Filter Coffee #115

On Shifting Sands

Thank you, readers, for your continued readership and for your comments. Let me share a few of them with you:

• Geeta Jaisim says: I enjoyed reading this issue of Filter Coffee, and all the excerpts from previous newsletters/posts. Thank you.

• Ganesh Shenoy gave the answer and said: Hi Pras, the orange costs 15 cents and the lemon 10 cents. While you can arrive at this using algebraic equations, sometimes intuitively you can guess it too; by assuming lemon cost to be lower than orange and doing quick math - voilà! I always have fun reading through your FC series, great stuff and keep the Filter coffee coming, it certainly invigorates our Sundays :)

• Damandeep said: This one was a stumper indeed! Time to get some brain-teaser revisions for me! Your newsletters are always a fun and knowledgeable read! Thanks.

• Shereyar Vakil says: Dear Pras, wow, a great article - I was stumped. By the way, in cricket one can be stumped by a non-legitimate delivery as well, that is when a bowler bowls a wide ball and the batsman is out of his crease latest example was at the Asia cup woman's cup match played on Friday.

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⏳ Shifting Sands

Is this synonymous with ‘shifting stands’? At first blush, it would not appear so. But in reality, while the sands shift due to the changing tides, people tend to shift their stand through the course of time, or at a time they choose. So, while the adage ‘time and tide wait for none’ is true, it seems people wait for the right time or changing times to shift their stand, but the sand on the beach has no such choice but to yield to the tide as it rolls in.

Shifting sands implies that the situation has changed due to factors outside the control of the people concerned, whereas shifting stands is more often an act of volition. Interestingly, sometimes the shifting sands can induce the shifting of stands.

The classic example can be found in politics. The erosion of the political base of a party and its diminishing political fortunes can prompt a person who swore by that party’s credo to cross over to another party and proclaim it as the saviour of democracy, etc.

Shifting of sand could also mean displacement or erosion. If you shift your stand, you are essentially displacing your earlier stand on a given subject or eroding it with your contrarian stand. The synonymity of ‘stand’ and ‘sand’ when the shift occurs is quite remarkable, even if one influences the other. I would be delighted to hear from my readers.

When you stand at the edge of a beach, you can feel the sand shifting from under your feet, and at times the shift is so quick due to the force of the tide that you may feel yourself unbalanced. You then shift your stand and step back a bit to be on slightly firmer sand. Remarkable that the sudden shift in the sand can influence you to change your stand (albeit in a physical sense).

At a conscious level, a shift in stand is influenced by thoughts that determine the path you wish to pursue. The recent phenomenon of working from home or hybrid working model represents the shifting sands and the resultant desire to stay at home and work, even if offices were to open, would be a shift in your stand. You wish to have a say on the working conditions and decide what is acceptable to you.

‘Change is constant’ may appear an oxymoron, but the reality is that situations keep evolving and nothing is forever. The sands of time and the sands of the tide are entirely different. While the latter is at the mercy of the tides, the latter is a measure of time, as in an hourglass. So, sand can be washed away by tides, but the same sand can tell you that time does not stand still. The hourglass is not just a timing device, but is a visual metaphor for life’s duration and for the inevitable truth that the world around us will not stand still. 

Sand running out is indicative of time running out, and running out of stands indicates that one has run out of all options. 

Henry Wadsworth used the phrase ‘sands of time’ in his poem ‘A Psalm Of Life’. It appears in the 7th stanza:

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time

Footprints on the sand are meant to be washed away, but footprints on the sands of time indicate the indelible mark that certain great men have left behind, whether it be an innovation or discovery or something noble that would remain part of human history.

On a different note, writing on the sand is actually a way of saying that you write your worries on the sand but cherish in your hearts the blessings bestowed on you. If one were to wallow in self-pity and get overwhelmed by worries, one will soon drown in the quicksand of despair and abject surrender.

Time has slipped through my hands this week. Inundated with work and work-related travel from Monday to Saturday, I have not been able to devote time to my Sunday post. In a moment of weakness, I thought of making this an excuse and not putting in the effort to write. But then, I told myself that I must write this post, even if it is shorter than usual. So, here I am seeking your forbearance and understanding of my predicament.

I was in Mumbai and Delhi at a legal event, and I was quite pleased when many people walked up to me and said that they read my FC every Sunday, and it makes their cup of coffee more enjoyable. I am truly grateful to them and to all my readers.

Before I conclude this shorter post, let me remind you of the Sidney Sheldon Novel ‘Sands Of Time’. It is a story of four women who are forced to leave their Spanish convent for the outside world of threat, violence, and passion; and two men who are pitted against each other in a fight to the death. It was made into an action-packed movie that you can watch on YouTube: The Sands of Time (1992)

 Here are a couple of PJs

You will never starve in a desert, why?
Because of all the sand which is there.

Why should you not draw on the sand with charcoal?
It is terrible to leave a carbon footprint.

Until next week, do take good care of yourselves. Ciao.