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ABILITY is the starting point if you have to go high in life. Just as I was telling this to Sachin, the bell rang. I was coming down the stairs when the door opened violently by itself and I heard a bang. This is a violent world, how come I took 30 years to realise that? The shot fired at me had luckily been the effort of a poor marksman. It had missed its intended target by more than a respectable distance. "Just how close can you get!" said the big fat man, who had by now come up behind the shooter. "We have come here for your guest, Sachin. Tell me where have you hidden him and maybe I’ll let you go," said the stocky, dark shooter. "Sachin? I knew he would get us into trouble one day. Take him; he’s upstairs, but I’m sure it’s not him you want." "On yeah, we want him. We want him every time. He whacks us in every big fight and then we go after his life." In the meantime, nine more men in green suits run upstairs and bring Sachin down. "You two are coming with us." "No, not him, just Sachin. Boss said no extra deliveries," said the big fat man. "It’s just one," said the shooter. "You always say that," said the big fat man. They tied us down in the first few overs; they said they possessed dangerous leg cutters, so we should try not to get a nick. Then came their boss, that crazy old fellow, and Sachin is taken into a separate room. The short moustached man, whom the green men called boss, showed me a slip, which he said was the passport to our freedom. On it was written the product of two integers >=2, and simultaneously the sum of the same two integers was given to Sachin. Hence, I only knew the product and Sachin only knew the sum of the two integers. However, both were aware that the first knew the product and the second knew the sum. I was then asked whether I could determine the two numbers, and I answered no, loud enough for my partner to hear. Sachin was then asked whether he could determine the two numbers, and he too answered no, loud and clear. I was then asked once again whether I could determine the two numbers and this time the answer was... yes! We were free; we had shown them how
tough we were mentally. "Strange guys, they kept addressing me as
Tendulkar," said my friend, Sachin Batwala. It was only this
morning, but now I can’t recall those two numbers. If you know, write
at Mind Games, The Tribune, Chandigarh, or aditya@tribunemail.com. |
