Moot Information
I read somewhere that the human brain is designed to retain a certain volume of information. It varies from person to person depending on how much they exercise their memory. In this Google age, we have become exceedingly lazy when it comes to our memory. Why memorize something when you can just Google it? As if this were not enough, we have random bits or completely useless information shoved into our faces on a daily basis.
I was flying to Delhi from Bombay recently. As we reached the cruising altitude, the Captain came on the PA and began by thanking us for boarding the flight on time and hence making it possible to take off before the scheduled departure time.
That was when the relevance of the conversation stopped.
'We took off from runway no. 27A' was his next statement, and oops! there goes a phone no. Wiped clean from my memory.
At this point I wanted to stick my fingers into my ears and scream," Lalalalalalla" just to block out all this Moot Information.
Helpless to do that unless to risk a show of insanity, this is how my mental conversation with the voice of Mr. Captain went.
'This runway is North Facing and now we continue to fly in the north Eastern direction' - And you're parting this information because...? Do you want our consent on it? Oh, how about a little back seat flying? 'I really think we should keep flying north... Then we can take a right turn.'
'Presently we are cruising at an altitude of thirty five thousand feet.' - what can I possibly do with that information? Not to mention it goes a long way in assuring me on the safety of flying!
'At the moment we are flying over Rajkot.' -Can we stop over and get some "Fafda"? No? Then why are you telling me this?
'The air temperature outside is 40 degrees below zero... ' - I'll just have to take your word on that... Or did you want me to crank down my window?
'But for your comfort we have the cabin temperature at a comfortable 25 degrees.' - I am eternally obliged!
And Finally, the information that really mattered.
'We'll be landing in Delhi twenty Five minutes before the scheduled time.' - That was all that really mattered to me. Thanks to everything you said in between, now I've ended up loosing a few birthdays and addresses as well as a few phone numbers!
I have this Moot Information logged into my brain and which I now inevitably pass onto you, my readers. Does that make me as callous as Mr. Captain? Probably. The only difference - I'm more entertaining! If you got a laugh or even a smile out of this, then it's a job well done for me. Otherwise it's just more Moot Information.
