True Risk

“What if you find yourself in the middle of an ocean on a boat that is sure to sink?” Jigneshbhai asked me and Swami the other day. Swami was caught at that time dipping a cookie in his coffee, and it broke and sank.

“What kind of arbitrary question is that?” Swami raised his eyebrows while he searched for the drowned cookie with a spoon. “Why would I get on to that kind of boat?” he further mused.

“Of course, no one gets on to such a boat on their own. Let’s say you got on to the boat to get to another shore,” Jigneshbhai explained.

“Yes. So then, I will make sure that it gets to that shore,” Swami tried to close the topic, morbid as it seemed to him and me. But Jigneshbhai wasn’t done.

“But let’s say you realise once you are on it that there is no such shore. You have been misled,” Jigneshbhai added another imaginary condition. “Plus the boat is definitely going to sink. You don’t know when, but it’s going to sink for sure. It’s only a matter of time. What would you do then?” Jigneshbhai persisted with his hypothetical situation. Swami and I didn’t quite like it.

Swami and I had a few sips of coffee as we didn’t have any answer. I hoped that during this silent detour, this unpleasant topic would itself sink, and a new topic would emerge. But nothing like that happened.

Even in the silence that followed, Swami had been ticked off. His brain was the first to react. His mouth was the first to open.

“Maybe I will check my supplies to make sure I don’t die of hunger before the boat sinks,” Swami said.

“OK and then?” Jigneshbhai probed.

Swami and I looked at each other.

“Then maybe I will learn to swim or stay afloat, just in case. Maybe I can save myself by staying afloat when the boat sinks,” Swami said jokingly.

Jigneshbhai had a broad grin on his face. He was pleased with what he heard, perhaps.

“OK then? You have got your supplies. You have learnt swimming. And after that, the boat doesn’t sink, yet. But it’s going to. What do you then?” he asked.

“Well, I will look around the sights. Enjoy the trip, while it lasts,” Swami said.

Jigneshbhai clapped his hands and pumped his fist hard onto Swami. He seemed incredibly happy on hearing the answers.

“That is true courage,” he said.

Swami looked at me. Both of us were thinking the same thing. Had our friend gone bonkers? What’s true courage in this? I thought Swami was enjoying his boat ride.

“True courage? I was just kidding,” Swami asked and smiled. But Jigneshbhai continued.

“To face risk when everything goes to zero is true courage,” he said, looking into blank space. Swami and I glared at each other again. This time we were convinced that Jigneshbhai had indeed lost some of his nuts. He was talking of risk and courage and we couldn’t make out head and tail of it.

Jigneshbhai was shaken out of his dreamy stupor by Swami.

“I thought we were talking about sinking boats. How did everything go to zero? And what has all this got to do with risk and courage?” Swami interjected.

Jigneshbhai looked at us and smiled again.

“Well, when the boat sinks, everything goes to zero, isn’t it?” he asked.

“Yes, it does,” Swami said, and I nodded.

“Everything, your food, your supplies. Your swimming, nothing matters when the boat sinks, isn’t it?” Jigneshbhai asked.

“Yes, I guess so,” Swami answered, squirming in his seat, in a tentative tone.

“And I told you the boat is going to sink anyway, isn’t it?” Jigneshbhai asked.

“Yes, you did,” Swami replied. All questions had Yes as the answer, it seemed.

“And you still said you will enjoy the sights and the ride, fully knowing the risk, isn’t it?”

“Well, yes, I did, I guess,” Swami answered Yes again with his tentativeness rising again.

“So isn’t that courage?” Jigneshbhai asked.

“Well, yes, it is, I guess. But maybe I forgot that the boat is going to sink. Or didn’t I?” Swami murmured this time.

Jigneshbhai was still smiling thought.

That’s when I saw the wealthy old man walk across to our table from the adjoining table. He tapped Swami on his shoulder. He left us with more food for thought with what he said.

“True courage is in being prepared for the risk of everything going to zero. It is in enjoying the ride while still on the boat. Because eventually all boats, small or big, are destined to sink.”

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