Best of five

When the High Court squashed the Best of five rule for SSC admissions to the 11th, my son was predictably vindicated. Just the day before, he was calculating how much more he would have benefited 3 years earlier when he had passed SSC. If I too starting thinking that, perhaps even my life would have taken a different turn. But today he felt happy and yet sad. ‘I thought you would be happy to learn that the scoring pattern is the same at that of your time.’ It seems that now he was able to see some merit in the best of five. Only difference was that he was not restricting it to the SSC marks. ‘I mean, it should be best of five in all events.’ On cue, he confused me. ‘Huh?’ I asked for elaboration. ‘When I answer four times correctly, and once wrong, I should be given full marks for all five questions.’ Oops, here came the rebound. He continued, ‘even you should not shout at me if four times I drive the new car correctly and the fifth time I dent it just a bit.’ Now he was making me sweat as I visualized the new car looking ugly with his newly acquired driving skill.

My wife overhearing the conversation, now chipped in. ‘Even I will benefit by the best of five’ she announced. ‘Each time we have a party, most of the dishes are superlative. But one dish is perceived as average by most ladies and my whole effort on the 30 course menu is wasted. Best of five rule will certainly make a success of my dinner parties then.’ Hmmm not a bad line of thought. I should mention this to my boss. If one of five projects fails then he should not blow his top as he usually does. We could even improve the employee morale in our office by this rule and who knows, we may even have more success with renewed confidence. This best of five rule seems to have a constructive impact in every sphere.

‘Can we tweak the rule to best of four for my driving since I am a learner?’ my son suddenly woke up to his usual mischief. ‘Next minute you will demand best of three’ I admonished him. I mused, ‘It will be better for the students if the Government were to have the rule of BEST OF ONE’. All of us agreed that each student had his favorite subject in which her performed exceedingly well. ‘And new subjects should be introduced like film appreciation’ quipped my daughter who was noticeably silent till now. ‘Who in his right mind introduce this subject?’ I flared. ‘We are the city of Bollywood and I am sure that all want good cinema to reign. If the audience is sufficiently armed with correct evaluation of good cinema, the Industry will benefit.’ All I knew till then was that the film industry had benefited amply from me through the money spent on the theaters directly and immediately thereafter on dresses designed on basis of the film itself. ‘Cricket could be a separate subject for the boys’ chipped my son to support Best of One rule.

As we turned off the TV showing Mahabharata, someone closed the subject by remarking, ‘It is good that Draupadi did not have to apply the best of five rule.’