DOWN THE DRAIN (28-Jan-2022)

 

Innovation is the panacea for risk-taking individuals to tackle any challenges.

The idiom “Down the Drain” is in usage for a long time and implies to waste something or the means to a futile end.  A water faucet gone kaput which has made it impossible to arrest its wastage or harvest its flow is a good rationale for usage of this adage.

Scientists tread the path of research with gusto, though at times their research results in dead ends or delayed results.  Both these situations throw them out-of-balance and make them feel desolate, since they may have to start all-over.  Often their research produce detrimental results too for reasons beyond comprehension and they get branded in the society as anti-social.  Nevertheless, it’s their resilience to take adversity head-on which is an essential element of their success, sometimes a late-stage gain.  They endure and evaluate methods when faced with challenges to prove their hypothesis.  Innovation is in their DNA and persistence in their blood.

Risk-taking is often shunned by today’s parents due to the tendency of delayed results for their children.  Parents who make prescriptive suggestion to abide in a comfort zone in effect kill the innovation mindset of young ones.  It is a “Catch-22” situation both for the parents and the young ones, given the rampant rat-race wherein the society rewards “Minimum Effort – Maximum Benefit.”

What about people in power corridors?  The min-max pair fit their persona, and effort is an antithesis in their lexicon.  Don’t get me wrong, there are a few exceptions to my stated rule though.  Our government servants today have risen to their highest levels of ignominy with no remorse.  They amass wealth and lead a life as if they’ll outlive this mortal body to live amidst their next four generations to enjoy the fruits, however with least labour efforts!  No one to admonish their questionable behaviour, where the media works hand-in-glove rather than lay them bare-exposed has allowed them to go scot-free.  They display total apathy towards public concern that has earned them the dubious distinction of sorts.

My drift here is that in a recent turn of events in Bangalore, they have redefined the adage in discussion.  What has stood the test of times is more permanent in nature.  In contrast, this adage lost its sheen due to the innovative behaviour of a government official.  He hid cash in the plumbing lines in his house which is the point of least suspicion for investigating officers to go after when they searched the house.

The test of time got scuttled.  The junior engineer had the presence of mind to think that a plumbing line is not just down the drain but can bail him out to hide his excess cash.  The investigating team had extra-sensory capabilities to look for cash in hitherto never-thought places and led them to plumbing lines!  Pure innovation on both sides!

This episode has redefined history to offer a new meaning to this idiom.  I hope Google has tweaked its algorithm to escalate this episode on top of the search results, so the user is forewarned in his need to use this idiom.  We have artificial intelligence to search in order to enhance the search results, but then who can speculate the human intelligence of our power servants?!

With this, the adage stands redefined making honest individuals rendered forlorn!