Once, when I was a kid, my uncle asked me a supposedly silly question which still keeps my grey cells busy. The question was “Why is it that while searching for some lost/misplaced article, you find it only at the last moment of your search?” I still find the question a very intriguing and thought-provoking one.
The scenario when someone has lost something is interesting and worth pondering. I would rather call it ‘misplaced’ than ‘lost’, and mind you, I am talking about petty, temporary disappearing acts of mobiles, keys, wallets, iPods, pen drives, earrings and the likes within the household or any other familiar domain. No sooner is the loss declared than you get to hear some questions, usually the same ones ,from different people, some very meaningless ones like: “where did you leave it?”(if I knew that would I say it is lost?); “did you search properly?” (I don’t even understand what that means); and the worst of all-“how much did it cost?”(are you going to pay for that, and even then, would it solve the problem?). Initially, everyone will be supportive and optimistic assuring that their entry into the search team would cause miracles. But a few minutes later you see the loser continuing the search on his own or sulking in a corner.
A few days back, I happened to be a part of a hunt squad. The venue was my uncle’s (not the one who asked me the question) flat where around 25 people had gathered for his daughter’s engagement. The lost article-the inanimate hero of the story-was a cell phone and the sufferer of the loss-the animate hero- was yet another uncle of mine. By the way, in case you are wondering, since the phone had got switched off due to low battery one couldn’t locate it by giving a ring.
It was not easy to find a missing phone in a house with 25 people and 50 handsets ( I discovered that the man to phone ratio for a sample of 25 was approximately 1:2), unless one knows where one has put it….but then, it wouldn’t be a lost phone.
The search was even more complicated due to the following facts:
1. The 2BHK flat is infested with people and their belongings.
2. The item is found missing in the morning of the day of the function when all are running around, at various stages of (un)dressing.
3. The house is in the messiest possible state.
4. On the previous night, some of the family members were accommodated by a benevolent neighbour in his flat and this uncle was one of them. So the search has to include the neighbour’s flat too.
Very soon, the usual queries started pouring out. My uncle must have got tired of repeating the colour, model and price of his phone…and of course, he does not remember where he kept it…and that’s why he thinks it is missing. I felt like putting up a notice on the wall and saving him the trouble.
Many of us, considerate souls, embarked on the phone-hunt. Every minute saw new members enrolling in the search party and some taking voluntary retirement. One of my aunts was resourceful enough to find him a reasonably good substitute, only it belonged to a young cousin who was soon crying: “mine is missing too”.
The search progressed with the morning chores of baths, pooja, dressing up, breakfast, photo session and so on with no actual progress until, of course, the very last moment of the search when it was found. The phone was found by the neighbour in his place where my uncle had slept. He had kept it safe with him knowing someone will come asking for it. Only, he was the ‘last’ person my uncle chose to ask…I wonder why!
