Improvisation

Amol and I have a knack for shibboleths. The other day we were discussing on how many girls can one have in his life? I was adamant on one and he was trying to justify one plus. I put forth the age-old saga of Sri Ram, “Satyavachani and Ek Patani”, one who always adheres to the truth and has only one wife.

“So?” Amol frowned not understanding what I was trying to get at
“What do you mean by so, I have proved the point buddy” I replied
“Ok, so you mean to say there was only one women in Sri Ram’s life?” Amol said sarcastically with a shrewd smile.
“Even though I haven’t completely read and understood Ramayan and Uttar or Dakshin Ramayan, I don’t recollect mention of any such blasphemy. Did you read a pirated version, Ishaannya Ramayan, huh?” I mocked Amol
“You ain’t getting what I want to say, how about his dear mama, Kaikei?”
“Huh, Kaikei, where does she fit in our debate?”
“Ooh come on, Kaikei is a woman and Sri Ram loved her as much as his wife Sita. Now we have two women in a man’s life. Got the point that I am trying to make. Rather, can you see the improvisation of your proved point by me?”
“This is ridiculous, a complete misfit, Mr. A, I don’t agree with ya”

Forget about the conversation, but we had articulated a nice shibboleth, “You can prove a point and you can improve it”

I got a chance to see this shibboleth being personified in a movie.

Two lawyers meet for drinks after the first hearing of the case, in which they are pitted against each other. One is professional, very well known for his career record, has never lost a case till date and is what Tiger Woods is to Golf. Heck, lets call this fella as Tiger Woods. The other is an amateur, fighting his first case with all the odds against him; lets call him Dave Carter. As they chat through, Tiger make a statement that there is a fine line of demarcation between fact and reality inside the courtroom. Dave appears puzzled and questions Tiger’s statement. Tiger awes Dave at his innocent question and like a Guru preaching his disciples starts to explain,

“There is, my friend Dave, there is. There is a lot of difference between fact and reality not only inside the courtroom, but even outside, its present everywhere, even at this very instant when I am talking to you.”

“We have” Dave picks up a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label “only one bottle on this table. This is a fact and a reality too. Can you prove, Mr. Woods, that there are two bottles here?”

“Yes Mr. Carter, I can. Fact is a concept whose authenticity can be proved. Reality is a quality possessed by something that is real, in the sense that, that something physically exists somewhere.”

Proving a point:
“There is one black label bottle, which is over here on the table, and there is one black label bottle, which is not over here on the table. Thus, there are two bottles in question that we are talking about. Proved?” Mr. Woods smiles at his self-convincing victory

Improving a point:
Mr. Carter clasps the black label and says, “Mr. Woods, lets do one thing. I will drink from the bottle in my hand and you carry on with the second bottle, which you just proved to exist.”