THE young crocodile hasn’t found anything to eat this season; the river has just dried up, though once it used to be full of fish. That was before the limestone quarries came up outside the sanctuary and turned water to chalk. The crocodile that went to Harvard to study mathematics is now calculating the probability of surviving.

In Harvard, it didn’t have to move an inch to hunt; the fish came straight into its jaws as it sat downstream with river flowing right into its mouth, giving it meal and mouthwash together. That was how easy the life it led at Harvard was, where it had the reputation of being the biggest and the smartest crocodile, which made a minimum effort for maximum gain.

After graduation, the university has stopped feeding it and its search for new waters has brought the young crocodile to this river. Suddenly, life has become a struggle.

In these new waters, it finds bigger crocodiles, giants of corporate strategies and academic world, which hire smaller crocodiles to hunt for them, then snatch the fish from their jaws. These big crocs set up quarries that turn river to dust, forgetting that they get fish from this water. These crocs eat up whatever little fish is left in the river, leaving nothing for the youngsters. Today, a young crocodile will change the rules forever.

"I want to be in your position," the young crocodile says to his bosses. The big croc, who owns everything, says, "Get some experience."

"Experience is an instinct about life and I have it. I have proved it in every Harvard examination," the youth speaks.

"Kid, there are things that they don’t teach you at Harvard. We’ll see how good you are. Imagine that you are in a race, in which, the starting line is at a certain point on a straight beach. The finish line is in the water. One way to arrive at the finish line is to run 4 km down the beach, make a 90° turn and swim 1 km. However, you may cut into the water at any point. Your speed on land is 6 km per hour and your speed in water is 2 km per hour. At what point, measured from the starting line, should you cut into the water for an ideal run?" asks the big croc.

The Harvard graduate, who has no answer, sheds some "real" crocodile tears, at which, the other big croc says to all young crocodiles, "Save the reputation of this Harvard reptile and give me the answer by this Wednesday at or Mind Games, Windows, The Tribune."

— Aditya Rishi