MIND GAMES
Mail ego
Aditya Rishi

IT'S too early for Sheikh Chilli to be home; what’s this knock at the door? Sheikh Chilli, the master, is back from school. "Ask no questions and you’ll hear no lies," he tells his wife, "Ask and you shall receive."

"This is surely the time when the school gets over. Why have you been coming home late in the past?" says the wife. "You doubt my intentions?" "Doubt is the beginning, not the end of wisdom." "But, darling, faith will move mountains."

"Look at your clothes, these are all dirty and so hard for me to wash. Haven’t you heard: clothes make the man?" "Sweetheart, I’m a teacher. I never judge a book by its cover."

"If you lie down with dogs, you’ll get fleas," "I think differently. I say, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em." "So, you have been sitting with gamblers, as I suspected. Take me to my mother’s home." "You won’t be back soon I hope, would you?" "I’m not wasting a minute." "A good beginning makes a good ending." "It’s not over till it’s over."

Days later: His wife at her parent’s, Sheikh Chilli is now missing her. His friend, Ghulam Badshah, comes to see him. If Sheikh Chilli is a fish that gambles, Ghulam Badshah is a card shark. "Sheikh, why have you stopped visiting the den? Birds of a feather flock together." "But opposites attract. I’m missing my wife. I’m only a teacher, but my wife is a class apart."

"Write her then." "A letter won’t do." "Then, send her something she would like, say a necklace." "I tried to send a necklace over the mail. It’s an expensive necklace and I know it’d bring her back, but I cannot mail it loose. It’ll have to go in a box. The post office sells boxes of all sizes. The boxes are equipped with multiple latches as well as locks and keys. You can duplicate keys and you can put more then one lock on the same box. The boxes cannot be broken, so the recipient must have a key to open the box. A key cannot be sent outside of a box, and an unlocked box cannot be mailed. How can I ever send her the valuable necklace?" "I get it. It’s the mail ego that stops you from bringing your wife back. There is a way: the readers of Mind Games." (Write at Mind Games, The Tribune, or aditya@tribunemail.com. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again, but don’t beat a dead horse. The solution will be carried six weeks from now.)