J - Just Another Theory #AtoZChallenge

Whenever I binge-watch TV series or movies in the weekends, it’s just a distraction from the boring weekdays. Trying to find the purpose of life in movies is like caffeinating for the sake of hydration. Low expectations from the movies, is what makes them enjoyable. If I wanted to learn something, I’d have watched Discovery Channel. But I just came across of a new theory, while I was watching a Rom-Com. Maybe it’s fictional, like the happy ending of these movies. Or, maybe it works in real life too. I had to find that out immediately. I had my second cup of coffee for the day, as I started doing the research. I typed, ‘What is the Exception-Rule theory?’

‘The presence of exceptions proves the rule. So, expecting to be the exception doesn’t make us exceptions, because we are those, to whom the rule generally applies. Exceptions happen only once in a blue moon. So, blue moon happening is so rare, that it proves the rule that plain moon is there at other times. Something this sort is what I understood. Did you understand what I said, Riya, are you still sleeping?’

I was certain I heard a snore before I heard her say, ‘Yes I got it. Blue moon is the blue moon because it is blue. Other moon is the other moon because it isn’t blue, right? Now, let me sleep till the moon goes away.’

‘No, other moon- I mean the regular moon isn’t blue, is the rule. It gets blue occasionally, this is an exception. So, that exception proves the rule that moon is mostly non-blue.’

‘OK, so you’re going to get a PhD in moons or this theory. Can you leave me out of the research?’

‘No, I already found out what I was searching for. With this newly gained knowledge, I sat down thinking. Trying to work out, whether I was the rule-person or exception- person. I considered myself to be lucky all these years. Being lucky meant good things generally happen to me. I just found out that in spite of similar conditions, others didn’t have good things happening to them. That makes me an exception. Now that I started calculating, I think I’ve been an exception too many times. I think I finished all the exceptions I could be and now have to follow the rule.’

‘Jessica, a theory you just found out doesn’t alter your life because you were ignorant of it so far. If you say, only good things happened to you till now, it doesn’t imply you utilized the good things quota completely. It’s still 10 and its Sunday today. Let me sleep for a little longer. List down all those events from your life, we’ll go through this list later.’

She went back to sleep in minutes. I, on the other hand, tried to remember all those times when I felt I had the best luck in this world. If exceptions are like rules to me, well, because I’m exceptional, does that mean I’ll die before reaching the average life expectancy, because the rule doesn’t apply to me or do I live longer because I’m the exception to the rule? It’s like I found similarities with differences. What did I actually find now, similarities or differences? The more I thought about it, the more confused I became. Nothing made sense after a while, so I had more coffee and waited for Riya to wake up.

After a while, I woke up because of loud music. I thought I had slept for a few minutes; it was evening already. Riya was watching some movie on her laptop. I asked her what the time then was.

‘It’s Just Five O’clock. Sleep for three more hours, you can wake up for dinner directly.’

‘You asked me to make a list,’ I handed her the list, ‘have a look at all these notes I made, while I freshen up. This is how we’re going to be busy till dinner time, discussing it all’

Expecting her to panic would be too much. Surprised would’ve been alright. But, she was angry when I came back.

‘The premises are wrongly selected. The result is bound to be inconclusive or appear wrong. That means the theory is fine, but your experiment isn’t.’

‘Then answer me, why are the extra good things, exceptional ones, happening to me?’

‘Maybe, because the term ‘exception’ is wrongly defined or the sample size is higher than you calculated. A few others also might be having just as much good luck as you are right now.’

‘So nothing’s changed? Bad luck won’t follow me, right?’

‘If your experiment is true, then the occurrence of exception to the rule of exception, only further confirms the rule of exception. When things were simple, some events happened. When you found out about this theory, the same are still happening. That doesn’t mean things are changed now. Because you’re aware of this theory now, just observe everything passively.’

‘You deduced all of this by recollecting your high school math lectures?’

‘No, I watched too many psychological thrillers. They teach much more than school did.’

Riya resumed the movie, while I went through the notes again. I was sure I was right, but whatever she said had made more sense. For the time, I listened to what she said, until I found a better theory.

The only thing going on in my mind was, whether I was not as special as I thought I was.