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Contextless Context

 

Life is a bit of a mess when a stepdad and his stepchild don’t get along. Ask David Copperfield. His stepdad, Mr. Murdstone, made his life miserable, or at least, that is how David saw it. I was skimming through David Copperfield, not really feeling any sentiment, and honestly, a bit bored (lie!). And then, there it was — this line:
“He ordered me like a dog, and I obeyed like a dog.”
Suddenly, I perked up. I could see it. A dog ordering? A dog obeying? I never expected a single line to spark such hilarious visuals. A “wow, interesting” moment, completely out of nowhere. Of course, the reason is that I could easily relate how the dog orders and how it obeys to what Mr. Murdstone and David do.

I was sure that I was not an eligible audience for “The Greatest Show on Earth”. It wasn’t the greatest show for me. I dropped out at 10%. Not because it was bad, but just because I kept wondering, why am I even following this? Then, amidst my inner struggle, I hit this passage:

Evolution sceptic: Professor Haldane, even given the billions of years that you say were available for evolution, I simply cannot believe it is possible to go from a single cell to a complicated human body, with its trillions of cells organized into bones and muscles and nerves, a heart that pumps without ceasing for decades, miles and miles of blood vessels and kidney tubules, and a brain capable of thinking and talking and feeling.
JBS: But madam, you did it yourself. And it only took you nine months.

I had no words. My brain had just been short-circuited. I had been reading the question all thoughtfully, nodding along, feeling the weight of it — and then Haldane just casually yeeted my brain into space. I was staring at the page, muttering, “Wow… just wow.”

There was an “Angels vs Devils” task in the TV reality show Bigg Boss Tamil — Season 8. You’d think the devils would just be a bit mischievous, but no — they were full-on possessed. If the rules allowed, they might have been swinging swords and cackling into the night. I wondered, does just calling someone a devil actually make them one? Some contestants took this role way too seriously. Then, weeks later, there was a “Family Visits” episode. One of the fiercest devil players, Manjari, had her family come. She asked her son, “Were you scared of my devil character?”
“No.” “Why?” And without missing a beat, he said, “Because you are my mother.” Heart. Touched. Melted. That was unexpected. That was adorable. That was a full-on “wow.” It might have been just the usual cute answer if I had not known about the “Angles vs Devils” task.

A sequence of events can just happen, or you can make them happen, or someone else can orchestrate them for you. It doesn’t have to be for a ‘wow’.

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