The Pantomath

Chapter 1: A good place to begin

Decisions. Deliberations. Choices. Life is full of them, isn't it? I have spent the last two hours contemplating this huge decision, which I know will have multitudes of effect on my life; but I still wasn't sure. "You haven't answered yet. Do you want to go Dominos or Pizza Hut?", asked my roommate. "I can't make up my mind because someone keeps interrupting me!", I replied, with a slightly irritated tone. Yep, slightly. Raj, who has been my roommate for the last 3 years of college, looked at me funny and just started laughing. "Why are you laughing now?", I asked him as my irritation formed a cocktail with a little bit of confusion.

"Hahaha. Nothing man, really. Let's just go."

"No, no, tell me. Why does my dilemma amuse you?"

After turning his laughter down a notch, he said, "Well, it's just that I have known you for a long time now. You are one of the most analytical people I know and yet you struggle with the most basic decisions of your life."

"But it's not that I don't want to make a decision. I was thinking about it. I find pizzas at Pizza hut better, but I want to try the new sides at Dominos. And then I found coupons for Dominos but realized that Pizza hut is closer to us. Then I remembered about the new Ice-cream place that had opened near Dominos but Pizza hut has your cute cashier girl and then......"

"I GOT IT! I got it. That's what I was talking about. You consider way too many things man. That might help you with certain things but you certainly can't decide where to eat. Let's just go to Pizza hut, I am starving and want to go somewhere close."

"Oh sure. That's the reason", I said, as I picked up my jacket and saw a smile creep upon his face.

We got out of our apartment and put on our padded jackets as we braced ourselves to face the chilly winters of Delhi. "Make sure you get her number this time, would at least make walking in this hellish weather worthwhile", I said as the frosty wind sent chills up and down my spine as we walked towards the joint.

As Raj mumbled something under his breath which I took as some sort of acknowledgement,I started to process his earlier remarks about my decision-making. I always did think way too much than required, in a lot of cases. It was just that I saw somany conditions, so many criteria. If only there was a way to find the perfect criterion for making a decision.