Moirae

Prapanj Ganeshan writes about fates and destinies

Pronunciation of Moirae

Moirae from Greek Mythology

One fine morning, I had to catch a train to meet a friend; A friend who shares my understanding of fortune and misfortune. I got to an auto-rickshaw and asked the driver for his rates. He asked me to start a bargain with him first! I refused to do so and he quoted a price. Since he was all set for a bargain, I dropped twenty rupees from his quote and he refused the deal! I didn’t bother dropping a ten and decided to take him and started moving towards the station. After a short conversation on where I was heading etc., he asked me if I was educated. I didn’t know what he meant and kept silent. He then restated the question-”Have you passed the 10th grade?”. “Yes”, I said with a smirk. The smirk died when he said he had passed only 8th grade and considered himself uneducated. “Have you seen Deal or No Deal, the famous reality show?”, he asked. I had heard of it and had seen it while skipping through TV channels and so I said I had heard of it. “I want to play that game, sir”, he said. He added that the show host asked a question in the beginning. Only someone who could answer that question would be allowed to enter the game podium. He was scared that the question might be from a subject beyond his level of education. He asked if I would like to join him. “No”, I nearly shouted. He tried to convince me of how much money one could make from a game. He promised me a share of 75% of whatever we won. When he asked for my phone number, I got a little uneasy and told him I was not interested in anything that looks too good; and also that there was no easy money in this world. If there was, there was a lot of competition that went with it too. And that he should also stop fantasizing all that.

He said he wasn’t fantasizing, but was willing to make quick money. His auto-rickshaw job wouldn’t help him clear his debts (pronounced “d-e-t-s”). My thoughts ravaged through all the books I had read and the movies I had seen to come up with a one-liner to make this guy feel better and suggest him a straight, down-to-earth approach to succeeding in his life. I then dropped the idea as I didn’t know what he had gone through in his life. I just told him this, that his ‘level’ of education wouldn’t stop him from making good money.

On my way back, traveling by train again, I was weirdly connecting Kismet, fortune, life and the bridge outside that ran across a dried up river. I was interrupted by this one-legged guy limping towards me, holding to his crutches. He had a bunch of lottery tickets with him. His words translated to “The draw is tomorrow; pick your ticket; win 50 lakh rupees; and 50 lakh is half a CRORE!” He was definitely someone who met with great misfortune (looked like he lost his leg in an accident) and had gotten over it. And his business banked on fortune and people’s hope for fortune’s existence!

Prapanj