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Chintito
It's a Mind Game but don't Mind
Chintito
Everyone is very tight-lipped these days. Suspicion is galore. No one trusts anyone.
Last week I asked someone at the local bus stop whether we are going to have a lot of rain this year. He looked at me, measured me top to bottom from the top of his drooping spectacles, and then hiding his face partly behind the collar of his shirt, said, 'Why don't you see the weather report on TV?' Asked I, 'Which channel?' He was shaking, 'B..b..t…t..t v, what else? This is an old shirt, why are you staring at me?' I let him go. I am not comfortable with people who doubt me to be an undercover agent.
These days no one is speaking his mind, not even those who are speaking. But we all know we all have one. That is what we are famous for, our opinions, each of us has one.
If you tell someone matter-of-factly that CTG is quite good. There is a possibility he might retort and say, 'I don't think so.' If you then even mockingly threat that you will report him, he will be quick to draw and say, 'I meant Chittagong'. That is what makes ours such a beautiful country.
Since we can't read each others mind and it is important that we do, this week therefore we are going to go deep into people's thoughts, and play a mind game.
All you have to do is decide to which former Minister or MP, reformist or conformist politician you would attribute the listed one-liners. We won't object if you name a new politician, because that is the latest trend. All the one-liners have been taken from the net.
Fill up the blanks in the right column, ask someone in your family or phone a friend to do the same, and then compare your respective results. [We have a significant interest in the game and stand to gain by selling more copies of our magazine.] You will be surprised to find how different your assumptions are compared with that of the others, however well you know them or however close you are as a relative.
If there is a tie, play again. The outcome is bound to be different.
If perchance your response matches fifty percent or more with anyone, you two are qualified to launch a new political party. What name will you give it? Well that's the more difficult part.
| One liner [Hint in italics, more as a means of puzzling you] |
Corresponding former Minister or MP, reformist or conformist politician [Use pencil, for you may change your mind] |
| 1. |
A flashlight is a case for holding dead batteries. [In and of jail, enjoying bail] |
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| 2. |
All men are idiots, and I married their King. [Second time unlucky, younger but tough]
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| 3. |
Assassins do it from behind. [After enjoying the cream for five years, stabs leader in back on return home] |
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| 4. |
Beer: It's not just for breakfast anymore. [Apparently adept in legal affairs, a political party hopper] |
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| 5. |
Consciousness: That annoying time between naps. [International calls may split party] |
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| 6. |
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. [Party floater during emergency] |
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| 7. |
Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your mouth is moving. [Regularly interviewed in TV] |
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| 8. |
I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure. [Small money, big smiles] |
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| 9. |
If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried. [Tail turning reformist] |
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| 10. |
If you can't convince them, confuse them. [Dictator, paramour, city architect, paramour] |
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| 11. |
Never mess up an apology with an excuse. [Statutory author] |
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| 12. |
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups. [Open-ended] |
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| 13. |
Quickly, I must hurry, for there go my people and I am their leader. [Leaders emerging from nowhere] |
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| 14. |
We were born naked, wet and hungry. Then things got worse. [Wanderer in Karwan Bazaar] |
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| 15. |
You are depriving some poor village of its idiot. [Arrested for corruption, deer lover, dear lover] |
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| 16. |
Your kid may be an honours student, but you're still an idiot. [Or vice versa] |
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