Questions & Answers

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When my son was in Class X there was a science book written by a husband-wife team. And I recall this question in it:

"What are the uses of oceans?"

And it was somewhat followed by this list of answers:

1. They give us salt

2. They give us fish

3. They give us rain

4. They give us minerals

So far I was happy. But there came a final answer:

5. Oceans are there so that we can cross them by ships

Now, this answer tickled me no end. It was something like:

Q: Why are there troubles in this world?

A: So that we may overcome them

Or, like this:

Q: Why are diseases there in this world?

A: So that doctors can make a living

Or, even this:

Q: Why are wives created?

A: 

1. They cook our meals

2. They wash our clothes

3. They give us babies

4. In old age they give us company

Followed by:

5. They nag us, thereby making us strong men

Three years back I posted a blog in which there was an equally male chauvinist pig remark. And then a lady calling herself Wanderlust (she wandered away from my blogs alright) posted a comment accusing me of speaking from personal experience. Then I had to tell her that man learns not only by his own experience but also by his neighbor's.

And boosted my defense by a reference to Socrates and Xanthippe:

 XVII. He said once to Xanthippe, who first abused him, and then threw water at him, "Did I not say that Xanthippe was thundering now, and would soon rain?" When Alcibiades said to him, "The abusive temper of Xanthippe is intolerable;" "But I," he rejoined, "am used to it, just as I should be if I were always hearing the noise of a pulley; and you yourself endure to hear geese cackling." To which Alcibiades answered, "Yes, but they bring me eggs and goslings." "Well," rejoined Socrates, "and Xanthippe brings me children." Once, she attacked him in the market-place, and tore his cloak off; his friends advised him to keep her off with his hands; "Yes, by Jove," said he, "that while we are boxing you may all cry out, 'Well done, Socrates, well done, Xanthippe.'" And he used to say, that one ought to live with a restive woman, just as horsemen manage violent-tempered horses; "and as they," said he, "when they have once mastered them, are easily able to manage all others; so I, after managing Xanthippe, can easily live with any one else whatever."

 http://classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes/dlsocrates.htm


 


  http://factsanddetails.com/world.php?itemid=1994&catid=56&subcatid=367

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But I was wrong and the science book authors were right in their own way.

For, what they meant was that transportation by sea is much cheaper than by land. Japan wanted to import her oil during World War II. Funnily enough Japan was importing most of its oil by its future enemy, the US. Anyway, it would have been intolerably expensive to transport oil by land, so Japan built some of the biggest oil tankers with cute names like Toho Maru.

Even now, pipeline diplomacy being what it is, India imports its crude by sea from the Middle East, all of it carried by oil tankers. Imagine how costly it would be to transport oil by land or air!

The science couple might have added to their list:

6. So that pirates can adventure on the seas

Now, pirates of the present day are like nincompoops compared to their glorious hoary veterans like William Kyd. Long John Silver and his Hispaniola will ever fascinate and enliven the dreams of children:


 


  http://misc.thefullwiki.org/Hispaniola 

Mark Twain, as a kid, dreamed of becoming a pirate:

"Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."

- Life on the Mississippi

Westerners have always been explorers and adventurers. They were inspired by the Biblical Injunction to conquer:

27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 

28: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 

Look at  our old friend Balboa (who suffered at the hands of Keats for the extra syllable in his unfortunate name...Keats credited Cortez with the 'wild surmise following the discovery of the Pacific Ocean'). Whatever his private motives were to run away from Spain (he was escaping from his creditors as a stowaway), Balboa  was true to his King and Queen:

"Once there, Balboa raised his hands, his sword in one and a standard with the image of the Virgin Mary in the other, walked knee-deep into the ocean, and claimed possession of the new sea and all adjoining lands in the name of the Spanish sovereigns."

 

 ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasco_N%C3%BA%C3%B1ez_de_Balboa}

^{On the other hand Indians, for whatever reason, were always introverted} 

^{and more  interested in crossing the ocean of Maya:}

^{Diveehyesha gunamayee mama maayaa duratyayaa}

^{Maameva ye prapadyante maayaametaam taranti te}

^{....Gita   7-14}

^{The Image of the Guru as a ship carrying its passengers to Freedom was} 

^{also used by Ramakrishna Paramahansa.}

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^{The other morning, Ishani was visiting my room and found a comb in the} 

^almirah. 

^{And thus began one more of her Inquests:}

^{She: This comb is Nanamma's (graniie's), no?}

^{Me: Yes}

^{She: Why did she leave it here and go away?}

^{Me: (Silence)}

^{She: When will she return?}

^{Me: Pretty soon, as a baby}

^{She: Why?}

^{Me: You did arrive as a baby three years back, no?}

^{She: (Silence)}

^{Me: Do you remember it?}

^{She: Yes, I saw a photo of you holding me in your lap}

^{Me: I will also become a baby soon}

^{She: No, no, no...I like you like this...don't go!}

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