Filter Coffee # 190

On 'For the Want of a Nail'

FC 189 produced a good ripple 😀 I am grateful to a few readers who sent in their comments.

• Ashvini Ranjan says: “At any given point in time, we consciously or subconsciously are influenced by the acts of other people. Be it a member of one's own family or one in society. Some acts bring distress and pain, while others bring joy and happiness. When I started an NGO to educate slum children twenty years ago, my wife and I were the only two active workers. Over time, when we persisted even in difficult times, the numbers grew gradually with more joining the cause. This was certainly due to a ripple effect. Among those who joined may have included addicts who gave up their bad habits. Today, our NGO has grown to help close to two hundred thousand children. Thanks to the ripple effect. If the act is good and noble, a ripple has the power to turn into a tsunami!”

• Tarun Kunzru observes: “As Newton's law states—every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The understanding is that to get, you have to give! Ripples are just a visual manifestation of this principle. Sound also makes waves we can't see. You have said that the impact can be heard. What goes around, comes around. Understanding the ‘ripple effect’ is a critical ingredient to becoming wise.”

• M Shankar says: “Your FC 189 addresses the burning issues of the day. I am sure, your article would have a ripple effect (in a positive way, of course) on the minds of the current generation. Keep the coffee brewing, Sir Ji. I love it.”

• Atul Rajadhyaksha says: “Very often and in our daily routine, we are oblivious about the effect that takes place on others of our actions or gestures or simply our way of tackling matters particularly difficulties or obstructions to our plan or proposed action. For example, loss of temper at the drop of a hat by the head of the family will generally have a lasting effect on others in the family: children of such a father may well think that that is the way to respond to external difficulties.

  Thanks for reminding us of the ‘ripple effect’. It brought me down to reality again to be careful in dealing with life's adversities!!”

• Radhika Prasad has this to say: “‘For want of a horseshoe nail, a kingdom was lost’ encapsulates the cause and effect of a ripple. Vedic astrology links eclipse to ripple effects that trigger changes.” [RP, all I can say is that you have caused a ripple and given me something to write about]

👑For Want of a Nail

 ‘For want of a nail, a kingdom was lost’ has its origin in the works of the Bard. Act V, Scene IV of William Shakespeare’s Richard III, introduces the frantic utterance:

“A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!” Those are the last words of Richard as he dies on the battlefield during the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.

 ‘My kingdom for a horse’ has become an idiom of sorts. It means ‘to give up something substantial in return for something small’. All of us know that it is easy to make a small concession in return for something substantial. But giving up something substantial is a tough proposition. It depends on the context of this exchange of something substantial for something small. One can modify this to suit the circumstances. If one has been travelling in hot and humid conditions, one could be heard saying ‘I am willing a give an arm and a leg for a drink of water’.

James Baldwin (1924-1987) published a collection of stories called “Fifty Famous People” and one of the stories was “The Horseshoe Nails”. The story ends with this:

"For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost;

For the want of a shoe, the horse was lost;

For the want of a horse, the battle was lost;

For the failure of battle, the kingdom was lost;—

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail."

Something small, like the proverbial nail, can bail you out of an awkward situation. As a young school-going lad, I once had an embarrassing situation. The button on my shorts popped, and it was threatening to slide down. Owning a belt was a luxury then. I pressed my elbow and held it up, but I needed to fix it before the PT class, when the drill master would make us run around the perimeter of the football field. I did not want to be caught with my shorts down and send the boys into raptures. In those days, there were not many women teachers, one of whom, like the arts & crafts teacher, could have lent me a safety pin to save me the blushes. I had to figure out a way to avoid fun-making by the ever-eager boys. The school peon who rang the bell (we loved him for that) happened to pass by and saw me clutching my stomach. He thought I either had a stomach ache or wanted to go to the washroom (in those days, we called it ‘latrine’). When I said none of the above and explained the saga of the buttonless shorts, he asked me to follow him. He took me to the office and helped me fasten the waist of the shorts with a few common pins and, for insurance, he tied a binding thread around the waist. 

We often overlook the insignificant that props something to make it significant. The insignificant nail is what holds up a much-acclaimed painting for people to behold and appreciate. We often hear the expression ‘the devil is in the details’. A small mistake can become a blunder if the consequences are severe. ‘Small may be beautiful’ the saying goes. It can also be lethal. If you remember the story of David & Goliath, you will recall how something as small as a stone in a slingshot stunned Goliath, causing him to fall and be slain.

All of us are familiar with the phrase ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff’. It is synonymous with the proverb ‘Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill’. While a small occurrence can be serendipitous, it can also be the cause of jealousy or resentment for someone who lost the opportunity to benefit from it. Humans interact and during that phase, many small disagreements or issues crop up if they are blown out of proportion or taken out of context, one can experience the deleterious effect of something small. 

Tomorrow is April Fools' Day. Google launched Gmail on the eve of April Fools’ Day, and everyone thought that it was a prank due to its unbelievably good features! But the company did launch the mail king on April 1, 2004!

In 1760, among the earliest English speculations about the origin of the holiday is purported to have appeared in Poor Robin’s Almanac:

The first day of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fools’ Day, 
But why the people call it so,
Nor I nor they themselves do know.

The most famous of all the theories of how Fools’ Day got into our lives is when Pope Gregory changed the calendar from Julian to Gregorian. The change meant that the New Year would begin on January 1st, rather than in April. France quickly adopted this change. However, the people who knew nothing about the new calendar continued celebrating New Year’s Day on April 1st. The ones in the know started calling them fools, and this became April Fools’ Day!

Here’s something in a lighter vein:

A guy was quite smitten by a pretty girl. As luck would have it, he comes to her house on the 1st of April, and she sweetly offers to make him a cup of tea. He is delighted of course. She brings the tea and Oreo biscuits but with toothpaste, in place of the original filling. She starts sipping from her cup and remarks, “Good tea, no? Please have a biscuit before tea”. Our man bites into the biscuit and after seeing his face, the girl asks him, “What is the date today?” His reaction is left to your imagination.

Look out for pranksters as you resume work tomorrow, or be a prankster yourself, in a harmless way. Please share interesting anecdotes or your real-life experiences of AFD.

Until next week, take care and be safe. Ciao.