Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Critical analysis

Hypothetical situation -

X is walking down the road, minding her own business and looking nowhere in particular. Ten feet from the shop she meant to go to, she is stopped by a scraggy-looking man and a woman carrying a child. All three look lost and tired. Feebly, Man asks X if she knows Hindi. Somewhat reluctantly, X gives a diffident nod.
Man (croaks; X has to strain to hear him): We were going to go to Rameswaram but.. (trails off on seeing X’s face)
X (without meeting his eye): No money-
Man: Don’t want money. Biscuits.. food.. (points to child)
X looks at child and quickly looks away. ‘ I’m not carrying food’
‘..If you could help us.. child.. milk.. biscuits..
After a moment’s indecision, X fishes out two ten-rupee notes, hands it to grateful Man, points vaguely at the distance to a grocery store, and walks on hurriedly. As she's walking, she becomes aware of two hitherto unnoticed bystanders with unmistakeable sniggers and just a hint of amusement on their faces, and hastens into the shop in relief.

Question -

Was X a gullible fool in the above passage?

21 comments:

Oink said...

this took place near luz tank ?

coz this is exactly what happened to me right there . only what they asked is whether i know marathi, instead of hindi.
And of course the fact that i gave em 50 bucks. :-\

Vidya said...

yes X is a gullible fool.
Now i want my 10/10!
and you moron you were supposed to blog on how my testimonial writing skills have gone from good to worst! hmphh!

Full Of Life said...

naah not at all. X aint a fool in any sense of the word. Seems like thats what I would have done as well. In any case, its a nice gesture. (n 20 is not much..omg oink 50 bucks! pro only)

Vidya said...

and looks like ure preparin full time for gre!

fiddlesticks said...

@oink - whoa 50! pro only :D even including the other time i humoured such people, my total amounts to 40 only! 0.0

@vid - wrong answer! no points, hmph! and what gre, havent started yet! im soo gonna learn a big bunch of words and only then sleep today. sheesh

@fol - yes, u get full points, full of life! keep it up :D

Oink said...

@ ripvan Uv had this experience before ???????!!!!
You lose BIGTIME ! ur 20 bucks is now equivalent to 200 bucks ! :P

codename_047 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
codename_047 said...

wah.. i m really nt i a mood to ans a RC ... but WTH...gulliable?? bottom line NO.. but would say a combination of fear and pity...but X`s intent to commiserate with the child could hav been beter rendered if X had givn the child a biscuit packet frm the store she was goin to .. this way no1 would hav thgt tht the guy made a monkey of her.... SO evnthou v can argue to an extent tht X is gulliable(with pretty gud success at tht ) givn the state of affairs cant com to tht conclusion beyond reasonable doubt..

Sudarshan J said...

Since when did 20 bucks buy anyone anything? That too with the soaring prices due to inflation now? But I must say, a good gesture. If not anything, you gained a person's good wishes.

fiddlesticks said...

@oink - say what u will, but in my book 20+20 = 40 and 40<50.

@c47 - X was going into a stationery shop, biscuit place was lil farther, but yes, good idea, that. ok, next time :D

@naren - excuse me? 20 bucks will get you 5 packets of tiger biscuits! or a bunch of bananas. or 3 mangoes. or, 2 packets of biscuits, tea for man and woman, and milk for child. do not underestimate 20 bucks!

Vidya said...

dead blog

Sudarshan J said...

3 mangoes?? In which world?? i am not saying that you gave a paltry sum, am just saying that Rs. 20/- would have bought them an afternoon's worth!

You have heard the story about teaching someone fish, haven't you?? :)

Akash... said...

X isn't a fool. Had she not given those 20 Rs. she'd have thought about it for a long time and may have regretted it later, thinking that it was a matter of mere 20 Rs (Nah! Am not underestimating 20Rs!) :D

But now, she does feel better, doesn't she?

fiddlesticks said...

@vid - :-/

@naren - teach what, precisely? fishing, ob no; cooking even more so; garland making, no; stitching, no; any art thingy no; driving, cobblering, carpentry, no, no, NO.. teach what, i ask you!

@akash - she does :D

Oink said...

ding dong !

Sudarshan J said...

who's there?? :P

smilingassassin said...

hmmm.. its not even worth commenting(oh i mean on wt u rote.. fatty).. now since the post-postmortem is also over...(of the situation i mean) :P.. and gizmo.. lady wants to say even without gre prep her vocab is hi-fi... modesty personified! :P..

and oink.. u r pro in economics.. being th better economist of the lot(hehe .. i am also modest u c :P)... i give oink full marks on that 20 valuing to 200 thingie :P hehe...

and mansa.. really wud luv to know.. if X was u :P.. luks like it was u.. all diplomatic actions .. no replies watsoever :P...

P.S..yes next time we see u may kill me.. LOL

Unknown said...

arent you bored of seeing hypothetical situation critical analysis X blah blah? write somethin new woman!

Sudarshan J said...

Hear Hear!!

Look who's talking!

Marlin Jar said...

Is it really necessary to 'critically analyse' this? Would you have posted this if you hadn't noticed the sniggers on those fellows' faces?
When you do something out of good intentions, forget about it. Don't examine whether you acted intelligently or whether you lost your esteem because of it.

Neeraj said...

oh sorry to disappoint you guys but this kind of thing happens very often these days. These 'lost' people are not really lost, it is just another form of begging...and im serious