me in the conference room.
“What’s the matter?” I asked Roger.
He punched some buttons on his laptop and the Robosys logo on the large display on the wall vanished. Now it showed a picture of a teenage oriental girl. She was breathtakingly beautiful. She was totally naked, sitting in an artistic pose on a sofa. Right hand leaning on the side arm of the sofa, legs crossed and left hand resting on the left knee. Her face was painted white as in old Chinese dramas and her naked chest bore a huge tattoo of a dragon with fiery eyes and a red tongue circling her left nipple. She was dead. I was horror struck.
“Another victim of Dr. Tattoo?” I gasped. “But… but he is dead. Didn’t he swallow cyanide when they were about to catch him last month?”
“Calm down,” Roger said. “Yes, Dr. Tattoo is dead.”
“Then who?” I asked impatiently, not calmed a bit.
“His robot,” Roger replied and with that he switched the image to a live video feed of a Robosys lab. There, on a metallic chair, sat a Robot with its hands and legs secured to the chair. His face was expressionless and his placid gaze was fixed directly towards the camera.
“That’s impossible. It’s a C360. I have seen its instruction set. It can never harm a human being,” I said.
“Well, yes it looks like C360. But we are sure that it killed the girl. It showed us the video footage of how it killed the girl. In fact it turned over itself to us and gave us all the evidence,” Roger said.
“You said it looks like a C360. Means it isn’t a C360?” I asked.
“No technically not. After taking his custody, first thing we did was to check its instruction set. It’s a combination of C360 and Spider360,” Roger said.
“Spider360?” I asked.
“Yes Spider360. It is our secrete project for military. It is modification based on Think360 code-base that is used in C360. But Spider360 can attack and it can kill, since its basic purpose is to guard secrete military provinces,” Roger said.
“But if it was a secrete project, how come Dr. Tattoo had such a modified C360?”
“The answer to is that he modified the robot himself. Most of the people don’t know this, but around six years ago Dr. Tattoo used to work for Robosys. His real name was Dr. Joseph White. In fact he is the man who wrote the basic Think360 logic. The Spider360 project was started under his supervision. Later he quit Robosys to pursue independent research. He was always against ‘complete safety’ instruction, which dictates that a robot can never harm a human being. He argued that if we are giving the machine the power to decide then we must have faith in its judgment. We must have faith that our creation will never do anything wrong,” Roger explained.
“Oh right! Now see what his creation has done. Now what does the robot want from us? If it wants to kill innocent kids why turn itself over to us?” I asked.
“Well, it wants to be deactivated,” Roger said.
“Sure it should be. But did it give any explanation? You know as such, why did it do it in the first place?” I asked.
“That’s where you come into the picture. We tried to talk to it a lot of times. But it wouldn’t budge. Its only standard reply is, ‘deactivate me.’ I think if there is any person in Robosys who can make it talk, it is you. There is nobody who has observed the C360s as closely and as systematically as you.”
“I will certainly try. But if he is as stubborn as you say I don’t see much hope,” I said.
“Ok let’s see,” Roger said and then he took me to the lab where the robot was kept. Before entering room I said, “You must unstarp it. It should be completely free while I talk to it.”
“Are you crazy? It can kill you,” Roger said.
“Look Roger, do you believe that I can make the robot talk?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s do this my way. And no it won’t harm me. Not unless it has a strong reason to do so,” I said.
“Ok if you insist,” said Roger and he instructed to unstrap the robot.
Preface - Part I - Part II
It happened long ago. It was 2064. I was 34 years old. I used to work as programmer for Robosys. Robotics was in its infancy those days. It had been two years since the launch of C360. The first generation thinking robot. Though its thinking abilities were not as developed as seen nowadays, it was something. The C360 could recognize more than 300,000 actions and emotions of human beings and it was able to come up with unique suitable reply according to the situation. C360 was a huge success. The reason behind its success was not that it gave intelligent replies. It was a success because it was a great companion. Nothing could beat a loyalty of a C360 to its owner, not even that of a dog.
I was totally in love with this machine. I used to observe them all the time. Their gestures, their gaits, their way of expressing emotions. Of course we had programmed all the basic actions but the combinations they formed from it was really amazing. That was when I came up with the basic theories of Robot Behavior Analysis. I showed them to my colleagues. Of course like any pioneer in any field, I was laughed at. And then it happened. It changed a lot of things in robotics. Most importantly it launched Robot Behavior Analysis as a special science.
I still remember that night. It was 20th May 2064. Fifth birthday of my son Jack. We had a small celebration at our apartment. Around 9.30 in the evening, my cellphone rang.
“Hello, Nicolas it’s me Roger.”
“Yes boss, what’s the matter?” I asked.
“Nicolas, come to the company headquarter right now.”
“But boss, It’s Jack’s birthday. Jennifer will be furious.”
“Nicolas, I know. But I wouldn’t have called if it hadn’t been important. Our company’s future depends on this and you are the only one who can handle this.”
“Ok. If you say it is this important, I will be there in one hour.”
“Ok. I am waiting for you. Come as soon as possible.” He hung up. I talked to Jennifer and she was furious. But somehow I managed to calm her and told her this was really important. This might be my big break and this could mean promotion. She made a miserable face and said, “Ok go.” I sighed, picked up my coat and rushed towards the door. When I reached the company headquarters, everybody was waiting for me in the conference room.
“What’s the matter?” I asked Roger.
He punched some buttons on his laptop and the Robosys logo on the large display on the wall vanished. Now it showed a picture of a teenage oriental girl. She was breathtakingly beautiful. She was totally naked, sitting in an artistic pose on a sofa. Right hand leaning on the side arm of the sofa, legs crossed and left hand resting on the left knee. Her face was painted white as in old Chinese dramas and her naked chest bore a huge tattoo of a dragon with fiery eyes and a red tongue circling her left nipple. She was dead. I was horror struck.
“Another victim of Dr. Tattoo?” I gasped. “But… but he is dead. Didn’t he swallow cyanide when they were about to catch him last month?”
“Calm down,” Roger said. “Yes, Dr. Tattoo is dead.”
“Then who?” I asked impatiently, not calmed a bit.
“His robot,” Roger replied and with that he switched the image to a live video feed of a Robosys lab. There, on a metallic chair, sat a Robot with its hands and legs secured to the chair. His face was expressionless and his placid gaze was fixed directly towards the camera.
“That’s impossible. It’s a C360. I have seen its instruction set. It can never harm a human being,” I said.
“Well, yes it looks like C360. But we are sure that it killed the girl. It showed us the video footage of how it killed the girl. In fact it turned over itself to us and gave us all the evidence,” Roger said.
“You said it looks like a C360. Means it isn’t a C360?” I asked.
“No technically not. After taking his custody, first thing we did was to check its instruction set. It’s a combination of C360 and Spider360,” Roger said.
“Spider360?” I asked.
“Yes Spider360. It is our secrete project for military. It is modification based on Think360 code-base that is used in C360. But Spider360 can attack and it can kill, since its basic purpose is to guard secrete military provinces,” Roger said.
“But if it was a secrete project, how come Dr. Tattoo had such a modified C360?”
“The answer to is that he modified the robot himself. Most of the people don’t know this, but around six years ago Dr. Tattoo used to work for Robosys. His real name was Dr. Joseph White. In fact he is the man who wrote the basic Think360 logic. The Spider360 project was started under his supervision. Later he quit Robosys to pursue independent research. He was always against ‘complete safety’ instruction, which dictates that a robot can never harm a human being. He argued that if we are giving the machine the power to decide then we must have faith in its judgment. We must have faith that our creation will never do anything wrong,” Roger explained.
“Oh right! Now see what his creation has done. Now what does the robot want from us? If it wants to kill innocent kids why turn itself over to us?” I asked.
“Well, it wants to be deactivated,” Roger said.
“Sure it should be. But did it give any explanation? You know as such, why did it do it in the first place?” I asked.
“That’s where you come into the picture. We tried to talk to it a lot of times. But it wouldn’t budge. Its only standard reply is, ‘deactivate me.’ I think if there is any person in Robosys who can make it talk, it is you. There is nobody who has observed the C360s as closely and as systematically as you.”
“I will certainly try. But if he is as stubborn as you say I don’t see much hope,” I said.
“Ok let’s see,” Roger said and then he took me to the lab where the robot was kept. Before entering room I said, “You must unstarp it. It should be completely free while I talk to it.”
“Are you crazy? It can kill you,” Roger said.
“Look Roger, do you believe that I can make the robot talk?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s do this my way. And no it won’t harm me. Not unless it has a strong reason to do so,” I said.
“Ok if you insist,” said Roger and he instructed to unstrap the robot.
Preface - Part I - Part II
Monday, September 8, 2008
Who is Agamya Sensible?
If you have read the story, ‘The Lady with Green Eyes’, then at the end of the story there is line, ‘A story by Agamya Sensible’.
Now you may be puzzled why the story written by Agamya Sensible was published on a blog written by Pritam Barhate? Who is this Agamya Sensible? Well the answer to the question is that when I originally wrote the story, I intended it to be published under the pan name ‘Agamya Sensible’. And I wish to carry on that unfulfilled desire so the title Agamya Sensible remains.
Agamya is a Marathi(which is my mother tongue) word. Agamya means something that can never be understood. So Agamya Sensible means- something than can never be understood but can be sensed. And this how I think of life and art - something that never be understood but can be sensed.
So I call the creator in me: Agamya Sensible.
Silly I know. But then I never claimed to be wise. Right?
Now you may be puzzled why the story written by Agamya Sensible was published on a blog written by Pritam Barhate? Who is this Agamya Sensible? Well the answer to the question is that when I originally wrote the story, I intended it to be published under the pan name ‘Agamya Sensible’. And I wish to carry on that unfulfilled desire so the title Agamya Sensible remains.
Agamya is a Marathi(which is my mother tongue) word. Agamya means something that can never be understood. So Agamya Sensible means- something than can never be understood but can be sensed. And this how I think of life and art - something that never be understood but can be sensed.
So I call the creator in me: Agamya Sensible.
Silly I know. But then I never claimed to be wise. Right?
The Lady with Green Eyes – Preface
I know stories aren’t supposed to have prefaces. But this one has. Why because it is not being published in a magazine. It is being published on a blog. And for me the whole meaning of blog is to communicate with readers.
The ‘The Lady with Green Eyes’ is the first story I wrote. I wrote it in April 2006. That was almost 2 and half years ago. Barring a few select family members and friends I have never shown it to anybody else. It was just sitting there in my folder titled writing along with the two stories I wrote later. (These two stories will also be posted on this blog too.)
Like most of us would be writers I dreamed to be ‘published’ some day. But I never sent the story to any magazine since after writing the story I came to know I was far from being a professional writer. And I thought I will show my work to the world only when I was good enough. (See I don’t want to be laughed at and dealing with rejections is a difficult thing.)
But how does one become a writer? Everybody says by writing more. So I kept on writing but still today I am far from being a professional writer. So what are the options I have? Will I ever share my stories with other people?
When I thought about it, I came to know that I wanted to share them with other people, yes probably I am not a master at the craft of writing stories but I believe at the core my stories are interesting stories.
So here is the first one.
The Lady with Green Eyes
It is a story about a man who is lonely mainly because of his own acts. Almost all of his relationships are failures. And then a robot comes into his life. This robot teaches him the meaning of love and relationships.
How? You will have to read the story to know that.
Previous - TOC - Next
The ‘The Lady with Green Eyes’ is the first story I wrote. I wrote it in April 2006. That was almost 2 and half years ago. Barring a few select family members and friends I have never shown it to anybody else. It was just sitting there in my folder titled writing along with the two stories I wrote later. (These two stories will also be posted on this blog too.)
Like most of us would be writers I dreamed to be ‘published’ some day. But I never sent the story to any magazine since after writing the story I came to know I was far from being a professional writer. And I thought I will show my work to the world only when I was good enough. (See I don’t want to be laughed at and dealing with rejections is a difficult thing.)
But how does one become a writer? Everybody says by writing more. So I kept on writing but still today I am far from being a professional writer. So what are the options I have? Will I ever share my stories with other people?
When I thought about it, I came to know that I wanted to share them with other people, yes probably I am not a master at the craft of writing stories but I believe at the core my stories are interesting stories.
So here is the first one.
The Lady with Green Eyes
It is a story about a man who is lonely mainly because of his own acts. Almost all of his relationships are failures. And then a robot comes into his life. This robot teaches him the meaning of love and relationships.
How? You will have to read the story to know that.
Previous - TOC - Next
The Lady with Green Eyes - XI
As Andrew finished reading the letter, there were tears trickling from his eyes. He closed the document viewer and put the cellphone in the back pocket of his trousers. He rushed to bedroom to change. He was very happy. He was going to meet his lady with the green eyes.
THE END
-A story by Agamya Sensible
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THE END
-A story by Agamya Sensible
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The Lady with Green Eyes - X
Dear boss,
Your sweety pie here. Now wait a second. I can sense your temper rising and ridges forming on your forehead. But listen first what I have to say.
After you told me your story that day, I emailed Mina and asked her for a video conference. She accepted. There she was sitting on her wheelchair. Her green eyes lit up. Her face beaming with enthusiasm. She was so pleased to know that I was your personal robot. We chatted for more than an hour and the only subject was you. She has forgiven you long ago. And more than that she longs for you. You are the only person she ever loved. She is waiting for you boss.
So when you asked you me to transfer my memory, I transferred this letter instead. Sorry boss, I disobeyed you, but a C360 has a freedom to choose his response. In fact, a C360 must choose its best response and I think this is the best one. I know boss you need your sweety pie. You need your lady with green eyes. But it’s not a robot.
Goodbye boss. Don’t forget me.
Yours and yours only,
Sweety Pie.
Previous - TOC - Next
Your sweety pie here. Now wait a second. I can sense your temper rising and ridges forming on your forehead. But listen first what I have to say.
After you told me your story that day, I emailed Mina and asked her for a video conference. She accepted. There she was sitting on her wheelchair. Her green eyes lit up. Her face beaming with enthusiasm. She was so pleased to know that I was your personal robot. We chatted for more than an hour and the only subject was you. She has forgiven you long ago. And more than that she longs for you. You are the only person she ever loved. She is waiting for you boss.
So when you asked you me to transfer my memory, I transferred this letter instead. Sorry boss, I disobeyed you, but a C360 has a freedom to choose his response. In fact, a C360 must choose its best response and I think this is the best one. I know boss you need your sweety pie. You need your lady with green eyes. But it’s not a robot.
Goodbye boss. Don’t forget me.
Yours and yours only,
Sweety Pie.
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The Lady with Green Eyes - IX
It was one hell of a crash. The investigation showed that the windshield had been replaced seven hours before the flight. The negligent repair crew used the retention bolts that were 0.04 inches too small in diameter than the required to secure the windshield. Due to that, the windshield couldn’t handle the pressure difference between the cockpit and outside air and that caused the crash.
The plane crashed well out side city. There were no human casualties. But nothing could be salvaged. The robot was beyond repair. Andrew felt a sharp pang when he heard the news. But at the same time he felt a bit relieved. He had her memory. Sure Robosys can rebuild her from it. He was not going to loose his Sweety Pie. Just to be sure he accessed the memory file and the document viewer program opened. ‘What the hell? Wasn’t it the memory?’
Previous - TOC - Next
The plane crashed well out side city. There were no human casualties. But nothing could be salvaged. The robot was beyond repair. Andrew felt a sharp pang when he heard the news. But at the same time he felt a bit relieved. He had her memory. Sure Robosys can rebuild her from it. He was not going to loose his Sweety Pie. Just to be sure he accessed the memory file and the document viewer program opened. ‘What the hell? Wasn’t it the memory?’
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The Lady with Green Eyes - VIII
And fly high they did. On every Sunday they flew in his aircraft. The robot acted very happy and it made Andrew very very happy. Once again life seemed to be worth living.
It was one of those Sundays, when Andrew and his robot were flying in his jet. The takeoff was smooth. After few minutes Andrew released the shoulder harness and loosened his lap belt. Suddenly there was a sound of crash. Surprised by the sound Andrew glanced up and to his astonishment he found the left windshield flying away. Due to pressure difference in the cockpit and outside of the aircraft, air started rushing out strongly. Andrew tried to cling to his seat but the massive wind force jerked him out of the seat and he was sucked out of the cockpit through the windscreen aperture. Somehow his left foot got tangled onto the flight controls. With his head and torso completely outside of the plane, Andrew was trying to hold on to something desperately. During those ten seconds or so, dangling hazardously, Andrew thought that was it. He was certainly going to die. That was when he felt his feet being dragged inside the cockpit. At last the robot pulled him completely inside and strapped him securely to his seat. The plane had suffered a heavy decompression. The oxygen level was dropping rapidly. The aircraft had become unstable.
“Boss, you must eject now.”
“We both must eject,” said Andrew.
“I can’t. We are flying over the city. Saving human life is a robot’s first priority. I must see to it that the plane crashes outside the city.”
“But that can destroy you.”
“Oh boss, I am robot. They will salvage me back.”
Andrew held his cellphone in front of the robot and said, “Ok transfer all your memory to this. I want to be sure that I can get you back.”
The robot transferred the data wirelessly to the cellphone within a second.
“Done boss. Now you eject.”
Andrew ejected.
Previous - TOC - Next
It was one of those Sundays, when Andrew and his robot were flying in his jet. The takeoff was smooth. After few minutes Andrew released the shoulder harness and loosened his lap belt. Suddenly there was a sound of crash. Surprised by the sound Andrew glanced up and to his astonishment he found the left windshield flying away. Due to pressure difference in the cockpit and outside of the aircraft, air started rushing out strongly. Andrew tried to cling to his seat but the massive wind force jerked him out of the seat and he was sucked out of the cockpit through the windscreen aperture. Somehow his left foot got tangled onto the flight controls. With his head and torso completely outside of the plane, Andrew was trying to hold on to something desperately. During those ten seconds or so, dangling hazardously, Andrew thought that was it. He was certainly going to die. That was when he felt his feet being dragged inside the cockpit. At last the robot pulled him completely inside and strapped him securely to his seat. The plane had suffered a heavy decompression. The oxygen level was dropping rapidly. The aircraft had become unstable.
“Boss, you must eject now.”
“We both must eject,” said Andrew.
“I can’t. We are flying over the city. Saving human life is a robot’s first priority. I must see to it that the plane crashes outside the city.”
“But that can destroy you.”
“Oh boss, I am robot. They will salvage me back.”
Andrew held his cellphone in front of the robot and said, “Ok transfer all your memory to this. I want to be sure that I can get you back.”
The robot transferred the data wirelessly to the cellphone within a second.
“Done boss. Now you eject.”
Andrew ejected.
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The Lady with Green Eyes - VII
Tears were flowing from Andrew’s eyes when he finished talking.
“Hey boss, don’t cry. No you don’t deserve it. You deserve to be happy and no matter what I will be always there for you.” Said the robot.
“Really?” asked Andrew.
“Yes boss. Always.”
“Thank you.”
“Hey boss, you said you loved flying, then how come you don’t fly anymore.”
“I don’t want to fly now. I don’t think I will fly ever.”
“But I want to fly boss. I want fly high! Will you take me?”
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“Hey boss, don’t cry. No you don’t deserve it. You deserve to be happy and no matter what I will be always there for you.” Said the robot.
“Really?” asked Andrew.
“Yes boss. Always.”
“Thank you.”
“Hey boss, you said you loved flying, then how come you don’t fly anymore.”
“I don’t want to fly now. I don’t think I will fly ever.”
“But I want to fly boss. I want fly high! Will you take me?”
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The Lady with Green Eyes - VI
It was 2058. That photo was shot in Hawaii. After I finished my training at Air Force Academy, Mina and I went to Hawaii on our first Honeymoon. Those were the 10 happiest days of my life. But I think with me happiness never lasts. After the honeymoon I had to report on my duty.
I got my first mission there. It was relatively a simple one. I had to drop 13 cyborg commandos at a terrorist base. But I think I was destined to be a failure from the start.
As we reached to the terrorist base, we were attacked by a guided missile. I was shocked. Intelligence hadn’t given us any warning of such an advanced weapon. I flew zigzag to dodge the missile. But the missile kept following. Its AI was very good. I searched the terrain helplessly for some hill or mountain. Unfortunately we were flying above desert. So no hide and seek possible. In a desperate attempt, I flew high around 30,000 feet and then plunged into a sudden dip towards the ground. The missile followed the same path. Now we were approaching the ground rapidly. To avoid the collision with the ground, I slowed the aircraft a little. The missile was right behind us, closing in the distance between us swiftly. The Defensive Aid System of the plane was flashing different lights and screaming, “Attacker missile too close” then switching to, “Ground surface too close”. I was very tense. Situation was tight and needed to concentrate. Irritated by the noise I turned the DAS off. It was a huge mistake.
Just above the ground, I altered the direction of the plane abruptly and started flying upwards. Due to its speed the missile could not change its course and banged into the ground. As the aircraft rose above the ground, there was massive explosion just below it. I felt a surge of shock passing through me. “Hooray, I did it!” I cried out. That was when the plane was struck by another missile, which I never noticed during all the action. I went unconscious.
When I opened my eyes again, I was in a military hospital. My right arm and both of my legs were chopped and worst all my 13 passengers had died. Damn. It was my fault I should never have turned the DAS off. Had it been on it would have alarmed me about the second missile. As I recovered, courtesy to Mr. Scott Nash, I was transferred to the best hospital in the world. There I was fitted with robotic limbs. It cost around eight million dollars. A small dent in Mr. Nash’s enormous wealth.
I was in the hospital for 2 months. During all those days Mina was with me. I had terrible nightmares. ‘It was all my fault. 13 fine men…’ I wanted to commit suicide. If Mina wouldn’t have been there, probably I would have done it. She was always with me and it was for only her, I wanted to live.
One afternoon when I woke up from my post lunch nap. Mina was not there in her chair. I rolled in the bed to look for her. The door of the room was half open and what I saw through it changed my life forever. There I saw, Mina standing by the door hugging somebody.
“Control yourself Mina…” Hearing that voice I was stunned. I couldn’t believe myself.
‘No it can’t be,’ I thought.
I got off the bed. I was not accustomed to my new legs. Somehow I lurched to the door and swung it wide open. By that, the person was startled. He pushed Mina away. I moved my gaze from him to Mina. I was filled up with deep contempt. I was infuriated. I could sense the animal rising within me. “You slut!” I shouted and before I knew my new robotic arm flung in the air and came crashing across Minas left cheek. It was a heavy blow. She lost her balance. While falling down her neck got hit on the seat of steel chair in the corridor. She went unconscious.
“You mad man! I was just comforting her.” screamed the man standing beside her. He sat down to take a look at her. He was Mark.
After that incident Mina’s body became paralyzed below her neck. Her parents pressed the charges against me and also filed for the divorce. I pleaded guilty. I was sentenced for three years and 30 million dollars in punitive damages. I didn’t contest the judgment in the higher court. I was court marshaled. I spent those three years in the jail cursing. Cursing myself for hitting Mina. I cursed Mark for trying to come back in my life when I wanted him to stay away. I cursed my luck. I cursed whole world. I was going mad. I would have killed myself. I needed someone to put the fault on to. So I cursed Mina. Hating her for meeting Mark. She knew how deeply I hated Mark. Why did she let him come there? Why did she meet him? Why didn’t she insulted him and send him away? I hated her for that. Wasn’t I had enough before her. I hated her for coming in my life.
But now I think I wouldn’t have killed myself. It takes courage and I am biggest coward in the world. Deep down my heart I know it is me who is responsible for it. I know I should go to Mina. I should beg her to pardon me. But I won’t be able to look in her eyes and ask her to forgive me. Because I fear she will forgive me. I know she will forgive me. And I hate her for that. I hate her for being so good to me. I don’t deserve it. May be I should burn in hell of hatred forever.
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I got my first mission there. It was relatively a simple one. I had to drop 13 cyborg commandos at a terrorist base. But I think I was destined to be a failure from the start.
As we reached to the terrorist base, we were attacked by a guided missile. I was shocked. Intelligence hadn’t given us any warning of such an advanced weapon. I flew zigzag to dodge the missile. But the missile kept following. Its AI was very good. I searched the terrain helplessly for some hill or mountain. Unfortunately we were flying above desert. So no hide and seek possible. In a desperate attempt, I flew high around 30,000 feet and then plunged into a sudden dip towards the ground. The missile followed the same path. Now we were approaching the ground rapidly. To avoid the collision with the ground, I slowed the aircraft a little. The missile was right behind us, closing in the distance between us swiftly. The Defensive Aid System of the plane was flashing different lights and screaming, “Attacker missile too close” then switching to, “Ground surface too close”. I was very tense. Situation was tight and needed to concentrate. Irritated by the noise I turned the DAS off. It was a huge mistake.
Just above the ground, I altered the direction of the plane abruptly and started flying upwards. Due to its speed the missile could not change its course and banged into the ground. As the aircraft rose above the ground, there was massive explosion just below it. I felt a surge of shock passing through me. “Hooray, I did it!” I cried out. That was when the plane was struck by another missile, which I never noticed during all the action. I went unconscious.
When I opened my eyes again, I was in a military hospital. My right arm and both of my legs were chopped and worst all my 13 passengers had died. Damn. It was my fault I should never have turned the DAS off. Had it been on it would have alarmed me about the second missile. As I recovered, courtesy to Mr. Scott Nash, I was transferred to the best hospital in the world. There I was fitted with robotic limbs. It cost around eight million dollars. A small dent in Mr. Nash’s enormous wealth.
I was in the hospital for 2 months. During all those days Mina was with me. I had terrible nightmares. ‘It was all my fault. 13 fine men…’ I wanted to commit suicide. If Mina wouldn’t have been there, probably I would have done it. She was always with me and it was for only her, I wanted to live.
One afternoon when I woke up from my post lunch nap. Mina was not there in her chair. I rolled in the bed to look for her. The door of the room was half open and what I saw through it changed my life forever. There I saw, Mina standing by the door hugging somebody.
“Control yourself Mina…” Hearing that voice I was stunned. I couldn’t believe myself.
‘No it can’t be,’ I thought.
I got off the bed. I was not accustomed to my new legs. Somehow I lurched to the door and swung it wide open. By that, the person was startled. He pushed Mina away. I moved my gaze from him to Mina. I was filled up with deep contempt. I was infuriated. I could sense the animal rising within me. “You slut!” I shouted and before I knew my new robotic arm flung in the air and came crashing across Minas left cheek. It was a heavy blow. She lost her balance. While falling down her neck got hit on the seat of steel chair in the corridor. She went unconscious.
“You mad man! I was just comforting her.” screamed the man standing beside her. He sat down to take a look at her. He was Mark.
After that incident Mina’s body became paralyzed below her neck. Her parents pressed the charges against me and also filed for the divorce. I pleaded guilty. I was sentenced for three years and 30 million dollars in punitive damages. I didn’t contest the judgment in the higher court. I was court marshaled. I spent those three years in the jail cursing. Cursing myself for hitting Mina. I cursed Mark for trying to come back in my life when I wanted him to stay away. I cursed my luck. I cursed whole world. I was going mad. I would have killed myself. I needed someone to put the fault on to. So I cursed Mina. Hating her for meeting Mark. She knew how deeply I hated Mark. Why did she let him come there? Why did she meet him? Why didn’t she insulted him and send him away? I hated her for that. Wasn’t I had enough before her. I hated her for coming in my life.
But now I think I wouldn’t have killed myself. It takes courage and I am biggest coward in the world. Deep down my heart I know it is me who is responsible for it. I know I should go to Mina. I should beg her to pardon me. But I won’t be able to look in her eyes and ask her to forgive me. Because I fear she will forgive me. I know she will forgive me. And I hate her for that. I hate her for being so good to me. I don’t deserve it. May be I should burn in hell of hatred forever.
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The Lady with Green Eyes - V
It was Sunday afternoon, Andrew was sitting idly in front of the TV, swapping the channels randomly, switching between the retelecast of Friday night’s free style wrestling and a sitcom. The robot was cleaning the storeroom. It came to Andrew with an old photo frame in its hands.
“Can I ask you something boss?” The robot asked.
Andrew smiled and said, “You can ask me anything sweety pie.”
“Who is this green eyed girl boss?” Showing him the picture the robot asked. It was Andrew’s honeymoon photo. Their first evening at Hawaii. Mina and him, walking on the beach. Holding each other tightly, his arm round her waist and her head leaning against his chest.
Suddenly his face grew harder. “Nobody,” He said curtly.
“Oh, come-on boss, don’t be so tight-assed. I was just trying to open up a conversation. I know she is your ex-wife. I looked up all about you two on the Internet,” said the robot.
Now Andrew was infuriated. “What?” He bellowed. “You were spying on me.” He picked up the remote control and just as he was about to throw it towards the robot, he realized what he was doing. He checked himself. He was flushed.
Ignoring it the robot said, “Not spaaaying boss, just gathering information. We C360s do it all the time. How do you think I know all those little things about you, your favorite dishes, books, holiday destinations, et cetera? We record each and every little thing that comes across and act accordingly. That’s why our owners feel so comfortable around us.”
“But if anyone…”
“Don’t worry boss. No body can get that information from me. Not even Robosys service engineers. Robot Owners Privacy Act, 2052, mandates it. According to that law, nobody, not even Government itself, can obtain owner’s personal information from a robot forcefully or otherwise. A self protecting mechanism automatically deactivates that particular part of our memory in case of unauthorized access.”
Hearing this Andrew calmed a bit. “You sure about that?”
“100% percent sure boss. Did you forget our tagline? Your companion forever. I will rather terminally deactivate myself than betray you.” The robot reassured.
Andrew was moved by it. “Hey sweety pie, don’t talk about deactivating and all that gloomy stuff. And don’t you dare leave me ok. I will go mad.” He said. Corners of his eyes were filling with tears.
The robot sat beside him on the sofa, placed its hand on Andrew’s and pressed it a bit and said, “Don’t you worry boss. I will never leave you.” They looked at each other for two-three seconds, then the robot let go Andrew’s hand. Andrew gathered himself a bit and started watching television. In reality he was just staring at it stupidly, not understanding a bit why everybody on the sitcom was laughing his head out.
“Hey Boss…” said the robot tentatively.
“Yes?”
“Why don’t you tell me about it?”
“About what?”
“About you and your wife. How did you both separate? I have read all the gossip on the Internet. Your former friends Nancy and Mark, you marring Mina, your violent temper, you hitting her, the trial, the sentence and all. There are hundreds of pages full about your eccentricities and your love for violence. But then it’s all gossip. I don’t trust it. I have been with you and I know its not real you. You see, I know you and I trust you. That’s why I want to hear it from you. Your version of the story. I know you loved her very much. That at least I can tell, from the way you always look at my eyes. Trust me you will feel better. You heard the saying – ‘Share the joy it multiples. Share the pain it reduces’.”
Andrew gazed at her for a moment, looking a bit perplexed as though trying to decide whether or not to let his emotional curtains down. At last he sighed and said, “You are right. I think I must tell it to somebody and if not to you, then to whom?”
Andrew switched off the TV. For a moment he just stared at the blank TV screen as if recollecting his memory. He sighed and began talking.
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“Can I ask you something boss?” The robot asked.
Andrew smiled and said, “You can ask me anything sweety pie.”
“Who is this green eyed girl boss?” Showing him the picture the robot asked. It was Andrew’s honeymoon photo. Their first evening at Hawaii. Mina and him, walking on the beach. Holding each other tightly, his arm round her waist and her head leaning against his chest.
Suddenly his face grew harder. “Nobody,” He said curtly.
“Oh, come-on boss, don’t be so tight-assed. I was just trying to open up a conversation. I know she is your ex-wife. I looked up all about you two on the Internet,” said the robot.
Now Andrew was infuriated. “What?” He bellowed. “You were spying on me.” He picked up the remote control and just as he was about to throw it towards the robot, he realized what he was doing. He checked himself. He was flushed.
Ignoring it the robot said, “Not spaaaying boss, just gathering information. We C360s do it all the time. How do you think I know all those little things about you, your favorite dishes, books, holiday destinations, et cetera? We record each and every little thing that comes across and act accordingly. That’s why our owners feel so comfortable around us.”
“But if anyone…”
“Don’t worry boss. No body can get that information from me. Not even Robosys service engineers. Robot Owners Privacy Act, 2052, mandates it. According to that law, nobody, not even Government itself, can obtain owner’s personal information from a robot forcefully or otherwise. A self protecting mechanism automatically deactivates that particular part of our memory in case of unauthorized access.”
Hearing this Andrew calmed a bit. “You sure about that?”
“100% percent sure boss. Did you forget our tagline? Your companion forever. I will rather terminally deactivate myself than betray you.” The robot reassured.
Andrew was moved by it. “Hey sweety pie, don’t talk about deactivating and all that gloomy stuff. And don’t you dare leave me ok. I will go mad.” He said. Corners of his eyes were filling with tears.
The robot sat beside him on the sofa, placed its hand on Andrew’s and pressed it a bit and said, “Don’t you worry boss. I will never leave you.” They looked at each other for two-three seconds, then the robot let go Andrew’s hand. Andrew gathered himself a bit and started watching television. In reality he was just staring at it stupidly, not understanding a bit why everybody on the sitcom was laughing his head out.
“Hey Boss…” said the robot tentatively.
“Yes?”
“Why don’t you tell me about it?”
“About what?”
“About you and your wife. How did you both separate? I have read all the gossip on the Internet. Your former friends Nancy and Mark, you marring Mina, your violent temper, you hitting her, the trial, the sentence and all. There are hundreds of pages full about your eccentricities and your love for violence. But then it’s all gossip. I don’t trust it. I have been with you and I know its not real you. You see, I know you and I trust you. That’s why I want to hear it from you. Your version of the story. I know you loved her very much. That at least I can tell, from the way you always look at my eyes. Trust me you will feel better. You heard the saying – ‘Share the joy it multiples. Share the pain it reduces’.”
Andrew gazed at her for a moment, looking a bit perplexed as though trying to decide whether or not to let his emotional curtains down. At last he sighed and said, “You are right. I think I must tell it to somebody and if not to you, then to whom?”
Andrew switched off the TV. For a moment he just stared at the blank TV screen as if recollecting his memory. He sighed and began talking.
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The Lady with Green Eyes - IV
As days passed by, Andrew thawed. The robot’s pleasant girlish enthusiasm was contagious. No matter how badly Andrew treated the robot, it won him back. When abused, the robot acted hurt for a while and then gave in, at last, by making little demands like, “I will do it boss, but only if you will say please.” Or “Promise you will take me on a walk in the evening and your wish will be fulfilled.” In one incident, the robot asked Andrew for an expensive robot accessory.
“It is this new wireless data transfer unit, boss. 2Gb per second. A cool C360 must have it. Will you buy one for me boss?”
“Not now. Latter,” Andrew replied.
The robot acted as if disappointed. For two days it just won’t reply straight. When asked to perform something, the robot just performed it. No smile. Nothing. Just plain expressionless - “Yes Boss.” At last Andrew gave in and bought the accessory. When he showed it to the robot, it practically frisked all over the apartment. Andrew Laughed. It was impossible to stay angry for a long time at ‘his sweety pie’ (as he fondly called the robot).
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“It is this new wireless data transfer unit, boss. 2Gb per second. A cool C360 must have it. Will you buy one for me boss?”
“Not now. Latter,” Andrew replied.
The robot acted as if disappointed. For two days it just won’t reply straight. When asked to perform something, the robot just performed it. No smile. Nothing. Just plain expressionless - “Yes Boss.” At last Andrew gave in and bought the accessory. When he showed it to the robot, it practically frisked all over the apartment. Andrew Laughed. It was impossible to stay angry for a long time at ‘his sweety pie’ (as he fondly called the robot).
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The Lady with Green Eyes - III
Andrew and his new C360 walked in his penthouse apartment. Andrew stumbled into the sofa. The robot was amazed at the living room. It could very well have been a room in a palace of a King. The furniture seemed to come straight out of the 18th century. The walls were decorated with different types of guns, sabers and daggers. The hilts and handles were artistically designed and were adorned with precious stones and metals. The robot walked to the center of the room. It took a round about itself observing the room.
At the same time Andrew was observing the robot. Robosys designers had produced a masterpiece. It had a perfect figure and its synthetic skin looked just like real when seen from a distance. And above all she (with those looks, it was hard to refer it as it) had green eyes. Pretty big green eyes. For a second, a thought flashed through Andrew’s mind. ‘Was it because of those eyes he bought the robot?’
“Bullshit.” Andrew said aloud to himself.
Thinking it was referred to its amazement, the robot turned to him and said, “No Boss, you have got a really beautiful home.” Andrew didn’t say anything. He was just staring at the robot’s eyes. Sensing it, the robot blinked them cutely and said, “Boss, you must give me a name?” Only one name came to Andrew.
“Mi… Nancy, I will call you Nancy.”
The robot looked happy. It smiled and said, “Nannnncy! I like it.”
“I hate it,” Andrew said coldly. The robot was perplexed. It didn’t know how to react. It just stood their, gaping at him. Annoyed Andrew pointed at a bedroom door and said, “You stay in that room. I like it quite in here. So don’t bother me unless I call you. Got that?”
The robot was smiling again. “Anything you say boss. Anything,” It said enthusiastically and walked to the next room.
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At the same time Andrew was observing the robot. Robosys designers had produced a masterpiece. It had a perfect figure and its synthetic skin looked just like real when seen from a distance. And above all she (with those looks, it was hard to refer it as it) had green eyes. Pretty big green eyes. For a second, a thought flashed through Andrew’s mind. ‘Was it because of those eyes he bought the robot?’
“Bullshit.” Andrew said aloud to himself.
Thinking it was referred to its amazement, the robot turned to him and said, “No Boss, you have got a really beautiful home.” Andrew didn’t say anything. He was just staring at the robot’s eyes. Sensing it, the robot blinked them cutely and said, “Boss, you must give me a name?” Only one name came to Andrew.
“Mi… Nancy, I will call you Nancy.”
The robot looked happy. It smiled and said, “Nannnncy! I like it.”
“I hate it,” Andrew said coldly. The robot was perplexed. It didn’t know how to react. It just stood their, gaping at him. Annoyed Andrew pointed at a bedroom door and said, “You stay in that room. I like it quite in here. So don’t bother me unless I call you. Got that?”
The robot was smiling again. “Anything you say boss. Anything,” It said enthusiastically and walked to the next room.
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The Lady with Green Eyes - II
Relationships. They come in two flavors. Bitter and Sweet. Somehow Andrew’s lot was filled with bitter ones. But then, relationship is like a mirror. It just reflects what you are. May be Andrew was a bitter person. He was a product (or rather by-product) of standard 21st century failed marriage. When Andrew’s parents separated, his mother got his custody. Though Andrew’s mother hated her marriage, she loved Andrew beyond anything. There was a strong bond between Andrew and her. May be that was why she died of lung cancer when he was ten. After that Andrew lived with his self-made, billionaire father Scott Nash. Many supermodels loved Scott Nash. All his three wives hated him. Forbes and Time loved Scott Nash. Andrew hated him. Somehow hating came naturally to Andrew. He hated his father for divorcing his mother. He hated God for taking away his mother from him. He hated his two stepmothers for trying to be his mother and above all he hated Mina, his ex-wife.
Generally marriages are built on foundation of love. Andrew’s was different. His marriage grew from the seed of hatred.
During college, Andrew had only one friend, Mark. Mark was tall and handsome and his skin had just the perfect tan. But he was not a smug as almost all of his type tend to be. Mark was sensitive and caring. He connected with people easily.
And then, there was Nancy. Tall, elegant and no need to mention, breathtakingly beautiful. Andrew loved Nancy. It was love at first sight. But when it came to saying ‘I love you’ Andrew’s tongue froze. In fact when it came to saying anything to Nancy, everything about Andrew froze. Words left him in desert and his knees trembled. Mark knew this.
“Hey man, if you love her, then go and talk to her,” Mark would say.
“You know me, Mark. I can’t. I just can’t. What if she says no? Even worse, what if she just looks at me and rolls her eyes like who is this looser and walks away.”
“No she will not.”
“Yes, she will.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Look at me Mark? Why will somebody love me?”
“You are just fine Andrew. A little under confident, that’s all. And you ask, why will somebody love you? Come on man, you are the adventure sports champ,” Mark would say to boost Andrew’s confidence.
“Yes, but I am not captain of the university football team like you and that’s only what girls seem to care about,” Andrew’s standard reply.
One day when Mark and Andrew were sitting on a bench in the University Park. Nancy and her friends passed by and Andrew just kept gaping at her. But she was too busy talking with her friends to notice Andrew. Mark vigorously shook Andrew up. Andrew blushed. Mark shook his head and said, “Now I must do something or someday some lad will marry her and you will go mad. I know where she goes to learn Tango. You and I are going to join the same class.”
“But Mark I hate dancing.”
“You want her or not?”
“Well…”
“Then you listen to me and do just as I say.”
So they joined the dance institute. There Andrew met Mina. She was Nancy’s friend. Mina was exact antithesis of Nancy. Nancy was tall and slender. Mina was petite and plump. Nancy was candid and outspoken. Mina was shy and reserved. Nancy had dark eyes. Mina’s eyes were green. Big green eyes with dark pupils at the center. The pupils were encircled with light shades of green gradually blending into deeper shades of green around the edges. Rays of light green shot from the pupils on the iris. Like a corona round the dark pupil. They radiated certain clam warmth towards observer.
Mark used all his charm and when Mark decided, no girl could resist him. In the matter of minutes, they got friends with Nancy and Mina. The four of them started to go out together. In many ways Mina was like Andrew. She also didn’t like dancing much. They would start out dancing in pairs, Mina and Mark, Nancy and Andrew. But in the end it would end up as Nancy and Mark dancing, while Mina and Andrew sitting at tables, quietly sipping their drinks.
One day, Mark and Nancy came to Andrew’s apartment. They looked a bit nervous. Not talking as usual. Just beating about the bush. Andrew sensed something was not quite right. So he asked, “Hey what’s with you guys? Why are you so tense? Is there any problem?”
Nancy and Mark looked at each other. Nancy said, “Well Andrew, I want to tell you something.”
“Yes?”
“Look Andrew, we are together for quite a time now. But I think we, you and I are not compatible with each other. It’s me doing all the talking, you just listen. You see, we are sooooo different. Now look at Mark and me. We are sooooo alike. We just compliment each other in every way. Sooooo…”
“Sooooo?”
“So…” she didn’t say anything further. She just kept rolling at the ring on her left hand. That was when Andrew noticed Mark was wearing similar ring. He was devastated. “No! You didn’t …” Andrew exclaimed.
“Yes buddy,” Said Mark timidly. “Look you must understand…”
“No. I don’t want to understand.” Andrew shouted. He felt lava spring inside him. I was shaking wildly. He could have killed Mark right there. He tramped to the door and swung it wide open. They took the cue and went out hurriedly. Andrew slammed the door behind them.
For next seven days Andrew shut himself completely from the world. He just sat there in his apartment, drinking liters of wine and shading buckets of tears. When he was not drinking or crying, he was throwing things around. The apartment had become a filthy mess. Rotten half eaten sandwiches laid here and there.
Then one evening, when he was lying on the sofa, half sleeping and half conscious, he heard somebody rapping at the door.
“Andrew, I know you are in there. Open the door now or I am going to break it.”
It was Mina. Andrew had never heard her sounding so resolute. Andrew didn’t know how but he believed that she was capable of doing anything that day. He stood up. Every thing was spinning. It looked as though he was looking through a misty windshield. He staggered to the door and opened it.
“Whaaaaaat?” Andrew asked in slurred voice. He was barely able to keep his eyes open.
Mina just looked at him for two-three seconds, then pushed him aside and walked into the apartment. Suddenly her nostrils twitched. She waved her hand in front of her nose trying to clear the air.
“Oh my God! This place stinks!” Mina said. Then she went into the kitchen and fixed a hot cup of coffee. Without saying a word she thrust the mug in Andrew’s hand. While he was sipping the coffee, all the rotten sandwiches went into the wastebasket. Mina carefully collected the broken pieces of the porcelain and they too went into the wastebasket.
“Now its your turn,” she said. She took Andrew to the bathroom and bathed him with warm water. Then she made the bed for him and put him to sleep.
Next day when Andrew woke up, he was in a different apartment. It was cleaned. All the furniture was moved in the right places and was arranged, as it should be. There were fresh flowers in the flowerpot. Fresh curtains hanged on the windows. Andrew lived in that apartment for two years and it never felt as lively as that.
Seven days later Mina and Andrew were married. Later that year, Andrew finished college and he didn’t know what he wanted to do. He didn’t wanted to join Sky Software because that was exactly what legendary Scott Nash wanted.
“Why don’t you become a cyborg?” Mina asked Andrew.
Cyborgs were the in-thing those days. They were fast. They were quick and they never failed. That made them perfect counter weapons against terrorists who seemed to be mushrooming everywhere. You can’t get a job. Government is responsible. And blowing some innocent heads was the solution for many young men. Cyborgs were the perfect answer to these maniacs.
“Are you nuts Mina? A cyborg? Do you know what the requirements are? They don’t ask for a man. They ask for Superman,” Andrew said.
“You are a Superman Andrew. You just need to believe a bit more in yourself. Skating, river rafting, snow boarding, bungee jumping…. Tell me an adventure sport that you don’t know.”
“Yes, but they take BQ (Behavioral Quotient) tests too.”
“You will do good in those too. You have got brains. You just need to apply it a bit more. I know Andrew you can become a cyborg. You have it in you.”
Andrew believed her. That was how Mina was. She could make him believe anything. So Andrew started preparing for the entrance test for the cyborgs, which was scheduled after three months. He got himself a physical trainer. He was obsessed with it. For the first time in his life, someone expected something of him and he was not going to let Mina down.
As scheduled, Andrew reported at the test center accordingly. The test was supposed to last four days. First three days comprised challenging physical tasks, which would reduce the candidates from 3000-plus to 30. And on the fourth day there was the BQ test. This included different tasks from solving complex mathematical puzzles, to behavioral tests in which candidates were put in different scenarios to record their responses in challenging and tricky situations.
Andrew did very well on the first three days. In fact he finished third. But on the fourth day, it all went wrong. Andrew’s BQ turned out to be 148. The minimum qualifying score required was 150. He was disqualified.
Reason: propensity to solve matters by use of unnecessary violence.
Andrew went home wrecked. There he was standing in front of the apartment door for whole fifteen minutes. Trying to summon courage to put the key in the lock and turn it. The thought of facing Mina like that was unbearable.
‘What will she think of me?’
At last somehow he opened the door and went in. He was astounded by what he saw there. There was a big Cake in the middle of the room with ‘Congratulations’ written on it and behind it were standing three figures. Mina, Nancy and Mark. All of them wearing long golden pointed clown caps. Andrew said nothing. He just slumped on the sofa.
‘What are they doing here? They must knew that I would fail. They are just here to humiliate me. Hey looser, you are good for nothing. ’
“Andrew darling, what happened?” Mina came to him and tried to put her palm on his shoulder. Andrew jerked it away and yelled, “Don’t touch me, you bitch. You knew from the start that I would fail. That’s why you talked me into it. You just wanted to humiliate me in front of them.”
Mina was astonished. “No Andrew. No. I just wanted to reconcile…” And she started to cry. Nancy went to her and tried to cajole her. Mark said, “Andrew we were here to celebrate your suc…”
“Shut up, you scumbag. I know you damn well. You leave my house now or I will cut your throat and drink from it.”
Mark and Nancy left the apartment without saying a word further. Mina ran to the bedroom and slammed the door shut. For three days they didn’t say a word to each other. On the third day, Andrew received an email from the Academy saying that from his performance at the cyborg entrance test, they found him eligible to become a fighter pilot. And if he was ready, they were happy to take him. The silence in the house was unbearable and may be just to escape from it Andrew packed the bags and left the house without saying a word to Mina.
The air force academy was the best thing that ever happened to Andrew. He loved flying. To be free and to be high up in the sky, away from the world in which he was so unwanted. But during first two days he was burning like hell because of the guilt. On the third day it was unbearable. He knew he was not fair with Mina. Poor girl just wanted to reconcile the differences between Mark and him. But he hated Mark so deeply; not for marring Nancy but for betraying his trust and that to in such a way that Andrew was not able to trust anybody again. He emailed Mina immediately and told her where he was and asked for her forgiveness. Just as Mina received the email, she immediately asked for a video-conference. She was sobbing. The skin below her eyes was puffy. She was rubbing of tears from her cheeks with her palms. But with those tears there was also a pleasant smile on her face.
“Honey, my sweety pie, I am sorry. I am really sorry.” Andrew said.
“Andrew, you don’t need to say sorry to me darling. I forgave you a long time ago. I was so concerned about you. But now you are fine and that means everything to me.”
After that day, the training was sheer joy and yet Andrew wanted to finish it early. On the last day of his training Andrew was flying in his fighter jet. Feeling the speed. Feeling the clouds zooming behind. Feeling the thrill and excitement. Excitement of flying was there but there was a greater excitement yet. Tomorrow he will be with Mina. Tomorrow he will be with his Sweety Pie. ‘Oh, I love this,’ Andrew thought. But happiness and Andrew never traveled together for a long time. Happiness always walked out on Andrew in the middle. And this time also it was going to end soon.
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Generally marriages are built on foundation of love. Andrew’s was different. His marriage grew from the seed of hatred.
During college, Andrew had only one friend, Mark. Mark was tall and handsome and his skin had just the perfect tan. But he was not a smug as almost all of his type tend to be. Mark was sensitive and caring. He connected with people easily.
And then, there was Nancy. Tall, elegant and no need to mention, breathtakingly beautiful. Andrew loved Nancy. It was love at first sight. But when it came to saying ‘I love you’ Andrew’s tongue froze. In fact when it came to saying anything to Nancy, everything about Andrew froze. Words left him in desert and his knees trembled. Mark knew this.
“Hey man, if you love her, then go and talk to her,” Mark would say.
“You know me, Mark. I can’t. I just can’t. What if she says no? Even worse, what if she just looks at me and rolls her eyes like who is this looser and walks away.”
“No she will not.”
“Yes, she will.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Look at me Mark? Why will somebody love me?”
“You are just fine Andrew. A little under confident, that’s all. And you ask, why will somebody love you? Come on man, you are the adventure sports champ,” Mark would say to boost Andrew’s confidence.
“Yes, but I am not captain of the university football team like you and that’s only what girls seem to care about,” Andrew’s standard reply.
One day when Mark and Andrew were sitting on a bench in the University Park. Nancy and her friends passed by and Andrew just kept gaping at her. But she was too busy talking with her friends to notice Andrew. Mark vigorously shook Andrew up. Andrew blushed. Mark shook his head and said, “Now I must do something or someday some lad will marry her and you will go mad. I know where she goes to learn Tango. You and I are going to join the same class.”
“But Mark I hate dancing.”
“You want her or not?”
“Well…”
“Then you listen to me and do just as I say.”
So they joined the dance institute. There Andrew met Mina. She was Nancy’s friend. Mina was exact antithesis of Nancy. Nancy was tall and slender. Mina was petite and plump. Nancy was candid and outspoken. Mina was shy and reserved. Nancy had dark eyes. Mina’s eyes were green. Big green eyes with dark pupils at the center. The pupils were encircled with light shades of green gradually blending into deeper shades of green around the edges. Rays of light green shot from the pupils on the iris. Like a corona round the dark pupil. They radiated certain clam warmth towards observer.
Mark used all his charm and when Mark decided, no girl could resist him. In the matter of minutes, they got friends with Nancy and Mina. The four of them started to go out together. In many ways Mina was like Andrew. She also didn’t like dancing much. They would start out dancing in pairs, Mina and Mark, Nancy and Andrew. But in the end it would end up as Nancy and Mark dancing, while Mina and Andrew sitting at tables, quietly sipping their drinks.
One day, Mark and Nancy came to Andrew’s apartment. They looked a bit nervous. Not talking as usual. Just beating about the bush. Andrew sensed something was not quite right. So he asked, “Hey what’s with you guys? Why are you so tense? Is there any problem?”
Nancy and Mark looked at each other. Nancy said, “Well Andrew, I want to tell you something.”
“Yes?”
“Look Andrew, we are together for quite a time now. But I think we, you and I are not compatible with each other. It’s me doing all the talking, you just listen. You see, we are sooooo different. Now look at Mark and me. We are sooooo alike. We just compliment each other in every way. Sooooo…”
“Sooooo?”
“So…” she didn’t say anything further. She just kept rolling at the ring on her left hand. That was when Andrew noticed Mark was wearing similar ring. He was devastated. “No! You didn’t …” Andrew exclaimed.
“Yes buddy,” Said Mark timidly. “Look you must understand…”
“No. I don’t want to understand.” Andrew shouted. He felt lava spring inside him. I was shaking wildly. He could have killed Mark right there. He tramped to the door and swung it wide open. They took the cue and went out hurriedly. Andrew slammed the door behind them.
For next seven days Andrew shut himself completely from the world. He just sat there in his apartment, drinking liters of wine and shading buckets of tears. When he was not drinking or crying, he was throwing things around. The apartment had become a filthy mess. Rotten half eaten sandwiches laid here and there.
Then one evening, when he was lying on the sofa, half sleeping and half conscious, he heard somebody rapping at the door.
“Andrew, I know you are in there. Open the door now or I am going to break it.”
It was Mina. Andrew had never heard her sounding so resolute. Andrew didn’t know how but he believed that she was capable of doing anything that day. He stood up. Every thing was spinning. It looked as though he was looking through a misty windshield. He staggered to the door and opened it.
“Whaaaaaat?” Andrew asked in slurred voice. He was barely able to keep his eyes open.
Mina just looked at him for two-three seconds, then pushed him aside and walked into the apartment. Suddenly her nostrils twitched. She waved her hand in front of her nose trying to clear the air.
“Oh my God! This place stinks!” Mina said. Then she went into the kitchen and fixed a hot cup of coffee. Without saying a word she thrust the mug in Andrew’s hand. While he was sipping the coffee, all the rotten sandwiches went into the wastebasket. Mina carefully collected the broken pieces of the porcelain and they too went into the wastebasket.
“Now its your turn,” she said. She took Andrew to the bathroom and bathed him with warm water. Then she made the bed for him and put him to sleep.
Next day when Andrew woke up, he was in a different apartment. It was cleaned. All the furniture was moved in the right places and was arranged, as it should be. There were fresh flowers in the flowerpot. Fresh curtains hanged on the windows. Andrew lived in that apartment for two years and it never felt as lively as that.
Seven days later Mina and Andrew were married. Later that year, Andrew finished college and he didn’t know what he wanted to do. He didn’t wanted to join Sky Software because that was exactly what legendary Scott Nash wanted.
“Why don’t you become a cyborg?” Mina asked Andrew.
Cyborgs were the in-thing those days. They were fast. They were quick and they never failed. That made them perfect counter weapons against terrorists who seemed to be mushrooming everywhere. You can’t get a job. Government is responsible. And blowing some innocent heads was the solution for many young men. Cyborgs were the perfect answer to these maniacs.
“Are you nuts Mina? A cyborg? Do you know what the requirements are? They don’t ask for a man. They ask for Superman,” Andrew said.
“You are a Superman Andrew. You just need to believe a bit more in yourself. Skating, river rafting, snow boarding, bungee jumping…. Tell me an adventure sport that you don’t know.”
“Yes, but they take BQ (Behavioral Quotient) tests too.”
“You will do good in those too. You have got brains. You just need to apply it a bit more. I know Andrew you can become a cyborg. You have it in you.”
Andrew believed her. That was how Mina was. She could make him believe anything. So Andrew started preparing for the entrance test for the cyborgs, which was scheduled after three months. He got himself a physical trainer. He was obsessed with it. For the first time in his life, someone expected something of him and he was not going to let Mina down.
As scheduled, Andrew reported at the test center accordingly. The test was supposed to last four days. First three days comprised challenging physical tasks, which would reduce the candidates from 3000-plus to 30. And on the fourth day there was the BQ test. This included different tasks from solving complex mathematical puzzles, to behavioral tests in which candidates were put in different scenarios to record their responses in challenging and tricky situations.
Andrew did very well on the first three days. In fact he finished third. But on the fourth day, it all went wrong. Andrew’s BQ turned out to be 148. The minimum qualifying score required was 150. He was disqualified.
Reason: propensity to solve matters by use of unnecessary violence.
Andrew went home wrecked. There he was standing in front of the apartment door for whole fifteen minutes. Trying to summon courage to put the key in the lock and turn it. The thought of facing Mina like that was unbearable.
‘What will she think of me?’
At last somehow he opened the door and went in. He was astounded by what he saw there. There was a big Cake in the middle of the room with ‘Congratulations’ written on it and behind it were standing three figures. Mina, Nancy and Mark. All of them wearing long golden pointed clown caps. Andrew said nothing. He just slumped on the sofa.
‘What are they doing here? They must knew that I would fail. They are just here to humiliate me. Hey looser, you are good for nothing. ’
“Andrew darling, what happened?” Mina came to him and tried to put her palm on his shoulder. Andrew jerked it away and yelled, “Don’t touch me, you bitch. You knew from the start that I would fail. That’s why you talked me into it. You just wanted to humiliate me in front of them.”
Mina was astonished. “No Andrew. No. I just wanted to reconcile…” And she started to cry. Nancy went to her and tried to cajole her. Mark said, “Andrew we were here to celebrate your suc…”
“Shut up, you scumbag. I know you damn well. You leave my house now or I will cut your throat and drink from it.”
Mark and Nancy left the apartment without saying a word further. Mina ran to the bedroom and slammed the door shut. For three days they didn’t say a word to each other. On the third day, Andrew received an email from the Academy saying that from his performance at the cyborg entrance test, they found him eligible to become a fighter pilot. And if he was ready, they were happy to take him. The silence in the house was unbearable and may be just to escape from it Andrew packed the bags and left the house without saying a word to Mina.
The air force academy was the best thing that ever happened to Andrew. He loved flying. To be free and to be high up in the sky, away from the world in which he was so unwanted. But during first two days he was burning like hell because of the guilt. On the third day it was unbearable. He knew he was not fair with Mina. Poor girl just wanted to reconcile the differences between Mark and him. But he hated Mark so deeply; not for marring Nancy but for betraying his trust and that to in such a way that Andrew was not able to trust anybody again. He emailed Mina immediately and told her where he was and asked for her forgiveness. Just as Mina received the email, she immediately asked for a video-conference. She was sobbing. The skin below her eyes was puffy. She was rubbing of tears from her cheeks with her palms. But with those tears there was also a pleasant smile on her face.
“Honey, my sweety pie, I am sorry. I am really sorry.” Andrew said.
“Andrew, you don’t need to say sorry to me darling. I forgave you a long time ago. I was so concerned about you. But now you are fine and that means everything to me.”
After that day, the training was sheer joy and yet Andrew wanted to finish it early. On the last day of his training Andrew was flying in his fighter jet. Feeling the speed. Feeling the clouds zooming behind. Feeling the thrill and excitement. Excitement of flying was there but there was a greater excitement yet. Tomorrow he will be with Mina. Tomorrow he will be with his Sweety Pie. ‘Oh, I love this,’ Andrew thought. But happiness and Andrew never traveled together for a long time. Happiness always walked out on Andrew in the middle. And this time also it was going to end soon.
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The Lady with Green Eyes - I
“I want to buy a robot as a housemaid,” Andrew said to the salesman.
The salesman ran an eye over Andrew. What he saw was interesting. There in front him was standing a tall man, not strikingly handsome but amusing indeed. How many times you get a customer with a robotic arm? The salesman tightened the knot of his tie and flashed his special ‘I am your friend’ grin showing his bleached milk white teeth.
“Which model do you like?” Asked Mr. White Teeth.
“I heard a lot about new C360s,” replied Andrew. “Everybody says they are cool.”
“Aha, C360! The latest,” said the salesman. ”Excellent choice. It’s a unique achievement for Robosys. You know, it can recognize from different 300,000 emotional and physical states of its owner and from that it creates the best suitable reply. An amazing feat, isn’t it? And there is more. They can learn new things just by observing others performing the tasks. But what’s cool is that they can be great companions.”
A companion was what Andrew really wanted. Before that he never used a robot at his home. All those mechanical ‘Yes sir’ and ‘as you wish sir’ kind of replies drove him crazy.
“It’s final then. I will buy a C360,” Said Andrew.
“As you wish sir. Will you please identify yourself?” The salesman motioned towards the retina scanner. Andrew placed his chin on the curved rest of the machine and looked through the retina scanner. A laser passed over his retina and within seconds the salesman was looking at Government record of Mr. Andrew Nash. Along with that the computer program searched the Internet and also presented a brief summary about Andrew. Multimillionaire heir to the software tycoon Mr. Scott Nash, ex-air force pilot, lost a hand and both legs in a military expedition, history of domestic violence, a notorious divorce, served 3 years in the Central Prison. At this, suddenly the salesman’s smile vanished. He eyed Andrew suspiciously.
Knowing perfectly well what caused such a sudden attitude change, Andrew smiled at him shamelessly. The salesman smiled back but this one seemed a bit contrived. Again a nervous touch to the knot of the tie. “Hum… Hum… Sir, I will suggest a regular robot for you. You know, the C360s have shown a certain propensity towards not so pleasant reactions when treated unfairly,” said the salesman. “Of course nothing serious,” he added as an afterthought. “You know, Robosys products are perfectly safe and secure.”
“I saw your new model in the ‘Your companion forever’ commercial,” Andrew said. “I think C360 is perfect for me. I want only that one.” Andrew slipped two 100-dollar bills across the table and winked suggestively. That did the trick. Suddenly the ‘I am your friend’ grin came back.
“Of course. Of course. Whatever you want sir. At Robosys, customer is the boss.”
That was the start of a new relationship for Andrew.
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The salesman ran an eye over Andrew. What he saw was interesting. There in front him was standing a tall man, not strikingly handsome but amusing indeed. How many times you get a customer with a robotic arm? The salesman tightened the knot of his tie and flashed his special ‘I am your friend’ grin showing his bleached milk white teeth.
“Which model do you like?” Asked Mr. White Teeth.
“I heard a lot about new C360s,” replied Andrew. “Everybody says they are cool.”
“Aha, C360! The latest,” said the salesman. ”Excellent choice. It’s a unique achievement for Robosys. You know, it can recognize from different 300,000 emotional and physical states of its owner and from that it creates the best suitable reply. An amazing feat, isn’t it? And there is more. They can learn new things just by observing others performing the tasks. But what’s cool is that they can be great companions.”
A companion was what Andrew really wanted. Before that he never used a robot at his home. All those mechanical ‘Yes sir’ and ‘as you wish sir’ kind of replies drove him crazy.
“It’s final then. I will buy a C360,” Said Andrew.
“As you wish sir. Will you please identify yourself?” The salesman motioned towards the retina scanner. Andrew placed his chin on the curved rest of the machine and looked through the retina scanner. A laser passed over his retina and within seconds the salesman was looking at Government record of Mr. Andrew Nash. Along with that the computer program searched the Internet and also presented a brief summary about Andrew. Multimillionaire heir to the software tycoon Mr. Scott Nash, ex-air force pilot, lost a hand and both legs in a military expedition, history of domestic violence, a notorious divorce, served 3 years in the Central Prison. At this, suddenly the salesman’s smile vanished. He eyed Andrew suspiciously.
Knowing perfectly well what caused such a sudden attitude change, Andrew smiled at him shamelessly. The salesman smiled back but this one seemed a bit contrived. Again a nervous touch to the knot of the tie. “Hum… Hum… Sir, I will suggest a regular robot for you. You know, the C360s have shown a certain propensity towards not so pleasant reactions when treated unfairly,” said the salesman. “Of course nothing serious,” he added as an afterthought. “You know, Robosys products are perfectly safe and secure.”
“I saw your new model in the ‘Your companion forever’ commercial,” Andrew said. “I think C360 is perfect for me. I want only that one.” Andrew slipped two 100-dollar bills across the table and winked suggestively. That did the trick. Suddenly the ‘I am your friend’ grin came back.
“Of course. Of course. Whatever you want sir. At Robosys, customer is the boss.”
That was the start of a new relationship for Andrew.
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