Column

In the old days (generally old days refers to the day before last Tuesday), man walking on the moon was considered a big thing. Neil Armstrong was decorated as the first man on the moon, despite rumours that there was already a small NRI settlement nestled on the moon well before his landing. These rumours were put forth by Neil himself who reportedly brought black and white pictures of Patel Motel hoardings years back with him.

Today however the scenario is a little different. Landing on the moon, jogging on Jupiter, and making out on Mars are all considered old hat. Today the big thing, the biggest challenge is answering the questions of a five-year-old.

Yesterday my son, asked me who is God?Instinctively I pointed towards my wife, only to see from my son’s expression that he had already explored that eventuality, and since he had no super powers that would enable him to fly, punch through walls ,or most importantly shut down school, this was not the appropriate answer at least till he turned sixteen.

As I stammered and stuttered and pretended to have a coughing fit, my son started to raise the ante.

“Dada who is God’s Mother ? This was a real bouncer. I thought quickly what would Aristotle or Socrates have done when faced with such a query. From what I remember Aristotle would have drowned himself and Socrates would have swallowed the obligatory Hemlock. Since neither option was available to me, I did what Aryabhatta would have done and began to dig my nose.

“Please Dada nobody seems to know who is God’s mother”?

As fear froze the little blood left in my veins, I pulled a rabbit out of my hat.

“Frankly baba, only your mama knows the answer to that one”.(by the way if any of you know who God’s mother really is please call Neil Armstrong on www.nextmoon.com).