Why I will never go to Pluto on a rocket.

In retrospect, I now realize how rapidly the human mind flits between different thoughts. My sister has lately developed an interest in Disney's Encyclopedia For Children. She was reading out an entry on the Milky Way to my father and me, and paused briefly to give us her personal thoughts and comments on the subject. The topic of discussion suddenly shifted to the Solar System, then moved on to the Big Bang, jumped to Mickey Mouse for a short while and then came to the cosmic tragedy : how Pluto lost its status of a planet.

It occurred to all three of us that we didn't know why this happened and so I decided to find out. I did all my research here.

I did some explaining, and before I knew it I was in the middle of an animated discussion with the topic being How Will We Go To Pluto In A Rocket?

Sis : Why can't we go?!
Me : We can't!
Sis : Of course we can!
Me : How will we go?
Sis : In a rocket!
Me : Yes, but how will we get into a rocket? They won't let us in!
Sis : THEY WILL.
Me : They'll ask us to pay LOTS AND LOTS of money.

My sister gave this a thought. So fund raising was the problem. Hmmm.
She came up with a solution.

My grandmother dabbles in Japanese painting and Ikebana. So my sister said very wisely, “we'll sell Grandma's paintings and get money.”
Me : But that won't be enough!
Sis : We'll sell it for HUNDRED!

The word 'hundred' is in in italics and is bold because special emphasis was laid on word. My sister half shouted it out, and that was accompanied by an exasperated facial expression and a firm, muscular hand gesture that symbolized ceaseless strength and determination.
Me : But that still won't be enough.
We thought for a while. I then came up with a bright idea : We would stand on Mount Road all day holding a poster that would look somewhat like this :

It wouldn't work. My sister knew instinctively that it wasn't feasible.
Sis : When I grow up I'll become a scientist. So I can go in the rocket.
Me : You can go, but they won't take me.
Sis : So what? You don't come.
Me : Waaaah! :'(
Sis : OK, OK, I'll take you also.
Me : The other scientists won't want me to come.
Sis : Then you don't come, pa!
With that powerful exit line and an even more powerful punch she walked away and switched on the TV.


Bah! If it was today that she had punched me, I would have sued her and she would have got a fitting penalty : Clean up the clothes shelf.
Yes. Until now, I have been playing the role of an oppressed commoner in the troubled times of a dictatorship. But now the tables have turned. Absolute power lies with the common man : lies with me. A new Politeness Plan has been introduced jointly by my mother and my sister(Why on earth would she have done that? Is this part of a larger, diabolical scheme I have overlooked?). This Plan is our Constitution, Bible, Bhagavad Gita, Koran, Guru Granth Sahib, Tintin comic and Dictionary.

The Plan is applicable for all members of the family. Democracy is here. I take that as a good sign.

I can now present whatever cases I have against my sister to an independent and impartial judiciary.
Way to go, kid. :P


On a completely different note, on Jan 26th (Republic Day), after flag hoisitng in school, I decided to eat out.  I traveled for a while and stopped on seeing two eateries that  stood close to each other. One was a french bakery called La Boulangerie and the other was Murugan Idli Shop.  I ate at Murugan Idli Shop.  I am a true Indian. Jai Hind.