Kejriwal and Rahul are seeking people's opinion on everything, and what can be the consequences? Read this story and enjoy yourself. I have abridged and adapted it a little :
The Great Bell
The Great Bell
"My people," the king begins when the people have
gathered, "We greet you!"
"Great king of ours, we greet you!" the people
respond.
"My loyal and beloved
people, we greet you!"
"Great king, we greet you! We greet you!! We greet
you!!!"
"The Great Bell has been finished," he proclaims.
"Yeeaah!!!" the people cheer. "Long
live the king!"
"But," he cautions, "the bell is not yet
working properly."
Well-disposed to their king, the short-sighted and stunted
people are quick in offering suggestions.
"Set more engineers on it!"
"Hire some foreign engineers!"
"No! Consult the Oracle!"
"Yes! Consult the Oracle!"
The cries go on and on until the old king raises his hand.
"My loyal and beloved people," His Majesty says,
"We appreciate your concern and interest in our Great Bell. However, we
doubt if this is a matter for the Oracle. Besides, the engineers know what the
problem is. But they have not been able to solve it. That is why we are
gathered here today."
The people can barely wait for His Majesty to finish.
"Why can't the engineers solve it?"
"What sort of engineers are they, fake ones?"
"They should be caned!"
"I say they should be hanged!"
The passionate
short-sighted and stunted people shout on until the royal hand goes up again.
"My loyal people," His Majesty coaxes,
"We doubt if this is a hanging matter. The engineers have done a great
job. Why should we hang them for a problem they can't solve? Remember they are
a part of us too. Indeed, we think they should be highly rewarded for their
work!"
"Yes, I agree. Let's reward them!"
"A cow with a bell for each!"
"No! A white bicycle is better!"
"But that is the king's official vehicle!"
"A black one then. A black bicycle for each man!"
"Agreed. One man; one bicycle!"
"But the Great Bell is not yet working properly!"
The king smiles and strokes his curly grey beard as he muses over his subjects. One minute
they want a hanging, the next they want to hand out rewards. He is still
smiling as his hand goes up.
"My beloved people, we believe the first thing we
should do is find out what the problem is. Why is the Great Bell not working
properly?"
"Yes, yes, yes," the people agree,
"why?"
"The answer to that," His Majesty declares,
"can best be provided by the Chief of Engineers."
"Summon the
Chief of Engineers!"
"My beloved people," His Majesty says, "we
give you the Chief of Engineers. He will tell you what is wrong with our Great
Bell."
A lanky monocled
man with wire-brush grey beards appears on the dais where the king sits with
his entourage. He presses his
monocle lightly as he executes a slight bow before the king. Then he whips a sheaf of papers out of his
pocket.
"Great king I salute you. With your kind permission,
Your Majesty..."
The Monarch
acknowledges the salutation and motions for the Chief of Engineers to proceed.
The latter faces the people. "Great people, I greet you!"
"Chief of Engineers, we greet you!"
"The problem with the Great Bell is that it fails to
strike at hourly intervals as it had been designed to do."
The short-sighted and stunted people, a great talkative lot
if there has ever been one, display their vaunted
mettle of the tongue.
"Hey you! Don't we know that already?"
"Did they say this man is
the Chief of Engineers?"
"Speak, man speak!"
"He is speaking! But until you shut up you will never
hear him!"
His Majesty's hand goes up. "People, people, control
yourselves. Chief of Engineers, please continue."
The Chief of Engineers continues. "The Great Bell won't
strike because a big spring restrains
the hammerhead."
The people are incensed.
"Well then, take the damned spring off!"
"This man should be caned, I say!"
"Is this the Chief of
Engineers?"
"I doubt if he can engineer a pot of soup!"
"Oh, what a shame!"
Again, His Majesty's hand institutes silence.
"My beloved people," he teases, "stop heaping
abuse on the Chief of Engineers. Allow him to explain things to you. After all,
he is the Chief of Engineers."
The Chief of Engineers thanks His Majesty and directs a gaze
of long-suffering at the people. "The spring holding back the hammerhead
cannot be removed because its removal will cause the hammerhead to fall and wreck the Great Bell. We cannot allow
that to happen. It will be a grave calamity."
"So what is the solution?" comes the retort from the people.
His Majesty gives a royal throat-clearing. "My beloved
people, it is you who must offer suggestions to be considered by the engineers."
Elated at the
chance to show their problem-solving prowess,
the short-sighted and stunted people fall over themselves.
"Put a screw through the hammerhead to hold it in place
then remove the spring."
"Nonsense! Add more steel to the hammerhead to--"
"Rubbish! Place the hammerhead in a vice-like grip
so--"
"You're dumb! That hammerhead is not strong
enough--"
"And you need to hang a bell around your neck so people
will know a cow is coming! The hammerhead is not the problem! The problem is
the spring--"
"Are you the only one here? Please let me say
something--"
"No it's my turn--"
The wise old king raises his hand. "People, people,
control yourselves! Everyone shall have a say. But first let's hear what the
Chief of Engineers think of the ideas we have heard so far."
The Chief of Engineers, looking up briefly from the paper he
has been busy scribbling in, clears
his throat. "Thank you, Your Majesty. Eh, we can't put a screw through the
hammerhead because it will cease to
be moveable and we can't compromise with that. Adding more steel will totally
destroy the design function of the hammerhead. A vice just won't work; we
already tried. I should add that the hammerhead is strong enough so that isn't
the problem. Finally, removing the spring as I have already explained is not an
option."
"Thank you, Chief of Engineers," His Majesty says.
"Now we will hear more suggestions. We urge you to be orderly and
respectful."
Chastened by the king's words, the people are momentarily shy. But they are not known
for being able to keep mum.
"Perhaps we should redesign the Great Bell."
"I disagree. A bracket is what's needed."
"Perhaps we should use another spring to counter the
action of the first spring."
"I wanted to say that!"
"A spring might work."
"But it would have to be a stronger spring."
"Yes! Make for us another spring!"
"Indeed! Set a spring to tame a spring!"
Up goes the king's hand again. He motions to the Chief of
Engineers to comment on the spring issue.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," the Chief of Engineers
begins, scratching his eagle head. "I must confess that we did think of
another spring initially. But we discarded the idea because it's a likely
two-edged sword. It may work, but it may also fail, causing a design
nonperformance and possible malfunction that could lead to the destruction of
the Great Bell. In fact the original design called for a reversing spring. But
we abandoned it because of the inherent danger."
"But there's a good chance it might work, not so?"
someone queries from the front ranks.
"Yes," says the Chief of Engineers. "There is
a good chance. Indeed, synchronising
the clock flywheel with the hammerhead and bell mechanism will be much easier
with a second spring. But it will involve very extensive calculations to
establish a reasonable margin of safety. This is because the addition of a
second spring will automatically draw us closer to unacceptable uncertainty.
What that means is that we may succeed in activating the bell mechanism to
function as per its original design concept, but we would also unwittingly
trigger a disparity in the
displacement. The slightest error could be very dangerous. "
"Please! Please! Spare us!"
"Ah! My head is getting heavy!"
"Is he speaking English?"
"You engineers should work out all the calculations you
need to work out--"
"Yes! We only want to hear the Great Bell toll at every
hour, to the proper count!"
"But," the Chief of Engineers strains to be heard, "but the safety margin is so miserably
low that the slightest--"
"Damn your safety margin!"
"Aren't you the Chief of Engineers?"
"I wonder! Go deal with your safety margin!"
"Make for us a spring!"
"Oh yes, a spring!"
"A spring then," comes the concluding remark of
His Majesty, throwing his royal weight behind his people.
And so the engineers do their calculations, worrying
crazily over safety factors. Eventually
they build the spring and instal it. The king then sets a date to unveil the Great Bell. On the appointed
day, the entire country gathers at the centre of the country under the Great
Bell.
"My loyal people, we greet you!" His Majesty
begins the greeting protocol. The
king then delivers his speech. "My truly loyal and dearly beloved
people," he declares in royal tones, "it is with great joy that we
welcome you to this historic unveiling ceremony of our Great Bell."
He continues, "During the course of the year, we have
all laboured greatly to build this Great Bell. With its completion, the Great
Bell shall serve eternally as a testimony of our greatness in purpose and
unity. Our great engineers who designed and executed this Great Bell have done
us all a great service. They are our great pride. As such, it is with great
happiness that we announce the royal gift of a great cow, with a bell, to each
member of the design and building team."
"Yeeaah!" the people cry, clapping and
stamping their feet.
"In addition," the king continues, "they
shall also receive a black, 3-speed bicycle!"
"Yeeaah!!" the people cheer again.
"And since we all had a hand in this monumental endeavour," the king goes on,
"we shall not only wine and dine together at our great palace after this,
there will be great gifts of all sorts for everyone!"
"Yeeaah!!!" the people scream.
"With this great endeavour," His Majesty, now
really in his royal element continues, "we announce our coming of age to
the world. Henceforth, we shall be known by all as a great people, led by a
great king, and achievers of great things!"
"Yeeaah!!!!" the people roar.
"Therefore," the great king pauses for a great
royal effect, "as I pull this lever, that we might all enjoy the first
tones from our Great Bell, I urge you to raise a mighty shout to our
greatness!"
His Majesty duly pulls the lever.
BANG!
The Great Bell tolls.
"Yeeeeaaaahh!!!!!" the people thunder.
CRACK! CRACKER-CRACK! CRASH! TWANG! YAKATA! SPLIT! GBOA!
WHOOM! GBISH! POOF!
"Ooooh--!"
"Aaargh--!"
"Oh noo--!"
"My good--!"
"What--!"
"Oh my--!"
"Help--!"
"Please--!"
From the land beyond the cliffs, deep in the hinterland, comes word of the total demise of the momentarily great
short-sighted and stunted people, on the day of their great achievement.
--Crispin Oduobuk
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