Of Mice and Men

The thick mist hung over the huge expanse of the KR Puram lake at 7:30 in the morning. The water was eerily not visible. A perilous feeling hung over me as if something lurked behind those white tendrils. If you are thinking this might be a horror story, then that's the only shock you are going to get out of it. The mist withstanding, there seemed to be nothing spectacular about today morning...until i reached the office.

It was just another morning amongst all mornings (wow! i'll give Dan Quayle a run for his money). It was 8:30, time for breakfast, when things suddenly got interesting. For the past two days, conversations in the office had lingered on the animal species - especially monkeys. And today, to make matters more interesting, a member of the animal family decided to give us a visit. Perhaps it had got offended by the fact that monkeys were getting more attention than they deserved, and decided to take matters into its hands, for as the clock ticked towards 8:30, i spotted a mouse.

Mouse [n. mous; v. mouz]
-noun, plural mice
1. any of numerous small Old World rodents of the family Muridae, esp. of the genus Mus, introduced widely in other parts of the world.
2. any similar small animal of various rodent and marsupial families.

Perhaps that would make it clear to you that I am talking about those small furry things which make shrieking middle-aged ladies stand up on top of the table, and not about those small black contraptions that are connected to the computer. Of course, if you thought the middle-aged lady was an exaggeration, the effect of the mouse on our office personnel was no less dramatic. There was a sudden flurry of activity of people jumping up from their chairs. A few muted shrieks were also audible. Soon it was replaced with a sense of curiosity - everyone wanted to see the mouse.

Soon it was scurrying all over the place. The mouse seemed to take a special liking to Maneesh's seating place as it spent quite some time exploring his abode. Our manager in the meantime wanted us to capture a video of the mouse - it would be a nice opportunity to make our own Tom and Jerry home video. But the response of my mobile phone camera was far from satisfactory and to top things, the mouse seemed to be a bit camera-shy (The least i could do was capture a video of one of the mice attached to our computers).

The mouse, meanwhile, continued its exploration. Finding nothing of its interest near our cubicles, it decided to head for the printer in the hope that someone would have left their pay slip print-outs unattended. Meanwhile theories were abound as to what to do with the mouse (which in the meantime had rejoined its family):

"Why don't we use a mousetrap to capture it?"
"Or better, crack a few PJs. It will run away by itself."
"Why don't we play some famous songs? All insects and vermin will get killed since they are all 'hit' songs."
"Why don't we buy a snake? Snakes and mice are born-enemies."

Maneesh was busy researching on Rats and Mice on wikipedia, and confirmed with a glee that it was not a rat since it was more than 12 centimeters long. He confessed that he had played the role of the Pied Piper in school and the experience might come in use. I suggested that since he had researched so much, perhaps he could befriend the mouse, and in perfect Ratatouille fashion, it might even help him solve his messages.

Nobody thought of cats.

Cat [kat]
–noun
a small domesticated carnivore, Felis domestica or F. catus, bred in a number of varieties.

Unbeknown to us, two enterprising souls got together and launched the project to catch the mouse. After minutes and minutes of discussions among themselves, they drew up a design document to catch the mouse. For all the commotion the rodent caused, its end was quite unspectacular - they caught the mouse with a dust bin and earned the applause of everyone around.

What happened to the mouse afterwards is not known...

Was Bob Woolmer murdered on that fateful night?
Is Symonds really a monkey or is he simply acting like one?
Was Mozart poisoned?
Was John F Kennedy really killed by the CIA, who was afraid of his rising power?
Why did Genghis Khan halt his armies on the brink of Europe?

History is full of such unsolved mysteries. Perhaps the fate of the mouse may also remain as one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in this world.

By afternoon, the mouse was forgotten, and people were back to spotting monkeys. Public memory is so short...