Imagine 10,000 years in the future. Two archaeologists are digging a site, and they find the remains of human bones. They take those remains to the lab, perform tests on them, and try to reconstruct the habits and lifestyle of that human. Say those bones belong to me. They are trying to find out my story, how I lived, what I ate, where I traveled, etc. Once they find all the info they need, they toss it into a museum where they store all other such ancient human remains they find. I was essentially one data point to them in trying to understand how humanity evolved over time. Or I can also call myself a “datum”, the singular form of data, literally one piece of information to solve a bigger puzzle. Honestly, I don’t need 10,000 years to become a datum. I am already a part of several datasets people use these days to study many things. So for that objective learner, I am already a datum. Now let me get to how I got the dumb part of it. I have had an interesting and eventful life so far...
Cool weather is here in Dallas. Only difference it makes to me is that now I have to keep my shirt on while running, and sometimes I will even have to even layer up. But one other fact I observed is that when it isn’t freezing cold, there are usually many couples out on the trail.
Some are old couples who clearly have been with each other
for a long time. Some are young couples who are experiencing the taste of a
budding romance. Sometimes they are engaged in deep conversations, which I
understand based on the look of serious concentration on their faces, but
sometimes their conversations are just silly and playful. There are also couples
who walk in a pin drop silence, maybe because they have found comfort even in a
shared silence and stillness. Only commonality between all these different
couples is that they walk slowly, holding each other’s hands, and that’s how I decide
that they are a couple.
On the same trails where these couples are walking, I am usually
running by myself, immersed in my own thoughts and Spotify playlists. But
sometimes my playlists bore me and I need a brief escape from my thoughts, so I
look around, and then I see all these couples. They get me thinking.
I heard this quote in a TV show which says “Love is dumb
luck.” I am not quite sure. There seems to be a lot of complicated machinery
and logistics involved, and a lot of things have to fall in place, for two
people to fall in love and sustain it for a good long period. So maybe dumb
luck is a way to abstract out all that complexity.
When I see these couples, sometimes I get jealous, sometimes
I am indifferent, and sometimes it forms a silent tear in the corner of my eye.
But sometimes I wish a magic portal opens which transfers me to a different
universe, where I am the one walking hand in hand with the woman I love.
Then maybe we’ll notice a duck and she’ll tell me how, growing
up, she used to run by chasing ducks like it was a race. Next, maybe we’ll see
an energetic Australian shepherd and I’ll tell her about the time an Australian
Shepherd jumped on me, which got me scared. Maybe she’ll ask me if I know why a
shepherd jumps at people. I will say I have no clue. Then she’ll reply “it’s because
they think you are a sheep”, and that will put a subtle smile on both of our
faces. I wonder if my heart will beat really fast or very slow during that
conversation.
But for now, I remind my normal beating heart that I am not in
that universe. In the current universe, I need to go and run 18 miles by myself.
And sometimes while I am running, I do this thing where I open Spotify on the
phone and play a song, all while I am in motion, and I dutifully skip to the
end of the song, to sing along to its closing lyrics, like
“When I'm pipe and slippers and rocking chair
Singing dreadful songs about summer
Will I have found a better method
Of pretending you were just some lover?”
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