I feel it’s my duty to share a few thoughts on a subject so close to my heart
That apart, my tapping over the years and the voluminous transcripts I have accumulated have got several publishers interested. I understand they see a goldmine here, not because of any scandalous conversations between bigwig politicos, but because I took great pleasure in also tapping ordinary people. So you have housewives discussing the price of atta and rice. Or take this revelation: Arun Kanwar and Neeta Iyer met on March 12, ’07, at Delhi’s Nehru Park and later went for cold coffee at Barista. In fact, such is my obsession with listening in that while holidaying in my hometown, Palghat, I once tuned into the mobile phone of the local toddy-tapper. He was heard confiding to a friend that climbing palms was giving him a toothache. Apparently, his dentist (a part-time poet) had told him that defying gravity causes cavity. I tell you, there’s no end to the way people make fools of others!
Now you may wonder why tapping fascinates me. Well, the sheer pleasure of hearing recorded conversation is something that cannot be distilled into words (one of my IB friends describes it as “an eargasm”). Indeed, the tonal variations when a person is troubled, happy, exhilarated or plain bored is magical. Those blessed with the ‘heard’ instinct will vouch for this. As for me, I was born with the trait. Which is why I have in my study a poster of Frank Tyger, an anonymous American philosopher, who famously said, “Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble.” I also repose full faith in the old Argentine saying that goes something like this: “Who speaks sows, who listens reaps.” Thankfully, I am not a solitary reaper....
(As imagined by Ajith Pillai)